We make plays that come from our personal and political dreams and nightmares and we do it fast.

The Representatives is the collaboration between playwright Stan Richardson and actor Matt Steiner. Through immersive presentations, non-traditional casting, and a dedication to presenting our work as soon as it’s written–often in people’s homes and other unconventional spaces–we seek to create a community that is committed to hyper-intimate, socially-relevant theatrical experiences.

Since 2012, we’ve presented 14 original works, ranging from our signature apartment plays to larger site-specific pieces on subject matter such as the financial crisis & Occupy Wall Street; Chelsea Manning & WikiLeaks; the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre; online dating; nihilism in 19th century Russia; the persecution of gays in Uganda; urban homelessness; the Fathers’ Rights movement; ISIS; the death of Whitney Houston; the forgotten victims of Ted Bundy; the riots in Ferguson; and the plight of transgender youth.  Our most recent production was a racially and ability-diverse telling of Stan Richardson’s Veritas, the tragic true story of a secret gay witch-hunt at Harvard in 1920, which Andy Webster of The New York Times called “agonizingly vivid”.

We believe that theater can and should be a force for change in society.  We are committed to creating experiences that begin with a play and continue with a broader conversation that encourages cultural and political awareness, information-sharing and action.

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Stan Richardson is a playwright and director from St. Louis.

A graduate of Tisch School of the Arts and Edward Albee’s Playwrights Workshop in Houston, TX, Stan’s plays, which include Veritas, The Children (with composer Hal Goldberg), wHormone, and The Tale of the Good Whistleblower of Chaillot’s Caucasian Mother and Her Other Children of a Lesser Marriage Chalk Circle (with composer Rachel Peters), have been developed at such venues as Second Stage, Ars Nova, Classic Stage Company, Dixon Place, PS122, The Brick Theatre and the New York Musical Theatre Festival.

 

 

Matt Steiner is an actor, director and teaching artist living in New York City.

He has appeared Off Broadway, in two national tours with The Acting Company, and in film & television. Matt trained as a clown in Switzerland & NYC and holds a BFA from CalArts. He is currently a full-time Teaching Artist for Lincoln Center Education.