The Civilians is an investigative theatre company in New York City founded in 2001 by Artistic Director, Steve Cosson. The Civilians artists pursue their inquiries using interviews, community residencies, research, and other methods. Working with a combination of journalism and art, the Civilians creates theatrical events that seek to promote inquisitions of current issues. According to Variety Magazine, The Civilians "travels far and wide researching a piece around a given subject, conducting interviews and comparing notes along the way, sometimes for years."
Company history
Artistic Director Steve Cosson founded the company in 2001, with a multi-disciplinary group of artists including some fellow University of California-San Diego graduates, as “a breeding ground for new styles of collaboration” Inspiration was taken from the British Joint Stock Theatre Company, Cosson having studied under director and Joint Stock member Les Waters at UCSD. Cosson has said “I wanted to create a theatre that would engage with larger social, cultural, and political realities through the eyes of real, ordinary people, or 'civilians.'” In keeping with this goal, the name of the company was derived from a vaudeville term for those not within the vaudeville community.
Since its founding in 2001, The Civilians’ projects have been produced at venues throughout New York City, including The Public Theater, Joe's Pub, St. Ann's Warehouse, 59E59 Theaters, and the Vineyard Theatre, and at theaters nationally, including The Center Theatre Group (at the Mark Taper Forum), Studio Theatre, A.R.T., La Jolla Playhouse, HBO's U.S. Comedy Arts Festival, and Actors Theatre of Louisville. Works by the company have also toured nationally and internationally to universities, arts presenters and festivals.
The Civilians made its UK debut with Gone Missing in 2004 at the Gate Theatre, and (I Am) Nobody’s Lunch was a Fringe First Award winner at the 2006 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, leading to a London production at the Soho Theatre. The Civilians’ commercial run of Gone Missing at the Barrow Street Theatre ran for seven months and was included in several Top 10 of 2007 lists in the New York press, including critic Charles Isherwood's list in The New York Times.
In addition to its productions, The Civilians’ work has been published in a number of formats. Gone Missing was published by Dramatists Play Service in 2009, following its inclusion in the publication of (I Am) Nobody’s Lunch by Oberon Books in 2007. In 2009, Playscripts, Inc. published an anthology of all of the Civilians' works to date, excluding This Beautiful City, which was still running at The Vineyard Theater. Additionally, an original cast recording of Gone Missing was released by Ghostlight Records in 2008.
Founding Associate Artist Michael Friedman (1975–2017) was the composer and lyricist for Canard, Canard, Goose?, Gone Missing, [I Am] Nobody's Lunch, This Beautiful City, The Great Immensity, In the Footprint, Pretty Filthy, Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play, Rimbaud in New York, The Abominables, and co-author of Paris Commune.
Structure
According to The Civilians' website:
Works
Canard, Canard, Goose? (2002) Canard, Canard, Goose? was the company's first production, premiering in 2002 at HERE Arts Center in New York City. The play was devised and created by the company, directed by Steve Cosson, with music and lyrics by Michael Friedman. The play deals with "rumors of maltreated geese during the making of Fly Away Home, the sentimental 1996 Disney motion picture that featured Anna Paquin leading geese south in an ultra-light plane." According to Time Out: New York, "The middle part of the show includes funny but affectionate impersonations of the eccentric and lonely folks who live in that remote hamlet. After two days of interviews, however, the group discovers that Fly Away Home was actually filmed in Ontario. Songs and silly dances are interspersed among the members' increasingly desperate updates on their deteriorating investigation."
The Ladies (2004) The Ladies was written by Anne Washburn and directed by Anne Kauffman, both Associate Artists of the company. The play presents the characters of Eva Peron, Imelda Marcos, Elena Ceausescu, and Jiang Qing, as well as the artists themselves. It premiered at Dixon Place in New York City in 2004.