Rural Theatre

Joan Schirle, Founding Artistic Director of Dell’Arte International, presents an overview of the history of Dell’Arte’s Rural Residency Program and the program’s relationship to community engagement in Northern California.

Josh Platt on Double Edge Theatre’s Latin American Spectacle in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, Cada Luna Azul / Once a Blue Moon in Ashfield, Massachusetts, and the Springfield Spectacle, in Springfield, Massachusetts.

Cole Matson shares his experience attending a one-day event in Kansas that advocates for the local arts scene.

Mncedisi Baldwin Shabangu writes about his career as an acclaimed actor and director in South Africa, and the decisions that led him to currently work exclusively in a rural village.

In this installment, David Dudley interviews four members of Double Edge Theatre Company about the company’s unique approach to training and living.

Jennifer Johnson, of The Charlestown Working Theater, who has trained with Double Edge Theatre, interviews Stacy Klein, Founding Artistic Director of Double Edge about the evolution of Double Edge’s training method.

Pregones Theater and Roadside Theater review their twenty-one-year artistic collaboration and their upcoming Off-Broadway production of BETSY!.

Over my time in Spartanburg, I learned firsthand that South Carolina is not a homogenous place. There are all kinds of people in South Carolina, people with voices and powerful stories. A lot of those stories are invisible because of the cultural and political climate that surrounds them. That doesn’t mean they aren’t there—but it means that to those living outside of the state, they don’t exist.

Chris Garza visits The Visit staged in rural Minnesota, and reflects on how immersive theater invites audiences complicity in a play about mob psychology, vengance, and greed.

In the belief that rural artists need to be represented, Double Edged Theatre Company headed a conversation with fellow rural artists about action steps for the communities to take.

Patrick Overton on the history of cultural development in Rural/Small communites across the United States, and the nessisety of that development to the health of the community. 

Scott Walters discusses the necessity of creating independant and interdisciplinary Rural Arts programs.

Nikiko Masumoto blurs the line between farming and performance, and what that can mean for communication between farmers and consumers.

Donna Neuwirth describes the integration of culture and agriculture at the Wormfarm Institute in Wisconsin. 

Dudley Cocke, the director of Roadside Theater, on Rural Theater, its specific gifts, and the necessity of its inclusion in American Theater.