JAG Productions, formerly of Barnard and now located in White River Junction, will join New York Theatre Workshop’s (NYTW) Companies-in-Residence program for the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons as the first non-New York City based company. As part of the residency, NYTW will provide artistic and institutional support and act as a second home to JAG in the city, while JAG looks to magnify its scope and presence in the theater world.
“I have dreamt about expanding the work of JAG and building into NYC ever since I started the company,” JAG Producing Artistic Director Jarvis Green said. “Finally, after five years of rising and falling, the moment is here. Finally. Last year, the board and staff committed to expanding our artistic development and presence in New York City as part of our strategic vision to establish greater ties with New York-based theatres and the artist community. The timing of this opportunity is divine and a thrilling moment for all of us at JAG!”
JAG Productions will receive access to a larger pool of talent, facilities, and audience, while NYTW will continue to promote and learn how theatre can “deepen empathy and spark wonder.” The hope for both organizations is to establish a pipeline between worlds – the rejuvenating and quiet, creative spaces of rural New England and the opportunities and scenes of New York City – that combine to care for the artist throughout the entire theatre—making process.
Of the relationship, director of project development, workshops and residencies Rachel Silverman said, “By creating this connection, how can we also introduce our community — our audience community, our artistic community —to JAG as a company and as artists, and vice versa.”
NYTW has established roots in the Upper Valley of Vermont and New Hampshire, having done a summer residency at Dartmouth College for the past 30 years. Along with this connection, JAG was selected as a company-in-residence because of how JAG’s mission, previous work, and future ambitions align with NYTW belief “in the transformative power of theatre,” its mission to “cultivate a space where our common humanity is affirmed—where audiences are both challenged and delighted by the daring vision of our artists,” and its commitment to “understand what it means to be alive today; we are committed to exploring new ideas, seeing new perspectives, and hearing new voices.”
“I hope we can help Jarvis embrace the choosing of things as they evolve, and for him to trust and have faith in his own impulses,” NYTW Artistic Director James C. Nicola said. “After 30 years of residency in the Upper Valley at Dartmouth, I feel some part of that community, and I hope that I can see JAG and Jarvis being immensely beneficial to the life of the community, to the evolution of the community, to the culture of the community, to the sense of community. For me, it’s to help enrich the community that I love.”
