Compagnia de' Colombari springs from the vision of director Karin Coonrod, involving an international collective of performing artists, generating theater in surprising places. Colombari intentionally clashes cultures, traditions and art forms to bring fresh interpretation to the written word. Colombari is founded on the twin principles that the magic of great theater can happen anywhere and be made accessible to everyone.
History
In 2004 Compagnia de' Colombari was born in Orvieto, Italy, where the company re-imagined the medieval mystery plays and performed them in the streets and piazzas. Having revitalized the tradition of theater during Orvieto's annual Corpus Christi Festival, the company launched a parallel theatrical experience in its homebase of New York City called STRANGERS AND OTHER ANGELS. Since 2008, the company created and performed MORE OR LESS I AM (drawn entirely from Whitman's "Song of Myself"), EVERYTHING THAT RISES MUST CONVERGE (from the Flannery O'Connor short story); THE WORLD IS ROUND IS ROUND IS ROUND (based on Gertrude Stein's story); Andras Visky's GIULIA; Monteverdi's ORFEO; Karin Coonrod's
texts&beheadings/ElizabethR; and Shakespeare's THE MERCHANT IN VENICE in Venice, Italy.
Funding
Funding is provided by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, New York Council for the Humanities, the Malka Fund, Sassafras Foundation, the Polonsky Foundation, New York Foundation for the Arts City Artists Corp grantee, and countless generous individual donors.
Compagnia de' Colombari is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit company. All contributions are tax-deductible to the full extent of the law.