It
was an exciting year for Off-Off-Broadway and the 2014 nominees
represented the kind of exhilarating diversity that is being produced on
intimate stages all over New York City. We are very proud to celebrate the work of this community. Each day for the last two months, we have featured a different nominated production and talked with the artists about their inspirations and process.
The 59 nominated productions by 56 different organizations represented an eclectic group of theatrical creations. Subject matter ranged from stories of teenage angst and self-discovery, such as in Kim Katzberg’s Darkling or Kate Gersten’s First Love, to exploring epic questions about life after death as in Gideon Production’s Frankenstein Upstairs or Vincent Marano’s Lights Narrow; from intimate family dramas like Ann Napolitano’s Within Arm’s Reach to cosmic journeys that questioned the nature of God like La MaMa and the Lone Wolf Tribe’s production of The God Projekt.
There were productions that had international inspirations such as Theatre 167’s Pirira, which takes place during the civil unrest and riots in Malawi and Group.BR’s staging of the work of one of Brazil’s most famous poets Vinicius de Moraes in Infinite While It Lasts. While others like Lenore Wolf’s April March, Fragments from an Unintegrated Life focused on a story of an East Side artist or Nora Woolley's Hip which is set in Williamsburg. Many nominated productions addressed hot button social issues such as Aizzah Fatima’s Dirty Paki Lingerie or Buran Theatre Company’s Magic Bullets, which examined healthcare. And Take Wind and Soar Productions believe that they produced the first all African American production of The Importance of Being Earnest.
Magic Bullets by Buran Theatre Company And To the Republic by The Guerrilla Shakespeare Project
Photo by David Pym Photo by Debby Goldman Photography
Some productions utilized traditional theatrical techniques such as the shadow puppets in the New York Neo-Futurists’ Mute or the mime techniques used in At First Sight (and Other Stories); while others like Gyda Arber’s FutureMate broke ground by incorporating text and phone design elements. And other productions like Yara Arts Group’s Fire. Water. Night explored the juxtaposition of nature and modern technology.
Many of the productions were original works like Flux Theatre Ensemble’s Jane the Plain or Ground Up Productions’ Rubber Ducks and Sunsets while others were classics like Metropolitan Playhouse’s A Man’s World which was written at the turn of the century or Phoenix Theatre Ensemble’s production of Shaw’s Don Juan In Hell. And of course there was a healthy dose of deconstructed and reimagined Shakespearian productions like Three Day Hangover’s R+J: Star-Cross’d Death Match and The Guerrilla Shakespeare Project’s And to the Republic.
These posts provide a more in-depth look at this exciting work.
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| The New Stage Theatre Company's production of Cosmicomics Photo by Lee Wexler |
The 59 nominated productions by 56 different organizations represented an eclectic group of theatrical creations. Subject matter ranged from stories of teenage angst and self-discovery, such as in Kim Katzberg’s Darkling or Kate Gersten’s First Love, to exploring epic questions about life after death as in Gideon Production’s Frankenstein Upstairs or Vincent Marano’s Lights Narrow; from intimate family dramas like Ann Napolitano’s Within Arm’s Reach to cosmic journeys that questioned the nature of God like La MaMa and the Lone Wolf Tribe’s production of The God Projekt.
There were productions that had international inspirations such as Theatre 167’s Pirira, which takes place during the civil unrest and riots in Malawi and Group.BR’s staging of the work of one of Brazil’s most famous poets Vinicius de Moraes in Infinite While It Lasts. While others like Lenore Wolf’s April March, Fragments from an Unintegrated Life focused on a story of an East Side artist or Nora Woolley's Hip which is set in Williamsburg. Many nominated productions addressed hot button social issues such as Aizzah Fatima’s Dirty Paki Lingerie or Buran Theatre Company’s Magic Bullets, which examined healthcare. And Take Wind and Soar Productions believe that they produced the first all African American production of The Importance of Being Earnest.
Magic Bullets by Buran Theatre Company And To the Republic by The Guerrilla Shakespeare Project
Photo by David Pym Photo by Debby Goldman Photography
Some productions utilized traditional theatrical techniques such as the shadow puppets in the New York Neo-Futurists’ Mute or the mime techniques used in At First Sight (and Other Stories); while others like Gyda Arber’s FutureMate broke ground by incorporating text and phone design elements. And other productions like Yara Arts Group’s Fire. Water. Night explored the juxtaposition of nature and modern technology.
Many of the productions were original works like Flux Theatre Ensemble’s Jane the Plain or Ground Up Productions’ Rubber Ducks and Sunsets while others were classics like Metropolitan Playhouse’s A Man’s World which was written at the turn of the century or Phoenix Theatre Ensemble’s production of Shaw’s Don Juan In Hell. And of course there was a healthy dose of deconstructed and reimagined Shakespearian productions like Three Day Hangover’s R+J: Star-Cross’d Death Match and The Guerrilla Shakespeare Project’s And to the Republic.
These posts provide a more in-depth look at this exciting work.
- April March, Fragments of an Unintegrated Life
- Jane the Plain
- Julius Caesar
- Rent
- The Awake
- Dumbo
- Candide - The Musical
- Hip
- One is the Road
- My Father's Ashes
- Beckett in Benghazi
- Mute
- Dirty Paki Lingerie
- The Cottage
- The Glory of Living
- Life on the Mississippi
- A Little Night Music
- Relent, an Indie Musical
- A Man's World
- Cosmicomics
- And to the Republic
- The Chairs
- Pirira
- As You Like It
- The God Projekt
- The Simple Stories
- Nothing But Trash
- Frankenstein Upstairs
- The Complete & Condensed...
- Dark Water
- Darkling
- FutureMate
- An Appeal to the Woman of the House
- At First Sight (and Other Stories)
- Fatelessness
- Magic Bullets
- David's ReadHaired Death
- Salome: Da Voodoo Princess of Nawlins
- Rubber Ducks and Sunsets
- Chicken-Fried Ciccone: A Twangy True Tale Of Transformation
- Old Familiar Faces
- Don Juan In Hell
- Allegro
- Within Arm's Reach
- The Gin Baby
- The Pregnancy of Angela Freak
- Wild
- Luft Gangster
- Infinite While It Lasts
- R+J: Star-Cross'd Death Match
- The Lonesome West
- Gymnos: A Geek's Tragedy
- Sawbones & The Diamond Eater
- First Love
- Lights Narrow
- Fire. Water. Night
- The Importance of Being Earnest
- The Maiden
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