Costumed actors stage protest march to save the landmark Source Theatre Building

Just received from Actors’ Theatre of Washington:

There is an ANC (Area Neighborhood Commission) meeting for Ward 1B this Thursday evening at 7 p.m. for the district the Source Theatre Building is in. A collaborative that consists of The InSeries, ATW,  WIT and many other individual members of the DC theatre community are getting together to walk in theatrical costume to the meeting from Source. We are reaching out to everyone interested in joining the band to meet (with a costume) at Source at 6 p.m. and get ready to walk over to the meeting a few blocks away.

We want to show up in costume to point out in a bold statement the artists that have been directly affected by the history and presence of the Source Theatre Building and the closing of it as well as make clear that THIS (the live arts)  is what is about to be lost. THIS is what is about to be replaced with  beer and football. This is one way that this matter can begin to  circulate around the Source residential community and make the local  government aware of the issues at hand. Right now the best thing the  commissioners can do is to intervene to put a hold on the final sale of the property and make Source consider options.

To make this happen (and so our actors can attend the beginning of the  meeting) we are delaying our curtain on Thursday until 8:30 p.m. I do  want to point out that though ATW does have a direct interest in the  future of this building, as it is a vital space for our company and the  community we directly play for, we are not losing sight of the bigger  picture, and we acknowledge that the sale of this building is much bigger  than just us as one company. Its about us as a community of artists that are losing yet another space and one that has a vital history  that we should feel our duty to protect. We do also support the  presence of a bar, but not in place of a theatre space. There are many  available locations in the block and  vicinity for such a venue to be  established. Add to the diversity…don’t take away from it.

Additionally the collaborative is working with a grassroots campaign  run by local activists that have an effort to mobilize residents to  attend this ANC meeting by distributing flyers at the local metro  stops near Source, distributed through a door to door campaign, handed  out with checks at Busboys and Poets, with bags at go mama go! as well  as other neighboring shops in the Source vicinity.

Matty Griffiths  for Actors’ Theatre of Washington