THEATER IN ASYLUM

Memorable Books we read in 2021

12/21/2021

 
Each year, Theater in Asylum releases a list of books we read that were impactful, stuck out, and memorable. Below find a list, crowd-sourced from our community, of the books we loved in 2021. And check this post out to see the books we loved last year, in 2020.
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Ariella Axelbank reading Susan Quinn's Furious Improvisation!
Fiction
  • A String of Silver Beads by Melissa Addey
  • Homeland Elegies by Ayad Akhtar
  • Oh Pray My Wings are Gonna Fit Me Well by Maya Angelou
  • Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin
  • Just Above my Head by James Baldwin
  • Milkman by Anna Burns
  • Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler
  • Parable of the Talents by Octavia Butler
  • All the Ted Chiang short stories
  • When No One Is Watching by Alyssa Cold
  • You Had Me at Hola by Alexis Daria
  • Babel-17 by Samuel Delany
  • Master of the Revel by Nicole Garland
  • The Midnight Library by Matt Heig
  • Long Live the Post Horn! by Vigdis Hjorth
  • Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro
  • The Broken Earth Trilogy by N.K. Jemisin
  • Green River Valley by Robert Lashley 
  • The City and the City by China Mieville 
  • Whatever Happened to Interracial Love? by Kathleen Collins
  • Bewilderment by Richard Powers
  • On Love and Other Difficulties by R. M. Rilke
  • Normal People by Sally Rooney
  • Carry On by Rainbow Rowell 
  • Wayward Son by Rainbow Rowell
  • We Cast a Shadow by Maurice Carlos Ruffin
  • Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
  • The Invisible Life of Adie LaRue by V.E.Schwab
  • On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong 
  • The Cold Millions by Jess Walter
  • The Tensorate Series by Neon Yang
  • Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu

Non-Fiction
  • Re-Enchanting the World by Sylvia Federici
  • Capitalist Realism by Mark Fisher 
  • Decoding Greatness by Ron Friedman
  • Teaching to Transgress by bell hooks
  • Jesus and John Wayne by Kristin Kobes du Mex
  • I Overcame my Autism and All I Got was this Lousy Anxiety Disorder by Sarah Kurchak 
  • My Grandmother’s Hands by Resmaa Menakem
  • Van Gogh: The Asylum Year by Edwin Mullins
  • Cruising Utopia by José Esteban Muñoz
  • The Dead are Arising: The Life of Malcolm X by Les and Tamara Payne
  • Furious Improvisation by Susan Quinn
  • Let the Record Show: A Political History of ACT Up by Sarah Schulman
  • The Gentrification of the Mind by Sarah Schulman
  • Conflict is not Abuse by Sarah Schulman 
  • Jesus and the Disinherited by Howard Thurman 
  • Energy at the End of the World by Laura Watts
  • Caste: The Origin of our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson
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Memorable Performances from 2021

12/20/2021

 
What a year! Theater returned and, while difficult and ever-changing, our theater-going habit revived and we couldn't be more grateful. In 2020, when we asked our community about plays we've seen, it was "What was the last play you saw before everything shut down?" This year, we got to ask, "What stood out? What will you remember?" Below, find this year's list, lovingly compiled from the Theater in Asylum community.
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Katie, Theresa, Ryan, and Gilbert at The Lion King!
  • American Utopia on Broadway
  • Boxcutter Collective’s How to Deal With Tantrums
  • Bread and Puppet’s The Persians, and the Circus
  • Come From Away on Broadway, re-opening night
  • Eurydice (Opera version) by Sarah Ruhl, directed by Mary Zimmerman at the Met!
  • Hadestown on Broadway
  • Kyoko Takenaka
  • Lakawana Blues on Broadway
  • The Lion King on Broadway, final dress rehearsal
  • The Lehman Trilogy on Broadway
  • The Mother, by Brech, adapted by The Wooster Group
  • The Mountain Goats at White Eagle Hall
  • Oh He Dead Concert
  • Pass Over was my first Broadway show after the shut-down. I was in tears as soon as the curtain came up.
  • Romeo y Julieta
  • Sanctuary City
  • Sheep #1
  • Theater in Asylum’s The Debates 2021
  • Theater in Asylum’s Occupy Prescott
  • Trouble in Mind on Broadway, finally!
  • Twilight
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Rachael at American Utopia on Broadway!
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Alexis at Trouble in Mind on Broadway!
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Paul and Rick at the Met, during intermission for Eurydice
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Jennifer at Pass Over on Broadway!
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The marquee, dimmed for the passing of Stephen Sondheim, at Ain't Too Proud on Broadway.
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Rachael at Caroline or Change on Broadway
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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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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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