American Llore Ttheater is a production company founded in 2017 rooted in the practice and principles of the study of American Folklore

 

As an organization based in the diverse area that is the United States, we hope to interrogate and draw attention to the dynamic and wide reaching living traditions that inform many American identities.

 

We interpret folklore as to mean “popular learning,” as it is passed from person to person, passing through many stages of repetition and variation. We also think of folklore as living traditions in a living community–everyday expressions of creativity and belonging, with room for dynamism and adaptability.

 

American Lore Theater builds upon the foundation of inherited culture to create experiences in direct collaboration with communities we are involved with. We strive to approach our interaction with sensitivity, a collaborative nature, and nonjudgement.

 

As we work in communities surrounding different kinds of folklife, we recognize that first and foremost, these lived traditions are just that: lived, and real parts of the material realities of our collaborators. We therefore respect the tradition bearers that share their work with us, and involve our collaborators in all parts of our fieldwork, research, marketing, and original content production.

 

All people have and “do” folklore. We are simply facilitators who seek to connect people with relationships to traditions, for the purpose of self-sufficient, localized original productions. We recognize the vast diversity of folklife and traditions, and ALT seeks to support them or draw attention to them