Live Arts
Encyclopedia
Live Arts community theatre, founded in 1990, in Charlottesville, Virginia
. It produces and creates theatre
that they label "modern, rigorous and risky." They promote themselves as being "committed to being a product of its community as well as a process for creating community."
Performances began in the Old Michie Building, a former printing plant turned into a community arts space in the late 1980s. Live Arts' first production in that 135-seat space was of Sartre's
"No Exit
," in September 1990. Acid house
dance parties provided an early approach to artistically-motivated, experience-based events as fund-raising tool. This form found fuller expression in the annual "9 Lives" benefit, a combination of cabaret and promenade theatre forms.
A series of coffeehouses under the direction of Fran Sackett Smith, the founding artistic director, provided a stage for local musicians, actors and writers, and were a regular feature of the theatre's first years. (Dave Matthews
, one of the veterans of the early coffeehouses and galas, has gone on to become a well-known musician and actor.)
In 2003, Live Arts moved into three floors of the Center for Contemporary Arts building on Water Street, designed by local firm Bushman/Dreyfus Architects. The main theatre is a 200 seat, three-story configurable space with permanent balcony; there is also a 70-seat black box theater. Shows often run in both spaces at the same time.
Charlottesville, Virginia
Charlottesville is an independent city geographically surrounded by but separate from Albemarle County in the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States, and named after Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, the queen consort of King George III of the United Kingdom.The official population estimate for...
. It produces and creates theatre
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
that they label "modern, rigorous and risky." They promote themselves as being "committed to being a product of its community as well as a process for creating community."
History
Live Arts started in 1989 with a group that included Thane and Will Kerner, Fran Smith, Mark and Karen Schuyler, Michael Parent, Bill Thomas, Larry Goldstein, Gate Pratt and Cate Andrews. Most of these people are still involved in live performance in downtown Charlottesville.Jean-Paul Sartre
Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre was a French existentialist philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and literary critic. He was one of the leading figures in 20th century French philosophy, particularly Marxism, and was one of the key figures in literary...
"No Exit
No Exit
No Exit is a 1944 existentialist French play by Jean-Paul Sartre. The original French title is Huis Clos, the French equivalent of the legal term in camera, referring to a private discussion behind closed doors; English translations have also been performed under the titles In Camera, No Way Out...
," in September 1990. Acid house
Acid house
Acid house is a sub-genre of house music that emphasizes a repetitive, hypnotic and trance-like style, often with samples or spoken lines rather than sung lyrics. Acid house's core electronic squelch sounds were developed around the mid-1980s, particularly by DJs from Chicago who experimented with...
dance parties provided an early approach to artistically-motivated, experience-based events as fund-raising tool. This form found fuller expression in the annual "9 Lives" benefit, a combination of cabaret and promenade theatre forms.
A series of coffeehouses under the direction of Fran Sackett Smith, the founding artistic director, provided a stage for local musicians, actors and writers, and were a regular feature of the theatre's first years. (Dave Matthews
Dave Matthews
David John "Dave" Matthews is a South African–born American musician and occasional actor, best known as the lead vocalist, songwriter, and guitarist for the Dave Matthews Band...
, one of the veterans of the early coffeehouses and galas, has gone on to become a well-known musician and actor.)
In 2003, Live Arts moved into three floors of the Center for Contemporary Arts building on Water Street, designed by local firm Bushman/Dreyfus Architects. The main theatre is a 200 seat, three-story configurable space with permanent balcony; there is also a 70-seat black box theater. Shows often run in both spaces at the same time.
Numbers and facts
- An annual audience of 20,000.
- Core volunteer base of over 500.
- Productions to date (as of January 2011): 251
- First Production: No ExitNo ExitNo Exit is a 1944 existentialist French play by Jean-Paul Sartre. The original French title is Huis Clos, the French equivalent of the legal term in camera, referring to a private discussion behind closed doors; English translations have also been performed under the titles In Camera, No Way Out...
September 1990. - Live Arts staged the Virginia premieres of work by Tony KushnerTony KushnerAnthony Robert "Tony" Kushner is an American playwright and screenwriter. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1993 for his play, Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes, and co-authored with Eric Roth the screenplay for the 2005 film, Munich.-Life and career:Kushner was born...
, Suzan-Lori ParksSuzan-Lori ParksSuzan-Lori Parks is an African American playwright and screenwriter. She received the MacArthur Foundation "Genius" Grant in 2001, and the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her play, Topdog/Underdog.-Early years:...
, Charles L. MeeCharles L. MeeCharles L. Mee is an American playwright, historian and author known for his collage-like style of playwriting, which makes use of radical reconstructions of found texts.-Early Life and Early Career:...
, Richard GreenbergRichard GreenbergRichard Greenberg is an American playwright. He is the author of over 25 plays including eight South Coast Repertory world premieres: Our Mother's Brief Affair, The Injured Party, The Violet Hour, Everett Beekin, Hurrah at Last, Three Days of Rain Richard Greenberg (1958–present) is an American...
, August WilsonAugust WilsonAugust Wilson was an American playwright whose work included a series of ten plays, The Pittsburgh Cycle, for which he received two Pulitzer Prizes for Drama...
, and Edward AlbeeEdward AlbeeEdward Franklin Albee III is an American playwright who is best known for The Zoo Story , The Sandbox , Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? , and a rewrite of the screenplay for the unsuccessful musical version of Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's . His works are considered well-crafted, often...
, among others.