Mission & History
MISSION
At Hand Theatre Company’s mission is to produce original work using sustainable means.
We give both emerging and established playwrights the chance to find their voices without having to be concerned with production values. Our directors, designers, and actors work collaboratively with playwrights on original texts – helping them shape the script, discussing relevant themes, negotiating the language of the play, and focusing the storytelling. It is our goal to find the most provocative, exciting, and vibrant new American plays that are unique and varied – yet also help us to arrive at a sense of shared history, culture, and identity. Ultimately, our goal is to bring these stories to our audiences in a way that is both creative and resourceful. To this end, At Hand’s productions are planned and executed with an eco-conscious agenda from pre-production to closing night. We have been disturbed with the impact theatre leaves on our carbon footprint and feel that waste is not a “necessary evil” for producing quality theatre. Rather than building an entire set and creating several elaborate costumes for each production, we explore simple, creative solutions that are cost effective, eco-friendly and engage the imagination of the audience.
HISTORY
At Hand Theatre is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit theatre company that was created in 2007 as a company dedicated to presenting new and relevant plays to New York audiences. Our repertoire includes new work by established and emerging writers alike. Past productions include the world premieres of The Body Politic by Richard Abrons and Margarett Perry, Anton Dudley’s Letters to the End of the World, Dan Horrigan’s The Big A and My AiDS, Lila Cante and As Wide as I Can See by Mark Snyder, Cake and Plays…But Without the Cake by Jono Hustis, Brian Dykstra’s Silence!, and One Nation Under by Andrea Lepcio, as well as the NY premiere of Trickster at the Gate by John Patrick Bray.
In addition to the plays we present, At Hand also produces:
- an annual one-act festival, POP!, which features new plays that revolve around pop culture. (Things That Go POP! In The Night, Death By POP!, POP! 2, POP!)
- a benefit concert every Earth Day, entitled Broadway Recycled at Joe’s Pub, which showcases Broadway stars performing cut songs from musicals – songs that shouldn’t go to waste!
- a free Staged Reading Series, which is presented throughout the year. Check our website regularly for more information and please join us! Click here to view a list of all the staged readings we’ve produced.
At Hand has attracted a diverse following of theatregoers from all walks of life, who share one thing in common: a passion for new, cutting-edge theatre that is sustainably produced. What sets At Hand apart from its peers is our commitment to realizing creatively challenging new works through innovative reimaginings of style, materials, and energy sources.
