Equally Represented Arts is an experimental theatre company based in St. Theatre is a collaborative, multi-disciplinary, live art form. ERA's mission is to use the elements unique to theatre's identity to expand the possibilities for what that art form can be and challenge our community's expectations for meaning in theatre, art, and the world. We root ourselves in the belief that all theatre's components are equal and that innovation stems from experimentation.
What does this mean in practice? We create works of theatre, from conception to production. We make experimental theatre - we investigate problems and questions in theatre in hopes of achieving artistic innovation. Like scientists who conduct experiments, we test hypotheses for which we need more evidence to prove or reject, or hypotheses whose validity or illegitimacy would greatly impact the art form. Often many of the experimental elements in a production, though rarely all, work according to our expectations. However, the experiments in some projects are unstable, contain, unknown variables, and are unresearched, making it impossible for us to even know what expectations to have. We work bravely, even when we're faking it, and know that if it feels easy or comfortable, we're not doing our job.
We consider ourselves to be part of the artistic avant-garde. This term, 'avant-garde' is originally a French military word referring to the part of the army that goes forward ahead of the rest. We understand the risks and even stupidity in voluntarily going into battle before others, and sometimes we get killed by the critics. But we are purposely breaking from the mainstream theatre, not because we don't know how to do mainstream theatre, but because we believe mainstream theatre is digging theatre's grave, and unless the art form innovates, it will become a relic, and you will go to see plays in museums (and not in a cool, collaborating with a museum kind of way, in like a, 'in this wing is our permanent theatre collection, and on the floor above are the Dutch Masters,' kind of way). We are an ensemble company. We make our work collectively and consider all artists involved in a project equally essential to that project. We believe that actors are creative artists. Our process for each production is unique to that production.
