Richmond Triangle Players

Last updated
Richmond Triangle Players
Formation1993 (1993)
TypeTheatre group
Location
Coordinates 37°33′55″N77°28′19″W / 37.56528°N 77.47194°W / 37.56528; -77.47194
Artistic director(s)
Lucian Restivo
Website rtriangle.org

Richmond Triangle Players (RTP) is a nonprofit, professional theatre company located in Richmond, Virginia that produces programming rooted in queer experiences and supports the development of queer artistry. [1] [2]

Contents

It is the only professional theatre company in Central Virginia and the longest continually operating theatre in the Mid-Atlantic region which serves the LGBTQ+ community. [3] [4]

History

The company originated from a benefit performance in 1992, where they performed a trio of one-act-plays by Harvey Fierstein. [5] [3] In the following year the Richmond Triangle Players launched its first season with four plays. For the first fifteen years the company was located at the Fieldens Cabaret Theatre and in 2010 the organization opened the Robert B. Moss Theatre, a 90-seat theater located in the Scott’s Addition neighborhood of Richmond, Virginia. [6] [7] [4]

In 2014 Richmond Triangle Players partnered with artists from the local TheatreLAB to create Spectrum, a theatre arts education program for LGBTQ+ youth and allies in grades 8-12. [8]

Notable productions have included The Laramie Project and A Chorus Line .

So.Queer Playwrighting Festival

In 2020 the Richmond Triangle Players launched the So.Queer Playwriting Festival, a biennial festival of LGBTQ+ works by a selected playwright. The company collaborates with the playwright through a series of salon readings, staged readings, and minimalized productions, as well as consultations with local artists, mentorship from theatre professionals, and the provision of other creative supports. The idea for the festival came from former Richmond Triangle Players Artistic Director John Knapp and his husband Tom Gillham. [9]

Awards and recognition

Richmond Triangle Players has received praise from local press and has been nominated for several awards. It was nominated for the inaugural People’s Choice Award from the Richmond Theatre Critics Circle and has both praise and awards for its 2018 production of The Laramie Project. [10] [11] [12]

In 2016 Playbill.com named Richmond Triangle Players as "one of the 15 most important theaters of its kind in the nation". [13] Richmond Triangle Players has also been named one of the year’s “OUTstanding Virginians” at the 2018 statewide Equality Virginia dinner [14] and was named a 2019 “Richmond History Maker” by the Valentine Museum and Capital Region Collaborative. [15]

Awards

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harvey Fierstein</span> American actor and playwright

Harvey Forbes Fierstein is an American actor, playwright, and screenwriter, known for his distinctive gravelly voice. He is best known for his theater work in Torch Song Trilogy and Hairspray and film roles in Mrs. Doubtfire, Independence Day, and as the voice of Yao in Mulan and Mulan II. Fierstein won two Tony Awards, Best Actor in a Play and Best Play, for Torch Song Trilogy. He received his third Tony Award, Best Book of a Musical, for the musical La Cage aux Folles and his fourth, the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical, for playing Edna Turnblad in Hairspray, a role he revived in its live television event, Hairspray Live! Fierstein also wrote the books for the Tony Award-winning musicals Kinky Boots, Newsies, and Tony Award-nominated, Drama League Award-winner A Catered Affair. He was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 2007.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paula Vogel</span> American playwright

Paula Vogel is an American playwright. She is known for her provocative explorations of complex social and political issues. Much of her work delves into themes of psychological trauma, abuse, and the complexities of human relationships. She has received the Pulitzer Prize as well as nominations for two Tony Awards. In 2013 she was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeff Whitty</span> American screenwriter, playwright, performer (born 1971)

Jeffrey Daniel Whitty is an American playwright, actor, and screenwriter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sarah Schulman</span> American writer (born 1958)

Sarah Miriam Schulman is an American novelist, playwright, nonfiction writer, screenwriter, gay activist, and AIDS historian. She holds an endowed chair in nonfiction at Northwestern University and is a fellow of the New York Institute for the Humanities. She is a recipient of the Bill Whitehead Award and the Lambda Literary Award.

Moisés Kaufman is a Venezuelan American theater director, filmmaker, playwright, founder of Tectonic Theater Project based in New York City, and co-founder of Miami New Drama at the Colony Theatre. He was awarded the 2016 National Medal of Arts by President Barack Obama. He is best known for creating The Laramie Project (2000) with other members of Tectonic Theater Project. He has directed extensively on Broadway and Internationally, and is the author of numerous plays, including Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde and 33 Variations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chay Yew</span> American dramatist

Chay Yew is a playwright and stage director who was born in Singapore. He was artistic director of the Victory Gardens Theater in Chicago from 2011 to 2020.

John Glines was an American playwright and theater producer. He won a Tony Award and multiple Drama Desk Awards during his producing career.

Nancy Meckler is an American-born director, known for her innovative approach to theatre, specifically her work in the United Kingdom with Shared Experience, where she was a joint artistic director alongside Polly Teale. Educated in both the USA and England, she has directed for a number of prominent theatres, including the Globe Theatre, the Royal National Theatre, and the Royal Shakespeare Company. She has also directed feature films such as Sister My Sister, and Alive and Kicking/Indian Summer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Doric Wilson</span> American dramatist

Doric Wilson was an American playwright, director, producer, critic and gay rights activist.

Mark St. Germain is an American playwright, author, and film and television writer.

WP Theater is a not-for-profit Off-Broadway theater based in New York City. It is the nation's oldest and largest theater company dedicated to developing, producing and promoting the work of Women+ theater artists of all kinds at every stage in their careers. Lisa McNulty serves as the Producing Artistic Director and Michael Sag serves as the managing director.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Samuel D. Hunter</span> American dramatist

Samuel D. Hunter is an American playwright living in New York City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leigh Silverman</span> American director

Leigh Silverman is an American director for the stage, both off-Broadway and on Broadway. She was nominated for the 2014 and 2024 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical for the musicals Violet and Suffs, and the 2008 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director of a Play for the play From Up Here.

Harrison David Rivers is an American playwright. Rivers' work has won him the Relentless Award, a GLAAD Media Award, a McKnight Fellowship for Playwrights, a Jerome Foundation Many Voices Fellowship, an Emerging Artist of Color Fellowship, a Van Lier Fellowship and the New York Stage & Film's Founders Award. He is based in Saint Paul, Minnesota and is married to Christopher Bineham.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Martyna Majok</span> Polish-American playwright (born 1985)

Martyna Majok is a Polish-born American playwright who received the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her play Cost of Living. She emigrated to the United States as a child and grew up in New Jersey. Majok studied playwriting at the Yale School of Drama and Juilliard School. Her plays are often politically engaged, feature dark humor, and experiment with structure and time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matthew López (writer)</span> American playwright and screenwriter

Matthew López is an American playwright, director and screenwriter. His play The Inheritance, directed by Stephen Daldry, premiered at London's Young Vic in 2018, where it was called "the most important American play of the century." It transferred to the West End later that year, and opened on Broadway In 2019. The Inheritance is the most honored American play in a generation, sweeping the "Best Play" awards in both London and New York including the Tony Award, Olivier Award, Drama Desk Award, Evening Standard Award, London Critics Circle Award, Outer Critics Circle Award, Drama League Award, WhatsOnStage Award, and the Southbank Sky Arts Award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeremy O. Harris</span> American playwright and actor (born 1989)

Jeremy O. Harris is an American playwright, actor, and philanthropist. Harris gained prominence for his 2018 Slave Play, which received a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Play. Harris is also known for his work in film and television. He produced and co-wrote the A24 film Zola (2021), for which he received a nomination for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Screenplay. He acted in the HBO Max series Gossip Girl (2021), the Netflix series Emily in Paris (2022), and in the film The Sweet East (2023).

Donja R. Love is an American playwright. Originally from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Love identifies himself as an Afro-Queer, HIV positive playwright and filmmaker. His work has been produced in multiple states around the United States, but he is mainly based in New York City and Philadelphia. He is best known for his 2019 play one in two based on the 2017 CDC study that found that one in two black gay or bisexual men will be diagnosed with HIV at some point in their life.

Biello & Martin are a songwriting duo working in dance, theatre, and film. Independently, Michael Biello is a lyricist, performance artist, and ceramic sculptor. Dan Martin is a composer and music producer. They are best known for creating performance works which promote love, spirituality, and self-expression through a Queer lens. As LGBTQ+ cultural activists, they also founded Outmusic, an LGBTQ+ music organization, and have been romantic life-partners for over 40 years.

Erika Dickerson-Despenza is an American playwright. She won the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize in 2021 for her play, cullud wattah.

References

  1. ↑ "RTP, Sycamore Rouge offering co-production". The Progress-Index. January 17, 2016.
  2. ↑ "Theater: Economy affects choice of plays". The Daily Times (Salisbury, Maryland). July 25, 2004.
  3. 1 2 "A Guide to the Richmond Triangle Players Archives, 1992-2007 Richmond Triangle Players Archives M 347". Virginia Commonwealth University, James Branch Cabell Library.
  4. 1 2 Egan, Maureen (2010-09-14). Insiders' Guide® to Richmond, VA. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 120. ISBN   978-0-7627-6677-2.
  5. ↑ Marschak, Beth; Lorch, Alex (2008). Lesbian and Gay Richmond. Arcadia Publishing. p. 94. ISBN   978-0-7385-5368-9.
  6. ↑ Timberline, David. "A Proud Quarter Century". Style Weekly.
  7. ↑ "Artistic Differences". 5 March 2019.
  8. ↑ "Programs | SPARC- School of the Performing Arts in the Richmond Community | ConnectVA".
  9. ↑ "So.Queer Playwrights Festival".
  10. ↑ Staff reports. "Richmond Theatre Critics Circle Awards nominees 2019". Richmond Times-Dispatch.
  11. ↑ Farrell, Tony. "Theater Review: 'The Laramie Project' at Richmond Triangle Players is a grim reminder of hate-crime violence". Richmond Times-Dispatch. Retrieved 2021-08-05.
  12. ↑ Bustin, Jeremy. "BWW Review: THE LARAMIE PROJECT at Richmond Triangle Players". BroadwayWorld.com. Retrieved 2021-08-05.
  13. ↑ "15 Regional Companies Leading the Charge in Gay Theatre". Playbill.com. 21 June 2016.
  14. ↑ "So.Queer Playwrights Festival". New Play Exchange. Retrieved 2021-08-05.
  15. ↑ "Richmond Triangle Players to be honored as 'History Makers'". 2 March 2019.
  16. ↑ "Best Local Theater Company 2017". Style Weekly. Retrieved 2021-08-05.
  17. ↑ "Best Local Theater Company 2020". Style Weekly. Retrieved 2021-08-05.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.