Community theater is as much about community as it is about theater. Through its 60 years, Theatre Bristol has developed community involvement, including vital partnerships.
Theatre Bristol initiates and responds to partnership opportunities to advance several important community aspects, including the arts, economic development, community cohesion and shared history, individual skill and confidence building. Many of these partnerships happen within Theatre Bristol’s downtown walls, but most happen out in the community.
Volunteers who direct, act, tech, design and create, coming together without obligation except to the art itself, are the core of partnering.
Theatre Bristol’s primary partner is Paramount Center for the Arts. It can house live theater performances and has all the stage, backstage, fly space and technical needs built in. Theatre Bristol tech volunteers at the Paramount have gone on to work professionally in many lighting, sound, design, rigging and other tech capacities.
For nearly a decade, Theatre Bristol has partnered with River’s Way to create original productions that feature people of differing abilities performing on the ARTspace stage. In addition, to help build skills and contribute to the community, River’s Way participates in theater work days and enjoys theater workshops.
Launched with First Tennessee Development District support and in partnership with Bristol Bagel and Bakery and Parenting Sweet, Theatre Bristol created PLAYtime in the ARTspace. This program provides a performance specifically created for the very youngest up to age 5 and their families.
More recently, Theatre Bristol has been providing weekly classes for the YWCA TechGYRLs. They include acting, stage combat, set design, costume design, dialects and acting fundamentals.
One of Theatre Bristol’s major partnerships is with local construction businesses to help maintain its three 100-year-old downtown buildings. Theatre Bristol has also benefited from groups who have welcomed the theater when additional rehearsal space was needed, such as YWCA Southwest Virginia Northeast Tennessee, the Bristol Ballet and First Baptist Church.
Partnering with BridgesEast has enabled Theatre Bristol to offer ASL interpretation for “Disney’s The Little Mermaid” and “Scrooge! The Musical.” With First Appalachian Robotics, the production of “Disney’s Beauty and the Beast” had a mechanical magical petal-dropping rose, and “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” had a turning doll box.
Theatre Bristol has partnered with nonprofit organizations over the years in support of their missions and look forward to working together in the future.
