Steadfast Artistic Mission

Alternate ROOTS is one organization sponsoring Creative Convergence. According to the website, Alternate ROOTS mission includes, “To support the creation and presentation of original art which is rooted in a particular community of place, tradition or spirit.”

This idea appears to resonate in other forms of theatre. For example, Clancy Works Dance Company, another sponsor of Creative Convergence, has a mission statement that includes, “Expand the relevance of dance in people's lives by demonstrating that creative movement can be used to solve conflicts, develop community cohesion, improve academic achievement, and promote civic responsibility.”

Theatre doesn’t have to be the glamour of Broadway brought to you by the Lyric Opera House. It can be, and is to so many people, a form of personal expression. The division between the arts becomes blurred whenever an individual or group decides to push the limits of categories. Or when a group or person has a vision the feel they must cling steadfast to.

That’s why in the Baltimore area there are so many theatre venues to choose from.
Theatre Project is arguably the most edgy theatre in the area. They have a fairly simple mission which includes; “Theatre Project -- through the presentation of a diverse array of original and experimental theatre, music, and dance -- connects the artists and audiences of Baltimore with a global community of performers.”

Based on several performances I’ve seen, they stay true to their mission.

It’s not to say other theatres aren’t bold. Towson University’s Theatre Department, for example, staged Tony Kushner’s Angels in America last spring. Not exactly a play scripted for picnic conversation. The plays—both parts—deal with fairly complex and risqué social stigmas and ideas. But when it comes to experimental theatre, theatre unlike any kind, the type that merges the boundaries between the art forms, well, there you have Theatre Project.