For the past 16 years artists and performers working through the Peñasco Theatre have dedicated their time, creative energies and unique visions to community building, collective empowerment and social transformation through the arts.
The Peñasco Theatre Collective is committed to lateralized, non-hierarchical leadership centering Xicanx, Indigenous, and queer people of color. We are committed to creating alternative systems of organizing and ways that actively fight against the capitalist white supremacist system that is at war with the planet and the people attempting to thrive in harmony with it. We strive to be a true collective that supports and sustains the artists/activists that are part of it, and to be a resource and a refuge for the broader community.
We are humbled by and in awe of all the many powerful movements standing together to shift the narrative – despite the sacrifice, the backlash, and the uncertainty. Art has played a vital roll in every social movement on the planet. Artists are the architects of that collective vision. And youth artists in particular possess the courage to question, challenge and innovative.
There are so many needy and worthy causes to support. Any amount given to any one of them contributes to making the world a better, more livable, more equitable place. Your donation to the Peñasco Theatre Collective/MAS Comunidad helps bring vital artistic, cultural and transformative creative experiences to marginalized frontier communities and beyond.
To read more and to Donate now to the Penasco Theatre Collective click below:
Classes
Peñasco Theatre Collective operates a community youth arts after–school program providing unique opportunities for self-discovery, physical development, personal and collective empowerment, youth visibility and inter-generational connection through the arts of circus and puppetry.
Summer Youth Workshops
Since its inception in 2001 the Peñasco Theatre Collective Youth Arts Summer Workshop has offered an accessible and professional summer youth arts workshop to a diverse and inclusive group of area youth. Through creative exploration, physical and skills development, and group negotiation, students and Artist/Educators collaborate in a two-week circus arts workshop culminating in a public performance and community potluck.
Live Shows and Events
Peñasco Theater is the home of world-class performance, community open stages with new and emerging local artists, traveling shows and more. Check out our schedule online to see what is coming up next.
The Peñasco Theatre is available for traveling artists shows and community events. Interested in booking the theatre for your event? click here for more information
Artist Residency and Retreats
ARTIST IN RESIDENCY PROGRAM
“Art as Resistance”
Penasco Theatre is seeking performances based artists who’s work incorporates, dialogues with or is in some way inspired by the struggle for transformation and justice.
GROUP AND INDIVIDUAL RETREATS
Peñasco Theater offers short and long term retreats for Individuals and Groups. Come stay in a historic theater house and explore the beautiful landscapes of Northern New Mexico
Welcome to the Peñasco Theatre
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.
The theatre plays host to a monthly “Open Stage” inviting local talent of all experience levels and mediums to strut their stuff in a supportive and nurturing environment. Every summer, for the past 16 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 Art For The Heart, Peñasco Schools, La Jicaríta Community School, and Moving Arts Española.
