Borderlands Theater is a Tucson, Arizona-based community activist theater group that was founded in 1986. The group has its origins in an earlier radical activist theater group called Libertad. The late founder and director of the theater, Barclay Goldsmith, was noted for promoting left-of-center social and economic programs and ethnic diversity and stated in his history of the company that he and other inhabitants of the U.S.-Mexico border region were trespassers. The theater consciously focuses on left-of-center issues, such as the environment, immigration, and refugees. ^{1 2}

Founding and History

Borderlands Theater was founded in 1986 by Barclay Goldsmith and other members of the traveling activist theater group Libertad. Previously, the Libertad group would often perform outdoors at activist events, such as union picket lines. The goal of forming the theater was in part to secure a permanent home for the group. ³

Libertad provided a variety of activist training that Borderlands Theater has carried on in its work, though Borderlands became less focused on direct participation in activism. The late founder, Barclay Goldsmith, noted that Borderlands had explored local issues through its productions ranging from environmentalism to immigration and refugees. ⁴

Finances

In the fiscal year ending in June 2023, Borderlands Theater reported $122,207 in revenue, of which $57,496 was derived from contributions and grants and $64,303 from program service revenue. It reported $170,149 in expenses, of which $119,290 was paid to independent contractors. It ended the year with a deficit of $47,942 and net assets of $37,866. ⁵

Organization Philosophy

Borderlands Theater’s late founder, Barclay Goldsmith, characterized the Spanish, Mexican, Anglo, and other ethnicities that settled the border region of the U.S. and Mexico as being trespassers, and characterized those who moved there in contemporary times as also being trespassers. This assertion is how Goldsmith began his essay on the history of the theater he founded in 1986. ⁶

Goldsmith stated that Borderlands had its origins in an earlier radical travelling theater group called Libertad that was formed in the 1970s. He characterized the group as being a rebellion in aesthetics, politics, and language. He also attributed his time with Libertad as being valuable training and experience for him and others who would go on to found Borderlands Theater with a permanent theater home, especially regarding the social activism aspect of their work. ⁷

Borderlands has put on productions emphasizing left-of-center issues, ranging from environmental concerns to illegal immigration and refugees. ⁸ Borderlands was recognized for its advocacy efforts in a column in The Observer by Lane Sugata that called for philanthropists to fund more activist theaters like Borderlands. ⁹

Founder

Barclay Goldsmith founded Borderlands Theater in 1986. He was previously involved in the radical activist theater group Libertad, and many members of that group would become involved in Borderlands. He died in 2024 and was memorialized as always working to promote left-of-center causes like social justice and ethnic diversity in the plays he directed and produced through Borderlands. ^{10 11}

1. ^[1] Goldsmith, Barclay. “Borderlands History.” BorderlandsTheater.org. Accessed August 26, 2024. https://www.borderlandstheater.org/about/history/
2. Burch, Cathalena E. “Barclay Goldsmith, Founder of Tucson’s Borderlands Theater, Dies at 87.” Arizona Daily Star, April 5, 2024. Accessed August 26, 2024.  https://tucson.com/life-entertainment/local/art-theater/barclay-goldsmith-borderlands-theater-tucson/article_5406b282-f2a1-11ee-b9a0-2b24833e02db.html
3. Goldsmith, Barclay. “Borderlands History.” BorderlandsTheater.org. Accessed August 26, 2024. https://www.borderlandstheater.org/about/history/.
4.  Goldsmith, Barclay. “Borderlands History.” BorderlandsTheater.org. Accessed August 26, 2024. https://www.borderlandstheater.org/about/history/.
5. Borderlands Theater, Return of an Organization Exempt from income tax (Form 990), 2023, Part I.
6. Goldsmith, Barclay. “Borderlands History.” BorderlandsTheater.org. Accessed August 26, 2024. https://www.borderlandstheater.org/about/history/.
7. Goldsmith, Barclay. “Borderlands History.” BorderlandsTheater.org. Accessed August 26, 2024. https://www.borderlandstheater.org/about/history/.
8. Goldsmith, Barclay. “Borderlands History.” BorderlandsTheater.org. Accessed August 26, 2024. https://www.borderlandstheater.org/about/history/.
9. Sugata, Lane. “The Case for Funding Theater to Advance Social Justice.” Observer, July 26, 2024. Accessed August 26, 2024. https://observer.com/2024/07/how-theater-investments-can-advance-social-justice/.
10. Goldsmith, Barclay. “Borderlands History.” BorderlandsTheater.org. Accessed August 26, 2024. https://www.borderlandstheater.org/about/history/.
11. Burch, Cathalena E. “Barclay Goldsmith, Founder of Tucson’s Borderlands Theater, Dies at 87.” Arizona Daily Star, April 5, 2024. Accessed August 26, 2024.  https://tucson.com/life-entertainment/local/art-theater/barclay-goldsmith-borderlands-theater-tucson/article_5406b282-f2a1-11ee-b9a0-2b24833e02db.html.