AFT News

Welcome to Re/Generation Studio!

This program was born out of vulnerable, passionate, and hopeful exchanges in the Fall of 2021. At that time, I recognized different kinds of unsettling challenges and inspiring breakthroughs that we were making about the kind of stories we wanted to tell and how we wanted to tell them emerging from the pandemic.

The pilot year was organized around a series of Saturday afternoon play readings. Each week we read an excerpt of a play and then activated some exploration of the themes through collages, gestural movement work, small group discussion, and other methods. One of those plays, Lavender Men, was so well received we decided to move it forward into full production in our 22-23 season.

The second time around, the Re/Gen schedule was expanded into a festival format adding workshops and intentional community gatherings. The program attracted people eager to share what they know and learn from each other. One of the devising sessions led to a new model for developing work and that has been a major focus of our current season.

Building on this remarkable trajectory, we are thrilled to introduce our third round of Re/Gen Studio with special thanks to our generous colleagues at The Goodman who have invited us to present some featured events in The Alice, their Education and Engagement facility.

A recent Theatre Communications Group survey titled “Compounding Crises”, acknowledged:

“It is a time of both crisis and chrysalis, for there are theatres and theatre workers who are thriving, and we can build from those bright spots as we recover. And we must do more than just rebuild; we must also transform our models into a just and thriving theatre ecology that works for all of us.”

At About Face we are dedicated to ongoing evolution for the field and our culture. Re/Generation Studio is one of those bright spots in our theatre ecology and we look forward to seeing you there.

Megan Carney | Artistic Director