By Kevin Murphy Wilson • Photos Provided By Actors Theatre
According to Executive Artistic Director Robert Barry Flemming, Actors Theatre of Louisville is still celebrating the 50th anniversary (of its designation as the state theatre of the Commonwealth of Kentucky) in a big way. We recently caught up with Flemming to hear more about the exciting lineup of forthcoming productions at ATL as well as the organization’s transformative ethos.
VT: For the uninitiated, what does the role of Executive Artistic Director entail?
RBF: “I steward capacity building AND shepherd the artistic vision of the company. This is, of course, in collaboration with a fantastic leadership team. Because I have a varied portfolio I believe that wealth of administrative/artistic leadership experience, producing, directing, choreographing, performing, and teaching/coaching helps me think globally about the work I do as Executive Artistic Director of Actors Theatre of Louisville, where we try to vision into a long game strategy for sustainability for the company as a public good serving Greater Louisville and beyond as a ‘glocal’ arts and culture organization. As a social enterprise, we focus on interdependent partnerships, entrepreneurship that is mission-based, interdisciplinary intersectionality that foregrounds comprehensible health and wellness, narrative change through the use of live performance as the foundational event.”
VT: How would you describe your approach to theater? Is there a genre or area of research that excites you? Have your techniques or interests evolved over the years?
RBF: “Without question. My approach is more fluid, less dogmatically fixed, more responsive than proscriptive, more investigative. I try to approach all phenomena with curiosity so the artificiality that resides where authenticity would better serve is, indeed, disrupted for that to be the new normal.”
VT: How does sense of place factor in? Is there anything specific to this community that impacts your selections?
RBF: “Getting to partner with collaborators locally and around the world gives us the opportunity to engage in multiplatform storytelling. Bottom line, we are always making a case for how we are stronger together in partnership, collaborating rather than competing, co-creating rather than dominating.”
VT: Which productions and events are currently in the works?
RBF: “Eric Kimmel’s HERSHEL AND THE HANUKKAH GOBLINS, more AFTER SHOW SHOW drag cabaret fabulousness, delightful one-offs like THE EMPIRE STRIPS BACK, THE GRAHAM CRACKER, the return of the festive festival of the century, MRS. KRISHNAN’S PARTY in collaboration with New Zealand’s Indian Ink, and Candrice Jones’ FLEX comes home to play where it was to have its world premiere after cancellation during the pandemic.”
VT: In this day and age, and at this point in your career, how do you measure success as an artist?
RBF: “By committing to work that has presence; that is holistic in its aims for social transformation, spiritual transfiguration, artistic realization, and decolonized psychic liberation. Work that is generous in spirit, seeks light and humor as it plummets the shadow and depths of despair, work that is as fun as it is substantive.”
For more information, visit actorstheatre.org.
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