INTERVIEW: New York Theatre Workshop expands theatrical partnerships
Courtesy of NYTW / Provided by Matt Ross PR with permission.
The New York Theatre Workshop has recently expanded its company-in-residence program to include Safe Harbors NYC, Dominican Arts Collective (DAC) and JAG Productions. These three theatrical companies, which will partner with the workshop in the future, join Noor Theatre, who has been associated with NYTW for several years. The organizational move speaks to NYTW’s desire to offer opportunities to other companies, setting up partnerships that allow for cross-pollination and learning from all sides.
Rachel Silverman sits at the center of this program. She is the workshop’s director of project development, workshops and residencies.
“The company-in-residence initiative is several years mature at this point, but really grows out of a question of how can we support small theater companies, which has always been important to the workshop,” Silverman said in a recent phone interview. “As a developmental workshop, in addition to being a producing theater, we support work in many different ways — individual artists, playwrights, directors, specific projects. … And so there have been many different companies that have come through this initiative, and we are at an exciting moment right now being able to invite three new folks into the fold to join Noor who have been in residence for a few years now. They all take their own form, so there’s no set model of what it means. It’s really based individually off who folks are, where folks are, what would be useful, but it is a framework and connection that can last longer than on an individual project.”
JAG Productions, for example, is headed by its founder and producing artistic director, Jarvis Green. The company, which produces work that is “by and for Black, Brown, Queer and Trans folx and the people that love them,” is actually located in Vermont, and this new partnership represents the first time the workshop has formally connected with a group outside of New York City. Safe Harbors NYC, on the other hand, is an arts initiative that focuses on the development and production of Indigenous performing arts. Dominican Artists Collective (DAC) is a collection of storytellers who are “community-centered gate openers and culture expanders.” Noor Theatre, an Obie Award winner, produces work by Middle Eastern, North African/South West Asian and North African descent.
“It’s very individualized,” Silverman said of the process by which a company is considered for the program. “We have different relationships with different folks, but they’re really borne out of conversations that have been happening over time about how we can deepen our relationships between the companies and the workshop. What does meaningful support mean? … Where is there both an artistic and aesthetic and mission-driven relationship? Where do we feel like there are ways in which we can actually be of use and be of value? They’re really borne out of natural conversations, I would say, for each of them.”
Silverman said that the hope for these partnerships is cross-pollination between theater makers and audiences. Noor Theatre, for example, may benefit from NYTW’s audiences, and vice versa, NYTW may benefit from Noor’s audiences. Co-productions have happened in the past between NYTW and the company-in-residence participants, and that may happen again.
“There have been examples of co-productions we have done with companies in residence, certainly with Noor, with Elevator Repair Service, different shows over time,” she said. “But that’s not the only marker for success and certainly not the only thing we would be working toward, but certainly looking to make more of a robust audience for both of our companies with our audiences and mixing them and having them get to know new folks and have that relationship building there feels important and would be a wonderful outcome.”
Silverman called these partnerships deep and authentic, rooted in the communities that are in the audience and the individuals on the stage. This sense of community is the starting off point for the collaboration. “There’s a community, a social and an artistic pursuit within all of these groups, and that really aligns with our values at the workshop,” she said. “[These are] voices and initiatives that we feel are really important to support and also to learn from. It feels very mutual and not one-sided.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
New York Theatre Workshop is now partnering with Noor Theatre, JAG Productions, Safe Harbors NYC and Dominican Artists Collective. Click here for more information.
