Ensemble Theatre Collaborations Grant & Travel Subsidy Program

Funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the Ford Foundation

Arts Presenters Awards $425,000 to Support Ensemble Theatre Collaborations (March 2008)

The Association of Performing Arts Presenters (Arts Presenters) recently awarded grants totaling $425,000 to 14 ensemble theaters and their producing and presenting partners. The Ensemble Theatre Collaborations projects are supported by grants from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation (DDCF) and the Ford Foundation. The Ensemble Theatre Collaborations projects propel the creation, production and presentation of leading ensemble theater work in the country. 

Recipients of the 2008 project grants are:

• 500 Clown (Chicago, IL) $28,000

Partner: Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center

500 Clown will be creating a new work entitled Mann ist Mann about the fragility and resilience of individual identity during wartime.

• Accinosco (Brooklyn, NY) $30,000

Partner: Walker Art Center

Accinosco will create a new work, The Success of Failure (or, The Failure of Success), which is presented as a live film version of an ancient, epic folk-tale from the far distant future.

• Bond Street Theatre (New York, NY) $30,000

Partner: Brava Theater Center and Exile Theatre from Kabul, Afghanistan

Bond Street Theatre will tour a work entitled Beyond the Mirror, illuminating historical and personal aspects of the Afghan experience over the last three decades of the war.

• Double Edge Theatre Productions (Ashfield, MA) $17,000

Partner: Skirball Cultural Center and Flynn Center for the Performing Arts

Double Edge Theatre Productions will tour The Disappearance, which raises questions of assimilation, immigration, exile, and how individuals are defined by their culture.

• Elevator Repair Service Theater (Brooklyn, NY) $32,000

Partner: New York Theater Workshop

Elevator Repair Service Theater will create a new work, Sound and Fury, staging the famous Faulkner novel of the same name.

• Here Arts Center (New York, NY) $21,500

Partner: 7 Stages and Perishable Theatre

Here Arts Center will be touring Disposable Men, dealing with the notion that African-American male is an endangered species.

• Jump Start Performance Co. ( San Antonio, TX )  $40,000

Partner: Divadlo z Pasaze from Slovakia and Pregones Theater. 

Jump Start Performance Co. will be touring Diagnosis: Desire, involving Slovakian actors with severe mental challenges and learning disabilities.

• Meredith Monk and the House Foundation for the Arts (New York, NY) $35,000

Partner: Stanford University Lively Arts and Walker Art Center

Meredith Monk and the House Foundation for the Arts will be developing and touring a work entitled Songs of Ascension. The performance will address the human spirit and invite the audience to have a new participatory performance experience.

• New Paradise Laboratories (Philadelphia, PA) $20,000

Partner: The Children’s Theatre Company

New Paradise Laboratories will create a new work Fatebook: a Cyberspace Ghost Story, designed for teen-aged audiences as a response to new and developing styles of online social interaction.

• Portland Center Stage (Portland, OR) $40,000

Partner: Critical Mass Performance Group (CMPG) 

Portland Center Stage will develop APOLLO part 3: Liberation that explores the U.S. space program, its relationship with Nazi rocket scientists, and the surprising intersection with the Civil Rights Movement.

• Red Wing Performing Group (New York, NY) $36,000

Partner: Arts at St. Ann’s

Red Wing Performing Group will develop a work entitled Everyday Uses for Sight no. 6: Disfarmer, inspired by the life of mid-century portrait photographer, Mike Disfarmer.

• Squonk Opera (Pitcairn, PA) $31,000

Partner: Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center and Suny Oswego 

Squonk Opera will develop and present a work entitled Astro-rama, a science fiction production full of humor, provocation and self-examination.

• The Builders Association (New York, NY) $40,000

Partner: Krannert Center for the Performing Arts and Walker Art Center

The Builders Association will present and tour Continuous City, looking at the sense of “place” within a global context, and the growing network of transnational citizens. 

• Theatre of Yugen (San Francisco, CA) $24,500

Partner: Yerba Buena Center for the Arts

Theater of Yugen will create a new work entitled Dogsbody, examining the growing practice of using child soldiers as tools of force in conflict.

Arts Presenters Awards $448,175 to Support Ensemble Theatre Collaborations (October 2006)

Arts Presenters recently awarded grants totaling $448,175 to 15 ensemble theatres and performing arts presenting organizations. These Ensemble Theatre Collaborations project grants, supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, support the creation, production and presentation of leading ensemble theatre work in the country.

Ensemble Theatre Collaborations Grant and Travel Subsidy Program is a two-year, $1.3 million pilot program funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation as part of its larger Theatre Initiative. Over the course of this program, project grants in amounts ranging from $10,000-$40,000 each will be awarded to ensemble theatre company collaborations with theatre or arts presenting partners. Project grantees may also become eligible for infrastructure support grants in the range of $5,000-$10,000 to assist with booking, tour coordination and management. In addition to project grants, travel subsidy grants of up to $2,000 each are available to theatre producers, presenters, managers, artists and agents to attend performances by ensemble theatre companies while artistic, production, education, publicity or marketing staff at ensemble theatre companies are eligible to receive travel grants to visit a regional theatre or arts presenter.

Recipients of 2007 Project Grants:

ARTS AT ST. ANN'S (Brooklyn, NY) — $36,000

ASIA SOCIETY (New York, NY) — $40,000

BIG DANCE THEATRE (New York, NY) — $30,000

DOUBLE EDGE THEATRE PRODUCTIONS (Ashfield, MA) — $12,500

PICK UP PEFORMANCE CO (S.) (New York, NY) — $31,500

RIDGE THEATER (New York, NY) — $40,000

RUDE MECHANICALS (Austin, TX) — $17,675

SAN DIEGO REPERTORY THEATRE (San Diego, CA) — $36,000

SANDGLASS CENTER FOR PUPPETRY AND THEATRE RESEARCH (Putney, VT) — $35,000

THE BUILDERS ASSOCIATION (New York, NY) — $30,000

THE CARPETBAG THEATRE (Knoxville, TN) — $26,250

THE CIVILIANS (New York, NY) — $26,250

YERBA BUENA CENTER FOR THE ARTS (San Francisco, CA) — $36,000

THE THEATRE OFFENSIVE (Cambridge, MA) — $36,000

UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO — THEATREWORKS (Colorado Springs, CO) — $15,000

More information on the grant recipients (click on the organization name to visit its website):

• ARTS AT ST. ANN'S (Brooklyn, NY) — $36,000
  Partner: Accinoso
  The Arts at St. Ann's grant will support the presentation of a new musical production Must Don't Whip Um by acclaimed emerging artist Cynthia Hopkins and collaborators Jim Findleay and Jeff Sugg.

• ASIA SOCIETY (New York, NY) — $40,000
  Ensemble Theatre partner: Chorus Repertory Theatre (Manipur, India) The Asia Society grant will help fund a U.S. tour of the Chorus Repertory Theatre from Manipur, India, debuting its new performance Nine Hills One Valley (Chinglon Mapan Tampak Ama).

• BIG DANCE THEATRE (New York, NY) — $30,000
  Partner: Japan Society (New York, NY)
  Theatre partner: Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center (College Park, MD)
  The Big Dance Theatre grant will help support the creation and production of Annie-B Parson and Paul Lazar's new work The Other Here.

• DOUBLE EDGE THEATRE PRODUCTIONS (Ashfield, MA) - $12,500
  Ensemble Theatre partners: American Repertory Theatre (Cambridge, MA) and La MaMa E.T.C (New York, NY)
  The Double Edge Theatre Productions grant will support the original performance of Under the Sign of the Crocodile.

• PICK UP PEFORMANCE CO (S.) (New York, NY) - $31,500
  Theatre partner: VSA North Fourth Art Center (Albuquerque, NM)
  Presenting partner: New Mexico School for the Deaf (Santa Fe, NM)
  The Pick Up Performance Co (S.) grant will fund the rehearsal and touring of Ain Gordon's Epic Family Epic — a work created in American Sign Language and spoken in English.

• RIDGE THEATER (New York, NY) - $40,000
  Presenting partner: Montclair State University (Montclair, NJ)
  The Ridge Theater grant will support the collaboration between the Ridge Theater and Montclair State University's Office of Arts and Cultural Programming for a production of Difficulty of Crossing a Field — a one-act music drama by David Lang, with libretto by Mac Wellman.

• RUDE MECHANICALS (Austin, TX) - $17,675
  Theatre partners: Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company (Washington, DC and DiverseWorks (Houston, TX)
  The Rude Mechanicals grant will fund the touring of Get Your War On — a politically- themed comic strip by David Rees.

• SAN DIEGO REPERTORY THEATRE (San Diego, CA) - $36,000
  Ensemble Theatre partner: The Flying Karamazov Brothers (New York, NY)
  The San Diego Repertory Theatre grant will support the development of a new adaptation of Miguel Cervantes' Don Quixote by Paul Magid and The Flying Karamazov Brothers.

• SANDGLASS CENTER FOR PUPPETRY AND THEATRE RESEARCH (Putney, VT) - $35,000
  Ensemble Theatre partner: Sovanna Phum Theatre (Phnom Penh, Cambodia)
  Theatre partner: Redfern Arts Center on Brickyard Pond (Keene, NH)
  The Sandglass Center for Puppetry and Theatre Research grant will support the touring of The Story of the Dog, which will travel to rural and underserved communities in New England.

• THE BUILDERS ASSOCIATION (New York, NY) - $30,000
  Theatre partner: Mondavi Center (Davis, CA)
  The Builders Association grant will support the U.S. tour of SUPER VISION, an award-winning multimedia production by The Builders Association and dbox.

• THE CARPETBAG THEATRE (Knoxville, TN) - $26,250
  Ensemble Theatre partner: Appalshop, Inc Whitesburg, KY)
  The Carpetbag Theatre grant will support the creation of a new work titled Between a Ballad & A Blues in collaboration with the Traditional Music Program of Appalshop highlighting Howard Armstrong and the Appalachian string band music of the 1930's.

• THE CIVILIANS (New York, NY) - $26,250
  Ensemble Theatre partners: The Public Theatre (New York, NY)
  Theatre partner: Actors Theatre of Louisville (Louisville, KY)
  The Civilians grant will help The Civilians and The Public Theatre develop Paris Commune.

• YERBA BUENA CENTER FOR THE ARTS (San Francisco, CA) - $36,000
  Theatre Partner: The Living Word Project (San Francisco, CA)
  The Yerba Buena Center for the Arts grant will fund the production of The Breaks, a multimedia excursion in verse, contemporary dance and video that dramatically realizes the mythical creation of hip hop through personal narrative.

• THE THEATRE OFFENSIVE (Cambridge, MA) - $36,000
  Ensemble Theatre partner: The Five Lesbian Brothers (New York, NY)
  The Theatre Offensive grant will help The Five Lesbian Brothers and The Theatre Offensive re-conceive the play Oedipus at Palm Springs for touring.

• UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO — THEATREWORKS (Colorado Springs, CO) - $15,000
  Ensemble Theatre partner: The Flying Machine Theatre (Raleigh, NC)
  The THEATREWORKS grant will fund the production of Alice in Wonderland.

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