About DAT

Mission Statement:

Dramatic Adventure Theatre provides the opportunity for artists to perform around the world, to explore the unknown and the familiar, and to become intimately involved with distant communities in order to build a platform where ideas, talent, and original works can be shared.

Beginnings:

DAT was dreamed up by Jesse Baxter, a service-oriented working actor who loved to travel. He was always looking for ways to combine his interests, but traditional tour companies never fully satisfied this need. Then one day, during a lunch with Ryan Keith, founder of FORGOTTEN VOICES INTERNATIONAL (a non-profit that helps children who are victims of aids in Zimbabwe) and a good friend from college, Jesse nonchalantly suggested that someone should give these “forgotten voices” a voice. Jesse suggested that the kids should write their own short plays and that professional actors should perform these plays especially for them. After this talk Jesse thought nothing of the idea…that is until Ryan Keith called him a few months later and told him to start getting ready to go to Zimbabwe because scripts would be in his hand shortly! A dramatic adventure had already begun.

Jesse decided to team up with Mary Redington, a fellow actor and recent college graduate looking for a new project to get involved with. Together they started to frame the structure of Dramatic Adventure Theatre. Soon Kathleen Amshoff, a fantastic Director, was on board (Jesse, Mary and Kathleen met while working on Run of the Mill Theatre’s award winning production of Variations on Fear in Baltimore during the summer of 2006) and the team was well on their way to making this project a reality.

But, there were still bumps in the road. This was going to be a very intense trip, DAT needed the right people to commit to this adventure. This first Zimbabwe project went through three teams before the final team (Jesse, Mary, Kathleen, and Swedish born actor Lisa Pettersson) was finally ready to depart.

More bumps in the road:
* News from Zimbabwe in the weeks before the departure was not good, the inflation rate had sky rocketed to over 1700% (the average person could barely afford a loaf of bread per day, if they could find a loaf). Their doctors, teachers, and many of their civil workers were on strike and to make matters worse, they had experienced a drought. Family members feared for the teams safety. Zimbabweans were focusing on surviving, not writing plays…so DAT had to adapt to the crisis, the new plan was to build plays with the locals, plays that told the stories THEY wanted to tell, to empower their voices.

* Passport Problems! This was Mary’s first time leaving the country so she applied for her passport 3 months before the date of take off. On June 18th, the day of the flight, Mary still didn’t have her passport. Determined to go to Zimbabwe, she went from New York City to Washington D.C. where she waited at the passport office for 12 hours to get her passport. Meanwhile, DAT’s wonderful travel agent, Brent Sprunger at MTS Travel, changed her 8pm JFK flight to a 10pm Washington D.C. flight to London. Mary was handed her passport right as her teammates boarded the plane in New York. She jumped into a taxi, rushed to her plane and met her teammates at the airport in London the next morning. (Talk about a dramatic adventure.)

The tension was building as the four weary travelers got off the plane in the Harare Airport. What would be there waiting for them? Little did the team know, Zimbabwe was ready and waiting for them. They were welcomed with open arms into the hearts and homes of the leaders of the Brethren in Christ Church and Amakhosi Theatre. And were carefully escorted throughout the country by their wonderful host, liason, and Zimbabwean Father, Oscar.

This simple idea has evolved into a company of individuals who want to make a difference with their art. In fact, nearly everybody who hears about DAT offers to be a part of it in some way. This has been incredibly encouraging for Dramatic Adventure Theatre. The team thanks everyone who was supportive and involved in this initial project. They couldn’t have done it alone.

Join them on the next dramatic adventure!

Dramatic Adventure Theatre benefits:

• The Community Abroad:

DAT collaborates with and empowers local writers by providing them with the actors necessary to fully realize their work, pools resources with local artists to design promotional materials for the project, and engages local talent in workshops so there can be an exchange of artistic knowledge. DAT becomes a part of the local community in significant and tangible ways by teaming up with local non-profits and helping them raise awareness for their organizations and by participating in service projects.

• The Home Community:

DAT gives its home community an opportunity to become a part of a special project by donating time, energy, and goods. The community will be informed of the project’s progress and after the play has been developed and finishes performing abroad, it will be brought back to the US (filled with an exotic energy that is always present after such an exciting journey), in order to share these experiences, give a voice to the locals, and tell the story of an incredibly dramatic adventure.

• The Team Members:

DAT’s traveling ensemble will have the amazing opportunity to participate in a unique project, to experience cultures that are at the same time foreign and familiar. The lessons learned from the journey will prove to be invaluable to them as performers and human beings. DAT organizes opportunities for the ensemble to workshop with local artists and participate in community projects. This is an education no theatre artist should be without.