The Company    Roadside Theater is a community-based, professional, ensemble theater located in the heart of the Appalachian Mountain coal country of southwest Virginia and east Kentucky. Since 1975, it has been writing, producing, and touring original plays drawn from the rich history and culture of its mountain home.    Roadside's performers and writers, all rooted in the Central Appalachian region, have called upon their traditions to develop a theatrical form that combines a natural storytelling style with acting and music. This kind of theater allows Roadside to speak to its audience in a forthright and intimate manner.    In the past 20 years, the ensemble has performed an average of 200 times a year, has toured to 43 states, has been in residence a number of times off-Broadway in New York City, and has represented the United States at international theater festivals in Sweden, Denmark, the Czech Republic, and London. Through its work, Roadside hopes to help strengthen cultural resources at home and in the communities it visits.

		Getting Out the Audience    Roadside Theater spends a lot of time working with presenters and community partners to produce residencies and performances that reach a broad audience. Without exception, Roadside provides presenters with telephone and in-person planning sessions, promotional materials uniquely designed to reach a new audience, and booklets explaining its residency process and activities.

		Residencies    Roadside's plays are a central part of residencies both within and outside the region. The company conducts community-building artistic residencies based on partnerships with a variety of community organizations and institutions.    Residencies explore and celebrate local life through performances, artistic workshops, issue-based forums, oral history collection projects, and original community plays, and often culminate with a community story and music event, the presentation of a community-created play, or a festival featuring local artists. Many such residencies take place over a period of several years and many involve cross-racial exchange and collaboration.

		Key Collaborators Western & Southern Arts Associates and The Artist and Community Connection     For the past 10 years, Michael and Theresa Holden, co-directors of Western and Southern Arts Associates (WASAA), have collaborated with Roadside on all of our national touring residencies. Their role is much larger than that of booking agent; they are always co-producers with us of our national work--and sometimes the sole producer.     Roadside also works with the Artist and Community Connection (ACC), the nonprofit producing organization founded three years ago by Theresa Holden. Through a range of national projects with artists, presenters, and community organizations, ACC is continuing to bring definition to the role of producer as cultural activist and organizer.

		Appalshop    Roadside Theater is one part of Appalshop, a nonprofit cultural arts organization that also includes the Appalshop Center, American Festival Project, Appalshop Film and Video, Appalachian Media Institute, Headwaters Television, Appalshop Marketing and Sales, June Appal Recordings, and WMMT-FM Community Radio. Appalshop's Endowment Campaign     Appalshop has embarked on a fundraising campaign to increase its permanent endowment, the Production and Education Fund, by at least $1 million. The three-year campaign is supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Challenge Grant. The fund, established in 1991, provides a reliable and sustainable source of support for Appalshop's activities in theater, film and video, radio, education, cross-cultural exchange and collaboration, and presenting.     The fund accepts contributions of cash, bequests, and securities. All contributions are tax deductible. For more information call Cassandra Shumate at (606) 633-0108.

		Funding Partners    Roadside Theater receives major funding from the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Theaters for New Audiences Program. Roadside also receives major funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Ruth Mott Fund, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Appalshop Production and Education Fund, the Kentucky Arts Council, and Alternate ROOTS. Roadside is a founding member of Alternate ROOTS, the American Festival Project, and the Global Network for Cultural Rights.

		Contact Information: Roadside Theater 306 Madison Street, Whitesburg, KY 41858 Phone (606) 633-0108 FAX (606) 633-1009 E-mail RoadsideTh@aol.com Performance Fee Subsidies Available to Presenters from: Western States Arts Foundation North Carolina Arts Council Mid-Atlantic Arts Consortium Southern Arts Federation Alternate ROOTS Arts Midwest

		FundingRoadside Theater Staff Dudley Cocke Director Donna Porterfield Managing Director Tamara Coffey Administrative and Producing Associate Valeria Ison Office Manager Tommy Bledsoe Performer, Musician Kim Neal Performer Ron Short Playwright, Composer, Performer Ben Mays Technical Director