It all started in a Black Box

Atlese LaRita Robinson is a writer, performer, director, producer, and the founding artistic director of Ambiance Theatre Company. Hailing from Saint Paul, MN by way of Chicago, IL, Atlese grew up to become a storyteller from watching her mother tell imaginative and improvised bedtime stories as a child. An avid reader of greats such as Maya Angelou, Atlese began to hone her gift of writing and performing in youth theatre arts programs such as Penumbra Theatre Company’s Summer Institute and Saint Paul Central High School’s Central Touring Theatre (CTT).

Upon beginning her Bachelor of Arts in Theatre at Augsburg Univerisity, Atlese began working in professional theatres across Twin Cities, MN in various roles from box office associate, electrician, assistant director, and performer to form a well-rounded and robust expertise as a creator of devised theatre. Atlese is a multi-award winning artist earning fellowships and grants from Pillsbury House and Theatre, The Guthrie Theater, Red Eye Theater, Springboard for the Arts, Minnesota State Arts Board, Metropolitan Regional Arts Council (MRAC), and many more.

Atlese's most recent works include Queen Mother (Red Eye Theater), Conflicted Hearts (Theatre 45),  Black Wall Street: The Burning of Dreamland Theater (MN Fringe), and The Burning of Greenwood (Nimbus Theatre), which went on to be one of the most successful productions at Nimbus Theatre. Atlese's most recently published work, Withered Clovers (Gumbo Media), is an investigative memoir examining the housing disparities in MN.  Atlese recently completed her Master of Science in Strategic Marketing at the University of Sussex in Brighton, UK. Her current focus is to continue to study the Black performance aesthetic across the African diaspora to develop her own methodology of devised theatre to educate her communities in theatrical practices that can combat mental illness, sustain healthy community relationships, and continue the tradition of cultural expression and exchange through the arts.