Buckham Alley Theatre

Buckham Alley Theatre first opened its doors in 1983, as the Agree Reality Theatre. It was located on the third floor of the old Fisher Wallpaper & Paint building on the corner of Third and Harrison.

Birthed by psychologist Sadie Agree Schrieber, the troupe of players improvised in Psycho-Drama. In 1987, under the direction of Jonathan Round, who added great breadth, the company moved to its 512 Buckham Alley location - the old Beach & Stull Printing Warehouse and changed its name to Buckham Alley Theatre.

After extensive renovations, the theatre was opened to the public, with Chris Coddington bringing directing style. The theatre became a host facility for outside groups as well as a producer of its own shows. After some financial difficulties the theatre became (almost exclusively) a host facility and for a short time completely closed its doors.

Never to die an infant, the theatre did some reorganizing, acquired some funds, reopened its doors and pressed on. Remaining primarily a host facility, except for the Back Alley Players Comedy Improv Troupe (the old Psycho-Drama people), the theatre continued to survive by the skin of it's teeth until 1990 when we again started producing our own shows.

Continuing seasons have brought many outside productions and class offerings to Buckham as well as a variety of core (Buckham produced) shows. The Back Alley Players' Improv Troupe continues to offer improv classes and performances sandwiched between more traditional theatrical offerings. Throughout the year Buckham offers children's productions including the Annual Mano Breckenridge Memorial Youth Theatre Production, Bunny Tales, Tales From The Pumpkin Patch, Christmas Tales and others. We provide a venue for original theatrical plays in our Annual Playwright's Forum (now in it's 14th year) as well as non-traditional performance art, music and experimental theatre.

A major fundraising effort by our members and matching grant support from the Greater Flint Arts Council and the Ruth Mott Foundation in 2006 brought the theatre's finances back "into the black" and we began working with consultants to reorganize and look for a new location (the sale of our building was becoming inevitable as renovations and growth in the downtown area began encroaching upon us). In May of 2007, the sale of our building forced us close our space at 512 Buckham Alley before we were able to secure a suitable new home. We have temporarily moved into the Greater Flint Arts Council building at 812 S. Saginaw St. (just a block down the road). Our productions will be staged at various venues in the Flint area until we have found another permanent location.