2012-286 EDC-Arts - Deep Dish Theater Company Spring 2012 Grassroots Arts Awards $2.500

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APPLICATION NARRATIVE Organizational Profile The DEEP DISH THEATER COMPANY is a Chapel Hill arts organization committed to the presentation of compelling, provocative, human-centered dramatic work in an intimate setting. It develops that work through the collaboration of its artists, striving always to create productions which cannot be contained within a single imagination. It celebrates the communal nature of creating and experiencing a theatrical work, and is determined to include and reach out to the surrounding community in all its diversity. Our organization is founded on the conviction that the theater can be a vital and important part of the life of a community. Over the eleven years we have been producing in Chapel Hill's University Mall, we have developed long-term relationships with our audience, artists, community organizations like the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce and the IFC Food Bank,mall management and our merchant neighbors. Our performance space seats 71 people, making for an intimate relationship between performers and audience. We have found that relationship to be one of the most striking elements of our productions. Audience members frequently comment on how engaged they are by our productions, reminding us that there is a magic in that audience-performer relationship that can rival any falling chandelier or on-stage helicopter. In our eleven seasons, we have amassed a vigorous and diverse body of work. Classic work(The Misanthrope, The Servant of Two Masters, Othello)has shared our stage with acclaimed contemporary work(Lobby Hero, The Clean House, Body Awareness, Superior Donuts); issue-oriented plays (The Exonerated, Cat's-Paw, Glengarry Glen Ross)with sparkling comedies (Polish Joke, An Ideal Husband, Is He Dead?), and modern masterworks (Hedda Gabler, The Price, Summer and Smoke)with North Carolina and World premieres (Permanent Collection, The Gratitude of Wasps, Mi Vida Loca). With every production,we host discussions on issues raised by the play, on the technical production challenges the play presents, and on a book which is related thematically to the play. In addition,we periodically offer readings of new plays, acting classes, and short story evenings. We have also been able to host writer/performers like Barbara Bates Smith and Mike Wiley. Increasing Diversity We have been developing our audience database over the last few years are now much better able to keep in contact with our patrons, so we are confident that we can build this season on the recent advances we've made. Recent productions like Jitney, A Lesson from Aloes and Body Awareness have introduced our work to new audiences, we embrace non-traditional casting whenever possible, and we are exploring outreach opportunities across the Triangle. The diversity of our actor and designer pool has increased dramatically over the years, and we have expanded and diversified our board as well.