The National Theater of the United States of America, 2000-2017
This is an image from 2006’s Abacus Black at PS 122. We won a 2006 OBIE Award for Design for this one.
Here’s James Stanley’s summary, which I am excerpting whole:
“The National Theater of the United States of America was a 17-year experiment in collaborative theater making. The group was founded in (roughly) 2000 by Jesse Hawley, James Stanley, […] Ryan Bronz, Yehuda Duenyas, Mark Doskow, and Jonathan Jacobs. A year later Normandy Sherwood joined and became a core collaborator in all of it's works. The NTUSA worked together to conceive, build and execute spectacular works of theater that often re-imagined various forms in the history popular entertainment in America. They also threw some pretty good parties.
“While this core drove the vision of the shows, the NTUSA family also consisted of constant collaborators Ilan Bachrach, Jody Elff, Matt Kalman, Ben Kato, Aimee McCormick, George Nobl, Jamie Peterson, and Ean Sheehy.
“The NTUSA began its work by building theaters into derelict buildings and raw spaces through residencies with chashama and Two Trees Realty. They eventually staged works at PS122, The Chocolate Factory, Bushwick Starr, the Kitchen, the Invisible Dog, Abrons Arts and other venues. Their works toured nationally and internationally and were recognized by an OBIE, a Spalding Gray Award, the LMCC President’s Award and two Henry Hewes Design Award nominations.
“ In addition to their theatrical works, the NTUSA produced a vinyl record of music, a hand-printed chapbook of poetry, and an illustrated acting manual.
”For more comprehensive history of the NTUSA, read this lovely article by Jessica Del Vecchio.”
— James Stanley, on the Hawley and Stanley website.
This page has some images and video clips, but please visit James and Jesse’s site Hawley and Stanley for more information about each of the shows, press, etc.
