Sojourn Theatre, founded in 1999, is an award-winning ensemble theatre company comprised of 17 artists who live in 7 cities and make performance together around the nation. National/international touring, a body of 26 works, and a reputation for consistent innovation as artists and engagement practitioners has led to: a 2005 Ford Foundation/Americans for the Arts Exemplar Award; being featured regularly at conferences and universities nationwide as a "best practice model" for arts-based civic dialogue; being featured in recent articles in American Theater Magazine and Yale’s Theater Journal; partnerships with non-arts sector organizations such as city and state legislative bodies, social service agencies and cross-disciplinary arts centers around the country. Current projects include a national initiative in multiple US Cities with Catholic Charities USA poverty reduction sites; adapting our project BUILT with Planning Commissions around the country as a tool for Public Engagement; Islands of Milwaukee, a multi-year collaboration engaging public health, public transit and care services for homebound seniors around performance-making and public dialogue culminating in an interactive exhibit at City Hall in Fall 2014.

Sojourn Theatre’s recent projects include: How To End Poverty in 90 Minutes (seen in OR, WA, OH and IL); REP, a new devised piece that amplifies student voices on racial equity; and DON’T GO, a new full-length, devised, participatory work that will have its World Premiere at ASU Gammage in November 2021 before beginning to tour. In addition, our ensemble member led virtual institutes, which over the course of the pandemic have served hundreds of artists around the world, provide resources and tools for artists working in civic, community, and educational spaces.

The company is led by a rotating leadership body comprised of four ensemble members, with positions currently served by Bobby Bermea, Courtney Davis, Jamie Rea, and Nik Zaleski. For more about our recent leadership transition, see WHO WE ARE.

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