Stories That Inspire: Insights, News, and Behind-the-Scenes Moments

Check out the 25-26 Season Announcement from Actors Theatre of Louisville.

Actors Theatre of Louisville provides access to stories that represent myriad perspectives, nurture holistic wellness, build bridges across cultures, and create opportunities for life-long learning. We strive to cultivate a space of belonging for all. In this report, we share impact highlights of our 2023-2024 year.

Earlier this summer, I had the opportunity to participate in Actors Theatre and UNIVERSES’ New Voices summer intensive. I got to meet every day for two weeks with people my age and write and perform. The adults led us in activities to get our creative juices flowing. During the first week, we usually wrote a piece every day. These prompts were generally very open and loose, and we were able to have a lot of creative freedom. The second week was focused more on performance. They split us up into groups of three and had us combine our written pieces and perform a small sketch from all of them.

Redline Performing Arts, in partnership with Actors Theatre of Louisville and the Parks Alliance of Louisville, is thrilled to present the world premiere of Who Killed Alberta Jones? by Larry Muhammad. This powerful new play unravels the captivating story of Alberta Odell Jones, a trailblazing attorney whose life and unsolved murder remain a poignant chapter in Louisville's history.

First and foremost, the Juneteenth Celebration by UNIVERSES was an experience. I walked in entirely unsure what to expect, and that feeling remained for the duration of the show. The concert was unique in the way that it required you as an audience member to be present and to have faith in the artists in front of you to guide you through their process. I can honestly say that I have never seen anything like it and that I likely won’t again.

Ya'll, there is something going on at Actors Theatre of Louisville. I arrived right after church with my husband for a Sunday afternoon showing of Won't you be my May-bor?, a kid-friendly romp of a play in the Victor Jory Theater (it seems all my favorite Actors plays are performed in the VJ). We sat with two older gay men from our church, not quite sure what to expect. Of this I was certain, though: If the drag performer May O'Nays is involved, my spirit is about to be warmed. And I was correct. For a little over an hour, I sat among people just like me, people not like me at all, and...a relatively new experience for me...CHILDREN.

Louisville, KY — May 23, 2024 — Actors Theatre of Louisville, in collaboration with Drag Daddy Productions, is thrilled to announce the world premiere of Won't you be my May-bor? in the intimate Victor Jory Theater. Conceived by the creative minds of Andrew Newton Schaftlein and Eric Sharp, and featuring the extraordinary talents of drag performer May O'Nays, this production is set to deliver a mesmerizing experience for theatergoers young and old.

As a Black LGBTQ artist in Louisville for six years, and a repeat resident since birth, I can say in Louisville, KY there were many times that one might struggle to find spaces that would affirm such a unique background. While church and school-affiliated theater programs would provide a place for championship and community, these spaces can be inconsistent and the subject of equity for those of the LGBTQ happening. The recent attempts to limit the existence and accessibility of affirming spaces is worrisome to say the absolute least, and tiresome to say more. For someone like me, who relies on these spaces to feel renewed and to embrace the world with the love that remains the center of my identity, experiences like the one Dusty Ray Bottoms and May O'Nays charge are fearless examples of progress. The overwhelming feeling of fellowship and more importantly FUN that I felt while attending. The After Show Show brought tears to the eyes of a young Isaiah and hope to a more learned one that the scarcity of these queer-affirming spaces will soon be a thing of the past.<br>In my best Stefon, "This. Show. Has. Everything."

Actors Theatre's 2024–2025 Season uplifts stories and amplifies voices from myriad perspectives to connect with and learn from a diversity of people, ideas, and cultures. In its 50th anniversary year as the State Theatre, Actors Theatre will engage in meaningful community partnerships with fellow arts and service organizations around the region and will continue to share new work, revive relevant classics, and offer exciting experiences as part of the company's Storytelling (r)Evolution. Actors Theatre of Louisville is supported by Brown-Forman, the Fund for the Arts, the Kentucky Arts Council, the Shubert Foundation, and a grant from the Mellon Foundation, which recently awarded Actors Theatre $1 million in recognition of Fleming's transformative leadership in the American theatre.