The History of Live Arts

Live Arts began as the dream of a small group of passionate people and has grown into a major cultural force in our region. Dreaming is still at the heart of all we do. We are committed to theatre that is modern, rigorous and risky. We are committed to being a product of this unique community as well as a process for creating community. We make art that blurs the lines between genres, drawing freely from dance, music, visual arts, and other forms. We draw from an array of international influences creating extraordinary work with ordinary people. We are committed to outreach, education and new works as tools for creating both art and community. We strive for an arts organization that is a holistic structure with all areas drawing strength and support from all others. We are creating a theatre and a supporting structure that are like no other in the world.

Live Arts started in 1989 with a group that included Thane and Will Kerner, Fran Sackett, Mark and Karen Schuyler, Michael Parent, Bill Thomas and Cate Andrews. Most of these people are still intimately involved, providing astonishing institutional memory as well as individual passions that remain the hallmark of all we do. They sought a home for live performance in the heart of downtown Charlottesville, Virginia and found it in developer Gabe Silverman’s Old Michie Building.

Our first production in that 135 seat theatre space was of Sartre’s No Exit in September of 1990. Acid house dance parties provided an early approach to artistically motivated, experience-based events as fundraising tool. This form found fuller expression in the legendary annual “9 Lives” benefit, a combination of cabaret and promenade theatre forms with outrageous visual design excess and broad community support.

A popular series of coffeehouses under the direction of Fran Sackett, the founding Artistic Director, provided a stage for local musicians, actors and writers and were a popular regular feature of the first years. The current Artistic Director John Gibson began work at Live Arts as a volunteer in January of 1992 and became the first fulltime employee in April of 1993. As the organization grew in scale and ambition, a growing professionalism led to the addition of fulltime Development and Technical Director positions.

The first in a series of distinctive musical theatre productions was The Fantasticks in 1992 under the direction of John Owen. Our Live Arts Theatre Training Ensemble (LATTE) was begun in 1997 under the direction of Lydia Horan and guidance of Kay Bechtel and provides arts education for all ages and unique performance opportunities for young people, a commitment that continues under the current director, Jennifer Peart. That same year saw the creation of a second, smaller (70 seats) performance space – Live Arts B or “LA.B”. An expanded commitment to new works began in 1999 and the outreach program has provided touring shows, pay-what-you-can performances, classes workshops and many other ways to touch lives regardless of age, income or ability to pay.

A major institutional self-study and long range planning process also began in 1999 and resulted in many structural changes, including a powerfully simple new mission statement: “Forging Theater and Community”. Another enormous step was taken with the successful drive toward a new home for our theater. This campaign, in collaboration with Second Street Gallery and Lighthouse, and led by Thane Kerner, resulted in our spectacular new facility designed by local architects Bushman Dreyfus.

The astonishing growth in size, artistic maturity and ambition, and organizational vision are all testaments to the unique community that is our home. An annual audience of 20,000, critical acclaim, and a core, recurring volunteer base of over 500 speak to the rich community of artists, patrons and passions from which we draw. Our distinctive stance of eschewing government support of any kind also speaks to the enlightened philanthropists of our hometown. We are proud to be a community theatre like no other, reinventing that traditional form and reflecting a community that is also like no other.