ABOUT

The Story of a (metaphorical) Truck

TheatreTruck was founded on principles of sustainable practice, curiosity and community building. We are inspired by the idea of the town common: a place for shared experience & ideas; and by the pageant wagons of history that carried entertainment to the people for ritual celebration. We choose to work in found spaces because it saves resources, illuminates places and reimagines the ordinary. We are committed to making work that sings the unsung and reveals the hidden. TheatreTruck is mother-owned and woman-powered.

TheatreTruck

brianna sloane

Director. Actor. Educator.
Mama.

“Art is an essential part of the human experience,” proclaims Brianna earnestly from behind her rose-tinted glasses. “I want to live deliberately and make work deliberately, and then I want to offer that work to my community. With TheatreTruck I get to be an ethical artist when I'm not busy working in my garden, milking a goat or hiking while wearing my baby!"

elizabeth pangburn

Designer . Educator. Visionary.
Mother.

"Mostly, I just hate how much waste is generated by big commercial theater"' Elizabeth shares over a lunch of fresh carrot juice, dirt and raw quinoa. "these huge shows have enormous budgets, but often the story is thin and the set ends up in a dumpster. But, working in the Pioneer Valley has made me think there might be something redemptive in small theater that connects the practitioner directly with the audience. And when Brianna asked me to write a manifesto, I felt something like hope."

emma ayres

Writer. Musician. Educator. Dog Mom.

“I acknowledge the inherent political nature of the stage and the social power that is gained when you have a platform and an audience,” Emma says in one breath as she tries to prevent her mischievous dog from terrorizing Brianna’s goats under the midday sun, “I want to fuse magical realism with critical content and create socially conscious and environmentally responsible theater that serves as a vehicle for entertainment, education and birthing a new generation of diligent dreamers. That sounds easy, right?”

Collaborators

Andrew Roberts

Actor. Sword-Fighter. Teacher.
Papa.

"Sure, the willing suspension of disbelief is readily embraced within the confines of a traditional theater space," muses Andrew as he helps his two year old refine his rapier technique. "But when audiences are invited and encouraged to inhabit the 'set' of a site-specific performance, they often throw that disbelief right out the window. It's literally wonderful."

Emily MacLeod

Educator. Dramaturg. Historian. Auntie.

“I think there is an electric power in words,” ruminates Emily as she peers over the massive pile of dusty books that litter the desk of her tiny windowless DC office, where she yearns for the fresh air of the Pioneer Valley. “Words of history, voiced and embodied by performers today, can create new possibilities and shape new worlds. Listening to the voices of the past help us to forge radical acts of compassion and stage beautiful performances of remembering in the present. TheatreTruck’s site-specific, local and historical lens does just that.”

Darcie Champaign

Cofounder Emeritus
Actor. Singer. Dancer.
Mom.

“So much of theatre in this country feels like a regurgitation of the same plays in a competitive environment with an elitist attitude,” Darcie exhales as she comes into her full expression of Kapotasana/ King Pigeon Posture. “I want to create theatre that is for everyone and shares stories that are empathetic and empowering, while partnering with local non-profits to help incite some small social change on the community level."