Hey,

Several people have been curious about the name of the company; the pronunciation, the meaning behind it, etc.  On the ABOUT page of this website, I talk about the company's connection to playwright, John Belluso and his play, "The Rules Of Charity."  In the play, the character Monty translates it as, "the place of exposure."  I like this double entendre.  "Exposure" means the act of being uncovered or unprotected from the elements.  It also means the state of being exposed to contact with something.  To reveal, shed light on, make visible, etc., the human impact of the "Disabled Experience" throughout history is a key element to The Apothetae's mission. 

For a more scholarly etymology of the word, I reached out to Bruce Baker, founder and president of Semantic Compaction Systems in Pittsburgh, PA.  He is also the founder of SHOUT, a non-profit corporation whose mission is to study employment issues for people with severe impairments.  He works very closely with augmented communicators, people who can't talk due to severe disability and use assistive devices- AAC users.  I wrote a ten minute play, "French Twist," for the Pittsburgh Employment Conference last year which contained AAC users.  It was the first play ever to feature AAC users speaking in real time.  Here's what Bruce had to say about The Apothetae.  

Your name "TheApothetae" is a stroke of genius.  If people ask you whether it's related to other English words, you could mention "Apostle" -- meaning "sent away."  "Apo" in Greek means "away."  "Thesis" is from a Greek verb meaning "to place or put."  The base form is "tithenai" and one of the participles is "thetae."  An hypothesis is something "put under" something else to support it.  Apothetae means something like "those put aside" or "the place of the put aside."  

How are you pronouncing it?  The "-ae" from classical Latin and Greek is usually pronounced like a long "e" -- "Caesar."  The "e" following "th" is a long "e."  Thus, the most exacting pronunciation in English would be "apōtheetee" with the stress on "-thee."  Of course, all of this is really arcane.  Call it whatever you like.  You are right.  I love the word.

Thank you, Bruce.  I love it to.  I think I'll keep it.  However, we'll pronounce it with a long "A" sound instead of the long "E."

Have a good weekend.  Stay cool.


-Gregg  

Greetings!  It is with great enthusiasm that I announce the arrival of my new theatre company, The Apothetae!  The Apothetae is the first theatre of its kind dedicated to the production of new full-length plays about the "Disabled Experience," and the only New York City based company (and maybe the country's), with this unique mission to be run, owned and operated by people with disabilities.

While pursuing my Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at Boston University, I studied modern American drama and was exposed to the works of Tina Howe, Tony Kushner, August Wilson, David Henry Hwang, Jose Rivera and many others.  These writers came from diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds but all of them had one thing in common; they were all using theatre as a venue to share their unique personal and collective experience(s) with a larger audience.  I was struck by the fact that in the late twentieth century, decades after the Civil Rights Movement and several years after the passing of the Americans With Disabilities Act, I did not know of a single disabled playwright; nor had I seen a theatre piece or film (with the exception of "My Left Foot"), that accurately reflected my personal experience as a person with a disability.  Ever since that realization, I have committed my artistic life to changing this through my art.

The Apothetae is my "experiment."  The hypothesis: By collaborating with talented theatre professionals from New York City and throughout the United States (and hey, why not the world?), can the "Disabled Experience" be more sincerely and accurately reflected on stage and act as a vehicle for social change.

We have just started and we are off to a great start.  We have four fantastically talented playwrights committed to writing new full-length plays.  We are going to the Kennedy Center later this Summer to workshop those plays and we already have a production planned for June 2013 with Dixon Place right here in NYC.

It's all on this website which I hope you will check out and enjoy.  The company is in its beginning stages but I very much look forward to sharing its growth, our experience and work with you.
-Gregg