Group Members
Contact
Raphael Peter
Asheville, NC
Phone: (828) 670-5881
eMail raphaelpeter@buncombe.main.nc.us
Asheville Playback Theatre was founded in 1995, and performs regularly both for the general
public and for special groups, working in prisons, with recipients of mental health services,
with at-risk teens, etc. For our 2008-2009 season, we are presenting 9 public performances. Three of the performances comprise our "Community Concerns" series, highlighting issues of interest to local residents.
APT is also the organizing group for the annual global playback event - follow the link (above) to our website for more information.
Contact
Sylvia Israel
1924 Fourth Street, San Rafael, CA 94901
Phone: Mary Dubova: 415-499-8528
eMail
info@bayareaplayback.com
We have performed for many non-profit agencies and under-served populations.
We have had 3 public performances, and are hoping to offer these more regularly - once every month or two.
Contact
Hannah Fox
580 Sixth Ave. #4, Pelham, NY 10803
Phone: 914-576-8284 or 914-633-7361
eMail info@bigappleplayback.com
Big Apple Playback Theatre is a multi-cultural professional performance
team dedicated to serving disenfranchised populations in the New York City metropolitan area.
Community Playback Theatre
Contact
Judy Swallow
New Paltz, NY
Phone: 845-255-5613 Fax: 845-255-3272
eMail
judyswallow@verizon.net
Community Playback Theatre has performed monthly in our permanent home
on the original Moreno Stage for over 20 years. Aside from contract performances
for agencies and groups, these community gatherings encourage audience members to
return and share stories of their lives as they evolve, as well as attend our
monthly open rehearsals (jams) and even act in the "audience up" segment of
our performance. We welcome visitors whenever you are passing through or
studying at the playback school. We relish being part of the playback community.
As a multicultural company we use Playback Theatre as a tool for community building,
education and social change. We provide affordable performances for the public and those
who lack resources. We strive to be a community resource and share our artistic skills.
We strive to empower communities and individuals by providing a forum for stories to be
shared, heard and honored. We will maintain a high level of artistic quality and integrity.
Contact
Allen Hancock
2244 Alder St., Eugene, OR 97405
Phone: 541-343-1926
eMail impact@efn.org
Emerald Valley Playback Theatre is dedicated to joyfully serving our community through
inspiring improvisational theater. Drawing on our skills of empathy and art, we tap into the magic
and mystery of personal stories. Contact us about performing for your group or event.
Contact
Debe Edden
Olympia, WA
Phone: 360 943 6772
eMail debek@olywa.net
As a multicultural company we use Playback Theatre as a tool for community building,
education and social change. We provide affordable performances for the public and those
who lack resources. We strive to be a community resource and share our artistic skills.
We strive to empower communities and individuals by providing a forum for stories to be
shared, heard and honored. We will maintain a high level of artistic quality and integrity.
Contact
Jo Salas
137 Hasbrouck Road, New Paltz, NY 12561
Phone: 845 255 7716
eMail info@hudsonriverplayback.org
The mission of Hudson River Playback Theatre is to honor and illuminate the lives of individuals and
communities by using improvisational theatre, music, and movement to enact their personal stories.
Together with our audiences, we bear witness to differences among people as well as to the
universality of human experience, thereby furthering communication, social awareness, and our inherent connection.
Contact
Armand Volkas / Christine Kalb
4000 Broadway, Suite 4, Oakland, CA 94611
Phone: 510-527-5577
eMail avolkas@aol.com
The Living Arts Playback Theatre Ensemble is a non-profit group that produces performances, workshops,
and events for personal, professional, and organizational growth. Created under the direction of Armand
Volkas, RDT, the company has established itself as a local and national resource for transformation,
performing for schools, hospitals, community celebrations, professional conferences, jails, corporations
and for the general public. The Living Arts Playback Theatre Ensemble is approaching its 20th anniversary.
Maryland Playback Ensemble
Contact
Ron Miller
138 West Church Street, Frederick, MD 21701
eMail ronandcarol@verizon.net
The Maryland Playback Ensemble is a community-based playback theatre company founded in 2006. The company of seven includes teachers, mental health professionals, professors and alumni of the Theatre Arts department of McDaniel College.
The Maryland Playback Ensemble is associated with Common Ground on the Hill, an arts organization sponsoring traditional performing and fine arts with a commitment to diversity and social justice. Playback theatre performances are featured every summer at its festival in Westminster, Maryland. The Ensemble is also allied with the Maryland Ensemble Theatre in Frederick, which hosts public performances in October, January and May.
The company is loosely associated with McDaniel Playback, a company formed by student graduates of the course in playback theatre taught in the focus area in interactive theatre in McDaniel College Department of Theatre Arts. Several of the company members are graduates of this company, or are faculty associated with the program in interactive theatre.
MPE contracts for private performances at schools, colleges, universities, community agencies, professional organizations and mental health facilities.
We seek audiences who share stories in playback theatre in order to connect with others, known and unknown. These offerings are reflected by human bodies, voices and spirits in a safe, significant and entertaining way. We are committed to creating and strengthening communities through the theatrical affirmation of our individual and collective stories.
Contact
Lisa Vana
Vernon, Texas
Phone: +001 940 642 5364 – eMail: info@opendoorplayback.com
In September 2006, Open Door Playback was created by staff members of the BMTP unit of North Texas State Hospital, an adult psychiatric facility in Vernon, Texas. Our aim was to be in service of the residents of our unit, and we chose the name "Open Door Playback" because of the maximum security status of our facility, where all doors are locked and all treatment takes place behind a 16 foot high fence. Through this art form, people have been able to see a clearer picture of what life for them "beyond the fence" might look like. This is important because we believe that being able to see our goals brings us one step closer to achieving them. Over time, our group evolved and began to perform at venues in the community as well as "behind the fence." We are now witnessing the power of playback not only within our hospital walls but also in our community at large.
Contact
Nan Crawford
4104 24th St. #777, San Francisco, CA 94114
Phone: 415-282-8558
eMail nan@pacificplayback.com
Pacific Playback Theatre performs for organizations and events, helping our audiences
honor diverse perspectives and discover common ground.
Contact
John Stevenson
Nassau, NY
eMail ithacan@earthlink.net
Pentimento Playback Theatre has been performing since June 1992.
Contact
Roni Ostfield
2770 Fernwald Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15217
Phone: (412)521-0444
eMail ronidolphin@aol.com
Pittsburgh Playback Theatre (PPT) is all about connecting. We connect with people and their stories.
It is through playback theatre that barriers fall - barriers between people and barriers within people. Every
person has stories to tell, and every story deserves hearing. We believe that by empowering people
to share and listen we are helping our community connect on a deeper level. Many people have
specific stories, such as surviving genocides or war, personal traumas or subjugations, traumatic
visits at the dentist or visits from the mother-in-law. Others have universal stories, such as
losing a child or livelihood, or finding love where least expected. Some stories are big and
others seem small. Being people, we all share the universal ability to listen, empathize, and
relate to each other. We use playback to remind people of that ability. The gift of listening
stays with our audiences long after the stories are forgotten.
Contact
Sarah Halley, Pamela Freeman
Philadelphia, PA
Phone: 215-844-7566
eMail pfree12334@aol.com,
sarahhalley@gmail.com
Playback For Change,
located in Philadelphia, PA, is a multi-racial improvisational theatre company dedicated to using Playback
Theatre as a vehicle for social change. Our mission is to provide performances and workshops for communities,
schools, non-profits and organizations, using Playback Theatre to help individuals and groups gain insight,
understanding, and skills to create more just and inclusive communities.
Contact
Paul McIsaac
New York, NY
eMail paulmcisaac@rcn.com
Playback NYC uses music, dance, FreeStyle Hip Hop and improvisational theater
to transform the stories of our audience into the art of theater.
Playback Rhode Island
Contact
Juliette Zaiser
Providence, RI
eMail zaiser@writeme.com
Playback Rhode Island was formed in 2004 by 3 women, all registered drama therapists (RDTs). Since then, membership has included social
workers, therapists, teachers and impressionists. Only recently has the group become gender
diverse! The current troupe’s players hail from CT, MA as well as RI. The group usually performs
and rehearses in the Providence area.
Playback Theatre of Buffalo
Contact
Anna Kay France
Buffalo, NY
Phone: 716 882 9252
eMail france@buffalo.edu
Contact
Sara R. Cutler
5113 Stonehaven Drive, Madison, WI 53716
Phone: 608-224-0646
eMail sarajose@earthlink.net
Wisconsin's first playback theatre company, Playback Wisconsin, rehearses 2-3 times per month.
We believe that by sharing our human stories we seek to find our differences and commonalities. We
Acknowledge that both make our lives richer and create understanding. We perform for a variety of organizations throughout Wisconsin including: schools, churches, community groups, libraries, youth
organizations and families. We come together to rehearse to share in our own connections and we
believe by listening to one another we build a larger sense of community.
Contact
David La Graffe
Portland, Maine
eMail dlagraf1@maine.rr.com
Portland Playback Theatre Company was founded in Portland, Maine in 2005. The Playback Theatre style models transformation; a new way to relate to the world. When trained playback practitioners enact a story told by a member of the audience, a deep bond of understanding is established between the “teller” and the audience.
Playback helps people see their common humanity. When people join together in sharing their stories and watching the re-enactments, it engenders an ability to focus on commonalities rather than judgments of otherness.
Contact
Paula Patterson
Gainesville, FL
Phone: 352 336 6485
eMail swampmail@aol.com
The Shands Reflections have been working with hospitalized patients, their families and the staff of The Shands Hospital at the University of Florida.
Contact
Claire Decoster
PO Box 6196, Minneapolis, MN 55104
Phone: 651-917-1976
eMail cpdecoster@hotmail.com
River's Edge is located in Minnesota, a Midwestern state where the Mississippi river
begins. It is full of lakes, with snowy winters and clearly defined seasons. River’s Edge was
founded in 2000. We were an ensemble that followed the usual model of Playback companies. Today
we are a small consulting group of three individuals that devote our time to sharing Playback with
as many communities as possible. We hold Playback Trainings periodically by local and guest trainers.
We are starting to do Community Workshops with groups who request to use the form in their
community or organization.
Contact
Kimberly Rattley
1900 Lyttonsville Road, Suite 1118, Silver Spring, MD 20910
Phone: 301-585-0906 Fax: 202-379-9833
eMail kimberly@csynergysolutions.com
Synergy in Action is a playback theatre company located in Washington, DC. We are a diverse group of artists
committed to building healthy communities one story at a time.
Visit us on youtube.com (enter "Synergy in Action")
Contact
James Lucal
Seattle, WA
Phone: 206-227-3129
eMail lucalj@comcast.net
Threshold Ensemble is a group of performing artists committed to enacting personal
story in the service of community and organizational needs.
Contact
Christopher Ellinger
Arlington, MA
Phone: 781 646 1705
eMail christopher@truestorytheater.org
The mission of True Story Theater is to promote community development and social healing by listening deeply
to people's stories and transforming them spontaneously into theatre. True Story Theater offers audiences
fresh perspectives, deeper connections, and a renewed appreciation for our common humanity. Our events
create a respectful atmosphere where every voice can be heard and any story told - however ordinary or
extraordinary, difficult or joyful.
Village Playback Theatre
Contact
Randy Mulder
Yonkers, New York
Phone: 914-912-5515
eMail villageplaybacktheatre@verizon.net
Village Playback Theatre strives to elicit and enact the stories of individuals and groups who are often underserved and socially underrepresented to build community throughout metro New York. VPT is comprised of professional actors, musicians, and healthcare practitioners. We provide performances, workshops, and training in the private and public sector, for communities and at professional conferences throughout the Northeast.