Target Margin Theater Opens First Permanent Home in Brooklyn; 2017-18 Season Announced!

After a five-year search, Target Margin Theater has announced the opening of the Company's first permanent home.

Located in the Sunset Park section of Brooklyn, the modern, industrial space includes two large rehearsal studios, office space, and a column free, 3,250 sq. ft. performance space with generous 18 ft. ceilings. The theater is named The DOXSEE after founding member and resident designer Lenore Doxsee (1965-2017).

For over 25 years, Target Margin Theater (Founding Artistic Director David Herskovits, Associate Artistic Director Moe Yousuf, General Manager Lu Liu) has been praised for its aggressive interpretations of classic texts, lesser-known works, and new plays inspired by existing sources. In addition, Target Margin has served over 1,000 artists through its annual incubator LAB festival and has nurtured the next generation of theater makers via a yearlong fellowship program. This work has happened, locally, across three boroughs in over 20 theaters, 50+ rehearsal studios and 4 offices.

"Having a permanent home finally gives us the freedom to work on each project just as it demands," says Target Margin's Founding Artistic Director David Herskovits. "The space is a natural result of the growth of our mission. Target Margin now involves more artists than ever, with fellowship, community, and production programs, growing steadily in recent years. Our leadership has expanded too, with the promotion of Moe Yousuf and recent addition of Lu Liu. Target Margin has matured into a more diverse and democratic company. The building gives us a real, local home for the first time ever. Alternative performances spaces where young talent can make work on the cheap are vanishing. The DOXSEE will help fill that void and keep New York City at the forefront of theatrical innovation."

The DOXSEE is set to open on November 9-11 with Grand Festival Opening, three days of performances including a sneak peek of a new work by Target Margin and the work of over 40 theater and performance artists. This year Target Margin will also launch a new Residency Program providing space and time for companies and individual artists to develop new and challenging works.

The 2017-2018 season continues with a multi-year exploration of The Thousand and One Nights, a collection of Silk Road, MENA (Middle Eastern / North African), and South Asian stories. Huge in scope, mystical, political and problematic, the folk tales will be examined in One Night (March 22 - April 21), the first section of a larger theatrical adaptation directed by Herskovits, and in 1001 LABS (May 31-June 23), four productions of various tales lead by four diverse artists. The season will also feature a series of free community events in early 2018, bringing local residents, artists, activists, and scholars together to discuss the political, social and artistic influence of The Thousand and One Nights.

Details on Target Margin's 2017-2018 season can be found below. The DOXSEE and Target Margin Theater's new home is located at 232 52nd Street in the Sunset Park section of Brooklyn. Tickets are now on sale for Grand Festival Opening and can be purchased by calling 212.352.3101 or visiting targetmargin.org.

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Target Margin Theater 2017-18 SEASON:

Grand Festive Opening
November 9-11 at 7pm; $20
Target Margin Theater celebrates the opening of The DOXSEE with three days of performances featuring new work by Target Margin and over 40 theater and performance artists. Participating artists include:

Thursday, November 11 at 7pm
Avi Amon, William Badgett, Tom Cabaniss, Ann Marie Dorr, Jesse Freedman / Meta Phys Ed, James Hannaham, Kristine Haruna Lee, Michael Levinton / Little Lord, Katie Rose McLaughlin / Designated Movement Company, Mary Neufeld, and Kathleen Kennedy Tobin.

Friday, November 10 at 7pm
Nic Adams, Clare Barron, Tanisha Christie, John Del Gaudio, Lane Dombois, James Tigger! Ferguson, Rebecca Hart, Sherrine Azab & Jake Hooker / A Host of People, Yehuda Hyman, Claire Moodey, Shannon Sindelar, and Peter Mills Weiss.

Saturday, November 11 at 7pm
Alex Borinsky, William Burke, Corinne Donly, Daniel Fish, Joshua William Gelb, Kara Feely & Travis Just / Object Collection, Paul Ketchum, John Kurzynowski / Theater Reconstruction Ensemble, Brian Rady, David Rosenmeyer & Melena Dayen, Sugar Vendil, Eva Von Schweinitz and Tracy Weller / Mason Holdings.

2018 TMT Institute
January 2018
Target Margin begins the fifth year of the TMT Institute, the Company's year-long fellowship program. Under the guidance of David Herskovits and Associate Artistic Director Moe Yousuf, five emerging theater artists discover ways to expand their artistic practice. Built on Target Margin's history of nurturing emerging talent, The TMT Institute provides support and space for open-ended questioning and experimentation within, and at, the edges of the form of theater.

BYO Stein
January 20, 2018
Stars of downtown theater read from the work of Gertrude Stein. Audiences are encouraged to bring their own selection and join the readers. One night only with discussion.

One Night
March 22 - April 21, 2018
Under the direction of David Herskovits, One Night will be the first section of a larger theatrical adaptation of The Thousand and One Nights, a collection of Silk Road, MENA (Middle Eastern and North African), and South Asian stories and folk tales.

1001 Labs
May 31 - June 23, 2018
This year's edition to the TMT Lab Festival, 1001 Labs, will present four intertwining tales from The Thousand and One Nights in four new productions. The Lab will also include special events to enrich the conversation and engage the local Sunset Park community including potluck dinners, intergenerational storytelling program, a film series, as well as a discussion series focusing on the problematic adaptations of the text including Aladdin, Sinbad, Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves.

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For 25 years, Target Margin has been praised for its aggressive interpretations of classic texts, lesser-known works, and new plays inspired by existing sources. They exist to build a world where all people embrace the original, the challenging and the different. They challenge audiences with their plays, energetically expand the possibilities of live performance, and engage their community at all levels through partnerships and programs. The range of programming has been enormous, including classics, opera, new writing, and adaptation of literature and historical sources. The Company has served over 1,000 artists (emerging and established) through its annual LAB and is committed to nurturing the creative aspirations of the next generation of theater makers in the TMT Institute, the Company's yearlong fellowship program.

Target Margin's artistic and cultural vision has resulted in 41 Mainstage productions including 11 world premieres, 8 company-created works, 3 U.S. premieres and 5 new translations, which have garnered 4 OBIE Awards and employed over 500 Equity actors and hundreds of other theater artists. The Company's production of Mamba's Daughters received an OBIE Award, and their epic 2004-06 production of Goethe's Faust received extensive critical acclaim. Recent productions include Uncle Vanya and The Tempest at HERE, Uriel Acosta: I Want That Man! at The Chocolate Factory, Composition...Master-Pieces...Identity, a new solo performance piece from OBIE Award-winner David Greenspan at The Connelly Theater, Drunken With What at Abrons Arts Center, Reread Another at The Brick, called "something kind of wonderful" by Ben Brantley in The New York Times, their New York Times acclaimed Iceman Lab-a radical interpretation of The Iceman Cometh at HERE, and, most recently, Mourning Becomes Electra at Abrons Arts Center, of which Laura Collins-Hughes in her New York Times Critic's Pick review said, "I didn't check my watch once in the five hours of David Herskovits's bold, astringent revival for Target Margin Theater."

Photo Credit: Kelly Lamanna

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