Gum-Dip Theatre
Gum-Dip Theatre's mission is to celebrate, challenge, and invent community identity in the Rust Belt. Through neighborhood story circles and PAY-WHAT-YOU-CAN theatrical performances, we aim to enhance civic engagement and participation.
Gum dipping was a tire process used by the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company. They dipped all the cords and fibers in rubber gum before making the plies of the tire. Gum dipping a tire made it blowout-proof.
As gum dipping is to a tire, we hope to strengthen community through our own process. Gum-Dip Theatre also reclaims the name as a nod to the industrial history of the Rust Belt.
The Chameleon Village Theatre Collective
In 2015 in Macon, GA Josy Jones observed that there were numerous under-utilized structures and under-appreciated businesses. She also continued to meet talented creatives who were looking to grow their practices, but were having trouble convincing people to give them a space to learn and grow. After a conversation with the 567 Center for Renewal about activating their space for their First Friday event, the Chameleon Village was born. Since then, it has continued to be shaped and reshaped according to the artists interested in the work and the communities Josy serves. Currently located in Akron, OH, the work has evolved from an improv troupe to work in a tattoo parlor to playwriting courses for site-specific work and more!
QuTheatr
QuTheatr began as an ensemble theatre project aimed at employing and empowering LGBTQIA+ youth and young adults in greater Akron and the recipient of a grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, as part of its 2017 Akron Knight Arts Challenge.
In 2021, leadership was passed onto Tessa Gaffney and Rosilyn Jentner, and QuTheatr was awarded another Knight Arts Grant to expand into a multigenerational initiative to create honest queer theatre while building and maintaining queer community in Akron.
Currently, QuTheatr leaders are undergoing dramatherapy training in order to develop healthier methods of creation.
Listen to the podcast here.
Follow on Instagram here.
Ma’Sue Productions
Ma'Sue was created out of a hunger to see and do more African American Traditional and Original works in art performance. The name Ma’Sue was named after a woman who watched over her family and neighborhood with care and love. To the family her name was Mama, and to the neighborhood, she was Sue. Ma’Sue was first developed as a sister Production Company for Heads Up Productions in 2011. Later that year, Ma’Sue produced its first show on Nov 17th at the Balch Street Theater. The Show was called "Day Breaks Children", written By John Dayo Aliya and Directed By India Burton.
FORMER RESIDENT COMPANIES
New World Performance Laboratory
New World Performance Laboratory (NWPL), under the artistic direction of James Slowiak and Jairo Cuesta, is an evolving community of theatre artists, operating under the umbrella of the Center for Applied Theatre and Active Culture (CATAC). The company’s work has been featured in The Drama Review, Grotowski’s Objective Drama Research by Lisa Wolford, and The Grotowski Sourcebook, edited by Richard Scechner and Lisa Wolford. Since 1992, the NWPL has toured its performances to and conducted its workshops in Italy, Poland, France, Belgium, Bulgaria, Lebanon, Romania, Wales, Brazil, Colombia, and various U.S. cities, including Chicago and New York.