The American Southwest Theatre Company (ASTC) is a not-for-profit corporation (501c-3), governed by a Board of Directors made up of company and community members who value the arts and philanthropy. It is a separate, not-for-profit organization that works with the NMSU Theatre Department in a mutually exclusive production arrangement. NMSU Theatre Department Head Wil Kilroy serves as the Managing Director/Treasurer of ASTC.

ASTC was founded in 1984 by Dr. Bruce Streett and Tony Award-winning playwright Mark Medoff. Their purpose was to invite visiting Guest Artists to work alongside a Resident Company of theatre professionals to enrich the community and New Mexico State University’s Department of Theatre students.

ASTC’s Resident Company members teach courses for the Department of Theatre and lead the production of ASTC/NMSU’s theatrical season while working professionally around the nation to forge valuable artistic connections.

ASTC’s visiting Guest Artists are funded solely by ASTC’s Board of Directors’ fundraising efforts. Recent guest include Casting Director Mark Paladini, Actor, Stand-Up Comedian, Singer/Songwriter and Theatre Director Zachariah Stearn, Actors Tracy Liz Miller and Alison Cimmet, and Theatrical Intimacy Educator Chelsea Pace.

The ASTC Board supports NMSU Theatre Arts through a series of events/fundraisers, through program ads, and through Board donations (see Giving Guidelines ). Currently, the Board contributes to student travel to conferences and auditions, and the High Desert New Play Development Workshop .

The Board carries out its activities in accord with bylaws that define its structure, governance, and mission.

NMSU Theatre Arts and the American Southwest Theatre Company Arts support New Mexico State University and its College of Arts and Sciences by providing quality education and enriching culture and diversity through scholarship and creative activities. We promote social mobility and leadership skills, supporting life-long discovery and the creation of thoughtful, responsible, and passionate citizens through a broad-based, liberal arts education that combines courses in theatre performance, history, literature, theory, design, and technical production. The department serves as a major cultural outreach asset to the campus and community through its affiliation with the American Southwest Theatre Company, and values learning and knowledge, diversity, respect, collaboration, leadership, outreach, integration of theory and practice, new theatrical works, via rigor and commitment.