At Artists’ Theater of Boston, we strive to foster collaboration, not just contribution. To us, this means creating opportunities for sustained collaboration within the rehearsal process, but also beyond.
Within a single production, we value creating space for each artist involved in the production, from the actors to the director to the designers, to have a voice in the process of putting on a show. We foster this kind of environment through consistent discussion, ongoing in-person and online sharings of relevant work, and opportunities for actors to add their own artistic elements into or surrounding the production.
Beyond the rehearsal process, we are committed to collaborating with organizations and artists whose work speaks to the themes in a play, which supports our collective’s goal to stage politically and artistically intersectional work.
partnering with organizations…
We strive to create a dialogue between the meaningful, necessary work community organizations are doing in Boston and the plays which speak to the issues these organizations face. We hope to create relationships with these organizations in ways that support them and their members, through raising awareness about the importance and meaning of their work.
If you are connected to an organization in or near Boston and you have a desire to see a play produced about a topic you and your organization value, please contact us–we want to hear from you!
partnering with artists…
In each ATB production, we work with individual artists or groups of artists whose work pertains to themes in our current production. We believe that through working with artists outside of our collective, we can not only elevate and deepen the effect of our work, but also reach more audiences through the thoughtful integration of multiple interdisciplinary art forms.
If you are an artist in the Boston area (or beyond!) and are interesting in working with us, please let us know!
Here, Greg Storella recounts why the collaborative process at ATB was meaningful to him during his work on Charles Mee’s Trojan Women: A Love Story:
As a choreographer, I was very excited to work with an ensemble and a creative team that fully trusted my aesthetic vision. Going into Trojan Women, I knew I had no limits being put on my creative ability or that would impinge upon what I could ultimately bring to the play. Ultimately, I could create something organic – something that represented both the experimental and the experiential. It is refreshing to work with a company that not only allows for such artistic license, but in fact also supports a more open creation process in which actors and creative team can all bring their unique individual strengths to the table.
Greg Storella
For Trojan Women specifically, I wanted to be conscious of my point of view – especially as a cisgender (white) man – in creating movement for a play that focuses on the experience of violence, and specifically war survivor trauma, by women (including women of color). Rather than carefully choreograph every detail, it was more important to me that the movement in the play ultimately became a tool for the women acting to further express their pain and more importantly, their resistance and survival. I worked with the cast to develop these movement tools – including gesture work, partnering, contact improv, and expressive movement training – and then focused on incorporating these tools into the play at crucial moments. There was in fact only one fully choreographed number, a swing dance, and my hope was that the rigidity of the choreography put the audience off-guard in that moment which was – while a celebration at first glance – in fact a moment of violent gender normativity and the romantic narrative.
Creating this intentional art was very exciting for me, but it was more exciting to work with a group of artists that were…intentional about creating intentional art! During the play’s rehearsal process, the creative team was very conscious of the traumatic nature of the script. Not only is the subject matter very intense, but we wanted to be conscious of the experience of our cast acting/reenacting trauma including sexual assault, intimate partner/domestic violence, and rape. This included many check-ins with cast, as well as an open-door policy and resources available for cast members who wanted more structured or professional support. By acknowledging this aspect of the process at our first read through, our goal was to make sure that participating actors felt powerful to move through these scenes and to understand completely the actions and implications of those around them. I’ve never been in a rehearsal period in which such an intentional focus was given to the experience of cast members as they went through the process itself, and I found it to be very moving as a member of the creative team.
Being a part of the Artists’ Theater of Boston was all in all very rewarding for me. I was surrounded by a diverse group of great creative minds that believed in me and my talent completely. The experience made me extremely thankful that I have the privilege to create and present what I consider beautiful art. So, thank you, ATB!
Choreographer