Live Arts

Live Arts community theatre, founded in 1990, in Charlottesville, Virginia: "Live Arts began as the dream of a small group of passionate people and has grown into a major cultural force in the Central Virginia region. Dreaming is still at the heart of all we do." In recent years, Live Arts has described its theatre offerings as "modern, rigorous and risky," and also as "committed to being a product of its community as well as a process for creating community."

History

Live Arts started in 1989 with a group that included Thane and Will Kerner, Fran Smith, Mark and Karen Schuyler, Michael Parent, Bill Thomas, Larry Goldstein, Gate Pratt and Cate Andrews. Most of these people are still involved in live performance in downtown Charlottesville.

Performances began in the Old Michie Building, a former printing plant turned into a community arts space in the late 1980s. Live Arts' first production in that 135-seat space was of Sartre's "No Exit," in September 1990. Acid house dance parties provided an early approach to artistically motivated, experience-based events as fund-raising tool. This form found fuller expression in the annual "9 Lives" benefit, a combination of cabaret and promenade theatre forms.