Guthrie Theater Profile

I chose to research the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis for this theater profile blog entry. The reason I chose the Guthrie Theater is because I had never heard of it before, and also, one of my favorite bands is from the city of Minneapolis so that influenced my choice as well.The Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, Minnesota started as an idea that Tyrone Guthrie had in 1959. Having become extremely weary and exasperated with the commercialism and consumerism that had overtaken Broadway productions, Guthrie wanted to open a theater that avoided those pitfalls in the theater that he conceived.The first step along the way was to determine where the theater would be built, as it was not planned with a location in mind. To decide where to put the theater, Guthrie ran an article in the New York Times imploring any cities that were interested in hosting the theater to apply, and Minneapolis won out against the six other applicant cities, which were: Waltham, MA; Cleveland; Chicago; Detroit; Milwaukee; and San Francisco.The theater was completed in 1963, and proved that the choice to place the theater in Minneapolis was a good thing when it opened with over 20,000 season tickets sold. Since 1963 when it opened, the theater has seen many changes, the latest being the addition of new multi-stage theater. In addition to the three different stages, the new Guthrie Theater also has an Endless Bridge that looks out onto the Mississippi River, and was declared by a local newspaper to be the best in the city. The new theater, which was built in 2006, was also praised by Architecture Magazine as one of the best buildings of 2006, and by GQ magazine as well.The Guthrie Theater’s mission statement, according to the website, is as follows: “The Guthrie Theater, founded in 1963, is an American center for theater performance, production, education, and professional training. By presenting both classical literature and new work from diverse cultures, the Guthrie illuminates the common humanity connecting Minnesota to the peoples of the world.” (Guthrie)As it says in the mission statement, the Guthrie Theater’s material it shows varies from classics like Shakespeare, to more modern fare. It offers a nice mixture, in my opinion, since there is more of an option for people who may have no interest in seeing older classic plays but would want to see a newer one, or vice versa. The current productions even show a great variety of material being shown just over the next few months.The Guthrie Theater also does offer internships, which it prides itself upon, as they are meant to give a feel for working in the professional theater world. There are internships in various types of fields, from directing to stage managing to marketing. And for children who are too young to participate in an internship but have an interest in the theater, they also offer camps over summer vacation and winter break for children up to seventeen years old.In my opinion, I find the Guthrie Theater interesting because of it’s mission of showcasing different types of productions as I mentioned previously. I think it is a very inclusive idea and would maybe make more people go to see a play as it seems they try to show lots of types of plays. I also found the idea behind the inception of the theater to be admirable since the theater’s productions should be focused on the artistic vision behind the story being told, not the commercialism of simply making money. I like that the theater was founded on those types of principles.