About FRIGID
Mission Statement
FRIGID New York’s mission is to provide both emerging and established artists the opportunity to create and produce original work and to amplify their diverse voices. We do this by presenting an array of monthly programming, mainstage productions, an artist residency, and eight annual theater festivals that create an environment of collaboration, resourcefulness, and innovation.
What is FRIGID?
FRIGID New York is an independent, non-profit theater company operating UNDER St Marks Theater, an off-off-Broadway venue in the East Village. We rent our space as well as co-produce there, and see a wonderfully wide range of artists come through our doors. Run by a small yet dedicated staff of artists, producers, techs, and creatives, FRIGID strives to offer our community a space in which they can make their art their way.
We’re also…
- A non profit organization
- An indie theater venue
- A festival organizer
- A producer of indie theater work
- A safe haven for artists
- A place to try and succeed or fail
- A space to see experimental theater, comedy, plays, music, attend open mics, and more
- An affordable option for both artist and audiences
- A place to call home
- A community of artists
- A family
What do we produce?
There is no “typical” FRIGID show. While there are common threads between our artists and how they work, every show you can catch on our stage is truly unique. The easiest way to sum up what we do is anything that fits in the space and sometimes things that don’t. Our productions include plays, storytelling, stand-up, improv, sketch, variety shows, burlesque, film screenings, open mics, readings, workshops, clowning, dance, performance art, drag, music, cabaret, dramas, comedies, experimental works, mulit-media pieces, and so much more–and in several different languages. We’ve hosted just about everything: live radio dramas, full-blown musicals, barely-staged readings, satirical poetry, multi-lingual epics, stand-up sets, true stories, big lies, and things we can’t even begin to categorize.
What do we do for our shows?
From the moment we receive an email or submission to produce a show we work closely with the artists to ensure the best possible outcome. We program rehearsals on our space and technical rehearsals to design lights, projections and sound for the show. We provide ticketing service. Our marketing coordinator shares all the show information on our social media and email blasts and our press rep does a press release. We offer them a board operator and a front of house staff and the use of our theater and furniture.
Everything is completed once we settle the box office and the artist walks away with their share.
All of this depends on the type of agreement: rental, co-production or festival.
“I came to New York to ‘do theater,’ but I didn’t know what that was going to look like for me until I walked into a FRIGID space and it just felt like coming home. FRIGID truly revolutionized my ideas of what it means to work in professional theater and of who gets a say in what professional theater looks like. And for us at FRIGID that is anyone and everyone. We try to be a space where anybody who wants to have a say in what professional theater is gets to have that say. ”
– Jimmy Lovett, Resident Artistic Director
