Curious Theatre Company is one of just three theatres in the nation to be awarded the MetLife Foundation and Theatre Communications Group (TCG) “A-ha! Program: Think It” grant, which encourages theatres to think creatively. Curious received $25,000 to research and develop a new model for reinventing the resident artistic company model for the 21st century American theatre, by re-centering artists within producing organizations.
“To a large degree, economics killed the dream of the 20th Century resident theatre movement,” says Curious Founding Artistic Director Chip Walton. “Keeping artists at the center of organizations is vital to the entire field, but to do so we have to discover a new model.”
A core team of six Company members (Curious founders Walton and Dee Covington; acclaimed director Christy Montour-Larson; and noted performers John Jurcheck, Karen Slack and Mare Trevathan) will receive a monthly stipend in order to do cool theatre stuff.
“Over the years, Curious' Artistic Company has developed a high tolerance-- even an appetite-- for change,” says Trevathan. “Without this grant, however, we wouldn't be able to allocate the necessary time for thoughtful planning and research of such a big idea.”
TCG's Executive Director Teresa Eyring notes, “In light of these uncertain economic times-- when many arts organizations are wary of taking risks or seeking to create work through unproven methods-- the A-ha! Program is a beacon to draw our member theatres to experimentation. This program allows them to strive for new ways of thinking and development and testing new models, without having to shoulder all the financial responsibility.”
The other two Think It Grant recipients are Pillsbury House Theatre in Minneapolis and Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles.
