One night, my friends and I stumbled upon a birthday party at a warehouse in Greenpoint. This place felt pretty cozy but it seemed like no one actually lived there. More like some kind of workplace. Later I found out it was called the Brooklyn Center for Theatre Research, or “The Center” for short. It was the actor George Olesky’s birthday party, and I noticed a lot of familiar faces from the underground theatre scene in New York. People I’d see hanging out at Beckett’s for smoky intimate readings, or at one of Matt Weinberger’s happenings. I followed The Center online and heard about a whole gamut of plays being put on by the playwright Matthew Gasda. Since May 2023, I have been adamantly photographing productions at The Center, generating a whole new body of work.

Seeing a play at The Center is interesting because it’s strikingly intimate. They all take place in a small living room, with the actors performing extremely close to the audience. Sometimes the actors even sit in the audience while performing mid-dialogue. Since the space is so small, you have to create a path for the actors to walk back and forth between parts of the room. For me, this creates an interesting effect where I feel like I’m inside of the play. Gasda’s plays, which are often centered around interpersonal relationships, resonate with my own sensibilities as an artist. It is no wonder I keep coming back to see them.

I have photographed different plays in Brooklyn including, Messages, This Time, Ardor, and By Morning, all directed by Gasda. I’ve also photographed a play at The Hancock called A Thump, A Thud, A Roar, by Cassidy Grady. I want to continue to explore the world of underground theatre and expand on this new body of work.

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List of Works