WHO WE ARE
The New York Neo-Classical Ensemble is a not-for-profit theater company devoted to creating defiantly theatrical, textually dynamic productions of classic plays. We are a diverse group of multidisciplinary artists united by a common process, and we aim to revive the belief that the spoken word - made physical, immediate and active - can change the world around us.
WHAT WE'VE DONE
Our work has spanned the entirety of Shakespeare's career, from our inaugural project, Love's Labor's Lost at the Baryshnikov Arts Center in 2006, thru A Midsummer Night's Dream (Times Square Arts Center, '07; La Plaza Cultural, '08), Cymbeline (Baryshnikov Arts Center '07), Twelfth Night (The Wild Project, '08; Theatre Row, '09), Pericles (Summer Workshop, '08), Measure for Measure (La Plaza Cultural '09), and Henry VI (abridged) (Summer Workshop, '09).
NEO-CLASSICAL TECHNIQUE
The essence of our Neo-Classical technique is the concept of positive action:
"Positive action means that the actor/character focuses on the success of the enterprise rather than allowing the fear of failure to enter the mind or consciousness – every character plays to win at every moment. Here, it is necessary to invoke the maxim of aesthetician and dramatist Gotthold Lessing, "In a good play, everyone is right." Every scene contains a problem and an argument will occur as to how to best resolve the problem. Students should always be engaged in rhetorical conflict, which is fully realized by a commitment to specific actions. The text states the problem; the job of the actor is to play for a solution to the conflict, not re-stage or reify the problem by lamenting that it exists. If the character is right, he or she will not sympathize with the other character's point of view or argument; rather, he or she will enter into passionate conflict in order to bring the other person around to one's viewpoint, to win the argument. When characters play to win, they, by definition, avoid playing the problem. The inclination of creativity – both on stage and in life – is to celebrate and to praise life and existence.
I should hasten to add that positive action does not imply something Pollyannaish, nor does it advocate simpering. Iago, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, and Iachimo, as well Viola, Rosalind, and Beatrice, not to mention Othello, Hamlet, and Lear - all characters – want something and all must strive to attain it. With positive action, the characters hang on not only to the hope but also to the belief that they will get what they want. When they fail to achieve their goals, the effect will be psychologically and emotionally devastating; when they achieve their goals, the effect will be miraculous, exhilarating, and transporting." - Louis Scheeder, Neo-Classical Training, Training of the American Actor.
We believe this simple choice can reinvent a well worn classic and transform it into something unexpected, dangerous, and alive.
We believe that any text comes to theatrical life only through meticulous analysis and continual exploration. We believe that theater is an art of the present moment, and we allow ourselves to revise aspects of staging, acting, and music throughout the creative life of a piece. We make these changes to meet the demands a particular text places on us: be that with spectacular lighting, elaborate scenic effects and a live indie rock band (our Twelfth Night), or actors in a blank space with nothing but Shakespeare's words (our Cymbeline).
A NYNEO production of a classic can be anything, except predictable.
