Pig Iron Theatre Company is a multidisciplinary ensemble based in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. The company has created over 40

original Originality is the aspect of created or invented works that distinguish them from reproductions, clones, forgeries, or substantially derivative works. The modern idea of originality is according to some scholars tied to Romanticism, by a notion t ...

works over the past 26 years, performed both locally and internationally. Their individual works have been inspired by history and biography, rock music, American kitsch culture, scientific research and our relationship to our geologic time. They have toured to festivals and theaters in places such as England, Scotland, Poland, Lithuania, Brazil, Ireland, Japan, Italy, Romania and Germany, among many others.

About

The mission of the company is to "expand what is possible in

performance A performance is an act of staging or presenting a play, concert, or other form of entertainment. It is also defined as the action or process of carrying out or accomplishing an action, task, or function. Management science In the work place ...

by creating unusual and exuberant

ensemble Ensemble may refer to: Art * Architectural ensemble * ''Ensemble'' (album), Kendji Girac 2015 album * Ensemble (band), a project of Olivier Alary * Ensemble cast (drama, comedy) * Ensemble (musical theatre), also known as the chorus * ''En ...

-devised works; by training the next generation of daring, innovative theatre artists; and by consistently asking the hardest questions, both in our art and in its relation to the world around us." This mission statement is realized through the unique creation process that is used. Using

improvisation Improvisation is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. Improvisation in the performing arts is a very spontaneous performance without specific or scripted preparation. The skills of impr ...

, company discussion, and a development period of over a year, the projects are all unique and distinct. Shows range from a

rock-n-roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm an ...

cabaret piece emceed by

James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of ...

’s institutionalized daughter ''(The Lucia Joyce Cabaret)'' to an

interactive Across the many fields concerned with interactivity, including information science, computer science, human-computer interaction, communication, and industrial design, there is little agreement over the meaning of the term "interactivity", but mo ...

“

simulated A simulation is the imitation of the operation of a real-world process or system over time. Simulations require the use of models; the model represents the key characteristics or behaviors of the selected system or process, whereas the s ...

economic environment” with a cast of 30 ''(Pay Up)''. Pig Iron is made up of three

artistic directors An artistic director is the executive of an arts organization, particularly in a theatre or dance company, who handles the organization's artistic direction. They are generally a producer and director, but not in the sense of a mogul, since the ...

, four company members, a small administrative staff, and a board of directors. The company has received numerous awards for their work, including nine

Barrymore awards The Barrymore Awards for Excellence in Theatre is an annual, nationally-recognized award program that is sponsored by Theatre Philadelphia for professional theater productions in the Greater Philadelphia area. Each season culminates with an awards ...

and an

OBIE Award The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards originally given by ''The Village Voice'' newspaper to theatre artists and groups in New York City. In September 2014, the awards were jointly presented and administered with the A ...

(2004-''Hell Meets Henry Halfway''). In 2010 co-artistic directors Gabriel Quinn Bauriedel, Dan Rothenberg, and Dito van Reigersberg won a Fellow award granted by

United States Artists United States Artists (USA) is a national arts funding organization based in Chicago. USA is dedicated to supporting living artists and cultural practitioners across the United States by granting unrestricted awards. Mission The organization' ...

. The company has toured both locally and internationally, including festivals in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

, and

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. In addition to their main shows, Pig Iron also hosts a

cabaret Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music, song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, a casino, a hotel, a restaurant, or a nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or d ...

-style show as a fundraiser for the company each year. Pig Iron embarked on a major new endeavor in 2011 with the launch of the Pig Iron School for Advanced Performance Training (APT) - a two-year post-graduate program for performers and directors rooted in Pig Iron’s own methods of physical and ensemble-based theatre. In 2011, Pig Iron was awarded the

American Theatre Wing The American Theatre Wing (the Wing for short) is a New York City–based non-profit organization "dedicated to supporting excellence and education in theatre", according to its mission statement. Originally known as the Stage Women's War Relief ...

's National Theatre Company Grant.

Productions

* ''The Odyssey'' (1995) * ''Dig or Fly'' (1996) * ''Cafeteria'' (1997) * ''Poet in New York'' (1997) * ''The Impossible Play'' (1998) * ''Trip to the Moon'' (1998) * ''Gentleman Volunteers'' (1998) * ''The Tragedy of Joan of Arc'' (1998) * ''The Snow Queen'' (1999) * ''Newborn Things'' (1999) * ''Mission to Mercury'' (2000) * ''Shut Eye'' (2001) * ''Anodyne'' (2001) * ''Flop'' (2002) * ''She Who Makes the Moon'' (2002) * ''James Joyce Is Dead And So Is Paris: The Lucia Joyce Cabaret'' (2003) * ''Hell Meets Henry Halfway'' (2004) * ''Pay Up'' (2005) * ''Love Unpunished'' (2006) * ''Chekhov Lizardbrain'' (2007) * ''Isabella'' (2007) * ''365 Days/365 Plays'' (2007) * ''Come to My Awesome Fiesta, It's Going to be Awesome, Okay?'' (2008) * ''Sweet By & By'' (2008) * ''Welcome to Yuba City'' (2009) * ''Cankerblossom'' (2010) * ''Twelfth Night'' (2011) * ''Zero Cost House'' (2012) * ''99 Breakups'' (2014) * ''I Promised Myself to Live Faster'' (2015) * ''Gentleman Volunteers'' (2015) * ''Swamp is On'' (2015) * ''A Period of Animate Existence'' (2017) * ''Fire Burns Hot!'' (2017) * ''The Caregivers'' (2018) * ''A Hard time'' (2019) * ''Superterranean'' (2019) * ''Zero Cost House (For Zoom)'' (2020)

Current Company Members

* Gabriel Quinn Bauriedel (Artistic Director) * Dito van Reigersberg (Artistic Director) * Dan Rothenberg (Artistic Director) * Cassandra Friend * Sarah Sanford * Geoff Sobelle * James Sugg * Alex Torra

References

External links

Pig Iron Theatre Company Website

Pig Iron School For Advanced Performance Training
{{Authority control Theatre companies in Philadelphia Pew Fellows in the Arts