Two weeks ago, TIA’s Cabaret series returned to the (live!) stage after a two year hiatus - and WOW! We couldn’t have dreamed up a better cast, crew and audience than those we had for The FTP Cabaret earlier this month. Thank you to everyone who helped us bring these new pieces to the stage and to all who came out to support our incredible artists both nights. We encourage you all to visit the cabaret’s show page on our website to learn more about our fabulous cabaret artists as well!

Missed the show (or just want to relive the magic)? Check out the fabulous production stills from our incomparable photographer Shubhra Mishra.

Join us for the TIA Summer Picnic!

Meet at the Picnic House
RSVP

One of our favorite things to do at TIA is to help foster new friendships and artistic collaborations by bringing our amazing community together. Join us on Saturday, June 4th at 2 PM in Prospect Park for our 2022 Summer Picnic! Drinks, laughs, and snacks will be had and you’re bound to make a new friend or two. TIA will have snacks and margaritas (with and without alcohol) on hand, but we encourage folks to bring a food or beverage to share. And if you're inspired: Musicians, bring songs! Comedians, bring jokes! Jocks, bring sport stuff! Frisbees? Lawn games? The possibilities are endless! Friends, lovers, pets and children are all welcome. And please RSVP ahead of the picnic so we have a sense of attendance.

Neither do we.

For Broadway ticket prices that low, you’d have to hop in your time machine and head back to the late 1930s. During the years of the Federal Theatre Project, patrons could see an FTP show like One Third of a Nation or Power for about 50¢ a ticket, or about $10 adjusted for inflation. In fact, the FTP was barred by Congress from charging more than $1 (or about $20 today) for tickets to any of the Project’s productions. The FTP was created to bring theater to the people and their ticket prices reflected that mission of equal access to the arts.

In setting ticket prices for The FTP Cabaret, we wanted to create ticket options that honored the legacy and mission of the FTP. In addition to our standard Pay-What-You-Can and $30 Hero Ticket options, we’ve also added $10 and $20 levels to reflect the ticket prices of the 1930s (adjusted for inflation, of course). Choose the ticket level that’s right for you and treat yourself to a night out, FTP style.

Performances start next week (!!!) and tickets are going fast! Reserve your seats for The FTP Cabaret today!

By Katie Palmer

Learn more about our 10 year commemoration here

While Nijinsky in Asylum was our first show, I have a theory that The Death/Memory Project, TIA’s first cabaret, is what made us an actual company with staying power.

The prompt was simple: create a piece that responds to the correlation of death and memory. TIA created what might be our favorite piece to date (or at least, we’ve forgotten so much of it that what is left holds the dearest place in our memory): “The Persistence of Annabel Lee,” inspired by the paintings “The Persistence of Time” and “The Disintegration of the Persistence of Time” by Salvador Dalí, and the poem “Annabel Lee” by Edgar Allen Poe. It was an abstract movement piece with evocative music, an eerie choreographic style, and otherworldly costumes by Ramsey Scott.

We reached out with our prompt to every artist we knew—college friends, new friends, musicians—and they all came ready to play with beautiful short pieces. It was, like all things we do, wildly ambitious: 3-plus hours long, 20-some-odd acts, the room packed to the gills. It was an explosion of joy and community unlike anything I had experienced in theater before. I couldn’t believe we had brought together all these factions of our lives to make work on a single theme and ponder the art together.

We got such positive feedback, and we were really proud of ourselves. So we thought, we have to keep doing this. We have to keep making spaces for this work and this community.

My other theory is: things have to be really good the first time you try it in order for you to ever try doing it again.
We settled into this format and have produced 17 cabarets in 10 years. They have been a tremendous amount of work: wrangling—and inspiring—upwards of 50 artists for one-night-only events, securing venues, enticing audiences. We’ve performed in the back rooms of bars, on carpeted floors, and in beautiful theaters. We’ve had full houses and audiences of just ten. The themes have ranged from huge spiritual questions to granular political issues.

But the same core has been there every single time: people sharing, learning, and communing through art. The exuberance each cabaret brings is a feeling we will continue to chase time and time again.

Debate Watch Party
Friday, February 7, 2020
8-11pm
The Artist Co-op500 W 52 St, #3W, New York, NY 10019

We're making a theatrical adaptation of the Democratic Primary Debates. With a small army of actors, designers, dramaturgs, and support staff, we will watch and analyze the debates, devise a piece, and present it live in NYC. Join us for the first step: watching the debate live on TV.
​
 Featuring
​Former Vice President Joe Biden
Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont
Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts
Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota
Former Mayor of South Bend, Indiana Pete Buttigieg
Businessman Tom Steyer
Tech Entrepreneur Andrew Yang

Join us for the last cabaret before our final show! 
The Debates:
Electability Cabaret
Saturday, February 8, 2020
7-10pm
South Oxford Space
138 S Oxford St, Brooklyn, NY 11217 

What Democrats want most is someone who can win, but how do we judge that?
Policies?
Experience?
Identity?
Polling?
How do we "debate" electability?
How do we choose a nominee?

 Featuring
Willie Zabar
Jake Hirsch
Adam Blotner

and an excerpt from Theater in Asylum's upcoming
THE DEBATES 2020

 Tickets $0-20!

​Thank you so much and hope to see you there!

With love and gratitude,
Paul, Katie, Kathryn, Samantha