Our Historic Mission
We, the people of the National Theater of the United States of America, taking our forefathers at their word, hereby forge a true democracy in effort to bring you, the people, our collective vision.
We collaboratively conceive, build and execute spectacular works of theater through the dedicated convergence of our ideas, aesthetics, skills and passions. Through multiplicity of voice and vision, we create unified, intoxicating, space-specific theatrical universes which our audiences complete. Together, we confront the culture and history that we all breathe, promoting multiple perceptions, questions and often conflicting conclusions.
With love, we create a disturbance in the continuum.
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Where Do They Come From?
The NTUSA was created in 2000 with the inaugural production Garvey and Superpant$:Episode #23, for which a lavish, miniature 1930's era vaudeville theater was constructed in the basement of a dilapidated deli in Times Square. The piece was a popular and critical success, and firmly established the company on the New York theater scene.
In 2001, as chashama artists-in-residence, the NTUSA created Episode #17 of our Fathers, Garvey & Superpant$: Placebo Sunrise, converting a vacant storefront on 42nd St. into a 1950’s era Havana-style nightclub. An audience of forty followed the amnesiac heroes from Episode #23 on a paranoiac holiday, sipping custom ‘placebo’ cocktails in vertical tiers of seating. The show ran for three and a half months to sold-out houses and was hailed as one the years 10 best by Time Out New York.
In 2002 The NTUSA was awarded Arts International’s DNA project Grant and remounted Episode #23 at the 2002 ESB-Dublin Fringe Festival. (“...blows most of what we see these days on bourgeois stages out of the water” the Guardian.) The NTUSA also offered a one night only special presentation of Jack Russell’s Superconfidence Seminar™! at Galapagos in Brooklyn.
In 2003, in residence at Nest Arts in DUMBO, Brooklyn, the NTUSA created What’s That On My HEAD!?! Conceived as a theme park ride, the show’s audience rode a mobile platform pushed and pulled through the space, visiting sets on all sides. HEAD!?! explored multiple visions of the American Dream, alternate versions of accepted history and the culture's dual tendencies towards complacency and revolt. The show was extended twice and ran for ten weeks (January to March 2004).
In 2004, at The Stable, the company prepared its return to the 2004 ESB-Dublin Fringe Festival with Placebo Sunrise, and work shopped material for a new work. They also provided space for companies and individuals whose work went on to be seen at St. Anne’s Warehouse, Symphony Space, the Brooklyn Museum, the Ice Factory Festival, and PS122.
In January 2006 the NTUSA premiered Abacus Black Strikes Now: The Rampant Justice of Abacus Black at Performance Space 122 (2006 Village Voice OBIE award,) and developed an adaptation of Moliere’s Don Juan, which was presented as a workshop to limited audiences at chashama’s Bank Vault space in Long Island City, Queens.
In May, 2007, the NTUSA received the second Annual Spalding Gray Award honoring innovative writing and performance, a co-commission for a new work entitled The Chautauqua Lectures. The piece is inspired by the Lecture series of the same name which traveled the country from 1874 to the 1930’s and will be presented at PS122, The Walker Arts Center in Minneapolis, UCLA Live and other venues in 2008/2009.
Valentines Day 2008! The World Premiere of NTUSA's Moliere's Don Juan at the Chocolate Factory in Long Island City, Queens. Return to Top
Who Are They?
Its members are seven: They are
Ryan Bronz
Mark Doskow
Yehuda Duenyas
Jessica Hawley
Jonathan Jacobs
Normandy Raven Sherwood
James P. Stanley
And designers:
And the NTUSA all-star actors:
Aimee McCormickMatt Kalman
George Nobl
Ilan Bachrach
Ean Shehe
Sam Rosenfeld
David Giambuso
David Lloyd-Rabig
Jaime Peterson
Katie Ruben
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Frequent Queries
Do they have a Board of Directors?
Yes and no. More information will be made available shortly.
Then, What is the Universal Theater Alliance?
The National Theater of the United States of America is a subsidiary of the Universal Theater Alliance, which acts as their administrative and executive body. The Universal Theater Alliance was founded shortly after the National Theater of the United States of America for this express purpose, and because the company was denied the name “National Theater of the United States of America” by the State Department, who feared the company would be representing itself and soliciting money from the public and generally masquerading as a government organization. This difficulty was foretold by their Lawyers who expressed this fear in the following exchange at a meeting at their offices some time in 2000:
Lawyer: Why don’t you choose a nice name that everyone will be happy with?
Mr. Bronz: So, I don’t get it? You’re saying people might mistake us for a government agency. Then they’ll come to our show. And they’ll see that we’re not a government agency. (pause) So what?
Lawyer: It's illegal.
Mr. Bronz: I don't get it.
But the company didn’t listen. They fired their lawyers, and applied on their own to incorporate as a 501(c)3 non profit organization as the National Theater of the United States of America. For their seeming impudence, their application was rejected. Shortly thereafter, they reapplied as the Universal Theater Alliance wearing mustache disguises and their application was successful. They then applied for a DBA, to Do Business As the National Theater of the United States of America. Their application was accepted, which brings them to their present business structure.
So, um...Are you a government agency or not?
Please be patient. I know this is confusing. The NTUSA is more than a government agency, they are an organization created by the people, for the people. The NTUSA is you!
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