MISSION STATEMENT

Woodshed Collective is a group of young theatre professionals dedicated to the development and production of free site-specific, installation theatre in unique locations within the five boroughs of New York City. We strive to create theatre that athleticizes our audience’s senses, emotions, and minds, challenging them to claim a presence that affects the experience itself. Finally, we believe that access to culture is something everyone should be able to experience and therefore offer free admission to all of our productions.

HISTORY OF THE COLLECTIVE

Woodshed Collective is the most recent evolution of what began as a method of creating theater. Founded as the Woodshed Theater Ensemble in Spring of 2002 at Vassar College, the company sought to deemphasize the traditional, hierarchical model of theatrical production. This meant including all members of the ensemble in all aspects of production, from concept development to direction and design.

When the founding members relocated to New York City, the decision was made to focus on creating fully realized installation theater using a modified version of the Ensemble’s collaborative model. With each annual production, Woodshed seeks to create a tangible, immersive world for our audience to explore, interact with and even influence directly. Our interest in this aesthetic stems from a desire to radicalize performance, to distill what makes live performance unique. We believe strongly in the power of live language, story, and image to create conversation, to bond groups of people, and break down barriers created by the deluge of technology each of us encounters daily. Our work surrounds the audience with human stories and hand-crafted worlds.

Woodshed’s foray into installation theatre began in the summer of 2006 with its production of Blood Wedding at Soho Rep’s Walker Space. The following summer saw a highly successful production of Never the Sinner at the Flamboyan Theater at CSV on the Lower East Side. Our most notable production to date was Twelve Ophelias in McCarren Park Pool in the summer of 2008; over 3000 people attended. Mounted in Brooklyn just following the Public Theatre’s presentation of Hamlet in Central Park in Manhattan, the production created an inter-borough dialogue revolving around Shakespeare’s play. Please see our NYTimes online slide show for photos and more details [view slide show].

Stay tuned for our next exciting venture! The Confidence Man.

    ASSOCIATED ARTISTS

  • Pepper Binkley
  • Ben Beckley
  • Kate Benson
  • Rebecca Comtois
  • Dan Cozzens
  • Anna Kull
  • Keith Lubeley
  • Wil Petre
  • Ellen Shadburn
  • Sara Wolkowitz