Rorschach Announces Three New Programs & Spring Production

Rorschach Theatre - an award-winning company known for its dedication to impossible, fantastical realism - kicks off the new year with a significant commitment to connecting artists, audiences and new work. The company's spring production of 410[Gone] and three new initiatives build on Rorschach's long history of discovering, shaping and launching emerging talent and new works in the nation's capital.

410[GONE] by Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig

March 23-April 15, 2018, Atlas Performing Arts Center

The Chinese Goddess of Mercy and the Monkey King think they control the Land of the Dead until their newest arrival, a Chinese-American boy, defies the system. Can an arcade dance game be the only thing that stands between the boy and his transmigration? Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig's dark and dazzling play about the afterlife explores identity, love and what it takes to forge a new path.

MAGIC IN ROUGH SPACES (NEW IN 2018!)

April 5-8, 2018, Atlas Performing Arts Center

Rorschach will collaborate with three promising emerging playwrights to workshop and develop a trio of new plays. The playwrights, one of whom will always be DC-based, will spend three days in DC working with a director, dramaturg, actors and designers to set and achieve goals for their new work. On Sunday, April 8th, each play will be read along with some enhanced design components to give audiences a taste of what a full production might feel like. Audiences will also have the opportunity to talk with artists in a post-show conversation following each play. Scripts will be selected by an invited call beginning in January 2018.

KLECKSOGRAPHY: Collective Ink (NEW in 2018!)

Performances June 2, Open Call Auditions May 17-19, 2018, Atlas Performing Arts Center

Rorschach will lead a collaboration with five other theatre companies from across the city to create a limited run event featuring 6 new 10-minute plays. The project focuses on networking and opportunity by pairing theatre leadership with artists new to their companies. Additionally, the project embraces the metaphor of the inkblot test by having all six plays inspired by just two prompts. How will each company's aesthetic influence the storytelling? Pla- creation teams, each mentored by an artistic leader of a different theatre company, will be assembled via an open call for actors, playwrights and directors.

This reenvisioning of our Klecksography program was based on the results of a DC theatre survey undertaken by Rorschach in the fall of 2017. More than 40 local artistic directors and producers responded in addition to dozens of freelance artists. Based on those results, we've invited other companies into our process and rebuilt the program to focus on networking and connection. By providing producers with a high-impact, low-investment way to vet new artists, we aim to close the gap many artists experience in trying to connect with new companies.

OTHER PEOPLE'S INK: An Entertainment Curation Society (NEW IN 2018!)

Monthly outings, various locations; 1st EVENT: The Shape of Water @ AFI, January 10, 2018

Rorschach Theatre's aesthetic is a unique blend of dark magic, bold use of space, and a signature fierce performance style. What other artists, in other mediums, speak to this aesthetic? The Rorschach team will organize monthly events where our artists and audience can come together to explore art galleries, cinema, author events and other adventures that feature work with a Rorschach flavor.

Tickets for Rorschach's MAGIC IN ROUGH SPACES, KLECKSOGRAPHY AND 410[GONE] will be available through the Atlas Performing Arts Center box office. OTHER PEOPLE'S INK requires no membership fee, but individual events may require ticket purchase. For more information about all of the above programs, please visit www.rorschachtheatre.com.

Rorschach Theatre was founded on the belief that great theatre lures its audience beyond ordinary experiences into fresh, unexpected and thought-provoking worlds.

We tell stories that allow for innovative design and visceral performances. Rorschach treats productions as "installations" that surround the audience with the world of a play. Our work centers on the intersection of magic or impossible moments and relatable, visceral human experience. Without proselytizing, it provides a complex, intellectual catalyst for self-exploration of challenging subjects.

Rorschach is a vital launching pad for emerging artists. By trusting early-career actors, directors, playwrights and designers with substantive artistic responsibilities, and surrounding them with established professionals and ample resources, we have become an essential showcase for new talent. Rorschach alumni artists have gone on to work regularly at places like Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, The Kennedy Center, Studio Theatre, Roundhouse Theatre and The Shakespeare Theatre locally, as well as off-Broadway and in the film and television industries.

Rorschach has produced more than fifty plays seen by tens of thousands of people in the Washington area. We've been nominated for over a dozen Helen Hayes Awards; won a Mary Goldwater Award; been a finalist for the Mayor's Arts Award; and have been the recipients of multiple grants and awards from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities. The company's work has garnered the attention of The New York Times, The Washington Post, American Theatre magazine and National Public Radio, as well as countless local publications.

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