The Guthrie initiative will bring new plays to the studio space that has been home to more experimental work, like this "Tiny Kushner" play in 2009 with actors Valeri Mudek and Kate Eifrig. (Photo by Michal Daniel) (The Minnesota Star Tribune)

The Guthrie Theater has received a $1 million grant to underwrite an ambitious plan to expand the use of its ninth-floor space, including a $9 ticket for events there.

The grant, announced Wednesday, is a step in fulfilling Guthrie artistic director Joseph Haj's vision of a more dynamic and inclusive theater.

"We're very conscious that price is not the only barrier to entry," said Haj. "But we also know that price is a meaningful barrier to some cross-section of our community."

The three-year grant from the Mellon Foundation aims to help the Guthrie broaden its audiences, become more responsive and engage with more local, national and international companies. It will make the 200-seat Dowling Studio — the third and smallest of the theater's stages — and its adjoining amber-box lobby a focal point of the Guthrie's programming.

"When we talk about our largest cultural organizations, we often describe them as ocean liners," Haj said. "It's very hard to be nimble. I just started to think: If that is so, why can't we have three Zodiacs [boats] onboard where we can zip out and come back?"

The Guthrie will produce more shows in the studio, which has mostly been a place for subsidized rentals by Twin Cities theaters. It also will commission new works, including some from companies creating "devised" pieces over a long rehearsal period. The Guthrie has had little in the way of new-play support or commissioning since gutting its literary department during the economic downturn of 2007-08.

Next season, the studio will premiere a documentary play by KJ Sanchez about refugees and immigrants in the Twin Cities. The theater also will produce Jeanne Sakata's "Hold These Truths"; Jackie Sibblies Drury's "We Are Proud to Present a Presentation About the Herero of Namibia … ," and Frank Boyd's "The Holler Sessions."

The Guthrie also will hire a director of community engagement to broaden the theater's audience, including the young, people of color and various ethnic backgrounds.

The programming will include "happenings," described as "conversations, town hall meetings, salons, dance parties, performances and readings that are responsive to local and national current events."

Rohan Preston • 612-673-4390