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Community-Engaged Theatre

In this section, you’ll find content about making theatre that is deeply engaged—often throughout the creation and production process—with a specific community. Questions are explored around navigating the relationship between the artist(s) and the community, as well as creating meaningful and authentic experiences. The essay “Not Another Memory Play,” about the creation of “a durational, grassroots engagement with the Black community of the Arkansas Delta called Remember2019,” is a great place to start, as is this conversation from CultureHub about collectives devising new grassroots engagement strategies.

The Latest

Can’t Do Theatre by Yourself
Essay
Can’t Do Theatre by Yourself
by Christin Eve Cato, Jorge Piña
23 January 2024
On Theatre, Home, and Housing 
Essay
On Theatre, Home, and Housing 
by Jan Cohen-Cruz
16 January 2024
Perspectives from Two Teatros Doing the Work
Essay
Perspectives from Two Teatros Doing the Work
by Milta Ortiz, Alberto Justiniano
3 January 2024
four actors onstage
Lumbering Toward the New
Essay

Lumbering Toward the New

17 March 2020

In this virtual keynote, Todd London reflects on the nature of new work and the social cooperation inherent to making theatre.

collage of close-up body images, including hands and feet
Gasping Whiteness and New Play Development Inspired by Community Organizing
Essay

Gasping Whiteness and New Play Development Inspired by Community Organizing

25 February 2020

Through the lens of developing his show Gasping Whiteness, Will MacAdams talks about the value of creating theatre in partnership with community organizers.

nine people standing in a large space
My Cultural Cluj
Essay

My Cultural Cluj

Building Community in Post-Communist Romania

4 February 2020

Mihai Mateiu discusses his trajectory as an arts organizer in Cluj, from open-air music festivals to running a bookshop and cultural venue, to working to build arts audiences by partnering with businesses.

three actors onstage
Stories from America’s Death Row
Essay

Stories from America’s Death Row

A Conversation with Lynden Harris

29 January 2020

Summer Robinson interviews playwright Lynden Harris about her work creating theatre with men on death row across the United States.

two actors embracing onstage
Connection, Influence, and Impact as a Playwright-In-Residence
Essay

Connection, Influence, and Impact as a Playwright-In-Residence

11 December 2019

Carlos Murillo and Kira Obolensky talk about their National Playwright Residency Program residencies, creating work for a specific theatre’s audience, playwrights not being part of the sea change of artistic director turnover, and more.

a group of performers outside
Theatre for Development in Malawi
Essay

Theatre for Development in Malawi

5 November 2019

Isaac Mafuel talks about Malawi’s most prevalent form of theatre, its history, and its impact and challenges.

screenshot
Migrating Our Skills as Cultural Workers
Essay

Migrating Our Skills as Cultural Workers

16 October 2019

Cultural organizer and producer Joon Lynn Goh speaks with Janna Graham, a research-based practitioner, curator, and lecturer, about connecting cultural work with political organizing.

shadows of legs walking
All We Need Is Audience Development?
Essay

All We Need Is Audience Development?

13 October 2019

Goran Tomka looks at what audience development is, the phenomenon of an implied or implicit audience, decolonizing institutions, and more.

an audience view of a concert
Cultural Participation Policies
Essay

Cultural Participation Policies

A Poverty of Ambition

8 October 2019

Dr. David Stevenson talks about audience diversification, confronts the dominant hierarchy of cultural activities, and looks to create space for valuing everyone’s chosen cultural experiences the same way.

two actors onstage
The Factory of the Future
Essay

The Factory of the Future

A Collaborative Project for Imagining Otherwise

30 September 2019

Zoë Svendsen discusses working with fellow theatremakers to build and present imagined realities of London and Oslo in post-capitalist and post-fossil-fuel cultures.

Three young actors in school uniforms onstage in front of a graffiti wall.
Caring for Ourselves So We Can Care for Each Other
Essay

Caring for Ourselves So We Can Care for Each Other

Michael J. Bobbitt and Raymond O. Caldwell in Conversation, Part II

16 September 2019

Part II of the conversation between Michael J. Bobbitt, the recently appointed artistic director of Boston’s New Repertory Theatre, and Raymond Caldwell, the new leader of Washington’s Theater Alliance, who talk about post-show conversations and self-care.

"I’m Not Interested in More Allies. I Need Advocates."
Essay

"I’m Not Interested in More Allies. I Need Advocates."

Michael J. Bobbitt and Raymond O. Caldwell in Conversation, Part I

15 September 2019

Michael J. Bobbitt, the recently appointed artistic director of Boston’s New Repertory Theatre, and Raymond Caldwell, the new leader of Washington’s Theater Alliance, sit down to talk about race equity work, the guilt they felt leaving their previous posts, and more.

eight people posing together
The Power of Local
Essay

The Power of Local

Building Community While Building Plays

25 August 2019

Playwrights Will Power and Jonathan Norton talk about what being an artist in residence looks like, championing local playwrights, rejection letters, and more.

four actors in rehearsal
We Didn’t Have Any Role Models
Essay

We Didn’t Have Any Role Models

An Interview with the Founders of Wry Crips Disabled Women’s Theatre Group

21 August 2019

Michaela Goldhaber, current artistic director of Wry Crips, talks to the founding and early members of the disabled women’s theatre group about their history.

a colorful mural that says community
So You Want to Move to the Developing Neighborhood?
Essay

So You Want to Move to the Developing Neighborhood?

25 June 2019

Jordan Schwartz discusses gentrification in developing neighborhoods, how artists moving in need to work with the existing communities, and what kind of change that can bring about.

a group of people with their hands raised
Hearing Each Other Over the Gun Fire
Essay

Hearing Each Other Over the Gun Fire

24 June 2019

Several months after Pittsburgh’s Quantam Theatre programmed The Gun Show, there was a mass shooting at a synagogue in the city. TJ Parker discusses how the company responded to the crisis, both through the play and through community engagement.

audience members inside an enclosed transparent VR tent
Narrative Sharing and Narrative Shifting with Digital Technology
Essay

Narrative Sharing and Narrative Shifting with Digital Technology

10 June 2019

Members of the Detroit-based artist collective Complex Movements discuss the connection between technology, performance, and social justice community organizing.

three different frames of a dancer
New to New Orleans / Venant d’arriver à la Nouvelle Orléans
Essay

New to New Orleans / Venant d’arriver à la Nouvelle Orléans

Three Theatremakers’ Impressions on Parades versus Protests / Les impressions de trois femmes de théâtre des parades et des manifestations

23 May 2019

Amelia Parenteau, along with theatremakers Eva Doumbia and Marie Houdin, explores the similarities and differences of parades and protests.

actors performing outside
Theatre During a Time of Upheaval
Essay

Theatre During a Time of Upheaval

15 May 2019

Farai Mabeza offers an overview of theatre in Zimbabwe, from the major theatre in the capital city, to smaller community theatres, to the country’s festivals.

actors onstage
The Why and How of Site-Specific
Essay

The Why and How of Site-Specific

From Then to Now

2 May 2019

Anne Hamburger, founder of En Garde Arts, talks about the beginnings of her company, and, with it, the beginnings of site-specific theatre in New York City.

three people sit at a table reading
Listening and Finding Common Ground
Essay

Listening and Finding Common Ground

Chris Coleman and Marya Sea Kaminski in Conversation

28 April 2019

Artistic directors Marya Sea Kaminski, of the Pittsburgh Public Theater, and Chris Coleman, of the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, talk about board relationships, connecting with new audiences, budgets as moral documents, and more.

College Ambassador program logo
The Creative Climate Movement
Essay

The Creative Climate Movement

25 March 2019

Lucy Latham talks about the work London-based organization Julie’s Bicycle is doing in encouraging the creative community to act on climate change and environmental sustainability.

three actors on stage behind a clock
Escaping the Imaginary of Engaged Arts
Essay

Escaping the Imaginary of Engaged Arts

21 March 2019

Goran Tomka looks at how arts and culture organizations can best engage with their communities.

a group of people in costume at the Porthcawl Carnival
Should Our Funds for the Arts Pay for Cultural Democracy?
Essay

Should Our Funds for the Arts Pay for Cultural Democracy?

17 March 2019

Nan van Houte expresses a desire for funding bodies to take their responsibility and support cultural democracy without compromising the existing subsidies for the arts.

large installation
Rethinking the Purpose of British Arts Institutions
Essay

Rethinking the Purpose of British Arts Institutions

17 February 2019

Lyn Gardner, theatre critic for the Guardian, looks at how several British theatre companies are redefining their mission and expanding in ways to be of greater benefit to their communities.