About Us
Rising Sun Theatre was created in 2004 to provide opportunities for cognitively disabled people to practice the art of theatre. Our ensemble of emerging actors is committed to mastering a range of theatre skills with guidance from professional theatre facilitators and community support workers. We collectively create and publicly present original performance material which reflects the voices, stories, and imaginations of our actors.
Our Mandate and Mission
We believe that cognitively disabled people deserve access to professionally delivered arts programming that nurtures the innate creativity and artistic potential shared by all people. Our commitment to the ongoing artistic development of our actors empowers them to express themselves dramatically and share their experiences with the wider community. We believe our work has the potential to transform our actors into innovative creators and accomplished performers, and our audience members into engaged community supporters.
Our mission is to:
- Provide our actors with high quality professional instruction and facilitation
- Increase and strengthen skills in improvisation, acting, storytelling, movement, music, and collective creation in our actors
- Portray, through theatre, the specific experiences of our actors and the essential human experiences all people share
- Create work of high artistic quality that engages and entertains audiences
- Develop confidence, pride, self-discipline, communication and negotiation skills, creativity and self-expression in our actors
- Break down barriers and stereotypes and raise awareness of issues affecting disabled people in society
- Integrate the community-at-large as participants, volunteers, sponsors, advocates and supporters
- Build partnerships and interaction with local artists, arts organizations, and disability agencies
Purpose
Rising Sun Theatre creates opportunities for adults with intellectual disabilities, facilitated by theatre professionals, to collaboratively create and perform their original plays for the public. We connect with the community by portraying the experiences and imaginative creations of our troupe members. We share essential experiences that audiences relate to on a human level. We also aim to entertain and have fun!
Values
We believe in the innate artistic creativity of all people, including persons who are disabled. We believe that all people have feelings, ideas and dreams that they have the right to express. We believe in the value of breaking down stereotypes, fears and barriers between persons labelled as disabled and the larger community. We believe in the capacity of art to break down those barriers and in the ability of theatre arts to transform both artists and audiences in positive and extraordinary ways. We see abilities, not disabilities