Bas Bleu Theatre Company

Background Statement

Bas Bleu Theatre Company, a 501c3 nonprofit in Fort Collins (www.basbleu.org) has a mission to present outstanding theatre that inspires both audience and artist alike in an intimate "salon" setting. Located on the corner of Pine and Willow in the burgeoning River District, Bas Bleu was a pioneer in the creation of a vibrant new mixed-use economy in 1992. In 2004, we outgrew our original 49-seat theatre, and began a $1.5M Phase One Capital Campaign to purchase and partially renovate the historic Giddings Building on "the other side of the tracks". The campaign was successfully completed in 2012, and we now own our venue. The City of Fort Collins Willow Street Improvements Project is well underway and Bas Bleu will be at the center of a beautiful new pedestrian-friendly corridor with wide sidewalks, lighting, bike racks and lanes, a plaza, on-street diagonal parking, and public art installations celebrating the rich cultural history of our neighborhood.

Bas Bleu has produced, performed, exhibited, or hosted over 2,000 events and performances serving more than 130,000 patrons, employed more than 3,600 artists, and involved more than 8,000 volunteers. We have grown from an all-volunteer company to employ staff members and pay stipends to our artists. Come visit our 99-seat salon theatre at 401 Pine Street to experience our Mainstage Plays, Readers' Theatre, Concerts, Magic, Poetry & Prose, Puppetry, Special Events, and Workshops on the the Tom Sutherland Stage, and the Art Exhibits in the Gallery Bleu. Together we will celebrate the increasingly diverse cultures in our city while providing a lively forum for addressing issues of vital concern to our community.

Bas Bleu has garnered over 100 awards including: CO Theatre Guild's Outstanding Regional Theatre, Denver Post's Theatre Person of the Year, John Moore's Culture West Awards for Best Solo Performance and Best Younger Actor, CO Community Theatre Coalition Awards for First Place Production, Best Actress, and Excellence in Directing, 3 Colorado Theatre Guild Henry Awards, and American Association for Community Theatre National Festival Awards. We are honored that our founder and artistic director, Wendy Ishii, was the recipient of the Colorado Theatre Guild's 2018 Lifetime Achievement Award

Our productions of Samuel Beckett's plays are included in the Beckett Archives in Reading, UK, and have garnered us invitations to perform internationally in Canada, the UK, Israel, Australia, and South Africa. Most recently, we were the only American company invited to the prestigious Beckett Festival in Enniskillen, N. Ireland, where we received enthusiastic recognition from the worldwide press, including the BBC, London Times, The Guardian and the New York Times.

We will launch our 30th season at Bas Bleu in September. Throughout the year, we will present some of the most innovative and adventurous theatre works from the classical and contemporary repertories, as well as occasional premieres of new works. Productions are complemented by art exhibits in the Gallery Bleu and special events from comedy, music, and film to guest speakers and community conversations with artists and experts in the field. Bas Bleu will be offering American Sign Language interpretations at select performances for all of our Mainstage and Readers' Theatre shows.

Owning our venue-the historic Giddings Building affords us creative opportunities that might not be possible if we had to rent space by the hour elsewhere. It also will enable us to share our theatre with our sister organizations as we all emerge from the pandemic and strive to rebuild our coffers. Bas Bleu continues to be a thriving, sustainable organization, and a major contributor to the local economy. We invite you to come and get to know us!