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 Our Mission is to
transcend the banal and mirror the many conditions of the human
experience. Our company's theatrical style reflects an interdisciplinary
approach to the making of theater while still allowing each of our
shows to define itself spontaneously within the language of its
presentation. We seek to articulate a keen visual, aesthetic by
using light, color, shadow, texture, projection, and original art.
Moreover, we pursue the elements of dance, rhythm, music, and action
to elevate our stories from the stage and into the realm of imagination.
Our Vision is to reinvent the collective
perception of the world through an equal acceptance of the ordinary
and the extraordinary and by the fusion of the lyrical and poetic
along with a realistic examination of the world at large and the
further scrutiny of human character.
Our Values include community, collaboration,
creativity and innovation.
Our Artistic Director
Michelle Romeo has been doing theatre all her life, with
her roots as an aspiring performer and dancer as a child and young
adult in New York City. She holds degrees in Theatre and Dance with
a secondary emphasis in Film and Multimedia from Southern Oregon
University, Hunter College in NYC, and Naropa University in Boulder,
Co. She has extensively studied acting pedagogy, improvisation,
and vocal technique in New York City at La Mama, Circle in the Square
Theatre, HB studios, and Theatre Sports. She has been fortunate
to have had the opportunity to study with such renowned acting teachers
as Stella Adler, Uta Hagen, Peter Goldfarb and Ruth Zaporah among
others.
In the early nineties Michelle worked at the renowned Magic Theatre
in San Francisco and was privileged to have been a part of the World
Premiere of Paula Vogel’s “Baltimore Waltz”. Watching
this play in development ignited her passion for directing and developing
new work. She undertook her directing career by self producing and
writing several original plays and short films while studying the
work of master directors as an intern at the Oregon Shakespeare
Festival in Ashland, Oregon. She moved to Boulder, Co in 1996 and
started Rocky Mountain Theatre for Kids, an award winning youth
theatre where her mission was to create highly creative, innovative,
and fresh children’s theatre for the Boulder/ Denver metro
area.
Michelle has directed over 70 plays in all genres of Theatre from
well known musicals such as “Fiddler on the Roof” and
“Oliver” to dramas such as Eve Ensler’s "Necessary
Targets" and most recently Sarah Ruhl’s "Dead Man's
Cell Phone". In the summer of 2009 she did the Chicago’s
Director’s Lab, an offspring of the famous Lincoln Center
Lab in NYC and was so inspired by the work she saw being produced
in Chicago that she decided to open her own cutting edge theatre,
now called Theatre O, in Boulder, Co. In January 2010 she launched
Theatre O’s inaugural season by co producing “Conviction”
an original production which made its New York premiere in February
2010.
In her work as Artistic director of Theatre O Michelle seeks to
expand the diversity of live theatre in Colorado while enriching
the cultural life of the Front Range by producing groundbreaking
work in an intimate, affordable and accessible setting. She is currently
the Producing Artistic Director for both Theatre O and Rocky Mountain
Theatre for Kids. She teaches and directs middle school and high
school kids, does private acting coaching, and directs for Theatre
O.
Our Purpose is to expand the diversity
of live theatre in Colorado and enrich the cultural life of the
Boulder/Denver Metro area by producing groundbreaking work in an
intimate, accessible setting. In doing so we strive to:
- Provide an arena where theatre patrons may engage in lively
discussions with the actors and directors regarding our work.
Our hope is to use live theatre as a vehicle for deepening people's
connection to community. In an age where technology continues
to disconnect us, we believe that Theatre is an increasingly important
art form since it requires active audience participation.
- Unlike film and television, theatre mirrors the human experience,
in that live performance is subject to change in reaction to the
moment.
- "A thing of Beauty is a joy forever: Its loveliness increases;
it will never Pass into nothingness." JOHN KEATS, Endymion.
We are aware that we live in a time which has grown increasingly
dark and cynical. We wish that in our commitment to emphasizing
a strong visual aesthetic that we may give our audiences an experience
of beauty and hope.
- Offering our community the opportunity to experience the work
of the many current, brilliant, and acclaimed playwrights who have
been making their debuts in many of the major cities around the
world such as London, New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles, but which
rarely made it into production in Colorado. We wish to be the vehicle
which brings many of these fabulous works to life for a community
hungry for current, culturally and socially relevant theatre.
- Expose our community to the diversity of contemporary Drama by
producing newer, more recent work with actors of diverse cultural
backgrounds.(Ex: Latino Magical Realism) - Offering a flexible performance
space which (When Theatre O is not in production) may be rented
by local performance groups seeking an affordable, intimate, yet
professional performance venue.
- Provide tools for individuals unfamiliar with the genre of theatre
with the hope of enabling them to better understand the art form
and how it can inform their lives. This would take the form of talk
backs, preview performances, and workshops in theatre appreciation.
- Cultivating interest in important contemporary issues through
provocative and contemplative theatre.
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