The Aris Project — NYC

The Aris Project 2018
Creating Something Out of Nothing.
www.TheArisProject.com

Now in our third year of exploration, eight emerging theatre makers have gathered together on Aris Farm to imagine something new.

The Aris Project is an artistic summer retreat for emerging and early career artists, which was formed in 2016 by a group of students introduced to one another at The University of North Carolina School of the Arts. During the months of June and July, we spend our time in the small coastal community of Walpole, Maine, where we live together and create new work in a renovated barn on Aris Farm. Solely focusing on the creative process provides us with the opportunity to approach theatre-making in an unconventional way, by experimenting and playing with our own abilities to make something out of nothing.

We are grateful to be supported by our incredible mentors, including Peter Hedges, Scott Zigler, and Carl Forsman, who have encouraged us to bring our work to New York this summer. The Aris Project will be presenting a collection of original pieces on August 6th at 5pm and 8pm. We are so excited to engage with a larger community who shares our excitement for new work!

The Aris Project will be inviting hundreds of literary managers, casting agents, and directors to the event in New York City, along with our family, friends and fellow alumni. And this is where YOU come in ... because, in order to make it there, we need your help!

We are asking for $3,500 to help cover the basic costs of promotion (postcards and mailing), production (space rental, insurance, fees for lighting technician and stage manager), and transportation (for our artists and set pieces). Thank you from everyone at The Aris Project for supporting this exciting endeavor! Every little bit helps, so please consider contributing now to our next steps!

Your support means everything to us, and we can’t wait to share an evening with you. See you in the city! Love, All of us, on Aris Farm

Please see our website, www.TheArisProject.com for more information on the event. Thank you so much, and we hope to see you there!

 

“Aris is a place for us to try new things and discover different sides of ourselves as artists. The work we create here is truly based off of our philosophy of making something out of nothing, which invites our audiences to stretch their imagination and play with us.” –Maddie Milligan


“I love that our space has already been repurposed once, from a full-on barn to a livable space, and it's now our job to repurpose it again and again - it's that energy that runs through the walls. The boundless creative energy on the farm is wonderfully inviting.” –Coleman Ray Clark


 “My safe haven, my experimental lab, my training ground, and my blank canvas. Above all, Aris is the place where I have taken full ownership of my craft, and my own creative potential as an emerging theatre-maker. It’s the place I hope to refine my artistic process, and re-make it again and again.” –Gracey Falk


“The Aris Project requires me to bring the most daring, messy, and creatively raw version of myself every day. There is no road map- there is only the room, and the space to create.” -Bailey Lee


 “I’m excited about creating a productive creative ecosystem. None of us are experts in a field. When we come here, we make an alliance with one another. We recognize our power as a group to come up with creative solutions and provocations that are stronger than what any one of us could provide.” –Dyer Rhoads


“The environment is conducive to improving myself as a human and an artist. I am finding inspiration in every nook and cranny of the property. I am being put in a great place to practice listening, caring and just saying “Yes.” every day.” –Christian Thomason


“I believe there is a deeper creativity in all of the project’s participants, from the start, subconsciously nagging. It’s why we felt the call to come, trusting that whatever little thing we have going on inside of us is bigger than we know, and we must commit to discovering it now.” –Cricket Brown


“It’s an open playground, and lab for us to experiment and try different things. I’ve been pushed past what I thought I was capable of, thanks to my inspiring friends- and our mutual love and curiosity for theatre.” –Chris Holtkamp