Where Has All the Grassroots Touring Gone?

2007, 304 pages. Published by Community Arts Network, www.communityarts.net

www.communityarts.net/readingroom/archivefiles/2006/06/where_has_all_t.php

For many community-based theater ensembles, touring was once an inspiring part of the artistic process. Packing plays freshly minted at home, theaters from all points of the compass hit the road in a spirit of artistic and cultural exchange. Challenged by other artists and audiences, both the plays and the companies improved. In May of 2006, eighteen touring artists, managers, performing arts presenters and foundation leaders met at Pregones Theater in the Bronx to discuss solutions to the past decade's radical reduction in national touring for new American plays. This paper is largely a transcript of the symposium, which was sponsored by Roadside Theater and Pregones Theater in Bronx, New York.