2020 was… a lot, but we’re turning the corner and eagerly await 2021 and the theater we have planned!

We reach to next year with hope, and as live theater becomes safe again, we plan to:

If you are in a position to donate, we humbly ask for your support of Theater in Asylum’s 2021 Season. We are so grateful for all that’s been made possible these past 10 years, and we look ahead to 2021 with eagerness and hope.

* We are planning our two productions and one cabaret to have multiple presentation options. Outdoors? Online? We are keeping safety top-of-mind, with multiple contingency plans and flexibility as the health situation in NYC changes.

Theater in Asylum commits to two competing goals: pay the artists without becoming a financial burden to the audience.

We believe in radical transparency and accessibility. We know theater must be accessible to the widest audience possible in order for ideas to spread, catch hold, and ignite. Therefore, we have had a "Pay-What-You-Can" option at every Theater in Asylum event for the past five years. It is also imperative to recognize the time, skill, and talent brought to the table by each artist we engage with. With your help, we can meet both of these competing goals. Here is our plan for 2021:

We rely on the support of our community to make this all possible. This year we are hoping to raise:

The Debates 2021 will be our fourth iteration of The Debates. This year we turn to New York City’s Democratic primaries and the conversation over what we want our city to be. New Yorkers will soon elect a new mayor, comptroller, and many city council members. 

We believe everyone should understand their electoral power, and we know theater is a potent tool to elucidate that power. As in past years, we’ll host a slew of events including watch parties, political analysis meetings, and finally, an original play about the election. We want not only to get out the vote, but also to empower the voter to engage in the electoral process with understanding and confidence. With our unique blend of mimicry, abstraction, and earnest curiosity, we seek to illuminate the candidates, the issues, and ourselves.

10 years ago next fall, activists gathered in lower Manhattan to peacefully occupy Zucotti Park and to declare opposition to an economic system clearly inadequate for the majority of Americans, the 99%. Occupy Wall Street galvanized people around the world and inspired hundreds of activist occupations, big and small, united in a call to radically rethink the economic order.

Playwright Andy Boyd hones in on Prescott, Arizona to follow five Occupiers in their efforts to change their town and the world. They broadly agree that the one percent is too powerful, but agreement breaks down as they search for specifics. Reaching consensus on what a better world looks like—and how to get there—is frequently frustrating and rarely glamorous. Never easy, but urgently necessary. On the 10th anniversary of the rallying cry heard round the world, we are thrilled to produce the prescient and hopeful play: Occupy Prescott.

Since 2015, Theater in Asylum has gathered friends to read and discuss great plays once a month. As the pandemic sent us into our homes, we moved these gatherings online and began holding them weekly. Wednesday nights have become a cherished place not only for play reading but for processing these wild times. We plan to continue weekly readings online until it’s safe to gather in person again, as well as invite more guest facilitators to bring new plays and new ideas to the group.

Theater in Asylum creates performance that challenges and empowers our community. Since its founding in New York City in 2010, Theater in Asylum has joyfully pursued a rigorous approach to research and an ensemble-driven approach to theater-making. We create performances to investigate our past, interpret our present, and imagine our future. We prize space to process, space to question—asylum—for ourselves and our community.

We founded the company to “provide asylum to characters and subjects in need.” In our first ten years we’ve "offered asylum" to artists like Vaslav Nijinsky, Federico García Lorca, and the Brontë sisters, as well as to subjects like revolution and democratic debate. We’ve offered our stage to guest artists at our cabarets, and our love of play-reading to our community in our Cold Reading series. We’ve traveled to Chicago and Prague, and performed at theaters all over New York. Ten years in and still eager for more, we humbly ask for your support as we embark on an ambitious 2021 season.

Learn more about Theater in Asylum on our website.

We have big plans for 2021 and if you are able, we would so appreciate your help in funding them. Thank you for your time, your support, and your love. We wish you and yours safety, good health, and a bright new year.

Thank you, thank you, thank you,

Paul, Katie, Kathryn, and Hilarie

We are so excited that so many in our community are offering their time and talent as perks for this fundraiser. Please note that we intend for the vast majority of perks to be fulfilled between the end of the fundraiser and the end of February 2021. The $500 Civics Video perk, however, will be fulfilled once we have a cast and begin rehearsing The Debates 2021.

Below, please find bios of some of our perk creators.

Kathryn Appleton (she/her), TIA's Managing Director, is an arts administrator, opera lover, and cheese aficionado. Few beyond her San Francisco neighbors know that, while making fresh ricotta, Kathryn can be heard belting out-of-tune arias from her favorite operas.

Jessie Atkinson (she/her) is originally from Sioux City, Iowa. After earning her BFA in Musical Theatre from The University of South Dakota, she toured through Mexico and South America with ArtSpot Argentina and starred in several regional productions before moving to The Big Apple. She is a producer and company member of the comedy group, A Drinking Game NYC, co-founder of Family Liquid Dinner Cabaret, and frequent collaborator of Theater in Asylum.
www.jessiemaeatkinson.com

Cristian Ávila "Crishna" (he/him) is a certified Intermediate Integral Yoga Instructor and teaches Hatha Level 1 and 2. He is also a Reiki and Shamanic Practitioner, LMT (licensed massage therapist), Theatre Director, and Playwright. His work is based on movement as a meditation, connecting with breath, body, and spirit. चैतन्य www.ChristianAvila.com

Andy Boyd (he/him) is a playwright based in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. He has an MFA in Playwriting from Columbia University and a BA (Magna Cum Laude) from Harvard University in American History and Literature. His plays have been produced at IRT, Naked Theatre Company, and Epic Theatre Company and have been part of the New York, Capital, and Providence Fringe Festivals. His plays have been developed or presented by Pipeline Theatre Company, The Gingold Group, Roundabout Theatre Company, Dixon Place, and the Trunk Space. His awards include the Columbia@Roundabout New Play award for Os Confederados, a Rhode Island State Council for the Arts grant for She Shall Be Praised, and a best production of 2019 citation from Maxamoo Theatre and Performance Podcast for The Trade Federation, or, Let's Explore Globalization Through the Star Wars Prequels. He is a host of the podcasts New Books in Performing Arts and Better than Shakespeare, and his essays have been published by Canyon Voices, San Antonio Review, Howlround, and US History Scene.

Paul Bedard (he/him), a TIA Co-Artistic Director, is a theater director, sometimes-puppeteer, and electoral politics enthusiast. He frequently calls his local representatives and volunteers for down-ballot campaigns. He can also frequently be seen impersonating Bernie Sanders and trying to make a theater career off that.

Jonas Cohen (he/him) is a professional actor, and Marcus Baker (he/him) is a professional pianist and musical director. Their combined theatrical credits span TV, Film, web series, off-Broadway, regional theater, and educational theater. During the quarantine of 2020, these two friends found they had no choice but to drop everything and focus on self-care. It was during this time that they repaired to the kitchen and began to experiment with the humble Drop Biscuit - a southern staple made with simple ingredients that can be endlessly enhanced with a variety of add-ins. Fascinated with the possibility of creating all kinds of flavor combinations these two theatermakers decided to ‘drop everything’ and introduce NYC to the Drop Biscuit. That’s how the Drop Everything Biscuit Co was born.

Lawrence Dreyfuss (he/him) is a multidisciplinary performance artist and activist currently in his first year of rabbinical school. For the last 6 years, Lawrence has been performing theater, spoken word, and slam poetry across New York City and Los Angeles as an ensemble member of Theater in Asylum and The Poetry Brothel. Beginning next year his work will be on permanent display at The Diaspora Museum in Tel Aviv. Alongside the arts, Lawrence served as a Teach for America Corps member teaching at a native Hawaiian title I school on Oahu. More recently, he has worked for the past three years at the Democratic Socialists of America where he has fought against wealth inequality in the United States and abroad. lawrencedreyfuss.com

Kara Hankard (she/her) is an actor, improviser, and grad student living in Virginia. She is currently studying to earn her MLITT in Shakespeare & Performance, focusing on directing and education. Kara is an alumna of Pace University and the Upright Citizen’s Brigade. More information can be found on her website www.karahankard.com

Rick Fudge (he/him) is extremely handsome. He can often be found stoically reading the New York Times and fanatically trying to implement The Times' health and lifestyle advice on his friends. A man of many talents, Rick frequently reads, writes, bakes, and praises Community Land Trusts as a way to solve our housing crisis. He is extremely grateful to his partner for writing this bio for him.

Katie Palmer (she/her), a TIA Co-Artistic Director, is a theater maker, arts educator, Queens cheerleader, and dessert enthusiast. She and graham crackers have a long history together, and toffee has kept their romance alive.

Alice Pencavel (she/her) is a writer and educator with 10+ years of teaching in and after school, for public and private sectors, one to one and in groups, grades K-12, with a focus on writing, arts education, and creative collaboration strategies. Her writing has been performed in New York, California, Maine, Ukraine, and Romania. She has worked with Naked Angels, MCC, Manhattan Rep., Theater in Asylum, Episcopal Actors Guild, Superhero Clubhouse, and Kitchen Theater, among others. She is a Bay Area Playwrights Finalist, O'Neill Playwrights Semi-Finalist, and recipient of NYC's CASA grant. As a Teaching Artist, she has worked with Arts Connection, Stages on the Sound, SAY (Stuttering Association for the Young), Brooklyn Acting Lab, Young Playwrights, Inc., Girls Write Now, and Teachers & Writers Collaborative, in addition to working with private clients. She has also completed Lincoln Center's Summer Development Intensive, a 200-hr Yoga Teacher Training, and a certificate in Contemplative Care at the New York Zen Center. Alice holds a BFA in Acting from Ithaca College, and an MFA in Playwriting from the New School.

Hilarie Spangler (she/her), TIA's Community Engagement Manager, practices as a musician, music director, arts producer, storyteller, and activist. She is interested in the pursuit of truth and community, with a deep commitment to storytelling. She currently is NYC-based working as a freelance music director and as the Director of Programs, Grants and Ventures for FreshGrass Foundation. She is also the co-founder of Cardinal Cross Arts Collective, which uses interdisciplinary theater and rural-urban exchange to produce, amplify, and celebrate the art of women and other Appalachian people whose stories are seldom told on stage. Her biggest exploration is around community music-making and living in the “space in between.”​

Theater in Asylum (TIA) is a New York-based theater company founded in 2010 to challenge and empower our community. TIA joyfully pursues rigorous research and an ensemble-driven approach to theater-making. We create performances to investigate our past, interpret our present, and imagine our future. We prize space to process, space to question—asylum—for ourselves and our community. Core programs include original productions; themed cabarets to present new work from our community; and Cold Readings to read and discuss published plays.

You (you/your) are a cherished member of the Theater in Asylum community. Theater in Asylum strives to challenge, empower, and celebrate you in all of our work. You've likely seen one of our productions, or perhaps participated in a cabaret or Cold Reading. Maybe you're a college friend or family member who's never quite sure what you're getting into when you show up to a TIA event. Maybe you helped us strike a set, or drink all the extra beer at the end of the night, because we didn't have a fully-formed "what-do-we-do-with-this-stuff-now?" post-performance plan. However you've encountered our company, know that you are our community. None of this would be possible, nor worth it, without you. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you.