Who We Are
Founded in 2021 in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Forager started small by bringing freaks, geeks, and drama queens together to bring audiences works about both human struggle and joy. It has since expanded into four organizational branches: compassionate donation-based education (Take Root); conscience-forward content development (Unearth); creative unique one-night experiences (Blossom); and fully-designed mainstage productions (Harvest). This investment in the diversification of their technical skills and personal perspective equips them to give back to the collaborative circle and forage in their own right.
What We Want To Do
Our organic ground-up approach of foraging for objects, viewpoints, contributions, spaces, and people enables artists from any walk of life to develop novel works or reinvigorate old ones with boldness and imagination. And when pieces are foraged from their immediate community and experiences, the whole is infused with modern-day values and lived-in authenticity.
Forager prioritizes staging theatrical works, series, and concerts that experiment with atmospheric, environmental, aural, photic, and movement-based storytelling, and that are told by and about queer, underrepresented, gender non-conforming, and femme-presenting artists.
Whether it’s an item fished from a street corner furniture pile, an idea posed by a chatty neighbor, a spare room offered by a friend, or a dream relegated to the ‘too-ambitious’ script folder, no piece is too little for a forager!
Meet the team
A word from our Artistic Director
Forager Theatre Company was started out of the drive and desire to create that I have been developing for the last 15 years through my work as a director, choreographer, and performer. Since I was very young, I have craved a community of artists who fulfill not only our individual dreams, but connect and engage with audiences in a sustainable and personal way. I was extremely lucky to have been brought up in community theatre by a mentor who taught me the value of creating works that come from truth and make the most out of what is available both physically and theatrically. My mentor always cast the best actor for the role; she never questioned whether or not they were the correct "type." She was able to reuse and repurpose costumes and sets over and over again without losing creativity or function. When I entered college and the professional world, I was exposed to the casting bias regarding body type, race, experience, you name it, and the wastefulness in the theatre world, of objects, equipment, and people… I was disheartened by the lack of representation and sustainability both on collegiate and professional stages. Rather than attempt to change who I was, I set out to change my status quo. When I moved to NYC, I began making connections with artists of all trades who had similar values and understood my creative vision. It took five years, but I finally met the people who I feel are my creative equals, Alex Parrish and Iris Rodrigo. Together we formed Forager Theatre Company and continue to add more and more artists, creatives, and collaborators to our team. When casting, we push to cast against our inherent bias and against type when possible, for actors of all shapes, sizes, and ethnicities. When building sets/costumes/props, we forage from the community free-groups, thrift stores, etc. in order to reduce waste and to create a lived-in authentic feel to all of our productions. As collaborators, we aim to make the rehearsal and creation process as enjoyable for the actors as the final product is for the audience. When dreaming up our plans for the future we push ourselves to choose work that enriches and challenges us as creators by prioritizing stories that are told by and about queer, underrepresented, gender non-conforming, and femme-presenting artists. Every body belongs on stage and everybody can be a Forager.