DIRECTORY OF TOURING GROUPS
(The listings below are alphabetical by the first letter of the listing. Last updated 2/26/2005)
Add Verb Productions -- Cathy Plourde
http://www.addverbproductions.com
info@addverbproductions.com
PO Box 3853, Portland, ME 04104
207-772-1167 (office)Add Verb Productions is a non-profit organization that awakens community-based action and understanding of social issues through theatre, creative expression, and dialogue. AVP manages two of Cathy Plourde's plays, The Thin Line, You the Man, that tour to schools, colleges, conferences, trainings and other community settings. AVP has been expanding opeations to create programs and workshops to support and nurture artist/activists.
Sample of Residencies and Workshops Available:
Playwriting as Activism--if Brecht sought to incite revolution, and Boal asks us to rehearse revolution, what's a playwright to do but consider coalition and collaboration, artistry and ethics, captive audiences and market viabilty. (HS, COL, Other).
Script-development. Cathy has worked with groups to assist their development of performance pieces, and she has also been commissioned to write plays on specific topics. Clients have included Maine Women's Fund; Mainely Girls; Knox County Coaltion Against Tobacco; Partnership for a Tobacco Free Maine (and affiliates); Where the Girls Are/Portland YWCA; affiliates from the Maine Coalition To End Domestic Violence; Aroostook County Mental Health Awareness Council; Maine Alliance for Arts Education (on-going); current clients are Quinnipiac University and the US Dept. of Justice Project Sentury.
Building Community Through Arts --facilitated improv-based collaborative performances created by students/participants. (HS, COL, Other).
Crash Course in Being a Teaching Artist-- pedagogy and potholes. In's and out's of being a teaching artist. (COL, Other)
Using Theatre in the Regluar Classroom--teaches teachers how to expand their bag of tricks, and apply theatre techniques to teaching regularly curriculum. (COL, Other)Awele (ah WAY lay)
http://www.awele.com
awele@awele.com
510-601-0178 ph/fxAwele is an award winning and internationally known storyteller, actor, recording artist and educator recognized as a “truth teller” and an artist for social change. She researches, writes and performs hidden African American history. She invites audiences to wrestle with complex and emotionally laden issues that teach us about our common humanity, potential, and our purpose for “being” in the world. She provides opportunities for audiences to grapple with the meaning of their own lives as they make meaning of past lives. Awele has mesmerized audiences throughout the United States from Alaska to Mississippi and New Hampshire to Hawaii. She has performed in Suriname (U.S. Dept. of State Tour), Russia, Australia, Taiwan, France, Canada and she will be performing in Austria in May 2005.
Performance: Rage Is Not A 1-Day Thing!
Rage Is Not A 1-Day Thing! is a dynamic interactive one-woman story theatre performance about the Montgomery bus Boycott, a cornerstone of American democracy. Based on oral histories, interviews, court transcripts, memoirs and biographies, Awele plays a dozen men, women, and teens, including 15-year old Claudette Colvin, who refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama bus nine months before Rosa Parks’ famous arrest for the same act. Rage...reveals the power inherent in young people who, propelled by deep conviction to justice and equality can win “impossible” victories.Workshop: Bringing the Montgomery Bus Boycott To Life
In this participatory session participants will use primary source materials, process drama and storytelling to examine the Montgomery Bus Boycott through multiple perspectives. We will explore the 3Cs of history – context, chronology, and causation and participants will discover new conceptual understandings on key themes including participatory citizenship, activism and democracy.Celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Montgomery Bus Boycott 12/2005 – 12/2006.
BIOLOGUES, Women in History -- Melissa Stevenson
http://pages.prodigy.net/timostevenson
2988 Buhach Road, Merced, Ca 95340
209 358 0660
Solo performer, Melissa Stevenson has been touring year around for over fourteen years in 8 states. Her original program of short monologues has appeared for libraries, museums, civic clubs, corporations, government, universities and schools. WIth over 39 characters to choose from, sponsors put together 40, 60 or 80 minute programs in modular fashion and may choose from leaders, scientists, adventurers and artists! The program supports gender equality and the self esteem of women and the hope that the knowledge of our history will "make us think on a scale larger than ourselves" (Gerda Lerner).Carolyn Gage
http://www.carolyngage.comCarolyn Gage is a performer, playwright, and activist. The author of more than 45 plays, she has also written five books -- four of them on lesbian theatre. She tours internationally in her one-woman show about a lesbian Joan of Arc. This play has won the Oregon Book Award, been shortlisted for the Lambda Literary Award, and has been featured on National Public Radio. In 2003, it was the top-selling commercial show in Brazil, and GAge was invited to perform at the World Summit on Economic Sustainability in Johannesburg. She also offers lectures and workshops on lesbian theatre and culture, on paradigms and paradigm shifting (esp. popular this year!) and on non-traditional roles for women -- especially the reclamation of censored lesbian archetypes. She has written the first book on lesbian theatre production as well as the first book of monologues and scenes for lesbian actors. She has been a Guest Lecturer for a year at Bates College, and her work has been widely endorsed by academics and feminist authors and activists around the world. This year, she was invited to the largest lesbian gathering in the world, the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival, where she taught a five-day intensive workshop.
InterPlay: Interactive Theatre for Dialogue --Katherine Burke
http://www.interplaytheatre.com
katherine.burke@gte.net
1202 S. 22nd St. Lafayette, IN 47905
765.414.2050InterPlay: Interactive Theatre for Dialogue is a program based in Lafayette, Indiana that offers a variety of programs geared toward creating dialogue about challenging issues. Our workshops for schools, businesses, and community organizations use theatre games and exercises, dialogue-building activities, and interactive (Forum-style) scene performances. InterPlay also offers "Train the Trainer" workshops, teaching counselors, social workers, community workers, and others to use theatre to address challenges in their own organizations and communities. InterPlay Director Katherine Burke and ensemble members have worked with at-risk youth, businesses, universities, schools, and others locally, nationally, and internationally. InterPlay also collaborates with communities and organizations to create original interview-based theatre performances about race, health issues, community concerns, and more. Visit InterPlay's website at www.interplaytheatre.com.
OPEN THEATRE/DC
http://www.opentheatre.org
opentheatredc@yahoo.com
451 First Street, SE #B Washington DC 20003
202.390.8398CATHERINE AZELFORD -- 703.271.7770 -- tgtc@earthlink.net
NAHID KHAZEMIE --703.827-8818 -- n.khazenie@ieee.org
WildACTS: The University of New Hampshire Theatre for Social Justice Troupe.
The group was formed four years ago and does a combination of prepared/scripted and Improvised pieces mostly on the Durham, NH campus. The troupe does a yearly show for incoming first-year students. They also often appear at such events as "Take Back The Night" "Rainbow Day" as well as "Diversity Day" at the local High School. WildACTS offers its service to groups and organizations working towards a more just society for all. The name of the group, by the way, is derived from the name of the University's sports teams, the Wildcats.
Contact person: David Kaye Co-Director
Sojourn Theatre -- Michael Rohd
http://www.sojourntheatre.org
mrohd@aol.comSojourn is a 5 year old award-winning multi-ethnic ensemble theatre company
based in Portland, OR led by artistic director Michael Rohd. Most well known
for its highly physical, community engaged work that often uses documentary
processes to create original, innovative performance, the company tours and
conducts residencies regularly. Sharing productions, methodologies, and technique,
Sojourn residencies offer an opportunity for students to work side by side
with an ensemble of artists and organizers committed to an exploration of
contemporary social justice practice and issues, as well as excellence in their
art. Currently, the company's groundreaking piece Witness Our Schools is touring
Oregon, and beginning a US tour simultaneously. Sojourn residency hosts have
included: Delle Arte School of Physical Theatre; Columbia College; Willamette
University; Bluffton College; and Lewis and Clark College. Please go to
for images and more background on the company.Artistic director of Sojourn Theatre in Portland, OR and author of Theatre
for Community, Conflict, & Dialogue, Rohd has done extensive residency work in
academic settings around the world at sites which include: Northwestern
University; University of Kansas; Davidson College; Harvard University; Helsinki
School of Art and Media; Berlin's House of World Culture; ASU; Trinity College;
University of Nebraska, Omaha; Kent State University, and many others. His
residencies often combine workshops in devising performance, community engagement strategies, theatre for youth, directing, theatre and anthropology,
documentary theatre, physical theatre, improvisation and ensemble building. He has
also worked with students at many institutions to create new work (often in
collaboration with communities off campus) which has then premiered at those sites.THAT TAKES OVARIES -- Rivka Solomon
http://www.thattakesovaries.org
Rivka@thattakesovaries.orgCelebrating gutsy women around the globe -- because courage is contagious
THE BOOK: THAT TAKES OVARIES!: BOLD FEMALES AND THEIR BRAZEN ACTS (Three Rivers/Random House 2002; China, Yilin Press 2004) is an exciting collection of real-life stories from women and girls about the gutsy, outrageous, courageous things they have done.
THE OPEN MIKES, FUNDRAISING FOR WOMEN'S CAUSES & PROMOTING ACTIVISM combines arts with activism for women and girls' empowerment.
THE PLAY: Like the hits The Exonerated and The Vagina Monologues, our play has a powerful message and can use rotating celebrity actors to help draw in crowds and obtain press coverage.
Get information about the play, the book, readings and open mics you can produce and speaking engagements..
True Story Theater
http://www.truestorytheater.orgTrue Story Theater is a Boston-based troupe of 18 people using playback theatre, dance, and music, to help communities build respect and understanding across differences. We teach workshops and perform for a wide variety of groups and conferences. One theme of special interest for us is addressing bridging money, class, and power differences.
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