New Venture at Manship

The bold theatre company finds a permanent home

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"The only thing constant is change."

The oft-quoted truism that history teachers love to reference is personified by New Venture Theatre, the Baton Rouge-based theatre troupe which has evolved over the course of seventeen years to find itself the resident company of the Manship.

New Venture can be traced back to its origins as the Eden Park Theatre, founded in 1997 as a program of the Dr. Martin Luther King Community Center. In 2000, the group changed its name to The Creative Company of Louisiana and continued to develop its identity and mission.

The group's third incarnation as New Venture Theatre was instituted by artistic director Greg Williams in 2007, who wanted the name of the theatre company to reflect its bold mission. That mission, said Williams, was threefold: to produce pieces that celebrated diverse viewpoints, filling a vacant niche in the community's theatre offerings; to use colorblind casting as much as possible; and to take risks that would generate a new theatre-going audience.

Williams said it took about five years to communicate this mission to the community, essentially building a solid brand through proof of performance. The commitment of time and talent paid off when, last year, Williams was approached by the Manship with the offer to make its intimate theatre New Venture's permanent home.

“The quality of New Venture Theatre’s work is outstanding—the talent in the cast and crew rivals that of professional touring theatre companies,” said Manship Executive Director Renee Chatelain. She's in a position to know, having worked with Williams as a choreographer for several past productions.

The offer affords New Venture a comforting level of stability. They now have administrative resources at their disposal and access to several beautiful performing spaces, which can also be used for rehearsals, Williams explained. The spaces will also be used to conduct New Venture's drama classes.

Don't miss the last few remaining shows in their season: Choir Boy (October 23—26) and love Whitney (November 6—8). newventuretheatre.com.