AnomalousCo
AnomalousCo - the predominantly queer-/women-led, nearly-all-immigrant, entirely-feminist ensemble!
AnomalousCo - Urgent Request for Support
In this time of rising war and autocracy, growing wealth gap, and rollback of civil liberties: an important message from AnomalousCo.
New York City, NY, US
In the dark times
Will there also be singing?
Yes, there will also be singing
About the dark times.
- Bertolt Brecht
When you consider giving - please remember the arts - and please consider AnomalousCo.
A THEATRE OF CONSCIENCE
AnomalousCo is a predominantly queer/woman-led, immigrant, feminist, activist, transdisciplinary performance collective, collaboratively creating original work at the intersection of drama, assemblage, new media, circus, installation, immersive performance, and cabaret. We are a theatre of conscience: concerned with human freedom, human rights, civil liberties, women's rights, queer rights, and the impact of war and migration. We are a theatre without borders: intercultural, international, and multilingual. And we are committed to foregrounding minoritarian voices, to amplifying the voices of women, and to adhering to a collaborative ethos: distributed leadership models, collective creation, and networked structures of cooperation. With a core team based in the US (New York), we maintain collaborative partnerships across the globe.
WHY DO WE FUNDRAISE?
This is a hard moment for the arts - as it is for so many critical sectors of our society. The US funding landscape for experimental theatre has always been tough. But here and now in the world of downtown New York theatre - the home of experimentation and innovation - traditional venues for experimental work have been closing, leadership changes are rife, and existing organizations undergoing upheaval. Residencies scarcer, grants smaller, competition for resources fiercer. And: with the incoming political administration - and anticipated cuts to foundations that support the arts - the coming years are anticipated to look even bleaker.
THEATRE MATTERS!
It is precisely in a moment such as this one that the theatre matters most: as an organ of free speech, as a platform from which to speak truth to power. It is no coincidence that federal arts funding and the free press are both in the line of fire.
SOCIAL IMPACT
As we head into 2025, AnomalousCo remains committed to tangible social impact: from the $15,000 raised toward humanitarian aid in Ukraine and at our US southern border since 2022 – to our social justice talk-backs with humanitarian aid groups and journalists following showings of Zebra 2.0, (beyond) Doomsday Scrolling, and soon Bounds – to our ongoing work with the International Civil Society Action Network, the “‘united nations’ of women peacebuilders” – to the ever-expanding cultural, ethnic, and racial diversity of our feminist immigrant ensemble and our ongoing dedication to elevating female, queer, and minoritarian voices.
ARTISTIC IMPACT
Your donation helps make our work happen.
2023/24 were packed and impactful! 2023 brought 3 sold-out productions in just 6 months:
As we head into 2025, AnomalousCo remains committed to tangible social impact: from the $15,000 raised toward humanitarian aid in Ukraine and at our US southern border since 2022 – to our social justice talk-backs with humanitarian aid groups and journalists following showings of Zebra 2.0, (beyond) Doomsday Scrolling, and soon Bounds – to our ongoing work with the International Civil Society Action Network, the “‘united nations’ of women peacebuilders” – to the ever-expanding cultural, ethnic, and racial diversity of our feminist immigrant ensemble and our ongoing dedication to elevating female, queer, and minoritarian voices.
ARTISTIC IMPACT
Your donation helps make our work happen.
2023/24 were packed and impactful! 2023 brought 3 sold-out productions in just 6 months:
- The second iteration of (beyond) Doomsday Scrolling at HERE, directed by Kathryn Syssoyeva, Diana Zhdanova and Jeremy Goren
- Beckett.Women at HERE, directed by Diana Zhdanova, with Lesya Verba, Ylfa Edelstein, and Kathryn Syssoyeva
- Zebra 2.0, playwright Saviana Stanecu’s AI/Immigrant RomCom directed by Jeremy Goren, with Tim Craig and Alina Mihailevschi for the final Ice Factory Festival at the New Ohio Theatre.
Spring 2024 found us touring Poland and Romania with Jeremy Goren’s Zebra 2.0 - where the production picked up the prestigious Romanian Rhinoceros Theatre Journal Award for Most Innovative Production of 2024.
2024 also gifted us amazing new collaborators: on the operations side, Toni Mello as Development Associate and Jessica Jennings as Grant Writer – and on the creative team, Rhiannon Ling, serving as Dramaturg on (beyond) Doomsday Scrolling and The Maids Project and Omer Kaplan (Israel), serving as a co-creator on (beyond) Doomsday Scrolling Installation. And a wonderful, culturally diverse new group of actors has expanded our team of collaborating artists: Tim Craig (Alabama), Salome Egas (Ecuador), Trinidadian-American Tia Cassmira, Marve Atabek (Turkey), and Kikki Liu (China).
The year brought a frenzy of grant writing, successfully raising our NYC profile with donations from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, the Brooklyn Arts Council, the Nancy Friday Foundation and the ART/NYC Small Theatres Fund.
And it gave us significant opportunities to share what we believe, what we do, and how we do it at conferences and symposia in the US and Europe: a talk and workshop by Syssoyeva and Zhdanova at the Pig Iron/NEH conference on Devising; presentations and workshops on the history and practice of devised theatre by Dr. Syssoyeva at international devising symposia in Warsaw and Katowice Poland; workshops facilitated by Goren and Syssoyeva on devising for community building across language barrier at the ICAN (International Civil Society Action Network) Forum of the Women’s Alliance for Peace and Security in Albania.
In the meantime, we’ve turned our Anomalous Shindigs (raucous political feminist cabaret nights at Revision Lounge on the Lower East Side) into a quarterly event, and launched of multiple new projects, also with some lovely new and returning collaborators:
- The Maids Project: a queer/drag/immigrant re-investigation of Jean Genet’s The Maids, slated for development in Warsaw in summer 2025, under the direction of Michael Hunter (Los Angeles), with Diana Zhdanova (Russia), Weronika Wosniak (Poland/US), and Piotr Siwek (Poland)
- Bounds: The US Premier of a politically engaged drama about migrants stranded between departure and arrival, by Tino Caspanello (Italy), directed by Kathryn Syssoyeva, with Tia Cassimira, Simona DeFeo, Alina Mihailevschi, Wilemina Olivia-Garcia, and Diana Zhdanova. Slated for a New York opening in spring 2025.
- Sacred Discordia: a music driven reinvestigation of Sam Shepard’s Curse of the Starving Class. Under development in Alabama and New York, under the collaborative direction of Lloyd Bricken and Kathryn Syssoyeva.
- And two original one-person shows: Jeremy Goren’s The Wonderful World Tomorrow, and Zhdanova and Syssoyeva’s A Dream is Life.
With all this exciting new work in the pipeline we’ve received prestigious invitations from theatres in Italy and Poland to tour our work internationally in late Spring.
WHO WILL YOUR GIFT SUPPORT?
Since the company’s reconfiguration as a New York City-based theatre ensemble in 2022, the artistic administration of AnomalousCo has been hard at work building our team, our body of work, our operational capacity, and our presence in the city - without remuneration.
Where salaries and honoraria are concerned, our first commitment has been and continues to be to our team: the actors, musicians, designers, dramturgs, and grant writers. Funds are dispersed as needed between production costs and operating costs.
Our goals:
- to increase the funds needed to pay our people the real value of their time, labor, and talent
- to raise the bar on our production values
- to expand our reach and raise our visibility
…So that we can go on doing what we do best: Telling stories. Speaking out. Inspiring activism. Singing - dancing - stomping - and crying out against the dark times.
OUR SUPPORTERS
Since relocating to New York City, we have received growing support from NYC-arts organizations, found organization and donors - in the form of extensive rehearsal residencies, performance opportunities, grants, and angel donations. We are incredibly grateful to our wonderful supporters: LMCC, ART/NYC, BAC, HERE, Chashama, Center at West Park, LEIMAY, Target Margin, ATA, The Puffin Foundation, Indie Space & People like you!
And we are incredibly grateful to our community of friends, family, and colleagues for your ongoing support as we work to get the work out into the world - and to taking our company to the next level of financial growth and stability - enabling us to pay artists, staff, and technicians, and keep the work flowing!
MAKE YOUR TAX-DEDUCTIBLE DONATION TODAY!
CATCH US THIS WINTER IN NYC!
- (beyond) Doomsday Scrolling
This fierce, feminist dramatic-cabaret about women, war, displacement, and resistance was born in March 2022, in response to the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Collectively created by the ensemble, and directed by Kathryn Syssoyeva, co-directed in the previous iterations by Diana Zhdanova, and Jeremy Goren, (beyond) Doomsday Scrolling is now entering its fourth iteration, with each new draft responding in real time to the changing landscape of global war and displacement. Following on sold out runs at Center at West Park (March 2022 and again in April 2022) and HERE Arts Center (February 2023), work on the new version is underway with dramaturg Rhiannon Ling - with a limited run of 4 shows only in February 2025, supported by a grant from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council!
- (beyond) Doomsday Scrolling Installation with AnomalousCo & Omer Kaplan
In 2023, Omer began documenting the lives of “Doomsday’s” performers - 12 women and 1 man, from Ukraine, Moldova, Russia, Poland, Cuba, Iceland, Italy, Scotland and the US. Now being joined by performers from Turkey and China. His photos and oral histories investigate the intersection between the creative material of performance and the personal and intergenerational trauma of war and migration experienced by the performers: where do they come from, how do they live now, what do they carry from homes left behind?
Conceived as an interdisciplinary video / audio / photographic installation, interwoven with performance elements from “Doomsday,” including live music. Installation seeks to move beyond the performer/witness binary, into a space of communal healing.
Conceived as an interdisciplinary video / audio / photographic installation, interwoven with performance elements from “Doomsday,” including live music. Installation seeks to move beyond the performer/witness binary, into a space of communal healing.
DATES: February 28 - March 2
VENUE: Studio 45
Thank you!
Rewards
✨
Donate $150.00 or more
Amount over $70.00 is tax-deductible.
2 tickets to (beyond) Doomsday Scrolling in February 2025
0 claimed
🎟️
Donate $200.00 or more
Amount over $100.00 is tax-deductible.
2 tickets to (beyond) Doomsday Scrolling + 2 tickets to the installation
0 claimed
🍸
Donate $500.00 or more
Amount over $150.00 is tax-deductible.
2 tickets to the show, 2 tickets to the installation, + After Party
0 claimed
🏅
Donate $1,000.00 or more
Amount over $200.00 is tax-deductible.
2 tickets to the show, 2 tickets to the installation, wine reception, and After Party + a pass to our 2025 Anomalous Shindigs, and a banner from (beyond) Doomsday Scrolling shipped to you
0 claimed
💪
Donate $5,000.00 or more
Amount is fully tax-deductible.
“I want to be on the board - talk to me” (all of the above + your generosity and our deep gratitude)
0 claimed
🏋️♀️
Donate $10,000.00 or more
Amount is fully tax-deductible.
“I truly believe in what you’re doing and I want to make a major impact for your organization” (“Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship”)
0 claimed