Emily Morse, board member of the Talking Band

2004 Recipient

The Talking Band, based in New York City, creates and produces original interdisciplinary works for the theatre. Ellen Maddow, Tina Shepard, and Paul Zimet, former members of Joseph Chaikin's Open Theatre, founded the company in 1974. The organization has created a poetic-political theatre that illuminates the extraordinary aspects of ordinary life -- political in that it reflects the condition of people in our time, and poetic because of the language, music, and visual imagery. The company has produced over thirty new works. They choose stories and themes that are important to them and the community around them, while also exploring aesthetic possibilities of the theatre form. The company has performed in New York City at such venues as La Mama, Theatre for the New City, Dance Theatre Workshop, and the Ohio Theatre. They have toured extensively in the United States as well as internationally. The company also runs the Talking Band Performance lab for both emerging and established performing artists to exchange new ideas and skills and create new works.