Help us produce the best contemporary theatre for Seattle-area audiences by supporting a specific program throughout the year. ACT Theatre will work with you to choose a program that best fits your interests. By designating your gift to a specific program, you help ensure the success of that program.
With your designated gift to an ACT program, you join the ACT Circle of Donors – a select group who have demonstrated their passion for contemporary theatre. In appreciation of your generosity, ACT offers numerous exciting benefits.
To fund a program, please contact ACT’s Development Department at development@acttheatre.org or at (206) 292-7660, ext. 1330.
Thank you for helping ACT to bring the best contemporary theatre to Seattle!
ACT Theatre is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization (IRS Recognized: A Contemporary Theatre). Donations are tax-deductible to the full extent of the law.
Mainstage Season
Our Mainstage season has brought acclaimed, thought-provoking plays to audience members for the past 43 years, opening up explorations into the new, the noteworthy and the socially relevant questions we face as a community. In addition to our Mainstage season, we have also staged the annual downtown holiday tradition, A Christmas Carol for 33 seasons and counting!
Your gift to the Mainstage season supports the local artists and actors who make these productions possible, as well as enabling us to maintain our high-quality production values you have come to expect and enjoy.
Young Playwrights Program
Since 2002, ACT has been present in local schools with an exciting language arts curriculum based on the art of playwriting: the Young Playwrights Program. With professional playwrights leading this 10 week in-school course, ACT instills core arts values in tomorrow’s generation of artists and theatre lovers, while empowering these students today with the tools necessary to express themselves with confidence and the conviction to be heard.
The Young Playwrights Program culminates in ACT’s Young Playwrights Festival, a celebration of students’ work and growth throughout the course. In the spring of 2009, eight student scripts will be presented at the Festival, out of the nearly 350 plays created by the students from 17 Seattle-area classrooms in the fall of 2008.
Your gift to the Young Playwrights Program directly supports this skill-building creative outlet for these students and will help the program add additional schools, extending the program's reach to new students.
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The Hansberry Project at ACT
The Hansberry Project at ACT is an exciting new African American theatre lab, where art meets soul. Launched in 2006 with its inaugural production, Wine in the Wilderness, the Hansberry Project at ACT produces the best plays of the Black theatre, classics and new works alike. With the strength and resources of ACT, the Hansberry Project at ACT has a safe and nurturing home for African American artists to explore the craft with a welcoming audience.
In its third year, the Hansberry Project at ACT has already grown to include one mainstage production at ACT, artistic presentations and readings, community conversations, and cabaret production.
Your gift to the Hansberry Project at ACT directly supports this unique venture and ensures the project’s growth and artistic development.
The Central Heating Lab at ACT
ACT's innovative Central Heating Lab initiative is devoted to nurturing and supporting new works, new talent, and local artists spanning not only theatre, but also cabaret, music, dance, spoken word, film, and performance and visual art. Uniquely positioned to provide the space and resources to the development of new projects in a collaborative environment, ACT partners with emerging and seasoned local artists, and give them the heat, sustenance and pressure required to experiment, grow and transform their work and reach new audiences.
Throughout 2008, ACT presented works from partners such as The Moisture Festival, Seattle Dance Project, and "Awesome" and will continue in 2009 with programming that includes an eight-week comedy series, four RAWSTOCK film festivals, the 2009 New Play Award and workshop, Seattle Dance Project, plus choreographer Maureen Whiting's residency will culminate with the March 13 world premiere of a new dance installation piece.
Your gift to The Central Heating Lab at ACT supports this growing artistic community and our ability to continue to present emerging and vital talent necessary in driving new work.
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New Works for the American Stage
Through this innovative play-commissioning program, ACT brings patrons and playwrights together to provide the future of American theatre. New Works for the American Stage began in 2005 with the commissioning of nationally renowned Steven Dietz, whose play Becky's New Car premiered as part of ACT's 2008 Mainstage season, completing the commissioning, development and presentation of new work. Two additional commissions are also currently in the works. For more information and to become a part of this program, please contact ACT’s Development Department at development@acttheatre.org or (206) 292-7660 ext. 1330.
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