Theater in Asylum: The First 5 Years

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We can hardly believe we’ve been making theater together for 15 whole years! As we celebrate our anniversary and raise money for the future of Theater in Asylum through our 15th Anniversary Fundraiser, we’re looking back on our first 5 years as a company and the work we created in those early days. Read on as co-Artistic Director Katie shares some of her favorite memories from 2010 - 2014. And help us create even more exciting work in the years to come by donating to our fundraiser!

2010
Much of our research for our first full production, Nijinsky in Asylum, consisted of gorging on ballets at American Ballet Theatre that summer. I think we saw a ballet a week that entire season. Paul lived right behind Lincoln Center, so we had easy access to the theater. It was the perfect way to get inspired to tell the story of Russian dancer Vaslav Nijinsky.

2011
Our Death / Memory Project is where I really feel we became a company. Not only because it's when we started using the name Theater in Asylum, but because the event went so spectacularly well. If it hadn't gone so well, I don't know if we would have continued. But squeezing 100 people into the 3rd floor rehearsal studio of New York Theatre Workshop to see 3 acts of performances put on by hungry, passionate young artists - the electricity was enough to power all of the East Village. It still counts as a supremely special night in my life and feels like a definitive turning point to making Theater in Asylum a real thing.

Later that year, we produced a re-imaging of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein in conjunction with the Looking Glass Theatre’s Space Grant Program. This production, which set the classic story in the not-so-distant future when we will again face a new science that redefines our ethics, featured projections to multiple video screens. How did we do that?! In 2011?!

2012
Much of this year consisted of Paul, Kathryn, and I setting up shop at Horse Trade (now Frigid New York) where we held office hours and mounted 3 shows in 9 months. What a time! One of those shows was Revolution in 1, which was my first time at the helm of a production. Clearly, I really liked it. This was also my first time professionally collaborating with my sister Lizzy, who was featured as one of our co-creators and performers.

2013
Our main production this year, ¡Olé!, told the story of the tumultuous relationship between Federico Garcia Lorca and Salvador Dalí. The show premiered at UNDER St. Marks in New York, and then traveled to the Chicago Fringe Festival, the Hartford Carriage House Theatre, and the Rochester Fringe Festival, marking our first tour! I really think Paul and I unlocked a new level of artistry with this piece. The weaving of story-telling, physicality, music, theme, and setting was on a new level for the company.

2014
After ¡Olé!, I said I want to write a musical! I connected with composer Lucas Tahiruzzaman Syed, who had loved ¡Olé! We spent 2 hours in the Applejack Diner on Broadway and W 55th and the last idea he threw out was "what about the Brontës?" We found Sarah Ziegler as our 3rd collaborator and off we went! We spent much of the year writing and premiered the first song from the show, “The World is Ready,” at our cabaret later that year.

We’ll be sharing more TIA memories over the next few weeks. Stay tuned!


Want to help fund the future of Theater in Asylum?
Donate to our 15th Anniversary Fundraiser!