Today we’d like to introduce you to Alice L Walker.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Alice. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I started out a pro ballet dancer in Chicago and after a tour, found myself drawn to theater and writing. I actually started out writing rap music at first, which was an extension of musical theater as it turned out. So to get an understanding of acting technique, I first explored plays and improv through Piven Theater Workshop.
Chicago is such a wonderful place artistically. There is less pressure on artists to use art as commerce and so there is a lot of experimentation and entrepreneurship in creating original work. The focus on collaboration for the sake of making something new, or something challenging is very pure there and so I have always felt it important to hold onto that sort of integrity.
Coming to LA, I was very interested from the getgo in creating ways to employ other artists through films, live stage productions of dance, musicals or plays and to tell stories I am deeply moved by. The creation of Thursday Night Theater Club was born out of an interest in activism and community building. LA is sprawling but packed with so many points of view and with passionate artists who have something to say through their work.
My partner Tom Vitorino and I recently opened the first play of our inaugural season, Arthur Miller’s A View From The Bridge. Our goal was to create an experience where the audience feels as if they are on the street in Brooklyn hearing the story firsthand and watching it play out. We focus on honoring the writer by keeping the show grounded and un-stagy. It is upsetting to watch but people have come back four and five times which is very exciting for us.
Our season of shows includes plays about Sandy Hook, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, women’s rights, mental health, and human trafficking. Each show raises money for the issue it involves and so our current show is donating a portion of ticket sales to the LA Justice Fund which gives legal representation to immigrants facing deportation.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
It has never been a smooth road, not when I was a kid dancing and not now either. I try to turn the challenges into something useable for the work, to get better at everything I’m doing and build more resilience.
Some of the challenges are internal and so there is this beautiful thing I’ve learned to do where I meet that challenge and make something out of it for the role I’m playing or for a color I choose for a set or costume.
It’s quite serendipitous and rewarding- especially when in the work you can feel myself shifting or my perspective widening. It’s the best work we can do.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Thursday Night Theater Club story. Tell us more about the business.
Thursday Night Theater Club performs morality plays on Thursday Nights at El Portal Theater. We use theater as activism to create awareness and community through conversation and empathy.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
I don’t really see luck. I see opportunity meets hard work, preparation and a willingness to throw one’s self into the unknown and be ready for anything… success or failure.
Pricing:
- Tickets to Thursday Night Theater Club are affordable at 25$ or less.
Contact Info:
- Website: Www.thursdaynighttheaterclub.com
- Phone: 3108062101
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: @TNtheaterclub
- Facebook: @TNtheaterclub
- Twitter: @TNtheaterclub
Image Credit:
Rick Sorkin, Tom Vitorino, Ethan Mickael, Jack Menzies, Zack Sayenko, Julisa Gonzalez, Mark Morante, Jeremy Falla
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