Triangle Theater Company

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The Triangle Theater Company was founded in 1980 by David M. Hough in Boston, Massachusetts. [1] Triangle Theater was created to establish a place for theater by and about gays and lesbians. [2] The company was a member of the Gay Theatre Alliance, created in 1978 to help develop and promote gay and lesbian theater across the country. [3]

Contents

History

In 1980, David M. Hough was a college graduate, unsuccessfully searching for theaters producing performances that reflected his life and sexual orientation. In an effort to change this, he placed an ad in a newspaper describing his project and found a half-dozen people who wanted to start a gay theater. [2] The result was the Triangle Theater Company. Hough decided to name the company after the symbol used to designate homosexual men in Nazi concentration camps, mainly because the pink triangle was not publicly recognized as a gay symbol. [2] When created, the Triangle Theater was and remained for several years the only gay-identified theater in Boston. [1] [2]

Development

Although its first year was rather slow (only four people auditioned for a six-person show), within a few years, the Triangle Theater became a success with 200 actors regularly turning up for auditions. [2] In 1987, when the Triangle Theater seemed to have found a permanent home in a union-owned South End building, Hough stepped down from the artistic director post, considering it was the right time to leave. [1] The company continued to develop by promoting minorities' works and producing plays written by men and women from all origins and walks of life. [2]

Closing

After a disagreement with the building's owner, the Hotel Restaurant Institutional Employees and Bartenders Union (Local 26), the company lost its theater where most of its productions had been staged. [4] The company rented space at the Institute of Contemporary Art for its March and June 1996 productions, [5] but found itself unable to locate a new theater to stage their productions in the long-term. As a result, the Triangle Theater closed in 1996. Former Triangle members quickly joined and formed another theater company by the name of Open City. [6]

Production history

[7]

Artistic directors

Other Gay Theatre Alliance members

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References

  1. 1 2 3 MacLaughlin, Jeff. "ART LAURELS EARN INTERNATIONAL REPUTATION: [THIRD Edition]". Boston Globe Newspaper.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Hartigan, Patti (21 Jan 1994). "Triangle Theater sharpens its edge". Boston Globe. Retrieved 17 October 2014.
  3. 1 2 Oxford University Press (2003). "Gay Theatre and Performance". Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre and Performance.
  4. ↑ Hartigan, Patti (August 20, 1996). "Triangle company loses its home". Boston Globe.
  5. ↑ Bickelhaupt, Susan (August 22, 1996). "Triangle finds a corner at the ICA". Boston Globe.
  6. ↑ Sullivan, Robert David (March 1997). "The Triangle Theater has closed, and former members have started up a new company". Boston Phoenix.
  7. ↑ Medal, Dominique (August 2010). "Seasonal Chronology". Triangle Theater Company Records, Northeastern University Library, Archives and Special Collections. Retrieved 17 October 2014.
  8. ↑ Wilson, Doric. "TOSOS The Other Side of Silence".
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