The Space at Irondale — Attraction in New York

We have been devotees of the Irondale Ensemble since the 1980's, and have seen almost all of their productions. They are a remarkable company, having carved out a very special niche in the theater universe of New York. You can count on being challenged, entertained, amused and educated. We have seen them do their own unique take on a familiar play you thought you knew: (Peter Panic, or The Uncle Vanya Show), create their own play from whole cloth, using a historical event: (The Murals of Rockefeller Center, Murrow), or do the impossible, performing four Shakespearean plays in one fabulous evening: (The 1599 project - Henry V, Julius Caesar, As You Like It, Hamlet) There is nothing quite like the Irondale Ensemble. In their own amazing space now on Lafayette Avenue in Brooklyn - whatever they are doing - go see them. (And I haven't even mentioned the performances they have created by bringing together police and civilians in an improvisational workshop to create an understanding between the two groups.) And there's more -...

I love and admire the Irondale Theater for creating and producing powerful work that satisfies the desire of the imagination for richness of experience that enduring art conveys, and that meets the demand for reality that seeks common ground between our lives and struggles and the representation of them in the theater---common ground in which the utopian imagination which desires social justice and the unjust reality that we have trouble facing also have their place. Irondale's ensemble method of investigating and staging the classics (by Shakespeare and Brecht) models collaborative ways of working. The breadth of its range--from the 1599 Project to the improvisational workshops in which community members and police offers reenact their encounters and work them up into performance pieces--is a testament to their ambition as artists and their dedication as activists, mobilizing the resources of the theater to serve their and...

Bebe McGarry- writer, dancer, performer. Irondale is a great community theatre, learning center and community outreach that has been around for 36 years. It boasts interesting dedicated actors and musicians with edgy productions that challenge and inspire you. It is currently doing a piece between the police and the public where they encounter and learn from one another. Led by Terry Greiss, Executive Director, it is the hot spot to be seen in Brooklyn. They are totally supportive of artists and their voices. Bebe McGarry Creator of Poetry Out Loud AND Bebe Gunn Carol Enseki, former director of The Children's Museum,...