Bedlam Ensemble is a non profit organization dedicated to staging theatre works of high artistic integrity. Bedlam aims to nourish an open an artistic community where artists are free to experiment and challenge themselves within the entertainment industry. The ensemble has a commitment to strike a balance between emerging and veteran artists; between the works of new and established playwrights, and revisiting classic pieces of work with a modern twist. Our ensemble nourishes an open and artistic environment that keeps us engaged in our community and proactive in our pursuit of excellence.

GRAYCE PRODUCTIONS Founded in 2001, Grayce Productions exclusively presents parodies and satires of 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s film, theater, and television.

Our company mission is to let women speak for themselves.

A sexy collaboration between two of the sweetest little devils in the NYC burlesque scene, RAWR! Burlesque brings you playful, beautiful burlesque.

Storybook Burlesque was formed in the summer of 2009 by seven of New York burlesque’s rising stars. Its mission: to produce literary burlesque inspired by a variety of storybooks, from Tabloid Magazines to the Bible, William Shakespeare to Doctor Seuss.

Since opening in Brooklyn in 2004, the New York Neo-Futurists have performed at Sarah Lawrence, Fordham, Six Figures’ Artists of Tomorrow Festival, the Providence Improv Festival, and Ladyfest. We have appeared on the Joey Reynolds Show and the Derek and Romaine Show, and have been featured in The New York Post, Pinque Magazine, and Comedy Magazine, to name a few. In January 2005, The New York Times published a feature article on Too Much Light.
In New York, Chicago, and beyond, The Neo-Futurists continue to expose and explore new artistic territory, all consistent with the original mission to create interactive, highly personal, emotionally and intellectually challenging art for the general public.

Anita Cookie is dedicated to bringing quality burlesque to the masses, and she hopes to do this by always finding new and exciting ways to showcase jokes as well as jiggling bosoms. Along with Anita’s Underground, she co-produces a LIVE late night talk show in Williamsburg called The Night Cap, and she is the drunk in The Drunk ‘n’ Dirty Duo who can be seen monthlyat the Palace of Wonders in Washington, DC.

Anita Cookie is the most intoxicated - oops - I mean intoxicating pastie-donner this side of the Rio Grande. Sun-baked off the shores of the pacific, she has taken The Big Apple by storm and her love of tequila, being the product of those San Diego origins, is nothing compared to her insatiable hunger for cookies.

She is a character with the curves of Marilyn Monroe, the helium pipes of Betty Boop and the wit of Mae West. The Cookie drinks like Dean Martin, is usually involved in antics reminiscent of Lucille Ball, and in most cases her glitzy costumes seem to some how inevitably find there way on to the floor.

Anita’s bubbly voice and sultry dance moves have graced the stages of such fine New York and Brooklyn establishments as the Cutting Room, South Paw, Rafifi, Galapagos, BB King’s, Don Hill’s, Mo Pitkins and The Derby (LA).

When Anita’s not mesmerizing the masses she’s whipping up her Saucy Sweets! She makes cookies, hot sauce, decorative items and much, much more!

Mission - In 1999, Barefoot Theatre Company was founded by a multicultural group of artists determined to produce vital, thought-provoking works, both new and existing. We embrace the importance of the collaborative process, nurture our ensemble commitment, and continue to learn from the younger generations we mentor.

Beyond the Mountain is a non-profit Montreal based theatre company. It's mission is to use methods of new technology as well as live performances to internationally disseminate works by Montreal artists while bringing new productions from around the world to the city. By touring emerging artists, working with schools and making use of new social media to circulate our work, the company aims to raise Montreal's cultural profile and aid its artists to create a larger impact on the international art scene.

Casino O'Fortune Cookie Productions are the minds behind recent hits at Joe's Pub including The Costello Show: A Burlesque Tribute to the Other Elvis and Killer Queen Burlesque; this is their first holiday extravaganza, and Only Anita, Clams and Neil could bring this show to life. It will be a hilarious, sexy night packed with great music and an all-star cast!

Do Not Disturb believes that Theatre is an animal unique from all other art forms that thrives on people's passion for live storytelling. DND was formed in 2005 by Greg Turner and Sara Sahin in order to produce new American theatre by living playwrights who are instrumental in the mounting of their work. Past productions include: Revival (FRIGID New York , Audience Choice Award – Local Favorite), Tea , and The Eastern Standard Time Series, (both at Manhattan Theatre Source).

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Dragonfly’s Artist Management division works with artists who have a fully developed musical persona and who demonstrate great potential and marketability.  Our artist managers leverage Dragonfly’s extended network of venues, producers, publicists, and other media and music professionals to enhance every aspect of our artists’ careers and to develop the artist’s business potential to its maximum capacity.

Eric Kingrea writes short stories, criticism, and theater. DIME HEROES is his first full-length NYC production, and he is thrilled to be working with Horse Trade Theater on it. He would like to thank everyone--friends, family, cast, strangers, you all rock--but most especially Aaron, without whose support and belief in the project this wouldn't have been possible, and Julia, for being at his side.

A fantasy made flesh & blood, GiGi La Femme is a delectable feast for the eyes, heart and soul. One of the most active performers on the New York Burlesque scene, she is a mainstay at many of the city's most critically acclaimed shows and best loved venues from the Bronx to the Battery and beyond. A multi-level threat, GiGi is a striptease artist, go-go dancer, pin-up model, chanteuse, host, and producer. GiGi is also a founding member of The Burlesque Alliance, producers of some of the east coast's largest burlesque events. GiGi La Femme, the girl dreams are made of!

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Hard Sparks inspires artists and audiences to reinvent themselves and their communities in positive, proactive ways by mounting daring performances of dangerous plays.

Hard Sparks is dedicated to creating innovative, transformative, art for the Off-off Broadway stage. We champion the work of early- to mid-career playwrights and actors for a diverse audience of urban theatre-goers who enjoy raw, dynamic, highly physical performances of new American plays.

Hard Sparks produces high-quality, relatively low-budget shows by seeking out new solutions to costly problems. It is the goal of Hard Sparks to provide a discriminating audience with a meaningful experience at a reasonable prie, and to do so without sacrificing the integrity of those who create it. Hard Sparks artists are fairly compensated for their work. Always.

Hard Sparks sees rehearsal as development. As living art, plays are meant to grow and change in the hands of actors working together toward full-scale production. Hard Sparks commits to playwrights and their plays by actually producing new works rather than allowing them to languish in developmental limbo.

Hard Sparks sets positive change in actual motion. As a not-for-profit arts producer, Hard Sparks recognizes the importance of supporting fellow community-based organizations working to improve the lives of those in need. By raising awareness of, and in some cases funding for worthy charitable programs, Hard Sparks at once grows its own audience and contributes to the overall vibrancy of the American cultural landscape.

Cyndi Freeman
Miss Freeman is an actress, playwright, story teller and burlesque performer. She is the creator of HOTSY TOTSY BURLESQUE and has a 10 year history off producing shows in New York, LA, Boston, Edinburgh and London. These Include: "I Kissed Dash Riprock!" Winner of a "Best in Festival Award for Excellence" at the 2002 New York International Fringe Festival. "Greetings From Hollywood", which received a "Best in Fringe Festival" award at the NY International Fringe Festival, and was voted "Best New Play of New England -1998” by the Independent Reviewers of New England. Ms. Freeman is a recipient of a grand prize play writing fellowship award from the Massachusetts Cultural Council (with collaborator Ellen Groves). Other credits include HBO, Comedy Central and Showtime. She resides in NYC. www.heroicsinhotpants.com

Joseph Napthali
Has been called the busiest doorman in burlesque. In addition to co-writing and co-producing HOTSY TOTSY BURLESQUE, Mr. Naftali also works with Kitty Nights, Sugar Shack, Original Cyn, Rosie Red Burly-q burlesque and Princess Sunshine’s Hard Candy Burlesque & What Bam Slam Variety Hour. Mr. Naftali founded Continüm Comics in 1987 and was the writer of "The Dark" comic book series. Other comic book credits include working with Gene Simmons on the "KISS 4K" comic book line for Platinum Studios. Mr. Naftali is also the author of numerous published short stories.

The Imbewu Trust aims to celebrate local South African theatre internationally by highlighting original work with a global resonance.In collaboration with Horse Trade Theater Group, The Imbewu Trust will showcase Think Theatre Productions’ TIN BUCKET DRUM, performed by leading South African artists that have enriched the South African theatre landscape with their original and unique approach to theatrical storytelling.

Joe Yoga is a songwriter, stage performer, writer, found-noise archivist and visual artist from NYC.

As a singer/songwriter he regularly plays venues all over NYC and beyond, both solo and with his band Downward Dogs. Downward Dogs' debut album Familiar Techniques arrives August 2012. It was recorded and mixed by Brian Speaker at SpeakerSonic in Brooklyn NY and mastered by Jeff Lipton at Peerless Mastering in Brooklyn. Find out more at www.downwarddogs.com.

He released his last solo album, Life Out East, in September 2010 and his album "The Dreamless Sea", an album of earlier recordings collected from now-unavailable releases, is available for free download at bandcamp.com.

He also plays bass in Killy Dwyer's punk performance-art comedy rock supergroup Kill the Band, whose debut record Mock Bottom arrives on June 28 and June 30 with a two show theater experience/album release event at Under St. Marks Theater as part of Horse Trade's Mini-Fridge festival.

He is working these days mainly in black and white, guitar, cassette tape, hand claps, acrylic, and the burdens of rage, love, and exhaustion towards "a sort of land-where-blues-began attentiveness to the half-broken heartbeat of a sound" (Nick Courage, A Mutual Respect Books and Music).

As a stage performer he is proud to be working again with Natalie Underwood in her production of A Wendy Story, which will be doing a two week run at Under St. Marks Theater in July 2012. In 2010 he was featured in Ms. Underwood's play Buckle Up, in Kill the Band (Audience Choice Award Winner, 2010 Frigid Festival) and Ramblings of a Gentleman Scumbag (Imperial Award / Donor's Choice, 2010 Frigid Festival).

He produces an annual Christmas spectacular, "A Very Yoga Christmas", which will be celebrating its 5th year in 2012.

"Towering; baby-faced." - The Village Voice

LITTLE LORD (a theater company) manipulates classic texts, pillages faulty nostalgias, and celebrates the homemade as a means to create vibrantly bawdy, offbeat, intelligent, queer, funny (and often musical) theater. Past worksinclude: a new adaptation of the musical-extravaganza-turned-recession-spectacular,BABES IN TOYLAND, starring David Greenspan as The Master Toymaker (OHIO Theatre's Ice Factory Festival 2009); the NYC premiere of Tennessee Williams’ skinky short play THE PRONOUN 'I' (Bushwick Starr 2010); (oh my god I am so) THIRST(y) - an offshoot of Eugene O'Neill's early melodrama on race and madness (Incubator Arts Project 2010 and The Chocolate Factory/Target Margin Theater 2009); BALABUSTAS (!), a queer yiddishkeit version of Aristophanes' raucous comedies (HERE Arts Center 2007); and THEBARBIE-STEIA: Curse of the House of Malibu, an absurdist take on Aeschylus' classic trilogy “The Oresteia” starring a chorus of Barbie dolls (OHIO Theatre2007).

Little Village Playhouse is the not-for-profit educational stage of ARC STAGES, based in Pleasantville, New York.
We endeavor to create a safe environment where students feel free to express themselves through the artistic process.
We believe kids can create art...and should.
At LVP, they do.

Neo-Futurism is a new approach to performance which advocates the complete awareness and inclusion of the actual world within the theater in order to achieve a goal: to bring people to a greater understanding of themselves and each other. Rather than upholding contemporary theatrical conventions of character, setting, plot, and the separation of audience and performer, Neo-Futurism aims to present actual life on stage by creating a world in the theater which has no pretense or illusion. This means that:

1) You are who you are. Your name is your name. Your age is your age. Your appearance, physical condition, and way of speaking, as well as your personal history and life experiences are none other than your own. You grew up in your hometown. You’re gay, you’re straight, you’re married. You’ve never been to Seattle. You know who you are and what you’ve done. Use it.

2) You are where you are. In most cases this means on a “stage” in front of an audience. Currently, specifically, this means you are sitting in front of a computer screen, reading this document. That’s not a T.V. you’re watching. This isn’t a castle in the Alps. The gun is fake. If you need a prop, get it. If the ambience is wrong, change it.

3) You are doing what you are doing. All tasks are actual challenges. If you can’t do something, you must be actually physically unable to do it. If you’re pulling, really pull. If you’re eating, really eat. If you go up on your lines, you’ve gone up on your lines. If you’re not supposed to know what’s going to happen next, make sure as hell you can’t know. You’re not sleeping on stage, you’re lying there with your eyes closed. No need to “act” tired as you enter the stage with an empty suitcase. Fill it up with rocks, run around the block three times. You’ll be tired. No need to dredge up a lot of emotion to endow that sheet of paper you’re holding with all the seriousness and poignance of your father’s death certificate. Bring it in. If your father’s alive, what are you doing saying he’s not?

4) The time is now. Deal with real events in your current life in your current world. If you broke up with your boyfriend on Tuesday, don’t say you’re still together on Friday. If a politician pissed you off by what they said six months ago, don’t complain about it now. It’s history. Write about how it affects you today. Theater is the medium to reflect what is going on now, because theater is going on now. Theater takes place in real time and space. The audience is right in front of you right now. Deal with that.

The bottom line is that Neo-Futurism does not buy into “the suspension of disbelief” – it does not attempt to take the audience anywhere else at any other time with any other people. The idea is to deal with what is going on right here and now. These guidelines are not set forth as “rules and regulations” but more as a jumping off point with which, it is hoped, people can find a greater meaning in their everyday lives. The aim is to empower and affirm not just the lives of the performers, but the lives of the audience members as well.

~ Greg Allen, 2004

Pinchbottom is where burlesque meets theater, buys it a drink, and takes it to bed. Each Pinchbottom show centers around a different theme, integrating striptease into a scripted narrative much in the way that a musical integrates songs. Created by Jonny Porkpie and Nasty Canasta in 2004, Pinchbottom is now produced by Porkpie.

Singularity is a collective of individual artists, each of whom retains control of his or her projects. The company supports the work of the individual actor, writer, director, filmmaker, and designer, providing each with production assistance and guiding them to potential collaborators.
Singularity’s continuing mission is to introduce audiences to the most innovative and provocative work in theatre today. From stunning world premieres like David Greenspan’s Five Frozen Embryos and Christopher Shinn’s The Sleepers (2002 FringeNYC Best Overall Production), and forgotten treasures like Harry Kondoleon’s Christmas on Mars, to original pieces by talented newcomers like Sam Forman’s Hunter for Hunter Green, each of Singularity’s productions is a renewal of our commitment to the audience. In addition, Singularity produces an annual festival that features a diverse roster of projects, serving as a launching pad for the city's most talented young artists. Since 1999, Singularity has produced over 60 projects, earning a reputation as "one of the city's fastest growing and most promising collectives" (Time Out New York).
One of the distinguishing achievements in the company’s mission to introduce new forms of theatre has been the highly acclaimed United States Project. The latest installment, Work and Progress, received the 2002 Drama League New Directors/New Works grant and was developed with the guidance of Moises Kaufman (director of The Laramie Project and I Am My Own Wife). This ongoing series of theatrical documentaries follows the lives of real people, creating biographical plays from interviews and observation. Fringe New York described the first play in the series, A Day in the Life of Clark Chipman, as a play where “the prosaic becomes profound… [it] explores the idea that story exists within any day of any person’s life.” Mary Zimmerman, Tony award-winning director of Metamorphoses, lauded it as a play that “reveals the extraordinary in the ordinary, proving that the examined life is one worth watching”. The second installment in the series, Railways and Firework, was named “one of the top off-off Broadway shows of the season” (Time Out New York).
Singularity was founded by Jon Schumacher, Ellen Shanman, and Jeff Tomsic who found themselves arriving in New York along with a large number of college classmates and past collaborators. In the words of the founders, Singularity was created “because we needed a way to harness the potential of an extraordinary group of young artists. We feel that it’s critical to ensure that these talented people are working in the theater now, developing their personal aesthetics, instead of just waiting tables and, frankly, waiting.” If you would like to help our dynamic organization to continue to create challenging and vital work, please contact us.

Named "Best Genre-Bending Theatre" by New York Press, Stolen Chair is a theatre laboratory dedicated to the creation of playfully intellectual, wickedly irreverent, and exuberantly athletic original works. Proudly plundering the pop culture of the past half millennium, Stolen Chair’s work recycles and reinvents old genres and stories to discover new ways to challenge and delight contemporary audiences. Centered around the vision of resident playwright, Kiran Rikhye, and resident director, Jon Stancato, the company nurtures intensive, long-term collaborations between performers, designers, dramaturgs, and musicians.

Sugar Shack Burlesque was built upon a shared love of dancing, debauchery, sincerity and good times between two super fine dames: Lady Satan and Miss RunAround Sue. Since 2006 Sugar Shack Burlesque has been creating exciting, cutting edge events that still maintain the integrity of the old days of vaudeville while stretching the current boundaries of burlesque. In addition to classically framed shows, Sugar Shack Burlesque leads the way in crafting unique events specific to the venue and the audiences' interests.

Summer Shapiro writes, directs and performs theater productions that are fueled by a fascination with everyday life, turning it on its head and exploring the magical in the mundane. Since 2007 Shapiro’s original works have toured to San Francisco, Hawaii, Orlando, Los Angeles and New York. Shapiro’s Legs And All, costarring Peter Musante of Blue Man Group, won Best of The Best in 2009 Bay Area Theatre from SF Bay Times, best in show at the 2010 FRIGID New York Festival and the 2009 Ticketholder Award for Best Special Event/Performance from Los Angeles Entertainment Today. She has performed her original solo show, In The Boudoir, sharing the bill with Cirque Du Soleil veteran John Gilkey and continued on to headline the 2009 WOW Festival. Shapiro’s PANTS! The Best Show Ever sold out in the San Francisco and New York Clown Theater Festivals in 2008. She has been a company member and teaching artist with The Medea Project: Theater For Incarcerated Women as well as assistant director for the San Francisco Shakespeare Festival’s The Merry Wives Of Windsor. Shapiro has trained, performed and taught workshops in her craft in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Ireland, and has performed on the streets of Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador and Berlin. She holds a B.A. in acting from UCLA’s School of Theater, attended the Samuel Beckett School of Theater at Trinity College, Dublin and graduated from the Clown Conservatory in San Francisco.

Rosey La Rouge is the producer behind Tattoo Girl Burlesque, and a founding member of New York City’s ground-breaking new troupe, Story Book Burlesque. She has performed coast to coast, with Hubba Hubba and Red Hots in San Francisco and at countless notable NYC shows. She is an established costume designer for stage, opera and film, and this expertise makes her mix of classic and narrative acts truly dynamic and visually mind-blowing. Diminutive in height, but abundant in curvature, with a penchant for vintage looks and her own lingerie line, Tattoo Girl Lingerie, Rosey lives up to her reputation as The Pocket Sized Pin-Up.

The Beggars Group was born in 1999 with the production of Randy Anderson’s Testing Average at The Red Room. The company went on to create a bevy of new plays including, The Expatirates, Rip and Sow, DO IT!, More Making Out in Japanese, and Stopping the World. The Beggars Group also produced Theadora, She Bitch of Byzantium by Charles Busch, New Year’s Resolutions and The Dwelling by Randy Anderson. The Beggars Group has taken shows to Atlanta, Los Angeles, and Queens. The company went on hiatus in 2003. Glass Houses by Harrison Williams marks the Beggars Group’s return to New York downtown theater and would like to thank Horse Trade for letting them be a part of the 10th anniversary season.

Time Out Magazine calls the Beggars Group “one of Off-Off’s brainier and more eclectic companies.”

“A really funny personal true story that is extremely smart,
well written and superbly acted. Bob Brader is one of those
performers - I could see him sit and talk about anything and I
would be entertained!”
– CBC, Calgary Eyeopener

The Public continues its rich legacy of supporting current and future generations of our country’s most important writers via The Public Writers Initiative – a long-term initiative that provides key support and resources for writers at every stage of their careers. The Public Writers Initiative creates a fertile community and fosters a web of supportive artistic relationships across generations. The Emerging Writers Group is a component of The Public Writers Initiative.

Theatre Reverb is a company of young artists working to provoke and delight audiences with unique theatrical experiences. It was founded in early 2006 by film and video artist Radoslaw Konopka and theatre artist Kristin Arnesen and is dedicated to their mission of developing new work and collaborative pieces.

Their first full-length production, Olga’s Secret Circus: An Evening of Mischief, Bon Bons and Debauchery (2006, Teatro La Tea) was featured on the “Polsat International,” Polish satellite television network’s program Faces of America (Oblicza Ameryki).

Since 2006, company members Kristin Arnesen, Radoslaw Konopka and Christopher Gilkey have collaborated to create unique experiments in performance, moving image and spectacle. The trio’s productions include An Act of GluttoMime (2007, Joria Productions), ExcesSecret Circus: “¿Guess What ‘It’s’ About?” (2008, Under St. Marks), and a series of film and video works. Theatre Reverb’s newest member, Rachael Gilkey, joined forces with the company in 2007 and has been working tirelessly with the collective ever since to storm the world and transform the theatrical landscape.

The company received an Audience Choice Award for their production, ExcesSecret Circus: “¿Guess What ‘It’s’ About?” which played in the FRIGID New York Festival, 2008 and performance grants from the City University of New York’s Hunter College Graduate Students’ Association, Auxiliary Enterprise Board and Graduate Investment Fund (2007).

A workshop performance of the company’s latest creation, Watch Out! (It’s Go Time) was presented in May of 2008, and the completed production is set to open in October at the Red Room. The show is being produced by Horse Trade Theatre Group and will run for eight weeks in conjunction with Theatre Reverb’s festival hit, ExcesSecret.

The company is currently working towards their goal of obtaining much needed funding to continue to reach new audiences.

Working Man's Clothes Productions is dedicated to developing and producing authentic and original theater by supporting new works and new talent that will incite an evolution within modern theater.

Working Man's Clothes is about keeping our nose to the grindstone and producing quality theatre.

We believe in applying the spirit of American entrepreneurship to our work, and with only an artistic agenda, creating opportunities for playwrights, directors, designers, and actors to engage in creative collaborations while producing quality theatre.

We believe that theatre can and will survive by building reciprocal working relationships with other artists, maintaining an unwavering commitment to excellence and by sheer determination.