Leadership: Artistic Director - Amy Taravella; Executive Director - Lou Taravella
About Alt Theatre & New Alt Performance Group
The Alt Theatre affectionately known to our city as Buffalo’s Alt, houses the NEW ALT PERFORMANCE GROUP. The theatre is an intimately comfortable haven where one can witness courageous and honest creation in theatre, dance, music, poetry, media and film. An audience is often harmoniously divided into two types of witnesses; each providing vital feedback to the theatre and its production. The first type responds to the intimate setting assuming the role of the expectant, potentially intimidating, witness. These eager audiences help instill an ownership and responsibility to each player and ensure consistent peak performance. The second half consists of those deeply empathetic witnesses who seem to be aware, at least on a subconscious level, of receiving the rare gift intimate performance. The latter response seems to be fueled by an intense fusion performer to audience, human to human, making profound links via empathy and universal sensitivity. These timeless wonders of theatre are sometimes missing in today’s world of virtual relationships and entertainment. The Alt honors our contemporary culture which offers amazing technology and the experimental fast track. It also recognizes its most important mission to advocate human contact within theatre. This is the gathering of people and the resultant community within the theatre’s “real space.”
Mission
The NEW ALT PERFORMANCE GROUP is a vehicle for articulating and extending performance art. The GROUP exists to provide the space, theatrical resources and artistic guidance for 21st century artists to excel in producing art with intrinsic value to our nation and world even if their work is not yet valued monetarily. The Group seeks public support and sponsorship to provide these artists with an alternative to commercial work. With support these dedicated artists can complete the journey of the less traveled path and fulfill their creative destiny in contemporary art making. The group rests upon a fundamental belief that the contemporary art landscape recycles itself through the creation of genuine artists. This panorama, although the source of aesthetic discourse and documentation, is a fortuitous accident. The artist must be permitted complete freedom to create, refine and discover his/her true voice without the distraction of outside commercial standards or mainstream aesthetic ideals. Art made through a pioneering journey like this will enrich society, achieve excellence and transcend the mundane. Brilliant, driven and passionate artists’, who may be under-funded, find a home at The Alt Theatre.
The Alt Theatre created by Amy and Lou Taravella strives to support itself in the manner of a small family business with an artistically grand service mission. We pride ourselves upon our consistent presentation of the highest caliber artistic expression possible.