Perseverance Theatre on Douglas Island, on preview night of Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest 2011
Perseverance Theatre is a professional theater company located on Douglas Island in Juneau, Alaska. It is Alaska's only professional theater and is particularly dedicated to developing and working with Alaskan artists and to producing plays celebrating Alaskan culture, history, and themes.
Perseverance Theatre was founded in 1979 by Molly Smith. She developed it as an important not-for-profit regional theater that collaborated with leading theater artists. It has premiered more than 50 new plays by Alaskan and national playwrights. Paula Vogel’s 1998 Pulitzer Prize-winning play How I Learned To Drive was written and developed while Vogel was an artist-in-residence with the company.
Smith served as artistic director from the theater's founding until 1998, when she left to become artistic director of the Arena Stage in Washington, D.C. She was succeeded by Peter DuBois, who served until the fall of 2003. He was appointed Associate Producer, then the Resident Director, at the Public Theater in New York City. In July 2008, DuBois became Artistic Director of Boston's Huntington Theatre.
In 2004, PJ Paparelli became Artistic Director of Perseverance Theatre. He left in November 2007, to lead the American Theatre Company in Chicago.
Art Rotch served as Executive Artistic Director from 2008-2019.[1] Rotch is a Perseverance alumnus who earned an M.F.A. in set design at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. In 2018 Art Rotch was joined by Managing Director Joshua Midget.[2]
The current Artistic Director is Leslie Ishii[3] and the current Managing Director is Frank Delaney.[4]
In addition to a full season of plays produced from September to May on its 161-seat Mainstage, Perseverance Theatre also produces a Second Stage season in its on-site rehearsal space, commonly referred to as "The Phoenix." It features smaller-scale productions, and, often, the work of developing actors, designers, and directors. Readings, as well as productions generated by the theatre's educational programs, are also regularly produced in the Phoenix. In 2014 Perseverance Theatre began performing its full season in Anchorage [5] and created a summer series in downtown Juneau called Summerfest.[6]
In 2001, Perseverance Theatre signed an agreement with the University of Alaska Southeast to assume responsibility for all theater education activities at the University, offering theater minors to its students. In December 2002, the theatre was one of just seven American companies to receive a $500,000 endowment challenge grant from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation in New York through its Leading National Theatres Program. The company successfully completed the challenge in 2005. The theatre also recently raised $1.1 million for a facility renovation and expansion project.
Perseverance Theatre participates in the National Playwright Residency Program (NPRP) from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and HowlRound Theatre Commons.[7] In 2016, Vera Starbard began a three-year term as the Playwright in Residence (in cohort 2) and her grant was renewed in 2019 (cohort 3).[8] Her play, "Devilfish" was written and performed during her first term.[9]
^Hohenstatt, Ben (2019-06-24). "Perseverance Theatre's artistic director is leaving this summer". Juneau Empire. Retrieved 2020-07-01.
^Editors, American Theatre (2018-08-13). "Perseverance Theatre Names Joshua Midgett Managing Director". AMERICAN THEATRE. Retrieved 2018-12-17. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
^Editors, American Theatre (2019-10-28). "Perseverance Theatre Names Leslie Ishii Artistic Director". AMERICAN THEATRE. Retrieved 2020-07-01. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
^Editors, American Theatre (2019-07-08). "Perseverance Theatre Announces Leadership Change". AMERICAN THEATRE. Retrieved 2020-07-01. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
^"Perseverance Theatre".
^"Perseverance brings plays downtown | Juneau Empire - Alaska's Capital City Online Newspaper". juneauempire.com. Archived from the original on 2014-07-16.
PerseveranceTheatre is a professional theater company located on Douglas Island in Juneau, Alaska. It is Alaska's only professional theater and is particularly...
MMA fighter The Perseverance, a collection of poetry by Raymond Antrobus 975 Perseverantia, a Koronian asteroid PerseveranceTheatre, a professional theater...
of Perseverance." Theatre Survey, vol. 60, no. 2 (2019): 179-206, at 196-203. Translations from Alexandra F. Johnston, The Castle of Perseverance: A Modernization...
the Vineyard Theatre. Vogel received the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for the work. It was written and developed at the PerseveranceTheatre in Juneau,...
The Castle of Perseverance is a c. 15th-century morality play and the earliest known full-length (3,649 lines) vernacular play in existence. Along with...
experiences. The play had a workshop at the PerseveranceTheatre in 1990, it was first staged at Houston's Alley Theatre in 1992 and made its off-Broadway premiere...
the PerseveranceTheatre in her home town of Juneau, Alaska, soon after completing her master's in theatre at American University. She led the theatre company...
nominations for two Tony Awards. In 2013 she was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame. Vogel started her career with the off-Broadway play How I...
Nation had its debut run from October 5 to November 3, 2007 at the PerseveranceTheatre in Juneau, Alaska, under the direction of PJ Paparelli. The musical...
The premiere production, which was co-produced by Juneau, Alaska's PerseveranceTheatre, was directed by Arena Stage artistic director Molly Smith and starred...
the Juneau area (made from mine tailings), Eaglecrest Ski Area, PerseveranceTheatre, and the Douglas Public Library. As a tidal island, Douglas is connected...
participated in the Alaskan Regional theater, PerseveranceTheatre, whose mission is to “create professional theatre by and for Alaskans."[better source needed]...
Alaska Dance Theatre, the Alaska Junior Theater, the Anchorage Concert Association (Alaska's largest Arts Promoter), PerseveranceTheatre and the Anchorage...
Blood Theatre Company, Playwrights Horizons, Yale Repertory Theatre, The Yale Cabaret, The Women's Project and Productions, PerseveranceTheatre, The House...
development of the commissioned play. The NNPN Smith Prize for American Theatre is a $5,000 award nominated by a Member Theater and given to an early-career...
the Producing Director of PerseveranceTheatre and an actor in the company. Her first two plays were produced at Perseverance: The Last Frontier Club and...
directed by Molly Smith; this was a world-premiere co-production with PerseveranceTheatre of Juneau, Alaska. April 13 – May 20, 2018. Dave, book by Thomas...
The history of theatre charts the development of theatre over the past 2,500 years. While performative elements are present in every society, it is customary...
(theater) (Baltimore, MD) (2003) PerseveranceTheatre (Alaska) (2000) Actors Theatre of Louisville Sundance Theatre Lab at the Sundance Institute, (Park...
New York Theatre Workshop, following co-premieres in 2005 at the Round House Theatre in Silver Spring, Maryland and at PerseveranceTheatre in Juneau...
psychiatric aides/Federal agents The play was first produced by the PerseveranceTheatre in Juneau, Alaska, in November 1996. It was then produced at the...
presented in "Keene America." Thurber was a guest artist at the PerseveranceTheatre twice, where she helped to adapt both Moby-Dick and Desire Under...
Anchorage, Alaska. In 2016, she was named Playwright-in-Residence at PerseveranceTheatre in Douglas, Alaska. Her residency was renewed for Cohort 3: 2019–2022...
treatment of standards from the Great American Songbook, was released on Perseverance Records in 2014. It followed the release of EP in 2010 called Natural...
machinations to claim Olive at Popeye's expense. Another is his near-saintly perseverance in overcoming any obstacle to please Olive, who often (if temporarily)...
stage. Arena The Castle of Perseverance Thrust stage Tate, Cassandra. 200255. "Curtain rises on Seattle's new Penthouse Theatre on May 16, 1947." Archived...
Global Information