About Face Theatre

Chicago, IL

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About Face Youth Theatre (AFYT) seeks to increase the safety, empowerment and leadership capacity of LGBTQIA youth, and to catalyze youth-led civic dialogue and action within schools and communities. Through the creation and performance of ensemble-based plays in dynamic collaboration with accomplished adult artists, AFYT encourages and supports our youth to become powerful agents for change.

Workshops are offered free of charge to LGBTQI+ and allied youth 13-24 years old. The space is accessible by stairs. About Face Youth Theatre (AFYT) is an award-winning program that provides rigorous training in theatre, lessons about social justice through history, and opportunities for leadership development and activism. AFYT offers: Connections with a diverse network of peers; Rigorous artistic training with professional artists; Connections to resources for support in different areas of your life; Lessons about social justice and LGBTQIA+ history; Leadership training and opportunities; Access to professional mentorship from local leaders; CTA cards and snacks at weekly workshops

Lexington, KY

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Company Q exists to be a safe space for queer, trans, and allied teens to explore their lives through art. The company works with young people ages 13-22, creating original, provocative, and disruptive art that challenges oppression and power systems.

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Rainbow Pride Youth Alliance

San Bernardino, CA

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RPYA is an LGBTQ+ Mental Health Non-Profit designed to promote, advocate and create mental health spaces for youth and their parents or guardians. The mission of Rainbow Pride Youth Alliance is to provide a safe, healthy, and enriching environment for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, and intersex (LGBTQI+) youth of the Inland Empire.

New Orleans, LA

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LOUD’s mission is to utilize ensemble theatre to cultivate tools for self-expression, develop an intersectional analysis of oppression and build community through devising and producing original theater.

LOUD produces one show a year that is developed through a rigorous, youth-led ensemble process, highlighting themes such as police violence, intersectional identity, combating injustice and building solidarity.

Waterville, ME

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Out & Allied Youth Theatre is a troupe of artists who use theatre to share their stories, build community, and address issues of social justice. Out & Allied’s programming includes: 1) Producing and performing an original production annually, 2) Conducting Summer Theatre camps for students in grades 4-12, 3) Facilitating theatre-based statewide workshops, most typically for teams of middle & high school students and their advisors, 4) Working collaboratively with schools’ GSTAs or other student organizations to create change in the school’s culture, climate, policies, and procedures, and 5) Weekly meetings that provide an opportunity for all to share and support each other.  Out & Allied’s current members include students in grades 6-12, college students, and other college-aged adults. In the past, students in grades 4 & 5 have participated. The core group of seven (mix of middle & high school students, college students, other college-aged adults, and me) is diverse regarding gender identity, sexual orientation, and gender expression. Six of the 7 identify as belonging to the queer community; the other is a very strong straight ally. Five of the seven live in poverty and/or in low-income households. Five of the seven say they have mental health challenges, most typically anxiety. Most of us currently access professional support. Within the last year, the parents of two members have separated.  Mikalyla Reynolds, a high school senior, and Mark Fairman are Out & Allied’s co-executive directors. The co-chairs of the Executive Committee are an eighteen year-old youth and a Colby College Professor of Education and Human Development. The other two members of the Executive Committee are an eighth grader and a 20 year-old manager of a local business.  Our audience for our programs and activities includes students, teachers, parents, folks connected with faith-based organizations, and other professionals (e.g., school guidance counselors, social workers) from across Maine.

Atlanta, GA

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Out Front Theatre Company, was established to tell stories of the LGBTQIA+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intergender, Allied) experience and community, giving voice to LGBTQIA+ authors, composers, artists, and creators through the medium of theatre and the performing arts. Out Front plans to develop new works and produce classic pieces of theatre that have communicated these stories of the LGBTQIA+ population to a wider audience over time.

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Omaha Theater Company

Omaha, NE

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Pride Players is an award winning teen theater troupe from the Omaha Theater Company for Young People (a professional theater for young audiences).  Now in its 20th year, the teen cast members (under the direction of three experienced theater educators) use improvisation to create original skits, scenes, parodies, poetry, songs, and true story monologues exploring issues facing gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer and straight allied teens. Pride Players usually has a company of around 20 teenagers from 7th grade to 12th Grade representing at least 10 different schools. The troupe performs four times each season at The Rose Theater.  Our performance is 75 minutes long and includes 20 performance pieces (many never scripted).   We also tour with a smaller company to a couple of local venues each year.   We usually reach around 500 audience members each season.

The Coterie

Kansas City, MO

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Project Pride is a group of LGBTQ and straight allied teens creating theatre that gives voice to their experiences, culminating in a production that challenges the assumptions and celebrates the diversity of the participants and audience. Project Pride is an annual project that meets in November, December, and January to create show material. We then rehearse in February for our final performance.  The creation and performance troupes are open to all LGBTQIA and straight allied teens ages 13-18 who have not yet graduated high school, regardless of theatre experience. Together we will all explore the topics that impact the troupe's lives most through multiple creative avenues.

​The Coterie is a non-profit organization, established in 1979, with the mission of providing professional classic and contemporary theatre which challenges audience and artist and provides educational, dramatic outreach programs in the community. We seek to open lines of communication between races, sexes, and generations by redefining children’s theatre to include families and diverse audiences.

Art and Soul Innovations, Inc.

Wis​consin 

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Proud Theater is an award-winning, exciting, and innovative LGBTQI+ and Allied youth theater program in Wisconsin whose mission is 'to change the world through the power of theater and the theater arts, and to make a positive difference in the lives of LGBTQIA+ youth through the tenets of art, heart, and activism'. Founded in Madison, Wisconsin, in 1999, the group is open to youth that identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning, Intersex, or who are allied with the queer community (LGBTQIA+). Empowering and creative, Proud Theater encourages youth to share their personal stories through the creation of original and personal theatrical works, which they then will present to the community at large throughout the school year. Traditionally, the group ends each season with a culminating showcase production."

Circuit Playhouse, Inc. 

Memphis, TN​

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Q&A uses theatre to explore and express what life is like for LGBTQIA and allied youth in Memphis and the surrounding area. Participation is open to students ages 14-21. No prior theatrical experience is necessary. We are a supportive community working toward a common goal of creating awareness within our city. We use theatrical exercise to devise original plays each year. But this year we have been 'on the road' visiting faith-based communities and engaging through performance and discussion. This is called our 'Meet You There Project.'

Center for Applied Theater and Active Culture

Akron, OH

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The purpose of QuTheatr is to create an LGBTQ+ youth performing arts company in a safe, enriching environment that will open meaningful doors to educational and career opportunities and prove that LGBTQ+ young people can, in fact, “earn a living” with their artistic skills in the Akron community. Programming consists of workshops, rehearsals, and performances. Community activism and social justice activities. Participants include LGBTQ+ youth ages 14-22. Audience is the Akron and Summit County region, especially youth and young adults.

Neutral Zone

Ann Arbor, MI

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The Neutral Zone is a diverse, youth-driven teen center dedicated to promoting personal growth through artistic expression, community leadership and the exchange of ideas. We serve over 350 youth in Arts, Leadership, and Education Programs.  We serve High School aged youth and provide support and leadership oppurtunities.
 

Richmond Triangle Players & TheatreLAB

Richmond, VA

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SPECTRUM: A safe & creative space for LGBTQ-identified youth & their straight allies to share & celebrate their stories through the theatre arts!

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Richmond Triangle Players delivers adventurous and entertaining theater as the leading voice in the community’s explorations of equality, identity, affection and family, across sexual orientation and gender spectrums.

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Versailles, KY​

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The Girl Project is an arts meets activism program designed to inspire, educate, and empower girls of all ages to challenge the mis-representation of girls and women in American media culture through performing arts education American media culture sends girls the wrong message about who they are and who they can become. Now in its sixth year, The Girl Project provides girls with the creative, cognitive and emotional tools necessary to challenge this negative message and envision positive possibilities for themselves and their future

Dreams of Hope

Pittsburgh, PA​

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Through the power of the arts, Dreams of Hope provides the region’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, asexual, and allied (LGBTQA+) youth a welcoming environment to grow in confidence, express themselves, and develop as leaders. Their creative contributions educate audiences, build awareness, and increase acceptance.

The Theater Offensive

Boston, MA

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The Theater Offensive’s Mission is to present the diversity of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer lives in art so bold it breaks through personal isolation, challenges the status quo, and builds thriving communities. True Colors: Out Youth Theater uses a proven community-based theater approach to train and activate lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and allied youth leaders ages 14-29. True Colors youth leaders work with The Theater Offensive to develop comprehensive youth programming that engages participants deeply in our mission.

Simi Valley Cultural Association

Simi Valley, CA

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The mission of the Simi Valley Cultural Association is to raise cultural awareness in our community through the creation and development of programs and services that educate, enlighten and support tolerance, understanding and inclusion through artistic endeavor. Spectrum Collaborative is a free, creative arts program that pairs mentors with LGBTQ+ youth between the ages of 13-18 for the purpose of inspiring and encourage expression through their artistic medium of choice. PRIDE Youth Theatre Co. is a queer youth theatre company beginning in Spring of 2019. We will be workshopping original material, published works and classical literature with a focus on the LGBTQ+ experience and that of other oppressed segments of the population.