Sinking Ship creates work that is the theatrical version of circumnavigating the globe in a questionably seaworthy vessel: grand and ridiculous, unadvisedly ambitious, and possibly delusional as we sail full tilt to the horizon.
Sinking Ship Productions, a New York-based theater company, is the creative collaboration between Jonathan Levin and Josh Luxenberg. We work with a core group of Associate Artists, combining physical theater, puppetry, music and movement in delightful, strange and unexpected ways. Our productions have grappled with concepts such as the creation and destruction of the universe as imagined by science fiction writers, how a man's search for connection could ultimately lead to complete isolation, and the limits of human understanding through the search for extra dimensions of space in theoretical physics. We like big ideas.
History
Founded in 2008, Sinking Ship’s original works include Cassandra, an Agony, a modern telling of the myth of Cassandra (commissioned by the Getty Museum in L.A.), The 7th Voyage of Egon Tichy, an original live streaming performance based on the story by Stanislaw Lem (Theater in Quarantine; New York Times Critic’s Pick); A Hunger Artist, based on the story by Franz Kafka (premiere at Connelly Theater, 2017, co-produced by The Tank’s Flint & Tinder series, nominated for Drama Desk Awards for Outstanding Solo Performance and for Outstanding Puppet Design; UK premiere at Edinburgh Fringe, 2017, WINNER - Summhall's Lustrum Award for Excellence; tours in the US and Europe), Powerhouse, about the idiosyncratic composer Raymond Scott (workshop at FringeNYC, 2010; premiere at New Ohio Theatre, 2014, O’Neill Playwrights Conference Finalist, 2012; New York Times Critic’s Pick), there will come soft rains, a triptych of science fiction stories (FringeNYC, extended at Barrow Street Theater, 2008), ModrnTim.es (work-in-progress, Dixon Place’s Little Theater), Section B, a site-specific séance in several tries; Ocean (work-in-progress, Mabou Mines Resident Artist Program, 2016), and Flatland (work-in-progress, EST/Sloan Foundation Commission, 2010).
In addition to producing original work, Sinking Ship also runs the popular puppet and music series Puppet Playlist, which has played to sold-out crowds since 2009, becoming one of New York's premiere venues for original short-form puppetry.
People have said nice things
“[Audiences are] constantly looking for the next new thing... and with this talented company, we may have found it.”
—Jason Zinoman, The New York Times
“Thrilling! ... the creative standard to which companies should be pushing themselves.
Aaron Riccio, Theater Talk's New Theater Corps
“The splendid Sinking Ship Productions… aiming to honor the mad, creative urge to perfectly transmute ideas into art... succeeds beautifully.”
David Cote, Time Out New York
“Highly original.”
—Will Friedwald, Wall Street Journal
Selected awards
Two Drama Desk Awards nominations for A Hunger Artist: Outstanding Solo Performance; Outstanding Puppet Design
Summerhall's Lustrum Award for Excellence at the Edinburgh Fringe for A Hunger Artist
UnitedSolo Fest Award for Best Satire for A Hunger Artist
Eugene O'Neill Playwrights Conference finalist for Powerhouse
FringeNYC Award for Outstanding Ensemble for Powerhouse
FringeNYC Award for Outstanding Direction for there will come soft rains