TAPROOT is a grassroots, collaborative ensemble of actors, artists, musicians, and dancers whose collective efforts represent an interest in nourishing audience imagination and transforming viewers’ experience into active engagement. While the themes and situations of their performances vary, TAPROOT’s core mission is to activate their surroundings and participants. In an effort to encourage interdisciplinary communication and process-oriented sharing, TAPROOT also facilitates a series of art incubators during which artists from various disciplines present in-process work for feedback from attendees.
TAPROOT was founded in 2012 by Artistic Director Brianna Smith out of a desire to create space for experimental, interdisciplinary theater. The ensemble has presented at museums and festivals throughout North Carolina. During their residency at McColl Center will enable TAPROOT fully engage in the development of a new work entitled FREYA. Through a partnership with Charlotte’s International House and support from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Arts & Science Council Special Projects Grant, the new work will be inspired by stories collected from workshops and story sharing sessions with regional youth groups. Through dance, puppetry, music, and acting, FREYA will represent the collective dreams and aspirations of our region’s multi-cultural youth.