>> Hi, and welcome to Inside Louisville, where we introduce you to the people, places and things that make up Kentucky's largest city.

This week we go inside Actors Theater of Louisville.

It is the official State Theater of Kentucky and has a long and prominent history.

Founded in 1964 when two local companies merged, Actors Theater is known locally as a community hub for art and belonging.

But nationally, the Actors Theater is highly regarded as one of the most innovative and influential regional theaters in the country, producing hundreds of new plays and even winning a Tony Award for distinguished achievement.

Christie Dutton takes us inside the Actor's Theater to explain how its past is influencing its future.

>> Actors Theater of Louisville began as a tale of two theaters.

Actors Inc.

operated by Yul Cornett and Theater Louisville, operated by Richard Bloch in 1964.

The two theater companies merged together, and Cornett and Block became co-directors and co-producers to the newly formed theater company named Actors Theater of Louisville.

It was located in a tiny loft on Fourth Street in downtown Louisville, formerly the Egyptian Tea Room above Taylor Trump company.

Even as the partnership between Cornett and Block soured, the theater's popularity continued to grow as Cornett resigned and block took over.

It didn't take long to outgrow the small 100 seat theater loft.

In 1965, the theater moved into an abandoned railroad station located at seventh Street and the Ohio River.

The station was renovated to create a 350 seat theater.

In 1969, a pivotal decision was made to appoint John Jerry as producing director.

>> I think back to the days when Sandy Spear and John Jerry were a team here, with John running the artistic side and Sandy running the administrative side.

And they were together for probably 30 years, and they were probably two of the most influential people in the arts community for decades.

>> John Jerry alongside Alexander Sandy spear as lead administrator, marked a renaissance for the organization, but interstate construction would soon steal the scene.

In 1972, the former train station turned theater was demolished to make way for a stretch of I-64 along the riverfront.

But as they say, the show must go on.

So Actors Theater made the decision to move to Main Street, a decision many questioned back then.

>> At a time when Main Street was still a little on the rough side, hadn't been redeveloped and actors made a commitment to operate here.

And we've been here for 40 years.

>> Actors theater captures the attention of the state legislature being designated as the State Theater of Kentucky in 1974, and two years later, a defining moment arrives right on cue with the start of the Humana Festival of New American Plays, an annual showcase of new theatrical work.

>> I think the Humana Festival put Actors Theater on the map.

>> The festival brought producers, playwrights, critics and theater lovers from around the world.

>> I mean, when I went to school in New York and every teacher found out, when I told them that I was from Louisville, they immediately asked, oh my gosh.

So you've obviously been to the Humana Festival?

I mean, it is known, you know, worldwide.

>> Many years ago, I had a baseball jacket with the actor's logo on it, and I was I got off an airplane in Zurich and somebody stopped me within ten steps of getting off the airplane saying, are you from Louisville?

Do you know about actress theater and about the Humana Festival?

>> In 1980, Actors Theater became the second theater to ever receive the special Tony Award as an outstanding Nonprofit Resident theater, described by the National Endowment for the Arts as one of America's most consistently innovative professional theater companies.

Many say that's what this theater is all about.

>> I think that ingrained in the DNA of Actors Theater.

>> You're always seeing cutting edge theater at Actors Theater of Louisville, and it's always been that way.

And I think there has always been a commitment to the classics or to Shakespeare, and that's wonderful to honor where theater has come from.

But actors has always had their finger on the pulse of where theater is going and what it's going to be.

>> As the theatrical landscape continues to evolve, so does Actors Theater of Louisville, as it produces bold and imaginative plays that resonate across the globe.

[MUSIC] For Inside Louisville, I'm Christie Dutton.

>> Warren.

When he agreed.

>> Well, joining us now here in our Louisville studio is Amelia Acosta, Powell, artistic director of Actors Theater.

And Emily Tarquin, managing director.

Thank you all both for being here.

Thank you for having me.

We heard a little bit there about the history of Actors Theater, which is so long and interesting.

So tell us, tell me about your involvement in actors, the history as you understand it, and then your history of how you got here.

>> Thank you so much for having us.

We're thrilled to be here.

As you heard, Actors Theater has a long history and has been involved in both here in Louisville, in the broader community of Kentucky and nationally internationally for over 60 years.

And it was founded actually as the merger of two different companies that came together and really began in the early days of what we might call the regional theater movement of having theater decentralized from Broadway and New York, and really serving different communities around America.

>> And so tell me about tell me about your history, how you how you came to be a part of actors.

>> Absolutely.

So, of course, Actors Theater loomed large in my education, and I was reading the play anthologies that came out of the new American Play Festival.

I had my first chance to sit in the audience in 2013, and then joined the staff in 2021 as the impact producer originally, really having been impressed with all of the amazing new work that actors had put into the world, as well as the pivoting that they had done into new technology and being of service in a new way.

As our society really fundamentally changed during the pandemic.

So I'm in my, my fourth year here at Actors Theater and in Louisville and absolutely loving it.

We were appointed together as the executive leadership in September of 2025.

So about six months into that journey and just feel really humbled and grateful.

>> Are you from here?

>> I'm not.

No.

I originally grew up in Denver, Colorado.

>> Okay, great.

And Emily, how about you?

>> Well, I, I really love telling this story.

So thank you for this question.

I produced a new works festival in the mountains of Steamboat Springs, Colorado, at a camp called Perry-mansfield.

And it grew over time.

An actor's theater began coming out there and workshopping plays that would eventually come to the Humana Festival.

And so I got to work with Marc Masterson and then Les Waters, both former artistic directors, and would come out myself to see the Humana Festival.

And in addition to loving that process and getting to be part of that play development, I also really loved Louisville.

And so I started many years before I came here thinking about how could I get out here?

What would be the pathway?

And I'm now in my ninth year.

I grew up in upstate New York, but Louisville is now the longest place I've lived and truly my home.

>> I think a lot of people don't realize that, too, about Louisville and what an art centered community it is and how it is thought of on a national level.

Which sounds like what brought you all here?

>> Yes, there's something in the water here, no pun intended, that really drove innovation in the arts and the amount of new work and world premieres that have happened here.

And also, when you look at the size of our community and all of the amazing industry and talent, it really quote unquote punches above its weight.

And I think Actors Theater has really been part of that history.

And, and hopefully, as we'll speak about, continues to have a living legacy here.

>> Yeah, absolutely.

Well, and as you mentioned, those new works and the Humana Festival will tell us a little bit about, you know, a lot of people think when the Humana Festival went away, so did this festival of new work.

And that's not the case at all.

It has continued.

And talk about how, first of all, why and how it went away and, and how you all want to continue that legacy of, of producing new work here.

>> Sure.

I'm glad to speak to a little bit of the history because I was here sort of during that transition.

So we had what was known as the longest partnership between a corporation and their philanthropic arm, which is of course, the Humana Foundation and a theater in the country.

And as Humana in a really aspirational way, was changing their funding.

We knew we had about three years left, and that was starting in 2019, where they were going to decrease their funding so that they could spread it across Louisville more and in their other markets.

And of course, what we didn't know is that the last two years of that would coincide with 2020, right?

In which I have a vivid memory of we had five works in production, two that had opened at the midst of the shutdown and 2021, in which we then pivoted and did all digital festival, which we know people were very gracious of and supportive of in that moment.

But that wasn't a way that it was going to continue.

And so in the midst of having to address Covid and all of the challenges and working from home and being on Zoom and doing virtual work, I don't think we had we missed the opportunity to thoughtfully transition that festival to something else.

>> And there are some things that came out of it.

Like you said, the streaming and technology, how what are some of those things that came out of that time period that have helped transition you all to thinking in new ways about about theater outreach and reaching other communities?

>> Absolutely.

>> Well, I'll.

>> Tie in, if I may, that question with also the evolution of the festival, because I think on the technology front, absolutely, the accessibility that we learned about through that streaming technology, through virtual participation, you know, that period really highlighted that there are folks experiencing that isolation all the time, not unique to the pandemic.

And it feels really important to us to make sure that they have access to a live performing arts experience.

And, and we have so much more and more efficient and higher quality ways now, you know, our production of Comedy of Errors this season was streaming and reaching people across at least 15 different states, reaching folks in senior living communities, reaching students in schools that aren't able to come in in person.

So that in.

>> Kentucky these rural communities.

Absolutely, absolutely.

>> Over 40% of our state is rural.

It is the highest in the nation.

>> Yeah.

And the people that can't get to theater, as you mentioned.

Exactly, exactly.

>> And, and even just the, the experience of watching it, right?

Like if you are, you know, caring for young children and you really want to watch a show, but you're not going to be able to do 90 straight minutes, you're going to have to pause, right.

And take care of somebody.

I think that's a really a, that's an access tool as well.

And then, you know, the other thing that I think really blossomed, it's not a direct result of the pandemic, but we've seen a lot of really great innovation in this space is the, the partnership and the different type of communication.

You know, we saw through the pandemic that that pause allowed for arts leaders from different cultural organizations to like, hop on a Zoom call and discuss, you know, what are the issues that are affecting all of us together.

It allowed us to spend more time in conversation with some of our peers who might be in Eastern Kentucky or that we're not having, you know, when we were in person, we're not having as much chance to connect.

And that is part of what has inspired the next step of our new work festival, which this year we're we're bringing a new titled festival, the Storytelling Revolution Festival.

And in, in building on both the incredible legacy that the.

The innovative partnership between Humana and Actors Theater of Louisville created, as well as all of those learnings about how we can tie in better with different parts of our community.

The Storytelling Revolution Festival offers a chance for Actors Theater to present work, but also to be a convener and to bring in work from Pikeville, from Mount Sterling and and all around the state, and just to leverage resources differently.

I think we really learned in the pandemic, it is not going to work as a sustainability or survival strategy for each of us as individuals or each of our organizations to try to go at it alone.

Right?

We have the shared resources will be a path forward.

And what a beautiful thing.

You know, there's work being made in Eastern Kentucky that we would not be the right storytellers to, to tell.

And we have a resource with our building here on Main Street that that they might not have access to in another way.

>> Yeah.

It is interesting to see how it's evolving.

So tell me more about this new festival.

How is it going to be different from the Humana Festival and what people know and love about producing these new works?

>> Right.

Well, and I think one of the inspirations for the festival is how our community of artists has grown.

And I think now we get to not only celebrate a world premiere that Amelia's directing and that our internal team is Wright building from scratch and creating the design for and doing all of those elements is we get to reach out not only to Louisville, but throughout Kentuckiana and lift up all the incredible artists in our region.

And that is really different for Actors Theater of Louisville.

I think Actors Theater has always had a place in the theater ecology, but to now be a convener of artists around our region coming together and not only sharing our work, but sharing theirs is probably the biggest distinction and something that we're going to try out for the first time and see how that brings together not only the artists, but the communities surrounding the artists and in support of them.

And what does that look like in the lobby space when now we have people from all over our region interacting, celebrating these works together.

>> So explain how it works logistically, getting these other communities to buy in and be involved with actors.

>> Absolutely.

Well, so for this year's festival, we put out a call for proposals, opened up submissions, and we had over 50 different companies and artists submit and again, from all around the region.

So just in terms of matching, what are we able to offer?

What do they need?

And then we had three kind of guiding principles that are really rooted in our mission at Actors Theater of Louisville and how we see the future going forward of what our community needs.

So one of those is honoring our role as the State Theater of Kentucky.

We were officially designated in 1974 as the State Theater.

And to us, what that meant, besides making sure that there was representation from different parts of Kentucky, was also about uplifting a kind of story, because we know that Actors Theater's national profile provides an opportunity to really uplift the stories that folks might not be getting about Kentucky.

You know, there's a there's might be assumptions if you're from outside of this region and there is such a wealth and richness of, of story and of experience.

So we really wanted to share that range.

The second one was about the wonder of our time.

Actors theater's mission speaks about engaging people in theater that reflects the wonder and complexity of our time.

And we like to to joke that we've we've been dealing a lot with complexity, both at Actors Theater of Louisville, but also just as a society.

Right.

And we're, we're in a moment where we know there's a real need for wonder, curiosity, joy, hope.

>> No one's really saying, where can I get more complexity?

>> Right?

You know, let.

>> Me.

>> Find that I need a little escapism.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

>> And, and I think it's both escapism and it's also shifting a lens on like even the same, we can talk about the same topic and we can put it through the lens of wonder and really see it in a different light.

And then the third one is about opening up what storytelling forms are, you know, one of the things that the Humana Foundation, excuse me, the Humana Festival really laid a foundation for is like pushing the boundary of what one might think of a play to be.

And I think we're really interested in continuing that exploration, really widening it.

So you will see plays in the festival, you will see play readings, you will see ten minute plays, which are all, you know, familiar forms.

But we're also going to see puppet theater and dance theater and some nonfiction storytelling, and a lot of a lot of different access points that we hope will also introduce some folks who might not think of themselves as a theater goer, but who might go, oh, well, I've listened to The Moth podcast.

I get the idea of a storytelling or, or I'm into dance, or I've got a young person in my life who I should bring to see the puppets.

Right, right.

>> It sounds like you all are building off of, like you mentioned, that foundation that was laid.

But and it's funny how things happen in a way where, you know, at the time, the pandemic probably seemed like something that was insurmountable.

And the Humana Festival going away when it had such a legacy.

But talk about how each of you all are have sort of a different or a shared vision of the future, but with your different paths as artistic director and managing director.

>> Sure.

That's a great question.

Well, I think there's in addition to sort of these, I think these tent poles or these key parts of our mission, which is, as we've already named, the State Theater, I think the community convener.

And, and just to add to that of Actors Theater, when it started, started with a resident company of artists.

And it's, it's part of why it's named Actors Theater.

And so while we don't have a resident company.

Now, in some ways this is inspired by having those resident artists there just living here in our region instead.

And then the third is learning and creative engagement.

So we know lifelong learning is always going to be an aspect of our work.

And I think we continue to find ways to serve our community, not just our student and school age population, but adults and all ages having access to unlocking their own human potential, which is also part of our mission.

And I think I sort of want Amelia to share some of her artistic visions, because I've really been inspired by that and also get to match that in what I think will be exciting to our donors, our stakeholders, future investors.

And where I think there's a sustainable financial pathway ahead for Actors Theater of Louisville, because there is and we're on it.

We may be still sort of at the beginning of it, but we're finding our footing there.

And I think we really want to be a part of serving the health and wellness of our community, alongside, of course, giving people a place to experience joy and a sense of belonging.

>> We're moving from our our deep roots that Actors Theater has and just growing on those into what what our society needs today.

So those ideas are around and this you'll see that they're similar to what we've done with the festival, but around the full experience, right?

Making sure that people feel from the moment they hear about what's happening at Actors Theater of Louisville through showing up, you know, that pre pre experience, of course, sitting in the theater, if that's what the experience holds, going home, talking about it, following up on it like that, that whole experience really feels like something that is special and unique and meaningful and impactful that you're going to remember.

Because we know, you know, that we're in a very new era from 1964, founding of the company in terms of content, right?

Because we can all sit on our couch and stream really high quality content any time.

But the difference of why you should come to a live arts and culture event is because of that fuller experience and because of sharing it with other people.

So that's something that we're really crafting in the future is the through line of what's the full experience and how, and it has to tie in, right?

And we.

>> We know that it impacts your health and wellness.

There's, there's science and metrics behind that.

And one of my favorites is that if you experience a live, in-person arts social gathering at least once a month, it will decrease depression.

It will increase your life span.

I like to I'm getting a lot more than once a month and I'm not going to the gym as much.

So I think that balance is helping my life.

But just think of that once a month is adding to your well-being in a way that I think we know that we SEEK those social gatherings, but we don't always know that it's so accessible in our community to go and do that.

>> Yeah, yeah, yeah.

>> And it's one of those things that feels when you are pressed for time, which aren't we all when you are balancing your budget, like it's one of those things that you might think of as a luxury item that you have to eliminate from your, your habits.

But the truth is, it's not a luxury.

It's critical.

And when you do sit in a theater and you're laughing at something and you're looking across the way and seeing somebody else who maybe has a very different life than you, also laughing and you feel that sense of like, okay, yes, this is.

>> Universe together.

Yeah.

>> I mean, that's special.

>> Yeah.

>> So yeah, that experience based thing is, is a huge part of where we're going moving forward.

The second is, as we were talking about, is the reach.

I think bringing in artists for this festival is, is one of the steps, but we're also really excited about our ability to share our work that's being created here in Louisville around the region.

And I won't spoil too much, but we hope there's some exciting stuff on the way in terms of that.

And of course, we know that our peer organizations also are are in this moment responding to that need to bridge that divide.

And then, you know, finally, I would say again, in alignment with what I was talking about with wonder, but to get a little bit more specific about it, we are deeply invested in the comedy space.

And, you know, it's something that we need here in Louisville.

It's something that we are asked all the time by audience members, stakeholders.

And it's something that actually the field needs.

You know, there's a some of the same classic comedies that we know and love and we value, but that you have seen on stage many times.

And it's actually rare that we're seeing like a brand new comedy for theater come out and Actors Theater's is the place for it.

So we're really excited about launching new comedic works where we can really share that joy and laughter together.

>> You can watch and share this episode anytime.

It's streaming online at ket.org, Johnny Nash, Louisville.

Plus, be sure to follow us on social media.

You can see more behind the scenes there at Actors Theater.

You can find us on Instagram at KET.

N LOU.

Thanks for spending a little time getting to know Louisville.

I hope we'll see you here next time.

Until then, make it a great week.