The National Theater of the United States of America
2010-2011 Swing Space Resident, 14 Wall Street, Vault
The National Theater of the United States of America (NTUSA) works democratically to design and construct complex theatrical environments, in traditional and non-traditional spaces, and to create performances to inhabit them. The inclusion of an audience in such an environment promotes a kind of complicity in which the roles of character and performer, spectator and participant, fiction and reality, break down. These works are intensely visual, densely layered enveloping spectacles which are laced with the questions and arguments brought to the exploration of each subject attended. This multiplicity of image and argument invites a complicit audience to engage with each piece as an active participant.
In NTUSA’s nine years of existence, this focus on theatrical environment has been matched by a devotion to the exploration of American history and the history of American entertainment. In the past, NTUSA has re-created a vaudeville theater (Garvey & Superpant$), a 50’s tropical casino floorshow (Placebo Sunrise), an underground seminar and self-help group (SuperConfidence!), an amusement park ride and game show (What’s That On My HEAD!?!), an early 20th century tent revival (the OBIE Award winning ABSN:RJAB) and the Chautauqua lecture circuits of the turn of the last century (Chautauqua!). Its newest project, The Golden Veil, continues the exploration of the present through the past, converging form and content and embracing the whole of the theatrical medium.
During its residency, The NTUSA will generate the material objects (set pieces, costumes, puppets, related art objects) for its new work in progress, The Golden Veil, as well as further develop the script and rehearse the piece with the creative ensemble.
