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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
Westley and Grayson
Essay

Westley and Grayson

Reflections from a Reluctant Californian

16 January 2015

Nephelie Andonyadis reflects on Cornerstone Theater Company’s California Bridge Tour and how its stories resonate within her.

Doing Community-Engaged Theatre Justice
Essay

Doing Community-Engaged Theatre Justice

20 December 2014

South Coast Rep shares model and journey of project El Largo Camino De Hoy with Encuentro 2014 attendees. Roxanne Schroeder-Arce reflects on the overall impact.

Collage of theatre artists gathering and speaking at the From Scarcity to Abundance convening.
Our Digital Present
Essay

Our Digital Present

11 October 2014

Café Onda (the Journal of the Latinx Theatre Commons) can’t make all our virtual dreams come true, but this space can celebrate the dynamic creativity and connectivity of Latina/o theatermakers as together we build our digital present.

A treasure map.
Cornerstone Theater Company’s California Bridge Tour
Essay

Cornerstone Theater Company’s California Bridge Tour

Weedpatch, CA

10 October 2014

"California: The Tempest" is performing in ten communities around the state. Ten is a lot of towns: ten unique environments, climates, venues, population demographics, and ten previous relationships with the company. Cornerstone is inherently responsive to the unique needs of the communities we collaborate with; even though we know how some things will go, we are always adjusting.

A Relaunch for MinnesotaPlaylist
Essay

A Relaunch for MinnesotaPlaylist

1 October 2014

Alan Berks offers an overview of the history of MinnesotaPlaylist.

Westbranch.
Artists’ Entrance
Essay

Artists’ Entrance

A Homegrown Artist Colony

29 September 2014

Today Westport has one of the wealthiest zip codes in the United States. A hedge fund responsible for $120 billion of the world’s money is nestled in the woods there. In this gilded environment, my family has always been slightly out of place. Though now winterized and expanded, our house is one of a dwindling number of non-mansions on the street. Recently, my parents and I decided to experiment with sharing that resource, thinking other artists might also benefit from the opportunity to get away and spread out.

Interview with Michael Garcés
Essay

Interview with Michael Garcés

3 September 2014

P. Carl interviews Michael Garcés, Artistic Director of Cornerstone Theater, about their touring production California: The Tempest, which revisits ten California communities that were part of ten year’s of Institute Summer Residencies.

Collage of theatre artists gathering and speaking at the From Scarcity to Abundance convening.
The Inaugural Latina/o Studies Conference
Essay

The Inaugural Latina/o Studies Conference

Reflections on the Long Table & Good Company

26 August 2014

I walk away, reflection upon reflection, moved and inspired. Even now, the questions that came up at the long table stay with me: What is your fire? What is it that you are here to uniquely do? As many of us prepare to meet again in Los Angeles this fall, we will keep these questions in mind. I can’t help but to think back to the idea of a spherical journey, which is the unstoppable future of the LTC and Latina/o theater in this the US.

New Orleans and The DISTILLERY
Essay

New Orleans and The DISTILLERY

Creative Visibility

30 July 2014

Emilie Whelan offers an overview of The DISTILLERY—a creative residency for New Orleans-based performing artists 

A person waving out of a window.
Community Building with the Chicago Home Theater Festival
Essay

Community Building with the Chicago Home Theater Festival

24 June 2014

Dani Snyder-Young writes about the 2014 Chicago Home Theater Festival, which places participatory performances inside private homes.

The Artist, the Institution, and the Communal Organism
Essay

The Artist, the Institution, and the Communal Organism

16 June 2014

My maturation as a young theater practitioner has nothing to do with finding and knowing the answers. I don’t know them. Trust me. It has everything to do with facing the pivotal question: of which American theater do I want to be a part? The answer is that I will only, and can only, be a part of the theater that evolves through the specific and indispensable relationship with its community.

Bridging Heritage and Art at the Innovate Heritage Conference
Essay

Bridging Heritage and Art at the Innovate Heritage Conference

5 June 2014

Who is allowed to draw on cultural tradition in a creative process and still be considered a “contemporary” artist? When does something become “heritage” or “tradition” and what attains status or gains cultural currency? Through this first "Innovate Heritage: Conversations between Arts and Heritage" conference in Berlin, Germany, with nearly forty speakers and artists from over thirty countries, we hope to open dialogue around some of these issues and many more that continue to expand, reconnect and inspire us.

Photo of a Shake 38 production.
DIY Shakespeare
Essay

DIY Shakespeare

Co-Creating With Your Community

23 April 2014

Founder Rick Dildine tells the story of Shake38, a city-wide Shakespeare interpretation and performance festival.

A theatre workshop.
A Bridge to End a Social and Economic Divide
Essay

A Bridge to End a Social and Economic Divide

Dialogue/Diálogos Project

22 April 2014

Sara Guerrero shares the process and successes behind South Coast Repertory’s Hispanic Playwrights Project, a bilingual theatre project to gather and tell the stories of the Santa Ana Latino community.

Rehearsal for The Long Road Today.
Resident Playwrights in Conversation
Essay

Resident Playwrights in Conversation

José Cruz González and Julie Marie Myatt

21 April 2014

Playwrights Julie Marie Myatt and José Cruz González discuss South Coast Repertory's Dialogue/Diálogos project, which features the stories of more than 700 residents of the Santa Ana community.

Playwrights in the Community—Building Momentum at South Coast Repertory
Essay

Playwrights in the Community—Building Momentum at South Coast Repertory

20 April 2014

Kelly Miller offers insight on how the South Coast Repertory has supported and engaged with playwrights to develop compelling theatre in Orange County. 

Interview with Lear deBessonet
Essay

Interview with Lear deBessonet

23 February 2014

P. Carl interviews Director Lear deBessonet on her influences, inspirations, and current work.

Photo from Winter Pageant.
Winter Pageant at Redmoon
Essay

Winter Pageant at Redmoon

23 January 2014

Dani Snyder-Young writes about Winter Pageant, a collaborative spectacle piece created by the (now closed) Redmoom in Chicago.

Dance and Social Justice
Essay

Dance and Social Justice

22 November 2013

Many of us can attribute our path to the theater to a dynamic teacher in school: the teacher that inspired us or showed us a new side of ourselves. This series is a snapshot of today's high school theater educators across the country sharing about what they do and how and why they do this work.

Baltan logo.
Bay Area Latino Theatre Artists Network
Essay

Bay Area Latino Theatre Artists Network

Forging Sustainable Connections Both Locally and Nationally

29 October 2013

What’s the next step when we’ve done this before and nothing has changed? The Bay Area Latino theatre artists reflect on historical patterns to find the answer of what’s next.

Logo for the Latinx Theatre Commons.
Latina/o Theater and Performance
Essay

Latina/o Theater and Performance

Looking Back, Going Forward Together

28 October 2013

The 2013 convening is a time to think of defining who, what, and where Latina/o theatre is currenting in reflection of where it has come from and where it can go!

masscreative logo
Boston Mayoral Candidate John Connolly Addresses a Full Hall at the Villa Victoria Center for the Arts
Video

Boston Mayoral Candidate John Connolly Addresses a Full Hall at the Villa Victoria Center for the Arts

Friday 25 October 2013
Boston, MA, United States

MASSCreative presented an address by John Connelly on his Arts and Culture Agenda archived on the global, commons-based peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Friday 25 October 2013.

Photo from Cry You One.
My Community Roots
Essay

My Community Roots

24 October 2013

Following the historical models set by Southern artists against violence and aggression, Cartlon Turner talks about why and how this work continues in his community.

Working on the Obama campaign.
Connectivity in Action
Essay

Connectivity in Action

23 October 2013

Jocelyn Prince, Connectivity Director at Woolly Mammoth, continues our series on Audience Engagement with a blog focusing on the intersection of connectivity and community organizing.

Towards a Participatory Public
Essay

Towards a Participatory Public

The Meeting of Theater and Community

23 October 2013