Theater for the New City

As a long time resident of NYC, I am ashamed to admit I have never been to a performance of Theater for the New City. That still holds true, because even though I did take photographs for this posting, it was at the tail end of a free performance in the park of Buckle Up. TNC is a leading Off-Off Broadway theater known for its avant garde, experimental work, radical political plays and widespread community service (click here for their website). In reading about the company, I have become very impressed with their accomplishments - they have won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and over 40 OBIE Awards for excellence in every theatrical discipline. Nobel Prize winner Gao Xinjian's first play in America was performed at TNC in 1997. The company produces 30-40 premieres of new American plays each year. Many influential theater artists of the last quarter century have found TNC’s Resident Theater Program instrumental to their careers, among them Sam Shepard and Academy Award Winners Tim Robbins and Adrien Brody. Theater for the New City was founded in 1971 by Crystal Field, George Bartenieff, Theo Barnes and Lawrence Kornfeld. TNC also founded the Village Halloween Parade with puppeteer Ralph Lee (which broke off to form its own organization in 1973); they still hold the annual Village Halloween Costume Ball ...