We Players is a site-integrated theater company based in the San Francisco Bay Area.[1] The company was founded in 2000 by Ava Roy, its Artistic Director, while she was a student at Stanford University.

We Players Theater Company
We Players Theater Company is located in San Francisco
We Players Theater Company
We Players Theater Company
Location within the San Francisco Bay Area
AddressPier 54
San Francisco, CA 94158
Coordinates37°46′14″N 122°23′06″W / 37.770447°N 122.385049°W / 37.770447; -122.385049
ProductionHamlet, Macbeth
Opened2009
Website
www.weplayers.org

Site-integration venue

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We Players programs are interactive, taking place at typically outdoor locations rather than inside a theatre building. The intent is to use the physical environment to affect the audience's perception of the play and allow viewers to get involved in the production as it is performed in and around the audience.[2][3]

Partnership with National and State Park Services

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In November 2008 Amy Brees, the National Park Service’s Alcatraz site supervisor, invited Ava Roy, We Players’ Artistic Director, to be the first artist-in-residence on the island.[4] Since then, the theater company has co-operated with the National Park Service and California State Parks by bring their performances into these areas turning public park spaces into "impromptu playhouses".[5] In 2012 the theatre company entered into a five-year cooperative agreement with San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park to perform in the park.[6]

Productions

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2006 - The Tempest at the Albany Bulb 2008 - Macbeth at Fort Point 2009 - Iphigenia and Other Daughters on Alcatraz 2010 - Hamlet on Alcatraz 2011 - Cellhouse Dance and social justice symposium on Alcatraz 2011 - The Odyssey on Alma 2012 - Twelfth Night at Hyde Street Pier 2012 - The Odyssey on Angel Island State Park 2013 - Macbeth at Fort Point 2014 - Macbeth at Fort Point 2014 - King Fool at Battery Wallace in the Marin Headlands 2015 - Ondine at Sutro 2015 - HEROMONSTER at The Chapel at Fort Mason Center for Arts and Culture 2016 - The Capulet Ball (multiple locations including: private residence in San Anselmo, St. John's Episcopal Church in San Francisco, Impact Hub in Oakland, and Castello di Amorosa in St. Helena) 2016 - Romeo and Juliet at Rancho Petaluma Adobe State Historic Park 2016 - Romeo and Juliet at Villa Montalvo 2017 - BEOWULF at SF Maritime & Fort Mason 2017 - Midsummer of Love at Strawberry Hill in Stow Lake, Golden Gate Park 2017 - Midsummer of Love at Kennedy Grove, East Bay Regional Park 2017 - Mother Lear (multiple locations, public and private including the Montalvo Arts Center, McLaren Park, and the East Bay JCC) 2018 - Roman Women at The Palace of Fine Arts 2018 - CAESAR MAXIMUS at The Music Concourse 2018 - Mother Lear (multiple locations, public and private including the Marin Civic Center) 2019 - Undiscovered Country at Sunnyside Conservatory 2019 - Mother Lear (multiple locations, public and private including Mission Hospice and as part the SF International Arts Festival) [7][8][9] [10]

References

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  1. ^ "Best of the Bay". San Francisco Magazine. July 2012.
  2. ^ "Double Cast: The Audience Gets Pulled into Shakespeare Whether They Like it or Not with We Players' Macbeth". SF Weekly. September 18, 2013.
  3. ^ "The Performant: Traveler's tales". SF Bay Guardian. May 17, 2012.
  4. ^ "Alcatraz's Newest Star, the Melancholy Dane". New York Times. Retrieved August 12, 2010.
  5. ^ "Wild and Whirling Words: An Audacious Hamlet on Alcatraz". The Huffington Post. Retrieved November 3, 2010.
  6. ^ "We Players' Canciones del Mar to Return to Maritime National Historical Park's Balclutha, 7/19". Wisdom Digital Media. Broadway World. 25 April 2014. Retrieved 7 March 2015.
  7. ^ "'Odyssey' gives audience real Angel Island journey". San Francisco Examiner. May 17, 2012.
  8. ^ "The Walls Come Tumbling Down". American Theater Magazine. July 2013.
  9. ^ "The Government Shuts Down Art in San Francisco". KQED. October 11, 2013.
  10. ^ "We Players forges a new era of art in the parks". San Francisco Chronicle. June 24, 2017.

Further reading

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