About

CONTACT US

Email:
productions@avthespians.org

Post:
P.O. Box 3531
Quartz Hill, CA 93586

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WHO WE ARE

Antelope Valley Thespians is an incorporated 501(c)3 nonprofit theatre company operating in Quartz Hill, California.

We are dedicated to advancing the creative potential of the local theatre and artistic culture through the production of unique, original, and experimental drama, and by cultivating an integrated community of local writers, actors, musicians, and fine-artists. Our actors and production staff can explore small-cast, experimental works not well-suited for larger theater houses through our flexible style of production.

AVT operates out of a fully functional blackbox-style theatre in Quartz Hill, California… built into the garage of a private residence.  The garage theatre is a blackbox space for rehearsal, scene studies, workshops, expos, experimentation, and other such activities. Starting in the 2011 Season, all performances are hosted by the Antelope Valley Winery, which generously provides AVT with three different performance spaces through a special arrangement.

We believe that theatre is first and foremost an artistic medium for providing insight into the human condition, and secondarily an educational tool for enhancing and growing the cultural and artistic awareness of the local community.

Our production philosophy is twofold: 1) Provide a framework to seed, develop, and produce quality original work from playwrights in the local community, and 2) produce published work from outside the community that brings in new perspectives and provides a standard to which our local writers may aspire.

Our dramaturgical philosophy adheres to three general principles: our productions will be 1) character-driven, 2) unique, and 3) thought-provoking.

You can learn more about the details of how AVT works by reading our current Operational Plan.

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COMPANY

Operations Director: Nikki Martin
Artistic Director: Jonathan Janssen
Technical Materials Director: Claudia Y. Herrera
Chief Executive Officer: Nalin A. Ratnayake (acting)

In addition to our company members, we have many affiliated, non-member actors and techies. All productions are open to non-member volunteers, and all roles are cast by open-audition.

If you are interested in membership, contact us at productions@avthespians.org.  Please make you have read what we are about, and agree with our production philosophy and general view of theatre.  You may also want to take a look at our 2010 Season and the upcoming 2011 Season to get a feel for the kind of work we do.

Company members are required to contribute a nominal amount to the member development pool, and commit to working at least one full production cycle (from design through close of performances) per year. In return, they can partake in member development workshops covering a wide range of theatre subjects, are recognized as members in every program in which they appear, are given an @avthespians.org email address, can serve as directors, have a vote in company matters, and are invited to the annual Patron’s Reception.

Membership confers no advantage in casting. All roles are cast through open auditions.

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OUR STORY

Antelope Valley Thespians was founded in January of 2009.  We were initially a small-scale offshoot project of the founding members’ primary theatre pursuits.  With humble beginnings in an online discussion board, the original concept was simply to meet every so often in the producer’s living room and perform staged readings of original and public-domain work.

As the elements started to come together, we realized that we had an enthusiastic group of people with a diverse set of theatre skills.  Many of us had been involved with the craft for over a decade in various states across the country.  Some of us were writers or seasoned “techies”; others were young students eager to learn.  We had a professional make-up artist and a scenic designer who liked to build things.  The idea expanded to the point where some form of a dedicated space was necessary.  We were unable to afford a proper commercial theatre space and were forced to search for alternatives.  The result was a creative use of the producer’s own home.

By June of 2009, our new theater, a spacious three-gar garage, had been transformed.  The result included black curtains, interior canned-lighting stands, rigged extension cords, and the carefully-placed speakers of a surround-sound system connected to a personal laptop.  In the middle of this space, we placed 27 folding seats facing a modest stage area.

As the performance space started to take form, the director and two actors continued working on VOICES by Hortense Flexner, a short, public-domain script with a poignant message about the perseverance of women in times of war.  We presented this piece for free to two “sold-out,” receptive audiences in late June.  Much discussion followed between us, fellow theatre enthusiasts, and members of the local community.  Based on this feedback on our test-case production, we made the decision to continue our expansion.

Encouraging local writers and producing original work was a partial impetus for our project, and we did not want to lose sight of that aspect.  Soon after Voices, we put out a call for short scripts to be featured in our first Playwrights Expo.  In October 2009, we hosted staged readings of four 20-minute scripts selected from eighteen submissions from the local writer community.  Each session was followed by a panel discussion on the work.  Each writer was able to hear from directors, techies, actors, and audience members regarding the stage-ability of their script.

In response to widespread approval and encouragement, AVT took a big step.  We incorporated as a business and filed for 501(c)3 nonprofit status, which was approved.  In January 2010 we were able to present a six-show run of our first full-length production, CRIME AND PUNISHMENT, after competitive auditions to select actors from the local community.  Achieving this milestone required further upgrades to the garage theater: additional curtains, a tool crib, 16 pieces of lighting (including overhead lights clamped to the garage rails), installation of a light and sound booth, and a coat of black paint for the entire room.

Today, AVT supports a season of full productions, a series of playwrights expos, and musicians nights featuring local artists. Our sound equipment has been upgraded and we now utilize a full overhead lighting grid.

We are well-connected to our local community; using communication media such as our blog, Twitter feed, Facebook Page, and streaming podcasts, we provide an interactive and very social web of connections between ourselves and our fans.  We have managed to build a small Patron’s Club of private and local business donors.  We are collaborating with local businesses, such as our local coffee shop and art house, and participating in local festivals and events sponsored by the Quartz Hill Chamber of Commerce, in which we are members and whose endorsement we carry as a positive force in the community.

We are actively engaging local writers of all ages and backgrounds via our Playwrights Expos and our competitive calls-for-scripts.  By fostering a local writer community that is connected to our project and offering monetary awards for scripts that meet our artistic standards, we are well on our way to being able to produce at least one full-length, original play by a local playwright every year starting in our 2011 season.

As AVT continues to grow and explore what we can bring to the community through our art, we invite you to join us. For those inclined to the stage, we hold open auditions for every role of every production. For those looking to get involved through technical theatre, we are always on the lookout for dedicated volunteers eager to learn and grow through the production of quality theatre. And of course, it is our community of patrons and supporters whose generous donations allow us to continue to bring unique, original, and experimental theatre to the Antelope Valley.

Thanks for your interest in AVT, and we look forward to seeing you at one of our shows!