THEATER IN ASYLUM

Theater in Asylum's 2020 Year in Review

12/31/2020

 
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2020 Major Events

  • The Electability Cabaret
  • Willie Johnson’s Hephaestus
  • 36 Cold Readings
  • The Debates 2020
  • We began (and are continuing) a process to revise our mission statement 
  • Celebrated our 10 Year Anniversary through articles, videos, a magazine, and an online retrospective.
  • We joined a group of independent theater companies to go through and work together to implement the We See You White American Theater demands.
  • We began Anti-racism training with The League of Independent Theater

2020 Timeline

  • January 14: We host a Debate Watch Party, with a Political Analysis meeting the following night.
  • January 22: Our first Cold Reading of the year. We read Sarah Treem’s A Feminine Ending.
  • January 31: We host a Monologue Party at Pete’s Candy Store to raise money for Hephaestus.
  • February 7: We host the first of THREE Debate Watch Parties in February. We host one Political Analysis meeting to parse through all three.
  • February 8: We produce The Electability Cabaret.
  • February 13: Our second Cold Reading of the year. We read Charles Ludlam’s The Mystery of Irma Vep.
  • March 11-13: We produce Willie Johnson’s Hephaestus.
  • March 16: We host an online Debate Watch Party of the Primary Race’s final debate.
  • March 25: Our third Cold Reading of the year (Eugene Ionesco’s Rhinoceros) is held online. From here on out, Cold Readings are held weekly on Zoom. We took off only four weeks from here until the end of 2020.
  • March 28: The New York Primary is rescheduled due to the global pandemic. TIA initially cancels and then reschedules The Debates 2020 to be presented online in June.
  • June 1: We release a statement in solidarity with the Uprising for Black Lives and commit to interrogating our role in this country’s system of white supremacy.
  • June 8: TIA leadership attends TCG’s National Conference Session on Anti-Racism.
  • June 21: We present The Debates 2020 live on Zoom in anticipation of New York’s primary two days later.
  • September 25: Theater in Asylum celebrates its 10-year-anniversary.
  • October 25: TIA leadership joins other small-theater leaders on Zoom (the beginning of a multi-month process) to go through and work together to implement the We See You White American Theater demands.
  • October 28: We host a virtual watch party and discussion of Heidi Schreck’s What the Constitution Means to Me in anticipation of the presidential election.
  • November 3: The presidential election. Five days later, Joe Biden is declared the next President, while Kamala Harris is declared the next Vice President, becoming the first woman and person of color to hold the office. 
  • December 5: TIA leadership begins “The Big Learn,” an anti-racism course organized by the League of Independent Theater, Indie Theater Fund, and New York Innovative Theatre Awards.
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For our last in-person Cold Reading of 2020, we read Charles Ludlam’s The Mystery of Irma Vep

2020 by the Numbers

  • Productions: 2
  • Cabarets: 1
  • Cold Readings: 36
  • Rehearsal hours: 96
  • Company Meetings: 74
  • Artists Paid: 42
  • 2020 spending: Personnel: $4,450 (44%); Space: $2,280 (23%); Production: $1,764 (17%); Admin: $1,019 (10%); Development: $600 (6%)
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Crowdsourcing from our community, our favorite Cold Readings

  • What the Constitution Means to Me by Heidi Schreck (our movie night of the show streaming on Amazon)
  • Wine in the Wilderness by Alice Childress
  • Hir by Taylor Mac
  • One-third of a Nation by Arthur Arent and The Federal Theatre Project
  • Passage by Christopher Chen
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Once the pandemic shut down New York, we moved our Cold Reading series online. The gatherings quickly grew in size and we accelerated the series to meet weekly instead of monthly.

Crowd-sourced from our community, our 2020 favorite...

  • Books
  • Music (listen to our Spotify playlist)
  • Moments
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The Uprising for Black Lives inspired us all and demanded our attention, self-reflection, and action.

Crowd-sourced from our community, the last in-person theater we saw

  • Cocktail Party: A Social Experiment
  • Hamlet at St. Ann’s Warehouse
  • Henry V
  • Theater in Asylum’s Hephaestus
  • Inheritance by Matthew Lopez
  • Bread and Puppet’s Insurrection-Resurrection Service Circus
  • Jagged Little Pill on Broadway
  • Girl from the North Country on Broadway
  • Medea at BAM
  • Mabou Mines’ MUD
  • Next to Normal at Riverside Theater Works
  • The Play That Goes Wrong on Broadway
  • Sanctuary City by Martyna Majok at Lucille Lortel
  • The Shadow Whose Prey the Hunter Becomes at the Public
  • Tumacho at Connelly Theater
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The incredible cast of Hephaestus, performed the piece just days before New York shut down. Production photos by Ryan Prado, LaGuardia Performing Arts Center/Rough Draft Festival.

Crowd-sourced from our community, what are we looking forward to in 2021?

  • Dance floors
  • Starting college
  • Hopefully, a return to New York!
  • More family time (fingers crossed)
  • Seeing people without masks and hearing them wonder how weird it is not to wear one
  • Live theater hopefully!
  • The end of the pandemic (fingers crossed). And the expansion of the federal govt. under a Biden administration.
  • A vaccine!!! And maybe then... dare I say?... travel?
  • Hugging people
  • Springtime
  • Not having Donald Trump in the White House.
  • GOING TO ITALY AND BEYOND
  • A vaccine!
  • Hopefully the general public caring a little bit more about one another. Less selfishness.
  • Vaccines!!! and a new presidential administration
  • Fighting for a Green New Deal! electing a new mayor!
  • Live theater
  • A real hug
  • My best year yet!

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Zac Porter portrayed the Green New Deal Herself at The Debates 2020
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Nadia Diamond portrayed Joe Biden at The Debates 2020

Our Plans for 2021

  • Continue Cold Readings, weekly until the pandemic ends, TBD after that. In 2021 we will focus on reading more plays by writers of color, bringing in more guest facilitators, and partnering with other companies that hold readings.
  • Create and produce The Debates 2021*, centering on NYC’s upcoming primary elections
  • Produce Andy’s Boyd’s Occupy Prescott*
  • Present a cabaret* for artists in our community to experiment with new work
  • Complete a revision of our mission statement and company values 
  • Continue working to understand our role in oppressive systems, while striving to counteract them with anti-racist and anti-oppression practices. 

* We are planning our two productions and one cabaret to have multiple presentation options. Outdoors? Online? We are keeping safety top-of-mind, with multiple contingency plans and flexibility as the health situation in NYC changes.
SUPPORT OUR 2021 SEASON
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Amanda Ghosh was our “Horse Race Announcer,” looking ahead to the upcoming election in The Debates 2020

Thank you so much for all your support in 2020. The year was wild and difficult but there were still plays and people and memories that we are so grateful for. May all of us have a healthy and happy new year!

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Theater in Asylum's leadership team. Upper left: Kathryn Appleton, Managing Director. Upper right: Paul Bedard, Co-Artistic Director. Lower left: Hilarie Spangler, Community Engagement Manager. Lower right: Katie Palmer, Co-Artistic Director.
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Some moments we'll cherish from 2020

12/29/2020

 
Hello friends,

Katie here, with an attempt to gather up some favorite moments from 2020, following up on our lists of favorite books and music from the year.

I can think so clearly back to 365 days ago, when I was looking forward to all the things I thought 2020 was going to be, blissfully ignorant of all the things it would become. I had great plans: a few terrific trips, a 100+ person family reunion, school spring musicals I was ushering into existence.

It took many months, but I have let go of that alternative universe, and now live fully in the present. It has been a year of much smaller moments for me: a deep appreciation for the way the sunlight changes in my apartment; an extended visit with my sister in the summer; humbly expanding my participation in the march towards racial justice; a phone conversation on Election Day helping a woman in Michigan get to the polls; the sadness, memory, and catharsis that comes at a funeral; weekly gatherings to read and discuss plays and their themes.

This world is a mess. I take a bit of comfort in the knowledge that this world has always been a mess, and this year continued to expose more and more of that mess. But I truly believe 2020 can help us put the world back together again. Through the heartbreak and the chaos, we all have a few moments worth remembering: some big and profound, some small and delicate. Some fiery, some upsetting, some passionate, some subtle. Memories that become core to our sense of self, and memories that emerge without warning.

Take a look at some favorite 2020 memories crowd-sourced from the TIA community. I am so grateful to have gone through this year with all of you. I would have been lost without Theater in Asylum to keep me focused, committed, and processing. Thank you all for giving me—and each other—moments from 2020 that we’ll want to hold on to. 

All my love,
Katie
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Some of the TIA Community’s favorite moments from 2020

  • The first time, after months of totally-solo quarantine, I spent a weekend with friends
  • The first time I got to hug my grandmother again
  • The first BLM protest in Flatbush/Prospect Park. It was impromptu, very powerful, and very intense.
  • Picking up a new hobby (D&D!!!) and using it to keep in touch with people
  • Meeting my baby cousin during the pandemic.
  • Reading the part of a cat who becomes POTUS in a Cold Reading!
  • The first beach day with my partner post-surgery.
  • Phone banking for Biden in PA. Had a great conversation with a mother of three.
  • Phone chats with my family. Even before the pandemic started, I was making more of an effort to do this regularly, and it's become that much more precious now.
  • Taking a train trip across America
  • Making radio theatre with someone I care about
  • The BLM uprisings
  • Teaching my niece about the gender binary. She’s in 3rd grade but so curious and it gives me hope.
  • Spending more time with my mom than I have in years.
  • Going to the beach with a dear friend!
  • Working remotely meant I was able to leave the city for weeks at a time and spend longer chunks of time with my family (including baby and toddler niblings!) than I've had in over a decade.
  • The day New York erupted when the race was called for Biden. Dancing in the street. Bars giving out free champagne. Being able to celebrate with strangers was a much-needed moment of release in an otherwise unbearable year.
  • TIA’s What the Constitution Means to Me movie night!
  • Walking over one hundred blocks to go to the farmer's market with my roommate in the first weekend of closures (pre-lockdown)
  • Spending infinite time with my parents
  • NATURE
  • Meeting the wonderful TIA peeps!
  • Having the time to read multiple books about race in America AND having lots of people to talk to about them. Suddenly we all had overlapping reading lists and it was so valuable.
  • All the extra time to reflect on who I am and where I’m going.
  • Time with my family.
SUPPORT TIA'S 2021 SEASON
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Announcing our 2021 Season (and Fundraiser)!

12/22/2020

 
Dear friends,

2020 was a year full of difficulty and loss, but also urgently-needed work and reflection. As a nation we impeached a president, witnessed and worked for an Uprising for Black Lives, elected a new president, hunkered down in unprecedented isolation, and lost far too many to a horrible virus. 2020 was so much.

As we eagerly approach 2021, we are thrilled and honored to announce Theater in Asylum’s plans for 2021. We reach to next year with hope, and as live theater becomes safe again, we plan to:
  • Create and present The Debates 2021, centered on NYC’s upcoming elections*
  • Produce Andy Boyd’s play Occupy Prescott*
  • Continue offering weekly Cold Readings online, with more guest facilitators
  • Give our platform to other artists to try out new work via a cabaret*

* We are planning our two productions and one cabaret to have multiple presentation options. Outdoors? Online? We are keeping safety top-of-mind, with multiple contingency plans and flexibility as the health situation in NYC changes.

If you are in a position to donate, we humbly ask for your support of Theater in Asylum’s 2021 Season. We are so grateful for all that’s been made possible these past 10 years, and we look ahead to 2021 with eagerness and hope.
SUPPORT OUR 2021 SEASON

More Cold Readings, with more partnerships and special events

Since 2015, Theater in Asylum has gathered friends to read and discuss great plays once a month. As the pandemic sent us into our homes, we moved these gatherings online and began holding them weekly. Wednesday nights have become a cherished place not only for play reading but for processing these wild times. We plan to continue weekly readings online until it’s safe to gather in person again, and invite more guest facilitators to bring new plays and new ideas to the group.
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One of this year's Cold Reading groups!

The Debates 2021

The Debates 2021 will be our fourth iteration of The Debates. This year we turn to New York City’s Democratic primaries and the conversation over what we want our city to be. New Yorkers will soon elect a new mayor, comptroller, and many city council members.

We believe everyone should understand their electoral power, and we know theater is a potent tool to elucidate that power. As in past years, we’ll host a slew of events including watch parties, political analysis meetings, and finally, an original play about the election. We want not only to get out the vote, but also to empower the voter to engage in the electoral process with understanding and confidence. With our unique blend of mimicry, abstraction, and earnest curiosity, we seek to illuminate the candidates, the issues, and ourselves.
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Amanda Ghosh in The Debates 2020

Occupy Prescott

Nearly ten years ago, activists gathered in lower Manhattan to peacefully occupy Zuccotti Park and to declare opposition to an economic system clearly inadequate for the majority of Americans, the 99%. Occupy Wall Street galvanized people around the world and inspired hundreds of activist occupations, big and small, united in a call to radically rethink the economic order.

Playwright Andy Boyd hones in on Prescott, Arizona to follow five Occupiers in their efforts to change their town and the world. They broadly agree that the one percent is too powerful, but agreement breaks down as they search for specifics. Reaching consensus on what a better world looks like—and how to get there—is frequently frustrating and rarely glamorous. Never easy, but urgently necessary. On the 10th anniversary of the rallying cry heard round the world, we are thrilled to produce the prescient and hopeful play: Occupy Prescott.
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Global Democracy Now Occupy London Tents in front of St. Paul's, London Sunday 16th October 2011 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupy_movement#/media/File:Occupy_London_Tent.jpg)

And more!

We’re planning to host another cabaret, sharing our platform with artists in our community to workshop their new work. We will also continue to revise our mission statement and our company’s inner workings, as well as participating in anti-racism trainings through the League of Independent Theater.

We have big plans for 2021. If you are able, we would so appreciate your help in funding our next season. Thank you for your time, your support, and your love. We wish you and yours safety, good health, and a bright new year.

Thank you, thank you, thank you,
Paul, Katie, Kathryn, and Hilarie
Theater in Asylum
SUPPORT OUR 2021 SEASON
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Our Favorite Music from 2020

12/15/2020

 
Hello friends,

Kathryn here. Pre-Covid, I would listen to music every day on my way to work, in the office, and on my way home or to dinner with friends at a restaurant (remember when that was a thing?!). I would hear it in the halls at work (San Francisco Opera), go see concerts, or catch some live jazz. In March when everything shut down in San Francisco, I started working from home and my commute became non-existent. Concerts were cancelled. I wasn’t surrounded by music in the halls of the opera house. Instead, I went from Zoom meeting to Zoom meeting with no time in between and by the time I stopped working, all I wanted to do was eat and go to bed. So music left my daily routine for a while.

It came back to me when I decided one night in July to watch a recording from NY Phil of YoYo Ma performing Dvořák’s Cello Concerto in 1995. The music swelled up inside of me, and, however corny this sounds, I recognized that I was missing the healing power of music in my life.

Since that evening music, especially pop music, has come back into my daily life, and I’ve been catching up on some of the incredible albums that have come out this year from Phoebe Bridgers’ Punisher and Fiona Apple’s Fetch the Boltcutters to Taylor Swift’s folklore and Sarah Dooley’s Is This Heartbreak? I’m still digging into new albums from Sufjan Stevens, Perfume Genius, Lianne La Havas, HAIM, Jyoti, and Moses Sumney, along with all of the other albums the larger TIA community has been listening to.

What music have you been listening to this year? What has brought you joy or to tears? Or made you want to dance? Let me know, I’m ready to dance.

And looking towards 2021, I hope to experience some live music!

Happy listening!
Kathryn

The TIA Community's Favorite Songs of 2020

  • Ali Dineen - Hold On
  • The Chicks - Gaslighter
  • Willie Nelson - Vote 'Em Out
  • Jack Garratt - Time
  • Fiona Apple - Relay
  • Adam Blotner - I Love This Clinic (feat. Jenny Pinzari)
  • Indigo Girls - Closer to Fine
  • Our Native Daughters - Black Myself
  • Taylor Swift - I Forgot That You Existed
  • Nathan Leigh - All Our Racist Uncles
  • Zenobia Powell Perry - Tawawa House Suite (Arr. J. Gandolfi for Piano 4 Hands): Jumping Over the Broom
  • Jessica Vosk - Help / Being Alive
  • Daft Punk - Lose Yourself to Dance (feat. Pharrell Williams)
  • Daft Punk - Touch (feat. Paul Williams)
  • Cher - Happiness Is Just a Thing Called Joe
  • Taylor Swift - We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together
  • Taylor Swift - Mean
  • Kesha - Praying
  • Beyoncé - Run the World (Girls)
  • Green Day - American Idiot
  • Resistance Revival Chorus - All You Fascists Bound To Lose
  • Melanie De Biasio - Sweet Darling Pain
  • John Prine - No Ordinary Blue
  • John Prine - Lonesome Friends of Science
  • Beyoncé - BLACK PARADE
  • Rufus Wainwright - Peaceful Afternoon
Listen on Spotify
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The TIA Community's Favorite Albums of 2020

Albums
  • Notes on a Conditional Form by The 1975
  • Fetch the Boltcutters by Fiona Apple
  • Solo Violin Sonatas by Bach
  • The Keep Going Song by The Bengsons
  • The Lion King: The Gift by Beyoncé
  • Step to the Left by Adam Blotner
  • Punisher by Phoebe Bridgers
  • Stranger in the Alps by Phoebe Bridgers
  • Gaslighter by The Chicks
  • No Deal by Melanie De Blasio
  • Random Access Memories by Daft Punk
  • Hold On by Ali Dineen
  • Is This Heartbreak? by Sarah Dooley
  • Future Nostalgia by Dua Lipa
  • Rough and Rowdy Ways by Bob Dylan
  • American Head by The Flaming Lips
  • Midnight Organ Fight by Frightened Rabbit
  • Mia Gargaret by Margaret Gia
  • The Theatrical Death of Julie Delicious by Holychild
  • World on the Ground by Sarah Jasosz
  • Dedicated Side B by Carly Rae Jepson
  • DISCO by Kylie Minogue
  • Getting Into Knives by The Mountain Goats
  • Suite for Max Brown by Jeff Parker
  • The Tree of Forgiveness by John Prine
  • The Neon Skyline by Andy Shauf
  • Sign of the Times by Harry Styles
  • Folklore by Taylor Swift
  • Ctrl by SZA
  • how are you? By Rosenhardt
  • Unfollow the Rules by Rufus Wainwright

Musical Cast Albums
  • Hadestown
  • Jagged Little Pill
  • Six! The Musical

“All their albums, I can’t decide!” Artists
  • The Chicks
  • Sam Cooke
  • Los Panchos
Listen on Spotify
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Theater in Asylum (TIA) is a New York-based theater company founded in 2010 to challenge and empower our community. TIA joyfully pursues a rigorous research and an ensemble-driven approach to theater-making. We create performances to investigate our past, interpret our present, and imagine our future. We prize space to process, space to question—asylum—for ourselves and our community.

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