THE CHANCE THEATER

Chance Theater is a non-profit theater company that produces a Main series of plays and musicals on two stages; a season of Theatre for Young Audiences; a new works program that includes commissions and the work of nationally recognized playwrights; and an outreach program that empowers at-risk teens, students on the Spectrum, and veterans to share their voices. Our Bette Aitken theater arts Center includes a 150-seat flexible blackbox and a 50-seat proscenium theater.

For Main season shows, we invite patrons to stay after each performance to have a dialogue with the artists and relevant experts. For example, during the run of Fun Home -- the achingly beautiful story of Alison Bechdel’s journey as an LGBTQ writer, artist, and activist -- we held post-show discussions with Jennifer Terry (Professor, Gender and Sexuality Studies, UCI); Chandelle Loop (LGBTQ Center OC); and Porter Gilberg (LGBTQ Center Long Beach).

In 2016, we became the sole Orange County theater to receive the prestigious National Theatre Company grant from the American Theatre Wing for “nurturing a community of artists in ways that strengthen and demonstrate the quality, diversity, and dynamism of American theatre.” Plus, we are one of few theaters outside of LA County to win an Ovation Award, taking home seven (including three for Best Production). We’ve also won four Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards (including Outstanding Season), multiple awards from the Orange County Theatre Guild, and are regularly recognized by theatre critics in their annual Top Ten Lists.

Our On The Radar (OTR) New Works Program consists of new script readings, playwright residencies, and commissions that are all geared towards the creation of diverse new stories by emerging playwrights. OTR creates a long-term commitment to our playwrights, offering them access to a community of artists and audiences, and the freedom to explore.

Our Theater for Young Audience Series entails professional actors performing in 2-3 plays or musicals annually designed to foster educational and emotional growth in young people. Each production includes at least one Relaxed Performance designed to welcome people with an Autism Spectrum Condition, sensory and communication disorders, or a learning disability.

Established in 2005 our Speak Up programs help at-risk teens, students on the spectrum, and veterans to find empowerment through the discovery of their own unique voice and story. Using traditional ensemble-building techniques, improvisation, playwriting exercises, and public performances, these “silent” members of our community have the opportunity to speak, so that we have the opportunity to listen.

There’s a reason that Chance Theater is the “resident theater company” of Anaheim. Yes, we are a group of artists who have been telling stories for 22 years, but we also strive to have our audiences, artists and students invest in the community that theater can create and connect to us not only as a venue for storytelling, but as a local institution and contributor to our community here in Orange County, throughout California, and nationally.

Working on behalf of our conviction that the performing arts are an essential public good, critical to a healthy and truly democratic society, and invaluable as a source of personal enrichment and growth, we produce socially conscious, intimate theater experiences to provoke dialogue and motivate our patrons to stay after each performance to explore the human experience and build empathy along with our artists and their fellow neighbors.
We strive to embrace the uniqueness of live theater and create experiences that can’t be found with TV, film, or an iPad and engage our patrons throughout the artistic process. We “think outside the proscenium” and transform the Chance’s main performance space -- the Cripe Stage -- whenever the artistic team wishes to change the audience perspective. We believe this shift in seating not only allows audiences to connect to the story; to our artists; and to each other in different ways, it also inspires a sense of anticipation and a promise of a communal experience.

We have kept our audiences engaged with high caliber experiences that have been recognized numerous times by the Ovation Awards, Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle, Los Angeles Times, GLAAD Media Awards, Back Stage, OC Weekly, Arts Orange County, and many more press outlets and art institutions. We also take our art beyond the walls of the Chance and into the larger SoCal community, having remounted productions at South Coast Repertory, Segerstrom Center, Getty Museum, among others. We work with the City of Anaheim on special events that raise awareness of the arts. We support local service organizations through participating in fundraisers with ticket donations or presenting/performing at local meetings. We partner with community groups such as Arts OC, Veterans Outreach OC, Mercy House, and Center OC to ensure that our stories have the most impact by reaching groups that will be the most affected, and who want to talk about the themes in our shows the most.