Photo by Pavel Antonov
The Foundry was established in 1994 to assemble and support a community of artists with revolutionary ideas for the theatre and the world in which it is situated. The Foundry commissions, develops, premieres and tours new theatrical works that invite audiences to visit unexplored landscapes of thought—works that employ the limitless forms that only live theatrical events can create.
Foundry productions have toured nationally and internationally and have been honored with nine Obie Awards and three Drama Desk nominations for “Unique Theatrical Experience.”
Simultaneously, The Foundry hosts public Dialogues and community programs that bring artists together with other community stakeholders to formulate new questions for our changing times. Dialogues sometimes seed new commissioned works and/or function as research sites in the development of new commissions.
The Foundry has been recognized for its hybrid programming with TCG’s national Peter Zeisler Award for Innovative Practice and Dedication to Freedom of Expression and for having twice been awarded the special Ross Wetzsteon Obie “creating cutting edge work and engaging artists in some of the thorniest issues of the world we inhabit.”
Foundry productions challenge the power of live performance to provoke considerations of the social, political, and cultural discourses that inform our everyday lives. The company is drawn to elastic, unusual theatrical forms that arise out of and redouble the content of the play itself, which means that our commissions don’t always result in “traditional” plays at the end of a development process. Each project explores the (im)possibilities of theatre, and The Foundry’s body of work constitutes passionate argument for its limitless imaginative potential.
The Foundry is an ongoing performance of ideas, created by rigorous theatrical works, public dialogues and community programs, invites as many people as possible to consider what it means to be citizens of this world.
Last Updated: July 1, 2013