In her course “Community-Based Theatre and Social Justice” at Davidson College in North Carolina, Sharon Green’s students engage with a pressing social or political issue and generate an original performance about it. Recently, partnering with a local YMCA, Green and company explored the topic of bullying with a team of middle-school students. “The deeper I got into the preparatory research, the more I realized that my personal and pedagogic commitment to this issue would continue far beyond this academic year,” Green avers. Writing about U.S. theatres’ response to bullying (page 26) “deepened my commitment to that goal,” she says, “by showing me the astonishing work out there, and the fabulously smart, creative and dedicated artists who are inspiring young people every day.”

Montreal-born playwright Chantal Bilodeau, who writes in this issue about Canada’s French/English cultural divide (page 38), moved to the U.S. 15 years ago. “They say there’s no place like home,” she reasons, “and it must be true, because ever since I left Canada I’ve been looking for every opportunity to learn more about it. It was a pleasure to immerse myself in the world of Canadian theatre and to reflect on its complexities. Had I stayed, I probably would have taken those things for granted and, ironically, deprived myself of a really deep sense of belonging.”