ABSTRACT
This chapter commences with a brief discussion of community, its interrelationship with the house in a theatre and the type of performances that work to create community. The chapter discusses Signature theatre company in New York who has re-designed their theatre space to create a community environment. Signature wanted the New York community reflected on stages and in audiences. Socialising and finding a sense of community were some of the prime motivating factors for theatre attendance. As Tom, a lawyer from the United States, emphasises, theatre not only creates community, it needs community to form its audience. Sydney actor Mark Owen-Taylor describes how he can sometimes sense a wall of hostility coming from the audience. In the twenty first century, individuals have few places to physically commune with each other to feel part of a community: theatre houses have the potential to become a community space.
