Rattlestick Theater Awarded $500,000 Grant From The Mellon Foundation

Rattlestick Theater has been awarded a $500,000 grant from the Mellon Foundation. This pivotal grant will allow Rattlestick to take concrete and meaningful steps towards its five-year plan to place a transformative development framework at the core of the company. In this timeframe, Rattlestick will reposition itself as the ultimate new play residency by supporting long-form, well-resourced development, attuned to each unique artistic process, resulting in world premiere productions.

“Throughout Will’s career, he has consistently shown a joyful curiosity as to why things are the way they are, which is essential for the future of theater,” said Stephanie Ybarra, Program Officer for Arts and Culture at the Mellon Foundation. “Our support of Will is a direct result of the totality of his leadership, whether it’s his formal exploration on stage, his advocacy for individual artists, or his organizational prowess, Will’s ability to create more possibilities is thrilling to behold.”  

Davis, known for championing new work, sees this grant as a profound opportunity to revolutionize Rattlestick’s impact. “This crucial support and vote of confidence from the Mellon Foundation makes it possible for us to realize our goals - to create a theater that is radically inclusive, rigorously experimental, and fully invested in artists at every stage of their careers. It ensures that we can build an infrastructure that actually supports the kind of work we believe in,” said Davis.

At Rattlestick, developing bold, form-defying theater requires an approach that challenges traditional production models. This grant enables the company to prioritize extended timelines, provide workspace that responds to the project's unique needs, and offer bespoke resources to support work at every stage of development. It also reinforces Rattlestick’s commitment to rethinking how theater is made and shared.

One of the new initiatives supported by the Mellon grant is the newly launched Waverly Performance Studio (WPS) - a creative producing model designed for works that cannot be developed solely through script workshops. WPS provides artists with process-driven development spaces tailored to their needs, whether that means the best workspace is a kitchen, a dance studio, or another immersive setting. "At Rattlestick, we believe not all productions can be developed behind music stands,” Davis explains. "The Waverly Performance Studio reflects our commitment to giving artists the freedom, time, and space to experiment, question, and refine their work as they see fit. It’s a place where creative storytelling can unfold beyond the page. Additionally, WPS prioritizes audience access to artists at work, inviting the public to join the artists in the studio alongside us." 

WPS is just one part of the broader vision that this funding will support. With this grant, Rattlestick will realize one of its most tangible goals by doubling the time typically allocated for rehearsal and tech periods. Part of this expanded producing timeline includes support for Rattlestick’s Production Incubators, a pre-production workshop that includes the entire creative team in the generative process and strengthens Rattlestick’s position as a hub for artist-driven experimentation. The Mellon funds will also enable Rattlestick to broaden pathways for diverse artists and audiences, continuing Rattlestick’s mission to amplify historically excluded voices and build a community of artists and audiences that represent the true breadth of New York’s theater landscape.

In the spirit of these initiatives, two WPS projects have already launched in early 2025. WPS kicked off in January 2025 with actor and writer Arturo Luíz Soria, whose previous Rattlestick solo show, Ni Mi Madre, won an Obie Award for Best Performance. In collaboration with director Danilo Gambini, Soria began work on Continuum: Fatherhood. Informal showings of this work in process took place in a working kitchen in Brooklyn, where Arturo had the opportunity to workshop his new draft alongside cooking his Grandfather’s tomato sauce recipe.

Additionally, in February, Davis completed the first draft of his work on Ballet Bar, a new narrative ballet that tells the fraught story of the opening and untimely closing of a gay bar in the Pacific Northwest. In keeping with the ethos of WPS, this workshop was structured to prioritize the choreographer as the lead generative artist, collaborating with the playwright. Throughout the week, Davis choreographed while the project’s playwright and collaborator observed and began crafting the story. An invitation-only audience was offered the opportunity to sit in on three open rehearsals where four new pieces of dance were shown and rehearsed.

This major grant builds on Rattlestick’s long-standing dedication to supporting adventurous theater-making. With Mellon’s support, the company will redouble its efforts to support theater artists who are responding to the complexities of our culture through the radical distribution of resources toward the creation of new theatrical work. Beyond supporting these initiatives, the Mellon grant will allow Rattlestick to increase resources for the artists we are lucky enough to serve, and provide a deeper, more bespoke support of the downtown arts community. “Mellon's generosity gives us the freedom to reimagine what theater can be - not just in terms of the work we put on stage, but also in how we build relationships with artists and audiences alike,” Davis added.