Our 2021 Season

Dear friends,

We hope your 2021 is off to a great start. Our is quite busy, planning and starting our 2021 Season:

• Cold Readings: continuing weekly, online
• The Debates 2021*: centering on the NYC primary election early this Summer
• Occupy Prescott*: a play about an Occupy encampment, premiering this fall
• A cabaret: to showcase work by artists in our community, date TBD
• A completion to our Mission Statement revision
• Continued anti-oppression training and work

* 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.

One of 2020's Cold Reading groups!

Cold Readings

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.

Amanda Ghosh in The Debates 2020

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.

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)

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.

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 are so excited to see you again, in-person when it's safe, and online until then. Thank you all for making our work possible!

Cheers,
Paul, Katie, Kathryn, and Hilarie