the collective
The Anatomy Collective is dedicated to exploring and developing performance at the intersection of multiple artistic disciplines. By engaging and combining diverse and seemingly disparate forms of creative expression we can enrich the creative experience for the audience and the artist.
To continue to provide the community with developing and evolving work we also take a new approach to the standard company, as a collective we hope to engage diverse audiences and spectators by keeping those at the spear head of the creative work diverse in approach, including visual artists, narrative writers, dancers, puppeteers, composers and more.
As we evolve so should our modes of communication and expression, to this end the Anatomy Collective is committed to creating work that will speak to non traditional audiences by creating non traditional work. We believe the categorization of art forms inhibits and creates a divide in the creative community and beyond. Each story deserves its' own voice in the telling.
" I have the idea of putting into operation a new gathering-together of the human world's activities, idea of a new 'anatomy'. My drawings are 'anatomies' in action."
- Antonin Artaud
the community
The Chicago Underground Library is a project that aims to create a location-specific archive of self and small press-published works from the Chicago area. Through a searchable online archive and a physical space, it will open new opportunities for research, inspiration, and collaboration among those in and outside of the publishing community. By putting fiction, critical journals, zines, poetry, comics, political pamphlets, and art books side by side, CUL hopes to bridge the gaps resultant from stratification along the lines of content, production value, and commercial viability.
The Anatomy Collective and the Chicago Underground Library have teamed up to bring the library’s collection of Orphan Works to life; by taping the library’s orphaned collection, TAC will present original pieces inspired by these works. What are Orphan Works all about? YOUR Community. There is an ongoing debate on the status of "orphan" works. These sometimes anonymous works, or works for which further information on the author cannot be found, are in danger of being lost. A number of groups and individuals are fighting to keep them free for creative reuse and artistic exploration. This is OUR heritage. These Chicago orphans may never again see the light of day unless someone adopts them.
Lucid Street Theatre is a small performance collective dedicated to providing the Chicago community with engaging, innovative, affordable public performances that transform the everyday and spark genuine human connection. Our focus is on utilizing non-traditional spaces, source materials, and performance mediums to create theatre that draws the audience out of passivity and into action, both mental and physical. Thus far, performances include 2007's i'm worried my body is falling apart, 2008's Up From the Earth and the ensemble-devised A Humechanical Nightmare, and 2009's Monster/Girl.
Lucid Street Theatre's current collaboration with The Anatomy Collective as Lucid/Anatomy is an exploration of mutation and what makes us human. This investigation brought about many questions: What makes us quintessentially who we are? How do we connect with each other as we lose our personal histories? How does this affect our collective consciousness as a community? From the individual brain cell to the macrocosms, change is inescapable. How do we maintain our grip on who we are in the midst of the metamorphoses? Can we? As King Lear once asked, "Who is it that can tell me who I am?"
In 2005 ConcreteCloudTheatreCo. in Melbourne, Australia (have/hold) and the Anatomy Collective in Chicago, IL (Many Things are Destroying Me 2) combined to push theatre past the immediate confines of time and space. Same script, same weekend in December, two audiences half a world apart offered the chance to dialogue. Through blogs, comment cards, and online footage the audiences shared their perspectives across the globe. This feedback was later used as the base for waking; featuring six world premiere short works the plays in waking were written by three American and three Australian playwrights, all in response to the comment cards from audience members of both performances. Together ConcreteCloudTheatreCo. and the Anatomy Collective facilitated an evening created by the combined work of international artists and international audiences, interwoven with original music by Nicholas Roy and visual art from Emily Benson, Craig Burgess and Timmah Ball.