Voice Theatre is a

regional theater A regional theater or resident theater in the United States is a professional or semi-professional theater company that produces its own seasons. The term ''regional theater'' most often refers to a professional theater outside New York City. A reg ...

company located in

Woodstock Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held during August 15–18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, United States, southwest of the town of Woodstock. Billed as "an Aq ...

, New York and uses the Byrdcliffe Theater to stage its productions during their season. Director and playwright, Shauna Kanter, has been its artistic director since its inception.

History

Originally calling themselves Voiceworks!, Voice Theatre was founded in Paris in 1988 by actress and director Shauna Kanter, who had been a voice teacher and professional actress in New York for 14 years. Voiceworks' inaugural production of ''Family Cycle'' took place in Paris and was directed by Kanter and included 30 actors. Later in 1989, Voice Theatre mounted an all-female music theatre production of ''Pushing Through'' at

La MaMa 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 New York City and again in 1991 at Columbia Festival of the Arts. ''Pushing Through'' broke political ground by including Israeli and Palestinian actors in the same play, and starred

Jackie Sawiris Jackie Sawiris is a Jordanian/Egyptian actress, writer and film-maker who is best known for playing the Arabian genie Majida in ''Knightmare'' from 1993 to 1994. Other notable performances include playing Roz in ''Eyes Wide Shut'' (1999). Acting ...

as one of the Arab actresses. In 1995, Kanter and her group moved to the United Kingdom, where she collaborated and eventually married classical stage actor Robert Langdon Lloyd. Kanter wrote and directed a music theatre piece entitled ''Legacy'', which premiered at the

Bristol Old Vic Bristol Old Vic is a British theatre company based at the Theatre Royal, Bristol. The present company was established in 1946 as an offshoot of the Old Vic in London. It is associated with the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, which became a f ...

theater company and went on to win the European Commission. In 1997 and 1998, ''Legacy'' performed across Germany and France. In 2000, Voice Theatre returned to New York City and worked as an off-off-Broadway company across multiple venues. ''Legacy'' appeared at the T. Schreiber Studio in 2003. In 2006, Voice Theatre mounted a production of ''Retzach'' by

Hanoch Levin Hanoch Levin ( he, חנוך לוין; December 18, 1943 – August 18, 1999) was an Israeli dramatist, theater director, author and poet, best known for his plays. His absurdist style is often compared to the work of Harold Pinter and Samuel Becke ...

at the off-Broadway theater 59E59 Theaters. The production starred Tony Naumovski. Kanter's next play, ''Birds on a Wire'' was inspired by

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...

and dealt with issues surrounding the

Dust Bowl The Dust Bowl was a period of severe dust storms that greatly damaged the ecology and agriculture of the American and Canadian prairies during the 1930s. The phenomenon was caused by a combination of both natural factors (severe drought) a ...

. It premiered at the

Rattlestick Playwrights Theater Rattlestick Theater is a non-profit off-Broadway theater based in the West Village The West Village is a neighborhood in the western section of the larger Greenwich Village neighborhood of Lower Manhattan, New York City. The traditional b ...

, and later appeared at the Byrdcliffe Theater - the venue that would soon become their home.

Byrdcliffe Theater

The Byrdcliffe Theater is a part of the

Byrdcliffe Colony The Byrdcliffe Colony, also called the Byrdcliffe Arts Colony or Byrdcliffe Historic District, was founded in 1902 near Woodstock, New York by Jane Byrd McCall and Ralph Radcliffe Whitehead and colleagues, Bolton Brown (artist) and Hervey White ...

, an artist colony in Woodstock founded in 1902 by

Ralph Radcliffe Whitehead Ralph Radcliffe Whitehead (1854–1929) was the founder and chief benefactor of the "Byrdcliffe Arts and Crafts Colony" located in Woodstock, New York. Early life and influences He was born in 1854 in Saddleworth, Yorkshire, England. He was the ...

and Jane Byrd McCall. The first production Voice Theatre staged at the Byrdcliffe Theater was a production of

Brian Friel Brian Patrick Friel (c. 9 January 1929 – 2 October 2015) was an Irish dramatist, short story writer and founder of the Field Day Theatre Company. He had been considered one of the greatest living English-language dramatists. (subscription req ...

's play ''Lovers''. In 2014, Voice Theater staged a production there of ''Birds on a Wire'', and in 2015, after agreeing to fund a renovation of the theater, Byrdcliffe Theater was made Voice Theater's permanent home. In 2015, they mounted a critically acclaimed production of

Timberlake Wertenbaker Timberlake Wertenbaker is a British-based playwright, screenplay writer, and translator who has written plays for the Royal Court, the Royal Shakespeare Company and others. She has been described in ''The Washington Post'' as "the doyenne of po ...

's play, ''

Our Country's Good ''Our Country's Good'' is a 1988 play written by British playwright Timberlake Wertenbaker, adapted from the Thomas Keneally novel '' The Playmaker''. The story concerns a group of Royal Marines and convicts in a penal colony in New South Wales ...

''. In the summer of 2016, Voice Theatre produced ''End Days'' by Deborah Zoe Laufer, starring Joe Bongiorno.

References

{{authority control Regional theatre in the United States Theatre companies in New York (state)