Epic Theatre Ensemble creates bold work with and for diverse communities that promotes vital discourse and social change by Inspiring students to be creative and engaged citizens, presenting compelling topics that transform the way people think and collaborating with artists, students and thought leaders to produce plays about key issues. Founded in 2001, this collective of theatre makers and teaching artists established a new kind of artist-run theatre that built human bridges between school classrooms, professional stages, and civic centers. This integration of youth development, Citizen-Artist training, and the production of new and classic political plays reached its first apex in 2005 with the co-founding of the Bronx High School for Writing and Communication Arts occurring at the same time as the premiere and commercial transfer of the multi-award winning No Child... by Nilaja Sun. Epic grew rapidly over the next few years, pursuing a plan that led to deeper integration of Epic's programming including: the 2009 Coming Up Taller Award-winning after-school program, Shakespeare Remix; an annual youth Summer Intensive, which has evolved into the Epic NEXT Arts Leadership Program; and, the festival-style New York premiere of Sarah Ruhl's Passion Play. In 2011, Epic entered a new phase of its evolution, focusing on Epic’s growth as an industry frontrunner in transforming the lives of young people and building deep collaborations with community partners to produce bold theatrical work that re-imagines the critical role art must play in the fight for social justice.
