PRODUCING
I am the Artistic Director of Working Theater and the founder of strike crew. I’m passionate about adventurous new work, and new audience development in working class communities.
My producing work spans institutional leadership, independent production, new-play development, commissioning, festivals, community-engaged performance and international collaboration.
At Working Theater, I lead the company’s artistic programming and produce work for, about and with working people. Since joining the company in 2023, my work has included founding Stage Left with Broadway Advocacy Coalition; creating a Playwright-in-Residence program with The Action Lab; developing the Mark Plesent Commission Fund; producing new work through Five Boroughs/One City and TheaterWorks!; and building partnerships between playwrights, theaters, workers, unions and community organizations across New York.
Alongside Working Theater, I produce independently through strike crew, developing actor-driven productions at an intimate scale and experimenting with accessible models for producing and reaching new audiences.
“I see our company in part as a third space, where theater can function as cultural organizing.”
— Jacobin
“By and for the working class.”
— Interview Magazine
PRODUCING AT A GLANCE
New Plays · Off-Broadway · Festivals · Commissions · Artist Development · Community-Engaged Performance · International Collaboration · Independent Producing
Artistic Director · 2023–present
Working Theater has made theater for, about and with working people in New York City since 1985. I became Artistic Director in 2023.
My work at the company encompasses season programming, productions, commissions, new-play development, festivals, artist residencies and community partnerships.
During my tenure, I have founded Stage Left with Broadway Advocacy Coalition and the Playwright-in-Residence program with The Action Lab; developed the Mark Plesent Commission Fund; continued Working Theater’s Five Boroughs/One City and TheaterWorks! programs; and developed new partnerships with theaters, labor organizations, universities and community groups.
I have commissioned new work by Theresa Rebeck, Alex Lin, Kallan Dana and Andrea Ambam.
Recent collaborators and presenting partners have included Playwrights Horizons, Broadway Advocacy Coalition, Theatre Row, La MaMa, Under the Radar, The Whitney Museum of American Art, The Action Lab, CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies, Cornell’s Worker Institute, Thomas S. Kenan Institute for the Arts, Workers Justice Project / Los Deliveristas Unidos, REI Union SoHo and 32BJ SEIU.
“We are producing more theater for working people than ever before, because our moment demands it.”
Founder / Producing Artistic Director
I founded strike crew as an independent producing platform for actor-driven plays, intimate productions and new audience development.
Its first major New York production was Derek Murphy’s The Bad Daters at Paradise Factory in 2025.
strike crew
by Derek Murphy
Paradise Factory · New York
April 23–May 17, 2025
Directed by
Colm Summers
Produced by
strike crew
In association with Paradise Factory
Quarantine
Under the Radar + Working Theater + La MaMa
New York · January 2026
For the New York presentation of Quarantine’s internationally touring 12 Last Songs, Working Theater spent nearly a year identifying and assembling 30 New Yorkers who would perform their actual jobs onstage during a twelve-hour performance.
The participating workers ranged across professions and industries, creating a live portrait of work in New York City.
Days before the performance, visa delays prevented most of Quarantine’s UK-based team from entering the United States. Rather than cancel the gathering entirely, the producing partners transformed the scheduled event into A Worker’s Lunch at La MaMa, bringing the participating workers, artists and audience together on the day the performance had been scheduled.
CREATIVE TEAM
Created by
Quarantine
Concept + Direction
Richard Gregory
Presented by
Under the Radar
Working Theater
La MaMa
Working Theater + Broadway Advocacy Coalition
Founded 2025
Playwrights Horizons · 2025
Theatre Row · 2026
I co-founded Stage Left with Broadway Advocacy Coalition as an annual new-play festival connecting playwrights with organizers and advocates working directly on the subjects their plays address.
The inaugural festival took place at Playwrights Horizons in June 2025, bringing together six new plays, more than 60 artists, over 20 organizers and advocacy organizations, and a series of public conversations across two weekends.
2025
La Dureza — Ed Cardona Jr.
Hit Machine — Jonathan Caren
The Hero U Took — Pedro “Jungo Pete Roc” Rosario
Foot Wears House — Laura Neill
The Garbologists — Lindsay Joelle
Date of Release — Andrea Ambam
Participating organizations included REI Union SoHo, Workers Justice Project / Los Deliveristas Unidos, Releasing Aging People in Prison, Rehabilitation Through the Arts and United Musicians and Allied Workers.
2026
How to Melt Ice — Amalia Oliva Rojas
Novios — Arturo Luíz Soria
#NewSlaves — Keelay Gipson
Narrowsburg — Chad Kaydo
Sisyphus in Yaffa — R. Forest Malley
Stage Left has been featured by American Theatre and Interview Magazine.
“By and for the working class.”
— Interview Magazine
PLAYWRIGHT-IN-RESIDENCE
Working Theater + The Action Lab
Founded 2024
I founded Working Theater’s Playwright-in-Residence program with The Action Lab in 2024.
The program gives a playwright a season-long artistic home in which to develop a new work while participating in The Action Lab’s Artist in Action Fellowship.
2024–25
Alex Lin
American Steel
The inaugural residency culminated in a public developmental presentation of American Steel, directed by cara hinh. The play subsequently continued its development through Atlantic Theater Company’s MixFest.
2025–26
Kallan Dana
Control
The residency culminated in a developmental presentation of Control, directed by Francesca Sabel.
2026–27
Andrea Ambam
by Kia Corthron
World Premiere
Keen Company + Working Theater
Theatre Row · New York
March 19–April 20, 2024
ABOUT
Fish was the Off-Broadway mainstage production of my first season as Artistic Director of Working Theater, co-produced with Keen Company at Theatre Row. The production was inherited from my predecessor at Working Theater and brought to its world premiere during my first season leading the company.
Kia Corthron’s play follows students and teachers navigating an underfunded public school, moving between the experiences of Tree, a high-school senior caring for her younger brother, and Ms. Harris, a teacher confronting budget cuts, standardized testing and the demands placed on students and educators by the American education system.
The production used a sliding-scale ticketing model, including $0 tickets, and partnered with educators and the United Federation of Teachers around public conversations accompanying the production.
CREATIVE TEAM
Written by
Kia Corthron
Directed by
Adrienne D. Williams
Scenic Design
Jason Simms
Costume Design
Mika Eubanks
Lighting Design
Nic Vincent
Sound Design
Michael Keck
Props Design
Yudelka Heye
Dramaturg
Zachariah Ezer
Casting Director
Stephanie Yankwitt
Production Stage Manager
Shane Schnetzler
CAST
Torée Alexandre — Latricia
Mikayla LaShae Bartholomew — Keisha / LaRonda
Josiah Gaffney — Zay
Morgan Siobhan Green — Chantal / Co-Worker / Eastman / Lakkayyah / Nabila
Rachel Leslie — Jasmine
Margaret Odette — Brianna / LaNeeyah / Maliqua / Tighman
Christopher B. Portley — Anthony / Nadeem
Working Theater
The Mark Plesent Commission Fund was conceived with Working Theater’s late Producing Artistic Director Mark Plesent to provide working people with their first professional playwriting commissions.
The program pairs commissioned writers with established playwrights for mentorship and provides financial and developmental support toward a new play.
2024–25
A.G. Norton
Mentor: Kristina Wong
Alex Rodriguez
Mentor: John J. Caswell Jr.
2025–26
Max Garcia
Mentor: Martyna Majok
Brian Francis Pickett
Mentor: Naomi Wallace
2026–27
Cristian Dionne
Mentor: Christopher Chen
Ashley Graves
Mentor: Brittany K. Allen
by Ed Cardona Jr.
Working Theater + Los Deliveristas Unidos / Workers Justice Project
I produced and directed the 2024 development of La Dureza, a new play by Ed Cardona Jr. developed in collaboration with app-based delivery workers organizing through Los Deliveristas Unidos / Workers Justice Project.
The project was developed through Working Theater’s Five Boroughs/One City initiative and launched a fellowship partnership with the Thomas S. Kenan Institute for the Arts at UNC School of the Arts, with additional support from the Terrence McNally Foundation.
La Dureza subsequently became part of the inaugural Stage Left Festival at Playwrights Horizons.
LA DUREZA
FOOT WEARS HOUSE
by Laura Neill
Working Theater + REI Union SoHo
Hudson Park Library · February 2024
Playwrights Horizons · June 2025
When playwright and REI worker Laura Neill brought Working Theater a comedy about the union campaign at REI’s SoHo flagship store, we redirected resources toward a free public reading at Hudson Park Library.
Members of REI Union SoHo performed the play themselves, with donations supporting the union hardship fund.
CREATIVE TEAM
Written by
Laura Neill
Directed by
Colm Summers
CAST
Original REI Union Cast
Carlos Angel-Barajas
Zoe Dunmire
Laura Jedynasty
Nick Kaidoo
Wendy Liles
Michael-Luca Natt
Eboni Matthias
Steph Mei
Jaymes Sanchez
Ariel Tejada
The play subsequently became part of the inaugural Stage Left Festival at Playwrights Horizons, directed by Sivan Battat.
The collaboration was featured by Jacobin and Fast Company.
“A play is nothing if not an opportunity to engender conversation and get organized.”
— Colm Summers, Jacobin