About the Peñasco Theater
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See whats going on at the Peñasco Theater. Click here to learn about our Programs, Classes, Events and WorkshopsThe Peñasco Theatre Collective is dedicated to fostering community building, collective empowerment and social transformation through the arts.
On Highway 75, nestled beneath billowing clouds and a stark blue sky, is the area’s only solar powered hand-built adobe theatre. Built in 1940 by Amado Roybal, the Peñasco Theatre stands as a testament to the resiliency of a community gathering place, and the importance of keeping performance traditions alive. The edifice radiates with 75 years of collective expression. You can almost hear the laughter, the shuffle of dancing feet to Northern New Mexican melodies, the melodramas of Mexican Cinema, and the multitude of voices sharing centuries old ways of knowing echoing off the walls.
The Peñasco Theatre Collective (PTC), a group of performers and visual artists continue the tradition of utilizing arts and culture to bring people together in a mutually respectful culturally diverse environment. From ongoing youth performance afterschool classes based in circus arts to a self-directed artist-in-residency, the theatre offers a wide array of creative experiences for the artistically adventurous.
Every summer, for the past 18 years, the PTC hosts a youth inter-disciplinary arts workshop filled to capacity with enthusiastic young performers ranging in ages from 5 to 17 years. PTC artist/educators hit the road with their creative prowess bringing multi-disciplinary arts instruction to school students all over Northern New Mexico. PTC partners with various community organizations including MAS, Peñasco Schools, and Moving Arts Española.
The PTC is a project of MAS a Penasco based 501c3, non profit organization.
Over the past 20 years the Peñasco Theatre Collective, based in the very rural landscape of Peñasco, has cultivated a vibrant “by artists-for artists” community-oriented space by leveraging resources to support a vast range of creative projects, visions and voices. Our programs reside in an eighty-one-year-old, solar powered adobe building with a rich cultural history. Collective members and visiting resident artists have taught thousands of youth and adults in multidisciplinary arts and performance workshops and brought genre-bending impactful creative experiences to multigenerational and diverse audiences.
Our youth programs are low-cost/pay what you can/trade and our self-directed artist-in-residency, complete with the use of the theatre and all the tech equipment, is sliding scale. We partner with area arts and educational entities and the theatre is available to the community for live performances, cultural events and gatherings.
The theatre’s programs employ collective artists as teachers, teen mentors and visiting artists instructors, and contribute to the economy and cultural life of the community.
The pandemic basically shuttered our space from March 2020 until December 2020. We weren’t able to operate programs at our usual capacity and format due to the health orders.
The work we do requires proximity, physical connectivity and close collaboration. Income generated through these programs to pay collective artist/teachers, subsidize residencies and maintain the space ceased. Artists from other areas of the country couldn’t travel here to recluse, rejuvenate and generate. We operate “paycheck-to-paycheck”, including many non- paid hours.
In the Fall of 2018, we embarked on a necessary maintenance renovation project to repair the roof and upgrade parts of the residency quarters. This was a huge financial investment that we fundraised for with plans to recoup some of the money through the residency program. Our pandemic related financial loss related to the unoccupancy of the residency space is $15,000.00 or more.
Art in the time of corona has been a journey for sure, but this experience has given us a time to pause (the first significant duration in 20+ years) and think about what brings us joy as creatives, what we have to offer and what the community is needing/asking for at this time. We intend to resume our programming in ways that align with our values and our discoveries. Financial assistance will help offset income loss and space utilities maintenance.
Collaborative Statement:
Wise Fool New Mexico and the Peñasco Theatre Collective are happy to announce a new phase in their artistic journey. Over the past 15 years, under the organizational title of Wise Fool New Mexico, collaborating artists and performers have been working at the Peñasco Theatre, in the Santa Fe studio, and in programs and performances both nationally and internationally. Diverse artists and collaborators have come together to create the visions and scope of both Wise Fool New Mexico and the Peñasco Theatre Collective, each with their specific strengths and interwoven histories. www.wisefoolnm.org
The Peñasco Theatre Collective is a group of artists and collaborators working closely together through the years in both organizations, evolving to meet the specific needs of the Peñasco region, and will now be carrying out programming under its own auspices. The Penasco Theatre Collective is a project of MAS a 501c3 based in Penasco.
The Peñasco Theater Collective and Wise Fool New MexicoAnti-Discrimination Statement:
The reality of contemporary society requires a new narrative. One that includes and celebrates the creative visioning that accurately reflects the many extraordinary voices that comprise it. Within artistic expression lies the transformative capacity for resilience and healing. We recognize the full diversity of the students, families and communities we serve in terms of race, ethnicity, gender, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, socio-economic status, immigration status, physical ability, body type, body size, religious or political beliefs. We honor our collective histories of struggle against discrimination and other forms of oppression. We value collaborative arts education efforts that strive to promote community wellness, multi-racial coalition building and progressive social and economic justice. As an organization we commit to our continuing education about the various issues that seek to divide us.
