@dramatistsguild @laurieflanigan

The Twin Cities is a hotbed for exciting and dynamic ensemble-based work, and a large part of our collective theatrical identity is centered around the many companies that create devised work, fromthe Tony-award-winning-but-sadly-now-defunct Theatre de la Jeune Lune, whose core artists have moved on to form The Moving Company, to a whole host of well-established theaters producing collaborative work on Twin Cities stages. A partial list includes: Four Humors Theater (“We make the beautiful foolish and the foolish beautiful”), Transatlantic Love Affair (a physical theatre ensemble), Theatre Forever (“a live performance company focused on the creation of new work”), Theatre Novi Most (Theatre of a New Bridge), Pangea World Theater (“Honoring our circle of many realities”), Sandbox Theatre (“driven by the collaborative spirit to create new and newly-imagined performance artworks”), Live Action Set (“committed to creating original, ensemble-based performances”), Tiger Lion Arts (“We celebrate human wisdom and the spirit of nature through creative works that awaken, inform, and delight.”), Savage Umbrella (“…cooperates as a company to create new theater”), Off-Leash Area (original interdisciplinary performance work), and Bedlam Theater (“Fun, wild, anything-is-possible theater is our passion.”)

In conversation with my friend Brant Miller, one of the founders of Four Humors Theater, I was struck by how interconnected the Twin Cities ensemble-based community is. It’s not surprising that theatre artists who share an ensemble approach should cross-pollinate between their respective companies, but as our conversation evolved I was struck by the depth and elasticity of those ties. And while not all of these theatre-makers identify as playwrights, some do, and playwrights are frequently invited into the collaborative process.

Many of these companies not only share collaborators – as of January 2015 they also share a space. The Southern Theater, a gorgeous and historic theatre near the West Bank of the University of Minnesota, has emerged as a “leading and valued venue for eclectic, experimental and engaging work that appeals to diverse audiences.” This past January, the Southern launched an innovative ARTshare program that provides fifteen local dance and theatre companies with a three-year residency through a program that provides participating companies with rent-free performance space and a share of income and revenue from singe ticket sales, with $18/month memberships available to ARTshare members who can see as many performances as they like during the year in their innovative Netflix-inspired model. Read all about its inception here.

Damon Runnels, who runs the Southern – a job he took over when the Southern was in crushing financial trouble – is the mastermind behind the ARTshare residency program and a founder of Swandive Theatre (“a place where theatre artists, of all disciplines, can thrive”), one of the fifteen ARTshare resident companies. Since the first year of the ARTshare program is considered experimental, local foundations have stated they are waiting to see how the model works in practice before demonstrating real support, but it’s sure to be an experiment that will lift the entire dance and theatre community and raise the profile and audience base for the many ensemble-based companies that share a common aesthetic which fits the Southern so beautifully. I join with the entire Minneapolis theatre and dance community when I say best wishes for the success of this glorious experiment, and I can’t wait to see the work of all the resident companies.

lflaniganhegge@dramatistsguild.com

Photos (above): The Big Show, a new original work created by director and playmaker Jon Ferguson, writer Dominic Orlando, actor-creator Brant Miller, and the ensemble