ABOUT TECTONIC

TECTONIC THEATER PROJECT

Based in New York City and guided by founder and artistic director Moisés Kaufman, Tectonic Theater Project develops new plays using the company’s trademarked theater-making method, Moment Work™, and through a rigorous process of research and collaboration in a laboratory environment.

Since its founding in 1991 the company has created and staged over twenty plays and musicals, including Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde, The Laramie Project, Doug Wright’s Pulitzer Prize-winning I Am My Own Wife, and the Tony Award-winning 33 Variations.

WHAT’S ON(LINE)

OUR PRODUCTIONS

THE MOMENT WORK INSTITUTE

From the growing demand worldwide for Moment Work™ training, coupled with our new initiatives in local public schools and communities, the Moment Work Institute was born. The Institute is a nexus of training for artists and students alike, as well as a training ground for new teachers with a passion for taking the work to the widest possible range of storytellers—from the professional playwright to the struggling reader, from the college professor to the new immigrant.

The beauty of Moment Work™ is its egalitarian soul. Everyone has a voice in the creation of new work. It is in this spirit that we open up a space, whether physical or virtual, in which to share what we love with anyone curious enough to take the leap with us into a dark room—and turn on the light.

MOMENT WORK

How do we tell stories onstage in a way that makes the most of the particular strengths of theater as a medium? How can we utilize the many ways the elements of the stage communicate, in order to tell stories that move us emotionally, viscerally, and sensorially as well as intellectually?

Moment Work™ is the process we’ve used at Tectonic to address these questions. Used to create classic works such as The Laramie Project, Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde, and 33 Variations, Moment Work™ explores the theatrical potential of all the elements of the stage (props, sound, architecture, lights, costume, etc.) in order to create strong theatrical and dramatic narratives. The technique is our attempt to create theatrical narratives from the ground up—in other words, to “write performance” as opposed to “writing text.” When we start work on a new play, we start with an idea, or a “hunch,” and then we go into the rehearsal room to explore it through Moment Work™. In this way, company members are encouraged to dream about the material they find compelling in a theatrical setting. Moment Work™ gives us the freedom to create individual, self-contained theatrical units (Moments) and then sequence these units together into theatrical phrases or sentences that will eventually become a play.

Tectonic Theater Project’s Moment Work Institute offers workshops and residencies in Moment Work™, the groundbreaking process of devising new work developed by Moisés Kaufman and Tectonic Theater Project. Our programs vary in length from ninety minutes to a full school year, and are individually designed to meet the needs of your school or group, from the basics of the method to the facilitation of a fully realized production.

Online courses available for schools, universities, & arts organizations in Fall/Winter 2020

Careers in Theater with Tectonic Company members (online)

Creating Laramie: An Online Discussion (online)

Moment Work and Songwriting (online)

Making Individual Moments on Camera (online)

Bring Moisés Kaufman to your campus (online)

Moment Work Levels 1, 2, and 3 (online)

Tectonic conducts Moment Work™ training from our home base in New York City, across the United States, and around the world. With our teachers located across the US, the UK, Europe and Asia, we have the ability to teach our method anywhere and in several languages. We welcome actors, playwrights, directors, designers, devisors, and anyone who wants to learn more about using the elements of the stage to create strong theatrical narratives.

Our leadership and our artists are passionate about using the tools of Moment Work™ to make a difference in our communities. Our current engagement projects involve two areas of focus: public school programs in New York City, and community response initiatives across the country.

Moment Work™ residences were conducted at Flushing High School in Queens in spring 2017, Juan Morel Campos Secondary School in Brooklyn in fall 2017, and we have an ongoing partnership with the Community School for Social Justice in the Bronx.

Our community response initiatives frequently coincide with a production of a Tectonic work with the goal of supporting and standing in solidarity with the production. Tectonic visited Blue Hill High School in Nebraska in November 2016 to support the cast and production team when their production of The Laramie Project was boycotted.

In May, 2018 Tectonic company members Barbara Pitts McAdams and Jimmy Maize traveled to Parkland, Florida. These teaching artists had the extraordinary privilege of leading a two-day workshop in Moment Work™ with the students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

Scott Barrow • Leigh Fondakowski • Amanda Gronich • Jimmy Maize • Andy Paris • Greg Pierotti • Barbara Pitts McAdams • Kelli Simpkins • Philipe Abiyouness • NJ Agwuna • Brandon Anderson • Pablo Andrade • Laura Barati • Elizabeth Cazenave • Diego Chiri • Victoria Detres • Rose Ginsberg • Michael Graziano • Alex Grubbs • Sobha Kavakudiyil • James Kennedy • Billie Krishawn • Jeffrey LaHoste • Molly McAdoo • Keith Medelis • Willow Jade Norton • Caitlin O’Connell • Ekene Okobi • Ricky Pak • Mina Samuels • Sam Schanwald • Yan Tual • Chris Tucci • Grant Varjas

MOISÉS KAUFMAN

Tony- and Emmy-nominated director and playwright, and recipient of the National Medal of Arts from President Obama, Moisés Kaufman has led Tectonic Theater Project since its founding in 1991. His Broadway directing credits include the revival of Harvey Fierstein’s Torch Song, The Heiress with Jessica Chastain, 33 Variations (which he also wrote) starring Jane Fonda; Rajiv Joseph’s Pulitzer Prize finalist Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo starring Robin Williams; and Doug Wright’s Pulitzer and Tony Award-winning play I Am My Own Wife with Jefferson Mays. His play The Laramie Project (which he wrote with the Tectonic Theater Project company) is among the most performed plays in the United States.

BECOME A FRIEND OF TECTONIC

For over a quarter-century, Tectonic Theater Project has been transforming the way theater is made and inspiring audiences through our groundbreaking work. Generous and devoted people like you have helped us raise the voices of Oscar Wilde, Judy Shepard, Paul Robeson, Katherine Brandt, Tennessee Williams, and scores more on stages across the United States and in eighteen countries around the world.

Tectonic is in the midst of the most productive time in our history, with more than 10 new projects in development, 100 productions of our work this year alone, and a visionary expansion of our education initiatives. Our reach is extending farther than ever before. We need your help to keep the momentum going.

Being a Friend of Tectonic means standing shoulder to shoulder with our artists to create groundbreaking new theater that is revolutionizing not only what populates our stages but also how productions are forged. It means supporting work that asks the kind of questions and fosters the conversations that are vitally important right now.

The breadth of work that your gift can support is truly remarkable. From new plays to the next generation of theater artists, your impact is meaningful at every level.

Become a champion for radical empathy. Become a Friend of Tectonic today.

ARTISTIC DIRECTOR’S CIRCLE

Tectonic Theater Project’s Artistic Director’s Circle is an invaluable group of Tectonic’s most ardent supporters, making gifts of $5,000 and above to support our ongoing work to change the landscape of American theater. ADC members receive insider access to the latest news at Tectonic, invitations to exclusive events each quarter, and additional specially curated benefits.

Join now or contact Matt Joslyn at 212-579-6111 or  matt@tectonictheaterproject.org to find out more.

STAFF

Internships are offered on a trimester basis. Please reach out to jobs@tectonictheaterproject.org for more information.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS