The 1970s were an important time in the Twin Cities Theatre History, and Theatre in the Round Players cemented its legacy of being an incubator and resource to the growing arts community.

In 1973, TRP co-founded the Minnesota Association of Community Theatre. That same year, Theatre in the Round advanced through state, regional, and national festivals to first-place with its production of The Unknown Solider, which represented the United States overseas at the international theatre festival in Monaco. In the years to follow, TRP would win first-place at the state level seven times and first-place at the regional level twice, a record for any theatre in the state.

TRP pioneered theatre for underrepresented communities in the Twin Cities. In 1975, TRP’s hit production of the area premiere of The Great White Hope drew attention to the lack of local opportunities for actors of color: TRP used proceeds from the production to help start a theatre dedicated to African-American experience – Penumbra Theatre in St. Paul. The following year, TRP produced Sizwe Banzai Is Dead, the first staging of an Athol Fugard play in the Twin Cities; during this time, TRP pioneered color-blind casting in the Cities.

In 1976, TRP produced the first Vietnamese play in the area, Genghis Khan by Vu Khac Khoan; in the same year, the success of The Faggot, convinced its cast and company members that the Cities could support a gay theatre group. A special benefit performance helped raise funds for the beginning of Out And About Theatre, the Twin Cities’ first gay theatre group, which became one of the longest-running in the country.

In 1977, Time of the Indian was presented, a dramatization of poetry written by Minnesota Indians, and one of the first Native American productions staged in the Cities.