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.
THE MIRACLE PLAY photo by Will Arvidson