History
The Irondale Ensemble Project was founded in 1983, by Jim Niesen, Terry Greiss and Barbara Mackenzie-Wood as an experimental/research theater to further investigate the performance and education techniques that they had developed at the Long Wharf Theatre in the late 1970s. It exists today as a company dedicated to the exploring the emerging themes in our society with a permanent ensemble of artists that has developed a distinctive body of work and practices. In 2008, the company moved into the BAM Cultural District in the landmarked Fort Greene area of Brooklyn. Out of the ruins of a nineteenth-Century Sunday school in an abolitionist church, we created the Irondale Center. It is a home for our work, a destination for ensemble artists of all disciplines, a venue for the performing arts, a resource for the community, and a rental facility for performances and events.
Irondale is a group of citizen-artists who work together, and with other artists, educators, and community institutions, to provide the highest quality professional theater, education and community-engagement programs. Through these, we strive to challenge our audiences’ imaginations, provoke discourse, and use the art of theater for teaching and learning. Irondale is a founding member of the Network of Ensemble Theaters, a national consortium of artist-driven performance companies. Between 2000 and 2008, Irondale was the administrative “lead company” of the NET and it is through this association that we became acquainted with the work of Stephen Clapp and Laura Schendlemaer. We helped bring their work to festivals and gatherings that NET sponsored, and developed an appreciation of their talent and an artistic friendship that we always hoped would have the opportunity to develop.
The majority of the company’s work follows two closely related performance styles: the presentation of established texts in unorthodox and often irreverent productions; and the creation of new theater works, often by combining original material with a classic and blending multiple styles of performance, music, dance, design, historical research text. The company has also created significant documentary theater works including “A People’s History of Fort Greene” and “911:Voices Unheard”. In addition to developing and performing its own theatrical pieces, Irondale has conducted extensive programs of educational and community engagement programs. The combination of daily rehearsal and performance work, in conjunction with the para-theatrical use of Irondale techniques as a means of educating and addressing social issues, has done much to shape the politics of Irondale as a company and to determine the nature and direction of its ongoing experiments. The fusion of art and education, to the extent that no separation exists between them, is a considered part of the company’s aesthetic and philosophy. The company’s audience is as diverse as its mission would demand, including students, seniors, a general theater-going public and a broad-based mix of social, educational, ethnic and gender backgrounds. Irondale’s model has been replicated. Irondale, New York has been replicated through the creation of a “sister” ensemble of Canadian theater artists based in Nova Scotia and three NYC based ensembles created by Irondale alumni. They have successfully adapted the model to reach other audiences and accommodate new artistic voices.
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