New Theatre Company The COOP Announces Inaugural Season

The COOP is a new theatre company founded by Artistic Director Andrus Nichols and Playwright in Residence Kate Hamill. Conceived out of the desire to create a community of NYC based artists who are interested in making extraordinary theatre and committed to fostering a culture of collaboration, experimentation, and trust, The COOP produce both old plays reinvigorated through a new lens, and new plays that resonate with timeless themes and universal truths.

The COOP is committed to celebrate and affirm all of our members, and to the ethical production of art. The COOP is committed to work that is radically and actively inclusive, on and offstage as many voices and perspectives make the art richer. The COOP is committed to deep collaboration, and to the pursuit of powerful and Moving Theatre experiences.

The COOP's Artistic Advisory Board (Patricia Black, Midori Francis, Robyn Kerr, Carman Lacivita, Drew Ledbetter, Jason O'Connell, James Dean Palmer and John Russell) assists in actively expanding The COOP's community of playwrights, designers, directors, and actors. Their guidance helps The COOP diversify its network of voices, and make informed programming decisions.

The COOP's Youth Advisory Board (Colleen Litchfield, Philip Schneider, Ana Verde and Nazareth Hassan) meets regularly and is in direct dialogue with senior artistic staff to ensure the voices of these playwrights, theatre makers and future artistic leaders (aged 18-25) have a voice around season programming, marketing strategies, and audience engagement.

2019-2020 Inaugural Season

The COOP launches its inaugural 2019-2020 season with a world premiere by Barbara Hammond, a watermark classic by Anton Chekhov and the development of an original play by Kate Hamill.

TERRA FIRMA

The world premiere of Barbara Hammond's TERRA FIRMA will begin previews September 27, 2019, directed by Shana Cooperat The Rose Nagelberg Theatre at the Baruch Performing Arts Center (55 Lexington Avenue). The production is co-presented with Baruch. Inspired by a real life event, TERRA FIRMA is set in a not-so-distant Beckettian future, years after a conflict known as The Big War, where a tiny kingdom wrestles with the problems of running a nation, and spars with different concepts of what makes a citizen, a country and a civilization. TERRA FIRMA opens October 10, 2019, and plays through November 10, 2019. Tickets for TERRA FIRMA will go on sale in August 2019, at www.thecoopnyc.org.

With a scenic design by Andrew Boyce, sound design by Jane Shaw, lighting design by Eric Sothern and costume design byNtkozo Fuzunina Kunene. TERRA FIRMA will feature Andrus Nichols, Tom O'Keefe, T. Ryder Smith, Gerardo Rodriguez,John Keating and Daniel José Molina. Full cast and creative team to be announced at a later date.

THE CHERRY ORCHARD

In the spring of 2020, James Dean Palmer will direct Anton Chekhov's THE CHERRY ORCHARD. Completely out of money, Ranevskaya is forced to return to her childhood home only to learn that it's in foreclosure. The house and its beautiful cherry orchard have stood for generations as a refuge for people from all walks of life. Lopakhin grew up dirt poor on the edge of the estate but has now made a fortune in finance. He has a way to save the cherry orchard- if only he can get Ranevskaya to listen.

Full cast, creative team, and production dates to be announced at a later date.

THE PIPER

Currently in development, Kate Hamill's THE PIPER, was a 2019 Finalist for the National Playwrights Conference at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center and was selected for PlayPenn's 2019 New Play Development Conference. The Coop will continue the development of Hamill's first original contemporary play. In The Piper, a woman in crisis stumbles into Harmonix... a spiritual practice that makes you feel good - better than you've ever felt before. With Harmonix, you belong. With Harmonix, you are loved.... but at what cost? The Piper explores the darkest parts of human (or inhuman?) nature in this boundary-crossing examination of how groupthink enables cycles of toxic masculinity.

Production details will be announced shortly.

For more information about The COOP please visit www.thecoopnyc.org

Photo Credit: Linda Lenzi