Theatre For One: Here We Are

Biographies

Christine Jones

Christine Jones is a Tony and Olivier Award-winning set designer and the creator of Theatre For One along with Lot-ek Architects. When I looked at my bio to include here, I was struck by reading, “ her work can currently be seen…. “. Right now theatres are dark, and the idea of writing a bio, seems like a thing I used to do long ago. It feels like what matters is what is happening now. In addition to making Theatre for One: Here We Are for the digital space where the lights are on, with this phenomenal group of people, I am making a Social Distance Dance Club with Steven Hoggett and David Byrne, for the in-between times when we can begin to enter our performances spaces again. I am staying connected to my NYU students while I learn how to be in the world as it is, how to examine my white fragility, and participate as a teacher and a maker to build a world in which Black Lives Matter.

Jenny Koons

Recent Projects: Men on Boats (Baltimore Center Stage), Speechless (New Blue Man Group North American Tour), The Tempest (Juilliard School), Between Us: The Deck of Cards (Denver Center), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (The Public Theater Mobile Unit), Burn All Night (American Repertory Theatre), Gimme Shelter (Why Not Theatre, 2015 Pan Am Games commission), Theatre for One: I’m Not the Stranger You Think I Am (Arts Brookfield), A Sucker Emcee (National Black Theatre, LAByrinth Theater Company), Queen of the Night (Diamond Horseshoe), The Odyssey Project 2012 (site-specific NYC). Jenny was the 2017 curator of the Encores! Off-Center Lobby Project, co-curator of the 2016 ThisGen Conference, and co-founder of Artists 4 Change NYC (National Black Theatre). She has been an artist in residence at Philadelphia School of Circus Arts, SPACE on Ryder Farm, and The Invisible Dog Art Center and has developed new work at Ars Nova, Steppenwolf, Roundabout, and New Black Fest, among others. Jenny has been a guest teaching artist at Princeton, ART Institute at Harvard, and NYU Tisch and has been a facilitator and educator in creating anti-racist spaces and engaging in conversations around race and equity for over a decade, in both non-profit and artistic spheres.

OpenEndedGroup

OpenEndedGroup comprises two digital artists, Marc Downie and Paul Kaiser, whose long collaboration dates back to 2001. Their pioneering approach to digital art frequently combines two signature elements: non-photorealistic 3D rendering and the autonomy of artworks directed or assisted by artificial intelligence.

Their artworks span a wide range of forms and disciplines, including dance, music, installation, 3D film, public art, text, and virtual reality.

Outside collaborators have included Merce Cunningham, Bill T. Jones, Trisha Brown, Ken Jacobs, Preeti Vasudevan, the Flux Quartet, Natasha Barrett, and Jaroslaw Kapuscinski.

They have presented their work at MoMA, Lincoln Center, Pompidou Center, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, the New York Film Festival, Barclay Center, Barbican Center, Sadler’s Wells, Festival d’Automne, BAM, Hayward Gallery, ICA Boston, Sundance, Detroit Institute of Art, Rome Film Festival, EMPAC, MASS MoCA, the MIT Media Lab, Jacobs Pillow, NY Live Arts, and many other venues.

Octopus Theatricals (Producer)

Founded by creative producer Mara Isaacs, Octopus Theatricals collaborates with artists and organizations to foster an expansive range of compelling theatrical works for local, national and international audiences. We eschew boundaries – aesthetic, geopolitical, institutional—and thrive on a nimble and rigorous practice. Current projects: Hadestown by Anaïs Mitchell (Broadway, eight Tony Awards including Best Musical; Grammy Award, Best Musical Theater Album); Iphigenia, a new opera by Wayne Shorter and Esperanza Spalding; Dreaming Zenzile by Somi Kakoma; An Iliad by Lisa Peterson and Denis O’Hare (Obie Award); the Ars Nova production of Underground Railroad Game; And So We Walked by DeLanna Studi; Bill Irwin’s On Beckett; Activist Songbook by Aaron Jafferis and Byron Au Yong; and Theatre for One. We are also proud to work with Fiasco Theatre, Phantom Limb Company, Ripe Time, Song of the Goat Theatre and many more. www.octopustheatricals.com