New Virtual Repertory Company To Help Reimagine Theatre For The Post-pandemic World

Remote Theater, a pioneering new theater company born in the pandemic, has announced a repertory of accomplished theater artists (the Remote Rep) to help reimagine theater for its post-pandemic transformation. With its new 12-person artist group, Remote has also launched a campaign to help fund a small full-time staff, an ambitious 2021 season (the theatre's second), and technology designed to connect audiences in both virtual and physical spaces.

To make a tax-deductible contribution to Remote Theater, go to: https://fundraising.fracturedatlas.org/remote-theater-company

"There has never been a better time to step back and reimagine what theatre might be," said Remote co-founder and artistic director, Giovanni Rodriguez. "The pandemic has forced us to reconsider how we use public spaces. It's also forced us to embrace virtual communication technology -- which is advancing rapidly -- not just as a proxy for physical connection but as its own medium with its own rules and prerogatives."

The Remote Rep is a group of actors, writers, and composers who have collaborated with one another over the past year at Remote Theater and peer organizations. They are now resident artists of the company. A few are associated with other companies and will continue to work with them as well.

From New York and Ann Arbor, Michigan:

Tanya Shaffer (playwright/actor/co-founder)

Billy Aronson (playwright; originator of concept for RENT)

Ellen McLaughlin (actor/playwright; original Angel in Angels in America)

Samrat Chakrabarti (actor)

Rinde Eckert (composer)

From the West Coast (the Bay Area and Ashland, Oregon):

James Carpenter (actor, 2010 Lunt-Fontaine Fellow,

co-founder of Actors Reading Collective)

Catherine Castellanos (actor)

Brady Morales-Woolery (actor)

Alicia M.P. Nelson (actor)

Philippa Kelly (dramaturg)

Paul Dresher (composer)

Giovanni Rodriguez (artistic director)

"One of the truly exciting opportunities of making theater remotely is that we can bring together artists and audiences from different parts of the country and the world," said resident artist and Remote Theater co-founder Tanya Shaffer. "We look forward to expanding our national and global reach as we continue our mission of creating vibrant, provocative online and hybrid theater in a post-pandemic world."

Remote began its 2021 calendar with its critically acclaimed production of Anthony Clarvoe's The Art of Sacrifice, a play about women, power, and chess, and a reading of award-winning playwright Lynne Kaufman's Magician's Choice. For the remainder of the year, Remote will present plays on two tracks:

+Remote RAW (Real Actors Working): a bi-monthly series of lightly rehearsed readings featuring some of the nation's most exciting stage actors. A few of these readings will be invitation-only.

+Remote Mainstage: two more fully rehearsed productions using virtual and/physical spaces. One production has been announced: an outdoor concert version of Tanya Shaffer's award-winning musical The Fourth Messenger, which asks the question: What if the Buddha were a woman, living in our time? Date and venue TBD. Remote will produce one other play as a feature-length "Zoom film," an infant genre the company expects will grow in the coming year.

For more information about Remote and its programming, go to www.remote.theater.

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