Arizona Theatre Company Artistic Director Hosts 1st In Facebook Live Series With National, Local Artists

As part of Arizona Theatre Company's expanding inventory of online content to bring creative opportunities to hunkered-down audiences worldwide, Artistic Director Sean Daniels will launch the first in a series of weekly Facebook Live broadcasts at 4 p.m. (Mountain Standard Time) Friday, April 24.

Opening-broadcast guests include Lucky Yates, best known recently as the voice of Dr. Krieger on the award-winning FX network animated series Archer now in its 11th season, and a regular on the Food Network's Good Eats; actress Veronika Duerr, who made her ATC debut in the 2019/2020 production of Lauren Gunderson's Silent Sky; ATC Costume Shop Manager Mary Woll; and special musical guest, composer and lyricist Brian Lowdermilk, best known for collaborations with Kait Kerrigan including The Bad Years, Republic, Unbound, Flash of Time, The Woman Upstairs and The Unauthorized Autobiography of Samantha Brown.

"We really wanted to start a weekly way to talk with our audience - to let them know how we're doing, what we're up to, to give them inside info on what's in the works - and to hear from them," Daniels said. "Running a theatre is really a two-way conversation, so we wanted to create more ways for them to talk to us."

To join in the conversation, go to @ArizonaTheatreCompany on Facebook.

In addition to the Daniels-hosted Facebook Live chats, ATC is launching a series of weekly podcasts, called Hang & Focus, which will be released every Sunday and designed to "bring you closer to the art we create and connect with our artists, staff and company better than ever before," Daniels said.

The online content follows the highly successful online stream of The Legend of Georgia McBride, which was postponed until the 2021-2022 season when the current season went on hiatus in March.

The company's education program, ATCteen, for students 13-19 years of age, has been moved online and includes:

• Weekly classes every Tuesday at 3 p.m. on topics including playwriting, acting, dance, production, design and more;

• Playreader's Club every other week for students to choose a play to read with discussions. Playwrights may be involved on a regular basis;

• Private Coaching for students by professionals in a range of specialties;

• Improv Troupe for the ATCteen Improve to continue exploring and creating performances;

• Radio Drama Project for students to write, record and produce; and

• #ATC Create Anyway & Creative Challenges for students across the world to join in by creating and posting their own projects using the hashtag and offering creative challenges for students to think outside the box.

General ATC content will be delivered from 4 "rooms:"

• The ATC Digital Green Room where artists and friends hangout and talk, where you can find and start conversations among artists, staff, and stakeholders in ATC. This is a space where we check in with local and national theater makers to see what is on their minds, both artistically and personally in this time of creative evolution.

• The ATC Digital Rehearsal Room where we dive deeper and explore plays, musicals, and topics that affect our communities; a place where we look at issues and productions from many angles and curate a conversation around them

• The ATC Digital Blackbox Room where readings, online workshops of plays and musicals live.

• The ATC Digital Classroom for educational, creative and informative content for all ages featuring directors, designers, playwrights, actors, technicians and producers.

Each "room" will be available on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and ATC's own podcast and radio station, which is being developed. Video and podcast episodes will be released every Sunday. Daily content and updates will be found on Instagram and Facebook. Schedules and details can be found at www.arizonatheatre.org.

For more information, visit www.arizonatheatre.org.