The Wooster Group

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Please improve this article if you can. (August 2007)

The Wooster Group is an ensemble of artists who collaborate on the development and production of theatre and media pieces. Under the direction of Elizabeth LeCompte, The Group, along with its many associate artists, has conceived and constructed sixteen works for the theatre, six works for film and video, three radio pieces and three dance pieces.

Contents

[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.[1] The Carnegie Corporation's total donations to nonprofit organizations exceeds $115 million.[2]

[edit] Works

[edit] Theater

[edit] Main

[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.

[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:

[edit] Current associates

  • 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
  • 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

[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
  1. ^ New York Times: City Groups Get Bloomberg Gift of $20 Million. Retrieved on August 20, 2007
  2. ^ Carnegie Corp: NYC Arts & Social Service Orgs Awarded Grants. Retrieved on August 20, 2007


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

[edit] External links

Official site
Associate artists' sites
Languages