ABOUT US
EXQUISITE THEATRICAL EXPERIENCES THAT INSPIRE COMPASSION
Mission
Oakland Theater Project’s mission is to create exquisite theatrical experiences to inspire compassion and forge bonds across socio-economic and racial barriers.
Vision
We produce theatrical events that seek to unite disparate groups and unearth the human condition.
We envision a Bay Area where exquisite theater is as accessible to someone who grew up in West Oakland as it is to patrons of the arts in the Berkeley Hills. Where the stories told are the ones that matter and help to provide healing and celebration to across communities.
To help bring about this vision, Oakland Theater Project grounds itself in a value of radical inclusivity while employing, collaborating, and engaging a powerfully diverse coalition of artists and audience members reflective of the dynamic communities of Oakland.
History
The Oakland Theater Project was founded in 2012 by Michael Socrates Moran, William Hodgson, and Colin Mandlin. Formerly named Ubuntu Theater Project, we were founded on the value of Ubuntu, which means “I am because we are” and therein “my humanity is tied to yours.” We seek to explore the ways in which theater can act as a vehicle to reveal and invigorate the latent interconnectedness in humanity and society.
The company began by producing three annual summer theater festivals at site-specific locations throughout the Bay Area from 2013 to 2015. In 2016, we launched our first year-round professional mainstage theatrical season for Oakland and Bay Area audiences.
Rooted in a value of radical inclusivity, we find new ways to bring disparate communities together and offer every professional production with pay-what-you-can pricing. We are the only year-round professional theater company in Oakland. OTP has produced over 75 unique productions and have inspired the SF Chronicle to call Oakland Theater Project “the Bay Area’s most daring theater” and “one of the most exciting young companies to emerge in the Bay Area in the past decade."
