MMAS is the brain child of Executive Director Ken Butler. The organization was founded in 1993 by eight arts-loving friends sitting around Ken's kitchen table. Ken and the group envisioned an organization that would promote and foster the arts (both performing and visual) throughout Southeastern Massachusetts.
Today, MMAS is home to the 80-seat Black Box Theater, the New England Repertory Company, the Morini Art Gallery, the Mansfield Art Association, the North End Coffee House Open Mic nights, and hosts the annual SE Massachusetts Arts Festival. A cable show, Arts in the Spotlight, is shown in Mansfield, Norton and Foxboro and highlights artists from surrounding communities.
The Black Box Theater has an 8 -10 show season, comprised of plays, musicals and original works. MMAS provides new writers a platform to workshop and present their plays to the public as well as give opportunities to area actors, directors and musicians to develop their craft in quality theatrical productions. Over 100 different actors have appeared on our stage, coming from towns and cities all over Southeastern Massachusetts.
In 2010, MMAS was listed in the top €˜1,000 Places to Visit' by the Massachusetts Tourism Board; the only other destination named in the area was Patriot Place. And for the past three years MMAS has been named either the Gold or Silver for "Best Place to see Theater" in the Gatehouse Media Readers' Choice Awards.