Tricklock Company is dedicated to creating a new voice in theatre through intensive ensemble training and creation, international exchange and through the generation and championing of bold risk-taking projects. Since its inception Tricklock Company has continually honed a unique approach to the performance of poetic texts and to the creation of original physical theatre. The first original Tricklock Company show, created in 1996, was Demons and Flower Dresses, written and directed by Joe Peracchio.

It was after this undertaking that Tricklock Company began to seek out other companies with which to study, leading them to collaborate with Leonardo Shapiro of New York's Shaliko Company. Shapiro went on to direct Tricklock’s 1996-1997 touring production of Chekhov’s The Seagull, which critics across the country described as Tricklock's “Breakthrough Production.” The Seagull ran for 6 weeks in Albuquerque, NM before heading out to Baltimore, MD, where it ran for three weeks at the internationally renowned Baltimore Theatre Project.

The fall of 1996 not only marked Tricklock’s first tour, but also marked the birth of creative exchanges and intensive trainings with international companies and artists like double edge theatre of MA, The Staniewski Center for Theatre Practices in Gardzienice, Poland, and The Dell' Arte International School of Physical Theatre. These exchanges were the foundation for Tricklock’s international touring tradition and have given way to many new relationships and creative exchanges with companies and artists from around the world, including Lee Worley of the Open Theatre, Anne Bogart’s SITI Company, Bread and Puppet Theatre of Vermont, Obie-Award winning Beat Poet Michael McClure, Evoe Performing Artists of Düsseldorf, Germany, and many more. 1996 also witnessed the birth of The Reptilian Lounge – Albuquerque’s longest running late-night cabaret and community gathering. The Reptilian Lounge runs for 5 or 6 weeks at a time, 4 times per year, features artists and performers of all genres, and has become an underground staple for the Saturday night alternative.

Tricklock’s 1999 hit production of The Beard by Michael McClure garnered the highest of praises from the playwright, who visited the Company in Albuquerque that summer to kick off the production and tour. The Beard went on to win the Artistic Pick: Best of the Seattle Fringe Festival award and continued its run at the Tony-Award winning Seattle Repertory Theatre. McClure continues to be an ongoing supporter and fan of Tricklock, sending new plays for production consideration and attending and participating in annual events hosted by the Company.

The Revolutions International Theatre Festival was created in 2001 so that Tricklock could present Albuquerque with the revolutionary theatre they were seeing throughout the world while on tour. And because Tricklock was also training with many of these companies, the Festival’s mission includes not only presenting the Albuquerque community with world-class theatre, but also providing University students and the community with master classes from the visiting artists. The Festival, now in its sixth year, has featured 17 companies from 10 nations including England, Poland, Ukraine, Czech Republic, Germany, Norway, Russia, Israel, Canada, Ireland and the USA.

In 2002 Tricklock consolidated its many educational outreach efforts into one very intensive and exciting program: The Manoa Project: Teen Playwriting and Ensemble Apprenticeship Program. The project encourages the writing of bold, original, physical, and poetic plays by Albuquerque area teens. Tricklock and an apprentice ensemble of high school actors, stage managers, and designers develop the winning play toward full production and tour, with the apprentice ensemble participating in an intensive eight-week summer residency of script development, theatre training, rehearsal, and performance.

Eleven years of hard work has earned Tricklock Company many accolades, including the prestigious Bravos Award for Excellence in Theatre from the Albuquerque Arts Alliance, Best Theatre Company (five years running) in the Weekly Alibi readers poll, and support from foundations like the National Endowment for the Arts, the Trust for Mutual Understanding, the New Mexico Department of Tourism, the Lumpkin Foundation, Daen Rauscher Foundation, and the McCune Foundation. This year the company has reached more audience and produced more acclaimed productions than any previous year. Tricklock Company has completed five international tours (with a sixth one underway), performing 10 different shows in places like Hungary, Poland, The Czech Republic, Israel, Serbia and Germany, in festivals all over Canada, and in venues and Universities in Washington, Maryland, Vermont, Illinois and New Mexico. The group has doubled the size of the Revolutions Festival, hosted famed playwright and film maker Neil LaBute while presenting a collection of his unpublished works entitled COAX, and recently hosted Obie Award winning playwright and director Mac Wellman with talks of future collaboration. The Reptilian Lounge, the Revolutions International Theatre Festival, The Manoa Project, and the revolutionary community productions that Tricklock supports and produces exemplify the company’s commitment to fostering new work on all levels, from within the company and out in the community and the world.