BLACKFRIARS OF ROCHESTER NY INC
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Mission Statement
Blackfriars Theatre's mission is to enrich, entertain and inspire our community through exceptional theatrical arts while engaging local talent.
About This Cause
Blackfriars Theatre, downtown Rochester NY's mid-sized professionally-minded, artistically-ambitious community theatre, is celebrating its 76th Season of local theatre-making! The Theatre's mission is to enrich, entertain and inspire our community through exceptional theatrical arts while engaging local talent. Blackfriars champions the ideals of diverse and challenging storytelling, and passionately invests in the talent of local artists. Each year, Blackfriars Theatre reaches up to 10,000 patrons through our artistic and community programming. Our audiences hail mainly from Monroe County, but each production regularly draws patrons from the surrounding counties as well, primarily serving the citizens of Western and Central New York. Blackfriars also serves roughly 120+ artists from the Rochester region each year with performing, designing, directing and technician opportunities on all of artistic programming. As of 2022, Blackfriars is a female-led business under the leadership of Artistic Director Brynn Tyszka and Executive Director Mary Tiballi Hoffman. Blackfriars produces a year-round theatrical season comprised of one summer production and six subscription season productions (September through May), offering a diverse line-up that includes classics, dramas, comedies, musicals and original works. In addition to our subscription series, the Theatre also produces the Blackfriars Comedy Series, a season of hysterical long-form improv, original themed comedy specials and dark, irreverent sketch comedy, featuring artists from Rochester’s premiere comedy groups “Unleashed Improv, “Thank You Kiss,” and more. The Hourglass Play Reading Series became the in-house free play reading series at Blackfriars Theatre in 2016 and offers a series of free readings of thought-provoking, diverse plays that explore culturally relevant themes. "Imagination Station with Mrs. Kasha Davis" is a free, family-friendly community program that launched in September 2017 and has flourished amongst Rochester families; this series features inclusive children’s stories read by professional drag performer Mrs. Kasha Davis, with original songs performed live, a dance party, a cast of costumed characters, jokes, professionally-produced video sequences, custom animations, and a themed craft activity. Serving the Rochester community doesn’t just mean creating and promoting the Theatre's own home-grown live entertainment, but also partnering with other local organizations to support and promote Rochester as a regional and national destination for artistic and culturally diverse entertainment. In the last eight years, Blackfriars has established partnerships with Nazareth College, The College at Brockport, Rochester Institute of Technology, SUNY Geneseo and Roberts Wesleyan College to provide performance, visual arts and technical students with workforce development opportunities to create and invent in a professional theatrical environment. In addition, Blackfriars has created community partnerships to connect the themes of our artistic programming to important work being done within the Rochester community. Partner organizations include: The Arc of Monroe, American Red Cross, Willow Domestic Violence Center, RESTORE, RESOLVE of Greater Rochester, Rochester NOW, Impact Interactive, Writers & Books, The Avenue BlackBox Theatre, Rochester Latino Theatre Company, PUSH Physical Theatre, Rochester City School District, Trillium Health, NAMI Rochester, The Out Alliance, Rochester Museum and Science Center and Strasenburgh Planetarium, and the American Cancer Society. Outside of Geva Theatre Center, the region’s LORT theatre, Blackfriars Theatre is the only other theater in Monroe County that operates in a professional regional theatre production model. Blackfriars operates its own venue, runs a year-round production facility, produces a full regional theatre season, employs full-time staff, but unlike Geva and other LORT theatres, every aspect of Blackfriars's productions feature local artists; it’s central to the Theatre's mission. As a professional-minded community theatre, Blackfriars strives for and attains professional level quality work and many Blackfriars artists have worked regionally and professionally, have degrees in the art form and/or currently work and study in several arts fields. Blackfriars Theatre is the leader for small, professionally-minded, artistically-ambitious community theatre in Rochester, New York, enhancing the quality of life for thousands of Rochester’s theatre-lovers and hundreds of local artists each year who have chosen to make this community their home.