Theater of All Possibilities (TOAP), was an artistic practice network and touring theater founded in 1967 by John Allen,

Kathelin Gray Kathelin Gray is an American director, writer and curator working across many forms. She has co-founded numerous projects which integrate ecology, science and culture. She writes and speaks on the intersection of art and the sciences. Gray was a ...

and Marie Harding in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, California, United States. The group worked with collaborators from the sciences, technology, history, and ecology, with the

Institute of Ecotechnics The Institute of Ecotechnics is an educational, training and research charity with a special interest in ecotechnology, the environment, conservation, and heritage. With its U.K. headquarters in London, England and its U.S. affiliate in Santa Fe, ...

as a partner organization on many projects.

History

The Theater of All Possibilities network was based at

Synergia Ranch Synergia Ranch is an ecovillage founded in 1969 by John P. Allen, the inventor of Biosphere 2 and Marie Harding, its present manager. Today Synergia Ranch operates as a private retreat and workshop center for small groups. It is located in Santa F ...

near

Santa Fe, New Mexico Santa Fe ( ; , Spanish for 'Holy Faith'; tew, Oghá P'o'oge, Tewa for 'white shell water place'; tiw, Hulp'ó'ona, label=Tiwa language, Northern Tiwa; nv, Yootó, Navajo for 'bead + water place') is the capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico. ...

, from 1969–1980 and again from 2000–2010. Other studios within the network included: Studio 3, the Blue Planet Ensemble, based on the Research Vessel Heraclitus; Studio 6, based at the

October Gallery The October Gallery is an art gallery in central London, established in 1979.October Gallery Kathmandu , pushpin_map = Nepal Bagmati Province#Nepal#Asia , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = Bagmati Prov ...

; and Studio 10, which operated until 1994 at the

Biosphere 2 Biosphere 2 is an American Earth system science research facility located in Oracle, Arizona. Its mission is to serve as a center for research, outreach, teaching, and lifelong learning about Earth, its living systems, and its place in the univers ...

laboratory in

Oracle, Arizona Oracle is a census-designated place (CDP) in Pinal County, Arizona, United States. The population was 3,686 at the 2010 Census, falling to 3,051 at the 2020 Census. Buffalo Bill Cody owned the High Jinks Gold Mine in Oracle briefly and, in 191 ...

. An ensemble from the Theater of All Possibilities toured domestically and internationally from 1968 to 1989. A 1972 18-month world tour by the ensemble Caravan from Dramaturgia included a performance at

Ellen Stewart Ellen Stewart (November 7, 1919 – January 13, 2011) was an American theatre director and producer and the founder of La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club. During the 1950s she worked as a fashion designer for Saks Fifth Avenue, Bergdorf Goodm ...

La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club (La MaMa E.T.C.) is an Off-Off-Broadway theatre founded in 1961 by Ellen Stewart, African-American theatre director, producer, and fashion designer. Located in Manhattan's East Village, the theatre began in the ...

in the East Village,

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. The Caravan from Dramaturgia presented two pieces at La MaMa, ''Tamarand'' and ''The Caravan'', on October 4, 5, 6, and 7. A promotional flyer for the production reads: "Every day we make up and wipe out our sets." Theater of All Possibilities extended their practice into contributing to the founding of multiple ecological and cultural demonstration and performance projects. These projects included performances in the

Australian Outback The Outback is a remote, vast, sparsely populated area of Australia. The Outback is more remote than the bush. While often envisaged as being arid, the Outback regions extend from the northern to southern Australian coastlines and encompass a n ...

, the

Peruvian Amazon Peruvian Amazonia ( es, Amazonía del Perú) is the area of the Amazon rainforest included within the country of Peru, from east of the Andes to the borders with Ecuador, Colombia, Brazil and Bolivia. This region comprises 60% of the country and ...

, and the sacred forest in Osogbo, as well as traditional theater spaces. The network was formally disbanded in 2009–2010. Allen and Gray subsequently formed the performance research initiative Theatre for the Reconstitution of Reality (THEATRRR), also based in

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...

. The ''Spaceship Earth'' (film) (2020) documentary featured the Theater of All Possibilities.

References

{{reflist

External links

Studio 3: Research Vessel Heraclitus

Studio 6: October Gallery in London

Studio 7: Naga Theatre at Hotel Vajra in Kathmandu

Institute of Ecotechnics

Synergia Ranch
Theatrical organizations in the United States Touring theatre 1967 establishments in California 2010 disestablishments in the United States

History

See also

References

External links