Theater: FY 2008 Grants

Some details of the projects listed below are subject to change, contingent upon prior Endowment approval.

Access to Artistic Excellence | Access to Artistic Excellence II | Panelists
 

Access to Artistic Excellence II
(August 13, 2007 deadline)

Actors Company Theatre, Inc.
New York, NY
$10,000
To support the Off-Broadway production of rarely produced plays of literary merit. The repertory includes lesser-known plays by well-known playwrights and titles that have not be seen or presented for at least 15 years yet resonate with modern audiences.

Actors' Gang, Inc.
Culver City, CA
$15,000
To support the development and presentation of an adaptation of Shakespeare's King Lear titled King Larry, with accompanying educational activities. Artistic director Tim Robbins will guide the artistic team of adaptor Angelina Berliner, scenic/lighting designer Francis-Pierre Couture, and puppet master John Burton.

Alliance for Inclusion in the Arts
New York, NY
$25,000
To support The Inclusion Project. Comprising the National Diversity Forum and the Artist Files/Online, the project seeks to spark change in the hiring practices of the American theater industry.

Alliance of Resident Theatres/New York, Inc. (aka A.R.T./New York)
New York, NY
$40,000
To support the William Randolph Hearst Theatrical Arts Education Program and the Harold and Mimi Steinberg Theatre Leadership Institute. Both programs provide administrative and managerial training to assist theaters as they work to achieve their artistic missions and serve their audiences.

Alternate ROOTS, Inc. (Consortium)
Atlanta, GA
$15,000
To support the ROOTS 32nd Annual Conference. ArtSpot Productions of New Orleans will assist in the curatorial process of selecting artists to participate in the 2008 annual meeting.

American Conservatory Theatre Foundation (aka American Conservatory Theater)
San Francisco, CA
$45,000
To support the production of John Ford's Tis A Pity She's A Whore, with accompanying educational activities. Artistic director Carey Perloff will direct the rarely produced Jacobean tragedy, with original music composed by Tony Award-winning composer Duncan Sheik.

Appalshop, Inc. (on behalf of Roadside Theater)
Whitesburg, KY
$25,000
To support Roadside Theater's production and adaptation of the Thousand Kites Play. The project will address issues surrounding the invisibility of the large and growing U.S. prison population and promote public conversation about how to reduce crime and strengthen communities.

Aquila Theatre Company
New York, NY
$30,000
To support a tour and new production of Homer's Iliad. Based on Stanley Lombardo's translation of the epic poem, accompanying educational activities will include in-school performances, workshops based on the themes of the play, and pre-show discussions of the theater's approach to the work.

Association of Performing Arts Presenters, Inc. (aka Arts Presenters) (Consortium)
Washington, DC
$20,000
To support the creation of case studies that document and guide the resolution of issues and challenges experienced by exemplary ensemble theaters in consortium with Irondale Productions.

Autry National Center of the American West (aka Autry National Center)
Los Angeles, CA
$35,000
To support the Native Voices at the Autry program, with accompanying educational outreach activities. New works by Native American writers will be developed at an annual playwrights retreat and through professional workshops and public staged readings.

Berkshire Theatre Festival, Inc.
Stockbridge, MA
$10,000
To support a production of Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot. The production will be directed by company member Anders Cato and will be presented as part of the theater's 80th anniversary season.

Big Apple Circus, Ltd.
New York, NY
$30,000
To support the tour and creation of a new work about a music box and the journey of two clowns. Founder and artistic director Paul Binder and co-founder Michael Christensen will lead the creative team in the creation of a performance featuring horses, acrobats, jugglers, and clowns.

Bilingual Foundation of the Arts
Los Angeles, CA
$20,000
To support a production of The House of Bernarda Alba by Federico García Lorca. Artistic director Margarita Galban will direct the production, with accompanying educational activities.

Black Women Playwrights' Group
Washington, DC
$15,000
To support the Annual Reading event. The project will focus on the development of plays by African American women playwrights who are creating work for the professional theater.

Carpetbag Theatre, Inc.
Knoxville, TN
$15,000
To support the Pullin' Door Tour of Linda Parris-Bailey's new play titled Between a Ballad & a Blues. Steve Kent will direct the production, with musical direction by James "Sparky" Rucker and Nancy Brennen Strange.

Cherry Lane Alternative Inc. (aka Cherry Lane Theatre)
New York, NY
$15,000
To support the Cherry Lane Master Classes at the Cherry Lane Theatre. Theater professionals and the general public will receive an inside view into the art and craft of playwriting of award-winning master playwrights on Monday evenings throughout the theatrical season.

Chicago Shakespeare Theater
Chicago, IL
$50,000
To support the Team Shakespeare Arts-in-Education Program. The project will present William Shakespeare's plays to students throughout Illinois and Indiana.

Circus Amok, Inc.
Brooklyn, NY
$15,000
To support the creation and presentation of the Summer 2008 Parks Tour. The work will include a series of circus acts to be performed free-of-charge in outdoor public spaces in ethnically and economically diverse neighborhoods throughout New York City.

Das Puppenspiel Puppet Theater Inc.
Westfield, NY
$15,000
To support a new work titled Beyond the Beanstalk (The Jack Tales). The project will include a local, regional, and national tour of a repertoire of productions, with accompanying outreach activities.

Do Jump! Extremely Physical Theater
Portland, OR
$25,000
To support the production and tour of Entusiasmo! A Show About Hope, with accompanying outreach activities. The bilingual piece is based on the book Gaviotas: A Village to Reinvent the World by Alan Weisman.

East-West Players
Los Angeles, CA
$30,000
To support the world premiere production of Ruby Tragically Rotund by Boni Alvarez, with accompanying outreach activities. Jon Lawrence Rivera will direct the multicultural cast in the theater's 43rd anniversary season.

Enrichment Works
Van Nuys, CA
$15,000
To support original productions by Broadway and Hollywood writers to improve education and portray important issues for young people. Students participating in the after-school Youth Development Program at elementary schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District will experience a wide variety of art forms.

Figures of Speech Theatre
Freeport, ME
$10,000
To support the Rural Maine Initiative. The project will include a tour of repertory works and teaching residencies in schools, with accompanying outreach activities

GALA Inc., Grupo de Artistas Latinoamericanos (aka GALA Hispanic Theatre)
Washington, DC
$30,000
To support the adaptation and U.S. premiere of El perro del hortelano (The dog in the manger) by Lope de Vega. The play will be directed by GALA Hispanic Theatre's producing artistic director Hugo Medrano.

Greenbrier Repertory Theatre Company (aka Greenbrier Valley Theatre)
Lewisburg, WV
$10,000
To support a production of To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. The Greenbrier Valley Theatre production will be adapted for the stage by Christopher Sergel.

Honolulu Theatre for Youth (Consortium)
Honolulu, HI
$15,000
To support the production and tour of Aladdin's Luck by Janet Stanford and Fahir Atakoglu. With the Hawaii Association of Independent Schools, the play will be performed at the Tenney Theatre and in Oahu schools, followed by a tour to upper and lower elementary schools on the six major Hawaiian islands.

Idaho Shakespeare Festival
Boise, ID
$25,000
To support the Educational Outreach Program. The project will bring live, professional theater arts programs and related educational activities to schoolchildren in Idaho, Oregon, Wyoming, and Nevada.

Idris Ackamoor & Cultural Odyssey (Consortium)
San Francisco, CA
$15,000
To support the New Works Development Program of the African American Theater Alliance for Independence. Afro Solo Theater will be a partner in the project to inaugurate a development program to support the work of African American emerging and established performing artists.

Independent Shakespeare Co. Inc.
Chatsworth, CA
$15,000
To support Free Shakespeare in Barnsdall Park, 2008. Performances of free Shakespeare plays in rotating repertory will include Twelfth Night, Henry IV, and Titus Andronicus.

Indiana Repertory Theatre, Inc. (Consortium)
Indianapolis, IN
$20,000
To support pre-production and production of To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee and adapted by Christopher Sergel with accompanying outreach activities in consortium with Christ Church Cathedral.

Instituto Arte Teatral Internacional, Inc.
New York, NY
$10,000
To support Triple Play Tours to Latino communities. The project will include full-length children's plays, theater workshops, and new play staged readings in public libraries, community centers, and school venues in distressed and underserved neighborhoods throughout the Northeast.

International City Theatre
Long Beach, CA
$15,000
To support the Performing Arts and Classroom Teaching Program. The outreach program promotes literacy and creativity for third-grade children in the Long Beach Unified School District.

Intiman Theatre
Seattle, WA
$35,000
To support the production of Robert Penn Warren's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel All the King's Men, adapted by Adrian Hall for the stage. The production will be the theater's fifth and final American Cycle play, with accompanying educational and outreach activities.

League of Professional Theatre Women
New York, NY
$20,000
To support the exhibition 100 Years of Women in Stage Design to advance and promote the visibility of American women in the professional theater. The exhibit will highlight the notable contributions of women in the arts of theatrical design.

Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of America, Inc.
New York, NY
$10,000
To support the annual membership conference. The conference will be hosted by the University of California, San Diego.

Los Angeles Poverty Department (aka LAPD) (Consortium)
Los Angeles, CA
$15,000
To support a series of workshops leading to a community performance with residents of the Daybreak Program. Director John Malpede and associate director Henriette Brouwers will partner with the Ocean Park Community Center to lead free workshops in theater improvisation, writing, and movement.

Marin Shakespeare Company
San Rafael, CA
$20,000
To support a production of Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida directed by artistic director Robert Currier. Audiences will experience a classic work produced in the Forest Meadows Amphitheatre, with accompanying educational activities.

Metro Theater Company
St. Louis, MO
$30,000
To support the production and regional tour of original works for young audiences. The tour will include a production of Dennis Foon's New Kid, the story of an immigrant family's struggle to assimilate in the United States.

Miracle Theatre Company (aka Miracle Theatre Group)
Portland, OR
$15,000
To support a production of El Día De Los Muertos, a multidisciplinary celebration of the Mexican Day of the Dead. The production will feature music, dance, poetry, and a collaboration with hip-hop artist Paul S. Flores.

Montana State University (on behalf of Montana Shakespeare in the Parks)
Bozeman, MT
$25,000
To support a regional tour that will bring fully-mounted professional productions of Shakespeare plays to communities throughout Montana, Wyoming, and eastern Idaho. The tour by Montana Shakespeare in the Parks will have a special focus on underserved rural communities, and performances will be offered free-of-charge.

National New Play Network, Ltd.
Philadelphia, PA
$10,000
To support the Emerging Playwright Residencies program. The program will offer playwrights graduating from qualified MFA programs residencies at professional theaters where they will receive artistic mentorship.

New Harmony Project, Inc.
Indianapolis, IN
$20,000
To support a new play development writers conference. The annual two-week conference provides writers with an opportunity to develop scripts in a supportive community of professional directors, actors, dramaturges, and support staff.

New York Classical Theatre, Inc.
New York, NY
$15,000
To support free performances of classic works in New York's Central Park. Productions of Shakespeare's Cymbeline and George Bernard Shaw's Misalliance will be staged throughout a 12-acre area of the park.

New York Shakespeare Festival (aka The Public Theater) (Consortium)
New York, NY
$30,000
To support free community programs and performances conducted by artists in the Public Theater's Shakespeare Lab. In partnership with teaching artists from the Bronx-based theater company Mud/Bone, artists will offer workshops to local students and community members in preparation for free performances of a Shakespeare play.

Old Creamery Theatre Company
Amana, IA
$10,000
To support the Theatre for Young Audiences Pilot Program for Secondary Schools directed by producing artistic director David R. Kilpatrick. The program will consist of theater workshops and 45-minute-long professional productions to enhance school curriculum subjects.

Old Globe Theatre
San Diego, CA
$15,000
To support the Student Access to the Arts program. The project provides underserved middle and high school students throughout San Diego County with opportunities to experience live professional theater.

Oregon Shakespeare Festival Association (Consortium)
Ashland, OR
$30,000
To support the first annual Festival Latino. Produced in partnership with La Clinica del Valle, the festival will foster an artistic exchange with the local and regional Latino community.

Pan Asian Repertory Theatre, Inc.
New York, NY
$25,000
To support the Festival of New Works and Emerging Artist Training Program. The programs provide emerging Asian American and Amerasian artists with access to the professional theater arena.

Paper Bag Players, Inc.
New York, NY
$25,000
To support a national tour of original multidisciplinary works for young audiences. Productions will be collaboratively created by the ensemble under the artistic direction of Judith Martin.

Pasadena Playhouse State Theatre of California, Inc. (Consortium)
Pasadena, CA
$35,000
To support the New Generations program. In partnership with It's Time For Kids, the program will provide at-risk Los Angeles youth with first-time theater experiences. Youth will be given access to artists through workshops, post-show interaction, and exchanges with professional playwrights.

Pearl Theatre Company, Inc.
New York, NY
$15,000
To support the world premiere production of a new adaptation of The Oedipus Cycle by Sophocles.

Pittsburgh Irish and Classical Theatre, Inc.
Pittsburgh, PA
$20,000
To support The SyngeCycle, a project featuring the complete dramatic works of Irish dramatist John Millington Synge. A production of The Playboy of the Western World directed by artistic director Andrew Paul will serve as the centerpiece of the project.

Portland Stage Company, Inc. (Consortium)
Portland, ME
$20,000
To support a production of Peer Gynt by Henrik Ibsen. The company will collaborate with Figures of Speech Theatre to create a new version of the work that will combine actors, puppets, shadows, music, and movement.

Regents of the University of California at San Diego (on behalf of TheatreForum, International Theatre Journal)
La Jolla, CA
$10,000
To support the publication and distribution of issues of TheatreForum. The journal documents and disseminates innovative theater works internationally.

Robey Theatre Company
Los Angeles, CA
$15,000
To support a production of The River Niger by Joseph A. Walker, with accompanying activities. Producing director Ben Guillory will direct.

Sandglass Center for Puppetry and Theater Research (Consortium)
Putney, VT
$15,000
To support the Voices of Community: Theater as Social Activism project. The theater will partner with Touchstone Theatre to bring the work of aesthetically diverse companies to perform and create with racially diverse communities.

Shakespeare Festival of Dallas (aka Shakespeare Dallas)
Dallas, TX
$10,000
To support productions of Othello and All's Well That Ends Well. The project will include educational programming, such as the Stage Notes Sessions that will review the plays in informational segments prior to each performance and the Shakespeare On The Go Education Tour that will bring the productions to students in grades 7 - 12.

Shakespeare Festival/LA, Inc. (aka SFLA)
Los Angeles, CA
$30,000
To support the 23rd Annual Summer Festival. William Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew will be directed by Ben Donenberg and will be presented free-of-charge in Los Angeles's downtown Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels.

Southern Appalachian Repertory Theatre, Inc. (aka SART)
Mars Hill, NC
$15,000
To support the Heritage Play Series project. The project will include productions of Minstrel of the Appalachians and Vance, a new play about Zebulon Vance, the Civil War governor of North Carolina.

Spanish Theatre Repertory Company, Ltd. (aka Repertorio Español)
New York, NY
$35,000
To support the Teatro Acceso program. The company will present and tour classic and contemporary Spanish, Latin American, and U.S. Latino works to underserved schools and communities throughout the New York metropolitan area and the northeastern United States.

Stage Directors and Choreographers Workshop Foundation, Inc. (aka Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation)
New York, NY
$5,000
To support the Observership Program. The project is designed to give emerging directors and choreographers access to the creative process in professional theater settings.

Teatro Circulo Ltd
New York, NY
$15,000
To support the production and tour of original Spanish-language productions to locations in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic. The tour will include productions of Lágrimas Negras by Eva Vásquez and La Celestina by Carmelo Santana.

Ten Thousand Things Theater
Minneapolis, MN
$20,000
To support a production of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. Free performances will be targeted to low-income audiences in prisons, shelters, and housing projects.

Theater By The Blind Corp.
New York, NY
$15,000
To support a production of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. Ike Schambelan will direct a cast and crew composed of theater artists with and without disabilities.

Theatre & Arts Foundation of San Diego County (aka La Jolla Playhouse)
La Jolla, CA
$20,000
To support the Theatre and Youth artist residency project at the La Jolla Playhouse. The project will offer artist residencies to elementary, middle, and high school students in San Diego County.

Theatre Bay Area
San Francisco, CA
$25,000
To support the Leadership Development Initiative. The project will offer an extensive array of services, programs, and resources to Bay Area arts leaders and future arts leaders.

Theatre Communications Group, Inc.
New York, NY
$125,000
To support the TCG National Conference, professional development programs, field research, and publication resources for the staff and trustees of professional, nonprofit theaters nationwide. The 2008 National Conference will be held in conjunction with the National Performing Arts Convention in Denver.

Theatre Development Fund, Inc.
New York, NY
$20,000
To support the Interpreting for the Theatre initiative. The program is an intensive one-week institute for theater sign-language interpreters.

Touchstone (aka Touchstone Theatre)
Bethlehem, PA
$15,000
To support the Young Playwrights Lab. The program is designed to increase literacy skills among local children and youth by teaching them the fundamentals of playwriting.

Tricklock Company
Albuquerque, NM
$20,000
To support production and planning for the Revolutions International Theatre Festival. The festival will present theater and performance art from around the world and create a cultural hub for theatrical exchange in the Albuquerque community.

True Colors Theatre Company, Inc.
Atlanta, GA
$25,000
To support the August Wilson Monologue Competition. The project will expose high school students in Atlanta, Washington, DC, and other cities to the work of Wilson's Century Cycle.

Two River Theater Company
Red Bank, NJ
$10,000
To support a production of George Bernard Shaw's Heartbreak House.

Utopian Theatre Asylum (aka TUTA)
Chicago, IL
$10,000
To support a production of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Artistic director Zeljko Dukich will direct a full-length production that will include a cast of at least 12 actors and feature original music.

Walnut Street Theatre Corporation
Philadelphia, PA
$15,000
To support the Touring Outreach Program. The program brings curriculum-based plays for youth and educational workshops to students throughout the Delaware Valley.

Weston Playhouse Theatre
Weston, VT
$20,000
To support a production and regional tour of Shakespeare's As You Like It. Touring performances will be augmented with study guides, classes, workshops, pre-show lectures, and post-show talkbacks.

Working Theatre Company, Inc. (aka Working Theater)
New York, NY
$15,000
To support the TheaterWorks! adult education program. The program teaches writing and performance skills to low-income workers in the service and manufacturing sector.

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