Radio Downtown

Written by Steve Cosson and Jocelyn Clarke
Conceived and directed by Steve Cosson 

With Robert M. Johanson, Jennifer Morris, Joshua David Robinson, Maya Sharpe, and Colleen Werthmann

Movement Direction: Sean Donovan
Scenic Design: Andrew Boyce
Costume Design: Emily Rebholz
Lighting Design: Amith Chandrashaker
Sound Design: Ryan Gamblin
Associate Sound Design: Lola Basiliere
Video Design: Attilio Rigotti

Made from archival interviews from WNYC’s "Arts Forum," a 1970s radically open format radio show about avant-garde artists, this world premiere enlists an experimental storytelling method in homage to its downtown subjects. The result is a hilariously naturalistic, wholly live experience. 

This production featured an in-ear-monitor system that allowed the performers onstage to hear – and thereby repeat and embody – archival interviews with artists from the 1970’s. This demonstration of the time slippage inherent in recorded technology and theater invited its audience to consider their relationship to the archive, art-making, and the ever-evolving ecosystem of art in New York City.

For more, see The Medium and the Message by Faith Zamblé, an interview in which Zamblé and I discuss the connection between the story and the way it was told, the audio recording as record and simulacra, and what it means to be making downtown theater about downtown theater in the year 2025.