Mixed Blood uses art to disrupt injustice.
Through art, we connect people and organizations to stories that help increase understanding, civic discourse, and ongoing calls for actions that further equity and disrupt injustice.
Over 46 seasons, we have sought to intentionally, collaboratively, and authentically partner with those who have lived experience and deep connections to the stories we uplift. Our partnerships allow us to cover a range of narratives, and we continue to help ignite a range of work from within the disability, Latinx, African American, and transgender communities. This intentionality has unfolded in some of the following ways:
Disability
For nearly 20 years, Mixed Blood has produced mainstage and touring productions about disability, with artists, audiences, and writers with disabilities. The company has hosted two festivals of disability-related plays and led a national initiative to infuse disability programming into theatres across the country. Members of a Disability Advisory Council help guide Mixed Blood’s effort. The firehouse provides a variety of accessibility, with adjacent disability accessible parking spots, projected supertitles for every show, audio description for all performances, mats for service dogs, ASL interpretation once per run, and tactile tours for people with vision loss.
Teatro Mixed Blood
We are deeply involved in the Latinx theatre universe of America, both in producing Latinx work for 30 years in two languages with bilingual casts and by creating access points. This includes convening, listening, and integrating insight from members of a Latinx Advisory Council that informs aspects of productions, and our response and approach to issues, policies, or resources that center Latinx voices and priorities.
African American Theatre
Our stages have presented works of 39 great African American playwrights. They include Katori Hall, Lynn Nottage, Idris Goodwin, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Cori Thomas, Carlyle Brown, Kirsten Greenidge, Eisa Davis, Kia Corthron, Dael Orlandersmith, David Barr III, Samm-Art Williams, Gavin Lawrence, Jevetta Steele, Thomas W. Jones II, August Wilson, Geoffrey Ewing, Ntozake Shange, Warren C. Bowles, Sharon Walton, Lorraine Hansberry, Carl Lumbly, Anton Jones, and more. We remain committed to furthering our partnerships with African American theatre creatives who inhabit the spectrum of roles from playwright, director, actor, designer, and all that help enable a story’s performance.
Trans Minnesotans
Mixed Blood endeavors to be a soapbox for trans and non-binary neighbors. We first produced a play, Liquid Skin, about a person transitioning in 1986, with the lead by a 22-year-old Don Cheadle. Since then, Mixed Blood has produced numerous plays with trans characters portrayed by trans actors. It has cast trans actors in roles not written as trans characters, and hosted a festival entitled “On Our Own Terms.” We also embrace opportunities to center trans voices in public conversations with some who serve as policy makes, playwrights, and activists.