UTP is a social and political theatre company that draws upon a 30-year lineage of distinctive new theatre works based on a process of dialogue between contemporary theatre practice and diverse communities. Stories and images of contemporary life are created in collaboration with teams of artists from hybrid art practices and diverse cultural backgrounds. A succession of leading Australian artists has enabled the company to remain at the forefront of ground breaking new processes that have led to seminal theatre works, mapping the shifting dynamics of urban life and artistic development over three decades of contemporary Australia.

The philosophy and artists of UTP have driven an investigation of new forms, new collaborations and new contexts, consistently challenging and reinvigorating art form practice.

As a way of reaching a new constituency in its early years, a collective of young performance-makers made work on the streets, later shifting to art in working life processes, placing artists in working sites such as mining towns (Coal Town, 1984) and factories (Behind the Seams, 1988). In the early 90s the company moved to western Sydney and began to make works where communities became the performers as well as an essential part of the devising process, such as Café Hakawati (1991), a collaboration with Arabic-speaking communities at the time of the first Gulf War. In the mid 90's UTP began creating site-specific intimate spectacles, intersecting community cultural development and contemporary performance practice. Under the artistic direction of Fiona Winning and John Baylis, landmark works included Hip Hopera (1995), Trackwork (1997), Speed St (1999) and Asylum (2001).

This is Urban Theatre Projects' intimate spectacle: an entire suburban street performing itself... Even better, this is a spectacle that stares back at its audience.

Dr Ian Maxwell, Postwest

Since Alicia Talbot's Artistic Directorship commenced in 2001 a new brand of work has propelled the company into an exciting phase of growth, extending its profile and reputation nationally and internationally. Talbot has shifted the model of community engagement to position community members as expert consultants. As such, they are invited to share opinions and observations about the world as they perceive it and are paid for their contribution within the devising process. Talbot describes this as “public dialogue”. This process grounds projects with an authencity that blurs the line between theatrical artifice and everyday life. Audiences are positioned in a territory that emphasises the emotional and physical reality of the work.

This is a visionary approach to arts development, placing it at the centre of audience development, cultural engagement and general concepts of cultural pluralism that have global resonance and social simpatico.

Tina Rasmussen, Director of Performing Arts, Harbourfront Centre – Toronto, Canada

Recent works, The Fence premiered at Sydney Festival 2010 and The Last Highway premiered as part of Sydney Festival 2008. The acclaimed trilogy The Cement Garage, The Longest Night (both presented as part of Adelaide Festival 2002), and Back Home (Sydney Festival 2006). Back Home has since toured to The Dreaming festival in 2006 and Toronto's international arts festival LuminaTO in conjunction with a development project commissioned by Harbourfront Centre in June 2007.

In addition to the work of the Artistic Director, UTP has a producing relationship with a diverse family of artists in the contemporary arts sector. Years of producing a diverse range of projects varying in scale and location, and informed by multiple art form practices and cultural perspectives, have equipped the company with the expertise to produce guest teams of artists in the creation of new work.