Statera Member Spotlight: Chie Morita

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StateraArts members live in cities across the US and hail from all genres of art-making. They are arts leaders, activists, content-creators, professional artists, and educators; early-, mid-, and late-career; patrons, community organizers, and more. The Statera Member Spotlight is just one way StateraArts uplifts and amplifies the voices of our members.

Today, we introduce you to Chie Morita.

Photo credit: Caleb McCotter

StateraArts: What is your occupation or calling in the arts?
Chie Morita: I trained as a producer, general manager, managing director, and casting director. I now identify as a founder, consultant, producer, and creative problem solver. And I’m here to liberate the artist from cultural stereotypes and negative self-stories through proactive planning, personal road mapping, and the practice of collaborative asking. Basically, I ask people “why?” a lot…while also believing in their dreams.   

SA: What inspires your work most?
CM: I’m inspired to help makers make. There is nothing more exciting than a passionate person who knows what they are talking about and wants to share. I think it’s an absolute travesty that more makers don’t believe in the necessity and value of their work. I also think it’s devastating that our culture doesn’t teach more makers that their work is necessary and valuable. Add to this mix that most artists don’t leave school with the life planning tools, financial literacy skills, and basic business knowledge they need, and it’s a recipe for disaster, over and over again. I’m inspired to tackle this seemingly Sisyphean problem, even if I have to do it one maker at a time!

SA: What organizations are you affiliated with?
CM: I am the co-founder of FORGE NYC (with co-founder Greg Taubman), a boutique consultancy devoted to helping artists and companies take the next step in their own work. We consult, of course, and we also offer residencies, retreats, and pop-up workspaces for makers of all kinds. We proudly partner with organizations like A.R.T/New York, The Artist Co-op, and the Indie Theater Fund to widen our reach and offer our services through the generous support of donors and foundations.   

I’m also a Regional Coordinator for the StateraArts mentorship program in NYC, a Board member for The Musical Theater Factory, and a co-producer on an Untitled Steven Kopp/Noah Reece Superhero musical in development. It’s also worth mentioning that I served as the Managing Director for the New York Neo-Futurists for many years, and I still very much see those folks as forever people. Once a Neo, always Neo.

SA: How did you become a StateraArts member?
CM: I met the lovely Mara Jill Herman (Regional Coordinator for NYC) and she asked if I would be interested in joining the RC team. After a few meetings, I said “yes” (it was a no-brainer), and the rest is history! I believe very strongly in the power of positive individual connection and mentorship. Statera is a perfect place for me to apply my skills. The community is wonderful and I’m thrilled to be a part of it.

SA: Tell us about one of your favorite projects.
CM: Amanda Palmer says a lovely thing about our jobs as art-makers being collecting and connecting dots... and in that way, my whole career kind of feels like one giant ever-growing project. There are definitely some standout dots, and they all connect: 

Here Lies Love: I got to help cast that piece and work on several development workshops, and that whole team is full of brilliance. End of the Rainbow was my first Broadway show. I ended up there because of Jordan Thaler’s wisdom. I work often with Heather Christian, who I met through a friend at The Public when she had just sold her piano to master her first record. I produced a benefit concert to get her a new one called 7 Toy Pianos and we played 85% of the show on toy pianos from foreign countries, none of which were in the same key. That same friend at The Public introduced me to Greg Taubman. I produced his graduate thesis, Antigone/Progeny, and now we run a company together. The guy who played Haemon in that thesis invited me to a musical sleepover in the back of a porn studio, and that night I joined the board for the Musical Theater Factory. The same guy’s sister invited me to visit her in New Orleans, and now I’m helping to open The Wonderland Historical Society, a cultural facility and residency space there… see what I mean?

SA: What do you love most about your artistic community?
CM: If you mean New York City: I love her because she always says “yes”. I have never lived anywhere else where anyone, on any given day, could step out onto their stoop, declare their dreams, and the city would say “OK! Go get ‘em! I support you!” with no judgment. The artistic communities in NYC that I have been a part of are like that too: inviting, supportive, and kind…with a healthy dash of tough love from time to time. I am incredibly privileged to call this city home. If you mean my Tribe: I love them because they are smart, encouraging, and stupidly talented. They ask amazing questions, are fierce collaborators, and they show up like no humans I have ever met. I am supremely lucky.

SA: Any upcoming projects you'd like to share with us? 
CM: FORGE has shifted Fast Fuel, our pop-up workspace, onto Zoom for the foreseeable future. We are now doing 3-4 a month and we would love to welcome new makers! The format is super casual and we have gotten fabulous feedback so far. More info, dates, and RSVP can be found on our website. 

We will also be teaching an online version of our signature workshop, The Artist’s Roadmap, on June 17th in collaboration with The Artist Co-op. Grounded in the same tools and techniques that we provide our consulting clients, The Artist’s Roadmap is a holistic workshop that trains makers to articulate their purpose and plan for their future. Encouraging you to treat your goals as defined destinations rather than uncertain outcomes, The Artist’s Roadmap offers you the language, logistics, and landmarks to chart your course on the road to success. We hope you will join us!   

SA: Mentorship is at the core of the STATERA mission. Tell us about one of your mentors. How did they shape you or provide pathways for opportunity?
CM: Honestly, part of the reason I do the work I do, and why I said “yes” to joining the NYC regional coordinator team, is because I never had a mentor myself. Not a proper one anyway. That being said, there is a laundry list of amazing artists and makers that have shaped me and taught me valuable things. If I had known how to ask any of them to mentor me, who knows where I would be now. I am eager to share my experiences and expertise in the hopes that with more collaboration and connection, we can find better ways to create, innovate, and change the world.

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About CHIE

Chie C. Morita (she/her) seeks creative solutions to everyday debacles. She is a co-founder and partner of FORGE, a boutique consultancy devoted to helping artists and companies take the next step in their own work. In all she does, Chie seeks to liberate the artist from cultural stereotypes and negative self-stories. Always eager to challenge the norms under which we were taught to create, she consults and mentors on proactive planning, financial literacy, and the practice of collaborative asking. Most recently, Chie served as the Deputy Director at Town Stages, a Cultural Arts and Event space in Tribeca, where she created, curated, and managed the Sokoloff Arts Fellowship Program, which offered space, mentorship, and resources to makers of all kinds. While at Town, she had the pleasure of working with artists such as Third Rail Projects, The Macallan, Art Beyond The Glass, Milajam, Spotify, Fault Line Theatre Company, and many others. In New York, she has worked with Tony-Award-winning Broadway Producer Joey Parnes (A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, End of the Rainbow), institutions including The Public Theater, Ars Nova, and New York Neo-Futurists (who, under her care, were awarded three Drama Desk nominations), and such independent artists and ensembles as Heather Christian and the Arbornauts, Esperance Theater Company, Extant Arts Company, UglyRhino, Panicked Productions, Fresh Ground Pepper, and art.party.theater.company. Chie is also a collaborator on the Wonderland Historical Society in New Orleans, a proud board member of The Musical Theater Factory and a co-producer on an Untitled Kopp/Reece Superhero musical in development.

Statera Member Spotlight: Susan Bernfield

StateraArts members come from all over the USA and all genres of art-making. They are educators, arts leaders, activists, content-creators, professional artists, early career, mid-career, patrons, and community organizers. The Statera Member Spotlight is just one way StateraArts uplifts and amplifies the voices of our members. Today, we’d like to introduce you to Susan Bernfield.

StateraArts: What organizations are you affiliated with?
Susan Bernfeild: Primarily New Georges; I serve on the boards of the Alliance of Resident Theatres/New York, The Indie Theatre Fund, The Assembly and 3LD, and am a member of the National Theatre Conference and the League of Professional Theatre Women.

SA: What is your occupation or calling in the arts?
SB: I’m the artistic director of New Georges, where I produce and develop exuberantly theatrical new plays by adventurous artists (who are women+).  I’m also a playwright, and sometimes a performer.

SA: Tell us about your favorite project you've done thus far. 
SB: Y’know, being a producer’s like being a parent, you have to love all your children equally!  But I will say I feel especially special about GOD’S EAR, by Jenny Schwartz, directed by Anne Kauffman, which we produced in 2007 (it was re-mounted at the Vineyard Theater in 2008).  It is so beautiful and also so ideal, as a play, of course, but also as an experience of making a play. We all felt that, even then, it was really a moment. There are moments in that production I’d give my firstborn to see again, and lines from it still run through my head all the time. But what’s really incredible is coming to understand its influence over time.  Just a few weeks ago I was cleaning my office and unearthed a bunch of copies and asked my intern if she wanted one and she said “oh, I’ve read it. When I was 16. It blew my mind.” She took it anyway! Hey, everybody needs a copy of GOD’S EAR!

SA: What inspires your work most?
SB: The people.  Their ongoing desire to do this crazy thing.  And their genius ideas. I’m interested in producing something when it’s something I’ve never seen before and I get to do things I’ve never done before.  I produce impossible plays because I like to be there with and for cool artists who are willing to go way out on a limb, or theater-makers thinking up theatricalities that never would have occurred to me.  I’m a creative producer. I’m a hands-on collaborator in any process. I just love being in it with something absolutely new!

SA: What do you love most about your artistic community?
SB: Community has been a core value of New Georges forever. It’s productive, it’s fun, I’ve seen the rising tide of our community and all its inner collaborations lift its members over and over again. Community WORKS.  But the big secret is that I crave community. I think I’ve just made myself the community I need.

SA: When did you feel most supported or championed by the women in your life?   
SB: I had a hyper-supportive mother and have great women friends.  But if the question is “when”... I think I’d say now.  I support and champion amazing women all day long, which means I get to be supported and championed in return.  Nice trick, huh? That’s been going on for a while, but I think I’ve hit a kind of groove, a new comfort level.

SA: Any upcoming projects you'd like to share with us? 
SB: We’re co-producing Colette Robert’s THE HARRIET HOLLAND SOCIAL CLUB PRESENTS THE 84TH ANNUAL STAR-BURST COTILLION IN THE GRAND BALLROOM OF THE RENAISSANCE HOTEL, with music and lyrics by Dionne McClain-Freeney, with The Movement Theatre Company in 2020.  Whew! It’s a fantastic piece first developed in our Audrey Residency program and one of the inaugural recipients of the NYC Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment’s NYC Women’s Fund grant.

SA: What does gender parity in the arts look like to you?   
SB: Getting to a place where we’re not thinking about it.  We’re looking at equal numbers of pieces and people, we’re interested in a multitude of stories, so everything shakes down the right way.  I’m an optimist, and I think we’re on our way.

SA: Mentorship is at the core of the STATERA mission. Tell us about one of your mentors. How did they shape you or provide pathways for opportunity?
SB: Wow, I’m floored by the assumption that I had one (rather than IF I had one).  That feels like a sea change for me! When I started New Georges, in a very different time, basically by accident, as a not-very-keyed-in actor... a mentor didn’t seem attainable and not really all that relevant.  My career was all serendipity and happenstance, so... what would I have looked or asked for? Not to mention: I was pretty shy. There’s an explosion of women now starting careers in theater with a crazy kind of confidence which I think is awesome.  There are actually role models now. They’ve actually seen women, many women, make compelling lives in the theater in a variety of ways. They might even know some of these fancy women personally, they may even have been taught by them! That didn’t exist for me – there were role models, but certainly none I perceived as accessible to me. I didn’t know those people (or how to find them, I mean: it was before the internet!). 

However, I had an incredible circle of peers, and I still do.  I met a lot of them through ART/NY, the service organization for nonprofit theaters in New York, very early, and that was lucky.  We taught each other, brought each other up. Later on, I played poker with some downtown artistic directors (and still do). I considered them to be way ahead of me and superstars and I was frankly pretty scared of them, but then... I got to know them and I learned things.  Without these communities of peers, now some of my best friends in the world, I wouldn’t be here. And because we’ve always mentored each other, these are relationships that will never go away.

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About Susan

As founder and artistic director/producer of New Georges, Susan Bernfield has produced 48 new plays and countless works in progress by adventurous playwrights and directors (who are women+), establishing a boundary-pushing aesthetic based in exuberant theatricality and structural innovation. She is also a playwright whose work has been presented or developed at theaters nationwide. Susan serves as president on the board of the Alliance of Resident Theatres/New York, on the boards of The Indie Theater Fund, The Assembly and 3LD, on the advisory board of the Drama League’s Beatrice Terry Residency, is a member of the National Theatre Conference and League of Professional Theatre Women, and the recipient of Obie and Lilly awards.