Forum Theatre (Washington, D.C.)

Forum Theatre was a non-profit theatre company based in Washington, D.C. Founded in 2004 as Forum Theatre and Dance, it worked out of the Warehouse Theatre, the H Street Playhouse and, in its final years, out of a black box theatre in Silver Spring, Maryland. The company focused on plays that featured storytelling and theatricality. The company also aimed to host productions dealing with topics that lent themselves to post-show discussions, which the theatre hosted in the lobby. It was known for producing "new and recent plays at revolutionarily low prices," according to The Washington Post.[1] The Forum Theatre ceased operations on July 31, 2018.[2]

Forum Theatre
Formation2003
TypeTheatre group
Location
Artistic director(s)
Michael Dove

History

Forum Theatre was founded in 2004 by Kelly Bartnik, Michael Dove, Paul Frydrychowski, and Mark W.C. Wright. Instead of using a single performance method, Forum would explore storytelling styles and artistic media. The founders had backgrounds in film, dance/movement, music, visual art, and theatre.

The company also aimed to bring new or seldom-performed plays to Washington, using the shows to promote artistic expression and discussion. The company’s first productions were a collection of Samuel Beckett short plays and a movement and video piece called All Things Seen, based on Jean-Paul Sartre's No Exit.

The company performed at the Arena Stage in Washington, Warehouse Theater, Church Street Theater, The University of Maryland, The Kennedy Center Millennium Stage, and Round House Theatre in Silver Spring, Maryland before taking up residence at the H Street Playhouse in northeast DC in June 2007. Its production history includes the world premieres of Israeli playwright Ami Dayan’s UpShot and a new translation of The Gas Heart commissioned by the company, along with the DC premieres of Hamletmachine, Václav Havel's The Memorandum, Kid-Simple: A Radio Play in the Flesh, Caryl Churchill’s The Skriker, and Don DeLillo's Valparaiso.

In October 2006, Forum founded and produced (with the Irish-American arts organization Solas Nua) the DC Samuel Beckett Centenary Festival,[3] to celebrate the writer’s work and impact on contemporary art. The festival, which took place in several DC venues, included two weeks of theatre productions, film screenings, panel discussions, academic symposia, book clubs, downloadable radio play podcasts, and the international touring production of Waiting for Godot by Ireland’s Gate Theatre. The festival was sponsored by the Embassy of Ireland, The University of Maryland, and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

For its 2007–08 season, the company produced Jean Anouilh's Antigone, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot by Stephen Adly Guirgis, and Marat/Sade by Peter Weiss. The group later launched a blog called "OpenForum".

At one point, the group has 16 performers, technicians, and theater administrators, supported by a 13-member board.

The Washington Post noted that Forum was among the first theatres in the D.C. area to both pursue gender parity when selecting which playwrights they performed and to employ a "pay what you want" admission policy.

Production timeline through 2009

2004-2005

2005-2006

2006-2007

2007-2008

2008-2009

Company members
  • Kelly Bartnik[5]
  • Fiona Blackshaw
  • Austin Bragg
  • Patrick Bussink
  • Jenn Carlson
  • Michael Dove
  • Paul Frydrychowski
  • Maggie Glauber
  • Hannah Hessel
  • Brent Lowder
  • Rose McConnell
  • Laura Miller
  • Alexander Strain
  • Mark Jude Sullivan
  • Jesse Terrill
  • Mark W.C. Wright

Awards

The Forum Theatre received ten nominations for the Helen Hayes Award. [6]

See also

References
  1. Marks, Peter (July 16, 2014). "Next Season Preview: Forum Theatre". Washington Post.
  2. Marks, Peter (June 6, 2018). "Forum Theatre, a small local gem, to close its doors". Washington Post.
  3. "Beckett Centenary Festival". Gate Theatre Dublin. Retrieved 2023-03-16.
  4. Marks, Peter (2006-01-21). "Forum Gets a Line On Nonlinear Works". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2023-03-16.
  5. "Kelly Bartnik". Kelly Bartnik. Retrieved 2023-03-16.
  6. "Nominations for the 2017 Helen Hayes Awards". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2023-03-16.
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