2016-2017

The Civilians’ R&D Group meets biweekly for nine months, during which time each artist or team of artists develops a new piece of theater through a creative investigation of a topic chosen by each artist. The creative process may include interviewing, community engagement, research, or other experimental methods of inquiry. Led by R&D Program Director Megan McClain, the group shares and discusses their methodologies and the resulting work. The process will culminate in the FINDINGS Series, when the groups present their works-in-progress to the public.

American Cryptids Ep. 1 New York

American Cryptids is a live episodic documentary about people who have encountered cryptozoological creatures and the cryptozoological creatures they have encountered. Creators Andrew Farmer and Andrew R. Butler travel the country interviewing individuals who have seen such elusive American fauna as the legendary Bigfoot, the debunked Montauk Monster and the downright weird Carnivorous Pink Cloud, to create a show that explores loneliness, conviction, American Regionalism, and how it feels when no one believes in you.

In Ep. 1 Andrew and Andrew search their community in NYC for friends and colleagues with untold stories of cryptid encounters. The Moth Man, the Jersey Devil and Big Foot all make appearances as the Andrews try to map a course between epistemological quandaries and scary monster stories.

Andrew R. Butler

Andrew Farmer

Portia Krieger

The Oskaloosan or, I Woke to a Stranger in My Room

On the morning of April 26th 1949 an 8 year old boy living in a small town in the mid-west of the United States wakes up to discover a stranger standing at the foot of his bed. The stranger is holding a clipboard and a pencil.

On the morning of December 1st 2016 a person living in New York City makes a journey to a small town in the mid-west of the United States in order to speak to an elderly man who, 68 years earlier, was the subject of a remarkable social experiment.

What follows is an attempt to accurately reflect the truth. It has been compiled from a series of interviews and correspondences. The interviews and correspondences were entered into willingly. At least the majority of them were. The names of the respondents have been withheld. Except where they haven’t been. Additional scenes have been re-created based on the factual descriptions contained in the interviews or correspondences. Except when there is cause to doubt the facts as described in the interviewees and correspondences. Then, the additional scenes are more along the lines of sketches or elaborations or, really, works of fiction. But based on the truth. Hopefully. More or less.

Anthony Weigh

Benjamin Kamine

elroy learn his name

elroy learn his name is the story of Maggie Burrows, the son she lost to gun violence, and the journalist who shared her story with the world. Two parts play, one part news feature, elroy ponders the weight of motherhood and the burden of a good story in the age of podcasts and #BlackLivesMatter. Who was elroy? And who gets to own his narrative once he's gone?

C. A. Johnson

flesh failure

flesh failure is the second in a suite of contemporary performance works exploring that which is lost, torqued, and (perhaps) gained when bohemian ideals find themselves at the heart of commercial theater properties. Investigating (among other things) the 1960s sexual revolution, downtown New York countercultures, and Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical, flesh failure asks: what might happen when we take sex less seriously (again)?

Chris Tyler

The Gun Show

The Gun Show is a musical exploring the narrative of the gun in America. Imagine a world in which a gun is given to every citizen at the age of 13 and then imagine an alternate time in which all guns have been eliminated. These two narratives of extreme possibility collide in "The Gun Show" to ultimately investigate the narratives of living in fear and living in love.

David Dabbon

Gabriel Jason Dean

Jessie Dean

T(estosterone)

T(estosterone) is a theater investigation into the effect of testosterone on transgender bodies. Using queerstoric research, interviews, and poetry (T)estosterone aims to disrupt a binary narrative and the "born this way" phenomenon.

Kit Yan

Simone Wolff

Craft Beer

Craft beer: a world of experimentation, adventure, entrepreneurship, and young white men. Or is it? The field of American craft beer is seen as one dominated by men, where female brewers and non-white brewers are often seen as "black unicorns." An investigation into stories of addiction, race and gender, the small upstarts vs. the big guys, turf battles, expectations and limitations, and--most importantly!--how to make really good beer.

R&D Groups

Past 2016-2017