Theater Breaking Through Barriers Corp

THEATER BREAKING THROUGH BARRIERS IS NYCS ONLY OFF-BROADWAY THEATER ORGANIZATION DEDICATED TO ADVANCING ARTISTS AND DEVELOPING AUDIENCES OF PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES, AND PROVING ONCE AND FOR ALL, THAT DISABILITY DOES NOT AFFECT THE QUALITY OF OUR ART OR ARTISTS.

ALTHOUGH THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC FORCED THE CANCELLATION OF ALL IN-PERSON EVENTS DURING OUR 2020/21 SEASON, TBTB REMAINED EXTREMELY PRODUCTIVE, CREATING A ROBUST CALENDAR OF ORIGINAL ONLINE PROGRAMMING: TBTBS VIRTUAL PLAYMAKERS INTENSIVE SERIES: TBTB CREATED 4 VIRTUAL PROGRAMS IN 2020/21, UTILIZING THE DIVERSE TALENTS OF OVER 76 DISABLED AND NON-DISABLED ARTISTS FROM ALL PARTS OF OUR COMMUNITY TO CREATE 56 ORIGINAL SHORT PLAYS. EACH PROGRAM WAS DEVELOPED, REHEARSED AND PERFORMED LIVE ONLINE AND STREAMED FREE OF CHARGE THROUGHOUT THE SEASON TO OUR AUDIENCES VIA TBTBS SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS. ALL ARTISTS RECEIVED FINANCIAL COMPENSATION FOR THEIR TALENTS.

TBTBS INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATION WITH JAPANS FREEDOM THEATRE: TBTB COLLABORATED VIRTUALLY WITH JAPANS FREEDOM THEATRE BY DEVELOPING, REHEARSING AND PERFORMING TWO ORIGINAL SHORT PLAYS, WRITTEN BY TBTB ARTISTS, FOR ARTISTS FROM BOTH THE US AND JAPANESE COMPANIES. BOTH PLAYS WERE FILMED ONLINE AND HAVE BEEN SHOWN IN BOTH COUNTRIES, DEMONSTRATING OUR COLLECTIVE SPIRIT TO WORK TOGETHER, DESPITE THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC, TO ALTER UNIVERSAL MISPERCEPTIONS SURROUNDING DISABILITY BY GENERATING SIGNIFICANT AND MEANINGFUL ART.

ADVOCACY: THROUGHOUT THE 2020/21 SEASON, TBTB CONTINUED TO REPRESENT THE DISABLED PERFORMING ARTS COMMUNITY BY PARTICIPATING IN MULTIPLE ONLINE SYMPOSIA AND PANEL DISCUSSIONS WITH VARIOUS CITY AND COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS. AS THE CALL FOR EQUITY AND FULL INCLUSION HAS AMPLIFIED, TBTB CONTINUES TO LEAD BY EXAMPLE, DEMONSTRATING THAT INTEGRATING DISABLED AND NON-DISABLED ARTISTS FROM ALL PARTS OF OUR COMMUNITY ONLY LEADS TO COLLECTIVE UNITY AND RICHER, MORE IMPACTFUL ART.