Grammy Award winner Macy Gray performed at the Manship Theatre in July 2012. Images courtesy Manship Theatre
Since opening its doors in 2005, the Manship Theatre’s influence has spread far beyond its physical location downtown between Third and Lafayette streets.
The venue has consistently delivered a diverse crop of world-class talent to the Capital City. While the theater has enjoyed success in show business terms, it’s what its presence has brought to so many in Baton Rouge that is perhaps more deserving of attention.
It has developed educational and outreach programs that have served upward of 50,000 local individuals and artists and bound them together through the common threads of culture and creativity.
The theater also works on local and regional levels to preserve Louisiana heritage. By fostering an entourage of working artists in residence, it has been able to use the arts as a force to enrich the lives of Baton Rouge residents without regard for race, gender or income.
Through the relatively new EBR Arts Partnership, the Manship has worked with more than 50 area elementary and middle schools and reached 1,000 students in more than 200 classes. The Manship Student Advisory Board brings exceptional high school students from disparate neighborhoods and schools together, where they can bond over a common love of art and learn the ropes of performance art, charity organizing and arts administration.
Folk rock musician Roger McGuinn of The Byrds performed in August 2012.
“High school kids have a lot to say and so much energy and these budding leadership qualities. It’s a great place to start cultivating an audience for the arts,” executive director Renee Chatelain says.
Along these same lines, the theater also invests in youth programming like Kids Club, where students can watch performances, enjoying a healthy snack and enrichment activities before shows.
The hiring of teaching artists from different creative mediums benefits not only students, it serves as a support network for talented local artists who can find new audiences and supplement their income. That in turn helps Baton Rouge retain vital cultural capital and maintain what Chatelain calls “the quotient of cool,” the glue without which a thriving arts community would be impossible.
The theater also strives to help others, distributing about 5,000 performance tickets per year to Baton Rouge children and adults in need. The Arts as Therapy program connects artists, both fledgling and professional, with patients at area hospitals and adolescents at juvenile detention centers to harness the healing powers of creative expression.
Dance Speaks is one of Manship’s newest and most ambitious programs. Last year the program began raising funds to send HIV-positive youth to a camp tailored to help them meet and connect with others diagnosed with the disease and to use the arts as a basis for improving their quality of life.
In addition to the community programs, the Manship has never failed to bring the showstoppers to town. The theater has lured a lion’s share of world culture and talent to Baton Rouge and presented it in an accessible way for locals, including nationally celebrated singers, live Broadway productions, print and sculpture artists, foreign art-house films, flamenco dance troupes, and even full-capacity crowds for Seinfeld and Friends trivia nights.
Years of booking legwork to secure artists like world-renowned tap dancer Savion Glover and gospel/soul matriarch Mavis Staples have just begun to pay off. Chatelain says it is easy to keep in touch with artists once they visit Baton Rouge and experience the space. Both Glover and Staples will be returning for encore performances in the near future.
Funk-soul rockers George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic performed in September 2011.
A few other favorite performances of Chatelain’s over the last 10 years have included comedian Martin Short, Olympia Dukakis, film director John Waters, and Wanda Jackson, the original queen of rock ’n’ roll, who joined worldwide pop phenom Adele on tour following her Manship performance.
Chatelain and her staff understand the needs of the individuals and communities they serve because they themselves grew up in these neighborhoods and creative circles.
“I can’t say enough about our team here. They are all artists from different mediums and perspectives, and each brings their own talents and experience to the table. This enables us to collectively refine our crazy ideas and come up with some pretty impactful programs,” she says.
For her, it’s all about the arts being accessible—the idea of bringing like-minded individuals together to a central location where they can practice, perform and share their art with others instead of participating alone or on the fringes of the community. It is exciting to think about what the organization has brought to Baton Rouge over 10 years and what it is poised to accomplish in the next 10.
Anniversary Gala: The Manship Theatre will celebrate its 10th anniversary with a red carpet gala March 5 featuring music from ’80s rock band Loverboy. The venue will also host several film screenings during the month to mark the anniversary. manshiptheatre.org
