New line theatre

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New Line Theatre in St. Louis, MO, "the Bad Boy of Musical Theatre," is the only alternative musical theatre company in America, producing challenging, adult, politically and socially relevant works of musical theatre. The company was created in 1991 and produces world premieres like Johnny Appleweed, Woman with Pocketbook, She's Hideous, In the Blood, Attempting the Absurd, and The AmberKlavier; brilliant, lesser known Broadway and off Broadway shows like Floyd Collins, A New Brain, March of the Falsettos, Passion, The Robber Bridegroom, The Nervous Set, and Bat Boy; abstract musicals like Hair, Jacques Brel, and Songs for a New World; absurdist musicals like Reefer Madness, Attempting the Absurd, The Cradle Will Rock, and Anyone Can Whistle; concept musicals like Company, Assassins, Urinetown, Chicago, Sunday in the Park with George, and Cabaret; and radical reinterpretations of more mainstream works, like Man of La Mancha, Camelot, Pippin, Sweeney Todd, Grease, and Into the Woods.

According to the company's website (http://www.newlinetheatre.com), what sets it apart from many mainstream companies, large and small, is its philosophy and its process. Like dozens and dozens of other alternative companies across America and around the world, New Line takes philosophical and practical inspiration from theatre models of the 1960s, including Caffé Cino, Cafe LaMaMa, Judson Poets Theatre, Joan Littlewood's People’s Theatre Workshop in London, and to a lesser extent from the Living Theatre, the Open Theatre, and various theatre collectives in the US and Europe.

Like all those companies in the sixties, New Line questions many of the accepted rules of mainstream theatre. Must there be a separation between actors and audience? Must the playing space be restricted to a certain portion of the theatre? Are there alternatives to traditional linear plots? Can musicals be abstract? Must each actor be associated with only one character during a performance? Must there be a distinction between “leads” and “chorus”? Must we pretend a story is “real” in some way? Can actors directly address the audience? Can actors interact with the audience? Can a show require things of the audience? Can theatre have a purpose other than storytelling? Are nudity and four-letter words really all that shocking today or can they be simply human expressions of emotion, outrage, activism, satire, social commentary? There are two kinds of theatre: that which unleashes the imagination and that which closes it down. New Line choose that which unleashes. Legendary director Hal Prince once said, “Don't sell audiences short. They are open to the adventurous, the challenging, even the dangerous.” New Line audiences prove he was right.

New Line Theatre is openly and proudly political in its work, addressing the most relevant contemporary issues in its shows. New Line shows intend for their audiences not necessarily to feel happy, but to feel deeply. The New Liners believe in what actor Laurence Luckinbill once wrote: “Always over-estimate the public’s intelligence. They will thank you for it.” They believe live theatre is one of the most powerful tools in the world for social change and that they have an obligation to use that tool to make the world a better place, to engage the people of the region in a discussion of the issues of our times.

Artistic director and founder Scott Miller has written nine musicals and two plays, all of which have been professionally produced, as well as five books on musical theatre, including Strike Up the Band: A New History of Musical Theatre, Let the Sun Shine In: The Genius of HAIR, From Assassins to West Side Story, Deconstructing Harold Hill, and Rebels With Applause.

Material quoted from the New Line website with permission. http://www.NewLineTheatre.com