Introducing: GroundWork

Near the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, as theaters across the city and country shuttered, singing was added to lists upon lists of "high-risk" activities. Projects and events were rescheduled, then refunded, then cancelled. Actors, stage managers, musicians, and countless others lost jobs and income, and with that, health insurance - in the midst of the greatest public health catastrophe of our lifetimes.

Fiasco realized that by pivoting our resources, we could do what so few in theater have done since mid-March - hire actors and fight this crisis. Enter: GroundWork.

This series - 11 weeks of Zoom workshops, research, and development, serve a unique and exciting dual purpose. First, we are thrilled to be hiring actors, stage managers, dramaturgs, and more colleagues from both within and outside our Company for various projects across the GroundWork program. These Actors' Equity Association (AEA) contracts will both provide income at a time when most of our industry has been shuttered for eight months, and can help qualify the artists involved towards eligibility for union health insurance through AEA. Second, core to the Fiasco ethos, GroundWork is an opportunity to explore - playing with multiple shows across genres from Shakespeare to contemporary works, and including two new musicals. We are using GroundWork to identify what Fiasco will continue to develop for future productions, to refine our vision for those shows, and make work that is meaningful to the artists involved. The hours we're putting in online now are inextricably linked to what we'll share with you when we can perform for an audience once again. Ultimately, GroundWork will lead us back to the stage.

Fiasco has always been a company that centers actors in the creative process, and that supports multi-hyphenate creators working outside of our industry's traditional models. GroundWork is the embodiment of that hybrid mission - supporting actors and others in a field where people are often taken for granted, prioritizing health and wellbeing in addition to artistic autonomy, and allowing for the freedom of exploration often not allotted adequate time in a rehearsal room. This moment requires collaboration and community more than ever, and we look forward to telling you, our Fiasco family, more about this series in the weeks to come - including opportunities to support GroundWork and get a screen-to-screen look at Fiasco in action.