Past Productions

Since 1980, The Private Theatre has been committed to the production of both new and classical theatrical works throughout its history.

The company has a tradition of employing non-traditional theatrical conventions and of staging productions in unexpected venues.

Rocco, Chelsea, Adriana, Sean, Claudia, Gianna, Alex (2019)

WRITTEN BY DAN HASSE

BASED ON ORIGINAL WRITING BY
CHUK OBASI, CHELSEA FREI, KAREN EILBACHER, SARAH WHARTON, JASON GRAY, ADRIANA ROSSETTO, SALOMÉ KRELL, BRONWEN CARSON

ROCCO, CHELSEA, ADRIANA, SEAN, CLAUDIA, GIANNA, ALEX...

...is a theatrical tapestry of intimate stories, inspired by Bernard Lonergan’s 'consciousness of conflict' philosophy. It follows seven characters and their inner dramas as they are each confronted with life-altering decisions. By following each dramatic turn of these characters’ consciousness, Rocco, Chelsea, Adriana, Sean, Claudia, Gianna, Alex asks us to confront our own deeply held convictions.

THE PRODUCTION

Rocco, Chelsea, Adriana, Sean, Claudia, Gianna, Alex premiered at HERE Arts Center in February 2019, produced by The Private Theatre in association with Téa Creative. It began with a Thanksgiving dinner with the entire audience seated around a massive, four-sided table interspersed with the actors. The audience is merged into the family and the action, blurring the distinction between theatrical and lived realities. Through this immersive, hyper-real sensibility the audience experiences theater distinct from what they are accustomed to. Actors disrupt the action by reacting to it and by beginning the action of the next scene. As scenes merge, the audience must choose what to watch and who to follow, causing each audience member to have a completely different experience from the next. Messages left on phones happen in real time, and audience members must move to see what characters are responding to on their personal devices. How much the audience does or doesn't follow what the actors are actually seeing or listening to will determine how much they do or don't follow the choices those characters are making in their lives, just like we all do in our lives. As these multiple stories of American identity and decision making interweave, the audience collaborates with the show in devising their experience through their own choices and judgments. By the end, the audience’s immersion and participation in this tapestry of American narratives causes them to live in the action rather than just observing it.

THE PROCESS

Rocco, Chelsea, Adriana, Sean, Claudia, Gianna, Alex, devised and co-directed by Vieve Radha Price and John Gould Rubin, is the fruit of a multi-year process. The Company, made up of 12 multi-disciplinary artists, set for itself the challenge of dramatizing the consciousness of conflict – the struggles Americans face in their everyday lives influenced by an increasingly polarized society.

In the first step of the process, the Company trained in and carried out “Insight conversations” (agenda-less, curiosity-based conversations designed to gain insight into an individual’s aims and aspirations without provocation) with Americans across the country in pursuit of issues and material.

The second step involved developing the narrative structure – a play. How could we select and organize the vast array of material we had collected in the interview process into a cogent and captivating drama that would lead our audience into a sense that we were performing something intimately bound to their lives? To this end, we designed and led twelve Insight Design Labs over the course of a year, working collaboratively with the Company to develop each company member’s chosen material into characters struggling to find themselves and to build relationships in a polarized culture.

In the third step, we pulled the drama of the title characters together by workshopping the play in a number of venues. A writer was engaged to weave the stories one into the other comprising a seamless array of narratives constructing a tapestry of conflict, decision-making, life and struggle. The play’s coherence is founded on audience members discovering themselves mirrored by the struggles, options and decision-making of the title characters; Rocco, Chelsea, Adriana, Sean, Claudia, Gianna, Alex. Through the characters’ conflict, the audience engages in their own struggles with socially fragmenting technologies and polarizing habits of mind that drive cultural conflict in America today.

From the Gallery:

TURN ME LOOSE (2016-2018)

BY GRETCHEN LAW

A comedic drama about the extraordinary and explosive life of Dick Gregory - starring Scandal’s Joe Morton - that shines a light on the first Black comedian to expose white audiences to racial comedy. Presented by John Legend and Get Lifted Film Co. Directed by John Gould Rubin.

Gregory confronted bigotry with shockingly disarming humor, deeply influenced other comics like Chris Rock and Richard Pryor, is a favorite of President Obama, marched with Martin Luther King Jr, has also been a proliﬁc writer, muckraker, provocateur, candidate for mayor of Chicago and for President of the United States.

FROM THE GALLERY:

PLAYING WITH FIRE (2012)

BASED ON THE PLAY BY AUGUST STRINDBERG

Based on a new adaptation of Strindberg’s 1893 play, this production was staged in a two-story burlesque house on the Lower East Side. To enhance the experience, pre-recorded and live video feed was interspersed with the live action, allowing the audience to experience the story and characters from multiple perspectives. Our goal for this production was to create an imagistic world that supported the dream world of the play, an unusual tragicomic one act by Strindberg that deals with the limits of the convention of marriage.

VIDEOGRAPHER: Raj Kottamasu, Ian Brownell

ORIGINAL MUSIC: Kwan-Fai Lam

CHOREOGRAPHY: Bronwen Carson

FROM THE GALLERY:

HEDDA GABLER (2010)

BY HENRIK IBSEN

Staged in the drawing room of an East Village townhouse, this production was filled to capacity nightly during its four week run. Maintaining the tradition of providing unconventional experiences, the venue was revealed only upon confirmation of reservations during the performances, audience members were seated throughout the drawing room, which allowed them to witness the unfolding tragedy of the protagonists in a very intimate way.

FROM THE GALLERY:

Photo credits: Hunter Canning

www.huntercanningphoto.com

THE FARTISTE (2006)

BY CHARLIE SCHULMAN AND MICHAEL ROBERTS

The Private Theatre produced the world premiere of this musical at New York International Fringe Festival. The show was directed by Artistic Director John Gould Rubin and won the award for Outstanding Musical.