Perseverance Theatre facts for kids
Perseverance Theatre is a professional theater company located on Douglas Island in Juneau, Alaska. It is Alaska's only professional theater! This means the people who work there are paid for their acting, directing, and other theater jobs. The theater loves to work with artists from Alaska. It also creates plays that celebrate Alaska's unique culture, history, and special themes.
Perseverance Theatre was started in 1979 by Molly Smith. She built it into an important non-profit theater. It has worked with many leading theater artists. The theater has shown more than 50 new plays for the very first time. These plays were written by Alaskan and national writers. For example, Paula Vogel's play How I Learned To Drive won a Pulitzer Prize in 1998. She wrote and developed this play while she was an artist-in-residence at Perseverance Theatre.
Molly Smith was the artistic director from 1979 until 1998. After that, she became the artistic director of the Arena Stage in Washington, D.C.. Peter DuBois took over from her and worked until 2003. Later, he became the Artistic Director of Boston's Huntington Theatre. In 2004, PJ Paparelli became the Artistic Director. He left in 2007 to lead the American Theatre Company in Chicago.
Art Rotch was the Executive Artistic Director from 2008 to 2019. He had studied set design at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. In 2018, Joshua Midget joined him as Managing Director. Today, Leslie Ishii is the Artistic Director and Frank Delaney is the Managing Director.
Contents
What Perseverance Theatre Does
Perseverance Theatre puts on a full season of plays from September to May. These shows are on its Mainstage, which has 161 seats.
The Phoenix: Second Stage Shows
The theater also has a Second Stage season. This takes place in its rehearsal space, called "The Phoenix." The Phoenix features smaller shows. It often helps new actors, designers, and directors develop their skills. Readings of plays and shows from the theater's education programs are also performed there.
Reaching More People
In 2014, Perseverance Theatre started performing its full season in Anchorage too. They also created a summer series in downtown Juneau called Summerfest.
Education and Support
In 2001, Perseverance Theatre partnered with the University of Alaska Southeast. They took over all theater education at the University. This allowed students to get a minor in theater. In 2002, the theater received a big grant of $500,000 from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. They successfully completed the challenge for this grant in 2005. The theater also raised $1.1 million for a big renovation and expansion project.
Perseverance Theatre is part of the National Playwright Residency Program (NPRP). This program is supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and HowlRound Theatre Commons. In 2016, Vera Starbard became a Playwright in Residence for three years. Her grant was renewed in 2019. Her play, "Devilfish," was written and performed during her first term.
Mainstage Productions
The Mainstage shows a wide variety of plays. Here are some examples from past seasons:
- Hamlet, by William Shakespeare.
- Noises Off, by Michael Frayn.
- The first-ever performance of Raven Odyssey. This play was based on Alaska Native stories about the mythical figure of Raven.
- Macbeth, by Shakespeare. This version was translated into the Tlingit language. It was performed by an all-Alaska Native cast, mostly in Tlingit.
- "The Who's Tommy," a musical by Pete Townshend and Des McAnuff.
- Equus, by Peter Shaffer.
- Yeast Nation, a musical by Mark Hollmann and Greg Kotis.
Second Stage Productions
The Second Stage, or "The Phoenix," features more personal shows. It helps new actors, directors, and designers. Here are some plays performed on the Second Stage:
- Red Light Winter, by Adam Rapp.
- Speech And Debate, by Stephen Karam.
- A Question Of Mercy, by David Rabe.
- Translation: A 31-Year-Old Woman's Strange Journey Toward Herself, by Sarah Brooks.
- Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead, by Bert V. Royal. This play featured students from the University of Alaska Southeast.
- The Typographer's Dream, by Adam Bock.
- The Last Five Years, by Jason Robert Brown.
Perseverance Theatre's "Young Company" also performs on the Second Stage.
- A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens.
