Group Members
Contact
Raphael Peter
Asheville, NC
Phone: (828) 670-5881
eMail raphaelpeter@buncombe.main.nc.us
Asheville Playback Theatre was founded in 1995, and performs regularly both for the general
public and for special groups, working in prisons, with recipients of mental health services,
with at-risk teens, etc. For our 2008-2009 season, we are presenting 9 public performances. Three of the performances comprise our "Community Concerns" series, highlighting issues of interest to local residents.
APT is also the organizing group for the annual global playback event - follow the link (above) to our website for more information.
Contact
Sylvia Israel
1924 Fourth Street, San Rafael, CA 94901
Phone: Mary Dubova: 415-499-8528
eMail
info@bayareaplayback.com
We have performed for many non-profit agencies and under-served populations.
We have had 3 public performances, and are hoping to offer these more regularly - once every month or two.
Contact
Hannah Fox
580 Sixth Ave. #4, Pelham, NY 10803
Phone: 914-576-8284 or 914-633-7361
eMail info@bigappleplayback.com
Big Apple Playback Theatre is a multi-cultural professional performance
team dedicated to serving disenfranchised populations in the New York City metropolitan area.
Community Playback Theatre
Contact
Judy Swallow
New Paltz, NY
Phone: 845-255-5613
eMail
judyswallow@verizon.net
Community Playback Theatre has performed monthly in our permanent home
on the original Moreno Stage for over 20 years. Aside from contract performances
for agencies and groups, these community gatherings encourage audience members to
return and share stories of their lives as they evolve, as well as attend our
monthly open rehearsals (jams) and even act in the "audience up" segment of
our performance. We welcome visitors whenever you are passing through or
studying at the playback school. We relish being part of the playback community.
As a multicultural company we use Playback Theatre as a tool for community building,
education and social change. We provide affordable performances for the public and those
who lack resources. We strive to be a community resource and share our artistic skills.
We strive to empower communities and individuals by providing a forum for stories to be
shared, heard and honored. We will maintain a high level of artistic quality and integrity.
Contact
Debe Edden
Olympia, WA
Phone: 360 943 6772
eMail debek@olywa.net
As a multicultural company we use Playback Theatre as a tool for community building,
education and social change. We provide affordable performances for the public and those
who lack resources. We strive to be a community resource and share our artistic skills.
We strive to empower communities and individuals by providing a forum for stories to be
shared, heard and honored. We will maintain a high level of artistic quality and integrity.
Contact
Jo Salas
New Paltz, NY
Phone: 845 255 7716
eMail info@hudsonriverplayback.org
The mission of Hudson River Playback Theatre is to honor and illuminate the lives of individuals and
communities by using improvisational theatre, music, and movement to enact their personal stories.
Together with our audiences, we bear witness to differences among people as well as to the
universality of human experience, thereby furthering communication, social awareness, and our inherent connection.
Contact
Armand Volkas / Christine Kalb
4000 Broadway, Suite 4, Oakland, CA 94611
Phone: 510-527-5577
eMail avolkas@aol.com
The Living Arts Playback Theatre Ensemble is a non-profit group that produces performances, workshops,
and events for personal, professional, and organizational growth. Created under the direction of Armand
Volkas, RDT, the company has established itself as a local and national resource for transformation,
performing for schools, hospitals, community celebrations, professional conferences, jails, corporations
and for the general public. The Living Arts Playback Theatre Ensemble is approaching its 20th anniversary.
Contact
Leilani Rashida Henry
Pine, CO
Phone: 303-838-3818
eMail lrh@beingandliving.com
National Ensemble Playback Theatre is a group of highly skilled artists that demonstrate the rapid rapport,
cohesion and synergy essential to building collective intelligence. We take improvisation to new heights by constantly
rotating in new players, with whom we have never worked. This requires us to practice our values and demonstrate how
most communities function…with unexpected new members and situations. We recruit actors and musicians from local
areas when we are hired for conferences and events around the USA or world. Our rapid rapport is facilitated by
Educational Kinesiology. National Ensemble Playback Theater, founded by Leilani Rashida Henry, uses interactive
forms of non-scripted theater which brings feelings, thoughts and stories to life. This model deepens,
accelerates and enhances the process of dialogue. The result is transformation, shared vision and new
possibilities. Our work has dissolved conflicts, built trust, supported new learning and heightened commitment.
Contact
Anne-Liese Fox
New Orleans, LA
Phone: 504-258-0335
eMail afox@nolaplayback.org
NOLA Playback Theatre was formed a few months following the devastation caused by the levee failures
during Hurricane Katrina. It is an ensemble of experienced artists, educators, social workers, and community
activists dedicated to the restoration and revitalization of our community and the affirmation of our multi-
faceted culture. Through the sharing and enactment of our experiences, we strive to heighten collaboration,
optimize diversity, build bridges over conflict, and envision together the hopes and possibilities before us.
Our Artistic Aims: Nola Playback Theater believes that in order for the rebuilding effort to be successful,
all voices must be heard. To help accomplish this goal, we are a multiracial, intergenerational company of
performers with diverse backgrounds in the arts, social work, education, and activism. Physical and vocal
training is a core part of our rehearsal process. We continue to build our ensemble, collaborators, and partners.
Contact
Nan Crawford
4104 24th St. #777, San Francisco, CA 94114
Phone: 415-282-8558
eMail nan@pacificplayback.com
Pacific Playback Theatre performs for organizations and events, helping our audiences
honor diverse perspectives and discover common ground.
Contact
John Stevenson
Nassau, NY
Phone: 518 766 2039
eMail ithacan@earthlink.net
Playback as a form of theater was developed in 1975 in the Mid-Hudson Valley of New
York by Jonathan Fox, and is currently represented by hundreds of companies and individuals spread
over more than 25 countries around the world. The Pentimento Playback group, which takes its name
from a term describing the "bleed-through" effects produced on an artist's canvas when one image
is painted over another, sprang out of a series of workshops sponsored by the Circle Theatre Players
conducted by social worker Lori Barraco Smith. The group began public performances in 1992 in Averill
Park. Since then, Pentimento Playback has performed in a wide variety of public and private venues.
The current company is comprised of a mix of actors and storytellers whose day jobs range from
state workers to educators, artists, health care and human service workers. Working together
over a long period of time, the group has developed a certain sensibility to one another that
allows them to pull off their brand of spontaneous theatre with entertaining results.
Contact
Roni Ostfield
Pittsburgh, PA
Phone: 412 521 0444
eMail
ronidolphin@aol.com
Pittsburgh Playback Theatre.
We love what we do and do what we love and we're proud to be a part of IPTN.
Contact
Sarah Halley, Pamela Freeman
Philadelphia, PA
Phone: 215-844-7566
eMail pfree12334@aol.com,
sarahhalley@gmail.com
Playback For Change,
located in Philadelphia, PA, is a multi-racial improvisational theatre company dedicated to using Playback
Theatre as a vehicle for social change. Our mission is to provide performances and workshops for communities,
schools, non-profits and organizations, using Playback Theatre to help individuals and groups gain insight,
understanding, and skills to create more just and inclusive communities.
Playback Theatre of Buffalo
Contact
Anna Kay France
Buffalo, NY
Phone: 716 882 9252
eMail france@buffalo.edu
Contact
Paul McIsaac
New York, NY
Phone: 212 262-1290
eMail paulmcisaac@rcn.com
Contact
Deb Witzel
Longmont, CO
Phone: 303-682-9774
eMail debwit@indra.com
Since 1988, Playback Theatre West has employed professional quality stage craft,
a deep compassion for human experience and love for Playback Theatre to offer
regular public performances and service to organizations.
Contact
Sara R. Cutler
5113 Stonehaven Drive, Madison, WI 53716
Phone: 608-224-0646
eMail sarajose@earthlink.net
Wisconsin's first playback theatre company, Playback Wisconsin, rehearses 2-3 times per month.
We believe that by sharing our human stories we seek to find our differences and commonalities. We
Acknowledge that both make our lives richer and create understanding. We perform for a variety of organizations throughout Wisconsin including: schools, churches, community groups, libraries, youth
organizations and families. We come together to rehearse to share in our own connections and we
believe by listening to one another we build a larger sense of community.
Contact
David La Graffe
Portland, Maine
Phone: 207 799 3489
eMail dlagraf1@maine.rr.com
We are performing in Portland, Maine, at the UU church on the 1st Friday of each month.
Contact
Paula Patterson
Gainesville, FL
Phone: 352 336 6485
eMail swampmail@aol.com
The Shands Reflections have been working with hospitalized patients, their families and the staff of The Shands Hospital at the University of Florida.
Contact
Claire Decoster
PO Box 6196, Minneapolis, MN 55104
Phone: 651-917-1976
eMail cpdecoster@hotmail.com
River's Edge Playback Theatre is located in Minnesota, a midwestern state in the U.S.
We were founded in 2000. We are now doing community performances and are associated with a social
service agency as part of an action methods practice group. We are exploring ways to apply Playback,
mask work, and other experiential educational forms to the community work the agency does.
We work in residential housing complexes, schools, spiritual communities and other places
where families and community members come together. Be well and stay in touch!
Contact
Mizuho Kanazawa
New York, NY
Phone: 718 637 4849
eMail miho@dramaforhealing.com
Sakura
Playback Theater Company believes in the power of theater for story telling, community building, social change, and peace making.
San Diego Playback Theatre
Contact
April Durrett
San Diego, CA
Phone: 619 298 1207
eMail adurrett@cox.net,
sdwriter@mac.com
San Diego Playback Theatre offers both public performances in intimate theater spaces and private performances within the community.
Contact
Deborah Zavos
Kensington, MD
Phone: 301-530-4864
eMail ShemaMa@att.net
Contact
Kimberly Rattley
1900 Lyttonsville Road, Suite 1118, Silver Spring, MD 20910
Phone: 301-585-0906 Fax: 202-379-9833
eMail kimberly@csynergysolutions.com
Synergy in Action is a playback theatre company located in Washington, DC. We are a diverse group of artists
committed to building healthy communities one story at a time.
Visit us on youtube.com (enter "Synergy in Action")
Contact
James Lucal
Seattle, WA
Phone: 206-227-3129
eMail lucalj@comcast.net
Threshold Ensemble is a group of performing artists committed to enacting personal
story in the service of community and organizational needs.
Contact
Christopher Ellinger
Arlington, MA
Phone: 781 646 1705
eMail christopher@truestorytheater.org
The mission of True Story Theater is to promote community development and social healing by listening deeply
to people's stories and transforming them spontaneously into theatre. True Story Theater offers audiences
fresh perspectives, deeper connections, and a renewed appreciation for our common humanity. Our events
create a respectful atmosphere where every voice can be heard and any story told - however ordinary or
extraordinary, difficult or joyful.
Contact
Charles Schnarr
Tucson, AZ
Phone: 520-327-9078
eMail director@communityspark.org
Our mission is to celebrate and honor personal stories using improvisational theatre in order to create a deeper sense of community.
We offer the opportunity for individual voices to be heard and seen creatively.
Contact
Jen Kristel
Burlington, VT
Phone: 802-658-2727
eMail vtplayback@hotmail.com
Please visit our website at for upcoming schedules and performances.
Village Playback Theatre
Contact
Randy Mulder
Yonkers, New York
Phone: 914-912-5515
eMail villageplaybacktheatre@verizon.net
Village Playback Theatre strives to elicit and enact the stories of individuals and groups who are often underserved and socially underrepresented to build community throughout metro New York. VPT is comprised of professional actors, musicians, and healthcare practitioners. We provide performances, workshops, and training in the private and public sector, for communities and at professional conferences throughout the Northeast.