Fall has arrived in New York City, as have the usual trappings of the season - cooler weather, changing leaves, all pumpkin everything, and, of course, fall theater! After a busy summer of development on The FTP Show, we here at Theater in Asylum are hard at work gearing up for our 2023 season. Between applying for grants, planning a full production of The FTP Show and getting ready for our annual fundraiser (watch this space!), we’re taking in all the exciting work our friends in the indie theater scene have created this season. Read on to learn more about what we’re up to, as well as some of the upcoming projects we’re most excited about!

This month, we’ll be hosting two exciting Cold Readings, both online and in person. If you’re not already familiar, Cold Readings is a play-reading series focusing not on development, but on reader engagement. Each night a facilitator introduces the play and its context, we read the play without rehearsal, and finally we discuss. We dive into plays without the pressure of performance and cherish the opportunity to learn about our artform. No theater training is required to read and the group is always growing.

Interested in joining a reading? Just want to learn more? Email us to get on the list!

Friday, October 7, 2022 @ 8 PM
Sideshows by the Seashore at Coney Island USA
1208 Surf Ave, Brooklyn, NY

The Divinity Supply Company, a collaboration from our friends at Boxcutter Collective and Bread and Puppet Theater, returns to the New York stage this weekend! From out of nothing, an ancient god’s divine laughter creates the universe, then promptly abandons the scene. Ruled over by flimsy paper authorities, the newly created masses attempt to escape the darkness of the suffering valley with help from The Divinity Supply Company. But can The Divinity Supply Company produce the exact god for the exact dilemma, as they advertise? Or will the suffering valley be stuck in the Dilemma-Of-The-Pleading-Now as they stumble towards a There-Is-No-End-In-Sight Conclusion? Also featuring: clouds, Santa Claus, an Idiot Manifesto, a brass band, and a 100 watt lightbulb.

The show will be presented on Friday, October 8th as part of the Puppeteers of America Festival at Sideshows by the Seashore in Coney Island. Tickets are available online - you won’t want to miss this one!

Our very own Co-Artistic Director Paul Bedard will be traveling the country this fall with Bred and Puppet Theater, as they tour The Apocalypse Defiance Circus across the country! The show, says founder and director Peter Schumann, is “in response to our totally unresurrected capitalist situation, not only the hundreds of thousands of unnecessarily sacrificed pandemic victims but our culture’s unwillingness to recognize Mother Earth’s revolt against our civilization. Since we earthlings do not live up to our earthling obligations, we need resurrection circuses to yell against our own stupidity.”

The tour will hit several U.S. cities starting this week, ending with a run at Theater for the New City in Manhattan December 14th through 18th. Check out the tour schedule to see if the circus is coming to a city near you!

A Cold Reading of The House of Bernarda Alba
By Federico García Lorca
Discussion facilitated by Inés del Castillo

Wednesday, August 3, 2022
7-10pm
On Zoom
RSVP Here

Completed just two months before he was assassinated in the Spanish Civil War, Federico García Lorca's The House of Bernarda Alba explores individual freedom, societal oppression, tradition, honor, and family. Following the death of her husband, matriarch Bernada Alba decrees to her five daughters that their home will be locked down in the traditional eight years of mourning. With the eldest daughter engaged, and all five daughters yearning to start their lives, Bernarda turns to harsher and harsher methods to maintain the family order. Secrets are forced out, tradition is threatened, and the family's honor is irreparably shaken. Please be advised that this play contains scenes that depict domestic violence, suicide, and mention of infanticide and violence against women.

This reading will take place on Zoom, followed by a discussin facilitated by Inés del Castillo. RSVP here for the link!

Save the Date for an End of Summer Picnic!

Cap off the summer and cheers to the fall with us at our End of Summer Picnic this Labor Day! Join us in Prospect Park for drinks, laughs, snacks, and plenty of friends. TIA will have some snacks and drinks, but we encourage folks to bring a food or beverage to share. Plus, feel free to bring instruments, pets, friends, frisbees or anything else you can think of for a fun afternoon in the park! Find more details and sign up on our RSVP form.

Big thanks to everyone who came out to our Summer Picnic earlier this month! Lots of laughs, snacks and fun were had and it was a great way to kick off the season. Keep an eye on these emails and our socials for more fun gatherings in the coming months!

A Cold Reading of
The Importance of Being Earnest
by Oscar Wilde
Discussion Facilitated by Paul Bedard
Wednesday, July 20, 2022
Location TBA
RSVP Here

Join us to read one of the theater's great farces! Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest, subtitled “A Trivial Comedy for Serious People,” is filled with wit, Victorian manners, and shade for days. This iconic satire aims at marriage, love, and being yourself (or someone else). As the play tells us, "The truth is rarely pure and never simple. Modern life would be very tedious if it were either, and modern literature a complete impossibility!"
This reading will be in person at a Brooklyn location to be announced. Mark your calendars and RSVP here to join!

Theater in Asylum Honors Juneteenth
Sunday, June 19th is Juneteenth, a holiday commemorating the emancipation of enslaved Black Americans. On June 19, 1865, the Emancipation Proclamation was finally announced in Texas, the last state in the Confederacy with institutionalized slavery, over two years after President Abraham Lincoln first issued the decree. Since then, Juneteenth has been a celebration of African American communities, culture and history.

At Theater in Asylum, we celebrate Black history by celebrating Black theater all year long. One great way to honor Juneteenth is by reading some of the plays from the Golden Collection, which we’ve featured in our Cold Readings over the last few months. Curated by Jeremy O. Harris, this collection of 15 plays by prominent Black playwrights includes such amazing works as Sweat by Lynn Nottage, An Octoroon by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Les Blancs by Lorraine Hansberry and more. And, if you purchase the full collection from Drama Book Shop, one copy of a play from a Golden Collection playwright will be donated to public libraries in all 50 states. Help bring Black theater to communities across the country while growing your own play library!

Dear Friends,

Can you believe we’re nearly halfway through March?! We surely can’t, but we’ve got some exciting things up our sleeves this spring that we just can’t wait to share with you!

Meet the New Members of the TIA Team!
We are THRILLED to announce four new members of the Theater in Asylum year-round team who will be helping the company grow and deepen its artistic work in the coming months. You may recognize some of these faces from past TIA projects as they have been active members of our community. Keep reading to learn more about these fabulous humans!

And now, a message from TIA Community Member Danica Stompor:

With the support of the LaGuardia and Wagner Archives at LaGuardia Community College, I am developing an interactive digital map that charts the history of the Queens Pride Parade, interrogates the motives behind its formation, and examines what it means to publicly define an LGBTQ community.

I could use your help! As a part of this project, I’ll be asking artists to create pieces that respond to a series of readings about the parade and the history of queer life in Jackson Heights. We will meet as a book club in a series of 3-4 sessions over April to June 2022, working together to generate questions and ideas about the parade, as well as a few devising exercises to generate ideas.

By the end of the book club in June, everyone will present a piece that they’ve made in response to what we’ve discussed. This could be a song, a poem, a food dish — the sky is the limit!

If you live or have lived in Queens, it would be especially lovely to have you create with us. A small stipend of $50 will be provided to artists who contribute to the installation.
Questions?

Want to join? Email me at danica.stompor@gmail.com!