The Civilians
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| Formation | 2001 |
|---|---|
| Type | Theatre group |
| Purpose | Documentary Theater |
| Location |
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Artistic director(s)
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Steve Cosson |
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Notable members
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Michael Friedman |
| Website | The Civilians |
The Civilians is an investigative theatre company in New York City founded in 2001 by Artistic Director Steve Cosson. The Civilians artists pursue their inquiries using interviews, community residencies, research, and other methods. Working with a combination of journalism and art, The Civilians creates theatrical events that seek to promote an inquisitions of current issues. The company has created seven original plays. According to Variety Magazine, The Civilians "travels far and wide researching a piece around a given subject, conducting interviews and comparing notes along the way, sometimes for years."
Artistic Director Steve Cosson founded the company in 2001, with a multi-disciplinary group of artists including some fellow University of California-San Diego graduates, as “a breeding ground for new styles of collaboration” Inspiration was taken from the British , Cosson having studied under director and Joint Stock member Les Waters at UCSD. Cosson has said “I wanted to create a theatre that would engage with larger social, cultural, and political realities through the eyes of real, ordinary people, or 'civilians.'” In keeping with this goal, the name of the company was derived from a vaudeville term for those not within the vaudeville community.
Since its founding in 2001, The Civilians’ projects have been produced at venues throughout New York City, including The Public Theater, Joe's Pub, St. Ann's Warehouse, 59E59 Theaters, and the Vineyard Theatre, and at theaters nationally, including The Center Theatre Group (at the Mark Taper Forum), Studio Theatre, A.R.T., La Jolla Playhouse, HBO’s U.S. Comedy Arts Festival, and Actors Theatre of Louisville. Works by the company have also toured nationally and internationally to universities, arts presenters and festivals.
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