En Garde Arts is a New York City-based theatre company with a focus on site-specific theatre. It was founded in 1985 by artistic director Anne Hamburger. Self-described as an artist-centric company, the company supports playwrights, directors, composers, and designers in creating new work from the ground up. En Garde's productions have earned six Obie Awards, two Drama Desk Awards, the Special Outer Critics Circle Award, and the Edwin Booth Award. From 1985 to 1999, the company staged pieces in architectural sites and neighborhoods such as Central Park and the Meatpacking District.
En Garde Arts in the 1980s and 1990s From 1985 to 1999, Hamburger commissioned playwrights, directors and composers to create theatrical pieces for architectural sites and neighborhoods. The roster of En Garde's alumni artists includes playwrights Charles L. Mee, Mac Wellman, María Irene Fornés; composers David Van Tieghem, Jonathan Larson; directors Michael Engler, Tina Landau, Anne Bogart, Reza Abdoh, Jim Simpson and Bill Rauch; and actors Carl Hancock Rux, Fiona Shaw, Fisher Stevens, Tyne Daly and Jefferson Mays. Audiences followed their work to a variety of locations, including Central Park, the Meatpacking District, Penn Yards, East River Park, Pier 25, the Chelsea Hotel, the Victory Theater (New Victory Theatre), and the intersection of Wall and Broad Streets in Lower Manhattan.
In 1989, En Garde produced a series of three plays at the Dairy, Belvedere Castle and Bow Bridge in Central Park. Obie Awards for Best New American Play and Best Director were given to Bad Penny playwright Mac Wellman and director Jim Simpson. The following year, Wellman's play Crowbar became the first legitimate theatrical production to be held in 42nd Street's Victory Theatre in 60 years. Crowbar was produced prior to 42nd Street's redevelopment, so a group of volunteers cleaned the interior to make way for Mac Wellman's new play. Directed by Richard Caliban with music by David Van Tieghem, Crowbar won Obie awards for En Garde Arts and actor Elżbieta Czyżewska, and was granted a special award by the Outer Critics Circle.
En Garde continued to produce work throughout the 1990s. Reza Abdoh and Mira-Lani Oglesby's work Father Was a Peculiar Man took place over nine distinct locations through the Meatpacking District. In an abandoned Victorian hospital on West 106th Street, Charles L. Mee's Another Person Is a Foreign Country confronted the social marginalization of unconventional people. Director Anne Bogart's cast included a blind choir with seeing-eye dogs, a group of emotionally disturbed rock musicians, and a man and woman, both 3’ tall, all staged against the Gothic, empty Towers Nursing Home (New York Cancer Hospital).
In another piece, Hamburger used the New York Stock Exchange as a backdrop for JP Morgan Saves the Nation by composer Jonathan Larson.
Production history
Year Production Credits 1985 The Ritual Project (Central Park) Written by Nancy Beckett, composer Kim Sherman, and sculptor Michael Berkowicz. Directed by Michael Engler, performed by Kate Fugeli as the Girl, and sung by three opera singers 1986 Terminal Bar (abandoned car showroom, SoHo) Written by Paul Selig, directed by Michael Engler, starring Fisher Stevens 1987 Naked Chambers (intersection of Greenwich & Chambers Streets, TriBeCa) Written by Dick Beebe, starring Richard GottliebGussow, M. (10/1/1987) “Critic’s Notebook; The World on Windows, in ‘Site-Specific’ Drama”, New York Times. 1988 3 Pieces for a Warehouse (warehouse, Lower Westside) by María Irene Fornés, Anna Cassio and Quincy LongGussow, M. (5/20/1988) “Review/Theater; Peripatetic Double Bill By En Garde Arts”, New York Times. 1989 Plays in the Park (Central Park). Krapp's Last Tape (1 Main Street, Brooklyn Waterfront). Plays including Bad Penny written by Mac Wellman and directed by Jim Simpson Gussow, M. (6/20/1989) “Review/Theater; 3 Site-Specific Plays in Central Park”, New York Times. Krapp's starring and directed by Paul Zimet of The Talking BandGussow, M. (12/17/1989) “Review/Theater; Reflections of Despair In a Sardonic ‘Krapp’”, New York Times. 1990 Father Was a Peculiar Man(Meatpacking District). Crowbar (The Victory, NY). Father Was a Peculiar Man directed by Reza Abdoh and co-written by Reza Abdoh & Mira-Lani OglesbyCollins, G. (7/19/1990) “Street Theater Audience Must Make a Choice”, New York Times. Crowbar written by Mac Wellman and directed by Richard Caliban 1991 Another Person Is a Foreign Country (Towers Nursing Home, 455 Central Park West) Occasional Grace (Universalist Church at Central Park West & 76th St) Another Person written by Charles L. Mee, Jr., directed by Anne BogartHolden, S. (9/10/1991) “In Decayed, Empty Nursing Home, A Pageant of the Lame and Hurt”, New York Times. Grace directed by Bill Rauch 1992 Vanquished by Voodoo (façade of the Dwyer Warehouse, Harlem) Written and directed by Laurie Carlos, featuring Carl Hancock Rux and Viola SheelyGussow, M. (6/17/1992) “Theater in Review”, New York Times 1993 Orestes (Penn Yards) Adapted by Charles L. Mee Jr., directed by Tina Landau, starring Jefferson Mays and Theresa McCarthyBruckner, D. (6/30/1993) “Theater in Review”, New York Times 1994 Marathon Dancing (Grand Ballroom, Masonic Grand Lodge at 71 West 23rd St.) Stonewall: Night Variations (Pier 25 on the Hudson River) Marathon written by Laura Harrington, directed by Anne Bogart, music by Christopher Drobny, choreography by Alison ShaferCanby, V. (3/20/1994) “Theater in Review; They’re Dancing as Fast as They Can”, New York Times. Stonewall directed by Tina LandauCanby, V. (7/3/1994) “Celebrating a Birthday and a Battle”, New York Times. 1995 J.P. Morgan Saves the Nation (outside Federal Hall National Memorial at the intersection of Wall and Broad Streets, Lower Manhattan) Book and lyrics by Jeffrey M. Jones, music by Jonathan Larson, directed by Jean Randich, choreography by Doug ElkinsBrantley, B. (6/16/1995) “Theater Review; ‘J.P. Morgan’ and Some Heavy Site-Specificity”, New York Times. 1996 The Trojan Women: A Love Story (East River Park Amphitheater) The Waste Land (Liberty Theatre (New York, New York), 42nd St.) Trojan Women written by Charles L. Mee Jr., directed by Tina Landau, starring Sharon ScruggsBrantley, B. (7/3/1996) “Theater Review; An Epic War Resolved With a Gershwin Ditty”, New York Times. Waste Land directed by Deborah Warner, starring Fiona ShawBrantley, B. (11/18/1996) “Memory and Desire: Hearing Eliot’s Passion”, New York Times. 1997 Sweet Thereisenstradt (Archa Theater, Prague) Based on the diary of Willi Mahler, directed by Damien GrayFuchs, E. (3/2/1997) “A Mordant Tale of the Holocaust”, New York Times 1998 Mystery School (Angel Orensanz Foundation Center for the Arts, 172 Norfolk St., SoHo) Secret History of the Lower East Side (roof of the Seward Park High School, 350 Grand St, Lower East Side) Mystery School written by Paul Selig, directed by Doug Hughes, music and sound design by David Van Tieghem, starring Tyne DalyMarks, P. (3/13/1998) “Theater Review; Tyne Daly Re-Emerges as a New Age Totem Pole”, New York Times. Secret History written by Carlos Murillo, Alice Tuan and Peter Ullian, directed by Matthew WilderGates, A. (9/21/1998) “Theater Review; On a Roof, Vignettes That Get Around”, New York Times. 2014 Basetrack Live (Brooklyn Academy of Music) Created by Edward Bilous, co-adapted by Jason Grote & Seth Bockley & Anne Hamburger, Directed by Seth Bockley, Music Composed by Michelle DiBucci, Edward Bilous and Greg Kalember. (Inspired by the website One-Eight Basetrack, a citizen journalism project featuring the work of Teru Kuwayama, Balazs Gardi and Tivadar Domaniczky)2015Big Outdoor Site Specific Stuff (B.O.S.S.S. Fest) (Hudson River Park, NY)A free festival of work by nine creative teams composed of New York’s rising generation of innovative theatre artists 2016 Wilderness (Abrons Arts Center) Written by Seth Bockley & Anne Hamburger, Directed by Seth Bockley, Movement by Devon DeMayo & Patrick McCollum, Music by Kyle Miller & Towr's, Kyle Henderson & Desert, Noises and Gregory Alan Isakov, Video by Michael Tutaj, Sound by Mikhail Fiksel, Lighting by Scott Bolman.2017Harbored (Winter Garden at Brookfield Place, Lower Manhattan)Harbored was Co-commissioned by Arts Brookfield and the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council as part of the River to River Festival 2017 Written & Directed by Jimmy Maize, Composed by Heather Christian, Choreographed by Wendy Seyb. Featuring Downtown Voices Choir, Mama Foundation, Wednesday Sings Choir 2018 Red Hills (101 Greenwich Street) Written by Asiimwe Deborah Kawe and Sean Christopher Lewis, directed by Katie Pearl; with actors Christopher McLinden and Patrick J. Ssenjovu; composition and live music by Farai Malianga and singer Sifiso Mabena; set design by Adam Rigg; lighting design by Brian Aldous & Adam Macks; costume design by Angela M. Fludd; and dramaturgy by Morgan Jenness. 2020 Fandango for Butterflies (And Coyotes) (La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club) Written by Andrea Thome, directed by José Zayas, original music by Sinuhé Padilla; with actors Carlo Albán, Jen Anaya, Silvia Dionicio, Sinuhé Padilla, Andrés Quintero, Frances Ines Rodriguez, Roberto Tolentino, and Tania Mesa; scenic and projection design by Johnny Moreno; lighting design by Lucrecia Briceno; sound design by Marcelo Añez; costume design by Fabian Fidel Aguilar; and choreography by Alexandra Beller. 2021 A Dozen Dreams (Brookfield Place, 230 Vesey Street NY). Downtown Live (Open Air Spaces in Lower Manhattan). A Dozen Dreams conceived by Anne Hamburger, John Clinton Eisner and Irina Kruzhilina; written by Sam Chanse, Erika Dickerson-Despenza, Emily Mann, Martyna Majok, Mona Mansour, Rehana Mirza, Ellen McLaughlin, Liza Jessie Peterson, Ren Dara Santiago, Caridad Svich, Lucy Thurber, and Andrea Thome; visual and environment design by Irina Kruzhilina; sound design by Rena Anakwe, video/projection design by Brittany Bland, and lighting design by Jeanette Oi-Suk Yew. Downtown Live (three sites in Lower Manhattan) co-produced with The Tank and presented by the Downtown Alliance. Downtown Live, a performing arts festival comprising 36 in-person outdoor performances, co-presented with the Tank and Downtown Alliance. 2022 Downtown Stories Sidewalk Echoes by Rogelio Martinez, directed by Johanna McKeon, with actors Sheher Azaad, Lakpa T. Bhutia, Chris Crofton, Ashley Noel Jones, and Jacob Rodriguez. Lighting design by Chris Brown, costume design by Val Ramshur, sound design by UptownWorks, and creative consultation by John Clinton Eisner. Performed at John Street Methodist Church and 1 Battery Park Plaza from June 8 to 25.
Uncovering Downtown: A Magical Expedition of Unrecorded Dreams by Mona Monsour and Jessica Holt, directed by Holt. Performed by Michelle J. Rodriguez, costume design by Azalea Fairley, and sound design and engineering by Andrew Lynch. Performed around Bowling Green Park from June 8 to 25.