Mission And Vision Statement : Founded in 1968, The Alliance Theatre remains closely tied to the cultural identity of Atlanta, growing as the city has grown. The theatre has gained national recognition and prominence as we have become a leading international city. In 1977, the Alliance merged with the Atlanta Children’s Theatre (founded in 1929) in order to include Atlanta’s youngest audiences in fully produced theatrical experiences. In 1979, The Alliance created the Theatre School (now the Acting Program and Education Department) in order to strengthen the relationship with our community. In 2007, under the leadership of Susan Booth, Artistic Director, the Alliance received the Regional Theatre Tony Award®, in recognition for sustained excellence in programming, education and community engagement.
Realizing that our audience and the national field supports plays developed in Atlanta, the Alliance has created a large body of new work. The Alliance produces world premiere American musicals with a strong track record of Broadway, touring and subsequent regional productions. The theatre creates and nurtures the plays and careers of early career playwrights through the National Graduate Playwright Competition, providing a premiere for the winner as part of our regular season and national networking opportunities for four finalists. Locally based artists create work on a nationally watched stage, launching and sustaining Atlanta’s artistic community. Finally we create and produce original plays for young audiences at every age level: from the Collision Project which creates opportunities for high school artists to collide with classic texts to the ground breaking Theatre for the Very Young, creating interactive work for infants and toddlers.
The Alliance takes great pride in our multi-generational educational programming. Believing that the same excellence found on our stage must be found in our education programs, the Alliance created The Institute for Educators and Teaching Artists. A collaborative partnership between the Alliance and partner schools, institute programs equip teachers with theatrical techniques that link directly to school curriculum, align with the Georgia Performance Standards, and increase student learning. These innovative programs include GA Wolf Trap, a nationally recognized professional learning program that focuses on literacy skills for children in pre-K – 2nd grade, Dramaturgy K-12, a unique program that empowers student scholars to create research material that both informs Alliance productions and prepares their peer audiences; and Collision Plus, which takes the creativity and collaboration of the Collision Project into our high school classrooms. The Alliance also offers community education, including classes for all ages and abilities of theatre interest; and adult student productions of unproduced plays in development (working with local writers and playwrights from the National Graduate Playwriting Competition). Twice recognized by the Federal Department of Education as leaders in the field of arts education, these programs reflect the Alliance’s commitment to city wide arts access.
The Alliance Theatre strives to set the highest artistic standards and create the powerful experience of shared theatre for a diverse audience. Above all else, we value excellence, pursued with integrity and creativity, and achieved through collaboration.
