About
Community Programs
Detroit Public Theatre's founding vision marries artistic excellence and community impact. As such, each of our productions are surrounded by intentional community programming developed to suit the storytelling and to actively engage and welcome audiences into the work. Below are our signature community programs each of which is built on deep partnerships with cultural, education, and social service organizations.
Shakespeare in Prison
Shakespeare in Prison (SIP), Detroit Public Theatre’s signature community program, empowers incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people to reconnect with their humanity and that of others; to reflect on their past, present, and future; and to gain the confidence, self-esteem, and crucial skills they need to heal and positively impact their communities. Through a combination of working on the play and collaborating with each other, the SIP experience aids ensemble members in the positive development of their narrative identities. They discover new ways of defining themselves and moving through the world, as well as goals—personal and professional—that they previously would not have dreamed of. SIP’s alumni are proving this development does not end when they are released from prison. Many are in touch with SIP staff—the same mentors who supported them while they were incarcerated—through our post-release extension, Shakespeare Reclaimed. Shakespeare Reclaimed provides opportunities for personal and professional development, including work opportunities with Detroit Public Theatre as independent contractors.
DPT's Education Programs
Detroit Public Theatre’s education programming is designed to give students access to works of art that connect with their high school social studies and literature curricula, and bring academic lessons to life. The program engages students in a curricula-connected, interactive, pre-show lesson in their classrooms with DPT teaching artists; a free matinee performance of a production at Detroit Public Theatre; and an in-depth post-show dialogue with the artists. DPT’s education program launched in 2016 with our inaugural season’s production of Dominique Morisseau’s DETROIT ‘67, the acclaimed play about the 1967 uprising. The curriculum was created in collaboration with Detroit Public Schools Community District (DPSCD) educators, and we worked on that one play with three schools. Since then, we have tripled the size of the program, working with at least five DPSCD schools to engage students with three productions and accompanying arts-connected curricula every season.
Detroit Dialogues Post-Show Forums
DPT’s Detroit Dialogues post-show forums allow audiences to explore the questions of our plays in meaningful dialogue with artists, educators, and community leaders. Partners have included the Prison Creative Arts Project (PCAP), A Brighter Way, Moms Demand Action, The Coalition for Black and Jewish Unity, Beaumont Parenting Program, acclaimed spoken word artists and poets Joel Fluent Greene and Jessica Care Moore, the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, the Detroit Historical Society, Wayne State University, and many others. The forums facilitate deep engagement amongst diverse audiences and artists.
Accessible Ticket Initiatives
Understanding that socioeconomic factors pose one of the biggest barriers to entry for many who have been historically excluded from theatre, DPT offers pick-your-price (PYP) tickets to two performances of every production. The tickets range in price from $5 to $52. In our most recent season, we sold over 1,000 PYP tickets. More than 60% of these were at the $5 dollar level—a 90% discount off the full ticket price. DPT also offers heavily discounted tickets for students and community members impacted by the carceral system, ten $25 rush tickets to every performance sold at the door, $30 tickets to every Thursday evening performance (a nearly 40% discount); heavily discounted rates for students and individuals impacted by the carceral system; and discounted group rates.
DPT’s T.A.G. (Third Avenue Garage) Residencies
T.A.G. is DPT’s subsidized residency, partnership, and space grant program, T.A.G. provides fully and heavily subsidized performance space and services for innovative Detroit artists and organizations that do not have their own space. The space grants address a severe shortage of performance space for small and mid-sized arts organizations in Detroit and are intended to reduce strain on our partners' budgets and provide more freedom to create relevant, ambitious work of, by, and for our city and region.