Urban Backstage explored spaces in the city that, through accident, intention, design, loss, and/or neglect, allow urban residents to remove their masks, to make mistakes, to hide and/or expose thoughts and actions that may not be allowed elsewhere. The collaborators investigated this backstage quality in the waterfront and urban infrastructure of the Lower East Side, where the mechanics of the city are
generally hidden. In the same way that the distinction between back and front stage is often blurred or eliminated in contemporary performance, this residency generated movement toward making visible these supporting services of the city.
Jeremy Pickard
Jeremy Pickard is the captain of Superhero Clubhouse, a collective of artists and scientists working at the intersection of environmentalism and theater. Jeremy runs three initiatives with his company: The Planet Plays (a series of nine stories that together form a new mythology for our changing world), Climate Collaborations (original performances for audiences of all ages created with climate scientists from the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory), and Big Green Theater (an eco-playwriting program for Brooklyn fifth-graders, produced in partnership with The Bushwick Starr Theater).