Our Stories. Our Stage. Our Legacy.
The 40 Acres Theatre Company is building an artistic home where creativity, courage, community, and cultural truth take center stage.
Who We Are
The 40 Acres Theatre Company is a nonprofit professional regional theatre company dedicated to bold storytelling, artistic excellence, education, and community transformation.
We create opportunities for performers, designers, technicians, educators, students, and emerging artists to develop their craft and share stories that reflect the beauty, struggle, strength, and complexity of the human experience.
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The name is inspired by the unfulfilled promise of “40 acres and a mule.”
It serves as both a historical reminder and a declaration of purpose: to reclaim creative ownership, create opportunities where they have been denied, and ensure that our stories are presented with dignity, truth, depth, and artistic freedom.
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At the 40 Acres Theatre Company and Legacy Academy, we believe in the power of storytelling — not just to entertain, but to enlighten.
Our mission is to create a space where truth takes center stage, where artists of every background can stand tall and tell stories that reflect the beauty, the struggle, and the strength of the human experience.
We’re here to bridge communities, challenge convention, and train the next generation of visionaries in acting, dance, visual arts, and technical theatre. This is about legacy — about creating opportunities where there once was none, and ensuring that creativity, courage, and community remain at the heart of everything we do.
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We envision a world where art does more than imitate life — it transforms it.
The 40 Acres Theatre Company and Legacy Academy stand as a unified force: a creative ecosystem where performance meets purpose, and every stage becomes a platform for change.
Here, art reflects truth. It heals wounds. It builds bridges. And it reminds us — every curtain call, every class, every conversation — that we are capable of extraordinary transformation when we come together.
How We Are Structured
The 40 Acres Theatre Company
The professional performance, production, and community-facing arm of the organization.
Legacy Academy of Visual and Performing Arts
The education and training arm serving youth, adults, emerging artists, and future theatre professionals.
Our Core Values
Founder and Executive Artistic Director
For James R. Ellison III, theatre is more than a stage—it is a calling, a classroom, and a responsibility.
With more than two decades of experience as an actor, director, producer, educator, and arts leader, James creates work rooted in humanity, dignity, cultural truth, and possibility. His credits include performing in THURGOOD and directing A Raisin in the Sun, a production that strengthened his belief that theatre should create space for truth, reflection, and connection.
As Founder and Executive Artistic Director of The 40 Acres Theatre Company, James is building more than productions. He is creating pathways for Black artists, young people, technicians, and emerging leaders to learn, create, and thrive.
His leadership philosophy is grounded in stewardship, mentorship, collaboration, and community accountability. He believes Sacramento should not only be a place where talent begins, but where it is cultivated, supported, and sustained.
Through The 40 Acres Theatre Company and Legacy Academy, James is helping build a lasting artistic home for Black storytelling, arts education, and creative leadership.
James R. Ellison III
Dedicated Staff
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Kelvin Truitt
Executive Producer
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Lisa Sandoval
Director of Training & Education
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Venesha Rosseau
Managing Director