Archive Residency

IRT has provided a much needed developmental home for The Mad Ones third full length piece Untitled Biopicthrough the Archive Residency. Their unquestioning support of emerging artists has been invaluable to our work and our company. IRT’s motto seems to be: ‘We trust you. Here are the keys. Create.
– Marc Bovino, Co-Artistic Director, The Mad Ones

“There is a lot of freedom and security for the company – that is what we are trying to provide.”
– Robert Lyons on the Archive Residency

New Ohio Theatre and IRT Theater are excited to welcome Kareem M. Lucas and the team of Zhailon Levingston, Alex Hare, and Nehemiah Luckett as our newest Archive Residency artists for 2019-2021. They join current resident companies Byzantine Choral Projectand Radical Evolution, who presented the first stage of their residency work at Ice Factory 2019.

Kareem M. Lucas is a Brooklyn born and Harlem based Actor/Writer/Producer/Director. His solo pieces include “The Maturation of an Inconvenient Negro (or iNEGRO)”, “From Brooklyn With Love”, “RATED BLACK: An American Requiem”, “A Boy & His Bow”, and “Black Is Beautiful, But It Ain’t Always Pretty”. He has performed his solo work at The Greene Space, Aaron Davis Hall at City College, The Town Hall, Fire This Time Festival, IRT Theater, The Slipper Room, Teatro Circulo, Judson Arts Wednesdays, Hi-ARTS, AFO Theater, JACK, New York Theatre Workshop, The Public Theater, among others. He is currently co-collaborating on the immersive theatrical piece “The Black History Museum…According to the United States of America”, as a writer/performer with the Smoke & Mirrors Collaborative as a part of their Residency at HERE Arts Center, it will premiere at HERE in November 2019. He most recently was a part of The 2019 Mentor Project at The Cherry Lane Theatre, where his solo show The Maturation of an Inconvenient Negro (or iNEGRO)” was mounted. He s also an inaugural Jerome Hill Artist Fellow and a NYTW 2050 Playwriting Fellow. MFA: NYU Graduate Acting Program.

Levingston/Hare/Luckett

Zhailon Levingston (Co-Director, Co-Book Writer) is a writer/director. He recently directed Neptune at Dixon Place and the Brooklyn Museum and The Years That Went Wrong by David Zheng at The Lark and MCC. He is the Associate Director of Primer for a Failed Super Power, Annie Salem and Reconstruction with Tony Award winner Rachel Chavkin. He is also the US Associate Director of Tina: The Tina Turner Musical on Broadway.

Alex Hare (Co-Director, Co-Book Writer) is a director of new musicals (mostly) and the Associate Artistic Director of Corkscrew Theater Festival, which seeks to provide early-career artists with a high level of production support while reducing barriers to entry. In the works: Walt Whitman BodyJolt (developed at Barn Arts Collective and Corkscrew Downstairs) and You Can’t Kiss a Movie (workshop production at HERE). Frequently an assistant to film director Bill Condon, Alex studied American Studies at Columbia University.

Nehemiah Luckett (Composer): Originally from Jackson, Mississippi, Nehemiah Luckett has been performing, composing and conducting for over 30 years. He has been a featured soloist at the National Cathedral and Carnegie Hall, and has performed all over the US and Europe. Currently, Nehemiah has three musicals in development, including (((Jazz Singer))) with Joshua William Gelb, premiering at Abrons Arts Center in September 2019. Nehemiah is the Music Director and Composer for Rev. Billy and the Stop Shopping Choir, a group of anti-consumerist gospel shouters and Earth loving urban activists who have worked with communities on four continents defending community, life, and imagination and resisting Consumerism and Militarism.

The Byzantine Choral Project is a dynamic collaboration between playwright Helen Banner, composer Grace Oberhofer and director Colette Robert to make theater using women’s voices. Inspired by the Byzantine Empresses Irene, Maria and Euphrosyne they are creating work that showcases the radical power of strong, diverse women+ singing on stage and explores the importance of imagery, representation and iconoclasm in classical and contemporary life. For more info: byzantinechoralproject.com

Radical Evolution is a multi-ethnic producing collective committed to creating artistic events that seek to understand the complexities of the mixed-identity existence in the 21st Century. We advocate for the visibility and representation for the fastest growing demographic in our nation – those who identify as more than one race or ethnicity. We aim to seed the field of downtown theatre with artists of color and assert our vision for cultural and social equity in our field, city, and nation.

This partnership between New Ohio and IRT will further establish the West Village’s Archive Building as one of the premier destinations for the development and presentation of NYC’s best and brightest theater makers.

ABOUT THE ARCHIVE RESIDENCY

Who we are

New Ohio Theatre develops and presents bold new work from New York’s independent theatre community. We believe that the best of this community, the small artist-driven companies who operate without a permanent theatrical home, are actively expanding the theatrical boundaries of the American theatre. We use our development and presenting programs to nurture, strengthen, and promote this community for Manhattan’s most adventurous theater audiences.

IRT is a grassroots laboratory for independent theater and performance in New York City, providing space and support to a new generation of artists. IRT’s mission is to build a community of emerging and established artists by creating a home for the development and presentation of new work.

What is the Archive Residency?
The Archive Residency offers select emerging and mid-career artists a two-year commitment of space, artistic support, and institutional continuity for the development and presentation of a new work. In the first year, resident companies are provided one month of development at IRT Theater and a workshop presentation as part of New Ohio’s Ice Factory. The second year includes another month of development at IRT Theater and a world premiere presentation in our mainstage season.

Currently in residency: One-Eighth Theatre and The Drunkard’s Wife. Alumni companies include CollaborationTown, The Mad Ones, Rady&Bloom, Vampire Cowboys, The Assembly, Blessed Unrest, Our Voices, Piehole, anecdota, and Built for Collapse.

When
The 2018 – 2020 Archive Residency runs from September 2018 to spring of 2020.
Submission are accepted from July 1 – 31, 2018.
Two companies will be selected and notified by August 22, 2018

First year:
$2500 artist fee

Up to 160 hours of developmental rehearsal space

One week presentation in Ice Factory 2019

Second year:
$5500 in guaranteed artist fees

Up to 160 hours of developmental rehearsal space

Four week presentation of world premiere in the New Ohio season (16 performances total)

Expectations for Archive Resident companies

First year:
Present teaser at the fall kick-off party

Private work-in-progress showing to New Ohio/IRT leadership and invited guests following the first-year developmental workshop at IRT

Attendance at fellow resident company’s work-in-progress showing following the first year development workshop at IRT

Provide a simple but fully realized work-in-progress production in Ice Factory, followed by a meeting with New Ohio/IRT leadership for discussion

Attendance at fellow resident company’s work-in-progress production in Ice Factory.

Second year:

Provide update at fall kick-off party

Private work-in-progress showing to New Ohio/IRT leadership and invited guests following the second-year developmental workshop at IRT

Attendance at fellow resident company’s work-in-progress showing following the second year development workshop at IRT

Provide a fully-realized, press-ready world premiere production for a four week run in spring

Participate in joint marketing efforts including all social media platforms

Attendance at fellow resident company’s world premiere production

Post-production meeting with New Ohio/IRT leadership to develop future plans for the work and provide feedback about the residency experience

ARCHIVE RESIDENTS
2012-2014-
THE MAD ONES and CollaborationTown

2013-2015-
VAMPIRE COWBOYS and RADY&BLOOM

2014-2016-
THE ASSEMBLY andBLESSED UNREST

2015-2017-
OUR VOICES and PIEHOLE

2016-2018-
BUILT FOR COLLAPSE and anecdota

2017-2019-
ONE-EIGTH THEATERand THE DRUNKARDS’S WIFE

2018-2020
Byzantine Choral Projectand Radical Evolution

2019-2021
Kareem M. Lucas and the team of Zhailon Levingston, Alex Hare, andNehemiah Luckett

PRESS –
IRT THEATER/NEW OHIO THEATRE LAUNCHES RESIDENCY PROGRAM
-BACKSTAGE

IS THIS THE SECRET TO OFF-OFF BROADWAY SURVIVAL?
-TDF STAGES

Below are pictures celebrating our opening partnership
October 8 2012.

The Mad Ones

CollaborationTown

Kori Rushton, IRT Artistic Director,
and Robert Lyons, New Ohio Artistic Director

Photo Credits: Lee Wexler/ImagesforInnovation

The best way for us to get to know your work and for you to get to know our work is to be a part of IRT’s 3B Development Series and/or New Ohio’s Ice Factory and/or invite us to see productions of your work.