Tectonic Theater Project
Tectonic Theater Project is a stage and theater group whose plays have been performed around the world. The company is dedicated to developing works that explore theatrical language and form, fostering dialogue with audiences on the social, political, and human issues that affect society. In service to this goal, Tectonic supports readings, workshops, and full theatrical productions, as well as training for students around the United States in their play-making techniques. The company has won a GLAAD Media Award.
History
Tectonic Theater Project was founded in 1991 by Moisés Kaufman and his husband Jeffrey LaHoste in New York City, after Kaufman left the NYU Tisch School of the Arts. Moisés was encouraged by Arthur Bartow to start his own theater company, as the themes he wanted to explore – namely theater as a medium for social-political change – were not being aptly practised by existing groups.The company had a challenging start. Rehearsals were held in the apartment of the two founders and in other unconventional spaces, such as church basements and the backrooms of bars, and performances often drew very small audiences. The company's first official production was Women in Beckett, an anthology of short plays by Samuel Beckett for women, performed in the lobby of the Theater for the New City in November 1991, exploring the creation of liminal spaces in a theater that was consistently disturbed by other performances.
In the early years of Tectonic, the company staged other works by writers who were experimenting with unorthodox theatrical form, like the aforementioned Samuel Beckett, Franz Xaver Kroetz, Sophie Treadwell, and Naomi Iizuka. As the company progressed, the focus of Kaufman shifted from theatrical form to societal issues, taking inspiration from Brecht's and Brechtian concepts of engaging the audience in political discourse. The company began work on Gross Indecency in 1997, addressing Oscar Wilde's trials for the crime of sodomy.
One month after the murder of gay University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard, Kaufman and ten company members travelled to Laramie, Wyoming to interview people in the town torn apart by the crime. The play developed from these interviews was created collaboratively by the company members over a long workshop process, during which participants were encouraged to work outside their usual areas of specialization: actors and designers became writers and dramaturgs, directors became designers and actors, and the company discovered a new way of creating a theatrical event, resulting in The Laramie Project.
Works
Gross Indecency (1997)
This play, written and directed by Moisés Kaufman, examines the series of events set in motion by Oscar Wilde's 1895 libel suit against the Marquess of Queensberry and his relations with the Marquess's son, Lord Alfred Douglas. The play was first performed in 1997 Off-Broadway.The Laramie Project (2000)
The Laramie Project, written and directed by Moisés Kaufman, Stephen Belber and Leigh Fondakowski, is a verbatim stage play following the aftermath in the town of Laramie, Wyoming, after the 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard, a 21-year-old gay man. The play examined the bigotry that enabled the crime, and prompted a social dialogue and exploration of the issue underlying hate across America and wider areas.I Am My Own Wife
Winner of the 2004 Tony Award for Best Play and Best Actor, I Am My Own Wife is the true story of Charlotte Von Mahlsdorf, Berlin's most famous transvestite, who survived two of the most oppressive regimes of the 20th century, the Nazis and the Communists, in a dress. The play was written by Doug Wright after gathering hundreds of hours of interviews with Charlotte in the early 90s.Directed by Moisés Kaufman and created using Tectonic's devised theater technique, Moment Work, the play was workshopped at Sundance Theater Lab then transferred to Playwrights Horizons and finally to Broadway. I Am My Own Wife is the recipient of the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.