MISSION
The Dirty Blondes Theater Company's mission is feminist in nature, with a goal to break down stereotypes and encourage a nuanced, inclusive dialogue. Founded in New York City by Artistic Director Ashley Jacobson and Executive Director Elizabeth Sarkady in 2012, it seeks to explore the nature of all human prejudice, subverting face value perception with sophisticated and subtle shades of distinction.
The Dirty Blondes produces work in conversation with popular culture to complicate and undermine people’s ideas around what they think they already know, particularly when it comes to notions of gender and identity. Now, more than ever, we see how harmful stereotypes of gender and other identities dehumanize and degrade a person, too easily leading to oppression and violence. By using the immediacy and emotional vulnerability of live performance, The Dirty Blondes emphasizes empathy over all else. With every show we produce, we encourage the audience to see a different side of something they thought they had already figured out.
Everyone is capable of so much more than what you think they are, and The Dirty Blondes uses theater to make this a living, breathing motto.
Notable productions include the Off-Broadway premiere of Jacobson’s (Winner, Overall Excellence in Playwriting, 2015 FringeNYC) THE AMERICAN PLAY at the Soho Playhouse; SURFER GIRL, 16 unique live performance events for the New York premiere of Leslye Headland’s (Bachelorette, Russian Doll) final installment in her sin cycle of plays; THE RESISTER PROJECT, an eight-day ACLU fundraising festival, featuring 51 artists in a revolving schedule of plays, songs, poetry and comedy; and DETROIT, NY a short play festival featuring seven Detroit-based playwrights, aiming to shed light on Detroit’s shifting culture and state of bankruptcy.
The Dirty Blondes produces work in conversation with popular culture to complicate and undermine people’s ideas around what they think they already know, particularly when it comes to notions of gender and identity. Now, more than ever, we see how harmful stereotypes of gender and other identities dehumanize and degrade a person, too easily leading to oppression and violence. By using the immediacy and emotional vulnerability of live performance, The Dirty Blondes emphasizes empathy over all else. With every show we produce, we encourage the audience to see a different side of something they thought they had already figured out.
Everyone is capable of so much more than what you think they are, and The Dirty Blondes uses theater to make this a living, breathing motto.
Notable productions include the Off-Broadway premiere of Jacobson’s (Winner, Overall Excellence in Playwriting, 2015 FringeNYC) THE AMERICAN PLAY at the Soho Playhouse; SURFER GIRL, 16 unique live performance events for the New York premiere of Leslye Headland’s (Bachelorette, Russian Doll) final installment in her sin cycle of plays; THE RESISTER PROJECT, an eight-day ACLU fundraising festival, featuring 51 artists in a revolving schedule of plays, songs, poetry and comedy; and DETROIT, NY a short play festival featuring seven Detroit-based playwrights, aiming to shed light on Detroit’s shifting culture and state of bankruptcy.
TEAM
"These women are on a mission to develop beautiful and subversive new works."
-StageBuddy
-StageBuddy
AWARDS
"Raw, contemporary and edgy"
-StageBuddy
-StageBuddy
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Overall Excellence in PlaywritingTHE AMERICAN PLAY
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Outstanding Overall Production of a New Play
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RECENT PRESS
"A timely piece of theater that dives into the extremes of emotions and perceptions that seem inherently universal."
-Theater is Easy
-Theater is Easy
"SEX: the play that put Mae West in prison returns to New York" |
"One of Five Fringe Shows That Will Get You Talking" |
"Two weeks from now, this is one of the plays you will be hearing about, and regret not having seen. An astonishing, brilliant, complex work." |
"Resistance is Fertile: Artists Activate in the Age of Trump" |
"Our pending emperor is infamous for not doing much to prepare; The Resister Project is a good first enactment, by and for the people, of taking the lead." |
"A BEST BET" |
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Festival Brings Detroit Voices to NYC |
THE TUNNEL PLAY photo by Justin Hoch | THE MIRACLE PLAY photo by William Arvidson | THE AMERICAN PLAY photo by Melissa Balan | HOW TO BE SAFE photo by Rachael Elana Photography