Blessed Unrest | theatre for the adventurous

Audition for the Training Ensemble!

Come move with us!

Auditions for the Blessed Unrest Training Ensemble

Friday 9/19, 6 - 9:30 pm

Sunday 9/28, 1 - 5 pm

Location: Lower Manhattan

(exact location given after sign-up)

Audition Sign Up Form

FAQ:

What Do I Need to Prepare?

For the audition, please be prepared to...

...move (a lot!)

...bring a short (one-minute) memorized monologue (preferably classical)

...bring a physical copy of your headshot and resume

...work barefoot (movement shoe or grippy sock accommodations are fine)

...stay the whole time

What Will the Audition Consist of?

The early part of auditions will mirror a typical Blessed Unrest Training session, followed by the showing of monologues, and finish with an info session about the company and the arc of Training. You are encouraged to dress comfortably and stay hydrated.

What is Blessed Unrest Training?

At Blessed Unrest we train together as an ensemble and see value in working with the same artists for the long term. In training we practice physical theatre and devising modalities pooled together from our varied backgrounds. Training provides a space for us to grow as individual artists and as an ensemble when not in rehearsal for a show. As individuals, we learn and practice physical theatre techniques and work on conditioning, strength, and flexibility.

As an ensemble, we build and refine our common vocabulary and experiment with processes of creating new work. Training is a space to stretch the boundaries of what we do; to try, fail, and try again in a supportive environment of our trusted peers. Sessions always include a fair amount of sweat and laughter, and often moments of mind-blowing inspiration. We cast our productions from the Training Ensemble whenever possible, ensuring that we have worked with each other and have a shared aesthetic framework before we commit to creating a play together.

What Happens if I Get in?

Accepted ensemble members will be invited to train once a month. Whether or not you are accepted into the ensemble, we will be touch to let you know our decision by early October.

How Much Does it Cost to be in the Training Ensemble?

Training is free for the Blessed Unrest Ensemble!

Not interested in training regularly, but want to take a peek in and see what it is we do? Stay tuned for information on our quarterly Community Training Days, where all are welcome. In the meantime, share this audition announcement with your friends!

Help Blessed Unrest turn 25 in '25!

As Blessed Unrest approaches our 25th anniversary, we urgently need your support to ensure we can continue to thrive for the next 25 years. Independent theater plays a crucial role in nurturing emerging artists and enriching our cultural landscape.

Our goal is to raise $50,000 in order to expand our Ensemble Training Program, to implement the necessary changes to Blessed Unrest’s organizational structure, and to mount our spring production.

Donate Now!

We are one of the last, if not the last, remaining theatre companies in NYC offering free, ongoing ensemble training in physical theatre techniques. Accessibility to the arts should not be a luxury, and Blessed Unrest keeps the arts accessible to audiences and artists alike.

Thank you for considering a gift to Blessed Unrest. Your support fuels our mission, provides free training to our Ensemble, and helps us continue our work. Together, we can make a lasting impact and bring arts and community to those who need it most.

Blessed Unrest is a subversive physical theater ensemble that transforms new and classic plays into channels for unexpected alchemy, energetic discomfort, and complex articulation. Through a dedicated and diverse ensemble, international collaborations, and a rigorous training and devising process, we are fueled by the innate human desire to collaborate, the thrill of the impossible challenge, and the instinctual need to rebel. We teach our methods of physical theatre and devising to university students across the country and internationally through workshops and residencies.

We have performed at New York Theatre Workshop Next Door, Public Theater, P.S. 122, New Ohio Theatre, Baruch Performing Arts Center, Interart Theatre, NYU’s Loewe Theatre, Columbia University, Manhattan School of Music, San Francisco’s Exit Theatre, Emelin Theatre in Westchester, the Provincetown Tennessee Williams Theater Festival and on international tours in Western Europe and the Balkans. We have staged thirty-two full productions in New York (nineteen world premieres), including original devised plays, adaptations of classics, and stagings of established scripts. See our past productions here.

Recently

Yale Innovation Summit

Artistic Director, Jessica Burr was honored to be a part of the Arts & Innovation: Centering Creators in the Creative Economy panel at the annual Yale Innovation Summit which, for the very first time ever included an Arts Track, helmed by the Midnight Oil Collective. Watch excerpts from the panel below.

“What happens is that the surrounding structures get valued more than the art itself, more than the process. We are supposed to make something from nothing in about three weeks' time. If we are going to be allowed to do our job in society: to see your heart, to heal your soul, to understand the inside of the human condition, we need to be allowed process. We need time, we need resources.”