The Foundry Theatre

During fiscal year 2017, our accomplishments included developing and premiering MASTER by playwright W. David Hancock and visual artist, Wardell Milan, hosting Foundry Hours, a public retrospective of our works, and The Audience Ambassadors program which builds new and diverse audiences for NYC theatre.MASTER is a radical exploration of Twain's Huckleberry Finn in which the inadequacies of our American stories are met head-on towards proposing new meanings of 'freedom' and the power of imagination. The production was developed across four workshops held between June 2016 and April 2017; The final work premiered on May 26th, 2017 at The Irondale Theatre Center in Brooklyn. The production ran 42 performances from May 26th June 24, 2017. Critical response was extremely strong: We received four stars in Time Out New York and a Critics Pick from the NYTimes in which the show was called "one of the most fascinating theatrical experiences you will see this season... an intricate and multi layered experience that delves into the issue of race in startling, chilling ways"-Foundry Hours;this project included screenings of our productions, dialogues and community programs every Monday and Friday from August through December 2017. This public retrospective began the company's archiving process as well as laying the seeds for a new book we have undertaken about the evolution of the Foundry's 24-year inquiry.We continued to build our trademark Audience Ambassadors Program. The Foundry hires Audience Ambassadors from social justice organizing groups throughout the city to bring groups of their constituents to the theatre. The Foundry procures free tickets and pairs each group with some of the work's generative artists for a discussion afterwards at which we provide a modest meal. This year, Ambassadors brought groups to performances across nine theatres in New York City, and as well as attending several performances of our production of MASTER. Now in its seventh year, our Audience Ambassadors have brought upwards of 1800 people to NYC theatre many for the first time.