MAIN OFFICE
Ontological Theater
131 East 10th Street
New York, NY 10003
(212) 420-1916
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Richard Foreman
F. Murray Abraham
Paul Schiff Berman
Charles Bernstein
Ken Jordan
Anne Kennedy
Susan Latham
Mary Milton
Peter Nadin
Morgan von Prelle Pecelli
Rosemary Quinn
Jay Sanders
STAFF
Richard Foreman
Artistic Director
Shannon Sindelar
Managing Director
shannon@ontological.com
Peter Ksander
Technical Director
peter@ontological.com
Brendan Regimbal
Stage Manager
brendan@ontological.com
Travis Just
Sound Engineer
travis@ontological.com
Meghan Buchanan
Props & Costume Engineer
Miranda Hardy
Light Engineer
Eduardo Band
Video Engineer
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ABOUT US
"They were normal bourgeois theater, domestic triangle situations.
That's why I called my theater "Ontological-Hysteric," because the basic syndrome controlling the structure was a classical, boulevard comedy syndrome, which I took to be hysteric in its roots."
(Richard Foreman, from the Ken Jordan Interview)
The Ontological-Hysteric Theater (OHT) was founded in 1968 by Richard Foreman with the aim of stripping the theater bare of everything but the singular and essential impulse to stage the static tension of interpersonal relations in space. The OHT seeks to produce works that balance a primitive and minimal style with extremely complex and theatrical themes. The core of the company's annual programming is Richard Foreman's theater pieces, of which he has made over 50 in the last 40 years.
OHT PROJECT: Richard Foreman
Foreman’s trademark “total theater” unites elements of the performative, auditory and visual arts, philosophy, psychoanalysis and literature for a unique result. Foreman's style is not meant to be ‘cerebral', but rather, the density of his compositional theater is an attempt to viscerally reflect and process everything that he has inherited from his explorations in twentieth century thought and art. Foreman engages in what the poet John Keats famously described as “negative capability” - i.e. "when a man is capable of being in uncertainties, mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact and reason." He seeks to make work that unsettles and disorients received ideas and opens the doors for alternative models of perception, organization, and understanding. Of course as times, technologies and experiences change, strategies must shift as well. In 2005 Foreman began a second chapter in his work with the introduction of the digital video and film media as dominating forces in his redefinition of ontologically hysteric theater.
OHT PROJECT: Ontological-Hysteric Incubator
Since taking up its home at the Ontological Theater at St. Mark's in 1992, the OHT has also been nurturing a new generation of artists who share Foreman's goals and passion for theater. Through internship, staffing, summer residency and curation efforts, the OHT has been a starting point for many artists making their mark in New York City and internationally including David Herskovitz, Artistic Director of Target Margin Theater, Damon Keily Artistic Director of American Theater in Chicago, some of the artists of Collapsable Giraffe, Radiohole, Elevator Repair Service, NTUSA, as well as Richard Maxwell, Sophie Haviland, Bob Cucuzza, DJ Mendel, Ken Nintzle and Young Jean Lee.
In 2005, the OHT chose to formalize its relationship with emerging artists by starting the Ontological-Hysteric Incubator. The Incubator is programming that guides artists from workshop phases to fully realized productions. The Incubator houses artists who, following in the compositional theater footsteps of Foreman, have their own unique visions and strategies for unsettling perception and disorienting understanding. The Incubator programming provides these younger artists with aesthetic and practical mentorship and support on their way towards self-sustaining productions.
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