ELEVATOR REPAIR SERVICE THEATER INC
47 Great Jones St Fl 3, New York, NY 10012 www.elevator.org

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Organizations Filed Purposes: Elevator Repair Service Theater, Inc.'s artistic mission is to create original works, with a consistent ensemble, that explore and challenge the fundamentals of live performance.

In 201920, Elevator Repair Service Theater (ERS) fulfilled its mission to create original works with an ongoing ensemble that explore and challenge the fundamentals of live performance. Highlights included: a three-week run of Gatz at Berkeley Repertory Theatre (California), continued development of ERSs Seagull, the creation and work in progress showings of a brand new piece, Baldwin and Buckley at Cambridge; and teaching ERSs theater-making workshops both in-person and online. ProductionERSs production of Gatz enjoyed a three-week, 12-performance run at Berkeley Repertory Theatre in California February 13March 1, 2020. The piece was performed in Berkeley Repertorys Roda Theater, capacity: 558. Eight hours long and with a cast of 13, Gatz is by far ERS's most ambitious endeavor - not a retelling of The Great Gatsby story but an enactment of the novel itself. F. Scott Fitzgerald's American masterpiece is delivered word for word, startlingly brought to life by a low-rent office staff in the midst of their inscrutable business operations. First seen in New York in 2004, Gatz was the starting point for ERS's stagings of a trilogy of classic American novels, which went on to include The Select (The Sun Also Rises) and The Sound and the Fury. This landmark production ushered in a period of exponential organizational growth that is still felt years later. The production's critical acclaim and commercial success have enabled ERS to build on and shape its artistic practice of creating ensemble-led work that utilizes non-traditional source material. Following 11 years of development on the piece, Gatz had its off-Broadway premiere in 2010 at New York's Public Theater. Over the years, nearly 30,000 audience members in 24 cities around the world have seen Gatz.New WorkArtistic Director John Collins with an ensemble of ERS performers began the creation and development of a new work based on Anton Chekhovs classic play The Seagull in the fall of 2018, and work has continued since. In 2019, development continued during a two-week residency at the Lumberyard Center for Contemporary Arts, a new, state-of-the-art performance venue in Catskill, NY, July 29August 11. The residency culminated in two nearly sold-out public work-in-progress showings. In December 2019/January 2020, ERS began to develop a new text-driven performance piece, Baldwin and Buckley at Cambridge. The title takes its name from a 1965 debate between civil rights activist and writer James Baldwin and conservative pundit William F. Buckley at Cambridge University, the transcript of which ERS plans to stage in its entirety. Conversations for this new piece began in late 2019, when John Collins met with ERS ensemble member Greig Sargeant to discuss developing a new work for the stage in which Greig would star. In early meetings, Greig and John embarked on research into James Baldwins writings. They came accross the debate, whose resolution was The American Dream is at the Expense of the American Negro, which still feels stirringly relevant for todays audiences. In January 2020, ERS presented a work-in-progress showing at Abrons Arts Center, with Greig starring as Baldwin and veteran ERS actor Ben Williams reprising his role as Buckley (whom he played in ERSs 2005 production No Great Society).Despite the pandemic, work on both Seagull and Baldwin and Buckley at Cambridge continued into the spring of 2020 with Zoom video rehearsals. Education Since 2015, ERS has hosted its own theater making master classes in order to more fully engage our audience and invite them into our process. These workshops have become a major audience engagement and outreach activity; they deepen our existing audience's relationship to our process when we're not in production, and engage younger artists who may have only read about our work in school. The goal of each session is to immerse participants in our collaborative approach to translating source material into performance.Prior to the pandemic, ERS held two New York City workshops in October and November 2019. In February 2020, ERS-led master classes were given at The Berkeley Repertory School of Theatre, American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco, and Stanford University in conjunction with ERSs tour of Gatz in Berkeley, California.The inability to engage in public performances of any kind has led us to explore safe alternatives to sharing our approach to creating new work with the public. Now, we are reimagining our theater-making workshop program as an online offering, with sessions on Zoom for adults/the general public, and also specifically for students. Previous in-person workshops hosted by ERS were primarily marketed toward adults and our work with students came largely from contracts with schools. It is our hope that in this moment we can reach a wider network of younger audiences while still maintaining our existing workshop program.Impact of COVID-19 The COVID-19 pandemic has precipitated losses both tangible and intangible for ERS. The most significant impact, financially, stems from the cancelation of our May 11th gala and the postponement of the New York premiere of Baldwin and Buckley at Cambridge, scheduled to open June 9 at The Public Theater. In addition, our annual session with the School of The New York Times Summer Academy has been canceled, as was a major donor recognition/cultivation event at the home of board member Anne Stringfield and her husband Steve Martin. The loss of income from these major activities combined with that from the cancelation of additional small readings and educational engagements this spring and summer brought ERSs shortfall to over $250,000.

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