The Maids

Produced by The Seeing Place Theater
Written by Jean Genet
Directed by Erin Cronican and Brandon Walker

Nominations: Outstanding Revival of a Play; Outstanding Actress in a Lead Role - Gaia Visnar; Outstanding Ensemble: Erin Cronican, Christine Redhead, Gaia Visnar

About the Seeing Place Theater
The name "The Seeing Place" is the literal translation of the Greek word for theater (theatron): ". . . the place where we go to see ourselves." The Seeing Place is an actor-driven company dedicated to exploring the intersection between the actor's voice and the playwright's words, by reinterpreting masterful works live and in the moment to make them relevant, visceral, truthful, and accessible to a modern audience. We live up to our name by engaging our community in a vivid conversation about what makes us human. Connection. Learning. Humanity. That's what theater is all about.

About The Maids
Two sisters, maids to a wealthy society woman, act out fantasies of class, love and revenge while the lady of the house is out on a romantic rendezvous. As their games intensify, the incipient violence escalates as they await Madame's return.

What first attracted you to The Maids?

Erin: When choosing to produce and direct this show, we were struck by the feminist and classist themes that are highly relevant in society today. Plus, it's a show that would heavily promote three talented actors in our theater company - seeing plays with an all-female cast is a rare and exciting treat.

Christine: Good Content.

Gaia: I was always intrigued by the play and wanted to really work on it as it's so bizarre and seems non-sensical.

What was your favorite part of work on this production?
Erin: I loved having conversations with patrons in our lobby after the play who found the play resonant and important. It was also wonderful diving into the play dramaturgically with the cast and creative team.

Christine: Learning how to approach the script in a different way. It changed my perspective.

Gaia: The organic approach of The Seeing Place Theater, really exploring the humanity and drives of the characters.

What was the most challenging part of this experience for you?
Erin: How deep the play goes! We gave ourselves two months of dramaturgical and rehearsal time and we still felt like it was just skimming the surface of what was possible. That's what's so beautiful about well-written plays.

Gaia: Really diving into the characters and their reality, coming to terms with their suffering and trapped situation - which is the source of the games they play. Also, it is a very heavy show, and the nature of the theater company is to go all in, so we really had to dive into the ugly, painful and uncomfortable as well.



What was the most noteworthy part of this production?

Erin: It was wonderful working with so many fierce females in this production - from our director (me), to the cast, to our stage manager and lighting designer.

Gaia: The process with The Seeing Place is always very much in the hands of the actor - we weren't really directed, just placed into the frame of the show, so we had to figure out what we are doing by ourselves and new reality was created on stage every night.

What was the best part of working with this company of artists?

Erin: Their commitment to the creative process was inspiring.

Gaia: As mentioned before, the nature of their work - really diving into the core of the character's complex psychology and human behaviour, as it comes out, not as we think it should.

Did you gain any insight or learn anything new through this experience?

Erin: I discovered how much resilience I had, and how strong that made me. Many people did not know that I was going through chemo for stage IV cancer while we were in production. To be able to come to the theater each night was a challenge in itself, and I learned that the audience can give back to you as much as you give to them. I count myself very lucky that I had the play to focus on while going through treatment.

Gaia: Yes, I got a much better understanding of the play and the character of Claire. I've learned that all the weird things that seemed absurd and out-of-the-blue for me when I was reading the play are rooted in normal, basic human emotions.

What does it mean to you to receive this nomination?

Erin: It means a lot to know that this production made a difference to our audiences, and to the Indie Theatre community. It inspires us to keep going with this kind of work.

Gaia: I am very honoured and humbled by the very unexpected nomination - as an artist, I am focused on doing my work and never think of a reward other than performing what I've been working on. It is nice to be recognised for something you've invested in so much.

Hamlet (What Dreams May Come)

Produced by Ript Theater Company in association with The Secret Theatre
Directed by Nathan Winkelstein

Nominations: Outstanding Costume Design - Sarah Marie Dixey; Outstanding Ensemble: Lindsay Alexandra Carter, Ade Otukoya, Chauncy Thomas, Nathan Winkelstein; Outstanding Revival of a Play

About Ript Theater Company
Ript Theater Company is devoted to bringing classic tales to vibrant life through innovative productions, new adaptations and performer centric work. We believe in the power of the words of the great classicists, be they Shakespeare, Moliere, Aphra Behn or Euripedes to move us and deepen our understanding of our world and our times.

Photos by Reiko Yanagi

About Hamlet (What Dreams May Come)
Four performers embody all of the characters in this innovative new Hamlet: a fast paced, non-stop whirlwind of mind and body as rational thought battles with hysteria. Secret Theater teams up with Ript Theater Company on this exciting production.

What first attracted you to this version of Hamlet?

Lindsay: Nathan Winkelstein has tremendous facility in classical text, is a smart casting director, and organized producer. I was excited by the prospect of being in his room.

Sarah: I was first approached by our director, Nathan Winkelstein, to be on this production. We had worked together in the past, and collaborated well. I thought figuring out the logistics of a truncated four person Hamlet would be ridiculous, challenging, and just the right kind of puzzle for me at the time.

Chauncy: I wanted an opportunity to work with my friend Nathan Winkelstein.

Nathan: I was interested in the family drama at the core of the play

What was your favorite part of working on the show?

Lindsay: The athleticism required of the actors to play the number of roles assigned led to a highly physical interpretation of the text which was exciting to discover with Cat, Nathan, and the entire ensemble.

Sarah: I really enjoyed the freedom of mixing textures that went along with the puzzle of creating such a small scaled show. All of the costumes needed to function as both highlighted characters and background noise that could seamlessly transition from moment to moment while all holding their individuality. This gave me a lot of room to experiment and just see what worked, which was quite engaging.

Chauncy: The camaraderie we developed while rehearsing.

Nathan: My incredible castmates and their immense patience as I moronically attempted to act, direct, adapt and produce all at the same time. Their backs still hurt from carrying me.

What was the most challenging aspect of this production for you?

Lindsay: I found differentiating Ophelia and Gertrude to be extremely difficult; especially because I wanted to remain as truthful to the text and intention as possible and avoid creating a caricature.

Sarah: As much as making a four person Hamlet was appealing, it was also quite a challenge. We had a strict budget and aesthetic, and fitting costumes that needed to be so versatile and full of texture into that was tough. We had a very restrictive light rig, which washed out almost all of the aging and dye treatments I had done. This resulted in pushing a lot farther than I was used to so things would read in the space. It's difficult to do that, but ultimately opens you up to some crazy paint jobs that you're thankful for in the end.

Chauncy: Honestly, it was trying to maintain my focus while dealing with a breakup.

Nathan: Wearing multiple hats, and as always finding the vulnerability at the core of any successful performance.

What was the most noteworthy part about your experience with this production?

Lindsay: The idea alone to create a production of Hamlet that is 90 min and only requires four actors I believe is undoubtedly innovative and created for a quirky track particularly for Claudius/Polonius and his transitions.

Sarah: I think the most innovative or interesting thing on this production was taking period patterns and using things like gauze, spandex, and soft draped fabrics to create the garments. It's a gamble to make something so structured out of fabric that doesn't always do that, but it worked brilliantly for the pieces I think! 

Nathan: Well I am never acting/directing and producing a show again. The level of beautiful, positive ensemble work by the cast in this show was astounding. Many of the most memorable moments of the show came from the minds of the group.

What was the best part of working with this company of artists?

Lindsay: There was not one weak artist in the room and all had a diverse set of skills which lead to the room being highly collaborative.

Sarah: I think the most innovative or interesting thing on this production was taking period patterns and using things like gauze, spandex, and soft draped fabrics to create the garments. It's a gamble to make something so structured out of fabric that doesn't always do that, but it worked brilliantly for the pieces I think! 

Chauncy: They gave me plenty of emotional support on and off stage. 

Nathan: I wanted to work with pros. Actors with incredible facility but the openness to explore and group as an ensemble. That happened.

Did you gain any insights or learn anything new from your work on this production?

Lindsay: I learned that I have some time before I am ready to properly play Gertrude.

Sarah: I had a wonderful time pushing my boundaries with this project. The entire process was a lot of going with my gut on choices and doing things I wouldn't normally do. I don't typically paint or burn costumes on loading docks during tech, but it was so rewarding to get a show that pushed me to do it!

Chauncy: It was the first time I somewhat felt like I knew what I was doing in a Shakespeare production.

Nathan: Don’t direct and play Hamlet, but if you do, do it with a special group of people. I also learned that truly asking a question is one of the hardest, most vulnerable things you can do onstage.

What does receiving this nomination mean to you?

Lindsay: It is always lovely to receive something that commends your work. It is nice to feel recognized.

Sarah: I'm honestly just flattered to be considered for this. This production was such rewarding experience, that it is just fantastic to be recognized as part of this collaboration.

Chauncy: I'm really thrilled. I strive to be someone who works well in an ensemble, so it's great to know my contributions were noticed.

Nathan:  It means a lot. I strive to be an unselfish actor and to surround myself with unselfish actors, its nice to have them recognized.

Plan G

Produced by Randomly Specific Theatre Written by Larry Philips
Directed by Graydon Gund

Nominated for: Outstanding Ensemble: Allan Hayhurst, Lauren LeBeouf, Tiffany May McRae, Sarah Misch, Larry Phillips, Forrest Weber

About Plan G:
Life has beaten Christopher Abandonato down. He’s got a dead-end construction job, a wife who puts him in his place, and an out of work brother-in-law living in his basement. But he’s a dreamer, and he’s convinced buying abandoned storage units is his ticket to becoming rich. He just needs to find that special something that will change his life forever. Plan G is a DARK comedy about seeing an opportunity when its starring at you.


What first attracted you to this project?

Lauren: A script about an eyeball. Truly original!

Tiffany: It was such a wild, dark comedy about a freak discovery that forces a family to grapple with fame, greed, classism and doing the right thing

Sarah: I saw a friend in Larry's play The Weekend Will End, and I loved his writing so much that I reached out to him afterward. I love working on new plays, and Larry sure can write a good one.

Forrest: It’s very well written and made me laugh out loud time and time again, even while reading it.

Larry: I wrote it, so narcissism at it's finest.

What was your favorite part of working on Plan G?

Lauren: My favorite part was the conderful cast and team, which you need for an ensemble piece.

Tiffany: Duking it out with Larry Phillips (who plays my husband) every night onstage. I always enjoy a good row with Mr. Phillips!

Sarah: Honestly, the cast made the whole experience. Everyone was equal parts fun and professional!

Larry: The calibration of working with a mixture of friends that I've worked with prior, and brand new friends.

Forrest: Actually performing the show had to be my favorite part. Between hearing and feeling how much the audience was along for the ride and finding a groove with my nothing beat the actual moments where we were on stage.

What was the most challenging part of this production?

Lauren: Fighting (combat) in heels!

Tiffany: Maintaining my New Jersey accent once the character Shannon (Lauren LeBeouf) gets on stage! Her character was from the south and once she started that drawl my native Texas twang would just try to slip in there and join her.

Sarah: I loved my character, Elizabeth, but she's could be really cold and self-serving. It was a fun challenge to balance the aspects of her that were sympathetic and likable without trying too hard to redeem her less... desirable traits.

Forrest: The most challenging part for me was dealing with the fact that I wished more people knew about this production while it was happening.

What was the silliest part of this production for you?

Sarah: My character was only in the second half of the show, so I had about 45 minutes of downtown backstage before I made my first entrance. I'd like to say I was diligently studying my script, but mostly, I was surfing Twitter.

Forrest: My cast mates were so damn funny, in the early rehearsals I would miss my lines because I’d just get caught up laughing and watching them!

Did you gain any insight or learn anything new while working on this show?

Lauren: Talking in a Southern accent came very naturally, even though I had never performed with the accent before. Playing a dumb character takes a smart and clever actor!

What was it like working with Randomly Specific Theatre?
Lauren: Larry Phillips is an experienced writer who writes truly original scripts. Full of comedy and heart.

Tiffany: This cast was a hoot to share the stage with! Always bringing in ideas, listening, and willing to adapt and just play.

Sarah: Everyone treated their character and the show with so much respect throughout the process, and everyone was so funny!

Forrest: Developing lasting quality relationships was the best part of work with this company.

Why is the Ensemble of Plan G so awesome?

Larry:  A lovely group of people both inside and outside of the process.

Forrest: I genuinely believe my cast mates deserve this award and I am lucky to have worked with them. This show itself deserves another run, in a larger spotlight, truth be told.

What does this nomination mean to you?

Lauren: The world! This was my first play in NYC (outside of my acting school). Such an honor!!

Tiffany: I was so proud of this cast and crew that receiving a nomination for ensemble work is just so exciting! We worked hard and had so much fun making this piece of theatre, the nomination truly touching.

Sarah: Lately, I'm trying to lean into making theatre I like, so it always means a lot when other people like it, too.

Larry: An Ensemble nomination means everything clicked. The Director and producer's work in casting. The writers vision as the play. And obviously the actors sold the story. I love ensemble comedies, this means we did something right.

Forrest: It’s like a little dose of chicken soup for the actor’s soul to find out months later that all the hard work we put in didn’t go unnoticed.

Alex & Eugene

Produced by Isle of Shoals Productions, Inc.
Written by Bryan Williams
Directed by Justy Kosek

Nominations: Outstanding Choreography/Movement – Alex Johnson, Outstanding Lighting Design – Asa Lipton, Outstanding Ensemble: Aja Downing, Reggie Herold, Katherine Leidlein, Joseph M. Mace, Rori Nogee, Noah Pyzik, Jae Shin, Anna Stefanic, Brittany Zeinstra

About Isle of Shoals Productions:
The Isle of Shoals motto is “Theatre for Discovery.” Since its founding, Isle of Shoals has maintained a commitment to developing and producing pieces (from brand new to ancient), which might otherwise never or seldom get to see the light of day in our present theater ecosystem. The works Isle of Shoals gravitates towards are those which celebrate the human spirit and enrich the artistry of early and mid-career theater professionals of every stripe and creed. We pride ourselves on being the inclusive theater company that says “yes” to brilliant new ideas that are elsewhere met with echoing “no”s. Isle of Shoals has invested deeply over the years in developing pieces that defy the commercial theatre tropes of “straight plays” and “musicals.” Mindful that the earliest dramas were in fact chanted, and the earliest operas placed more emphasis on words than on music, we strive to find unique and adventurous ways to bring the two together.

About Alex & Eugene:
A world premiere musical suggested by Alexander Pushkin’s "Eugene Onegin," but set in contemporary New York among a group of theatre kids valiantly trying to hang on to friendship, love and idealism while trying to make it in a cutthroat business. A thoroughly modern tale of young artists struggling to find themselves in a world where their bond with each other is often the only refuge from despair


What first attracted you to this project?

Reggie: I had just graduated from college, and it was a piece about a group of overconfident artists graduating college, finding solace and a tribe in one another; there was a message there that I loved.

Katherine: My character. I love getting to play the comic relief.

Joseph: The sides!

Rori: It was a world premiere musical in NYC

Anna: I’d had a great experience working with Isle Of Shoals before, and was excited to work with Justy and Bryan again!

Alex: Isle of Shoals doing a musical!

Asa: The combination of drama and comedy in the writing and the lighting opportunities that go with the high theatricality of the piece.

Bryan: It's a multi-leveled story of love and friendship that is funny and heartfelt, and ultimately tragic.

What was your favorite part of working on Alex & Eugene?

Asa: My favorite part was programming the lights for the various musical numbers. I really loved working out the timing of the cues to work with and support the music.

Bryan: The unbridled enthusiasm and creativity of the entire company.

Reggie: It was my first show in Manhattan, and as an introduction to the city and the acting community - it couldn’t have been a warmer or more welcoming experience. Additionally, the role itself was dialogue heavy, so I had a chance to really play as an actor in addition to doing my musical theater thing.

Katherine: Being able to collaborate on a new piece with so many talented actors was a dream!

Joseph: The ensemble!

Jae: The other castmembers!

Rori: Being surrounded by a company of unique and amazing artists

Anna: The fun, friendly and supportive cast!

Alex: The ensemble for sure. Every ensemble that works well together is so rich and rewarding.

What was the most challenging part of working on this production?

Bryan: Because it ends in the suicide of a young man, the temptation was to make that the subject of the play, when in actuality it was about both the power and the limitations of friendship

Katherine: Dealing with such a heavy topic like suicide.

Reggie: The singing! My degree is in acting, and while I did musicals in college, I hadn’t taken voice lessons in years, I started with Matt Farnsworth and Mike Maixner during that rehearsal process.

Joseph: The moving set pieces and keeping the scene changes in order!

Asa: The most challenging part was making a well-rounded product with the time and resources we had for tech. Musicals are difficult to program lights for in general because they are usually more cue-heavy and have lots of tech-heavy moments. Therefore, it was difficult to give each scene and each lighting moment the time it needed to make the show well-rounded and keep it visually interesting throughout.

Rori: Figuring out how to give humanity to an unlikable character

Anna: I’m not the most confident singer and certainly not the most confident dancer, so it was challenging to push my boundaries and try to live up to the musical!

Alex: Choreographing for characters who don’t really dance.

What was the funniest part of your experience working on this production?

Bryan: We had a brilliant set built around a group of seesaws that the cast would often move to change the scene. Sometimes these changes were fairly elaborate and took longer than we would have liked. We encouraged the cast to fill in the silences, and they ran with that so some of the changes became mini-improvisations that were enjoyable scenes in themselves

Reggie: I almost didn’t get the role! I got viciously sick right before the callback, and when I went in I could barely speak. They had to ask the accompanist to play more quietly so they could hear me sing. Luckily, the reads themselves went really well, and they called me in for a special callback on my own once I had healed up a few days later to make sure I could actually sing the part.

Katherine: My role was really a two person role and it would be nothing without Noah!

Rori: We all had a laugh when the announcements told the audience it was a two hour and 45 minute production. Inevitably, someone in the audience would get vocally cranky after hearing that.

Alex: We did an awesome number with sock puppets!

Asa: One of the quirkiest things about the production was that there is a musical number where all the actors are using sock puppets while singing. We had to keep re-teching that scene and re-focusing the lights for it because the puppets weren't landing properly in their lights. In very few other industries are your recurring work problems/aggravations caused by puppets. Also, we had a decent budget for this show (as far as independent theatre goes), but in order to get all the lighting equipment we needed we still had to rent from three different companies, including another independent theatre company (Flux Theatre Ensemble), so that we could get the best prices for all the gear we needed.

Did you gain any insights or learn anything new from your work on this production?

Rori: It was fascinating to watch the writer make edits and cuts during the process. Sometimes you have to "kill your darlings!"

Alex: The importance of intimacy directors, AND the value of a movement director as well as choreographer.

Asa: I learned some new strategies for how to economically place a limited number of lights to effectively cover a large playing space.

Reggie: New York is a lovely place to be an actor! I had heard so much negativity and had so much fear instilled in me by my college professors about what moving to New York would mean, but I’m a year in and I’m still having a great time. It all started with Alex & Eugene!

What did you want the audience to come away with after watching Alex & Eugene?

Bryan: What an inspiring group of struggling young people, I know them (or would like to)

What was it like to work with Isle of Shoals?

Reggie: The friendships that were built was really the best thing about this company! Cliche answer, but truly, the people I met doing this show have become lovely friends, and we still have a little group chat going a year later. Bryan (our writer/composer extraordinaire) gave us so much freedom to improvise and play with the script, and the result was that our characters became so individualized and wedded to who we are as artists.

Katherine: Everyone was just so talented and kind and full of ideas it made the process very special.

Rori: Getting to follow their the careers of the people who worked on the show has been really fun. One girl went straight to her Broadway debut after we closed!

Alex: Very supportive, forward thinkers at this company.

Asa: Their fun, collaborative attitudes and respect for the technical aspects of their productions.

Why are the artists nominated for Alex & Eugene so awesome?

Bryan: The whole project was truly an ensemble effort with everyone supporting and collaborating with each other

What does receiving this nomination mean to you?

Bryan: A validation that all the work and passion we put into the show did manage to reach and was appreciated by the audience

Reggie: So much! I didn’t expect a thing, but it’s lovely for the work we did to be recognized.

Joseph: It is very special that our team was recognized, it was a true ensemble effort.

Alex: That I can hold my own at a big kid job.

Asa: Receiving this nomination is huge for me. I've been hearing about and watching the IT Awards since I first moved to the city about 6 years ago. I've seen people that I looked up to and (eventually) colleagues, get nominated for and win them. Therefore, it's truly thrilling to consider myself of the same caliber of those designers that I looked up to when I first moved here.

Rori: That my hard work isn't falling on deaf ears. Someone is paying attention!

Check out Isle of Shoals on Instagram @isleofshoalsproductions

Black Protagonist

Wirtten by The Associates Theater Ensemble
Directed by Peregrine Heard
Produced by the Associates Theater Ensemble

Nominated for Outstanding Original Full-Length Script which was written by the Associates Theater Ensemble including: Jamal Abdunnasir, Tim Craig, Peregrine Heard, Lauren LaRocca, Emily Stout, Beatrice Vena,  Ayana Wilson, Casey Worthington

Photo by Tyler H. First

About the Production
According to their mission statement, the Associates Theater Ensemble bring to the stage “unbounded fears and unrealized fantasies” and begins their process “from the disturbing and often viscerally familiar nooks and crannies of human behavior.” So it is not surprising that they tackled one of the most important and emotionally charged topics of our time, race. Their ensemble created play, Black Protagonist, asks “can a person build an identity— white or black — that outsmarts racism?”

Director and playwright Peregrine Heard and playwright Tim Craig shared what it is like to delve into this subject matter and to address it as an ensemble.


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What attracted you to this subject matter?

Peregrine:  Black Protagonist sprung from conversations about the things that make our stomachs twist. We identified our personal entanglement with the social phenomena of race, racial privilege, and white guilt as the foundation of the play, and we experimented with building a play form that could at once refashion and belie those constructs on stage.

Tim: The Associates where interested in approaching social and cultural identity not only from the front door, but from a window over the kitchen sink, the basement door, and through the doggy door. We focused on crafting every moment.

Photo by Tyler H. First

What was your favorite part of working on this production?

Peregrine:  We were lucky to have a residency with HB Studio, and at the workshop of our second draft of Black Protagonist the audience talkback gave birth to a whole-hearted discussion of many points; ideological, dramaturgical, political, and emotional in the play. That audience contributed immeasurably to our perspective on the play and our confidence in the conversation on race that we were aiming to join.

Tim: Coming to rehearsal every day. I literally entered every rehearsal with a mind set of, "ok allow yourself to be challenged." I would leave questioning my existence. Hence needing the above mantra.

What was the most challenging part of working on this production?

Peregrine: We posed the question in many different forms, but the challenge was fundamentally: How can a number of artists without black identities create theater that deals centrally and essentially with the notion of black identity and the role of racial identity in our lives? This question eventually appeared in the play, because that tension fueled significant character and story development.

Tim: Being in a room with a group of people who are investigating how we feel about social and racial issues is one thing. Being able to keep a vow of honesty and continually peeling away layers to uncover raw thoughts and emotions goes beyond any of my previous experiences.  The self-clarity was enlightening. It was real treat.

What was the most unexpected thing that happened during this production?

Peregrin: The Associates are a devising ensemble, so ideas and writing come from all directions during the making of the play. One such idea—a spoken word artist performing a monologue "for Rachel Dolezal"—arose right before we went into tech and landed in the play about two days before we had our first audience. Our peerless designers folded it in seamlessly, yet I think as devisers we always saw that poem as a kind of down-to-the-buzzer shot.

Tim: The script started with a linear idea with one purpose. But the linear idea exploded into a million different directions. A "Big Bang" if you will. Everything around that "Big Bang" was devised on its feet and became cohesive and organic dialogue.

Photo by Tyler H. First

What was is like creating this work as an ensemble?

Peregrin: The Associates share what is true: what is often taboo or at least unnervingly intimate about ourselves. It's scary-fun for us, and we do it to give the audience a chance to be seen, to feel familiar, and to confront the complicity of theater.

Tim: The Associated are rare. We strive to understand the truth of the moment and the truth of ourselves.

You can follow The Associates on Twitter @_TheAssociates


 

Maintaining ensembles

Contributed by Guest Blogger of the week, Brad Burgess.

Yesterday, Judith was talking to John Strasberg in her apartment about the highest artistic aim of maintaining an ensemble. I’m glad I did not write the blog yesterday, even though it was completely unintentional. Sometimes things just workout I guess. It ain’t called The Living Theatre for nothing! haha, Come on down to Clinton Street if you haven’t, this place is out of this world let me tell you. Never know what you are going to find.

Anywho, this blog is gladly stealing from those two technique tycoons and their minds who have been developing ensembles with their legacies for well over 100 years combined. Holy moly is right.

A true ensemble has one essential quality that cannot be taught or come from natural talent: they know each other. Being on stage with Judith during The Connection, we had a whole personal relationship to draw on. She’s my roommate, she’s my mentor, she’s one of my best friends. We share almost everyday with one another.

Tom Walker, is a company member of ours who has performed in 39 seasons with The Living Theatre. To put that into perspective, Mickey Mantle played 16 seasons for The New York Yankees. Judith and Tom have been on stage with each other for almost 40 years.

These examples are just a couple of dozens and dozens of similar stories. The profound effect these real relationships have on our ability to make our art together, is very present for us. It’s what makes being a pacifist anarchist political theatre group even possible.

Our art can’t help but manifest itself from these experiences. Our thoughts and feelings as people are developed this way. It makes sense then that our ability to relay translations of reality from the writer/director/actor/thinker as artists and produce something that has a connection to reality that is clear to the audience.

One balance we have is the problem of not being involved enough with our audience, as strange as it sounds. We are such a culture unto ourselves, that we need to be careful to keep our every day reality a part of the culture we are living in. We are very fortunate to be a part of the academic culture, so that much of our audience, theatre students and professionals especially, know something coming into the show about what to expect. Well, in our case I suppose its more of what not to expect.

When I see the experienced ensemble here working together, the company members who have been doing it for 10, 20, 30, 40 or in Judith’s case 65 years, I feel connected to the development of the culture. I see an ability for compromise, an ability to find a common ground, an ability to move forward in the midst of crisis.

I think we are able to accomplish this because we are really able to be who we are to one another. It’s part of the vibe and message from the moment you arrive here, from Judith to the babies that are born into the company. It’s a real family, in all the wonderful clichéd sense of it.

This adds a reality to the work for me personally that I have not been able to find or see in many places other than the theatre community at large. I think the connection we have to each other here at The Living Theatre, but also industry wide helps us communicate and relate to people who love their friends and families. That’s most people in the world.

It’s certainly not always perfect as again is the norm, but I feel theatre and its ensemble nature can be a real example for societal structuring. People should be working together with people they love on something they care about that says what they believe, in their deepest, and most elevated selves. Hopefully our work as an artistic community is doing so. I believe it is in this city.

Happy World Theatre Day!

BB