Live Arts Theater

Powered by more than 1,200 volunteers, Live Arts is a national model for engaged community theater. For more than three decades, we’ve dedicated ourselves to “forging theater and community” in Charlottesville, Virginia. Our engagement in local communities runs deep, and the caliber of our volunteer-staged productions continues to astound audiences. We are the anchor tenant in a four-story performance space in the heart of downtown Charlottesville. We acknowledge that we occupy the ancestral home of the Monacan and Manahoac Nations and that we live on stolen land. In a typical year, we present a compelling season of mainstage plays and musicals. We welcome hundreds of people to our year-round education workshops and youth summer camps. We run a lab that helps local playwrights develop their work. And for nearly two decades, we have provided tech support to high school and college theater companies performing at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland. At the start of the pandemic, we pivoted our entire season to live but digital performances. In fall 2021, we returned to producing in-person theater, much to the delight of the community. Looking ahead, are announcing a transformational 2022/23 season in May. As a nonprofit theater, about half of our work is supported by earned income—mostly from ticket sales, tuition, and concessions. The other half is funded by contributed income—sponsorships, grants, individual gifts, and events. In a normal year, this formula works. In a COVID year, our earned income dropped to almost nothing, and we relied on the generosity of individuals, foundations, and businesses to forge ahead. Pandemic or not, we believe in lowering barriers to theater. That’s why most of our programming is available to community members on a pay-what-you-can basis. It’s our way of giving back and addressing the economic inequities in our community.