BCA Takes Fledgling Theatre Companies Under Its Wing

Matthew Woods made a promise to himself and he kept it. Now, his theatre company, Imaginary Beasts, has been selected as one of two new groups the is welcoming into its brand new Emerging Theatre Company program.

“I was really depressed because I’d stopped being a creative person; a huge part of my ‘self’ was missing,” Woods said in a recent interview.  “One day I realized I had to get myself back in the thick of it. I told myself, ‘If you do this, you have to stick with it all the way.’ During the initial years of figuring out just how to keep a company afloat the goals became more concrete in my mind.”

Woods, a self-described determined fellow and a graduate of the A.R.T. Institute for Advanced Theatre Training at Harvard, is brimming with great ideas about what a theatre company can be—an artistic incubator, a boundary-pushing force, a means of engaging young people and a place that helps ensemble members grow… and that’s the cliff notes version.

The ETC Program, which begins officially on July 1, is designed to help the participating companies achieve ‘organizational stability and excellence’ over a five-year term. Specific goals will be developed and tailored to the individual needs but might include the potential to achieve 501(c) 3 non-profit status, establishing a fully functional executive board and creating a business plan or a board-approved strategic plan. Helping the companies increase staff size and the number of annual productions it presents are additional possibilities.

“Because this is a new program, we get to be a part of its shaping and success,” Woods said. “I'm sure the BCA wanted to be certain that they were selecting companies who could handle that responsibility. ‘Clarity of vision’ was a key point that the BCA panel was concerned with when interviewing us—who are we? why do we do what we do? what do we need to do in order to grow? What new sorts of programming can we bring to the table?—that’s what I took it to mean.”

Woods formed Imaginary Beasts in 2007. Since then, the company has performed in several locations on the North Shore, in Cambridge and in Boston. Most recently the group staged “The Crazy Locomotive” by Stanislaw Ignacy Witkiewicz, at the BCA’s Black Box Theatre.

The other lucky ETC program participant is New Exhibition Room, also founded in 2007, which is overseen by Co-Artistic Directors A. Nora Long and Dawn Simmons. New Exhibition Room took its original production of “Shh!” to the New York Fringe Festival in 2010 and most recently performed “Story Time Preservation Hour,” at the Boston Playwrights’ Theatre.

“We’re thrilled to welcome Imaginary Beasts and New Exhibition Room to the BCA’s theatre programs,” said BCA Executive Director Veronique Le Melle. “The mentorship that they can get from our established Resident Theatre Companies will be invaluable. Supporting emerging artists and bringing them to the next phase of their work is very much at the core of the BCA’s mission.”

Woods said he has tremendous respect for Long and Simmons, who apparently have a rather serious zombie fetish bubbling under their infectious surface. He describes the duo’s work as unique, exciting and puzzling (in a good ‘makes-you-ponder’ way) and says he hopes the two companies can work together down the line.

“I think the important thing to realize is that Boston is becoming a vibrant theatre city,” he continued.  “When I graduated from the A.R.T. Institute many moons ago, everybody left… they high-tailed it to New York or L.A. or Chicago. I stayed, and I have been witnessing really exciting growth.”

Woods points out the formation of The Small Theatre Alliance of Boston as a sure sign of the burgeoning scene and says more students graduating from area theatre programs are choosing to stay in Boston because they see opportunities here.

And for Imaginary Beasts, this is only the beginning.

“We’re entering this next year with an exciting collaboration with Whistler in the Dark Theatre,” Woods said. “We’ll be looking at playwrights who have ‘re-invented’ or ‘re-mixed’ Shakespeare. Then it’s time to initiate our Boston audiences into the topsy-turvy world of our Winter Pantos, a very traditional form of Victorian theatre filled with gender bending and audience participation that’s a blast for the whole family. This year we’ll present "Winter Panto 2012: Humpty Dumpty; or, One Egg is Enough.”

Click for more information about the BCA’s Emerging Theatre Company program, Imaginary Beasts and New Exhibition Room.