By SHARON EBERSON
Equitable Dinners were created to provide food for thought and feed the need for important conversations. The concept was created as a way to address issues of race, gender, economics and politics through community outreach, with three components:
- A Play: Experience a thought-provoking short play.
- A Meal: Share a meal with approximately 10 friends and strangers
- A Conversation: Engage in guided discussion led by trained facilitators.
Originated in Atlanta, Equitable Dinners attracted the attention of RealTime Arts’ cofounders Molly Rice, Artistic Director/Lead Playwright, and Rusty Thelin, Artistic/Executive Director, whose Pittsburgh-based “community-fueled theater” is focused on “connecting human beings through unique theatrical experiences … united by the stories we’re telling together.”
of Jane Graille and Bryan Mathie. (Image: Sharon Eberson)
Under the umbrella “We Hold These Truths,” Equitable Dinners came to the duo as a model for theatermakers, religious institutions, schools, businesses … people who want to start a conversation, using topics under the headings:
- A recent immigrant
- Someone whose ancestors immigrated long ago
- A descendent of enslaved people
- A Native American story
Those topics are among the few rules given to Thelin and Rice, after an online training program and an inspiring visit to Equitable Dinners held by Mixed Blood, a Minneapolis-based organization that “uses theater to disrupt injustice.”
“What I think is really interesting about Equitable Dinners is, they licensed a model. They didn’t license the play. That is just so uncommon in theater,” Rice explained. “Part of how it works is, they give you training, and it’s extensive.”
With the theme “We Hold These Truths”: AMERICAN POTLUCK,” RealTime Arts is holding its version of Equitable Dinners in private homes and gathering spaces, with “a focus on food, health, and American identity. What does American food mean to you?”
“You gather all these voices either around a topic that’s specific to your community … and then the play gets written based on that, and then we end with a conversation,” said Rice. “So there’s this really beautiful symmetry between the play and the conversation that arises,” Rice said.
The gatherings will allow no more than 10 patrons, or breakouts in groups of 10, who will listen to a short play, written by Rice and performed by Malika Cleckley, a Pittsburgh CAPA graduate and former student of Thelin’s at Chatham University.
“After I graduated high school, I didn’t get too many outlets, and being that this is a one-woman show, it gives me so much to work with, so much more to explore,” Cleckley said. “Molly’s done a really good job. The play has so much substance to it, but not so much to the point where I feel like I don’t have any work to do. So it’s just all around a really good piece of art.”
The indoor-outdoor possibilities of the four locations mean that Cleckley must master blocking for seven intimate spaces, directed by Thelin and working with stage manager Nat Lawton.
(Image: Sharon Eberson)
A recent rehearsal in the Troy Hill home of hosts Jane Graille and Bryan Mathie was held indoors, away from the 90+ degree heat. When weather allows, there will be an outdoor gathering amid their vegetable and flower gardens, with a covered seating area. The outdoor space includes a chicken enclosure and honey-producing bees, too. Their friendly dog roamed among the rehearsal participants, in a welcoming area that includes Graille’s artworksandcollectible pieces.
Graille became familiar with RealTime Arts during the pandemic, through the online The Birth of Paper, and later attended a People of Pittsburgh experience.
She admired their unique approach, but not just that, Graille said.
“Having seen some really bizarre nontraditional theater, this is actually nontraditional theater that explores our humanity in a way that doesn’t assault us. It’s not out to shock. It helps you grow,” she said. “And so when [Rice] called and said, ‘We’re going to do this thing. Would you be interested?’ I was like, ‘Yeah, of course.’ And the more I heard about it, the more I thought, ‘I love the idea.’ I feel like people are losing language and the ability to communicate, and anything that facilitates that I’m all in, and I think that their work does that.”
The RealTime Arts duo, in the midst of other projects at the same time they were preparing the current one, had to decide on patron capacity and how many dinner/performances they could handle on their first Equitable Dinner programming.
When that was decided, “We naturally were drawn to certain people who we felt would be great hosts,” Rice said.
The Graille and Mathie residence was appealing because, “It’s a homestead in Troy Hill, literally. There’s chickens and ducks. It’s just a joyous place. And our other folks, too — we had somebody from our board who was willing to have people in their home. And NavusHouse [on the North Side] is a house that was built by Nathan Darity and his partner for gatherings.”
Other hosts include Scott Wolovich, Executive Director of New Sun Rising. The food for the dinners will be provided by the hosts. Details, such as addresses of private residences, queries about food allergies and accessibility will be provided to ticket-holders.
“We chose how many we can handle, and then we were like, ‘Oh, here’s the people we’d love to work with,’” Rice said. “But we’d love for [patrons] to know that this is open. We plan to do this again. We’ve already had several people who want to host the next round.”
Thelin and Rice chose food as their first topic “because it’s universal, and we can go as deep as the group wants to go with it.”
Whatever topic they choose, “Our purpose is civic discourse — simple, friendly civic discourse,” Rice said, adding, “Just making it comfortable to talk to each other again.”
TICKETS AND DETAILS
There are four hosts for RealTime Arts’ July 2026 Equitable Dinners, with the theme “We Hold These Truths”: AMERICAN POTLUCK: July 8-9 at NavusHouse, North Side; July 11-12 in Troy Hill; July 24 at Millvale Food + Energy Hub, Millvale, and July 30-31 in Point Breeze (7/30 in sold out). All shows at 7 p.m. Tickets and details at https://www.realtimearts.org/ and https://realtime.ludus.com/index.php.
Categories: Arts and Ideas, Our Posts, Show Previews
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