The Wooster Group

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The Wooster Group is a New York City-based experimental theater company known for creating numerous original dramatic works. It gradually emerged during 1975-1980 from Richard Schechner's The Performance Group (1967-1980) and took its name in 1980 (the 1975-1980 independent productions being retroactively attributed^[1] to the Group). The ensemble is since directed by Elizabeth LeCompte and has seen the beginnings of actors such as founding member Willem Dafoe. Their home is the Performing Garage in SoHo.

Contents 1 Mission statement 2 Funding 3 Works 3.1 Theater 3.1.1 Main 3.1.2 The Road to Immortality 3.1.3 Three Places in Rhode Island 3.2 Radio productions 3.3 Audio productions 3.4 Film and video productions 4 Members 4.1 Founding members 4.2 Current associates 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Mission statement

For over thirty years, The Wooster Group has cultivated new forms and techniques of theatrical expression reflective of and responsive to our evolving culture, while sustaining a consistent ensemble and maintaining a flexible repertory. Wooster Group theatre pieces are constructed as assemblages of juxtaposed elements: radical staging of both modern and classic texts, found materials, films and videos, dance and movement, multi-track scoring, and an architectonic approach to theatre design.

The Wooster Group has played a pivotal role in bringing technologically sophisticated and evocative uses of sound, film and video into the realm of contemporary theatre, and in the process has influenced a generation of theatre artists nationally and internationally. The Group's work is unique because it attracts not only the theatre-going community but also artists and enthusiasts of many other cultural disciplines, such as dance, painting, music, video and film.

The Group has created and performed all of its theatre pieces at The Performing Garage in SoHo, New York City. All pieces in The Group's award winning repertory have toured widely in the US and Europe, as well as to Asia, Australia, Canada, and South America.

[edit] Funding

The Wooster Group is a not-for-profit theater company that relies on grants and donations from supporters. It has received multiple grants from the Carnegie Corporation, which has supported more than 550 New York City arts and social service institutions since its inception in 2002, and which was made possible through a donation by New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg.^[2] The Carnegie Corporation's total donations to nonprofit organizations exceeds $115 million.^[3]

[edit] Works

[edit] Theater

[edit] Main

• 1975 - A Wing and a Prayer
• 1984 - North Atlantic - also 1999
• 1991 - Brace Up! from Chekhov's Three Sisters - also 2003
• 1993 - The Emperor Jones by Eugene O'Neill - also 2005
• 1994 - Fish Story
• 1995 - The Hairy Ape by Eugene O'Neill
• 1999 - House / Lights
• 2002 - To You, The Birdie! (Phèdre)
• 2004 - Poor Theater
• 2006 - Who's Your Dada
• 2007 - Hamlet

[edit] The Road to Immortality

• Frank Dell's The Temptation of St. Antony (1987)
• L.S.D. (...Just the High Points...) (1984)
• Route 1 & 9 (1981)

[edit] Three Places in Rhode Island

• Point Judith (an epilogue) (1979)
• Nayatt School (1978)
• Rumstick Road (1977)
• Sakonnet Point (1975)

• Hula (1981) and For the Good Times (1982)(two dance pieces)
• North Atlantic (1984/1999) written for the company by James Strahs
• Miss Universal Happiness (1985) and Symphony of Rats (1988) written for the company & directed by Richard Foreman

[edit] Radio productions

Each radio piece was a BBC Radio 3 Broadcast for a Festival Radio Production.

• The Peggy Carstairs Report (radio play - 2002)
• Racine's Phèdre (radio play - 2000)
• The Emperor Jones (radio play - 1998)

[edit] Audio productions

• Love Songs Songs from The Wooster Group's To You, The Birdie! (Phèdre) written, performed and produced and by drench (CD - 2002)

[edit] Film and video productions

• House/Lights (DVD-2004)
• The Wooster Group's The Emperor Jones by Eugene O'Neill (video-1999)
• Wrong Guys (film-in progress)
• Rhyme 'Em to Death (video-1994)
• White Homeland Commando (video-1992) written for the company by Michael Kirby
• Flaubert Dreams of Travel but the Illness of His Mother Prevents It (video-1986)

[edit] Members

[edit] Founding members

The Wooster Group's founding members are:

• Jim Clayburgh
• Willem Dafoe
• Spalding Gray (1941-2004)
• Libby Howes
• Elizabeth LeCompte
• Peyton Smith
• Kate Valk
• Ron Vawter (1948-1994)

[edit] Current associates

Geoff Abbas Jo Andres Joel Bassin Dominique Bousquet Steve Buscemi Philip Bussmann Zbigniew Bzymek John Collins Steve Cuiffo Lance Dann Jim Dawson Dennis Dermody Viviane de Muynck Martin R. Desjardins Aron Deyo Dan Dobson Joby Emmons J. Reid Farrington

Roy Faudree Iver Findlay Jim Findlay Jim Fletcher Ari Fliakos Clay Hapaz Cynthia Hedstrom Mark Muttt Huang Koosil-Ja Hwang Shaun Irons Elizabeth Jenyon James J.J. Johnson Bozkurt Bozzy Karasu Richard Kimmel Ken Kobland Anna Kohler Christopher Kondek

Karen Lashinsky Fiona Leaning David Linton John Lurie Margaret Mann Gabe Maxson Emily McDonnell Frances McDormand Daniel Pettrow Helen Pickett Scott Renderer Suzzy Roche Beatrice Roth Matt Schloss Andrew Schneider Sheena See

Tanya Selvaratnam Dave Shelley Scott Shepherd E. Jay Sims Ariana Smart Casey Spooner Michelle Stern James Strahs Jeff Sugg Jennifer Tipton Ruud van den Akker Tara Webb Kim Whitener Judson Williams Gary Wilmes Omar Zubair

[edit] References

Sources consulted

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (August 2007)

Endnotes

• David Savran: Breaking the Rules: The Wooster Group. Reprint. New York: Theatre Communications Group, 1990. ISBN 0930452828.

[edit] External links

Official site

• The Wooster Group.org

Associate artists' sites

• Collapsable Giraffe
• Elevator Repair Service
• Need Company - Jan Lauwers
• (German) Philip Bussman
• Radiohole
• Radio Reverb Community Radio
• Suzzy Roche
• The Builder's Association
• Big Dance Theater