History
Theater Alliance was founded in 1993 as a community theater and made the transition to a professional company in 2001. Theater Alliance began with the distinct goal of producing work that would illuminate the experiences, philosophies, and interests of DC’s diverse populations. For a decade, Theater Alliance’s home and performance space was the H Street Playhouse.
In 2012, under the new leadership of Producing Artistic Director Colin Hovde, Theater Alliance began a new chapter with a refocused mission: to develop, produce, and present socially conscious, thought-provoking work that fully engages our community in active dialogue. The company moved from H Street to became the resident theater company of the Anacostia Playhouse, presenting its first full season there in 2013.
Theater Alliance, now under artistic direction of Raymond O. Caldwell, produces 3-4 plays each year, as well as a reading series, called the Hothouse New Play Development Series. Hothouse provides resources and space to emerging DC-based writers to assist in play development, working under the belief that theater can successfully unite audiences of all backgrounds through the power of creative presentation and participation. Theater Alliance strives to create an audience laboratory where the myriad of DC perspectives are face-to-face, tackling questions and confronting issues that separate, such as those of race, class, and privilege, as well those that unite, such as aging, mental illness, and family strife.
Theater Alliance has twice been named a finalist for the Mayor’s Art Award, been featured in the Greater Washington Catalogue for Philanthropy, received the Capitol Hill Community Foundation’s Keller Award for making significant, ongoing contributions to the life of the community, and awarded the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities’ UPSTART Grant for capacity building. Nationally, Theater Alliance has received the American Theatre Wing’s National Theater Company Grant and is a member of Theatre Communications Group (TCG) and the National New Play Network (NNPN). With NNPN, Theater Alliance took part in a Rolling World Premiere of DONTRELL WHO KISSED THE SEA.
In the company’s history, Theater Alliance has received 88 Helen Hayes nominations and 25 Helen Hayes Awards.