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MISSION:
The 20% Theatre Company Twin Cities aims to produce new and progressive work by female, transgender, and gender-queer theatre artists, while also supporting the same gender minorities artistically behind-the-scenes.
Why 20% :
In 2002, a 3-year study was released by the New York Council on the Arts revealing alarming statistics that roughly only 20% of professional theatre artists today are women. Although women submit about half of all the works available to artistic directors, only 16% of produced plays are by women, and 17% have female directors. The same study cited numerous examples of women having their plays often dismissed as “issue plays” or as “too political” and “too dark” by the key theatrical decision makers who had never even read the scripts. Although great strides have been made in other fields, women continue to face enormous employment discrimination in the arts and media. Similarly, less than 5% of transgender theatre artists are welcomed onstage or backstage in our country, and although the [documentary] film industry has opened their minds quite a bit, positive representation of the transgender community is severely lacking on stage. The 20% Theatre Company Twin Cities is here to change this. Are you with us?
| Claire Avitabile (Artistic Director, Marketing Director & Co-founder) has been living in the Twin Cities for almost three years, since her move from Massachusetts in August 2005. For 20%, Claire has directed the inaugural production of David's Redhaired Death by Sherry Kramer, Lashings of Whipped Cream by Fiona Samuel, The Second Coming of Joan of Arc by Carolyn Gage, Paula Vogel’s Hot ‘n’ Throbbing, and Standards of Care by Tobias K. Davis. Other TC credits include directing My Thing of Love by Alexandra Gersten for In The Basement Productions, Snapshots – a collaborative original piece involving 13 teenagers from Stages Theatre Company’s Young Conservatory, and assistant directing Genet's The Balcony with Nightpath Theatre Company. Claire also is an avid sound designer around town and works full-time in education and performing arts at the Sabes Jewish Community Center. |
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Dana Buchwald (Literary Assistant), founder of Eos Productions, is a performer, director, and producer. Currently, she produces and hosts "Women Stand Up! A Comedy Cabaret", a new hit regular series at the Bryant Lake Bowl Theater that features a variety of comedy styles from the Twin Cities' top female comedians. Recently, she produced and directed Stephen Belber's play Tape as part of the 2006 MN Fringe Festival and was a featured performer in the show Verbatim Verboten at the Bryant Lake Bowl. Dana has also directed and assistant directed at The History Theatre, Theatre Limina, Theater Unbound, and Theatre in the Round. She graduated from Carleton College, cum laude, with a B.A. in English Literature and was awarded her Juris Doctorate, cum laude, from Washington College of Law at American University. Dana is excited to be a part of the 20% Theatre Company Twin Cities and its mission. |
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Pretty new to the theatre world, Blythe Davis' (Co-founder & House Manager) recognizable artistic success has been more in the realm of photography, mixed media art, and cake decorating! A Hope College graduate in psychology and women’s studies, she is most interested in the psyche of the actor and the psyche of the character written on the page - and how the two blend or clash on stage. Blythe recently assistant directed Hot ‘n’ Throbbing by Paula Vogel, and enjoys dabbling in set design/construction. |
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Julia Mae Fairbanks (Literary Assistant) is an actor, performer and theatre maker. She recieved a B.A. in theatre from the University of Minnesota and has had the opportunity to work and collaborate with companies and artists in the Twin Cities. Julia is excited to explore, create, and produce with Twenty Percent, Twin Cities, and to share with the community exciting and inspiring theatre. |
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Shannon Forney (Fundraising/Development Assistant) is a puppeteer/performer/director who just celebrated a one-year anniversary of living in the Twin Cities. 20% Theatre Twin Cities credits include Shannon starring as Lashings of Whipped Cream’s fiery dominatrix in February 2007 at Bryant Lake Bowl, and creating 20%'s 2008 Fringe Festival show! Previously, Shannon was a featured emerging artist for Colorado’s Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art (BMoCA) 2003 performance season, directing an adapted puppet version of Venus by Suzan-Lori Parks. She is co-creator of Dreamland Fire Waltz, an original puppet opera collaboration with Brooklyn artist and fellow Oberlin alum, Jesse Jarnow. She has performed as Grl Mainer, Puppeteer! in an original performance collaboration called Zen Cabaret based in Boulder, Colorado. |
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Shannon C. Harman (Artistic Producing Associate) works at The Children's Theatre Company (CTC) and is a freelance director. She has served as director or assistant director (or directing intern) with Bedlam Theatre, CTC, Jungle Theater, Theatre Limina, Frank Theatre, Guthrie Theater, Teatro del Pueblo, and Pillsbury House Theatre's Chicago Avenue Project. She has previously worked with Cleveland companies Red Hen Productions, Cleveland SIGNSTAGE Theatre, Beck Center for the Arts, Near West Theatre, SAFMOD, and the Cleveland Public Theatre, as well as the Vermont Stage Company. For 20%, Shannon has directed After Ashley by Gina Gionfriddo, and staged readings of Wrecked by Trish Salerno and The Trials of Gertrude Moody by Kimberly Burke. |
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Carey Morrison (Literary Assistant & Dramaturg) earned her B.A.'s in theater and history from Bethel University, St. Paul. She brings her love of theater and research to her work as a dramaturg. Also an actor, director, and musician, Carey has worked on productions at her alma mater, Pangea World Theater, and Hodge Podge Theatre Company. |
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Natalie Novacek is freelance director and the Artistic Director of Swearing Jack Productions, a multi-media feminist collective. She is also the Artistic Producing Associate of Theatre Pro Rata. Locally, she has worked with Theatre de la Jeune Lune, Nautilus Music-Theater, Theatre Unbound, Theatre Limina and the Eden Prairie Players. Natalie was a Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival National Selection Team Directing Fellow and her production of Never Swim Alone by Daniel MacIvor was an invited production at the National XXXVII KC/ACTF. She was also a Nautilus Music-Theater Scholarship Recipient for the 2007 Wesley Balk Opera/Music-Theater Institute, Director Participant. For 20%, Natalie is directing 4:48 Psychosis to kick off the 08-09 season. |
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Ariel Pinkerton (Publicity Assistant) is a University of Minnesota graduate with a B.A. in theatre arts. She has most recently been seen in TV Men and Orestes with nimbus theatre, Sense & Sensibility with Cromulent Shakespeare, as well as in the #1 2007 Fringe hit Wonderland as the DJ Rabbit, and Lyric Arts Mainstage's The Snow Queen and the Goblin as the Snow Queen. In addition to performing, Ariel is a lighting designer and the author of Teach Me Tonight which recently toured Minnesota High Schools as part of a Sexual Abuse Awareness program, and will be featured as part of 20% Theatre TC’s 2008-2009 season. |
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| Colleen Somerville (Publicity Assistant) moved to the Twin Cities in September of 2005 after graduating with a B.F.A. in Musical Theatre from Kent State University in Ohio. Since moving, she's been involved with a number of productions around the area, including The Merchant of Venice at the Guthrie Theater (2007), HMS Pinafore at Theatre in the Round, Carousel at Nautilus Music Theatre, and, her favorite, David's Redhaired Death with the outstanding 20% Theatre Company Twin Cities. |
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Last Updated
May 28, 2008