Bloomberg Philanthropies Grant to Help Cutting Ball Re-Brand, Re-Design Website and More

San Francisco's cutting-edge Cutting Ball Theater is pleased to announce that Bloomberg Philanthropies has selected the company to receive an Arts Innovation and Management grant.

Bloomberg Philanthropies Arts Innovation and Management (AIM) program is designed to provide unrestricted general operating funds to arts organizations for up to two years, to be spent in a manner that best supports the organization's needs. The program will provide $30 million in support over two years to nearly 300 small- and mid- sized nonprofit arts organizations in six US cities.

The Cutting Ball Theater will receive $55,000 over two years and will use the funds provided by the AIM program to aid in re-branding the company, and developing and re-designing the company's website.

For more information about Bloomberg Philanthropies and the AIM program, visit bloomberg.org/program/arts/arts-innovation-management.

"We are honored to receive this generous operating grant from Bloomberg Philanthropies as they pursue the same capacity building approach in San Francisco that has produced such stellar results for small and mid-sized arts organizations in New York City," said Cutting Ball Managing Director Suzanne Appel. "Cutting Ball will use this additional funding to support the company's mission of producing form-challenging theater, such as the currently playing World Premiere of MOUNT MISERY, that exercises and enriches the imaginations of our audience."

Co-founded in 1999 by theater artists Rob Melrose and Paige Rogers, Cutting Ball Theater presents avant-garde works of the past, present, and future by re-envisioning classics, exploring seminal avant-garde texts, and developing new experimental plays. The company has commissioned, developed, and produced new experimental plays, and has partnered with Playwrights Foundation, and the Magic Theatre/Z Space New Plays Initiative to commission new experimental works. In addition to producing West Coast Premieres and re-imaging various classics, Cutting Ball Theater has produced nine World Premieres and seven World Premiere translations. Cutting Ball received the 2008 San Francisco Bay Guardian Goldie award for outstanding talent in the performing arts, and was voted "Best Theater Company" in the 2010 San Francisco Bay Guardian Best of the Bay issue. The company also earned the Best of SF award in 2006 and "Best Experimental Theater Company" in 2012 from SF Weekly, and was selected by San Francisco magazine as Best Classic Theater in 2007. Cutting Ball Theater was featured in the February 2010, 2012, and December 2014 issues of American Theatre Magazine. In 2012, Cutting Ball was awarded a grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to fund a three-year residency for resident playwright Andrew Saito. The American Theatre Wing, best known as the creator of the Antoinette Perry "Tony" Awards, awarded the company with a 2013 National Theatre Company grant. The company also garnered an inaugural Acker Award for excellence in the avant-garde in 2013. Cutting Ball was also featured in the February 2015 issue of American Theatre Magazine.

In MOUNT MISERY, Andrew Saito imagines Donald Rumsfeld and Frederick Douglass' interactions across time, examining the United States' inconsistent progress on issues of power and race through the colliding histories of two prominent American figures on one shared tract of land. Directed by Cutting Ball Artistic Director Rob Melrose, MOUNT MISERY plays now through June 21.

Playing concurrently with MOUNT MISERY is the adventurous RISK IS THIS...THE CUTTING BALL NEW EXPERIMENTAL PLAYS FESTIVAL, one of the only play festivals in America solely dedicated to experimental works for the stage. Pushing the boundaries of what theater can be, this year's festival features five new works in staged readings, offering a unique opportunity for audiences to see plays in development, alongside the artists creating them, as the works find their theatrical voice.

For more information about Cutting Ball Theater, or for tickets to upcoming productions, the public can visit cuttingball.com or call 415-525-1205.