In 2013, the Irvine Foundation helped lead a charge to make the arts in California more accessible to the masses, and not just for the elite. So Irvine gave grants to established arts orgs to use in new ways to engage people who do not currently attend theatre, in our case. We chose to use our 2-year grant to give non-professional actors the opportunity to experience the process of creating and performing a play. So we chose the famed Cornerstone Theatre model, wherein a few professional actors support rookies from the community in the run of a play.

We hired professional director Laurie Woolery (now at The Public Theater in NYC) and professional playwright Victor Vazquez (now a Casting Director for TV/film/stage) to write the play. We put the word out on the street and recruited community members from all walks; from teachers and successful real estate agents to unhoused folks. Food was a big part of every rehearsal. It was very sweet although sometimes it was chaos. But we staged a beautiful production, with a warm party following, which has become an annual celebratory holiday event for our community.

The second year of the grant, we created a new play with the participants, who had become a very close-knit family by then. They frequently had big Sunday brunches at one of their homes. They supported each other through job losses, deaths, divorces. They became a family, which is what happens when you perform on stage together.

At the end of the second-year’s performances, we thanked our community members for joining us in this 2-yr project.

“Well what about us?” the participants demanded.

That’s when we realized that funding or no funding, these people really wanted us to continue creating plays with them. So we did. Without specific project funding, we are likely the only Irvine grant recipient that kept their program going long after the grants had run out. The Irvine Foundation eventually quit funding the arts in California, but more than a decade later, 24 th Street Theatre is still doing the work.

Now in our 11th year of our Teatro Del Pueblo project, we’ve changed our process a bit. This year, our Associate Artistic Director, Chima Castaños, hired Mexican theatre artist Gilberto Corrales to create a new play with our community members. Gilberto is an exciting young artist who runs Incendio Producciones in Tijuana, where he is an actor, producer, and director.

You are invited to celebrate this decade-long project with us, next week; Dec 12th –15th. It’s always an uplifting community event. If you’re still trying to find the holiday spirit, this is the ticket. And the ticket is only $2.40. And we have hand-crafted Tamales and Champurrado, and a piñata for the kids. Come share the love and art.

Get Your $2.40 Tickets Now!

Donate to our 2024 Year-end Fundraising Campaign