After 14 full Main Stage productions, hundreds of roles and jobs for cast and crew members, and dozens of partnerships with community support organizations since 2015, we regret to announce that Uprising Theatre Company will cease its operations and perform no more.
After 14 full Main Stage productions, hundreds of roles and jobs for cast and crew members, and dozens of partnerships with community support organizations since 2015, we regret to announce that Uprising Theatre Company will cease its operations and perform no more.
We want to express our deepest gratitude to everyone who has supported Uprising Theatre Company over our six years of presenting “stories that change the world.” Thank you to everyone who believed in our mission of producing theatrical shows and providing artistic opportunities for trans and gender nonconforming actors, playwrights, and technicians.
Although Uprising’s work is finished, the essential work of centering the voices of talented trans and nonbinary artists continues. Our Founder and Artistic Director Shannon TL Kearns has devoted his life to supporting the community of transgender and gender nonconforming people artistically and spiritually. His work will continue through other creative projects, and his active advocacy for inclusion of marginalized voices in the arts remains central to his life’s work.
We ask you to keep pushing too. To keep supporting organizations who are championing this cause. To never stop advocating for human rights. To keep telling stories that change the world.
“Uprising Theatre has been a true gift while building my early directing career in Minnesota. When I first met the artistic director and fellow artists at the company, I knew that my life had changed forever. And that I finally found the “theatre family” I had been searching for. From the beginning, the company ensures that all artistic voices at the table are heard. To try, to fail. Their trustful support is what I wish every director could experience. Shannon guides and leads with expert precision. He is quick to support beautiful work while also challenging you for your work to be the very best it can be. It is because of Uprising Theatre that I have found an artistic home, with love and understanding at the forefront. They give to their artists and audience the greatest comfort in the world: that they are seen, heard, loved, and never alone.”
Stories to change the world
Our mission is to create possibility models for transgender youth and make sure that every youth has a supportive adult in their life. Using theatre to compel change and create empathy in cisgender adults, Uprising Theatre Company connects art to action. Through our work we increase access in theatre for transgender and nonbinary playwrights and artists.