National Theater Project

The National Theater Project (NTP) supports the creation and touring of U.S. based, devised ensemble theater projects through direct funding and a cultivation of an informed, interactive network of ensembles, artists, and presenters throughout the field

National Theater Project-funded Unit Souzou | photo by Intisar Abioto and New Expressive Works

Background

In 2009, supported by the Mellon Foundation (AWMF), NEFA conducted a study which identified unrealized potential for theater projects that expand the boundaries of theater in the U.S. Multi-disciplinary presenters, theaters, and audiences nationwide demonstrated an appetite for artist-led, ensemble, and devised theater work.

Beginning in 2010, with support from AWMF, NEFA’s 2-year National Theater Pilot tested questions and assumptions about theater development and touring in the U.S. toward the shaping of a fully-realized program of grants and services. Through the Pilot, NEFA and a core group of Advisors identified 12 projects (six selected in each of two years) to help evaluate the National Dance Project model as one means of realizing that potential.

Central goals for the Pilot were to support developing productions to tour and to support presenters, ensembles, and producing theaters to take the work to different regions and audiences. Further research and evaluation of the Pilot at various stages assessed how to best support this developing field.

In 2012, again with the support of AWMF, NEFA launched the National Theater Project to build on the knowledge gained through the Pilot phase and provide a critical means of support of artist-led, ensemble, and devised theater work.

Program Goals

Modeled on NEFA’s National Dance Project, NTP not only provides funding but also animates an informed, interactive network of producing theaters, presenters, and ensembles that promote the funded projects and the development of the field as a whole. Projects are supported through Creation & Touring Grants, which fund creation and preparation for touring of devised projects and Presentation Grants, which are awarded to presenters by the artist and support up to 50% of the artistic fee for NTP projects.

NTP supports work that reflects the evolving environment for theater, including but not limited to projects that:

  • Support the creation/development and U.S.* touring of new artist-led devised, ensemble theater works that demonstrate excellence in the artists’ practice. NTP uses the following definitions in consideration of grant applications:
    • Ensemble: A group of two or more people committed to working together over time to develop a distinct practice and body of work.
    • Devised: A process of co-creation and joint discovery that prioritizes generative artists, which may include but does not prioritize playwrights, is iterative, and results in original work.
  • Support work that contributes to the cultural and aesthetic diversities of today’s theater. NEFA values an equitable, diverse, and inclusive world, which we interpret as all people having fair access to the tools and resources they need to realize creative and community endeavors. We acknowledge structural inequities that have excluded individuals and communities from opportunity based on race, gender, disability, sexual orientation, class, age, language, culture, nation of origin, and geography, and strive to counter those inequities in our work.
  • Reflect meaningful partnerships with presenters, producers, and other organizations that are involved in the development, promotion, and/or touring of the new work.
  • Offer the potential to deepen engagement because of the work’s relevance, originality, and/or timeliness.
  • Produce a viable plan for touring the supported work in multiple communities in the U.S. and its territories*.

*NEFA defines U.S. as all 50 of the United States, Washington, D.C., as well as Puerto Rico, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and American Samoa.

Advisors

The National Theater Project advisors provide critical guidance to applicants in proposal preparation and tour development. They also guide project selection and serve as consultants and ambassadors for the program. Advisors represent presenters, producing theaters, festivals, and theater artists. Selection of advisors takes into account geography, gender, areas of expertise, cultural and racial equity, and includes new and established leaders in the field. Learn more about how to become a program advisor.

Jarvis is a bald, black man with a moustache. He wears a black hoodie under a jean jacket.

Jarvis Antonio Green

He/Him/His
Founder & Producing Artistic Director,
JAG Productions
Location: land of the Abenaki Peoples (White River Junction, VT)
Daniel is a bald man who smirks and squints a bit, while wearing a navy polo.

Daniel Banks

He/Him/His
Co-Founder/Co-Curator,
DNAWORKS
Location: The traditional lands stewarded by the Seneca Nation and refuge to members of the Hopewell, Monongahela, Shawnee, and Lenape peoples (Pittsburgh, PA)
By a pond at sunset, Nia, a Black woman with long curly hair, looks off into the distance.

Nathalie Nia Faulk

Leads with She/Her, Accepts They/Them
Co-Director,
Last Call Oral History Project;
Cultural Organizing Programs Manager,
Alternate ROOTS;
Co-Director
Southern Organizer Academy
Location: Chitimacha and Bulbancha lands (Lafayette/New Orleans, LA)

Tammy Hailiʻōpua Baker

She/Her/Hers
Playwright/Director/Professor,
University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa
Location: Kahalu‘u, Ko‘olaupoko, O‘ahu-a-Lua, Ko Hawai‘i Pae ‘Āina. Unceded land/archipelago of Kānaka Maoli, Indigenous people of the Hawaiian Islands.
Leslie is an Asian woman. She smiles and wears all black with a long silver necklace.

Leslie Ishii

She/Her/Hers
Artistic Director,
Perseverance Theatre;
Board President,
Consortium of Asian American Theaters and Artists;
Board/Co-Chair Strategic Planning,
National New Play Network;
Faculty,
ArtEquity;
Co-Chair Coalition Building Subcommittee,
Professional Non-profit Theater Coalition
Location: The sacred homelands of the Áak’w Kwáan and T’aaku Kwáan on Tlingít Aaní and the sacred homelands of the Dena’ina on Dena’ina Ełnena.
Vijay is a brown man. He is in studio lighting, a white space, and wears all black.

Vijay Mathew

He/Him/His
Cultural Strategist, Co-founder,
HowlRound Theatre Commons
Location: On the lands of the Wampanoag, Massachuset, Pawtucket, Naumkeag, and many other peoples. (Boston, MA)
Linda has a red scarf wrapped around her. She is a Black woman with short grey and white hair. She is spotlit by a warm lamp.

Linda Parris-Bailey

She/Her/Hers
President and CEO
Parris-Bailey Arts, Inc.
Location: ᏣᎳᎫᏪᏘᏱ Tsalaguwetiyi (Cherokee, East, S’atsoyaha (Yuchi), & Miccosukee lands in Knoxville, TN
Mildred has ear-length wavy blonde hair. She smiles while wearing hoop earrings and a dark red lipliner.

Mildred Ruiz-Sapp

She/Her/Hers
Co-Founder/Co-Director,
UNIVERSES
Location: currently standing on the ancestral homelands of the Shasta, Takelma, Latgawa peoples and their descendants (Ashland, OR). Born and raised on the Ancestral lands of the Lenape nations.
DeLanna has long brown hair with highlights. She smiles in a green cardigan over a gray t-shirt.

DeLanna Studi

She/Her/Hers
Artistic Director, Native Voices,
Autry (NVA)
Location: land of the Gabrielino Tongva People (Los Angeles, CA) and Cherokee Nation, OK: When we were forcibly removed, the removal displaced many people including the Osage, Kickapoo, Caddo, Quapaw.
A brown man, in a suit and with curly dark hair, grins.

Karthik Subramanian

He/Him/His
Co-Executive & Managing Director,
Company One Theatre
Location: Lands of Nipmuc, Pawtucket & Massachusett peoples (Boston, MA)
Carlton is a Black man. He looks to the right and wears a blue suit with a vest. He has short black hair.

Carlton Turner

He/Him/His
Co-Director / Co-Founder,
Mississippi Center for Cultural Production
Location: Land of the Natchez, Quapaw, Choctaw, Tunica, Ofo and Taensa (Utica, MS)
Torange has short grey and white hair. She smiles, while wearing a purple, shawl necked sweater.

Torange Yeghiazarian

She/Her/Hers
playwright/director
Location: the unceded territories of the Chochenyo Ohlone peoples (Oakland, CA)

Funders

The National Theater Project is made possible with lead funding from the Mellon Foundation and additional support from the Doris Duke Foundation.

Mellon Foundation logo; a black free-form "m" next to the text Mellon Foundation in black letters
logo in black stacked text for the Doris Duke Foundation

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