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Sanctuary Stage

Staging the Stories Around Us


Welcome to Sanctuary Stage, a community outreach program and nonprofit theatre company. Our projects focus on creating original plays through Devised, Applied and Community Engaged Playmaking methodologies. We strive to promote diversity, social justice and awareness with and among marginalized communities.

We have moved from Oregon and are now based in Stephenville, Texas. We are looking forward in continuing our work within the Lone Star State.

Current Project

A socially engaged project involving the LGBTQ+ community and drag kings in Texas. This project highlights the vibrant and evolving drag king culture in Texas, capturing personal narratives and performances that challenge traditional gender norms while amplifying queer voices in the state’s unique sociopolitical climate. In-depth interviews and story circles with drag kings from various Texas cities—such as Austin, Houston, Dallas, and Fort Worth—focusing on their experiences as performers and members of the LGBTQ+ community. Participants share their journeys in finding drag as an outlet for self-expression, their artistic influences, and the challenges they face, such as navigating the often conservative Southern landscape and carving out spaces for inclusivity and queer representation.
Congratulations to our co-founder, Daniel Stone, for recieving the Mid-American Arts Allaiance, Interchange Fellowship. This grant is funded by The Mellon Foundation and is intended to be used to support our Socially Enageged Participatory Theatre-making work here in Texas.
https://www.maaa.org/news/interchange-announces-2024-grantees/
We are excited to be featured in a newly released book entitled Artists Activating Sustainability, The Oregon Story by Barbara Sellers-Young PhD. Within the publication, Dr. Sellers-Young has featured our work with communities and covers our productions of Un Carol de Independence, Peace Be Upon You and Tango Mike.

We want to thank Dr. Sellers-Young for her generous coverage.
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Artist rendering of what the community of Stephenville Texas witnessed in January of 2008.
LIGHTS OVER STEPHENVILLE
Lights Over Stephenville is a community collaboration in the creation of a stage play revelving around one of the largest mass UFO sightings in the United States. On a cold January night in 2008 nearly 300 people in the rural community of Stephenville Texas winessed what appeard to be a giant craft hovering over the small Texas town. This play is bringing together people from all over Erath county and surrounding communities to share their experiences  This play runs April 9-13 in Stephenville at Tarleton State University.

This play is our first in a series of plays within our ZERO KILOMETER THEATRE initiative. This series of plays have no real social change aspect other than creating theatre about the stories, mythologies and lore within the communities in which we reside.
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