En Garde Arts, Inc.

Founded by Anne Hamburger, En Garde Arts initiated and led the site-specific theatre movement in New York City from 1985-1999, developing iconoclastic theatrical productions with visionary artists including Chuck Mee, Anne Bogart and Tina Landau. Hamburger relocated to the west coast from 1999 to 2013, initially to become Artistic Director of the La Jolla Playhouse, later to run a global entertainment for Disney. In 2013 she moved back to New York and launched En Garde’s powerful return with BASETRACK.

En Garde was one of only six companies nationally to receive the prestigious 2013 National Theatre Project grant from the New England Foundation for the Arts which provided crucial support for BASETRACK’s development and national tour. The show is a documentary theatre collaboration between En Garde and the corpsmen and families of the 1st Battalion/8th Marines. With wit and originality, the show integrated verbatim text, a powerful original score and stunning visual elements to explore personal experiences of American military service. Named one of The New York Times Top Ten productions of 2014, BASETRACK traveled to 25 cities across the country to-date, and will tour again in 2016.

Meaningful community engagement has always been at the core of En Garde’s work. For BASETRACK, En Garde secured lead funding from the MetLife Foundation to work with the Veterans Mental Health Association to develop comprehensive programs to accompany performances. Across the country, these initiatives brought civilians together with veterans and active duty servicemen and women for stimulating and productive conversations about the impact of war on service personnel, their families and communities. After seeing BASETRACK and observing these engagement initiatives, Phil Klay, 2014 National Book Award Winner for REDEPLOYMENT, wrote: “It would be enough if BASETRACK simply gave us a viscerally powerful depiction of war and its aftermath, if it only captured the sly humor of Marines, the pride of the infantry, and the psychological disorientation of homecoming. But it also provides an intimate portrait of military families both during deployment and after, sharing their stories with warmth, humor, and raw honesty. Superb, moving work. ”

Anne Hamburger was recently awarded an Exceptional Merit in Media Award from the National Political Women’s Caucus and has been named a “Person to Watch in 2015″ by The Wall Street Journal. En Garde’s past productions have been honored with six OBIEs, two Drama Desk Awards and an Outer Critics Circle Special Award.

In October 2016 En Garde Arts premiered a documentary theatre production about the ‘wilderness’ between parents and kids coming of age in 21st century America. In this complex landscape, easy access to inexpensive drugs, ubiquitous technology and escalating higher education costs overwhelm kids and cash-strapped parents. Six families seeking a way through these challenges by participating in experiential wilderness therapy, and the psychic distance they travel during this process, is the focus of WILDERNESS.

Developed by co-writers Anne Hamburger and writer/director Seth Bockley, WILDERNESS conveys these stories in a dynamic, multi-media format combining live performance, music, film and integrated projection design. The stage transforms from cocoon-like teenage bedrooms to the vast open spaces of the western desert, giving the performance a sweeping visual scope that runs parallel to the story’s emotional arc. The action centers on young adults spinning out of control and a mother coming to terms with her son’s addiction. Woven throughout, recorded Skype interviews with the parents and young adults who contributed their stories recount authentic experiences from varied and contradictory perspectives that reveal a range of outcomes.

FANDANGO FOR BUTTERFLIES (AND COYOTES), which En Garde Arts originally commissioned in 2017, is a documentary theatre piece based on interviews with Latin American and Latinx immigrants in New York. With interviews of undocumented immigrants adapted by playwright Andrea Thome, directed by José Zayas, with music and dance by composer/choreographer Sinúhe Padilla. FANDANGO FOR BUTTERFLIES (AND COYOTES) will premiere in early 2020 for a five-week run, a week in each borough of New York City.

As with all of En Garde’s documentary theatre productions, meaningful engagement initiatives have been integrated into the experience of seeing the show. These programs are designed to identify and engage hard-to-reach audiences affected by the subject matter and to facilitate productive conversation and debate.

An intergenerational series of art, activism, conversation and community that peels back the curtain on the birth of theatrical ideas. This program features under-represented theatre artists once a month. WNET's All Arts Program has greenlit episodes to be featured on their national streaming platform and on their television channel in the tri-state area.