ASTORIA — On Ten Fifteen Productions’ list of coming attractions, no word speaks so loud as a single punctuation mark. It’s a surprise, a pause, a question in itself that asks, “But is it?” 

“America the Beautiful?” is the Astoria-based theater’s theme for the coming year, a lineup of six performances inspired by the nation’s 250th birthday celebration, designed not so much to celebrate as provoke.

“I wanted to emphasize that we were not necessarily feeling patriotic, in the traditional sense, in terms of what our selections were going to be,” said Danyelle Tinker, Ten Fifteen’s executive artistic director. So, when it came time to ask for proposals for scripts for the coming year, along with the theme, Tinker included a note. “I said I wanted proposals that connect to that idea that maybe our country isn’t as great as one would like to think it is.” 

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It’s that kind of mindset that has earned Ten Fifteen the reputation as the North Coast theater that doesn’t take it easy.

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“Ten Fifteen is known for doing shows that are different,” said Sue Neuer, actor and former board member. “They pick topics that are controversial sometimes. They do theater that makes people think. I think that’s their forte; they pride themselves on that. People who patronize that theater look forward to the shows that are produced there.” 

Ten Fifteen grew out of an earlier theater company attempt at the 1015 Commercial Street site, adopting its current name in 2020. In 2021, it became a nonprofit, operating under Ten Fifteen Productions. Tinker joined that year, bringing with her the edgy sensibility for which it’s become known.

“I have always been very strongly of the opinion that that theater serves to, yes, entertain, but also spark conversation and expose people to other ways of thinking or personal experiences that might be a little out of their comfort zone,” Tinker said.    

This was the first year the nonprofit met the National Endowment for the Arts’ criteria requiring operation for at least five years to receive grant money. Tinker was hopeful the group might secure some much-needed funding.  “It would have been a huge weight off our backs. What I had hoped for would be funds to cover the $40,000 cost of our season, which would mean every ticket sold would be profit that could be used toward overhead and developing new programs.”    

She was deep into the paperwork that is a government contract when she learned that under the new rules, the NEA would not fund programs promoting Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI). “It was irritating on a number of levels,” she recalled. “I kind of hemmed and hawed.” But since she had to get the group registered with the NEA anyway, “I thought, we’ll see where this goes, and if I’m feeling spiteful, maybe I will apply [for a grant] anyway.”

Meanwhile, she took a trip to New York City, where she visited the Drama Book Shop, spending hours lost in stories, none more engaging than those highlighting the “less than shiny aspects of living in the U.S.”

Returning home, she found a new hurdle. “The NEA had updated the grant-funding site to say that they would only be supporting projects that focused on the United States and celebrating the fact that we’re going into the 250th birthday.” But that was OK, too, because now Tinker had all those stories from the Drama Book Shop just begging to be shared. “I thought, I can do this. I can make this look bright and shiny and lovely, celebratory on paper.”

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And maybe she could have, but she never got to find out, because the nonprofit theater’s NEA registration didn’t get approved until after the deadline.

Nevertheless, the theme stuck.

The 2026 season opens in January with What the Constitution Means to Me and ends with Assassins a year later. Tinker describes the opening show — a 2019 finalist for the Pulitizer Prize in drama by Heidi Schreck — as a “delightful show that ultimately debates whether or not we should abolish the Constitution.” Assassins, by John Weidman with songs by Stephen Sondheim, is “…a one-act historical ‘revusical’ that explores the dark side of the American experience.”

In between the lightness of the Constitution and the historically murderous look at our nation’s presidents, are Rx, a comedy about “big love, big dreams and Big Pharma”; Hurricane Diane, starring “a permaculture gardener dripping with butch charm”; Sensitive Guys, featuring a cast of five playing dual roles; and the mid-season Time Stands Still about a “photojournalist and a foreign correspondent trying to find happiness in a world that seems to have gone crazy.”

The lineup may be provocative, but more importantly, it’s meant to inspire curiosity and make people think, said Ryan Hull, Ten Fifteen board member.  “I love that we’re starting off with What the Constitution Means to Me. When people get done with this show and want to take a look at the Constitution, read what it has to say, and think about it, then that, to me, is a huge success. I think it’s vital in this day and age that we don’t lose sight of that.”

Ten Fifteen patrons know not to expect what Neuer calls the usual “milquetoast … run-of-the mill” fare from the group. The 2025 season, themed “Family Matters” offered Marjorie Prime, a sci-fi story centered around an 85-year-old with Alzheimer’s and the hologram that is her companion.

“That was about having this AI figure be your mother’s support system and have that evolve within the family and how an intimacy grew with this relationship with this machine,” said Celia Davis, a regular in the audience. “That was a difficult but also incredibly timely topic.”

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Local performing artist Marco Davis wrote, directed, and performed in the spring showing of Again! The Act of Perfection, his story of growing up gay in Astoria. Davis left his hometown, then returned to “be the person I wish I would have had when I was growing up here.”    

“The performer is telling his story on the stage in the town in which it took place,” said Celia Davis, no relation to Marco. “You can’t get any more intimate and community oriented than that, and with a very powerful story.  It’s just a remarkable, truthful story the community needed to hear. I’m very proud of Ten Fifteen for putting it on. They take on sexual things, political things. I don’t always enjoy everything, but I appreciate being exposed. The energy is always terrific. The effort is always professional. We’re so fortunate to have the people we have in such an intimate environment.”

While it’s true that the 71-seat Ten Fifteen is not typically a theater you take the kids to, Tinker has plans to involve the younger set. One of her hopes for the grant money was to develop a theater education program geared toward both adults and teens. That  remains high on her wish list.

“It would be free to students, while paying the instructors a fair stipend for their time,” Tinker said. “We’ve found that on the occasions that we’ve been able to offer a class for free, it fills up quickly. However, we struggle to get a minimum number of students for classes that charge any amount. Literally, $10 seems to be out of reach for many in our community. Knowing that the cost of our season was in the bag would have allowed us to direct resources to making this a reality.”

The program may still happen, albeit on a smaller scale, Tinker said.   

While the theater classes remain but a wish, some would-be actors take their lessons right on stage.

“Everything here is produced by local volunteers,” Tinker said. “Our auditions are open. We encourage anyone to come in, and all experience levels are welcome. We have actors who have been doing this their entire lives. The less experienced learn from the experienced. I’m really proud of the community that has been built within that.”

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In the most recent 2025 production, The Guy Who Didn’t Like Musicals, four of the eight actors had never been on stage before. Was it obvious to the audience? Yep. Was it as fully polished as it might have been? No.

“It’s a tricky balance to put on the best show you possibly can versus also really being true to the fact that we are a community theater, and that sometimes means we need to give opportunity to those in the community who might not have the background or expertise some of our volunteers do,” Tinker said.

“But to see the growth that happened between the final week of rehearsals and closing night just filled me with so much pride,” she continued. “These actors got their footing and discovered what it meant to perform for an audience and all the nuances that are involved with that. It was really quite heartening.”