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OUR MISSION
Arizona Theatre Matters creates theatre everyone can experience together.
We produce free online theatre that is built from the start for Blind, Deaf, hearing, and sighted audiences. Our productions include rich audio description, Artistic Sign Language performed by Deaf artists, captions in more than 300 languages, virtuosic voice acting, and luscious soundscapes as part of the creative work itself.
We build accessibility into every show from the first creative decision.
Our goal is simple: to make excellent theatre that reaches people wherever they are, regardless of ability, income, location, age, or access to a theatre building.
OUR BACKGROUND
OUR BACKGROUND
Since its founding in 2012, Arizona Theatre Matters has developed a new model for online theatre built from accessibility.
When the COVID-19 pandemic closed live theatres in 2020, ATM launched a YouTube channel so our work could continue. What began as a crisis response became a portal to the world. Today, ATM’s digital platform has more than 118,000 subscribers and over 1.3 million views across 194 countries.
ATM lives by the motto “Nothing about us without us.” We collaborate with Blind voice actors, Deaf sign language performers, directors, writers, designers, and artists across cultures and generations. Lived experience is central to the work, not added from the outside.
Our productions include captions, Artistic Sign Language performed by Deaf artists, rich audio description, narration, virtuosic voice acting, and sound-rich performance. These elements are built into the creative process from the beginning, so Blind, Deaf, hearing, and sighted audiences can experience the work together.
ATM offers free, high-quality theatre to people often left out of traditional theatre spaces, including Deaf and Blind audiences, aging populations, people in care-based settings, rural and remote communities, and anyone without easy access to a theatre building.
As we approach our 15th anniversary, ATM continues to show that accessibility is not a limitation. It is a source of artistic invention. Whether online, onstage, or in hybrid form, Arizona Theatre Matters creates theatre that reaches people wherever they are.