Vision
Compagnia de' Colombari springs from the vision of director Karin Coonrod, involving an international collective of performing artists, generating theater in surprising places. Colombari intentionally clashes cultures, traditions and art forms to bring fresh interpretation to the written word. Colombari is founded on the twin principles that the magic of great theater can happen anywhere and be made accessible to everyone.
Donors, Partners & Supporters
We gratefully acknowledge our donors, supporters and partners, past and present, including: The Polonsky Foundation, The Eucalyptus Foundation, The Durst Foundation, The Sassafras Foundation, The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, The Edith Lutyens and Norman Bel Geddes Design Enhancement Fund, The Malka Fund, NYSCA - Rapid Restart, NYFA City Artist Corps, British Association for American Studies (BASS), The U.S. Embassy London, The Flannery O'Connor Estate, National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council for the Humanities, New Music USA, Henry Luce Foundation, More Productions, and The Better Buffalo Fund at the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo, The Emily Harvey Foundation, and Rehabilitation Through the Arts.
Program support for Compagnia de’ Colombari is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. Director Karin Coonrod was funded by a City Artists Corp Grant from the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA).
Compagnia de' Colombari is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit company. All contributions are tax-deductible to the full extent of the law.
History
In 2004, Compagnia de' Colombari was born in Orvieto, Italy, where the company re-imagined the medieval mystery plays and performed them in the streets and piazzas. Having revitalized the theater tradition during Orvieto's annual Corpus Christi Festival, the company launched a parallel theatrical experience in its New York City home base called Strangers & Other Angels. Since 2008, the company created and performed More Or Less I Am (drawn entirely from Whitman's "Song of Myself"), Everything That Rises Must Converge (from the Flannery O'Connor short story), The World Is Round Is Round Is Round (based on Gertrude Stein's story); Andras Visky's Giulia; Monteverdi's Orfeo; Karin Coonrod's texts&beheadings/ElizabethR; Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice in Venice, Italy and KING LEAR featuring ten actors playing Lear and others; WoW! (Whitman on Walls!) a community engagement hybrid of More Or Less I Am mixing films of Colombari's actors with live local poets and musicians performing their work around America and worldwide.
Merchant of Venice (in Venice) 2016. Photo by Andrea Messana