Mission. Since its founding in 1992, New Georges has gained a reputation for innovative productions of ambitious new plays, and as a productive home for the country’s most promising and accomplished women theater artists.
New Georges is interested in the creativity and vision with which artists theatricalize the world, and in expanding the boundaries of contemporary theater in ways that challenge both artists and audiences. We commit to our affiliated artists (approximately 150 playwrights, directors, actors and designers) for the long term, and work by building relationships with them over time and providing resources they need to flourish in a difficult field. For artists, the culture of our company and the consistency of our work have become noted attractions, the reason they come to us – and come back to us – as a bedrock organization where the artistic risks they want to take will be supported with understanding and integrity.
New Georges operates on two tiers: production and play/artist development. We are hands-on producers, working closely with director and playwright to bring highly theatrical new works to audiences in downtown venues. We also provide essential resources and opportunities to an ever-growing community of affiliated artists. The primary resource with which we serve artists is The Room, our permanent workspace for women theater artists, located in A.R.T./New York 's Spaces at 520 at 520 Eighth Avenue. In addition to using The Room for our own programs and rehearsals, we provide space to affiliated artists for their own projects at subsidized rates -- a critical program in Manhattan, where the scarcity of affordable space has significant impact on the development of new works.
History. New Georges was founded by women actors who got to talking about the
scarcity of substantive roles for women. The women we knew were strong, witty,
complex; women in plays seemed objectified and diminished. And where
were plays that dealt with the things we cared about? By producing plays
by women, we could create opportunity and herald a new perspective. Perhaps
naively, we thought that once we met one woman playwright, we'd be on
the trail of more. But it soon became evident that no such network existed
-- and from what playwrights were telling us, it wasn't for lack of need.
Creating that community became a major goal, and a cornerstone of New
Georges' speedy evolution from an actors' company to an organization with
a much broader mission.
From 1992 to 1994, we produced two seasons (six productions of new plays)
at the Samuel Beckett Theatre on Theatre Row. This rigorous production
schedule left little time or resources for exploring the play development
process, creating a community of artists, or building relationships with
the many promising artists who began knocking on our door. We asked playwrights
what they needed from New Georges, and got one overwhelming answer: space
in which to create.
In October 1994, we founded The Room, a multi-use workspace, in an 850-square-foot
commercial loft in Manhattan’s Flatiron District. The Room is home
to readings, small-scale presentations and workshops, rehearsals and
gatherings; it is a tool for supporting new work, encouraging experimentation,
taking opportunities, and facilitating collaboration. In 2002, The Room moved to
new digs at A.R.T./New York’s Spaces at 520 at 520 8th Avenue.
Our initial impulse in founding The Room was to shift focus from producing
to play development. But the volume of activity there has paved the way
for more, and more varied, production opportunities than ever before.
From 1995 to 1998, our resident theater was Soho Rep in
Tribeca; in recent years, we've produced at The Living Theatre, HERE Arts Center, Ohio Theater, The 13th Street Theatre, The Culture Project, Baruch
Performing Arts Center and 3LD Art & Technology Center, where we were the first resident theater.
New Georges has presented 35 full productions of new plays, and ten festivals consisting of short or commissioned
plays, solo works and/or performance pieces. Pieces rehearsed or developed
in The Room go on to venues throughout New York City and beyond. And New Georges
has made its presence felt nationally. In recent seasons,
playwrights we supported early in their careers have had productions
of their work at major theaters around the country, and our affiliated artists have been the recipients of every award, fellowship
and residency available to them. Plays we premiered are published by Faber & Faber, Samuel French, Dramatists Play Service, Playscripts Inc., Smith & Kraus, Seagull Books and Vintage. Honors include an OBIE Award, and awards from New York Women's Agenda, Princess Grace Foundation/USA, Jonathan Larson Performing Arts Foundation, Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays and FringeNYC. Artists we supported early in their careers work at major theaters throughout the country, and are recipients of every fellowship, residency and distinction available to them. Plays we produced, for example, won a 2007 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and the 2005 Kesselring Prize, and our 2007 production of GOD'S EAR by Jenny Schwartz moved Off Broadway to the Vineyard Theatre in 2008. New Georges is included in The Museum of the City of New York 's Perform exhibition as one of a dozen theater companies labeled The Innovators; was named to The L Magazine's "Best of NYC" in 2009; and in a study published by tdf, OUTRAGEOUS FORTUNE: the life and times of the new American play, New Georges is listed as one of the top 10 theaters nationwide named by playwrights as a leading producer of their plays.
Our mission to produce women artists is not about content; it's about opportunity. It does not limit the subject matter of the plays we produce. Many people assume we just do plays that are about women or issues thought to be germaine to them. Nah. (I mean, it happens, but it's not the priority.) We're less interested in what the story is than on how it is told. We just want more theater artists (who are women) working in the theater.
At New Georges, we produce plays that take less familiar form, by playwrights who experiment with language, structure or elements of production. A New Georges play uses powerful theatrical tools -- vigorous use of language, strong visual images, a heightened perspective on reality -- to tell universal stories. We're drawn to bold works that transform "going to the theater" into an event, even an adventure, and seek to build audiences who are open to the possibilities inherent in all kinds of theatrical vocabularies. As a "downtown" theater company, we feel a responsibility to produce and develop work which might be overlooked by more traditional or commercial venues.
We believe that New Georges' artist-driven, flexible production environment allows unusual plays to emerge with clarity and heart. As a small company, we are fortunate to have this flexibility, to identify the demands of the play and proceed accordingly, to structure each process and season to the work at hand. Continuing to guide less conventional plays, and giving them development opportunities and first productions which argue for their viability, is our best chance and our artists' -- to impact and invigorate the American theater.
New Georges works by building relationships with artists over time, and by facilitating productive relationships between them (matching playwrights with directors, for example). Our ever-growing network of affiliated artists includes primarily playwrights and directors (but also actors and designers) at all stages of their careers who we feel share our aesthetic sensibility and vision for the theater. For information on how to get involved with New Georges as an artist, scroll around to the "FAQs" page on our website.
New Georges' annual programs usually include:
A two-play season at a downtown theater;
Subsidized workspace for affiliated artists in The Room;
• Play and artist development programs in The Room, such as Mini-Workshops and This Is Your Week;
•The Jam, a working lab for young and early-career theatermakers;
Occasional festivals consisting of specially commissioned short plays, or of experimental or performance pieces (upcoming: THE GERM PROJECT; New Georges' MANFEST [2004]; PERMANENT VISITOR: A Festival Celebrating Dawn Powell in New York [2002]);
Artist-initiated play development: individual readings or workshop presentations of new works created or developed in The Room, initiated by affiliated artists.
We've moved this heady information over to the "FAQs" page on our website. Scroll around, it's on the left side of our home page, and click!
Meanwhile, here's some information on The Room, our workspace:
The Room is New Georges' workspace: a rehearsal hall, play development lab, and gathering place. In ways too numerous to list, it helps us to support new work, encourage experimentation, and facilitate productive relationships between artists. One way we support affiliated artists is by making The Room available to them for a minimal fee. Although New Georges' projects and programs take precedence, outside groups often rent
The Room. New Georges Associate Director Sarah Cameron Sunde runs The Room! Please be in touch with her at sarah@newgeorges.org regarding availability and fee schedule.
Other opportunities.
We’re frequently looking for interns, play readers and other volunteers.
Please e-mail
us to get our information, and to give us yours. Thanks!
Print this page