As a producer of integrative theatre, Cosmic Orchid curates new work that integrates performing and visual arts by developing theatre inspired by art and contemporary culture. Our focus is to demystify the creative process and highlight the role of inspiration.
Our core mission is to sponsor projects with underrepresented artists - women, single parents and reemerging artists - those whose struggle in life has become an obstacle to their art, instead of a catalyst for it. We maintain a fiscal objective to have 40% of our budget allocated to Artist Fees.
Our vision is to foster community engagement - facilitating seniors to reignite their passion for the arts, and motivating youth toward interdisciplinary expression. We wish to engage both the residential and artistic community in future performances, as audience members and as artists.
Our inaugural production, The Hoodie Play, was chosen for inclusion in The Best American Short Plays of 2015-2016. It was inspired by the disparate social and cultural impact of fashion – specifically, the hoodie. It sculpted the development prototype for Voire Dire and has recently had four university productions and a NJ Thespian Society Festival presentation.
The signature production of Cosmic Orchid, The Voire Dire Project, is an integrative project where four theatrical teams each develop a one-act play inspired by a work of art. It culminates in a production of those plays with a corresponding exhibition of the art that influenced them. We produce one cycle each season.
Cosmic Orchid was the proud recipient of a Puffin Foundation Grant for the 2019 cycle and Guardian of the Field was chosen for inclusion in The Best American Short Plays 2018-2019. The Voire Dire Project 5.0: Images in Sepia will have a three-week run at Theater for the New City, November 2021, made possible, in part, with a Leon Levy Foundation COVID Relief Fund grant (Administered by ART-NY) .
Our Teaching Artistry project, iPower Theatre Collective, is a NYC Middle/High School arts program which uses Integrative Theatre to explore social justice themes and culminates in performances for the school community. A Citizens Committee Grant recipient in its inaugural season 2017-2018, iPower was also awarded a Chelsea & Hudson Yards Grant for 2020. A student-led documentary about that cycle, iPower Pandemic Empowerment 2021, is currently in post-production.
Cosmic Orchid is a proud member of ART-NY and is a fiscally sponsored project of Fractured Atlas.
Learn More: http://www.cosmicorchid.com