We at Crowded Fire recognize it is essential to cultivate a thriving theater ecosystem by investing in and uplifting theatre-makers and administrators of all kinds, at all points in their careers. CFT is honored to offer the following Initiatives to support the sustainability and growth of individual artists and future leaders. 

Crowded Fire is pleased to announce it will be offering both of our Intensives this year, Audition Intensive (2-days), and Solo Performance Intensive (3-days) which aims to expand access to Bay Area stages for all.

Application Details:
Applications for both Audition and Solo Performance intensive open on June 5, 2026. You may apply for one or both Intensives, however you must be available in-person for all dates of the Intensive(s) you choose, as we are unable to accommodate conflicts or virtual attendance.

Location: CFT Annex, Potrero Hill, San Francisco

Cost: Our Intensives are Pay What You Will with a $0 minimum. Your selection is based entirely on your application: dollar amounts are never considered and do not affect your chances. Accepted participants will receive a link to register and name their price ($0+). All funds support the sustainability of our programming.

Application Link: [Coming Soon – June 5th]

Application Deadline: Friday, July 3rd, 2026, 11:59 PM PST

Audition Intensive:

Crowded Fire’s Audition Intensive is a chance for any actor to brush up their game plan – or create one – for Auditioning as well as initiating and maintaining solid professional relationships with Casting Directors.

Leading the intensive, Dawn Monique Williams and M. Graham Smith will take you through the ins and outs of finding casting notices, polishing your resume and headshot, and coaching you on an audition monologue in a simulated audition. This year additional attention will be given to the process of virtual and self-tape auditions. Participants must be available for both sessions and willing to prepare a monologue. Both sessions will be held exclusively in-person at CFT’s offices & rehearsal space in San Francisco.

Audition Intensive Dates:

• Monday, 7/20/26 from 6-10pm
• Friday, 7/24/26 from 6-10pm

Solo Performance Intensive:

Crowded Fire is pleased to announce it will offer its Solo Performance Intensive for the fifth year this summer, providing a constructive path for actors and creators to generate an original monologue for performance. Solo Work empowers each of us to be Actor/Creators in the service of a story only we can tell. 

Leading the intensive, Dawn Monique Williams and M. Graham Smith will guide the process of creating an original monologue, provide tools and structures for generation, and constructive direction for development. Each participant will finish the intensive with a a 3-5 minute first draft of a solo work. The Solo Performance Intensive will take place in-person at CFT’s office and rehearsal space in Potrero Hill. Participants must be available to attend all sessions in-person.

Solo Performance Intensive Dates:

• Monday, 7/27/26 from 6-10pm
• Friday, 7/31/26 from 6-10pm
• Friday, 8/07/26 from 6-10pm

We look forward to receiving your applications!

Founded in 2017, the Resilience & Development (R&D) Lab was first envisioned by former Artistic Director Mina Morita and Resident Artist emerita Lisa Marie Rollins as a playwright-centered artistic incubator, focusing not only on the development of new plays, but on cultivating playwrights as holistic and interdisciplinary artists. Previous cohorts of the lab ran for 18 months. To provide a more expansive new play development process, the fourth cohort will run for two full years.

Crowded Fire Theater  is thrilled to announce the fourth cohort of the Resilience & Development (R&D) Lab, supporting four playwrights in the development of new works. The playwrights selected for the 2024-26 cohort are Aidaa Peerzada, Anthony Doan, Ashley Smiley, and Leigh M. Marshall. Over the next two years, CFT is committed to supporting these four visionary writers, bolstering the development of new and original pieces.

As part of Crowded Fire’s revolutionary shared leadership model, the 2024-26 R&D Lab cohort will be co-facilitated by Leader of Artistic Curation & Producing Nailah Harper-Malveaux and Leader of Artistic Producing Caro Asercion.

Previous playwrights supported by the R&D Lab include Denmo Ibrahim, Nick Mwaluko, Star Finch, Julius Rea, A-lan Holt, Linda Maria Girón, Eugenie Chan, Maria Jenson, and Lisa Marie Rollins. Pieces developed through the Lab have gone on to receive further development with Town Hall Theatre Company, San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Company (SFBATCO), and through Crowded Fire’s own Matchbox Reading Series.

Read the full Press Release here!

Launched in 2016, Crowded Fire’s Ignite Fund seeks to support the growth of and enhance the working lives of theater designers and technicians in the Bay Area with an eye towards supporting the plurality of race, culture, class, gender, and age in our local design and technical community.

Just as Crowded Fire’s artistic programming supports a plurality of voices, the Ignite Fund is distributed with an awareness towards supporting a diversity of race, culture, class, gender, age and sexual orientation in our local design and technical community. The Ignite Fund provides grants for professional development workshops and training opportunities, to purchase design tools and equipment, and to strengthen the economic sustainability of an arts practice.

“It is so important to prioritize theater art makers of all kinds,” shares Leader of Production & Community Riley Alyson. “The Ignite Fund was created to invest in the sustainability and growth of individual artists who have very few opportunities for funding via grants and awards. Past and future recipients work throughout the Bay Area in a variety of disciplines, and therefore impact the sustainability of the greater Bay Area theater community.”

Crowded Fire believes in the development of all artists and technicians, yet there are a limited number of grants for theater designers and technicians. We understand that growth in and innovation of design comes from designer’s and technician’s investment in tools and training. We believe in your, the designer’s and technician’s, vision and want to support the richness you bring to our local theater ecology.

Applications are reviewed by a panel composed of Crowded Fire staff members, Bay Area theater designers and/or technicians, and other leaders in the theater community.

Ignite applications are currently closed. Please stay tuned for future Ignite information.