Nikko Kimzin, up until a few hours ago the Transcendence Theatre Company’s Director of Education and Community Engagement, has announced his resignation via a public post on the Medium web site.

Nikko Kimzin

Kimzin, who first performed with the company in 2017 and joined it full-time in 2018, gives his reasons for his resignation as “…the Transcendence Executive Team’s ongoing suppression of equity, diversity, and inclusion practices and inaction toward becoming an equitable theater” and for their creation of “a hostile work environment where I could no longer be successful in serving all of our diverse communities.”

In his post, Kimzin lists multiple interactions with TTC’s Artistic Director Amy Miller and Executive Director Brad Surosky that would seem to belie the company’s mantra of “Theatre for All”. He also relates a troubling conversation with a TTC donor who divulged “that he did not want his funds to be used for Latinx youth” and the Company’s dismissal of Kimzin’s concerns.

Kimzin says his post “is not a call out but a call in to the conversation and necessary work needed to truly serve all who call Sonoma home. It is my hope that Transcendence (TTC) and its leaders can live up to a higher standard of inclusivity moving forward.”