Mission:
Dobama Theatre's mission is to premiere the best contemporary plays by established and emerging playwrights in professional productions of the highest quality.
Through educational and outreach programming, Dobama Theatre nurtures the developement of theatre artists and builds new audiences for the arts while provoking an examination of our contemporary world.
History:
Dobama Theatre was founded in 1959 by Donald and Marilyn Bianchi, Barry Silverman and Mark Silverberg. During those years, Dobama produced work on Coventry Road. and worked consistently to professionally produce plays of consequence not previously offered at other area theaters with a company of trained theatre artists. After over 30 years of creating great theatre, Ron Newell and Joyce Casey took the reins from Don Bianchi and continued Dobama’s important mission to bring important new plays to the region. In 1994, under the leadership of Joyce Casey, Dobama hired its first Equity actor for a production of Donald Margulies’ SIGHT UNSEEN. Joyce helped guide the theatre through a time when Dobama was without a permanent home that began in May 2005 after the theatre left the Coventry Road space. This nomadic era culminated in 2008 with a highly successful co-production with Karamu House of the musical CAROLINE, OR CHANGE. Upon Joyce’s retirement, Joel Hammer and Dianne Boduszek took over as Artistic and Managing Director, respectively. Their work together launched Dobama's permanent residence in the beautiful current spaces in the Heights Library facility on Lee Road. In 2013, Nathan Motta was appointed Artistic Director and Julie Friedman (after many years of service on the Dobama staff) was made Managing Director, positions that both still hold today.
