We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Alyssa Salter. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Alyssa below.

Alyssa, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

Meaningful work is something I have been obsessed with for awhile. I use the word obsessed because when I am focused on something, it can become all consuming. It’s one of the perks (and pits) of being autistic. Meaningful work became an obsession to me because I wanted to deliver equitable access to the arts to my community. I wanted as many people as possible to feel the spark of enjoyment that theatre arts can ignite. One project was meant the most to me was our productions of Julius Caesar and Cleopatra by William Shakespeare.

The summer of 2019 we mounted two shows that follow the plot line of Julius Caesar, Mark Antony, Cleopatra, and Octavius Caesar as they all rise and fall from power. We featured performers across the gender spectrum playing roles that have been deeply gendered for their entire canon. It was important to me, as a queer and gender queer person, to show that power can look whatever way it needs to in order to succeed.

Representation is important work because there is a great diversity in our world, but especially in our local San Diego community, and it deserves to be shared. Challenging perceptions of gender and power structures was fun, but so was sharing art with varying people represented. This is one of the key ideas of New Match Collective; voice the voiceless, see the unseen, hear the unheard.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I started doing theatre in high school and was hooked pretty immediately. It was something that kept my crave for information satisfied, because there’s so much to learn and read. After several degrees and living abroad, I returned to my home city of San Diego finding that I didn’t feel like I knew where my art belonged.

New Match Collective had been born out of necessity for a platform to share my stories. What started out as just me, my stories, and my passion became a non-profit with others, their stories too, and their passions. Our team is interested in holding as true as possible to our mission of voice the voiceless, see the unseen, and hear the unheard. We also believe in bringing accessible theatre education and art to the San Diego community.

We achieve this through master class workshops, theatre arts courses, new works readings, day camps for children, main stage plays, and more. We often will work in found locations or local libraries in an effort to reach the community across San Diego, to provide location accessibility.

We are most proud of our commitment to inclusivity, innovation, and access. We are a pretty small non-profit, considering what other theatre companies are in San Diego. We are a drop in a bucket of amazing artistry happening here. One drop zoomed out may not seem like a lot, but zoom in on the work and the community and you’ll see how impactful one drop can be.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

Buy their work. Share their work. Like their posts on social media. Comment on everything, even if it doesn’t seem like it will make a difference. BUY THEIR WORK. PAY THEM. DONATE.

It is…hard, talking about money. But that is how our world works, whether we like it or not. You can trade labor and volunteer time, and that is also valid support structures. But realistically, financial support is really helpful. You can donate to non-profit organizations like New Match Collective, you can buy season tickets for a local theatre, you can send your friend $20 and tell them to make their art or something.

It may not be fun to talk about but supporting your local artists helps keep the arts alive.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

I don’t know if I have a defined mission statement but it is this feeling of equity or accessibility or a combo word that I don’t know. I want to be able to share the arts because it made such an impact on me when I found it. I felt very alone and struggled to find somewhere where my personality wasn’t “too much”. Theatre was the place where I felt like I could be authentically myself. It helped me discover the truest parts of me…and it led me to my wife, which is pretty great if you ask me.

Theatre has brought me joy, closure, love, heart break, and so much more. If I can share an ounce of what theatre brought me, then I think I am on the right track.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://newmatchcollective.wixsite.com/homesite
• Instagram: @newmatchcollective and @alyssajean
• Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/alyssa-salter
• Twitter: @collectivenm and @alyssajsalter

Image Credits
Union tribune Nancee E. Lewis, photo of Alyssa and Service dog sitting Ell Rudgers photography, headshot

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