The Shelter (theatre company)

The Shelter is theatre company founded in 2009 in New York City. The company only produces original works of theater written, directed, and acted by members of The Shelter. The Shelter's mission statement declares that "The Shelter is a family of artists creating original theatre for the New York stage."

Fallout, The Fallout Shelter, and The Shelter

Fallout was a short-lived theatre company started by Emily Robin Fink, Matt Garibaldi, Meghan Jones, Michael Kingsbaker, and Dave Lankford. The name of the company was derived from a rigorous acting exercise the founders had practiced as students at T. Schreiber Studio. The founders planned to focus on published plays, and after an exhaustive search, chose Love Song by John Kolvenbach as the first play they would produce. The group was denied the production rights and later disbanded. Ironically, Kingsbaker would be cast in On An Average Day, also written by Kolvenbach, two years later.

During the short existence of Fallout, Kingsbaker proposed that the company sponsor a workshop to both support theatrical artists and to develop original plays. The idea of the workshop, to be named The Fallout Shelter, was based on The Actor's Gym - a collective of actors, directors, and writers led by Academy Award winning screenwriter Robert Moresco. While Fallout was dissolving, the workshop began taking shape. Without the umbrella of a theater company, the workshop became known simply as The Shelter. The founding members included Jonathan Ashley, Emily Robin Fink, Meghan Jones, Michael Kingsbaker, and Dave Lankford. The very first meeting of The Shelter was held in the basement of the Gene Frankel Theatre, named after the late Gene Frankel. The group continues to meet there nearly every Sunday.

In 2009, the owner of the Gene Frankel Theatre offered members of The Shelter an opportunity to use the theater's main stage for a weekend. As an experiment, the members decided to produce a two-night performance. The production, 3:56 AM, explored the lives of several Lower East Side residents between the hours of 3 and 4 AM. The show included nine original shorts, each written, directed, and acted by members of The Shelter. Due to the success of 3:56 AM, the founding members decided to rekindle the producing arm of the company under the brand of The Shelter. However, unlike Fallout, the founders decided to only produce work developed at The Shelter.

The Shelter incorporated in the state of New York in 2011 as The Shelter NYC, Inc. At time of incorporation, the Board of Directors was Jonathan Ashley, Meghan Jones, Michael Kingsbaker, Dave Lankford, and Kitty Lindsay.

Production history

Season 4

Season 3

Season 2

Season 1

References

    External links

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