Crowded Outlet Launches

Crowded Outlet, a new not-for-profit development and producing organization committed to harnessing the creative powers of a variety of artistic voices and theatrical visions, launches in January 2016 with the first event in a planned monthly developmental series called Surge, offering theatre artists a chance to test their new ideas and dawning projects. A full production is also on the horizon, for Spring 2016.

Crowded Outlet is run and operated by Wes Grantom (Off-Broadway's Eager to Lose and Off-Off-Broadway's The Steadfast) with artistic and literary support by Chad Goodridge (Passing Strange).

The Surge series will focus on a different artist each month, with the inaugural year giving voice to work by Jeff Talbott, Zakiyyah Alexander, Cori Thomas, Alejandro Rodriguez, Emily Walton, Marisa Michelson, Matt Dellapina, Lauren Whitehead, Polly Lee and Nikko Benson in collaboration with Chad Goodridge.

The first Surge presentation will be a reading of the play Elliot by Jeff Talbott (MCC's The Submission), directed by Wes Grantom. The cast will include Tony Nominee Stephen Kunken (Enron, The Affair), Jennifer Ikeda (Love and Information), Frankie J. Alvarez (HBO's Looking), Christa Scott-Reed (The Great Divorce), Christopher Gerson and Dillon Heape, at the Drama League Theater Center on Tuesday, January 26th 2016 at 5:30 PM.

Surge will welcome artists from all disciplines and offer developmental support to works at any stage of the process. Details of the remaining Surge presentations will be announced throughout the year.

The company's 2016 season also includes the world premiere full production of Josh Tobiessen's Lone Star Spirits, directed by Wes Grantom, June 2-19 at the 4th Street Theatre in the East Village. A trip home gets wildly out of hand, when Marley returns to introduce her fiancé to her estranged father. Hoping for a quick visit, she finds herself stranded in her father's liquor store haunted by her football hero ex-boyfriend, a single mom insistent on a girl's night out and the ghost of the bear-wrestling pioneer who founded their town. Lone Star Spirits is a comedy about those who leave, those who stay and raising a glass to the ghosts of your past. Cast and design team will be announced at a later date.

"We draw creative energy from the collision of ideas and diverse perspectives to develop and create vibrant theatrical entertainments," Grantom said of Crowded Outlet. "Imagine a bunch of power cords tangled together, feeding different projects and possibilities. We aim to be that outlet."

Artistic associate Chad Goodridge stated, "Surge intends to develop and present a wide variety of work from a collection of unique artists whose voices, we feel, warrant greater amplification in the New York performing arts community. It's a launch pad to try out a new piece, explore a new direction, or flex a new muscle."

As a producer Wes Grantom has over 10 years of experience as co-artistic director of Slant Theatre Project and has been a freelance director throughout the city and around the country for nearly 12 years. Wes has directed productions Off-Broadway, Off-Off Broadway and regionally for companies such as Ars Nova, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Cherry Lane, Berkshire Theatre Group and many others. Wes has also served as associate director for several Broadway and Off-Broadway productions.

As an actor, Chad Goodridge has committed his career to the development of new work with organizations such as New Dramatists, Berkeley Rep, the Sundance Institute, and the Drama League. Chad is an Obie Award Winner, was awarded the Charles Bowden Award by New Dramatists and an original cast member of the Tony Award-winning Passing Strange.