Three Dorchester residents are playing key roles in the Boston debut of Some Explicit Polaroids, a play by Mark Ravenhill that will be staged at the Boston Center for the Arts’ Calderwood Pavilion next month.

The play is the first production of the year for the Brown Box Theatre Project, a company founded in 2009 by Kimberly Barrante and Kyler Taustin. Although Barrante remains in NYC, Taustin, who is the show’s artistic director, he moved the company to Boston, where he attended Emerson College.

Taustin, who now lives in Dorchester, said he and Barrante created the theatre company to take control of their acting and directing careers and create opportunities that stem from other actors’ passions.

“We created a submission policy for the group which allows all theatre artists to tell us about a show they are passionate about and an idea they have,” he said. “We feel we will find success in our own careers and in the eyes of our audience.”

 The theatre company stayed in NYC for two years before they got a “reality check.”

Taustin said the Boston community offers more work and he is able to balance his career in theatre and almost fund his career.

“Once you’re out of theatre school, it is a huge attraction to move to L.A. or NYC since they are a home base for performing arts,” he said. “But, Dorchester is a diverse community and we’re trying to expand the reach of our audience in that area.”

After the tour of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night in Delaware and Taustin’s hometown in Maryland, Brown Box is currently preparing for Some Explicit Polaroids, a show about six people living in a city who must deal with a lifestyle of politics, sex, and drugs. 

Chelsea Schmidt (Helen) and Joe Ruscio (Nick), the two Dorchester actors of the six-member cast, lived in many areas of Boston and have called Dorchester home for over a year. Both agreed that this area is one of their favorite parts of Boston.

 Schmidt and Ruscio not only act for Brown Box, but also help with the marketing and administrative side of the company, respectively.

 A California native, Schmidt moved to Boston in 2005 when attending Emerson and has lived in the North End, Brookline, and the South End. She said she has been acting for 13 years, working as a freelance actor for different Boston companies such as Theatre on Fire and Bad Habit Productions.

 “It is such a wonderful community here, you know everyone from the local coffee shop. I always feel like I’m a part of the community not just a random person here,” Schmidt said. “Local actors in a show in downtown Boston, will be representing the community and very unique.”

 Ruscio, another Emerson alumnus, grew up in Norwood. He has also acted in some of the same theatre companies as Schmidt and they currently live in the same apartment in Dorchester.

Brown Box wants to eventually provide free acting programs and provide areas like Dorchester with theatre education and perform free plays at schools, Ruscio said.

 “It is our goal that once we make a name for ourselves, we want to give back to community in positive way,” Ruscio said. “We want people to have access to these programs, especially in areas where they may not be offered.”  

 Upcoming shows for the 2012 Brown Box Theater’s season are Can This Marriage Be Saved? and Romeo and Juliet. 

“I believe that the Boston theatre community has laid the groundwork for great collaboration through supportive organizations and we are very excited to be a new member of this community,” Taustin said. “We came to Boston believing that this area could provide us better opportunity to grow and would appreciate the type of work that we do.”

Performances will be held February 17-19 and 23-26 at the Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts. For more information, go to their website at brownboxtheatre.org.