ACROSSTOWN REPERTORY THEATRE WORKSHOP INC
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Mission Statement
The Acrosstown Repertory Theatre develops new talent, plays, audiences and ideas while also celebrating and revivifying the great plays of the past. The ART provides a safe place where people of all ages, genders, races, socio-economic backgrounds and beliefs can create unsafe theatre – thinking people’s theatre– theatre that transforms. We continually respect, and challenge ourselves as actors, designers, artists and visionaries to achieve more; our audiences as living, thinking and feeling human beings to engage more; other local theaters and arts organizations to collaborate more; and by doing so, help nurture and develop Gainesville, Florida into the center of arts and culture in North Central Florida.
About This Cause
Both professional and amateur playwrights, designers, actors, and musicians have seen their craft realized. The ART provides opportunities for children, the elderly, the disabled, and minorities, and keeps its ticket prices low so that all members of the community can enjoy our programs. A completely volunteer-run 501c3 organization, the Acrosstown provides a number of multicultural, socially relevant and alternative events. With dozens of events a year, something is always happening at the ART! Our mainstage shows range from topical drama to period piece to comedy, and our aim is to start a conversation and create theatre for thinking people. From the beginning, The Acrosstown Repertory Theatre was dedicated to cross-cultural theater, producing classic, avant-garde, and sometimes original material. The ART was founded in 1980 as a grassroots community theater by Ajamu Mutima and others in the old Star Garage (then a vacant warehouse space owned by the city), as part of a consortium called the Neighborhood Arts Coalition, (which included the LaVern Porter dancers). In 1985, the city decided to sell the Star Garage as part of a downtown redevelopment project. After many City Council meetings, petitions, and protests (including an original political satire called "Fact Wino Meets the Phantom of the Star Garage"— one of the Acrosstown’s biggest hits, that featured satires of, and was attended by, many local politicians and celebrities), the City of Gainesville generously provided the group with a grant to relocate. In 1986 the ART converted a warehouse space at the Baird Center into a small 68-seat theater. In 2022 it was time for the ART to move again. After a brief collaboration with the City of Gainesville as a traveling theatre troupe, ART leadership was able to secure a new location in the Creekside Mall just 3 miles away from the original space. The 2023-2024 season debuted a newly-leased and renovated home after relocating from the previous space that was held for 36 years. In recent years, the ART has returned to performing Shakespeare at least once yearly, developing local playwrights through our Homegrown Local Playwrights’ Showcase, collaborating with other local theatres and organizations, and producing works that fulfill our desire to start a conversation and create theatre for thinking people.