The Civilians / Press

PRESS /

Led by Artistic Director Steve Cosson, The Civilians creates new theater from creative investigations into the most vital questions of the present. Last season saw two highly successful Civilians shows in New York: Mr. Burns a Post-Electric Play at Playwrights Horizons, which was included in eight Top 10 of 2013 Lists and even deemed worthy of a Tony nod in Ben Brantley's "Should Have Been Nominated" list, as well as The Great Immensity at The Public Theatre. This season, the company is the Artist-in-Residence of Met Museum Presents at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Since its founding in 2001, the Obie award-winning company has been produced at numerous theaters in New York, including BAM Next Wave, Vineyard Theatre, Barrow Street Theater, Playwrights Horizons and The Public; nationally at Center Theatre Group, the TED Conference, HBO's US Comedy Festival, A.R.T., Actors Theatre of Louisville and more. Works by the company have toured extensively to arts presenters and festivals with presentations in over 40 cities nationally, and internationally at London's Gate Theatre and Soho Theatre.

Paris Commune had its world premiere at ArtsEmerson and at the BAM Fisher in the Next Wave Festival in 2012. The run at BAM sold out in forty-eight hours and received rave reviews. In the Footprint: The Battle Over Atlantic Yards played to packed houses at the Irondale Center in Fort Greene. It received excellent reviews and was included in many "Best of 2010" lists, including Charles Isherwood's of The New York Times, Adam Feldman's of Time Out New York, and The New Yorkers'. This Beautiful City enjoyed a critically-acclaimed Off-Broadway run at the Vineyard Theater in 2009 receiving Lucille Lortel, Drama League, and Drama Desk nominations. The long-running hit Gone Missing ran for seven months at Off-Broadway's Barrow Street Theater and was cited by The New York Times as one of the "10 Best Plays of 2007." The company is presently developing several new projects, including Another Word for Beauty with playwright José Rivera and composer Hector Buitrago, and Times Square with music and lyrics by Jill Sobule and Robin Eaton and a book by Jim Lewis.

The Civilians popular podcast series, Let Me Ascertain You, is available through iTunes. The Civilians: An Anthology of Six Plays is published by Playscripts. Gone Missing, This Beautiful City, and In the Footprint have been published by Dramatists Play Service. The Civilians received an Obie in 2004 in recognition of its accomplishments in its first two seasons of work.

"The Civilians… has demonstrated impressive longevity in an environment increasingly inhospitable to small nonprofits. The secret to their success might very well be their refusal to be pigeonholed, defying expectations with every new production." — Stage Directions

For further information please contact Margaret Moll at (718) 230-3330

Website Photo Credits:
Joan Marcus, T. Charles Erickson, David Gochfeld, Tom Kimmell, Adrian Kinloch, Alix Lambert, Leslie Lyons, Dana Maxon, Michael S. Nolan, Sheldon Noland, Carol Rosegg, Manuel Rotenberg, Craig Schwartz, Scott Suchman, Richard Termine, Aaron Wesner, and the Artists

View The Civilians' Company Description: PDF

The Civilians' Media Links:

Mr. Burns Playwrights Horizons Video Trailer
Mr Burns New New York Times In Performance: Matthew Maher
The Great Immensity Martha Music Video
The Great Immensity Public Theatre Montage

Download The Civilians' Media DVD:

Tales from My Parents' Divorce Video Clip
This Beautiful City Video Clip Song
This Beautiful City Video Clip Scene
This Beautiful City Photo Slideshow with Audio
In the Footprint Workshop Video Clip
In the Footprint Workshop Video Architectural League's Urban Omnibus
In the Footprint Workshop Video Brooklyn Cable Access TV
Paris Commune Photo Slideshow with Audio
Gone Missing Photo Slideshow with Audio

HIGHLIGHTED FEATURES

Huffington Post: "Can a Play Change the Planet?"
Interview Magazine: "The Civilians' Museum as Musical"
Wall Street Journal: "Making A Scene at The Metropolitan Museum"
New York Times: "The Tide Is Turning on Climate Change, but Americans Must Take Action Now"
New York Times: "The 99% Onstage: Attention Must Be Paid"
The Drama Review:"Discovering What We Don't Know"
Stage Directions: "defying expectations with every new production"
Time Out New York: "a... docu-theatrical troupe that could use a high-profile platform"
Variety: "Civilians take a unique approach"
Village Voice: "Off-Broadway's Leading Lights"
New York Times: "Collaboration in the Catskills"
New York Times: "The Civilians have carved out their own aesthetic niche"
Village Voice: "The Civilians was awarded a prestigious Village Voice OBIE grant"
American Theatre Magazine: "Steve Cosson's Civilians more or less invented the genre [of "documentary cabaret"]"
New York Times: "The National Science Foundation has awarded a $700,000 grant to the Civilians..."

PRODUCTION HIGHLIGHTS

Mr. Burns /
New York Times: "downright brilliant... passionately sincere... so smart it makes your head spin...quot;
The Great Immensity /
New York Times: "What's truly enticing in "The Great Immensity" is hearing such sentiments expressed in the vivifying context of musical numbers."
Tales From My Parents' Divorce /
Backstage: "Critic's Pick... uncompromising and funny"
Paris Commune /
New York Times: "you might experience some of the dizzy exhilaration, liberation and exhaustion known by the Parisians"
In the Footprint /
New York Times: "as fresh, inventive and frankly as entertaining as any new work of musical theater to open this fall"
Maple and Vine /
New York Times: "piquantly funny"
This Beautiful City /
Variety: "Wicked smart. Laughter turns to slack-jawed astonishment."
Gone Missing /
New York Times: "fresh, breezy and very funny indeed, pretty much the perfect summer entertainment"
Nobody's Lunch /
The Scotsman: "Five stars...Above all, it's a piece that bristles with ideas."

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