THEATRE MATTERS

You make it possible for us to do the work we love. Performing plays is why SMRT exists—from the break-neck speed of the staged reading process to the design, rehearsal and run cycle of a fully produced event. There is nothing like the live shared experience between the artists and the audience.​ Come join us and remind yourself why THEATRE MATTERS !

THEATRE

MATTERS

You partner with us to build an organization that reflects the community we live in, ultimately telling stories that resonate with all people. We collaborate with you, with businesses, schools, residents and artists in service to Santa Monica being a vibrant hub of creativity and storytelling. 

If you are interested in participating in Santa Monica Repertory Theater’s board, please review the following needs and reach out to info@santamonicarep.org.
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We are seeking board members who are ready to roll up their sleeves and build a stronger SMRT. They must be:

  • Passionate about theatre and/or the arts

  • Have time, energy and resources to implement our strategic plan

  • Bring contacts and opportunities to fundraising efforts

Seeking expertise in the following fields: 

​Attorney: Able to advise or offer resources regarding contracts, taxes, etc. Non-profit experience a plus.

Fundraiser: Able to identify, recommend and outreach to major donors and organize/train board members and staff to encourage existing audience and past donors to give.

Real estate professional: Able to identify options for office, rehearsal, and performance space including non-traditional venues for a 'pop-up' and site specific experience; also able to realistically strategize the creation of SMRT's permanent space. 

Social Media/Marketing: Outline strategies and coordinate resources to assure implementation; can also create systems for measuring success of said strategies.

Santa Monica Community Member:  Familiar with the city of Santa Monica, part of neighborhood associations, city council, long time resident, activist, etc. 

Business Owner/Entrepreneur/Banking Professional: Familiar with decision making regarding budgets, sales and long term financial planning. 

WOULD YOU LIKE A SEAT ON THE BOARD?

Founder/Acting Chairperson: Sarah Gurfield
Interim Treasurer: Adrienne Johnson-Lister
Secretary: Jessica Handy
Founder: Eric Bloom
Artistic Director:Tanya White
Managing Director: Adrienne Johnson-Lister

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

What's Your Story? Young Peoples' Storytelling Workshop

An exclusive workshop for young people ages 8-17 to share stories and get storytelling tips! Fun, easy and no experience necessary! Made possible by a grant from the Santa Monica Kiwanis Club

In School Programming Santa Monica Repertory Theater

Your support means that we can extend the power of theatre into the classroom. With your generosity we bring programming to students, meeting them where they are, encouraging critical thinking about plays as literature and the theater as a way to explore empathy, ethics, and community.

SO WHAT'S THE STORY, SANTA MONICA REP?

by Tanya White, Artistic Director

Santa Monica Repertory Theater began in 2010, built on a love of compelling stories and a commitment to telling them well. I joined the company in 2016 drawn in by the open, generous and talented ensemble. Since becoming our company’s Artistic Director in July 2019, I am occupied with the question: what is the story Santa Monica Repertory Theater is telling now? Our mission promises to use the theater to engage our audiences through the shared experience of live theater and we choose plays that inspire conversation and connection. Now it feels like conversations are only possible if everyone is in agreement. Differing opinions feel like battle cries instead of opportunities to explore intersection. Everything is code for an absolute. If you believe this, you voted for that. If you vaccinate you’re this kind of person, if you choose not to vaccinate you’re in another camp. These codes are closed doors, protecting our sensibilities and shutting our minds to even our own personal complexities.

We paste labels to each other that don’t include the one that speaks to our deepest and intrinsic connection, our humanity. I believe we must tell stories that insist our connection. Whether plays are light-hearted, full of laughter, dark, gloomy, haunting— or like life, a spectrum of experience, we want to bring stories to our audiences as a way to dream, face fears, play and celebrate collectively. Let’s focus on what we can be. Let’s imagine the future with our children’s children in mind, offering the benefit of our wisdom based in reconciling our shared past. Through live theater we can lay a foundation for a future where all are housed, fed, protected, educated and supported. What if everyone were living up to their potential to contribute, not as raw material for an inequitable unsustainable system, but in dynamic partnership with each other and the world. The story of Santa Monica Repertory Theater is a narrative with as many perspectives as there are people, where we see each other and feel connected with a deep commitment to our planet and to a shared future for all. As the Artistic Director of Santa Monica Repertory Theater, that’s the story we’re telling, and I’m sticking to it.

Support for Santa Monica Rep's Programming Provided by:

Kiwanis Club of Santa Monica
City of Santa Monica Cultural Affairs
L.A. County Department of Arts and Culture
Lia Skidmore, Skidmore Contemporary Art at Bergamot Station

California Arts Council

and by Individual Donors