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1) To contribute to the interdisciplinary curriculum at Antioch College by providing opportunities for students and community members to take theatre courses work with visiting artists and perform in innovative and provocative theatrical works

2) To act as a cultural resource for arts organizations and individuals in Yellow Springs and the greater Miami Valley

3) To serve the diverse audiences of these communities by providing access to international artists local artists and college productions.

Congruent with the mission of Antioch College the Theatre focuses on works that attempt to change perception and challenge the status quo. These challenges can be posed in relation to form, content, or creator. We are artists who are rooted in the local and have a global reach. Our goal is to present theatre that will interrogate assumptions and facilitate reflection on relevant concerns to the community. This connects us to the contemporary field of performance as well as pressing issues of the day.

HISTORY

The Theatre Department at Antioch has had an illustrious and productive past. Started in the early 30’s as a club by a professor's wife, it grew into a nationally recognized presenter of Shakespeare's works in the 40’s and 50’s. The Antioch Shakespeare under the Stars produced eight shows a summer featuring professional, community, and student actors working together in quality productions. In the 60’s and 70’s, the theatre department continued presenting works outdoors in a newly built 500 seat amphitheater. It also spawned a Black theatre wing, and a professional troupe, Otrabanda Company, known for its yearly raft tours down the Mississippi River. In the nineties, Antioch Theatre performed internationally in Nicaragua, Edinborough, and Japan. The theatre has been home to renowned artists in residence and visiting artists. In 1996, the Ford Foundation granted $52,000 to Antioch for the Campus Diversity Cultural Resource Initiative. 32 performances were presented in two years. Visiting artists included: Ping Chong, Carlyle Brown, Roger Guenveur Smith, Beto Araiza, Pregones Theater, San Francisco Mime Troupe, Fireband Theory Theater, Ralph Lee, Coco Fusco, Peyuco Villagra, and Sheila Ramsey. Community based theater performances include Peculiarly Salubrious, and the Listening Project. For 11 years, Antioch Theatre has been home to the YS Kids Playhouse, a youth theater in Yellow Springs, and the annual AACW Blues Fest. It has also been a resource for the Yellow Springs public schools, the Antioch School, and Antioch Community Government.

THE PATHOLOGICAL UPSTAGERS

Formed in 2005 as a response to the self-pitying melodramatic whinging and awfully, utterly humorless trends of their surroundings (both theatrically and communally), The Pathological Upstagers took the Yellow Springs post-alternative comedy scene by storm. The Upstagers, comprised of Jill Summerville and Vee Levene (who, ironically, did not know that both their names rhymed when they teamed up), are complex and multifaceted, both stylistically and personally. For more information, you can find the Upstagers in our friends list.