History
Under the artistic direction of playwright Kiran Rikhye and director Jon Stancato
since it was founded in 2002, the company has created twelve critically-acclaimed
original productions. Stolen Chair’s “Unholy Hybrids” are a series of works which
tackle contemporary taboos through the lens of irreverently inappropriate styles,
like the recent Theatre Is Dead and So Are You, a raucous vaudeville about death
and dying. The company has also developed the CineTheatre Tetralogy, four
original plays fusing classic American film styles with classic European
playwriting styles, including Kill Me Like You Mean It, a film noir as Ionesco
might have written it.
In recognition of the company’s “sustained excellent work…which demonstrates
the power of theatre in surprising ways,” Stolen Chair was named one of
NYtheatre.com’s "People of Year 2005" and was New York Press’ "Best of
Manhattan 2007." The Man Who Laughs (CineTheatre I), has been published in
The New York Theatre Experience’s Playing with Canons, and Kill Me Like You
Mean It (CineTheatre II) and Kinderspiel were each published in independent
volumes by United Stages.
The company’s work has been seen at Theatre for the New City, Soho Think Tank, The Brick Theater, the Connelly Theater, Collective: Unconscious, Swarthmore College, The National Library of Singapore, University of Western Ontario, The National Museum of American Jewish History, The Philadelphia Fringe Festival, and the venues operated by Horse Trade Theater Group, where Stolen Chair was a resident artist from 2005-2007.
When the company is not in production, Stolen Chair offers a multi-tiered educational program throughout the tri-state area, featuring professional workshops, in-school residencies, and a youth physical theatre camp.
The development of Stolen Chair’s original work is supported by the company’s Community Supported Theatre, a program sponsored by The Field’s Economic Revitalization for Performing Arts (ERPA) grant. ERPA receives funding from The Rockefeller Foundation’s Cultural Innovation Fund. Stolen Chair is also supported, in part, by public funds from the New York State Council of the Arts.