A.R.T./New York's Town Hall Meeting Moving Forward with a New Administration Monday, December 19th at 10:00am Studio 54

Program for A.R.T./New York's Town Hall Meeting “Moving Forward with a New Administration”

Welcome Julia Levy, Executive Director, Roundabout Theatre Company

Introduction of Panelists Ginny Louloudes, Executive Director of A.R.T./New York and Program Moderator

Panel Discussion Bruce Gyory, Senior Advisor, Manatt, Phelps & Phillips Earl Lewis, President of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Barbara Caress, Health Care Consultant, Actors Fund Hon. Jerrold Nadler, New York Congressman, 10th District Hon. Jimmy Van Bramer, Majority Leader of the New York City Council Lameece Issaq, Founding Artistic Director of the Obie Award-winning Noor Theatre Lauren Wainwright, Executive Director of Tectonic Theater Project

Questions From the Audience There will be two ushers with microphones for audience members who wish to ask questions.

Who’s Who

Barbara Caress Barbara Caress has over 40 years of experience as a union, non-profit, and public agency manager, consultant, and administrator. Most recently she served as Director of Strategic Policy and Planning for the SEIU Local 32BJ Health, Pension, Legal and Training Funds, which provide benefits to 250,000 people living in seven states where she oversaw the a substantial re-design effort dedicated to developing incentives for members to use, and providers to offer, patient centered medical homes and other certified quality providers. She is currently advising a number of health funds and others on benefit design, primary care, and evaluation. Ms. Caress has spent many years as a health care consultant working for such clients as the NYC and State Health Departments, the Community Service Society, Local 1199, SEIU and the United Hospital Fund. She is currently a member of NCQA’s Standards Committee and the NYC Primary Care Improvement Project Advisory Board. Author of a wide range of health policy reports and reviews, Ms. Caress received her undergraduate and graduate education at the University of Chicago. She is currently a faculty member in the Program in Health Administration at the Zicklin School of Business, Baruch College, CUNY and at the Sarah Lawrence Masters in Health Advocacy program.

Bruce Gyory Bruce N. Gyory was born in Queens but was raised in the Bronx. He went to New York City public schools and then graduated from Columbia University and NYU Law School. He cut his teeth in New York politics. He helped coordinate the election day operations which lead to three upset victories in Special Elections against the old Bronx organization in the late 1970’s. Two of which were building blocks for the Bronx’ emerging Minority Majority. He ran and lost for City Council at Large from Bronx in 1977 after serving as a scheduler and speechwriter in Mario Cuomo’s 1977 Mayoral Campaign. He had done macro vote targeting for three successful gubernatorial campaigns. He served fist as Assistant and then Deputy Appointments Office to the Governor, in the second Carey Administration and more recently served as Senior Advisor to Governors Spitzer and Paterson.

In between those periods of public service, Bruce was a lawyer lobbyist with the firm of Hinman Straub here in Albany from 1983 until November of 2007. Now Bruce is a Senior Advisor of the law firm Manatt, Phelps & Phillips LLP, focusing on strategic and political consulting and services as an adjunct professor of Political Science at SUNY Albany. He no longer practices law nor does he do any lobbying. In recent years he has been a political consultant to Bill Thompson, Tom Suozzi and Sean Coffey after advising the Carey, the first Mario Cuomo and Spitzer gubernatorial campaigns. In 2012, Bruce consulted on David Soares’ re-election as District Attorney and for NARAL’s successful Independent Expenditure Campaign in State Senate races.

But his friends know that Bruce’s true passion is his over 30 year study of demographic and voting trends in NYC and NYS politics. Bruce’s passion for tracking and understanding these trendlines underlying New York as well as national politics is what unites his academic pursuits

and his political consulting work. He has a deep understanding of the New York’s distinct regional based political rivalries and cultures, including how they compete and ultimately coalesce.

Bruce is a regular guest on YNN’s Capital Tonight’s Insiders segment hosted by Liz Benjamin. He has written op-eds for Newsday, The Hill, the Daily News, as well as City and State News. He also appears on NY1’s Inside City Hall with Errol Louis and Susan Arbetter’s radio program the Capital Pressroom. Bruce serves on the board of the Government Law Center at Albany Law School.

Bruce lives with his wife Amy in Delmar, New York. The have 3 children, a son-in-law and two granddaughters.

Lameece Issaq Lameece Issaq is an actor and writer, and Founding Artistic Director of the Obie-winning company Noor Theatre, dedicated to the work of artists of Middle Eastern descent. As an actor she has appeared in several regional and off-Broadway productions, including: When The Lights Went Out (New York Stage and Film); Food and Fadwa (New York Theatre Workshop [NYTW]); The Fever Chart (The Public Theatre); The Black Eyed (NYTW); Girl Blog From Iraq: Baghdad Burning (Barrow Street Theater/Edinburgh Fringe Festival [Stage Theater Award Nomination, Outstanding Ensemble]); Stuff Happens (Public Theater [Drama Desk Award, Outstanding Ensemble]) and others. As a playwright, she’s written various short pieces produced in The New York Arab-American Comedy Festival; Nooha’s List, part of the compilation play, Motherhood Outloud (Hartford Stage, The Geffen and Primary Stages); and Food and Fadwa, 2011 recipient of the Edgerton Foundation New American Play Award (Noor Theatre and NYTW co-production, Spring 2012). Lameece is a member of the Actors Center Workshop Company, League of Professional Theatre Women, The Dramatists Guild, AEA and SAG-AFTRA. Lameece is a 2016 NYFA Finalist in Playwriting/Screenwriting.

Earl Lewis Earl Lewis became the sixth President of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation in March 2013. Under his guidance, the Foundation has reaffirmed its commitment to the humanities, the arts, and higher education by emphasizing the importance of continuity and change.

A noted social historian, Mr. Lewis has held faculty appointments at the University of California at Berkeley (1984–89), and the (1989–2004). He has championed the importance of diversifying the academy, enhancing graduate education, re-visioning the liberal arts, exploring the role of digital tools for learning, and connecting universities to their communities.

Prior to joining The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Mr. Lewis served as Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs and the Asa Griggs Candler Professor of History and African

American Studies at . As Provost, Lewis led academic affairs and academic priority setting for the university.

He is the author and co-editor of seven books, including Our Compelling Interests: The Value of Diversity for Democracy and a Prosperous Society (with Nancy Cantor, Princeton University Press, 2016), The African American Urban Experience: Perspectives from the Colonial Period to the Present (with Joe William Trotter and Tera W. Hunter, Palgrave Macmillan, 2004); Defending Diversity: Affirmative Action at the University of Michigan (with Jeffrey S. Lehman and Patricia Gurin, University of Michigan Press, 2004); Love on Trial: An American Scandal in Black and White (with Heidi Ardizzone, WW Norton, 2001); the award-winning To Make Our World Anew: A History of African Americans (with Robin D.G. Kelley, Oxford University Press, 2000); In Their Own Interests: Race, Class and Power in 20th Century Norfolk (University of California Press, 1991); as well as the 11-volume The Young Oxford History of African Americans (with Robin D.G. Kelley, Oxford University Press, 1995–1997); and the award-winning book series American Crossroads (University of California Press).

A native of Tidewater, Virginia, Mr. Lewis earned an undergraduate degree in history and psychology from Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota, and a PhD in history from the . He has been a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences since 2008.

In 2016, Mr. Lewis was named an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters by Carnegie Mellon University. He was previously awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Rutgers University-Newark and an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from in 2015; he also received an honorary Doctor of Humanities from Concordia College in 2002; Outstanding Achievement Award from the University of Minnesota in 2001; and the Harold R. Johnson Diversity Service Award from the University of Michigan in 1999.

Congressman Jerrold Nadler A well-regarded source of political opinion and policy expertise, Rep. Nadler has been a featured guest on nearly every significant public affairs and news program, including NBC’s Meet the Press, CBS’s Face the Nation, and various shows on MSNBC. Nadler is also a reliable commentator for major print news sources, both nationally and internationally, and is often quoted in outlets such as the Associated Press, the New York Times, the New York Post, the New York Daily News and the Washington Post. As the former Chair of the House Judiciary’s Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, Rep. Nadler has also focused much of his career advancing the cause of civil rights. As a staunch supporter of equal rights and a House Vice-Chair of the LGBT Equality Caucus, he led the effort to oppose attempts at writing discrimination into the Constitution in the form of the so-called Federal Marriage Amendment. He has also authored landmark bills that would grant equal access to immigration and Social Security benefits to all Americans, regardless of sexual orientation. And he has successfully passed bills that have actually advanced LGBT rights and brought key funding to the community. Similarly, he has used his Subcommittee chairmanship to protect and advance the rights of members of communities of

color through his leadership on the reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act and on the passage of a variety of bills aimed at redressing injustices dating back to the Jim Crow era.

Likewise, Rep. Nadler has been a House leader on women’s rights issues. In particular, in the face of repeated back-door attempts to outlaw abortion, Nadler, a senior member of the Pro- Choice Caucus, has long led House efforts to protect a woman’s right to choose and is the lead sponsor of the Freedom of Choice Act, which would codify Roe v. Wade into federal law. His work led Kate Michelman, former president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, to assert: “Jerry Nadler is at the forefront of the movement to protect reproductive freedom, fighting every day against anti-choice leaders in Congress and the White House.”

Rep. Nadler’s work on First Amendment freedoms is also widely recognized and respected. He is one of Congress’s most vocal defenders of the separation of church and state and of Americans’ right to exercise their religion freely. He was one of the lead Democratic sponsors of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and the Democratic sponsor of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, which was signed into law by President Clinton in 2000 and upheld by the Supreme Court. Nadler has also been a consistent champion of freedom of expression, fighting against countless efforts to restrict speech and quell dissent, notably being one of the most vocal opponents against the failed proposed Constitutional amendment to ban flag “desecration.” As a leader of the Congressional Arts Caucus, he was one of the chief opponents of Republican efforts to destroy the National Endowment for the Arts. These accomplishments, coupled with his leadership in the Congressional Progressive Caucus and an expansive portfolio of other progressive achievements – from garnering hundreds of millions of dollars for the Section 8 affordable housing program, to shaping the national debate on Social Security by being the first to challenge the Republicans’ “doom and gloom” solvency forecast, to the passing of his bill to close the digital divide in education – led Vanity Fair magazine, in its Hall of Fame Tribute to Congressman Nadler, to remark that he epitomizes “liberalism the way it ought to be.” Nadler’s record has earned him ratings of 100 percent from such groups as the League of Conservation Voters, Planned Parenthood, the NAACP, the Human Rights Campaign, Children’s Defense Fund, the American Civil Liberties Union and the American Federation of Teachers.

Rep. Nadler is a graduate of Crown Heights Yeshiva, Stuyvesant High School, Columbia University and Fordham Law School. He lives on the Upper West Side of Manhattan with his wife, Joyce Miller. They have one son, Michael.

City Council Majority Leader Jimmy Van Bramer A life-long resident of Western Queens, Jimmy Van Bramer was elected to the New York City Council on November 3, 2009. He was overwhelmingly elected to a second 4-year term on November 5, 2013.

On January 22nd, 2014 Council Member Van Bramer was elected Majority Leader of the New York City Council which is the second highest ranking member in the 51 member body. As part of his duties as Majority Leader, he was also appointed by Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito to co-

chair the newly constituted Budget Negotiating Team (BNT) which plays an integral role in formulating the City's budget process to fund critical programs, projects and organizations citywide. Council Member Van Bramer also plays a key role is working with all members of the City Council, serving as a bridge between colleagues and the Speaker.

Council Member Van Bramer was also reappointed to chair the Council's Cultural Affairs, Libraries and International Intergroup Relations Committee. As Chair of the committee, he has direct oversight over 200 libraries and thousands of cultural organizations, institutions and programs throughout New York City. During his first four years as Chair of the Cultural Affairs Committee, Council Member Van Bramer fought hard to restore over $575 million for our City’s libraries and the arts.

In 2013, as an active member of the New York City Council’s budget negotiating team, he helped secure $106 million for capital funding projects that will continue to help our City remain a world class destination.

As a Council Member, he has dedicated himself to addressing the issues that the people in the 26th Council District care about. From 2009 to 2013, Council Member Van Bramer’s office helped over 12,000 constituents with a wide variety of issues, including: illegal drag racing, graffiti on private properties, cleanliness of residential streets, necessary traffic safety improvements, immigration/deportation cases, social services and general quality of life complaints.

Since taking office, Council Member Van Bramer has continued to aggressively tackle overcrowding in our schools. In just four years, he has played a pivotal role in securing six new schools within the 26th District. The addition of these new schools will provide over 2,600 seats to neighborhood children in Astoria, Long Island City, Sunnyside and Woodside.

During his first term, Council Member Van Bramer allocated over $10 million toward enhancing parks throughout the 26th District. With this funding he has helped build new dog runs, renovated existing playground facilities and increase the about of green space throughout the community.

A community organizer, Council Member Van Bramer is the son of two active union members. While growing up he sometimes followed his stepfather, a public-school custodian, to work. As he watched his stepfather polish classroom floors and scrub desks so that children and teachers could have a clean learning space, Council Member Van Bramer learned the importance of hard work, and the powerful impact that seemingly small efforts can have on the lives of working people. Council Member Van Bramer has carried those lessons throughout his life.

Council Member Van Bramer’s career has been devoted to making our community stronger and making life better for Queens families like the one he grew up in. From 1999-2009, he served as the Chief External Affairs Officer of the Queens Public Library. As the library's link between community members and government, Council Member Van Bramer worked to protect and

expand important library services, such as after-school programs and English language classes. He also led members of the Queens community on annual trips to Albany and Washington, D.C. to help them make their voices heard by government officials. In addition, Council Member Van Bramer served as a member of Community Board 2 and its Land Use Committee from 2006- 2009.

Before joining the leadership of the Queens Borough Public Library, Council Member Van Bramer fought to protect the rights of regular people in the democratic process by working on the Clean Money, Clean Elections campaign. As the organization's Deputy Field Director, Jimmy brought together Queens community leaders and working people from every walk of life to win important changes in election laws. Council Member Van Bramer has also worked as a reporter for Lesbian and Gay New York (LGNY), now Gay City News, a community newspaper, where he brought attention to the AIDS epidemic and bias/hate crimes.

The ideals that Council Member Van Bramer has worked for over his entire career — respect for working people, equality for all, and the importance of improving quality of life in our community — were instilled in him by his family and strong Catholic upbringing here in Queens. His father, William Van Bramer, was a lifelong member of Printers' and Pressman's Union Local 2. Elizabeth Van Bramer, Council Member Van Bramer’s mother, helped support the family by taking a variety of jobs in their neighborhood, and she was a member of Local 1893 of the International Brotherhood of Painters.

Council Member Van Bramer is proud to have been educated in Queens’ public schools. He graduated from P.S. 70, J.H.S. 10, and William Cullen Bryant High School. He then worked his way through St. John's University. Since 2004 he has represented his neighborhood and the 37th Assembly District on the New York State Democratic Committee. Additionally, he is a past President of the West Queens Independent Democratic Club and a member of the Board of Directors of the Ridgewood Democratic Club.

Majority Leader Van Bramer currently lives in Sunnyside Gardens with Dan Hendrick, his partner of 15 years. The two were married on July 28th, 2012 with Council Member Van Bramer becoming the first openly-gay elected official to get married in the borough of Queens.

Lauren Wainwright Lauren Wainwright is the Executive Director of Tectonic Theater Project, which she leads with Tectonic’s Founder/Artistic Director Moisés Kaufman. She is also a lecturer in the Theater Management Department at Yale School of Drama where she teaches aspects of Employment Law, including employment discrimination and sexual harassment law. Wainwright is a former lawyer, who served as Vice President and Associate General Counsel at Goldman Sachs and as an Associate at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP before leaving her legal career to attend drama school. Prior to Tectonic, she was Managing Producer of the Foundry Theatre, Associate Managing Director of Yale Repertory Theatre, General Manager of the Yale Institute for Music Theatre, and Yale Fellow at Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago. She received an MFA in Theater

Management from Yale School of Drama, a JD from Boston College Law School, and a BA in Classics from Wesleyan University.

On the Friday after the election, the staff of Tectonic heard that a school in a small Nebraska town was doing our play The Laramie Project and that the community was boycotting the show because of the LGBTQ content. Even parents of some of the young actors were refusing to attend. The kids in the cast, however, insisted on doing the play anyway, even if it meant they were performing to an empty auditorium. The teacher directing the play put the call out on Facebook for support — for emails or letters of encouragement or anything that could show her kids that people were out there who cared and who had their backs. Instead of writing, we decided we had to show up for them. We wanted to be their audience, their faces of support, we wanted to be there to cheer them on and celebrate their bravery. So the very next day, we flew to Nebraska. Blue Hill, Nebraska, population 986.

Lauren along with Tectonic Education Director Laurie Lathem and Tectonic company member/Laramie co-author Andy Paris flew to Nebraska. The efforts of Tectonic and many friends in the theater community helped generate — within 36 hours — a sold-out audience for the performance, with some traveling for hours across Nebraska to attend. We watched the show and then connected with the students to learn about their journey and hear their perspectives. “My best friend told me she couldn’t hang around me anymore, because I was going to hell for being in this show,” one cast member said. When asked what made her want to be in the show anyway, she said, “Because it’s an important story. It teaches us how to deal with hate, and people in this town need to hear it.” She is 16.