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The age-old question of the value of the arts is one that continues to make headlines. But for Bill Rauch, co-founder of the Cornerstone Theater, the question was answered long ago. "I really do believe that art does create social change. Some art may affirm existing social values while some questions those values and holds up others."
More directly than most theaters, the Cornerstone Theater sets about to use performance as a tool for social questioning and change. Working with communities as partners, the theater company enables residents to experience art as a venue for social change first hand. Communities around the country have taken part in dramatic performances based on a community issue. From Los Angeles, where the company is now based, to New Haven, Connecticut and Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, the theater company has been using performance to bring communities together and change attitudes.
Take Port Gibson, Mississippi, as an example. Port Gibson was a community of 2,000 people when the Cornerstone company arrived to put on a bi-racial performance of Romeo and Juliet. "It was a very big event in the life of the community," Rauch explains. "It was the first time black and white residents sat down together in the main downstairs section of the theater."
After the Cornerstone company left, the community put on another biracial play but change seemed to stall and die afterward. "We thought we had failed," says Rauch. But he found out later from residents that the community performance had made a lasting change. When Port Gibson participated in "Main Street USA," a federal program designed to revitalize small towns, it had the most racially integrated board of any town participating. Board members credited the Cornerstone performance for that integration.
And that is exactly the kind of impact Rauch and his co-founder Alison Carey (currently Cornerstone's resident playwright) envisioned when they, along with a group of friends, started the theater after graduating from college. "We had heard a statistic that only 2 percent of people went to professional theater and we wanted to change that." For the first five years, Rauch says, the company traveled to small towns all over the country before making Los Angeles its home base 10 years ago. "We still take on out-of-state projects once a year, usually as commissions from local theaters."
With an established base, the theater continues its emphasis on building community but now works with local groups. "Right now we're working with communities of faith," says Rauch. "The national attention to the President's faith-based initiative and the effect of September 11 have made the need for what we're doing even more urgent." The company works in cycles-in this case, with faith communities-that builds toward a bridge show. "We are currently working with Catholic immigrants from different countries creating short plays about their immigration experiences. We'll be working with Muslim immigrants in the fall. Ultimately, we'll produce a bridge show that involves all of the groups."
Whether they are working with groups in Los Angeles or in some other part of the country, the way they work is the same, says Rauch. "We get to know the community we are working with. The ultimate performance is a collaboration between the company and the community." The company, including a playwright, works with members of the community to decide on an issue and then to decide on a play, which may be an adaptation of an existing play or an original work. "It can take as long as a year to develop the play," Rauch explains.
Once the play is ready, members of the community perform with members of the company. The company works with community residents to publicize the performance and to ensure that all who want to attend a performance can.
Ultimately, what Cornerstone Theater does is centered in the concept of shared leadership that can lead to change. Rauch sees Cornerstone as an optimistic venture. "There's a lot for people today to be scared of but what we do, especially in our current work with faith-based communities, is about people coming together and working together. That gives me hope."
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