The Shotgun Players is a company of artists on a mission to create
bold, relevant, affordable theater. We believe in the power of
theater as a mechanism through which we and our community examine
ourselves and the world.
Shotgun Players exists to create fearless, provocative, relevant
theatre. Founding Artistic Director Patrick Dooley started the
company in 1992 with four eager actors and a bucket of paint.
Now approaching our nineteenth year, nothing pleases us more than
to tackle projects other companies believe would be too expensive,
too unwieldy or just plain impossible. For our first thirteen
years we performed in 44 different spaces then in 2004 we found
a permanent home at The Ashby Stage in South Berkeley. Rather
than becoming complacent, we have a passionate hunger for bigger
challenges. Audiences have come to expect astonishing theatre
from Shotgun Players.
A key accomplishment has been our focus on long term relationships with playwrights and composers. To back that up we produce at least one commissioned play each season and many of the commissions also feature original music. To celebrate our 20th anniversary in 2011 we will present an entire season of commissioned new works. Keeping with the spirit of innovation and challenge we encourage our playwrights to write the epic, sweeping plays they've always dreamed of.
We support those efforts with a commitment to funding workshops so that the play has the necessary time and space for development. Obie Award Winner Adam Bock serves as an artistic advisor for new play development for our company and will return in 2011 with a commission for our 20th anniversary season.
We are proud that many of our most successful productions have been original works. In the last five years we have been awarded The Will Glickman Award for Best New Play for Dog Act in 2004 and Beowulf: A Thousand Years of Baggage in 2008. In April 2009 we achieved a key goal by moving that production to New York City where the New Yorker Magazine named Beowulf one of the twelve best off-Broadway productions of the year.
This summer Jon Tracy created The Farm a hip-hop version of George Orwell's classic that had audiences clamoring for more. One audience member wrote: "I'm not a hip hop fan (and I am an Orwell fan) so I went to The Farm warily. It was STUNNING! FABULOUS! I've recommended it to everyone! Thank you for once again dazzling me!". Shotgun Players production of Faust Part 1 by Mark Jackson was named as one of the top ten productions of 2009 by both the San Francisco Chronicle and the East Bay Express.
Other playwrights that have enjoyed successful productions with our company include Liz Duffy Adams, Pulitzer Prize Finalist Eisa Davis, and Marcus Gardley.
We also believe that it is not
enough to create exceptional works of theatre; but
also to make a difference in your community. How we
interact with our neighbors, who we support with our
business, and how we use materials all have an impact
on our community. In 2007 Shotgun Players' theatre,
The Ashby Stage, became the first 100% solar powered
live theatre in the country. Now we are a Green Certified
Business! For more information, please see the Green
Business website: http://www.greenbiz.ca.gov/.
Shotgun Players is also dedicated to keeping our ticket
prices affordable. We offer pay-what-you-can performances
for each production so that persons of all income
brackets can experience the vitality of live theater.
Our annual outdoor free admission production in John
Hinkel Park has become a much loved summer tradition
in the San Francisco Bay Area.
In 2011 we are celebrating our 20th
season with 5 world premieres commissioned from some of our favourite
playwrights. For more information, check out our announcement.
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