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Announcing Fall 2022 CA$H Theatre Grantees
Theatre Bay Area is proud to announce the Fall 2022 awardees of our flagship grant, CA$H Theatre. This marked the inaugural year of CA$H Sustains, which funds the general operations of small theatre companies in the Bay. CA$H Sustains will be open to applications in the fall round of CA$H Theatre going forward. CA$H Performs…
Read MoreAnnouncing the 2022-23 Arts Leadership Residency Cohort
Theatre Bay Area’s Arts Leadership Residency removes roadblocks to arts leadership for historically marginalized groups by funding theatremakers in residence at professional theatres where they will be mentored by the artistic director or managing director and direct or produce a significant project. Learn more here: Theatre Bay Area Arts Leadership Residency. Tanika Baptiste, in residence at…
Read MoreA Fireside Chat with Anne W Smith and Sean Fenton
We’ve been using this space to share a peek behind the curtain on the exciting transformation-in-process here at TBA. In the past six weeks, we have welcomed three new leaders into the fold: our Executive Director, Sean Fenton, and two new board members, Juan Manzo and Calvin Kai Ku. With this coalescence of emerging and…
Read MoreFireside Chat with Anne W. Smith: May 2022
Spring Greetings, Everyone, After a busy month and a half here at TBA, it’s a pleasure to re-connect with our “insiders.” What a treat it was to join nearly 150 artists and administrators in Berkeley on April 4th to listen, learn, and chat at the first in-person TBA Conference since 2019. The conference, “Brick by…
Read MoreFireside Chat with Anne W. Smith: March 2022
DEAR MEMBERS, FRIENDS AND COLLEAGUES, After participating as a Theatre Bay Area Board member for many seasons, I am delighted to be involved in leading our organization through this period of transition, development and growth. Throughout this interim period, I’m honored to use this column to update you about the transition and provide a window…
Read MoreI’m Like A Utility Player: Meet TBA’s Interim Managing Director
by Sam Hurwitt Interim managing director Ann Marie Lonsdale comes to Theatre Bay Area at a transitional time for the organization. Brad Erickson is scheduled to end his 18-year tenure as executive director on February 28, 2022, with the search for his successor still underway. It’s been a while since Theatre Bay Area actually had…
Read MoreTaking the Temperature of Arts Audiences
by Sam Hurwitt When COVID-19 pandemic precautions started closing venues in March of 2020, theaters were hungry for any information about what they could expect. That’s when consulting firm WolfBrown began to put together the Audience Outlook Monitor, an international research project reporting back on shifting attitudes and concerns of theater audiences over time. Alan Brown…
Read MoreJoy To The World, Holiday Shows Are Back
by Rotimi Agbabiaka Tis the season for holiday shows and after an almost two-year hiatus, live, in-person holiday theatre is back. In keeping with the unprecedented times, many of the productions on Bay Area stages are adapting, updating, or reimagining classic tales in ways that marry tradition with the needs of a world wearily emerging…
Read MoreAfter 23 Years, FoolsFURY Practices The Art of Letting Go
by Jean Schiffman “Today we are practicing the art of letting go,” said Debórah Eliezer, artistic director of FoolsFURY, at a recent public closure ceremony at the Mission Cultural Center. Her “sunset speech” marked the ensemble’s graceful withdrawal, as a company, from the local theatre scene after 23 years. Concrete symbols of that withdrawal were…
Read MoreLocal Arts Organizations Are Ready to Welcome You Back
by Sam Hurwitt Bay Area arts organizations want you to know that they’re ready. They’re ready to invite patrons back into their spaces in as safe a way as can be managed amid an ongoing pandemic. They’re ready to envelop audiences in arts experiences that challenge the mind and nurture the soul. That’s the message…
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