True Story Theater

True Story Theater’s mission is to build empathy, respect, and understanding across differences that divide us, through the honoring of true life stories.

True Story Theater is a nonprofit theater company, founded in 2001, that offers 50-75 improvisational performances and workshops a year in the greater Boston area and online. In addition to monthly public shows, we do many private events, with hospitals, universities, corporations, religious communities… with teen leaders, cancer survivors, activists, philanthropists, business leaders, and many more.

In performances, volunteers from the audience are helped to share what’s important in their lives.  On the spot, actors then portray the heart of what they heard using music, movement, and dialogue. From this simple interaction, people laugh, cry, share fresh insights, and bond.  Our events create a respectful atmosphere where every voice can be heard and any story told — however ordinary or extraordinary, difficult or joyful. True Story Theater offers audiences fresh perspectives, deeper connections, and a renewed appreciation for our common humanity.

Read our Frequently Asked Questions for what to expect when coming to a performance. Our form of improvised, deep listening theater, called “Playback Theatre,” is practiced by over 60 theatre companies in the US and Canada, and by hundreds of theatre companies in 70 countries around the world.