NO THEATER
“The best-kept secret in experimental theater” (National Public Radio)
google gogol, 2018
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A Skull in Connemara, 2020;
photo by Matt Cavanaugh
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Caveman, 2010-2013.
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Based in Northampton MA, No Theater performs its original works around the world, and locally alongside productions of plays by such diverse writers as Shakespeare, Chekhov, Čapek, Gogol, Williams, Kroetz, Albee, and Martin McDonagh.
No Theater gets its name from the fact that for its first few years it had no theater, no permanent performance space, but converted empty storefronts, pine groves, lofts, movie houses and galleries into theaters.
LET GO, a short, adult comedy about love, death and a pile of papers, is performed by No Theater veterans Roy Faudree and Jane Karakula, with video by Nick Verdi and set by Tom Schieding. No Theater presented 6 workshop showings of the play last summer.
In the 1970s Gordon Thorne and Anne Woodhull created AVAILABLE POTENTIAL ENTERPRISES, LTD. (A.P.E.), an organization dedicated to the development and presentation of contemporary art, providing space and assistance to artists of all disciplines, and converting the top floor of Thornes Market (then known by the locals as McCallum’s Department Store) into galleries, performance spaces, and after-school programs for children. No Theater became the resident theater of A.P.E. with its local production of THE ELEPHANT MAN by Roy Faudree before its extended run in New York.
Although Northampton remains home base, where new work is created, No Theater tours regularly to New York, San Francisco and Europe: THE ELEPHANT MAN (New York), DFS (New York, San Francisco, Oklahoma City), LAST RESORT (New York, San Francisco), DUST BOWL (San Francisco), ROAD TO HELL (Amsterdam), DUPE (New York and cities throughout Europe and Britain, 1990 - 2006). A German-language production of DFS performed in Munich at the Spiel.arts Festival. DUPE was performed in French at festivals in Créteil and Maubeuge.
No Theater’s 1991 LOUIS LOU I: A REVOLTING MUSICAL at Northampton’s Academy of Music featured in its cast and crew of 100, the Young@Heart Chorus. In 1983, No Theater had staged Young@Heart’s first show STOMPIN’ AT THE SALVO. THE ROAD TRILOGY, staged and designed by No Theater, toured throughout Europe, Singapore, Australia, New York and Hawaii from 1997 to 2013.
No Theater has hosted several residencies of other theaters/companies, and its company members have worked alongside and collaborated with other performance groups, incuding the Wooster Group of New York; Time & Space Limited, Hudson; Drawing Legion; Builders Association, Big Dance Theater; New York City Players; the Victoria Theater of Ghent; Spiel.Art of Munich; the Victoria College of the Arts in Melbourne, Australia; and designed and directed new works for the Triple X Festival of Amsterdam; R Festival of Rotterdam, the Cube at M.I.T., Cambridge; The Bunkamura in Tokyo; and factories converted to theaters in the Ruhr, Germany.
Recently, No Theater has been presenting small works in the A.P.E. gallery space on Main Street in Northampton. No Theater’s production of Martin McDonagh’s A SKULL IN CONNEMARA ran for a month just before the outbreak of COVID in 2020. During the first two years of Trump’s presidency, google gogol was created by members of the community reading several translations and adaptations of Nikolai Gogol's Ревизор (THE GOVERNMENT INSPECTOR). No Theater presented three separate local productions of Richard Maxwell’s CAVEMAN over a period of three years before its New York run in 2013.
No Theater gets its name from the fact that for its first few years it had no theater, no permanent performance space, but converted empty storefronts, pine groves, lofts, movie houses and galleries into theaters.
LET GO, a short, adult comedy about love, death and a pile of papers, is performed by No Theater veterans Roy Faudree and Jane Karakula, with video by Nick Verdi and set by Tom Schieding. No Theater presented 6 workshop showings of the play last summer.
In the 1970s Gordon Thorne and Anne Woodhull created AVAILABLE POTENTIAL ENTERPRISES, LTD. (A.P.E.), an organization dedicated to the development and presentation of contemporary art, providing space and assistance to artists of all disciplines, and converting the top floor of Thornes Market (then known by the locals as McCallum’s Department Store) into galleries, performance spaces, and after-school programs for children. No Theater became the resident theater of A.P.E. with its local production of THE ELEPHANT MAN by Roy Faudree before its extended run in New York.
Although Northampton remains home base, where new work is created, No Theater tours regularly to New York, San Francisco and Europe: THE ELEPHANT MAN (New York), DFS (New York, San Francisco, Oklahoma City), LAST RESORT (New York, San Francisco), DUST BOWL (San Francisco), ROAD TO HELL (Amsterdam), DUPE (New York and cities throughout Europe and Britain, 1990 - 2006). A German-language production of DFS performed in Munich at the Spiel.arts Festival. DUPE was performed in French at festivals in Créteil and Maubeuge.
No Theater’s 1991 LOUIS LOU I: A REVOLTING MUSICAL at Northampton’s Academy of Music featured in its cast and crew of 100, the Young@Heart Chorus. In 1983, No Theater had staged Young@Heart’s first show STOMPIN’ AT THE SALVO. THE ROAD TRILOGY, staged and designed by No Theater, toured throughout Europe, Singapore, Australia, New York and Hawaii from 1997 to 2013.
No Theater has hosted several residencies of other theaters/companies, and its company members have worked alongside and collaborated with other performance groups, incuding the Wooster Group of New York; Time & Space Limited, Hudson; Drawing Legion; Builders Association, Big Dance Theater; New York City Players; the Victoria Theater of Ghent; Spiel.Art of Munich; the Victoria College of the Arts in Melbourne, Australia; and designed and directed new works for the Triple X Festival of Amsterdam; R Festival of Rotterdam, the Cube at M.I.T., Cambridge; The Bunkamura in Tokyo; and factories converted to theaters in the Ruhr, Germany.
Recently, No Theater has been presenting small works in the A.P.E. gallery space on Main Street in Northampton. No Theater’s production of Martin McDonagh’s A SKULL IN CONNEMARA ran for a month just before the outbreak of COVID in 2020. During the first two years of Trump’s presidency, google gogol was created by members of the community reading several translations and adaptations of Nikolai Gogol's Ревизор (THE GOVERNMENT INSPECTOR). No Theater presented three separate local productions of Richard Maxwell’s CAVEMAN over a period of three years before its New York run in 2013.
No Theater’s 1980’s LAST RESORT, a live movie. With mirrors and a camera obscura the audience always saw at least two views of the live performance. (l to r) Jane Karakula, Sheena See, Franck Battelli (and then the 3 in reverse)