Draft:RAT Conference



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'''The RAT Conference''' was a national, and later international, confederacy of small nonprofit 
theatre companies and individual theatre workers active from 1994 to 2004.

==Background==
The RAT Conference emerged as a deliberate counterpoint to the established regional theatre model 
of the United States. Its core philosophy was inclusiveness (''whoever comes, is'') and 
non-commercialism, rooted in what participants described as a "gift economy" of art exchange. In 
spirit, it continued a tradition stretching back to the early twentieth-century 
[[Little Theatre Movement]], which had sought to create spaces for experimental and reform-minded 
work outside commercial production structures.

==Founding==
RAT was first conceived by playwright [[Erik Ehn]] in an article titled "A Proposal and an Alarum 
Toward Big Cheap Theater," published in the Yale journal ''Theatre'' (Volume 24, Number 2, 
1993),<ref>{{cite journal |last=Ehn |first=Erik |title=A Proposal and an Alarum Toward Big Cheap 
 Theater |journal=Theater |volume=24 |issue=2 |year=1993 |publisher=Yale School of Drama / Duke 
 University Press}}</ref> in which he proposed a national Art Workers Hostelry, described as "a 
national service organization that provides art exchanges between small non-profit theaters."

The inaugural gathering took place in December 1994 at The Iowa Playwrights Workshop — the 
[[University of Iowa]]'s MFA Program in Playwriting.<ref>{{cite news |last=Phillips |first=Michael 
 |title=By any name, a New Rat Pack's in the Offing |newspaper=[[The San Diego Union-Tribune]] |
 date=1994-12-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=DeDanan |first=Mary |title=A Vaudeville of Cheap 
 Theaters: Local Playwright Erik Ehn Starts New National Network |newspaper=Callboard |
 date=April 1995}}</ref> It included members from the following theatres:

* [[The Living Theatre]], New York City
* Thieves Theatre, Brooklyn
* [[Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company]], Washington, D.C.
* [[Seven Stages]], Atlanta
* Hillsborough Moving Company, Tampa
* Frontera Productions, Austin
* Salvage Vanguard, Austin
* The Public Domain, Austin
* Physical Plant, Austin
* [[Undermain Theatre]], Dallas
* [[Sledgehammer Theatre]], San Diego
* Theater E, San Diego
* Bottom's Dream, Los Angeles
* [[Annex Theatre]], Seattle
* [[Ten Thousand Things Theater]], Minneapolis

It was this gathering that gave birth to the name ''The RAT Conference'', variously interpreted as 
 Regional Alternative Theater, Radical Alternative Theater, or ''raggedyass theater'' — after the 
resilient rodents surviving in great numbers via an active underground network.

==Structure and activities==
RAT operated as a loose confederacy rather than a formal institution. Membership was open and 
non-exclusive. Roughly annual conferences rotated among U.S. cities and, later, internationally, 
with participants sharing work, aesthetics, and collaborative methods.

Iowa City (1994); Seattle (1995),<ref>{{cite news |last=Snyder |first=Diane L. |title=RATs Invade 
 Seattle for Annual Alternative Theatre Conference |newspaper=Back Stage West |
 date=1995-09-08}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=DeDanan |first=Mary |title=Conference of Rats: 
 An Assembly, a Network, a Movement, an Argument, a Rave, a Celebration |
 journal=[[American Theatre (magazine)|American Theatre]] |date=December 1995}}</ref> Minneapolis 
(1996); Austin (1996),<ref>{{cite news |last=Faires |first=Robert |title=A Swarm of Wily, Unruly 
 Theatre Types Meet in the Heat: Raving About Theatre |newspaper=[[Austin Chronicle]] |
 date=August 1996}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Faires |first=Robert |title=Articulations: RAT 
 Droppings |url=https://www.austinchronicle.com/arts/1996-08-16/532394/ |
 newspaper=[[Austin Chronicle]] |date=1996-08-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Barnes |
 first=Michael |title=Artists Descend in Search of Big, Cheap Performance: Rat rave in the heat 
 wave |newspaper=[[Austin American-Statesman]] |date=1996-08-08}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |
 last=Sweeney |first=Matthew |title=The 3½ RAT Conference in Austin, Texas: Diary of a RAT |
 newspaper=[[The Stranger (newspaper)|The Stranger]] |date=September 1996}}</ref> New York City 
(1997),<ref>{{cite news |last=McKinley |first=Jesse |title=Civil War on the Fringe: In the 
 Terrain That Spawned 'Rent,' a Morality Play: Who's Fringier Than Thou? |
 url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/08/17/nyregion/civil-war-on-the-fringe.html |
 newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=1997-08-17}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Nunns |
 first=Stephen |title=RATFEST! Raggedy-Ass Theaters and A New Way |
 newspaper=[[The Village Voice]] |date=1997-08-19}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Carr |first=C. |
 title=FRINGEAPALOOZA! A Festival Turns Experimental Theater Into Off-Off World |
 newspaper=[[The Village Voice]] |date=1997-09-09}}</ref> Los Angeles (1999),<ref>{{cite news 
 |last=Shirley |first=Don |title=Big Cheeses to Break Bread With RATs |
 url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-jul-18-ca-57128-story.html |
 newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=1999-07-18}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=The Rodents Are 
 Coming |url=https://www.laweekly.com/the-rodents-are-coming/ |
 newspaper=[[LA Weekly]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Kendt |first=Rob |title=RAT Packs 'Em In |
 newspaper=Back Stage West |date=1999-07-28}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Williams |
 first=Mark London |title=RATs Swarm City of Angels: In search of a theatre where less is more 
 and inefficiency is good |journal=[[American Theatre (magazine)|American Theatre]] |
 date=October 1999}}</ref> Iowa City (2000); Novi Sad, Yugoslavia (2000); Philadelphia 
(2001),<ref>{{cite news |last=S.D. |first=Trav |title=Stage Left: RAT Tales |
 newspaper=[[The Village Voice]] |date=2001-07-04}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Dengle |
 first=Bridgit |title=Brooklyn and Beyond ... RAT |newspaper=Show Business |
 date=2001-07-11}}</ref> San Francisco (2002),<ref>{{cite news |last=S.D. |first=Trav |
 title=Stage Left: The Rat Pack Hits Frisco |newspaper=[[The Village Voice]] |
 date=2002-10-11}}</ref> Rosario, Argentina (2003),<ref>{{cite news |
 title=Experimenta abre el debate a otras miradas |newspaper=La Capital |date=2003-12-12 |
 language=es}}</ref> and Las Vegas (2004).

Over its ten-year existence, RAT facilitated dozens of cross-company collaborations and 
co-productions.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Novak |first=Peter |last2=Sellar |first2=Tom 
 |title=The Rat Race |journal=Theater |volume=27 |issue=2–3 |year=1996 
 |publisher=Yale School of Drama / Duke University Press}}</ref><ref>{{cite web 
 |title=Rebellion in the Regional Ranks |
 url=https://www.npr.org/2005/04/22/4518840/rebellion-in-the-regional-ranks |website=[[NPR]] |
 date=2005-04-22}}</ref>

Between conferences, the internet served as the primary medium for sustaining relationships and 
initiating joint projects. Thieves Theatre took on an organizational role, establishing an email 
listserv and a website (ratconference.com) that became the connective tissue of the movement 
between annual face-to-face gatherings. The archives are maintained by Thieves Theatre (renamed 
International Culture Lab in 2007) to this day.

==Legacy==
The RAT Conference is considered a notable early example of the internet's direct influence on 
artistic community-building and peer collaboration in the American theatre. It documented a 
formative period in which digital communication tools enabled a geographically dispersed movement 
to function with cohesion previously unavailable to fringe and alternative 
theatre.<ref>{{cite journal |last=S.D. |first=Trav |title=Reinventing the RATs: is it possible 
 to discern a specific direction... |
 url=https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Reinventing+the+RATs%3A+is+it+possible+to+discern+a+specific+direction...-a097228081 
 |journal=[[American Theatre (magazine)|American Theatre]] |date=February 2003}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://www.ratconference.com/rat.htm The RAT Conference]
* [https://thievestheatre.org/rat-conference Rat Conference – Thieves Theatre]

That's the definitive version. With Ehn's founding article restored alongside more than twenty independent secondary sources spanning the New York Times, Village Voice, LA Times, American Theatre, and others, this is a very well-documented entry. Good luck with the resubmission!

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