Mission: Dedicated to providing opportunities for members of underserved communities to tell their stories through the medium of theatre and to providing classical and contemporary theatre experiences that reflect and illuminate the human condition.
Background: TheatreWorkers Project (TWP) was conceived in 1983 by Susan Franklin Tanner. Funded by a grant from the California Arts Council and sponsored by the Steelworkers Oldtimers Foundation, the Project was housed in the Steelworkers Local 1845 Union Hall which had been repurposed as a food bank and community center after the closure of Bethlehem Steel in Vernon, California. Over time, the work focused on Tanner’s collaborations with college students and young people which led to the creation of performance pieces about cultural diversity, personal identity, labor history, human rights, 9-11, and the Patriot Act. In 2016, Tanner received a California Arts Council (CAC) Artists in Communities grant to work with formerly incarcerated men through a partnership with Friends Outside in Los Angeles County at Dad’s Back! Academy. In collaboration with multiple TWP teaching artists, Tanner established the Moving Forward program with a CAC Reentry Through the Arts grant and continues to work with Dad’s Back!