New year, new leadership for

The Hum’n’bards in 2025!

We are excited to announce that we have made several changes to our leadership, including a new Artistic Director at the helm. The Bards are looking forward to this new chapter as it unfolds for us, keep your eyes on our socials & website for what we have in store this year!

A Statement from Wyatt Flynn

Artistic Director Emeritus
(they/them)

After nearly a decade, I am stepping down from my role as Artistic Director of The Hum'n'bards.

This decision comes with a lot of reflection and gratitude. I’m deeply proud of what we’ve built together, and grateful for the privilege of working alongside such talented and dedicated artists. I know I am leaving the leadership of this group in the most capable hands, and I am so excited to see what’s next for The Bards.

With love and gratitude,

Wyatt Flynn

A Statement from CJ Higgins

Artistic Director
(they/he)

I remember as if it was yesterday: back in September of 2016, I had just finished a performance of Pangaea: A Folk Opera, which was not only The Hum'n'bards Theater Troupe's inaugural production, but my first Philly Fringe show. I had only graduated from college a year prior when a friend of a friend (soon to be my friend, Wyatt Flynn, our founding Artistic Director) sat down with me to talk about their post-apocalyptic, plot-light idea for a show (Wyatt's show ideas are often plot-light, which has helped balance my uber-literal style as their collaborator) where the world's land split even further and people struggled to connect with each other through the overwhelming barrier of distance.

I would ultimately be a cast member and collaborator on this production, and years later there are very few Hum'n'bards shows I haven't had a hand in. All of those incredible artistic experiences are thanks to Wyatt taking a chance on me years ago, and I am incredibly grateful to them and the rest of the Bards for putting their trust in me in this leadership transition.

It was immediately following a performance of Pangaea that a critic came up to me. Me! Being talked to by a Certified Philly Critic! I was admittedly a little starstruck.

"You were great," he told me with a kind handshake. "I can't wait to see you perform some real roles like Lady M or Juliet."

Real roles? What had I just been doing for ninety minutes? Was the role less real because I wrote it with my friends? Because it was a role he had never heard of? Because it was new?

His remark echoes in my head often, as I feel it speaks to a larger trend of how audiences receive new theatrical work in a city whose theatre industry is built on the back of new works. Many beloved classics had their first performances on the stages of Philadelphia, and today it would be impossible to find a theatre company that has not at least dipped its toes in producing world premieres. Yet new works are admittedly a harder sell for audiences, a reality the Bards have had to face many times as a company which focuses on creating original musical theatre.

One major reason for this phenomenon is that, during a time of economic hardship and an ongoing worldwide health emergency, theatre itself is becoming less accessible to audiences. More people are finding themselves having to choose between the cost of a ticket or the cost of their next meal, or weighing the risk of physically going to a space where anyone around them could be contagious. As long as that's the case, people will usually prioritize shows they're familiar with already and know they'll enjoy, rather than gambling on something new. I fully understand those calculations as someone who's had to make them myself.

The Bards have had accessibility as a guiding principle for years, and we are committed to continuing and expanding that work. As such, here's what you can expect from us if you decide to join us as an audience member, an artist, a student, or however else you're supporting us:

1. We recognize the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and prioritize disability rights, including the right of disabled people to attend and participate in our shows. Masking is therefore required of all our audience members regardless of vaccination status. We also require our artists and staff to be fully vaccinated, and we create production-specific safety policies in collaboration with our production teams to meet the needs of the team and the realities of the pandemic for the current moment.

2. We understand that ticket price is a huge factor in making theatre accessible, and our audiences' presence in our space is valuable however much they paid to be there. All of our shows offer flexible ticket pricing, including pay-what-you-can and sliding scale. Even for shows where we have to raise our prices for logistic purposes, you can always reach out to us if finances are your one barrier for attending, and we will do our best to get you in. If you buy a ticket then wind up not being able to attend, we also offer flexible refund and exchange options, so feel free to grab that ticket in advance!

3. We admit that our shows are often not going to be fully, 100% accessible to attend in-person, because we are a small company with not a lot of money working in a city full of old buildings. As such, all of our shows are recorded and captioned in order to be viewable from home, and we will always be researching other ways to make our work as accessible as possible.

Sometimes, the plot of our first show "Pangaea" can hit too close to home nearly a decade later. The past few years have felt like we're being splintered and spread further and further apart from each other. As the new Artistic Director of The Hum'n'bards Theater Troupe, I am dedicated to fostering connection between artists and audience, between ourselves and other theatre companies doing incredible work despite impossible circumstances, between art and those who have been historically excluded from it. Should you choose to take the risk on some DIY queer musical theatre, know that we are here to help make that risk a little less stressful, because we want to share in the creation of new art with you.

Keep an eye on our pages this month because we've got a lot of cool stuff to announce throughout January and we'd love to see you there!

(Oh also we're not doing anything with AI, in case you want to see some art that people made.)

With excitement for the future,
CJ Higgins