{"id":235355,"date":"2026-07-04T10:31:06","date_gmt":"2026-07-04T10:31:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/235355\/"},"modified":"2026-07-04T10:31:06","modified_gmt":"2026-07-04T10:31:06","slug":"realtime-arts-brings-equitable-dinners-to-pittsburgh-to-spark-civic-conversation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/235355\/","title":{"rendered":"RealTime Arts brings Equitable Dinners to Pittsburgh to spark civic conversation"},"content":{"rendered":"

At first glance, an Equitable Dinners event might look like a typical backyard barbecue. Hosted by Swissvale-based community theater company RealTime Arts<\/a>, the event series invites small groups to gather in mostly outdoor spaces for a short performance, followed by a meal and conversation.<\/p>\n

But instead of grilling and mingling, Equitable Dinners uses theater and a shared meal to introduce neighbors and spark conversation about local issues.<\/p>\n

July\u2019s inaugural Equitable Dinners by RealTime Arts will mark the first time the national series comes to the region, running from July 8 to 31.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe really want to make talking to each other a thing again,\u201d said RealTime Arts\u2019 co-founder and co-artistic director Molly Rice.<\/p>\n

Titled \u201cWe Hold These Truths,\u201d honoring the Declaration of Independence and America\u2019s 250th anniversary, the Pittsburgh series will focus on food, health and American identity.<\/p>\n

Dinners for groups of up to 10 people will be hosted by locals across four Pittsburgh neighborhoods \u2014 at NavusHouse<\/a> on the North Side, a Troy Hill urban homestead, a private home in Point Breeze, and at the Millvale Food and Energy Hub for a larger-capacity event. All plays will be performed by Pittsburgh actor Malika Cleckley, with a dinner and conversation guided by trained facilitators.<\/p>\n

Following RealTime Arts\u2019 radical hospitality model, tickets<\/a> to Equitable Dinners have no set price and are available for a suggested donation to make them accessible.<\/p>\n

The Equitable Dinners format has three distinct acts. Guests watch an original 10-minute play on a community topic. Then, they break bread together. <\/p>\n

Dinners are potluck-style, and hosts often encourage audience members to bring dishes that reflect their own cultural heritage. Lastly, after the shared meal has broken the ice, trained facilitators lead the group through a deeper discussion inspired by the play.<\/p>\n

Rice and RealTime Arts co-founder and co-artistic director Rusty Thelin first encountered Equitable Dinners in Minneapolis. Created in 2019 by Out of Hand Theater in Atlanta, the show was subsequently adapted by Minneapolis\u2019 Mixed Blood Theater, which created an event focused on houselessness.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was about people who are actually experiencing it, advocating around it and talking with other community members about it,\u201d said Rice. \u201cWe were sold as soon as we experienced it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rice and Thelin were impressed by the idea of an adaptable community theater model \u2014 not a licensed play, but a show format that could be tailored to local audiences.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s been a lot of news lately about theater companies having a hard time finding audiences,\u201d Rice said. \u201cIt was striking this was so hyper-local. The intimacy of 10 people sitting around a table talking was actually the strength and the selling point.\u201d<\/p>\n

When they brainstormed themes that would resonate with Pittsburghers, food seemed like an approachable topic.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe said, OK, we\u2019ll start with something a little easier to have a civic conversation about. Everyone eats and everyone has feelings and opinions about food,\u201d Rice said. \u201c(But) the minute you start really digging in, food becomes a policy issue.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following the Equitable Dinners model, RealTime Arts created the show based on two statewide community listening sessions. Rice served as lead playwright, while Thelin directed. The sessions allowed them to shape the characters based on real people. They also gathered stories from partner organizations, including Age-Friendly Greater Pittsburgh, Allegheny Health Network and Pennsylvania Community Health Worker Collaborative, a statewide nonprofit network.<\/p>\n

In the listening sessions, American identity quickly emerged as a theme \u2014 \u201cthe very first question we asked is, \u2018Are pierogies American food?\u2019 \u201d said Rice \u2014 as did the prevalence of food insecurity. According to a Feeding America report<\/a>, food insecurity statewide has reached unprecedented levels, increasing by 44% over the past two years, leaving 1.7 million Pennsylvanians \u2014 about 13% of the state\u2019s population \u2014 struggling to access reliable meals.<\/p>\n

The finished play is structured as a 10-page monologue, with multiple characters performed solely by Cleckley. The Chatham University junior connected with Thelin, also a Chatham instructor, after starring in a production of \u201cHedda Gabler.\u201d<\/p>\n

With Equitable Dinners, Cleckley said she enjoys performing outdoors and seeing the barrier between her acting and a traditional theater audience diminish, building empathy.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like it gives them more of an opportunity to connect with the show rather than feeling like they\u2019re watching something that they\u2019re not a part of,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Viewing the play in spaces such as a home garden builds on the food theme and is also meant to add to the event\u2019s comfort, Rice said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt really feels like a Fourth of July picnic,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s a nice neighborly gathering feel out in the garden, and we are trying to evoke that.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Rice, the setting is all in service of the larger conversation. She remembered one woman\u2019s story that shaped the play indirectly.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was taking care of her sister\u2019s family, and along with her own kids, she just didn\u2019t have enough food to go around.\u201d Having never heard of a food bank, \u201cher husband went,\u201d Rice said. \u201cAnd he left. He felt so much shame about needing extra food that he only stood in line for a minute.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen, someone else in the (listening session) impromptu said, \u2018I wish I\u2019d have known you, I would\u2019ve stood in line for you.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n

To Rice, it represented the power that an empathetic conversation can hold \u2014 \u201ca gorgeous, living example of this issue,\u201d she said. Today, years later, the same woman volunteers for a food bank and has become an advocate for policies to improve food security.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe feel strongly the main goal for this event is people being able to talk to each other,\u201d Rice said of Equitable Dinners. \u201cIt feels like there\u2019s a lot more tension around us talking in a general civic discourse kind of way. So what we\u2019re hoping is that we can practice. This is a safe and friendly place where we can practice hearing different perspectives and talking about them.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not (necessarily) going to solve any problems, but we can start a conversation that can be carried forward.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At first glance, an Equitable Dinners event might look like a typical backyard barbecue. Hosted by Swissvale-based community…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":235356,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[73,75,74],"class_list":["post-235355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235355","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=235355"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235355\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/235356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=235355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=235355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=235355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}