Roots and River Productions

Roots and River Productions grew from the small seed of an idea. Artistic Director Azure D. Osborne-Lee moved to New York City and experienced firsthand how difficult it can be for an emerging artist, especially an artist of color, to make headway in the theatre. And so, out of a desire to foster artistic community for queer artists of color, Roots and River Productions was born.

Roots and River’s mission is to produce creative work grounded in the community. The company is an artistic home for queer artists of color residing in the New York City and Philadelphia metropolitan areas. Roots and River serves as an incubator for new work, a site of artistic exploration, and an agency for community outreach.

The company’s primary programming consists of the Roots and River Emerging Artist Mentorship Program and a portable, sustainable model for creating new work, simply called theVoicebox Workshops. Roots and River Productions has a particular interest in supporting the work of emerging interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary, and performing artists.

Roots and River Productions is a sponsored project ofFractured Atlas, a proud member of Materials for the Arts, and a recipient of a Brooklyn Arts Council 2012 Community Arts Fund Grant and a grant from the Edie Windsor Fund for Old Lesbians under the aegis of Open Meadows Foundation.