Founded in 1994, a laboratory for new voices and new ideas, the Lark provides playwrights with indispensable resources to develop their work, nurturing artists at all stages in their careers, and inviting them to express themselves freely in a supportive and rigorous environment. The Lark reaches into untapped local populations and across international and cultural boundaries to seek out and embrace unheard voices and diverse perspectives, celebrating differences in language and worldviews. By encouraging artists to define their own goals and creative processes in pursuit of a unique vision, we believe we are reinvigorating the theater's ancient and enduring role as a public forum for discussion, debate and community engagement.

WHAT KIND OF PLAYS?

...writers had the freedom and the resources to write whatever they chose, without political or commercial pressures?

When writers are free to write what they choose, in the ways that they choose, they’re able to convey unique visions of the world. The Lark brings together professional actors, directors and playwrights to allow writers to learn about their own work by seeing it—and by receiving feedback from a community of committed artists.

... more diverse voices were included in the mainstream?

By reaching across international boundaries, the Lark seeks out and embraces new and diverse perspectives from writers in all corners of the world— and different cultures in our own backyard. Society is enriched by the inclusion of these voices and they can be powerful agents for global exchange and social betterment.

...everyone in America was part of a creative community?

Without an audience, there is no theater. The Lark is unique in its efforts to integrate audiences into the creative process from its initial stages. We recognize the kinetic energy that is shared by those who create plays and those who receive them, so the Lark encourages a diverse community to observe and participate in our work. We engage students of all ages in the process of making theatre because we see it as a model for community cooperation and problem solving.