CIVIC PROJECTS apply Strike Anywhere’s ensemble-based theater-making methods to the challenges facing communities, institutions, and municipalities. Instead of always culminating in a staged performance, these projects adapt our creative process—ensemble building, cross-disciplinary improvisation, devising, and Soundpainting—to meet civic goals. Outcomes range from workshops and installations to embodied town halls, public art campaigns, and participatory explorations that use theater as a tool for problem-solving, civic engagement, and connection.

In Delivering Democracy, Strike Anywhere collaborated with Guggenheim Fellow L.M. Bogad on a nonpartisan street-theater campaign combating voter disinformation in Pennsylvania during the 2020 and 2024 elections. Dancing ballot boxes and voting booths filled Philadelphia’s streets, handing out accurate voter information, registering new voters, and bringing joy and clarity to a fraught season. Supported by Ben & Jerry’s and the Center for Artistic Activism’s Unstoppable Voters campaign, the project showed how playful, public art interventions can strengthen civic participation and expand access to democracy.

In Same River, the ensemble localized a flexible performance template through community interviews to reflect perspectives on fracking. Characters such as a fisherman, an environmentalist, or a gas company representative voiced competing concerns, while post-show town halls and a commissioned art installation invited dialogue. By weaving in local voices and creating shared spaces, the project helped residents empathize across differences and re-open conversation on a fractured issue.

Civic Projects also extend to professional contexts. With the Alliance of Resident Theaters/New York (ART/NY), Strike Anywhere co-designed a workshop for nonprofit fundraising professionals on “making the big ask.” Using role-play, improvisation, and writing exercises, participants practiced donor conversations in embodied, creative ways that cemented learning more effectively than lectures. Drawing on 27 years of leading experiential processes, Civic Projects channel our artistic tools to amplify voices, foster dialogue, and catalyze action in service of civic life.