About Theater Ensemble Arts

Mission Statement

Theater Ensemble Arts seeks to provide affordable, quality multicultural live theatrical performances and to develop community interest, with emphasis on youth, in attending and participating in the creation and execution of these productions.

About San Juan County

There is a growing realization that the problems found in San Juan County must be addressed by developing human resources within the community itself. Developing talents and abilities in the performing arts as well as a culture of volunteerism in the community is a most positive response to the pressing needs caused by high rates of alcoholism, illiteracy, and unemployment in the county.

TEA, Inc. is addressing these community problems by offering opportunities for all residents to participate in theatrical productions in San Juan County in every possible capacity: acting, directing, staging, publicity, sales, admissions, ect.. Every effort is made to involve as many different persons in the various phases of theatrical production as possible, with no differentiation made in regard to age, sex, ethnicity, or financial capacity. TEA, Inc. is the only community based theater group in the county.

All of the county schools are invited to send students to appropriate performances at a special student rate; they are asked to provide students for participation in staging the productions to serve as "interns" in the various jobs of developing a productions; and of course, they are asked to audition for acting roles in the theatricals.

The entire San Juan County population is invited to participate in these theatrical productions through the local newspapers, radio and TV media, and through personal letters and contact with the schools and other community organizations (Kiwanis, Lions, Rotary, Chapter houses, Chambers of Commerce, churches, ect.). All of these organizations are asked for financial support, active participation in the productions and to be sources for ticket sales.

Artists participating in these productions are chosen in the normal manner, through auditions for the various acting roles. The entire county population is asked to seek these roles through "tryouts" which are announced through every possible media resource.

All of the 92,000+ residents of San Juan County are served by these theatrical productions as well as many others outside the county and State of New Mexico. Since this county is nestled in the Four Corners area, it is normal for residents of Colorado, Utah, and Arizona to be part of the audiences for artistic productions in San Juan County.

TEA History

Theater Ensemble Arts was founded in March of 1997 by a small group of actors and technicians who loved their craft and realized there was little opportunity in this remote area to practice it with any regularity. Although the San Juan College Theater Department and Sandstone Productions were an outlet, available roles and opportunities were often limited to college students, singers and dancers, or certain ethnic groups, leaving a vast majority of talented and/or interested folk unable to participate. The co-founders believed that the talent was readily available, as was the audience, when they considered the numbers that attended college productions and the Broadway shows at the Farmington Civic Center. Inquiry within the community supported this belief, particularly when some generous donations were made to launch the effort.

TEA was incorporated the following month and received 501 ( c )(3) non- profit status in September of 1997. It opened its first season that October and has been in operation ever since. Up until February of 2003, three full length productions were presented each year. We have also participated in two Theater New Mexico/AACT Fest competitions, winning the Critics' Choice Award both times, as well as placing as First Runner Up in the last competition.

The plays we present for your enjoyment are carefully chosen by a committee appointed by the President of the Board. Based on the Board's guidelines, at least a dozen are reviewed each year, most rejected because of language, subject matter, cast size, or the theater's limitations. Mysteries and comedies generally have taken precedence over dramas based on what our audiences have stated they prefer. As proud as we are of the professionalism exhibited in our productions, from sets to acting and everything in between, perhaps our greatest accomplishment over the years is the number of people, particularly our Young Artists (youth under the age of 18), that we've worked with, trained, and watched leave for colleges to participate in other theater programs. Because of the tremendous talent these young people have exhibited, we decided in starting in 2004 to go from our middle show being a full length play in which five performances were done by adults and two by our Young Artists, to doing two one-act plays, one performed by adults and one showcasing the Young Artists. This proved to be such a great success that it will be a part of all future playbills. Because of their children's participation, several sets of parents have also joined our TEA family. Never having worked on theatrical productions before, they are now actors, properties managers, costumers, back stage assistants, and sound technicians, not to mention set construction crew.

In addition to training people for our own productions, we have been honored by the community with their requests for our help and instruction. Props, set dressings and costumes are often lent out during the year for other productions done by San Juan College, Sandstone Productions, and various schools and church groups. We've also built sets for Sandstone and a few local schools. A workshop in set construction was created at the request of Pinion Hills Community Church so that they could learn to build their own sets. Piedra Vista JROTC has taken us on as a community service project and now helps us with our set construction.

Quality, family-oriented live theater performances at a reasonable price and as close to professional as possible given we are all amateurs, is what TEA represents. Audiences have grown over the years, season ticket sales have increased, and we are garnering the support of the community as shown by increased financial support. TEA strives to be a viable and valuable organization within the community it lives in and loves so well. We believe that the performing arts fills another quality of life need for residents of the area.

Our Work With AACT

Theater Ensemble Arts, Inc. is proud to be a member of the American Association of Community Theater (AACT), the Southwest Theater Association, and Theater New Mexico.

From March 19th through March 21st 1999, Theater Ensemble Arts served as the local participating community theater organization when San Juan College hosted the first statewide round of the International AACT/Fest 1999 festival, sponsored by Theater New Mexico. TEA was one of the companies entering into the competition with its production of Ken Cotterill's "Rhinoceros Hides."

Winners of the statewide competition advanced to the Regional level and performed at The Albuquerque Little Theater in from April 15th through the 18th. TEA received the Viewer‚s Choice Award and the Dilect Award for our dialect coach, Drew Reid.

In March 2001, TEA presented Romulus Linney's "Tennessee" for the AACT Fest competition in Roswell, New Mexico. TEA was awarded for their stellar performance.

The following article appeared in the August 1998 issue of the AACT "SPOTLIGHT."

In an effort to get young actors involved in community theatre, Theater Ensemble Arts (Farmington, NM) ran "The Mousetrap" in a unique production, according to Artistic Director Mort Lord. They used two casts for the show. A cast of adults performed in the evenings and a high school and junior high cast and crew performed the matinees, The young actors worked both in their own rehearsals and shadowed the adults in joint rehearsals. The young technicians shadowed the adult crews to learn to stage manage, run lights and sound, and to handle backstage and front of house duties. Audiences, actors, and the Theatre Board considered the Mousetrap experiment such a success that plans are underway to repeat the process with "Harvey" in February 1999. Since this article appeared, we have done Young Artist performances of "Bell, Book and Candle," "BeBe's Birds," "Father of the Bride," "Scapin," "Throckmorton, TX 76083," " and Sorry, Wrong Number."

Because of the tremendous talent these young people have exhibited, we decided in starting in 2004 to go from our middle show being a full length play in which five performances were done by adults and two by our Young Artists, to doing two one-act plays, one performed by adults and one showcasing the Young Artists. This proved to be such a great success that it will be a part of all future playbills.

Board of Governors