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
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
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