OK, we admit we might be a tad late in expressing our wishes for a happy, safe and productive 2007. We have a good excuse, though... we have been hard at work planning our 2007 shows, developing this new newsletter format and fondly reliving the highlights of 2006.

What a great first year 2006 was for Collaborative Arts, thanks to supporters like you! We kicked off our new company with a sold-out run of Tavern Shakespeare -scenes and original dialogue performed in a bar. Next up was our successful launch of the annual Shakespeare at the Green festival which brought free, outdoor Shakespeare back to Charlotte after 15 years. And we closed out the year with our site-specific production of the contemporary, one-woman comedy Bad Dates, also known as "comedy in a condo."

All in all, more than 3,000 people took a chance on a new theatre company last year by coming to see one of our shows. We feel very fortunate to have had such a warm welcome from Charlotte audiences and can't wait to bring you more innovative theatre in 2007.

    What Will be Big in 2007?

Well, if you believe Creative Loafing's theatre critic Perry Tannenbaum (and we sure are hoping he's right)... it might be us! In CL's January 3 annual prediction issue, Perry selected Collaborative Arts a one of the people or things that would be big in 2007 and noted that "the company continues to explore new vistas and venues in its second season." We've already got big ideas and a big heart, but we'd like nothing more than bigger audiences and a bigger company of professionals in 2007.

And Charlotte Observer critic Julie York Coppens recently named our Shakespeare at the Green as one of 7 Shows to See in 2007 and went on to say "Collaborative Arts demonstrated great promise, imagination and entrepreneurship with their site-specific stagings of Shakespeare and Theresa Rebeck. I'm excited to see more from them in 2007, both in the offbeat-classical vein and when they tackle Steven Dietz's contemporary drama "Fiction" in March."

We are grateful for the vote of confidence from our local theatre critics and excited about the possibilities for growing our company. But, at the end of the day, the future of our company rests in the hands folks like you.

Charlotte is not an easy place to produce theatre - the challenges are many and the scarcity of funding and performance space are two significant hurdles. So please keep spreading the word, coming to see our shows, and making donations. Our success depends on you.

Let us know what you think of this newsletter or any of our shows. We'd love to hear from you! Write to us a hi@collaborativeartstheatre.com.

Collaborative Arts' next production is Fiction, a gripping drama about secrets and truth, by Steven Dietz. This production will be our first drama, and our first foray into a traditional theatre space - the Duke Power Theatre at Spirit Square.

Fiction will be directed by Laurie Riffe, last seen as Haley in our popular production of Bad Dates in September. The cast features Collaborative Arts co-founders Elise Wilkinson and Joe Copley, joined by veteran actress Sheila Snow Proctor.

You'll hear more from us about Fiction over the next two months, but please mark your calendar and plan to join us March 8-24 at Spirit Square.

One of our New Year's resolutions was to communicate with you, our supporters, on a more regular basis. We have developed this short newsletter format to keep you up to date on our news and events. You'll hear from us about once or twice a month and, of course, you can unsubscribe at any time.

Email list members will receive special offers for our shows and invitations to member-only events. If you have friends or family who would be interested in our shows, please forward this email to them by using the link at the bottom of this page, and encourage them to visit our website and sign up for this newsletter.

We are excited to tell you that Shakespeare at the Green will definitely return for its 2nd year in 2007. We had a great turnout in 2006 - over a 2-week period, 2,300 people saw our critically acclaimed production of A Midsummer Night's Dream.

In 2007, we will expand the run to three weeks and move to early June (hoping for a little warmer evening weather than we had in May of 2006). Dates are May 31-June 17 and admission will still be free. Stay tuned for more info, including our announcement of which play will be performed.