The Civilians
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The Civilians
The Civilians is an investigative theatre company in New York City founded in 2001 by Artistic Director, Steve Cosson. The Civilians artists pursue their inquiries using interviews, community residencies, research, and other methods. Working with a combination of journalism and art, The Civilians creates theatrical events that seek to promote inquisitions of current issues. According to ''Variety Magazine'', The Civilians "travels far and wide researching a piece around a given subject, conducting interviews and comparing notes along the way, sometimes for years."Thielman, Sam“Civilians Take Unique Approach,” ''Variety'' (March 28, 2008)./ref> Company history Artistic Director Steve Cosson founded the company in 2001, with a multi-disciplinary group of artists including some fellow University of California-San Diego graduates, as “a breeding ground for new styles of collaboration” Inspiration was taken from the British Joint Stock Theatre Company, Cosson having studied u ...
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Steve Cosson
Steven Cosson (born August 1968)Tallmer, Jerry"A jewel in the lost and found department,"iVillager (July 12, 2007). is a writer and director specializing in the creation of new theater work inspired by real life. He is the founding Artistic Director of the New York-based investigative theater company The Civilians.Cosson bio
The Civilians website. Accessed Oct. 27, 2019.


Early life and education

Cosson was born in the area. He received his BA from and holds an MFA in directing from the ...
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La Jolla Playhouse
La Jolla Playhouse is a not-for-profit, professional theatre on the campus of the University of California, San Diego. History La Jolla Playhouse was founded in 1947 by Gregory Peck, Dorothy McGuire, and Mel Ferrer. In 1983, it was revived under the leadership of Des McAnuff. Since then, the Playhouse's repertoire has included eighty-four world premieres, thirty-two West Coast premieres, and eight American premieres, and has won more than three hundred honors, including the 1993 Tony Award as America's Outstanding Regional Theatre. It is supported, in part, by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the California Arts Council, the City of San Diego, and the County of San Diego. It was announced on April 10, 2007, that Christopher Ashley would succeed McAnuff as artistic director. Among the productions that originated at the Playhouse before finding success on Broadway are ''The Who's Tommy'', Matthew Broderick's revival of ''How to Succeed in Business Without Really Try ...
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This Beautiful City (play)
''This Beautiful City'' is a play with music by the investigative theatre company The Civilians. The play engages with "the expansion of the Evangelical movement in Colorado Springs" as well as the gulf between the Evangelical and secular communities in the region. It was written by Steve Cosson and Jim Lewis from interviews conducted by Associate Artists Emily Ackerman, Marsha Stephanie Blake, Brad Heberlee, Brandon Miller, Stephen Plunkett, and Alison Weller, with music and lyrics by Michael Friedman (composer), and directed by Steve Cosson. The play first opened in March 2008 at the Actors Theatre of Louisville Humana Festival of New American Plays, followed by successful runs at Studio Theatre in Washington, D.C. and the Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles, CA. The piece premiered in New York City in the winter of 2009 at the Vineyard Theatre. This Beautiful City was nominated for Drama Desk, Drama League, and Lucille Lortel Awards Conception When asked why he had become intere ...
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(I Am) Nobody's Lunch
''(I Am) Nobody's Lunch'' is a 2006 play with music produced by The Civilians, an investigative theater company in New York City. Based on interviews conducted in 2003, the play explores the compromised issues of trust and truth that arose between the American government and its people during the lead-up to the Iraq War. ''(I Am) Nobody's Lunch'' was written and directed by Steve Cosson from interviews by the company, with music and lyrics by Michael Friedman. Conception ''(I Am) Nobody's Lunch'' grew from interviews with people from all over America about what they believe regarding their current government and public culture. When writing about the motivation to create such a work, writer and director Steve Cosson said "If a democracy depends in part on there being some common understanding of what is actually taking place in the world, then we wanted to know if in fact if such a consensus existed, and if not, then just how are people parsing reality?"Cosson, Steve. "(I Am) Nobo ...
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Gone Missing (play)
''Gone Missing'' is a 2003 musical by The Civilians, an investigative theater company in New York City. This piece of musical theatre is composed of interviews conducted by the company on the subject of loss. The play engages with individuals who have lost everything from jewelry to technology to a black Gucci pump, investigating both how things get lost, and how the impact of that loss can extend far beyond the meaning of the object itself. ''Gone Missing'' was written and directed by Steve Cosson from interviews by the company, with music and lyrics by Michael Friedman, with additional text for “Interview with Dr. Palinurus” by Peter Morris.Cosson, Steven. "Gone Missing.” The Civilians. Ed. Steven Cosson. New York: Playscripts, Inc, 2008. Print. Gone Missing made its Canadian premiere on May 12, 2011 by Southpointe Academy in British Columbia. Conception ''Gone Missing'' began with interviews about things that were lost and never found. The show does not answer any questi ...
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Michael Friedman (composer)
John Michael Friedman (September 24, 1975 – September 9, 2017) was an American composer and lyricist. He was a Founding Associate Artist of theater company The Civilians. His musical ''Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson'' opened on Broadway in October 2010. Friedman won a 2007 Obie Award for sustained excellence. Additionally, he received a MacDowell Fellowship, a Princeton Hodder Fellowship, a Meet The Composer Fellowship, and was a Barron Visiting Professor at The Princeton Environmental Institute in 2009. At the time of his death, he was the Artist in Residence and Director of the Public Forum at the Public Theater and was also the Artistic Director of City Center Encores! Off-Center. Friedman died on September 9, 2017, aged 41, from complications related to HIV/AIDS. In 2018, he received a star on the Playwrights’ Sidewalk at the Lucille Lortel Theater. Background Born in Boston, Friedman grew up in Philadelphia. He attended Germantown Friends School, after which he studi ...
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Ghostlight Records
Sh-K-Boom Records is an independent record label and producer of recorded and live entertainment, which was founded in 2000 by Kurt Deutsch with the mission of bridging the gap between pop music and theater. In 2004 Sh-K-Boom created their second imprint, Ghostlight Records, dedicated to the preservation of traditional musical theater, spurred by the popular release of their first-ever show cast recording, Jason Robert Brown's ''The Last Five Years''. Together the two labels have over 200 albums in their catalogues. The company has also produced over 50 live concerts as part of their Sh-K-Boom Room Concert Series, and are currently developing new and innovative projects for the stage and screen. Sh-K-Boom & Ghostlight Records are twelve-time Grammy Award nominees and four-time Grammy winners in the Best Musical Theater Album category for ''In the Heights'', ''The Book of Mormon'' and '' Beautiful: The Carole King Musical''. Ghostlight's ''Book of Mormon'' album was the first Broad ...
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Oberon Books
Oberon Books is a London-based independent publisher of drama texts and books on theatre. The company publishes around 100 titles per year, many of them plays by new writers. In addition, the list contains a range of titles on theatre studies, acting, writing and dance. History Oberon Books was founded by James Hogan in 1985. Two of its titles are poet Adrian Mitchell's 1998 stage adaptation of C. S. Lewis's '' The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe'' for the Royal Shakespeare Company and ''One Man, Two Guvnors'' (Richard Bean's modern version of Carlo Goldoni's '' Servant of Two Masters''), a West End and Broadway hit for Britain's National Theatre in 2011 starring James Corden. The NT Live recording of the latter was scheduled to be shown on PBS in late 2020. the company has 1600 titles in print, most available as both print and e-books. As well as new plays, Oberon also publishes classic works by playwrights such as J. B. Priestley, Sir Arnold Wesker and Henrik Ibsen. Ob ...
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Dramatists Play Service
Dramatists Play Service (also known as The Play Service) is a theatrical-publishing and licensing house, established in 1936 by members of the Dramatists Guild of America and the Society for Authors' Representatives. DPS publishes English-language acting editions of plays and handles the licensing for professional and nonprofessional English-language productions of these plays in the United States, Canada, and throughout the world. DPS is based in New York City, with foreign affiliates in London, Australia, South Africa, India, Asia, and South America that serve DPS' interests in their respective regions. The DPS catalogue consists of over 3,300 titles from over 1,300 authors. DPS authors include Eugene O'Neill, George S. Kaufman, Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller, Horton Foote, Edward Albee, Sam Shepard, Lanford Wilson, Terrence McNally, Beth Henley, Alfred Uhry, Wendy Wasserstein, Christopher Durang, Paula Vogel, Donald Margulies, Richard Greenberg, John Patrick Shanley, Doug W ...
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Barrow Street Theatre
Barrow Street Theatre is the name of both a 199-seat Off-Broadway theatre located in New York City's historic Greenwich House at 27 Barrow Street and a production company of the same name. From 2003 to 2018, the venue was leased to Barrow Street Theatre, a commercial theater company operated by producers Scott Morfee and Tom Wirtshafter. The theater space has been operated by Ars Nova since September 1, 2018 under the names Ars Nova at Greenwich House and the Greenwich Street Theatre. The theater space, which opened in 1917, has also been home to SoHo Rep. While under the jurisdiction of the theatre company, the theater was home to a number of Off-Broadway hits, including '' Bug'' by Tracy Letts, '' Buyer and Cellar'', ''Sweeney Todd'' and ''Orson's Shadow'' by Austin Pendleton. Following their departure from the Greenwich House theatre, Barrow rebranded as Barrow Street Productions and produced a number of Off Broadway shows including Nassim Soleimanpour's ''NASSIM'' at New Y ...
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Soho Theatre
The Soho Theatre is a theatre and registered charity in the Soho district of the City of Westminster, in London, England. It produces and presents new works of theatre, together with comedy and cabaret, across three performance spaces. The theatre has established itself as a vital launchpad for new artists and offers commissions, attachments and residencies for both emerging and established writers. It has launched the careers of numerous screenwriters and comedians in theatre, film, TV and radio. The theatre's programme is a mix of comedy, cabaret and theatre, with a particular focus on new writing and alternative comedy. Soho Theatre Company The Soho Theatre Company was formed in 1969 by Verity Bargate and Fred Proud, and initially performed at a venue in Old Compton Street. Soon, the company moved to the Soho Poly, where it would remain for eighteen years. Sue Dunderdale was artistic director of the company for several years in the 1980s. In 1990, the Soho Theatre Compan ...
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Edinburgh Fringe Festival
The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 different shows in 322 venues. Established in 1947 as an alternative to (and on the fringe of) the Edinburgh International Festival, it takes place in Edinburgh every August. The Edinburgh Festival Fringe has become a world-leading celebration of arts and culture, surpassed only by the Olympics and the World Cup in terms of global ticketed events. As an event it "has done more to place Edinburgh in the forefront of world cities than anything else" according to historian and former chairman of the board, Michael Dale. It is an open access (or "unjuried") performing arts festival, meaning there is no selection committee, and anyone may participate, with any type of performance. The official Fringe Programme categorises shows into sections for ...
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