Studebaker Theater

Studebaker
Theater

Mission and History
Programs
Performances
Education Program
Awards
Support

Studebaker Theater
9 Oliver Street
Somerville, MA 02145

John Bay, Co-Artistic Director jbay@gis.net
Lesley Bannatyne, Co-Artistic Director bannatyn@fas.harvard.edu

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Misson and History

Mission:

Studebaker Theater exists to create and tour new works in theater, and to bring innovative arts programming into the schools that helps children and adults enhance creative, perceptive and problem-solving skills.

History:

Founded in 1978 in Boston, Massachusetts by John Bay, Lesley Bannatyne, Taylor Watts and Michael Gunst, Studebaker Theater is an artist-run performance company with a history of strong and versatile programming. It has created nearly thirty full-length, original theater pieces and conducted over 1000 performances in tours throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe. Representative performance venues include Boston Symphony Hall, Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors Festival, Edinburgh Festival Fringe (Scotland), Battersea Arts Center (London), Milkweg Theater (Amsterdam), and international theater festivals in the Unites States, Canada and Germany. The company has a longstanding history of collaborating with other artists to create new works that combine the performing and visual arts in innovative ways.

Studebaker's Education program sends artists into inner city schools for residencies, teacher workshops and special programs. Since 1980, we have given approximately 50 workshops annually in 48 communities throughout New England, the Midwest, Canada and Switzerland, as well as for 42 colleges and universities, three museums and 26 community organizations.

Studebaker residencies often concentrate on making new theater pieces that students dream up, script and perform. Recent programming concentrates on building workable, replicable curriculum units that infuse drama into core studies such as language arts, social studies, science and world languages.

Highlights of the company's history include:

Development of large-scale, site-specific urban performances (as the collaboration of artists known as Invisible Cities Group) done in conjunction with local artists and residents in Somerville, Medford, Cambridge, Jamaica Plain, and Pullman, Washington. 1993-2004

Creation of collaborative system-wide educational project with Cambridge Public Schools, the Cambridge Public School Drama Collaborative, 1994-2004

Boston and West Coast tour of SHADOW OF A DOUBT, a performance piece for five actors and four machines, in collaboration with sculptor Arthur Ganson, 1991 -1994

Educational performance workshops produced for distribution over Mass LearnPike, a satellite broadcast network for distance learning, 1991-1992

A two-week sellout tour of Czechoslovakia's major cities, 1984

Collaboration with Christopher Hogwood and the Handel & Haydn Society of Boston on original performance piece based on PULCINELLA and LE BOURGEOIS GENTILEHOMME, Symphony Hall,1984 and 1989

Operation of a studio school (at the Boston Center for the Arts) that provided classes in movement and theater, and presented an informal studio performance series for new works, 1982-1986

NuArts Premiere of OLDUVAI, a performance piece about the African archeological site directed by Pilobolus Dance Theater's Moses Pendleton, 1982

Programs

Studebaker operates two programs: New Works and Education.

Through New Works we present original performances and contemporary plays. The company typically produces one new work each year in Boston.

Our goal with all our new works projects is to create a performance style that enables the audience to see things in a different way; to open up possibilities. 1994's INVISIBLE CITIES, for example, was a large-scale urban performance that took place over eight blocks of a Somerville neighborhood and constructed a poetic walking tour that blended historical facts and fiction. Over 50 people were involved including artists, performers, writers, neighborhood residents, historians, and city officials. IMPOSSIBLE LIBRARY (2201) took place over several acres of Forest Hills Cemetery in Jamaica Plain, and was a poetic walking tour about memory. Our production, THINGS I NEVER TOLD U (2003) took place on Aberdeen Street in Somerville, involving neighbors, local artists, dancers, and a live band in a performance about neighborhood based on a Bernard Malamud short story.

Studebaker's Education program sends artists into school systems for residencies, teacher workshops and special programs. Some Studebaker residencies concentrate on making new theater pieces that students create, script and perform. Others focus on teacher training and integrating the arts into the core curriculum.

Our goal is to work with kids to develop their flexibility and improvisational skills, and to show (by doing) that there are multiple solutions for any one problem. We use the arts to connect to all students in the classroom, since students learn differently and respond to different teaching methods. Our programs involve many arts disciplines: a class studying Johnny Tremaine, for example, might write short scripts based on character dialogue, create music from the period, or design album covers with liner notes.

Support:

Studebaker's efforts have received support from a variety of public and private agencies. Studebaker has been a multi-award grantee from the Boston Globe, Lechmere, and the Polaroid Foundations, as well as recipient of grants from Draper Laboratory, Lotus, Shawmut Bank and the Agnes M. Lindsay Trust. In addition, awards have been granted from the National Endowment for the Arts, Artists Foundation Fellowship Program, the LEF Foundation, the Cultural Educational Collaborative and numerous local arts councils. It has received Massachusetts Cultural Council merit awards each year since 1980.

Awards

Merit Aid to Studebaker Theater to support new work, Massachusetts Cultural Council, 1980-2003

Special Initiative Award for The Man Himself, Massachusetts Cultural Council, 1992

NEA Regional Initiative/Rockefeller Foundation grant for Elvis In Exile, 1991

NEA Dance Program grant, 1984-1985

Finalist, Choreography, Massachusetts Artists Foundation, 1979, 1981

Studebaker Theater
Mission and History Programs Performances Education Program Awards Support	Studebaker Theater 9 Oliver Street Somerville, MA 02145 John Bay, Co-Artistic Director jbay@gis.net Lesley Bannatyne, Co-Artistic Director bannatyn@fas.harvard.edu
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	Misson and History Mission: Studebaker Theater exists to create and tour new works in theater, and to bring innovative arts programming into the schools that helps children and adults enhance creative, perceptive and problem-solving skills. History: Founded in 1978 in Boston, Massachusetts by John Bay, Lesley Bannatyne, Taylor Watts and Michael Gunst, Studebaker Theater is an artist-run performance company with a history of strong and versatile programming. It has created nearly thirty full-length, original theater pieces and conducted over 1000 performances in tours throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe. Representative performance venues include Boston Symphony Hall, Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors Festival, Edinburgh Festival Fringe (Scotland), Battersea Arts Center (London), Milkweg Theater (Amsterdam), and international theater festivals in the Unites States, Canada and Germany. The company has a longstanding history of collaborating with other artists to create new works that combine the performing and visual arts in innovative ways. Studebaker's Education program sends artists into inner city schools for residencies, teacher workshops and special programs. Since 1980, we have given approximately 50 workshops annually in 48 communities throughout New England, the Midwest, Canada and Switzerland, as well as for 42 colleges and universities, three museums and 26 community organizations. Studebaker residencies often concentrate on making new theater pieces that students dream up, script and perform. Recent programming concentrates on building workable, replicable curriculum units that infuse drama into core studies such as language arts, social studies, science and world languages. Highlights of the company's history include: Development of large-scale, site-specific urban performances (as the collaboration of artists known as Invisible Cities Group) done in conjunction with local artists and residents in Somerville, Medford, Cambridge, Jamaica Plain, and Pullman, Washington. 1993-2004 Creation of collaborative system-wide educational project with Cambridge Public Schools, the Cambridge Public School Drama Collaborative, 1994-2004 Boston and West Coast tour of SHADOW OF A DOUBT, a performance piece for five actors and four machines, in collaboration with sculptor Arthur Ganson, 1991 -1994 Educational performance workshops produced for distribution over Mass LearnPike, a satellite broadcast network for distance learning, 1991-1992 A two-week sellout tour of Czechoslovakia's major cities, 1984 Collaboration with Christopher Hogwood and the Handel & Haydn Society of Boston on original performance piece based on PULCINELLA and LE BOURGEOIS GENTILEHOMME, Symphony Hall,1984 and 1989 Operation of a studio school (at the Boston Center for the Arts) that provided classes in movement and theater, and presented an informal studio performance series for new works, 1982-1986 NuArts Premiere of OLDUVAI, a performance piece about the African archeological site directed by Pilobolus Dance Theater's Moses Pendleton, 1982 Programs Studebaker operates two programs: New Works and Education. Through New Works we present original performances and contemporary plays. The company typically produces one new work each year in Boston. Our goal with all our new works projects is to create a performance style that enables the audience to see things in a different way; to open up possibilities. 1994's INVISIBLE CITIES, for example, was a large-scale urban performance that took place over eight blocks of a Somerville neighborhood and constructed a poetic walking tour that blended historical facts and fiction. Over 50 people were involved including artists, performers, writers, neighborhood residents, historians, and city officials. IMPOSSIBLE LIBRARY (2201) took place over several acres of Forest Hills Cemetery in Jamaica Plain, and was a poetic walking tour about memory. Our production, THINGS I NEVER TOLD U (2003) took place on Aberdeen Street in Somerville, involving neighbors, local artists, dancers, and a live band in a performance about neighborhood based on a Bernard Malamud short story. Studebaker's Education program sends artists into school systems for residencies, teacher workshops and special programs. Some Studebaker residencies concentrate on making new theater pieces that students create, script and perform. Others focus on teacher training and integrating the arts into the core curriculum. Our goal is to work with kids to develop their flexibility and improvisational skills, and to show (by doing) that there are multiple solutions for any one problem. We use the arts to connect to all students in the classroom, since students learn differently and respond to different teaching methods. Our programs involve many arts disciplines: a class studying Johnny Tremaine, for example, might write short scripts based on character dialogue, create music from the period, or design album covers with liner notes. Support: Studebaker's efforts have received support from a variety of public and private agencies. Studebaker has been a multi-award grantee from the Boston Globe, Lechmere, and the Polaroid Foundations, as well as recipient of grants from Draper Laboratory, Lotus, Shawmut Bank and the Agnes M. Lindsay Trust. In addition, awards have been granted from the National Endowment for the Arts, Artists Foundation Fellowship Program, the LEF Foundation, the Cultural Educational Collaborative and numerous local arts councils. It has received Massachusetts Cultural Council merit awards each year since 1980. Awards Merit Aid to Studebaker Theater to support new work, Massachusetts Cultural Council, 1980-2003 Special Initiative Award for The Man Himself, Massachusetts Cultural Council, 1992 NEA Regional Initiative/Rockefeller Foundation grant for Elvis In Exile, 1991 NEA Dance Program grant, 1984-1985 Finalist, Choreography, Massachusetts Artists Foundation, 1979, 1981