Open Studio Series
The Open Studio Series provides a space for artists to workshop in-process verbatim work, flesh out ideas, and be in conversation with professionals in the field. Each studio is ‘Artist-centric’ and ‘Artist-focused’, tailored to the needs and goals of each individual coming into the space.
Open Studios are held four times throughout the academic school year and are open to artists exploring Documentary Theatre, Interview-based Theatre, or Verbatim Performance.
FALL 2025 – SPRING 2026 DATES
- Saturday, October 25th
- Saturday, November 15th
- Saturday, February 07th
- Saturday, March 07th
Through the Open Studio series, the lab has supported the following artists in the creation and development of new work:
Life in Close-Ups by Keith R. Huff. An arts-based investigation of artifacts related to the death of Virginia Woolf. Part story-sharing, part lecture, part dialogue, that uses primary and secondary sources to explore how theatre can be used as a space to rehearse the grieving and living process.
half infinity by Alex Oleksy. An experimental two-hander reframing found text from 4chan, 8chan, Facebook, and Reddit, half infinity follows a semi-autobiographical journey into right wing digital spaces to investigate familial bonds, political extremism, and the ways in which broken systems leave us longing for something more.
MatraSpeak: a Verbatim Play on Motherhood by Lauren Gorelov. A verbatim play exploring mothers and how they speak about success and ambition, and how that connects to their personal identity and career choices.
The Two Worlds Project by Ryan Howland. A verbatim play exploration of the rural-urban divide in New York state, and seeks to disrupt biases folks might have about people from a community that is geographically and/or culturally different from their own.
Where Hope Is by Jenn Bokoch Gillett. A new play recording the memories and lives of the Benedictine Nun Community in Erie, PA. As told by the Sisters themselves, and members of their extended network. Kinship Theater Collective — Jenn Bokoch Gillett (jennygillett.com
Divided We Stand by Carmen R. Myers. A new play that places women’s voices directly in dialogue. From July to October 2019, we interviewed 30 women in Phoenix, AZ, and New York, N,Y about their experiences surrounding the 2016 presidential election and beyond to explore how women are negotiating and maintaining their identities and relationships in today’s climate of political polarization. These are their stories. https://wp.nyu.edu/dividedwestand/about/
If You Ask Her by Suzy Jane Hunt. What shapes female sexuality in America? Is it our mothers, aunts, and grandmothers? Religion? Porn? Oprah?! WHAT IS IT?!!! IF YOU ASK HER is an interview theatre piece that posed just that question to women of differing ages, backgrounds, and beliefs. Watch creator and performer Suzy Jane Hunt portray these women’s interviews verbatim as they help her begin to find her own answers to the questions: what shapes our sexuality? And can cycles of shame be broken? https://www.suzyjanehunt.com/
Socially Distant by Durell Cooper. Socially Distant explores issues of representation, identity, and Afro-futurism through the lens of four Black male educators who aspire to inspire BIPOC youth. The script is developed using transcripts from one-on-one interviews with each of the four educators. Socially Distant is the culminating artistic piece of Durell’s doctoral journey. For more info on Durell’s work click here
Workshop: “Activating Docudrama” with Kristin Rose Kelly & Thomas Murray. Ethnodrama adapted from journal entries is all too often bereft of physicality in its translation to the stage. How can we get articulated memories into our bodies so the visual captivates us as much as the aural? Kristin Rose Kelly and Thomas Murray employed choreographer Celeste Miller’s Personal/Historical exercises in their creation of extraordinary interruptions, a piece about instances of breaking news that held our collective attention.