foolsFURY Theater is a bi-coastal ensemble theater company based in San Francisco and New York City. Its mission is to revitalize the American theater by 1) creating ground-breaking visceral performances that inspire audiences and artists to reconsider and reconnect with the world around them, 2) emphasizing qualities of the theater that can only be experienced live, and 3) advancing artistic dialogue through training, research and presentation. The company presents reworked Shakespeare and classical texts as well as new works by experimental contemporary playwrights. Increasingly these are original pieces, created by the playwright in collaboration with the performance ensemble.
foolsFURY, founded in 1998 by Artistic Director Ben Yalom, specializes in physical theater techniques such as Viewpoints, Suzuki, and Grotowski-based methods. The company offers adult training in these techniques as well as voice, voiceover, and ensemble creation, and trains children and teenagers through its youth program Swivel Arts.
The ensemble is dedicated to building connections in the theatrical community, and to that end hosts a biennial festival of experimental theater called the FURY Factory. The Factory brings together ensemble companies from all around the country and different parts of the world. Past companies include Pig Iron, Banana Bag & Bodice, Witness Relocation, Under the Table, Hand2Mouth, MondoBizarro, and some 30 others.
Affiliations
foolsFURY is a member of the Network of Ensemble Theaters, Theatre Bay Area, and Theatre Communications Group. The company has worked on new shows with playwrights such as Sheila Callaghan, Doug Dorst t, and http://www.fabricemelquiot.fr/, and collaborated with theatrical innovators such as SITI Company, Mary Overlie and Stephen Wangh. Steve Morgan Haskell is currently working on a new play entitled Baden-Powell Wars.