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 offer its Solo Performance Intensive for the third year this fall, providing a constructive path for actors and creators to generate an original monologue for performance. Solo Work can take many forms and has been a radical force of storytelling in the American Theater launching the careers of Whoopi Goldberg, John Leguizamo, Margaret Cho, Sarah Jones, and Hannah Gadsby among many others. Hilarious, political, autobiographical or completely fictional, 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 3-5 minute first draft of a solo work. For the first time, 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.

If you wish to participate in this intensive, please complete this form by Monday, September 16th at 11:59pm PST. The goal of this intensive is to support a diverse pool of applicants. In your statement of intent please share a bit about your past theatrical work, why you’d like to take this course, and what you’re hoping to learn or gain. 

Application deadline: Monday, September 16th at 11:59pm PT

Intensive Dates:

• Tuesday, October 1st, 6:00-10:00pm PT
• Tuesday, October 8th, 6:30-10:00pm PT
• Tuesday, October 15th, 6:30-10:00pm PT

Link to application: https://bit.ly/2024-solo

Please contact Leigh Rondon-Davis (LeighR [AT] crowdedfire.org) with any questions or concerns!

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.”

Each year, up to $10,000 is granted through the Ignite Fund with grants ranging between $1,000 and $2,000 (adjusted in 2021).  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.

Past Ignite Fund recipients include Miaccuicatl Alexander, Alexa Burrell, Brooke L Jennings, Kevin Lo, Sara Witsch, Kenan Arun, Nathaniel J. Bice, Chibueze Crouch, Mitchell Jakubka, Gabriel Nuñez de Arco, and Grisel (GG) Torres.

Stay tuned for the 2024 Ignite Fund Application!

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!