FESTIVAL PARTNERS
These partner theaters helped support the breath project's 2020 and 2021 virtual festivals and new work commissions:
ALABAMA SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL
website | Montgomery, AL
From its founding in a high school auditorium in Anniston in 1972 to its designation as the State Theatre of Alabama in 1977 to its move in 1985 to the stunning performing arts complex in Montgomery, ASF has been a leader in the performing arts throughout the state, region, and country. As a beloved Alabama arts institution, ASF broadens the cultural identity of the South and builds community by engaging, entertaining, and inspiring people with transformative theatrical performances and compelling educational and community programs. To request use of a theater space for filming (including a lovely outdoor garden that is open 24/7), contact Ahkim Church, Director of Production, at achurch@asf.net.
ALUMNI THEATER COMPANY
website | Pittsburgh, PA
Alumni Theater Company (ATC) is a driven ensemble that creates bold theatrical work that gives fresh voice to the experience of young Black artists and highlights their rich contribution to our community. ATC’s work presents the perspective of Black youth to both its members and its audience, building an increasingly growing and diverse community of support for both the performers and their ideas. ATC is in its twelfth season of operation and has presented more than 60 productions since its inception.
CHERRY LANE THEATRE
website | New York, NY
CHERRY LANE THEATRE In 1924, a group of theater artists, colleagues of Edna St. Vincent Millay, created Cherry Lane Playhouse. The Downtown Theater movement, The Living Theatre and Theatre of the Absurd all took root, and it proved fertile ground for 20th century dramaturgy’s seminal voices - F. Scott Fitzgerald, O’Neill, Odets, Gertrude Stein, T.S. Eliot, William Saroyan, Beckett, Albee, Pinter, Ionesco, Amiri Baraka, Sam Shepard, Lanford Wilson, Joe Orton, David Mamet and Lorraine Hansberry. In 1996 Angelina Fiordellisi revived Cherry Lane, co-founded the Cherry Lane Alternative, and created a number of programs to launch the next generation of American playwrights. Visit cherrylanetheatre.org for an entire production history.
CINCINNATI PLAYHOUSE IN THE PARK
Founded in 1960 and a recipient of two Tony Awards — the 2004 Regional Theatre Tony Award and the 2007 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical for Company — Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park is known for its artistic excellence, commitment to new works, creative educational programming, and as an artistic home for some of America’s best actors, directors and designers. For more than 30 years, the Playhouse has produced at least one world premiere production each season, including americUS by Universes, Safe House and the upcoming The West End by Keith Josef Adkins, Native Gardens by Karen Zacarías, The Revolutionists by Lauren Gunderson, All the Roads Home by Jen Silverman, and A Delicate Ship by Anna Ziegler, among others. Artistic Director Blake Robison and Managing Director Buzz Ward lead the nonprofit theatre’s production and administrative staff. Since 2012, Robison has appointed three nationally acclaimed theatre artists to work closely with him as Associate Artists on season planning, new play development and community engagement. The current Associate Artists are playwright Karen Zacarías, and directors Nicole A. Watson and Wendy C. Goldberg. Previous Associate Artists include directors Timothy Douglas, Eric Ting and Michael Evan Haney, and playwright/director KJ Sanchez. The Playhouse offers productions 10 months each year, attracting nearly 180,000 people annually to its two theatres and education and outreach programs. To request use of the theatre for recording your submission, please contact daunielle.rasmussen@cincyplay.com. For more information, visit cincyplay.com.
CITY THEATRE COMPANY
Founded in 1975, City Theatre is closing its 45th season as Pittsburgh’s home for bold new plays. Located in the historic South Side on its four-building cultural campus, the company produces a season of regional and world premieres; its renowned Young Playwrights Festival, celebrating its 20th year; a season-long reading series of new works in progress; and the annual Momentum Festival. City Theatre’s mission is to provide an artistic home for the development and production of contemporary plays of substance and ideas that engage and challenge a diverse audience. The theater has produced over 50 world premiere productions including works by Cori Thomas, Carla Ching, Stephen Belber, Sharon Washington, Christopher Durang, Adam Rapp, Billy Porter and more. City is a constituent and core member of the League of Resident Theaters (LORT), Theatre Communications Group (TCG), and the National New Play Network (NNPN). Marc Masterson returned as Artistic Director in July 2018, after an 18 year absence, to join Managing Director James McNeel as co-leaders of the organization.
Like all almost all arts organizations, City Theatre was forced to halt its 2019-2020 season in the middle of March due to the Covid-19 national crisis. It is currently in planning and preparations for its 46th season, scheduled to begin in the fall.
COMPANY ONE THEATRE
Company One Theatre builds community at the intersection of art and social change. Founded in 1998, Company One has situated itself as a home for social justice and artistic excellence by connecting Boston’s diverse communities through live performance, the development of new plays and playwrights, arts education, and public engagement programming. By establishing a dedicated space for marginalized and alternative narratives to thrive and working with partners and collaborators across the city, Company One has become a local leader in the ongoing conversations that continue to define the era of social change in contemporary America.
Company One Theatre’s work falls into four main areas: Productions, Education, New Play Development, and Engagement. Over its 20 year history Company One has produced over 80 productions, employed over 1500 local artists, and have been awarded over 30 Boston theatre awards. We have served over 100,000 audience members and 15,000 students.
CORNERSTONE THEATER COMPANY
Cornerstone Theater Company makes new plays with and about communities. By combining the artistry of people with many levels of theatrical experience, we act upon the conviction that artistic expression is civic engagement and that access to a creative forum is essential to the health and wellness of every individual and community. From farmers in Norcatur, Kansas, to postal workers in downtown Los Angeles, we have worked with hundreds of communities across the country of shared place, culture, faith, and occupation.
Founded in 1986, Cornerstone began as a traveling ensemble living and working in primarily rural communities. In 1992, we settled in Los Angeles to focus on urban collaborations. Called “possibly the closest entity to a National Theater that the United States may ever have” by Theater Journal, Cornerstone has commissioned more than 100 playwrights, produced over 150 new works, trained thousands of students, and worked with tens of thousands of community members, in Los Angeles and across the country. For venue assistance, contact blemon@cornerstonetheater.org.
CURIOUS THEATRE COMPANY
“No guts, no story” embodies the ethos of Curious Theatre Company and our mission is to engage the community in important contemporary issues through provocative modern theatre. Established in 1997 by a vanguard Artistic Company that now includes 23 professional actors, designers, and directors, Curious brings the best new theatre to Denver. We produce thought-provoking plays designed to challenge ideas, stir emotions, and leave audiences thinking and talking for days.
Curious has cultivated a local and national reputation as a destination for artists and playwrights to foster and develop new work, and as a place where audiences are challenged. Now entering our third decade of bringing thought-provoking theatre to Denver, Curious Theatre Company’s rich history showcases our commitment to playwrights with gutsy things to say.
To request use of the theatre for recording your submission, please contact Jeannene@curioustheatre.org
DETROIT PUBLIC THEATRE
Founded in 2015, Detroit Public Theatre is a small professional theatre in the heart of Detroit's cultural center. DPT is committed to engaging audiences and artists with bold and impactful plays and programs relevant to the community in which we produce. DPT is proud to be a home for the work of Dominique Morisseau -- native Detroiter and world renowned playwright – and to have commissioned the world premiere of Birthday Candles by Noah Haidle, which is scheduled to open on Broadway in Fall 2021. In five years Detroit Public Theatre has produced 21 plays including 18 Michigan premieres. DPT's signature community program Shakespeare in Prison empowers incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people to reconnect with their humanity and that of others; to reflect on their past, present, and future; and to gain the confidence, self esteem, and crucial skills they need to positively impact their communities. Detroit Public Theatre was founded by Producing Artistic Directors Courtney Burkett, Sarah Clare Corporandy and Sarah Winkler. For venue assistance please contact Patrick Hanley patrick@detroitpublictheatre.org.
DORSET THEATRE FESTIVAL
Over the last decade Dorset Theatre Festival has become a national incubator for new play development, committed to nurturing new plays and playwrights who are innovative, authentic and celebrate our common humanity. Founded in 1976, the Festival’s mission is to create bold, innovative, and authentic theatre that engages a diverse, multi-generational community, and economically broad region: enlightening, entertaining, and inspiring our audience through the celebration of great plays.
In any given year, the Festival is developing or supporting more than a dozen new plays through the production of World and Regional Premieres on the Main Stage, the Pipeline Series of new work, the Women Artists Writing Group (DTFWAW), The Jean E. Miller Young Playwrights Program & Competition, and our new Commissioning and Fellowship Program, developing new work and new voices for the American theatre. Locally Engaged - Nationally Relevant - We produce theatre that matters. For information about recording your piece at Dorset Theatre Festival, email dina@dorsettheatrefestival.org.
FACE OFF THEATRE COMPANY
Face Off Theatre Company aims to present audiences with fresh and innovative pieces of drama, as well as, classic works that are inspirational, entertaining, and thought provoking. The theatre aims to create transcendent theatre art that explores the complexity and richness of the black experience and encourages cross cultural dialogue that illuminates and expands our understanding of the universal human experience. To request use of the theatre for recording your submission, please contact faceofftheatre@gmail.com.
FLAT ROCK PLAYHOUSE
Flat Rock Playhouse, the State Theatre of North Carolina, is a regional professional theatre with roots going back 80 years to a troupe of wandering vagabonds looking for an artistic home. Building on that legacy, our mission is to sustain production excellence, nurture talent, and inspire creativity in a safe haven for artistic vision, life-long learning and creative risk, one that is accessible to everyone. We are located in the village of Flat Rock in Western North Carolina, and are proud to be a Breath Project partner.
FLINT REPERTORY THEATRE
Flint Repertory Theatre is a professional, not-for-profit theatre in the heart of Flint, Michigan. The Rep’s commitment is to provide the city of Flint and surrounding communities with highly imaginative, thought-provoking theatre that is challenging, entertaining and inspiring for all ages. The Rep produces an eclectic mix of world premiere plays and musicals and bold new interpretations of theatrical classics. The annual New Works Festival brings playwrights and composers from around the world to Flint for a week of staged readings and workshops. Recipient of a 2018 National Theatre Grant from The American Theatre Wing awarded to innovative theatre companies making local impact across the nation by connecting their community to excellence in the performing arts. Flint Repertory Theatre is a program of the Flint Institute of Music, alongside the Flint School of Performing Arts and the Flint Symphony Orchestra. To request use of the theatre for recording your submission, please email info@FlintRep.org.
INTIMAN THEATRE
Intiman Theatre uses the power of story and education to activate dialogue, confront inequity, and build collective joy. Intiman is a professional theater company in Seattle, Washington that won the 2006 Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre, the 2018 Gregory Award for Outstanding Musical, 2018 Teeny Award, 2019 Mayor’s Arts Award, and is overseen by Artistic Director, Jennifer Zeyl; Managing Director, Amy Zimerman; and Board Chair, Jasmine Mahmoud. The company retired a historic $2.7m in debt & obligations in 2018 and remains debt-free.
Since its founding in 1972, Intiman Theatre has presented over 230 productions to Seattle audiences. Among the more recent of these are THE EVENTS by David Grieg, HIR by Taylor Mac, BULRUSHER by Eisa Davis, NATIVE GARDENS by Karen Zacarías, ANGELS IN AMERICA by Tony Kushner, TROUBLE IN MIND and WEDDING BAND by Alice Childress, BOOTYCANDY and BARBECUE by Robert O’hara, and DRAGON LADY by Sara Porkalob.
In 2021, Intiman will move its operations to the campus of Seattle Central College in Capitol Hill, where it will produce at Broadway Performance Hall and Erickson Theatre. Intiman has a focus on providing quality, free arts education opportunities through programs such as STARFISH Project, Intiman Emerging Artist Project, South End Stories, and will soon launch an Associate of Arts Degree emphasis in Technical Theatre for Social Justice in partnership with the college.
KUMU KAHUA THEATRE
Kumu Kahua Theatre was founded in 1971 by a group of graduate students at the University of Hawai‘i, with the goal of producing locally-written experimental works. The Hawaiian language words kumu and kahua translate to “original stage.” 50 years after its original founding, Kumu Kahua is still the only theatre solely dedicated year-around to creating, supporting, and showcasing original works of theatre specifically related to our geographical region and the cultures represented here.
Located in downtown Honolulu, Kumu Kahua has helped develop more than 250 original works that have influenced hundreds of actors, playwrights, directors, designers, technicians, and community members. To request use of the theatre for recording your submission, please contact managingdirector@kumukahua.org.
LIVE ARTS
website | Charlottesville, VA
Powered by more than 1,200 volunteers, Live Arts is a national model for engaged, high-caliber community theater. For more than three decades, we’ve dedicated ourselves to the mission of “forging theater and community.” Our engagement in local communities runs deep, and we attract artists and audiences from across Central Virginia. In a typical year, we present a compelling season of seven mainstage plays and musicals driven by our dedicated volunteers. We welcome hundreds of people to our year-round education workshops and youth summer camps. We run a lab that helps local playwrights develop their work. And for nearly two decades, we have provided tech support to high school and college theater companies performing at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland. For the past few years, we have been examining the place we occupy in our community and the ways in which we have been complicit. We are actively engaged in creating a new, more equitable space.
MARIN THEATRE COMPANY
Marin Theatre Company is the Bay Area’s premier mid-sized theatre and the leading professional theatre in the North Bay. We produce a six-show season focused on new American plays. We are committed to the development and production of new plays, with a comprehensive New Play Program that includes productions of world premieres, two nationally recognized annual playwriting awards and readings and workshops by the nation’s best emerging and established playwrights. Our numerous education programs serve more than 4,500 students from over 40 Bay Area schools each year. MTC strives to create intimate, powerful and emotional experiences that engage audiences to discuss new ideas and adopt a broader point of view. We believe in taking risks and inspiring people to participate in live theatre, regardless of personal means. MTC celebrates the intellectual curiosity of our community, and we believe that theatre is an important tool to help build empathy. MTC was founded in 1966 and is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. To request use of the theatre for recording your submission, please contact production@marintheatre.org.
NETWORK OF EMSEMBLE THEATERS
website | National Service Organization
Bio Coming Soon. To request assistance in finding a theater in a region not listed on this page, please contact thebreathproject2020@gmail.com, and TBP and NET will do our best to help you.
OREGON SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL
PILLSBURY HOUSE THEATRE
Pillsbury House Theatre’s mission is to create challenging theatre that inspires enduring change towards a just society. Through the Mainstage season and other community engagement programs, Pillsbury House Theatre (PHT) illuminates the differences that make each person unique and the similarities that bring people together, within an artistic environment that promotes understanding and leads to positive action. Housed within an urban community center in the most diverse neighborhood in Minnesota, the theatre is a company of artists working in partnership with diverse audiences to create transformational arts experiences. More at pillsburyhouseandtheatre.org.
RUDE MECHS
Rude Mechs, founded in 1996, is an ensemble-based theatre collective that has created a genre-averse slate of original theatrical productions peppered with big ideas, cheap laughs, and dizzying spectacle. What these works hold in common are the use of play to make performance, the use of theaters as meeting places for audiences and artists, and the use of humor as a tool for intellectual investigation. We tour these performances nationally and abroad; maintain CRASHBOX, a 1500 sf performance/rehearsal/craft home to artists of all disciplines; house a scenic lending library; and run Why We’re Here, a year-round program providing displaced immigrants a forum for artistic expression. The quality and innovation of the company’s theatrical productions have firmly established Rude Mechs as one of Austin’s most highly valued cultural assets. To request use of the theatre for recording your submission, please contact staff@rudemechs.com.
SAN DIEGO REPERTORY THEATRE
San Diego Repertory Theatre (San Diego REP) produces intimate, provocative and inclusive theatre. Founded in 1976, San Diego Repertory Theatre is downtown San Diego’s resident theatre, promoting an interconnected community through vivid works that nourish progressive political and social values and celebrates the multiple voices of our region. The company produces and hosts over 550 events and performances year-round on its three stages at the Lyceum Theatre. Since moving to the Lyceum, The REP has produced 45 main stage productions by Latino playwrights, and more than 40 world premieres. In addition to a 1998 Tony Award® Nomination for It Ain’t Nothin’ But the Blues, the company has received more than 200 awards for artistic excellence from the San Diego Theatre Critics Circle, Patté Theatre Awards, NAACP, Backstage West, Dramalogue and StageSceneLA. In 2005, the San Diego Theatre Critics Circle presented The REP with the Craig Noel Award “For 30 Years of Artistic Dedication to Downtown and Diversity.” San Diego Repertory Theatre feeds the curious soul. To learn more about San Diego Repertory Theatre, to purchase tickets, or make a donation, visit www.sdrep.org. Join us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter (@SanDiegoREP). To request use of the theatre for recording your submission, please contact Sarah Zimmerman and Chelsea Smith at szimmerman@sdrep.org and csmith@sdrep.org.
Southern Rep
Southern Rep Theatre (Southern Rep) is an award-winning, critically-acclaimed regional theatre company that produces bold world premieres, the best of Broadway and off-Broadway, and classic plays under the leadership of Producing Artistic Director Aimée Hayes. Our Mainstage, Sanctuary Stage, and Hal Brown Outdoor Stage feature work from local arts companies along with our own new play development and “School to Stage Pipeline” Arts Education and Professional Development Programs. Southern Rep entertains, educates, and engages audiences with accessible, high-quality productions. To request use of the theatre for recording your submission, email sacha@southernrep.com.
Studio theatre
website | Washington DC
Studio Theatre is Washington's premier venue for contemporary theatre, "where local audiences will find today's edgiest playwrights" (Variety). One of the most respected midsized theatres in the country, Studio produces exceptional contemporary drama in deliberately intimate spaces. Drawing inspiration from great ensembles—where people work together with a spirit of generosity and professional rigor—Studio brings characteristic thoughtfulness and daring to its work onstage and off, through its new work incubator and engagement, education, and workforce training initiatives. Studio serves nearly 75,000 people each year, including more than 1,000 youth and young adults through community engagement initiatives. Founded in 1978, the quality of Studio's work has been recognized by sustained community support, as well as 72 Helen Hayes Awards for excellence in professional theatre. To request use of the theatre for recording your submission, email rdouglas@studiotheatre.org
TWO RIVER THEATER
Two River Theater produces a theatrical season that includes American and world classics, new plays and musicals, programs for young people, and festivals of new work. Each year, we also offer 40+ events that reflect our diverse community of Red Bank, New Jersey. Two River produces work on two stages—the 350-seat Rechnitz Theater, and the flexible 110-seat Marion Huber Theater. The theater’s recently opened Center for New Work, Education and Design is a three-story facility that includes two rehearsal studios, offices for artists, expanded shops, centrally located offices, and multiple storage areas. Two River Theater has commissioned and premiered original projects including Be More Chill by Tony Award nominee Joe Iconis and Joe Tracz (the theater’s first Broadway production) and Hurricane Diane by Playwright-in-Residence Madeleine George (which won an Obie Award for its Off-Broadway run). In June 2919, Two River was nationally recognized by USA TODAY as one of “10 great places to see a play” across the U.S. Two River serves thousands of students and community members through arts and humanities programs at the theater, in schools and throughout its region. Two River Theater is led by Artistic Director John Dias and Managing Director Michael Hurst and was founded in 1994 by Joan and Robert Rechnitz.
WESTERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF THEATRE
Western Michigan University's Department of Theatre is dedicated to the development of theatre artists and entertainment professionals through the use of the industry's latest technology, contemporary business practices and by nurturing new and diverse theatrical ventures. We prepare students for successful careers in the professional theatre or for continued study at the graduate level. We strive to empower students with the tools to shape a vibrant, relevant and innovative future for the arts and cultural industry that is reflective of their world. To request use of the theatre for recording your submission, email joan.herrington@wmich.edu.
Palo Alto Children’s Theatre
Youth Theater Partner
Palo Alto Children’s Theatre, now in its 89th season, serves more than 64,000 community members each year with theatrical productions and programs for youth ages 3 through high school. Performing arts education opportunities include onsite classes, camps, andproduction experiences, as well as theatrical Outreach Productions (grades 3-5) and Dance in Schools classes (grades K-2) in all twelve PAUSD Elementary Schools. Managing Artistic Director: Judge Luckey.
To request use of the theatre for recording your submission, please contact childrens.theatre@cityofpaloalto.org.
– THE BREATH PROJECT –
GAMAL ABDEL CHASTEN
The Breath Project – ARTISTIC DIRECTOR/Co-Founder
Gamal is an actor, poet, writer, composer, activist, and a founding member of Universes Theater Ensemble. His latest projects are The Land Of Lost Socks (a children’s story), commissioned by The Palo Alto Children's Theatre and AmericUS (Universes, commissioned by Cincinnati Playhouse). He is currently in development for his solo production of Crawfish. His work in Theater spans over twenty-five years. Along with Universes he has co-written and/or acted in The Ride (PS 122, 1996), Slanguage (New York Theater Workshop, 2001), Rhythmicity(Actors Theater of Louisville) Ameriville (Victory Garden Theater, 2006). Individual writing credits include Let Bygones Be, (2010 Humana Festival’s Ten Minute Play series), The Last Word (PS 122), God Took Away His Poem (Labyrinth Theater Barn Series), The Black Mann Act/The Trail of Jack Johnson/Vaudeville Show (New Orleans reading), The Wall (New Orleans Fringe Festival) Badge, (Just Theater 2013 residency). Directing credits include: The Last Word (Austin, TX); Articulation (at Company One in Boston); Innerviews (by Full Circle at NY's Dance Theater Workshop). Additional acting credits include: Brother (by Lisa Ebersole at The Elm Theater); Zombie Town (Southern Rep @ Le Chat Noir). Awards/Affiliations: 2008 U.S. Cultural Ambassador w/ the U.S. State Dept./Jazz at Lincoln Center - Rhythm Road Tour; New York Theatre Workshop Usual Suspect. Publications: UNIVERSES’ The Revolution will be Live! (2020 release- TCG Books), 2018 Dell’ Arte Prize of Hope, Writers Corp Teacher Anthology (City Lights Books 2009); SLANGUAGE in The Fire This Time (TCG Books); Featured on the covers of American Theater Magazine 2004 and The Source Magazine 2000.
Marieke Gaboury
The Breath Project – Co-Founder
As a Theatre Specialist for the City of Palo Alto, Marieke is delighted to be a part of the team that supports performing arts programs for youth in the Bay Area. A California native who has happily returned home, Marieke spent some years in New Orleans, where she was the Manager of Institutional Development for the New Orleans Ballet Association, as well as Managing Director of Southern Rep, one of the only professional theatre companies in Louisiana. Her move to New Orleans followed 13 years in New York City, where she was Producing Director of LAByrinth Theater Company, the member-driven Off Broadway collective which developed and produced new work by both emerging and distinguished, award-winning theatre artists. Marieke is still a member of LAB.