The Mixed Blood Theatre Company is a professional multiracial

Multiracial

The terms multiracial and mixed-race describe people whose ancestries come from multiple races. Unlike the term biracial, which often is only used to refer to having parents or grandparents of two different races, the term multiracial may encompass biracial people but can also include people with...

 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...

 company in Minneapolis

Minneapolis, Minnesota

Minneapolis , nicknamed "City of Lakes" and the "Mill City," is the county seat of Hennepin County, the largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota, and the 48th largest in the United States...

, Minnesota

Minnesota

Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...

. It was founded in 1976 by artistic director Jack Reuler. Its core stated values are promoting cultural pluralism

Cultural pluralism

Cultural pluralism is a term used when smaller groups within a larger society maintain their unique cultural identities, and their values and practices are accepted by the wider culture. Cultural pluralism is often confused with Multiculturalism...

, individual equality, and artistic excellence.

Its plays range from intimate chamber theatre

Chamber theatre

Chamber theatre is a method of adapting literary works to the stage using a maximal amount of the work's original text and often minimal and suggestive settings. In Chamber Theater, narration is included in the performed text and the narrator might be played by multiple actors . Professor Robert S...

 to political satire

Political satire

Political satire is a significant part of satire that specializes in gaining entertainment from politics; it has also been used with subversive intent where political speech and dissent are forbidden by a regime, as a method of advancing political arguments where such arguments are expressly...

s. The theatre presents over 500 performances annually in the Alan Page Auditorium of its historic firehouse theatre, as well as in schools, churches, community centers, juvenile detention centers, and workplaces.

Mixed Blood Theatre was the first company to use the Joe Dowling Studio in the Guthrie Theater

Guthrie Theater

The Guthrie Theater is a center for theater performance, production, education, and professional training in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the result of the desire of Sir Tyrone Guthrie, Oliver Rea, and Peter Zeisler to create a resident acting company that would produce and perform the classics in...

 with its play Yellowman

Yellowman (play)

Yellowman is a play written by Dael Orlandersmith. It was the 2002 Pulitzer Prize finalist for drama.-Plot summary:Divided into five parts, the play details the relationship between Eugene, a very fair skinned black man, and Alma, a large dark skinned woman. Their story begins in their youth on the...

. Mixed Blood is a member of Theatre Communications Group

Theatre Communications Group

Theatre Communications Group is an organization dedicated to the promotion of non-profit professional theatre in the United States. TCG has over 450 member theatres located in 47 states; 17,000 individual members; and a growing number of University, Funder, Business and Trustee Affiliates...

 (TCG) and the National New Play Network (NNPN).

History

1976

• 22-year-old Jack Reuler founds Mixed Blood, producing six shows, opening simultaneously with LeRoi Jones’ (Amiri Baraka’s) Dutchman (directed by Lou Bellamy) and the class system comedy Status Quo Vadis


• World premieres: Brother Champ by Michael Kassin, Badd High by Jack Reuler and Carl Lumbly

1977

• World premieres: Mother April’s by Horace Bond; JoAnne! By Ed Bullins

1978

• Mixed Blood signs contract with Actors’ Equity Association


• World premieres: Tuesday by Jewel Walker; Last Champion by Sharon Walton; Candide, adapted by Warren C. Bowles

1979

• For Colored Girls…opens at Walker Art Center, directed by Tony Award-winner Trazana Beverly, for 200-performance run


• World premieres: Make Room for Dada by Mark Frost; Quixote’s Charge by Steve Pearson; African Jazz by Ken LaZebnik

1980

• Mixed Blood wins Twin Cities Drama Critics Circle Award for best production for its science fiction trilogy WARP


• Dr. King’s Dream is performed by Warren Bowles for first of 2000 times as in theater’s extensive touring program.


• World premiere: Wake by Lenwood Sloan and Charles Mills

1981

• Mixed Blood wins Twin Cities Drama Critics Circle Award for best production for its American premiere of Accidental Death of an Anarchist by Dario Fo


• Actor Pat O’Brien wins Twin Cities drama Critics Circle Award for his performance as title role in Strider


• American premieres: Accidental Death of An Anarchist by Dario Fo; Cruel Tears by Ken Mitchell, in co-production with Chanhassen Dinner Theatre

1982

• Warren Bowles adds Paul Robeson by Phillip Hayes Dean to touring repertoire


• World premieres: Black Magic by Jack Reuler, Charles Mills, Ken LaZebnik, and Bob DeFlores; Harlem Renaissance Revue by Ken LaZebnik; Lemons by Kent Broadhurst;Basement Tapes by Erik Brogger

1983

• Mixed Blood begins Midnight Series with Motown Opera, directed by Steve Yoakam


• Warren Bowles adds Jackie Robinson to touring repertoire


• World premieres: Holiday Inn by Jack Reuler (and Irving Berlin), performed with Wolverines Classic Jazz Orchestra; Midnight Motown Madness; Motown Opera; Mr. Motown

1984

• Jack Reuler named to Esquire’s first “Register of People Under 40 Who Are Changing America”


• World Premieres: I Cheng by Maria Cheng and Mike Kissin; Tango Fatale by Jon Averill;Lady Soul; Motown Mademoiselles

1985

• Mixed Blood awarded Twin Cities’ Mayors’ Public Arts Award


• World premieres: Rebel Without A Cause (adapted) by Jack Reuler; Ohio Tip-Off by James Yoshimura; Baby Boomers’ Black Big Bands Meet the Great Falsettos by Jack Reuler

1986

• Mixed Blood opens A…My Name Is Alice, which has multiple runs through November 1993

1987

• World premiere: How To Improve Your Golf Game by David Babcock


• American premiere: A Map Of The World by David Hare

1988

• Mixed Blood featured in Sports Illustrated


• World premieres: Liquid Skin by Doug Anderson; Calvinisms by Ken LaZebnik

1989

• According To Coyote by John Kaufmann added to Mixed Blood’s touring repertoire


• World premieres: Buenavista by Bernardo Solano; Ali! By Graydon Royce and Geoff Ewing


• EnterTRaining has first shows

1990

• Mixed Blood presented with Actors’ Equity Association’s first Rosetta LeNoire Award for “celebrating the universality of the human experience on the American stage”


• Daughters of Africa by Syl Jones becomes fifth show in touring repertoire


• Mixed Blood co-produces The Mystery of Irma Vep with The Attic Theater in Detroit

1991

• Mixed Blood co-produces A…My Name Is Alice and The Grapes of Wrath with the Ordway


• Jack Reuler named Macalester College’s “Distinguished Citizen”


• Mixed Blood tours Three-Part Harmony to Jacksonville, Phoenix, and Rochester, sponsored by the Mayo Clinic


• World premieres: Throwing Bones by Michael Erickson

1992

• Jack Reuler receives Minneapolis Award


• King of the Kosher Grocers produced in abandoned supermarket in North Minneapolis


• Eastern Parade becomes sixth show in touring repertoire


• World premieres: Black Belts by Jevetta Steele and Jack Reuler; King of the Kosher Grocers by Joe Minjares; Cincinnati Man by Syl Jones; Eastern Parade, compiled by Rick Shiomi

1993

• Jack Reuler receives Martin Luther King Humanitarian Award from Minneapolis Community College


• A…My Name Is Still Alice runs for nine months


• World premiere: GunPlay by Syl Jones

1994

• Minnecanos becomes eighth show in touring repertoire


• World premieres: Black Belts, Too by Jevetta Steele and Jack Reuler


• Minnecanos by Joe Minjares

1995

• Mixed Blood is awarded Minneapolis Civil Rights Commission’s award for outstanding achievement in human rights


• World premiere: The True History of Coca-Cola In Mexico by Aldo Velasco and Patrick Scott

1996

• Mixed Blood receives Minneapolis Foundation’s Diversity Award


• World premiere: Ayuda! by Michael Weller

1997

• Mixed Blood receives Dream Keeper Award from Minnesota Council on Black Minnesotans


• Mixed Blood co-produces Birth of the Boom with City Theatre (Pittsburgh)


• World premiere: Good News About Third World Shoes by Aldo Velasco and Patrick Scott

1998

• Co-production of Black No More with the Guthrie and Arena Stage (Washington, D.C.)


• Playwright-In-Residence Syl Jones wins Roger Stevens Award


• Founding member of National New Plays Network


• World premieres: Black No More by Syl Jones; Maria!MariaMariaMaria! by Lisa Loomer

1999

• American Theater Critics Association names Black No More finalist for best new American play


• Mixed Blood’s first annual production presented in Spanish and English by a bi-lingual cast (La Verdadera Historia de Coca-Cola en Mexico)


• Black Eagle becomes the ninth show in touring repertoire


• World premieres: Vices by Everett Bradley, Michael Heitzman, Susan Draus, and Ilene Reed; Black Eagle by Warren C. Bowles

2000

• Dedication of the Alan Page Auditorium


• Mixed Blood’s Silver Anniversary Season: Re-Born to be Wild


• World Premieres: Haroun and the Sea of Stories, adapted by Zaraawar Mistry from the novel by Salman Rushdie; Cut Flowers by Gavin Lawrence

2001

• Co-production of Spinning Into Butter with Park Square Theatre played in three venues (Mixed Blood, Park Square, Ordway)


• World Premiere: A Jew on Ethiopia Street by Allan Havis


• Company produces one of its biggest bilingual hits, Wait Until Dark by Frederick Knott

2002

• Mixed Blood premieres Two Queens One Castle by Jevetta Steele; runaway hit in Minneapolis that was also chosen for the National Alliance for Musical Theatre showcase festival in New York


• Mixed Blood stages the first production of The Boys Next Door to feature actors with disabilities (co-produced with Interact Theatre)

2003

• Co-production of Pulitzer Prize-winning play Topdog/Underdog with the Studio Theatre in Washington, D.C.


• Expansion of mission to include another culture and language with Sweet Nothing in My Ear, produced in both spoken English and ASL

2004

• World premiere of Bill of (W)Rights, ten one-act plays performed throughout Mixed Blood’s firehouse facility


• World premiere of Jane Martin’s fierce political drama Flags starring Chris Mulkey and Karen Landry

2005

• Regional premiere of the Tony Award-winning Take Me Out


• World premiere of Victor Zupanc's bilingual Found


• Company awarded VSA arts of Minnesota Access Award

2006

• World premiere of 15-playwright new age vaudeville extravaganza Point of Revue


• World premiere of Ken LaZebnik's Vestibular Sense and Aditi Kapil's the Deaf Duckling


• New show, Immigrant Dreams, added to touring roster


• Jack Reuler recognized for Lifetime Achievement at Ameriprise Financial Ivey Awards
  Ivey awards
  The IVEY awards are an annual award show, celebrating Twin Cities professional theater. Established in 2004, the non-nomination based awards serve to recognize outstanding achievements within the past theater season in direction, performance, design, etc...
  
  

2007

• Mixed Blood receives MetLife Foundation Award for Arts Access


• Ken LaZebnik receives American Theatre Critics Association's 2006 M. Elizabeth Osborn New Play Award for best emerging playwright for Vestibular Sense


• World premiere of 5-playwright piece, Messy Utopia, a play by, for, about, and featuring people of mixed race


• Mixed Blood announces 32nd season, celebrating contributions of women artists on stage, off stage, and behind the scenes

2008

• World premier of Aditi Kapil's Love Person


• Love Person nominated for Pulitzer Prize, Blackburn Award and Steinberg Award

2009

• Mixed Blood receives Ordway's Sally Award for Vision


• Jack Reuler is given Actor's Equity's Spirit Award


• Pj Doyle joins staff as Managing Director


• P'ure Confidence moves to an off-Broadway run, garnering three Audelco Awards


• Aditi Kapil wins Primus Award from National Theatre Conference of Love Person


• World premiere of Red Ink, Hijab Tube and Theory of Mind

External links

• Official website