Road Less Traveled Productions

Our mission of 20+ years is to develop the canon of contemporary voices through production of new & notable works. MISSION: Road Less Traveled Productions challenges audiences through provocative storytelling and passionate artistry. The RLTP Ensemble constructs bold and imaginative ways to explore, discuss, and understand timely and timeless issues that connect diverse communities, globally and locally, to the commonality of human experience. Our mission is to develop the canon of contemporary voices through production of new and notable works by regional and national playwrights, creating unforgettable live theatre experiences that bring value to our lives. The RLTP ENSEMBLE is a stable, home base for key WNY artists, regardless of where they perform and with whom we collaborate regularly; comprised of select playwrights, actors, directors, technical and other theatre artists (at present, they total 35), the ensemble enables a WNY theatre industry association near and far. RLTP’s commitment to providing a home to local artists stretches beyond our regional community. We’ve now established BUFFALO'S OWN, a conduit for artists originally from Western New York who have been recognized nationally and return to Buffalo to collaborate with Road Less Traveled Productions. Past WNY native artists include A.R Gurney, Pam McKinnon, Sean Cullen, Chris Ash and Philip Carlson. RLTP REGIONAL RESIDENCY PROGRAMS offer local playwrights, selected by RLTP, up to a year of ongoing development support to their current work-in-progress. There is no charge to the playwright. Regional residencies are intended to support the playwright’s personal goals for their project. A selected playwright may receive additional support following their initial year-long residency. RLTP evaluates residencies in progress to determine if additional support is possible. RLTP NATIONAL RESIDENCY PROGRAMS offer playwrights from afar two funded trips to Buffalo, NY, where they will work with RLTP’s directors, actors, designers, and literary staff to develop their new play. An individual plan for development will be formulated according to the specific goals of the Playwright and remote support will be provided throughout the ten-month Residency. The Residency will conclude with a week-long intensive workshop in Buffalo culminating in two staged readings of the play, presented to the public. Our AMERICAN THEATRE MASTER SERIES brings highly recognized individuals to Buffalo; the series inspires local artists and exposes the WNY theatre community nationally; to date, RLTP Theatre Masters include Pam MacKinnon, A.R. Gurney, Edward Albee, Stephen Adly Guirgis, Alec Baldwin, Eric Bogosian, James Rebhorn and Donald Margulies. RLTP is an award-winning, seventeen-year-old, non-profit, professional theatre company that is the premier theatre in the Western New York (WNY) region for development and production of new plays. Since 2003, RLTP has produced 78 plays and has been nominated for 98 and won 26 Artvoice WNY Artie Awards for theatre excellence. The company has been nominated for Buffalo Spree Best Theatre Company award and won Best Production awards. In 2012, RLTP was selected as the first NYS-based member of the National New Play Network, an alliance of 43 non-profit theaters that champions the development, production, and continued life of new plays. RLTP is the only WNY theatre company to import nationally known theatre artists to appear in Buffalo to help educate and connect these artists with our WNY community. In 2017, RLTP was selected as 1 of 12 companies to receive a National Theatre Company Grant from the American Theatre Wing (producer of the Tony Awards). In 2018, RLTP collaborated with industry peers Shea’s Performing Arts Center, MusicalFare Theatre, Irish Classical Theatre Company and Theatre of Youth to establish All for One Theatre Productions, Ltd. which the group produced its first play collectively, The Three Musketeers at Shea’s 710 Theatre. In the past five years, RLTP has been cosistently involved in the re-birth of Shea’s 710 Theatre (formerly Studio Arena Theatre) by producing plays there annually (aside from its own theater space). Shea’s 710 Theatre opened in 2014 with RLTP’s production of Clybourne Park. In 2018, RLTP successfully built a brand-new, state-of-the-art, theater venue in the former Baker Shoes building in downtown Buffalo. It secured a long-term lease providing patrons high-quality entertainment and amenities including a full liquor lobby bar, comfortable stadium theater seating, and all access on the ground level. The venue is located within a bustling area of restaurants, coffee shops, bars, retail, hotels, parking and more. In 2019, RLTP was 1 of 3 nominated finalists as Organization of the Year for the 2019 SPARK Awards by Arts Services Initiative. The Road Less Traveled Theater is located at 456 Main Street, in downtown Buffalo, NY.