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It’s exhilarating to be among the first to spot new and exciting talent, see original works sharing compelling stories, and for emerging performers to earn widespread acclaim. And all of this on prestigious stages in the Dallas Arts District. That’s why the AT&T Performing Arts Center created the Elevator Project, a program that helps fund and produce innovative works by small, emerging and historically marginalized arts organizations in Dallas.
With support from the City of Dallas Office of Arts & Culture, the Center presents eight Elevator Project shows each year. Chosen through a competitive peer-review process, they represent the newest, most creative works in Dallas dance, music and theater. And to keep these productions accessible, tickets are only $29.50 each.
The inventive series offers exceptional experiences, like last year’s sold-out In the Conservatory with the Knife, an immersive murder-mystery dance by Bombshell Dance Project that led audiences through multiple spaces and levels of the Wyly Theatre.
“They gave us a built-in support system to try something new that we might not have been brave enough or equipped enough to try on our own,” says Bombshell co-founder Emily Bernet. In the Conservatory with the Knife was such a hit that Bernet is working with the Center to reprise it at the Wyly in early November.
Another Elevator Project smash was Prism Movement Theater’s Lucha Teotl, a lucha libre story enacted entirely through this distinct form of Mexican wrestling on the main stage of the Wyly in 2021. The show was so original and successful with audiences that it was picked up by the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, where it will open in September.
Prism is currently working with the Elevator Project to develop La Maupin: The French Abomination for next year, explains company co-founder and artistic director Jeff Colangelo. Enacted almost exclusively through sword fighting, singing and dancing, it’s based on the astonishing true tale of a well-born cross-dressing Frenchwoman who dueled, sang and burned her way across 17th-century France, capturing men’s and women’s affections along the way.
“I am looking forward to seeing Dallas theater continue to take more risks, and more wild and crazy stuff that nobody else is making,” Colangelo says. “I think that’s when Dallas theater is at its best.”
Launched in 2014, the Elevator Project “is a highly unique program that supports our diverse cultural ecosystem,” says Warren Tranquada, president and CEO of the nonprofit Center. Since launch, 41 small groups have presented 56 productions. The Center’s support has never wavered, even during the worst of COVID. “We have not found anything like it across the country. It’s a best practice for performing arts centers to ensure voices like these are heard.”
Maura Sheffler, president and executive director of The Arts Community Alliance (TACA), notes the program raises the city’s arts profile. “The Elevator Project identifies really important work by artists and organizations, and supports that work with a multifaceted suite of services and facilities,” Sheffler says. “To provide that support for emerging groups gives Dallas the opportunity to be a different kind of destination and to make a name for ourselves artistically and creatively.” TACA recently awarded its Pop-Up Grants for innovative work to four groups for their Elevator Project productions: Agora Artists, Bombshell Dance Project, Bandan Koro African Drum & Dance Ensemble and Janelle Gray.
The beautiful thing about the program is “you have organizations and individuals and artists of all different walks of life,” adds playwright Anyika McMillan-Herod, co-founder of Soul Rep Theatre Company, which focuses on Black narratives. The Elevator Project has helped her group connect with a broader audience and is backing its third Soul Rep project in the 2023-2024 season.
“Our audience is pretty diverse, but not everyone wants to come to the southern side of Dallas — we perform in Fair Park and the South Dallas Cultural Center — so being in the Arts District is important,” McMillan-Herod says. “People who would come to the symphony but maybe not a performance by a smaller theater company can be introduced to new voices.”
Her newest play is Elm Thicket, a comedy about gentrification and friendship that’s set near Love Field. The show is due to premiere next January, most likely in the intimate Sixth Floor Studio Theatre at the Wyly.
Most Elevator Project shows are staged in the Center’s smaller venues, the Wyly’s Studio Theatre and Hamon Hall in the Winspear Opera House, or outside in Sammons Park. The program has produced some phenomenal success stories, but not every project fires on all cylinders.
“This is new and innovative work, and most do a great job,” Tranquada says. “Though everything doesn’t come out brilliant and perfect, the important thing is that it gives the groups a high-profile platform that they never would have had.”
The Elevator Project’s newly announced 2023-2024 season will feature: EVERGREEN [to grow] presented by Emerge Coalition, Inc.; Murrow by Joseph Vitale presented by Bren Rapp, executive producer; Pintura, Poesia y Pasion performed by Flamenco Fever; Mirage presented by Jamal Mohamed; The Taming of the Shrew - Presented in Living Black & White by Plague Mask Players; La Maupin: The French Abomination performed by Prism Movement Theater; Elm Thicket performed by Soul Rep Theatre Company; and mahAmAyA performed by Tejas Dance. More information on the new season can be found at www.attpac.org/about/elevatorproject/.