NET Leadership News

Dear Friends,

As the Network of Ensemble Theaters reaches the end of this year of transformative process and prepares to start the next, we’re reaching out to you, our beloved NET community to share three things: our deep gratitude, some joyful news, and an invitation to connect and celebrate with us online next week (Tues, Dec. 19)! 

Our thanks especially to NET’s devoted staff, Board, and NETneXt Bridge Ensemble, and to each of you, NET’s members, program participants, donors, partners, and allies – our colleagues and friends, current, past and future. 

Your support and presence has infused and inspired our core work of the past year: NETneXt, a collaborative inquiry into the present and future of our expanded field and NET’s role in shaping and supporting our collective wellbeing. This transformative exploration – our community-based devising process to co-create what’s NEXT for NET – will continue through Spring 2024, and we look forward to engaging with you in the new year on this work ahead.

On behalf of the NET Board and Bridge Ensemble, we are delighted to share that NET’s Executive Director Alisha Tonsic will take a paid sabbatical from January 1 to May 31, 2024, in alignment with our values of care and regenerative wellness. This extended time away from NET will be Alisha’s first in over 14 years of extraordinary leadership, organizing, commitment, and service as a NET staff member. We’re excited for her to enjoy liberated space for rest and reflection, and look forward to reweaving her wisdom and energies with NET on her return in June 2024. 

As a reflection of NET’s commitment to ensemble practice and collaborative creation, we are embracing this opportunity to deepen our exploration of shared leadership models. During the five-month period of Alisha’s sabbatical, NET’s core operations, NETneXt activity and programming will be stewarded collectively by the NETneXt Bridge Ensemble (including long-term staff member Nicole Shero, who will continue in her role as NET’s Finance & Operations Manager) and the NET Board. These 16 artists and practitioners, all drawn from the NET membership, represent a rich, diverse, and broad wealth of collective knowledge, lived experience, and passionate commitment for NET and the ensemble arts movement:

NETneXt Bridge Ensemble
Severin Blake
Dante Green
Todd London
Alex Meda
Rad Pereira
Nicole Shero

NET Board
Claudia Alick
Shoshana Bass
Jonathan Clark
Carrie J. Cole
Carlos Alexis Cruz
Alison De La Cruz
Jane Jung
Dipankar Mukherjee
Gerard Stropnicky
Leslie Tamaribuchi

To a new year of expansive possibility,

Leslie Tamaribuchi
NET Board Co-President

Alisha Tonsic
NET Executive Director