Torn Space Theater is pleased to announce it has been approved by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) for a Grants for Arts Projects award of $25,000. This grant will support a digital arts performance series with the Buffalo audiovisual collective Groupwork. 

“Projects like Torn Space Theater exemplify the creativity and care with which communities are telling their stories, creating connection, and responding to challenges and opportunities in their communities—all through the arts,” said NEA Chair Maria Rosario Jackson, PhD. “So many aspects of our communities such as cultural vitality, health and wellbeing, infrastructure, and the economy are advanced and improved through investments in art and design, and the National Endowment for the Arts is committed to ensuring people across the country benefit.”

“Torn Space has been working closely with Groupwork for the past few years and we are thrilled to strengthen this partnership through funding from the NEA. This collaborative project will explore the possibilities of the digital arts and create immersive performance environments that both groups are known for.” – Dan Shanahan, Artistic Director

Beginning in May 2025, Torn Space Theater (TST) will partner with Buffalo-based audio-visual artist collective Groupwork to develop original multimedia performances that integrate digital technologies in its newly-renovated flexible performance space. The project will consist of two new original productions, a digital arts residency that culminates in a third collaborative production, and community workshops. This series builds on two previous successful productions by Groupwork at Torn Space- middle distance: a guided calibration (2023) and inversion/presence, and marks the evolution of the theater company as a performance laboratory where multimedia artists can experiment with new forms of contemporary performance and audience engagement. This initiative will be supported by the completion of a nearly $5 million renovation of its east side home to create a complete multi-use arts campus geared for community engagement.

The project will enrich and amplify Buffalo’s digital art scene and foster connections with the broader world of digital arts. Inspired by events series such as Ambient Church (Brooklyn), CURRENTS New Media Festival (Santa Fe), Gray Area Festival (San Francisco), BEMIS (Omaha), Movement Electronic Music Festival (Detroit), Unsound Festival (Kraków; New York), and MUTEK (Montreal), TST and Groupwork aim to push boundaries, nurture innovation, and expand access to the digital arts in Buffalo and beyond.

About Groupwork

Groupwork is a Buffalo-based collective that seeks to create complex, multidimensional projects, blending experiential design, visual arts, and sound engineering. 

For more information on other projects included in the NEA’s grant announcement, visit arts.gov/news.

This month Torn Space is breaking ground on the final stage of our multi-phase capital project, creating a campus setting geared for community engagement, complimenting and supporting recent neighborhood revitalization efforts, increasing the capacity and volume of an outdoor performance area, and transforming the site into a larger multi-use space focused on integrating the campus outward towards Wilson Street and Paderewski Drive. Since 2000, Torn Space has produced theater in residence at the Adam Mickiewicz Library and Dramatic Circle, which itself has been a home dedicated to literature and the avant-garde since it was founded in 1895.

Torn Space launched the first phase of construction in 2017, beginning with the transformation of an old gas station building into a multi-use meeting, design and workspace. Phase two was completed in 2021 and completely transformed the main performance space into a state-of-the-art black box theater space. Phase three focuses on the community-facing amenities, improving flow between the two buildings and providing a more comfortable experience for visiting audiences and artists. With the introduction of Torn Space’s INTERSECTION: Performance Series following Phase two, more interdisciplinary performance artists and collaborators have been invited to experiment and explore their craft in the ever-improving facilities as Torn Space transitions to serving as a platform for developing artists from the richly creative Buffalo community and beyond. 

Coming up at Torn Space this spring is the second iteration of Ladies First, a recurring event curated by Sneakvibing’s Schondra Aytch showcasing female hip hop artists. This season also includes LUCA by artist Tansy Xiao, an artist-in-residence for UB’s Coalesce: Center for Biological Arts, and an immersive sound and light installation by Groupwork. Torn Space will present two original performances, CrossWalk, a fashion-party-as-performance at the theater, and Commensality at Silo City. Each project continues community collaborations developed with genre cross-pollination, creative placemaking, and bold performance experimentation in mind, all of which Torn Space has explored through its two decades of production work in our east side neighborhood, at Silo City for ten years, and across the region, gaining international recognition.

Torn Space Theater has raised over $5 million over the course of this capital project. To complete the final phase of construction, Torn Space is inviting the public to join the final push toward reaching the fundraising goal.

“We are now inviting our longtime supporters, collaborators and the greater community to become partners in the final transformation of our multi-use, historically significant home. We have dedicated the last eight years to this project, which sets the stage for even greater investment in Buffalo’s East Side and we’re proud to be part of its renaissance.”

-Artistic Director Dan Shanahan

Support Torn Space’s Capital Campaign

Torn Space has been selected to the internationally curated exhibition Acts of Assembly as part of the Prague Quadrennial. Torn Space will join Netherlands, Uruguay, Spain, Greece, France and Brazil among others countries in this international survey of the best in contemporary stage design and scenography 

The Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space was established in 1967 to bring the best of design for performance, scenography, and theater architecture to the front line of cultural activities. 

The Performance Space Exhibition: Acts of Assembly

The Performance Space Exhibition explores how theaters and performance spaces operate as acts of assembly and sites for community: creating connections, facilitating encounters, and functioning as sites for social action and the making of culture. In approaching performance space through the concept of assembly three related meanings are set in play in this exhibition: firstly, that of assembly as the gathering of a group or crowd of people, secondly, assembly as the putting together or construction of an object or piece of machinery, and thirdly, assembly as the gathering of a deliberative or decision-making body.

Torn Space’s Installation: DECADE

An installation of monitors will display a rapid succession of images and sound that capture Torn Space’s decade-long exploration of creating performance within an abandoned campus of grain elevators.

An installation of monitors will display a rapid succession of images and sound that capture Torn Space’s decade-long exploration of creating performance within an abandoned campus of grain elevators. The company has developed site-based performances within the context of the public ritual by a fictitious society composed of traditional and non-traditional performers; ranging from military re-enactors, marching bands, blacksmiths, horseback riders, boxers, farm animals, gospel singers, operating engineers, to name a few; providing a unique patchwork of early 21st century America.

Decade acts as an archaeological excavation of this society and its ceremonies, asking the question: what can we make from what is left behind? Viewers will experience remnants of images, sound and architecture providing an entry point into this realm of performance.

“Focusing on the dynamics of different acts of assembly, and positing performance itself as an assemblage, the exhibition explores the productive continuities and antagonisms between more traditional theatre architectures and the broader emergent qualities of performance spaces”

• Andrew Filmer, Curator of the exhibition 

Torn Space Theater has received $500,000 to continue Phase 3 of its capital improvements, building on major renovations of its performance space, a neighboring gas station-turned design studio, and the landscaping of its East Side home at the Adam Mickiewicz Library and Dramatic Circle. This funding supports Torn Space’s continued commitment to the revitalization of our community space on the corner of Fillmore Ave. and Paderewski in the Broadway-Fillmore district.

“I want to thank County Executive Mark Poloncarz and the Erie County Legislature for their continued commitment to the arts in Erie County.  The County’s recent investment in capital projects for small and mid-sized cultural intuitions will make a tremendous impact on our community. Torn Space’s upcoming capital project creates a campus setting geared towards community engagement and supports recent neighborhood revitalization efforts in the Broadway/Fillmore corridor. This compelling project integrates considerations of design, accessibility, community engagement, smart growth and is a synthesis of historic preservation with contemporary art.” – Dan Shanahan, Artistic Director

Torn Space was one of 37 smaller to mid-sized cultural organizations to receive major county funding earmarked by Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz for one-time construction, renovation and repair costs. Keep an eye out for more news about Phase 3 plans to connect Torn Space’s performance and design space, creating new opportunities for audience and production possibilities.

Torn Space has been selected to present an original featured performance at the Prague Quadrennial 2023, an international conference of contemporary performance and design. Torn Space was part of the U.S. exhibition in the 2019 quadrennial, featured alongside other extraordinary theaters across the country recognized for exemplary production design, but next summer they will have a designated space within which to present a new performance to premiere at the conference for attendees from across the world to view. Torn Space will transfer some of the PQ performance to Buffalo for a regional presentation later in the summer. For more information about the Prague Quadrennial, visit the page: Prague Quadrennial | Institut umění – Divadelní ústav (idu.cz)

On the heels of the premiere of The Encounter: Buffalo at Torn Space Theater in May, NYC-based Choreographer/Director Kimberly Bartosik returns to TST this month to develop a unique iteration of The Encounter which will premiere in NYC as part of French Institute/Alliance Francaise/FIAF’s prestigious Crossing the Line Festival. The work will feature performers and designers from NYC and Torn Space, and her residency will conclude with an in-process rehearsal open to the public. 

Please join us on Saturday, September 17, 8 PM at Torn Space Theater to witness her extraordinary cast in process and engage in a post-showing conversation. The showing is free and no RSVP is necessary.  

Initiated with a mix of teens from The Ailey School and professional dancers, The Encounter blossomed from the celebratory energy and gratitude of choreographer and former member of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company Kimberly Bartosik and her return to the studio post-quarantine.

The work is an encounter with oneself, pulling from what we are currently carrying in our bodies–grief, hope, fear, desire, newfound power– and pairs it with our dreams in this moment of reconciliation with time. Working with communities around the world merging professional, pre-professional, and non-professional performers, The Encounter is an intergenerational cross-geographic, global conversation about the ferocious power of the body as a form of communication and the potency of movement as a connective language.

Following the Buffalo residency, The Encounter will premiere at the FIAF Le Skyroom in NYC Thursday October 6 – Saturday Oct 8, 7:30pm. Tickets for these performances are available at the FIAF link:  https://fiaf.org/event/2022-ctl-the-encounter/ For more information about The Encounter, visit the website: https://www.daela.org/the-encounter

Photo Credit: Maria Baranova

Empire State Development (ESD) announced the completion of Torn Space Theater’s (TST) $1.2 million interior and exterior renovation project. The theater, located on Buffalo’s East Side, now has an expanded and upgraded performance space that is integrated with reclaimed green space surrounding the newly restored building at 608 Fillmore Avenue, creating a beautiful, walkable campus that invites community engagement. ESD and TST will host a ribbon cutting ceremony on June 23 at 6:45 PM in the upgraded theater space at 612 Fillmore Ave.

“This project isn’t just an investment in Torn Space Theater, it’s an investment in the entire surrounding community, creating an enticing environment to attract new visitors to the neighborhood while also showcasing the rich history of Buffalo’s East Side,” said Empire State Development Acting Commissioner and President & CEO-Designate Eric Gertler.  “We applaud the theater’s staff and volunteers for completing a project that will be enjoyed and appreciated for years to come.”

“Torn Space Theater is committed to the long-term viability of the historic Broadway/Fillmore neighborhood,” said Dan Shanahan, Torn Space Theater Founder and Artistic Director.  “The completion of this phase of construction ensures that we will be able to produce and present the very best in contemporary performance, host artistic residencies and continue to facilitate meaningful conversations with local and international artists. Torn Space, along with the Adam Mickiewicz Library and Dramatic Circle look forward to providing a space where the community can engage with thought provoking performance, lectures and literature while enjoying the authentic Polonia tavern.”

Torn Space Theater – in partnership with the Adam Mickiewicz Library and Dramatic Circle – is undertaking a phased initiative to create a campus setting geared for community engagement that compleiments and supports recent neighborhood revitalization efforts, and encourages future investments in Broadway-Fillmore. The expansion and site improvements revitalize not only the theater but also a section of Fillmore Avenue that provides a strategic link to established East Side landmarks—such as the Broadway Market, St. Stanislaus Church and Central Terminal—and emerging ones, including urban farms, the renovation of the former Schreiber Brewery, and a Buddhist cultural center. The site is also on a major north/south transit corridor connecting Larkinville with the Broadway/Fillmore commercial district.

The latest phase of the renovation project, titled Hidden Identities, designed by architectural firm Studio North, integrates performance space with the outdoor grounds surrounding the newly restored Light Station design and production studio adjacent to the theater at 612 Fillmore Avenue. The project increases capacity and volume of the interior performance space and transforms it into a multi-use, state-of-the-art performance facility while restoring the exterior of the historic Adam Mickiewicz Library and Dramatic Circle. 

Through ESD, Torn Space Theater applied for and was awarded $748,000 from the East Side Corridor Economic Development Fund. As part of Buffalo Billion Phase II placemaking strategy, $65 million has been dedicated  by Governor Andrew M. Cuomo to revitalization efforts on the city’s East Side through investments in stabilizing neighborhoods and ensuring opportunities for homeownership; strengthening commercial corridors by promoting mixed use, walkable districts; improving regionally significant historical and natural assets; expanding opportunities for workforce connections; and supporting and growing entrepreneurship.

Light Station was opened in November 2017 and includes dressing rooms, a conference area, a green room and set construction and load-in space. Architect Christopher Romano and his firm Studio North won two American Institute of Architects (AIA) awards for the transformational repurposing of the former gas mart into a stunning architectural centerpiece for Torn Space. 

Torn Space founders, Dan Shanahan and Melissa Meola, create original, aesthetically innovative performances; introduce internationally renowned, contemporary performance to Western New York; and cultivate the collaboration of actors, composers, sculptors, video artists and designers within their productions. Drawing from the leading edge of the global avant-garde, TST offers both original drama and new interpretations of existing plays. Using vivid imagery that both entertains and challenges the audience’s theatrical expectations, TST fully incorporates other arts disciplines—e.g., media, music, and the visual arts—into its design aesthetic.

Buffalo, NY – Manmade Earth, which had work-in-progress performances in fall of 2018 at Torn Space Theater, was presented as part of the Crossing the Line Festival at The Invisible Dog Art Center in Brooklyn, NY in September.  The 600 HIGHWAYMEN co-production includes students from Lafayette International High School who, through a partnership with Torn Space Theater, took part in the development of the show. The show returns to Torn Space Theater for a limited run November 23-24, 29, 30 and December 1, 2019. 

“This project is a result of Torn Space’s commitment to working with leading cutting edge companies and connecting local artists with national and international platforms for contemporary performance”. Dan Shanahan, Artistic Director.

In Manmade Earth, eight teenagers from the Congo, Egypt, Malaysia, Somalia, Syria, Tanzania, and the United States — each with a unique path into this country — come together to create a new landscape on stage. With an abundance of materials, including cardboard, ladders, buckets, and wood, Manmade Earth binds the audience and performers in an experiment of communal construction. An investigation of permanence, stability, guts, and endurance, this new work from Obie Award–winning 600 HIGHWAYMEN asks what can we build from here and where will we go next?

Information on 600 HIGHWAYMEN can be found at: https://www.600highwaymen.org

Torn Space creates theater. Founded by Dan Shanahan and Melissa Meola, Torn Space Theater (TST) aims to create original, aesthetically innovative performances; to introduce internationally-renowned, contemporary drama to Western New York; and to cultivate the collaboration of actors, composers, sculptors, video artists and designers within our productions. Drawing from the leading edge of the global avant-garde, TST offers both original drama and new interpretations of existing plays. Using vivid imagery that both entertains and challenges our audience’s theatrical expectations, TST fully incorporates other arts disciplines (e.g., media, music, and the visual arts) into our design aesthetic.

Torn Space and its team of designers have been selected to represent the United States at the 2019 Prague Quadrennial, which takes place June 6-16. The company’s 2015 production “They Kill Things” will be featured in the Professional/Transformation Exhibit in Prague, Czech Republic.

After reviewing nearly 300 submissions, Torn Space along with a select group of other companies has been chosen to represent the United States at the international theater design conference.

The Prague Quadrennial is the largest performance design event in the world; it is often described as the Olympics or the Venice Biennale for performance designers.  

Torn Space’s selection highlights the work the company and its team of designers have been doing within the field of site-based performance and in particular their recent work at Silo City. In a statement to Prague Quadrennial, Dan Shanahan and Melissa Meola, Co-founders of Torn Space said:

Ultimately site-based work is about giving the audience an experience that they participate with; bringing them to different spaces, providing curated vantage points, while presenting them with images that are both collective and self-enclosed. It’s about creating a collective ritual that looks to the ancients while being fixed in the present tense

The Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space was established in 1967 to bring the best of design for performance, scenography, and theatre architecture to the front line of cultural activities to be experienced by professional and emerging artists as well as the general public.

The Prague Quadrennial has been a major factor in shaping the direction of world theatre and live performance for the past four decades. More info about the Prague Quadrennial can be found at usitt.org.

The exhibit was initially displayed at the USITT Conference & Stage Expo (Louisville, KY) in March of 2019, before traveling to Prague in June of this year.

The work on display is a testament to the highly skilled designers and artists working with Torn Space from the Buffalo arts community.

Torn Space invested in expansion and site improvements that will revitalize not only the theater, but also a section of Fillmore Avenue that provides a strategic link to established East Side landmarks (Broadway Market, St. Stanislaus Church, Central Terminal) and emerging ones, including urban farms and a Buddhist cultural center. The site is also on a major north/south transit corridor connecting Larkinville with the Broadway/Fillmore commercial district.

The campaign to continue improvements is ongoing and to date, the company has raised $1,009,150 toward its goal of $1.5 million.

Torn Space has completed the renovation of 608 Fillmore, transforming an abandoned gas mart into a 1,545 sq. design studio, green room and conference facility. The exterior has been transformed into a signature architectural structure, veiled in steel panels custom-designed by Rigidized Metals under the direction of architect Christopher Romano. In the spring, green space, landscaping and an outdoor courtyard will transform the surrounding property.

This project has the enthusiastic support of local organizations: Larkin Development Group, South Broadway Association, and the Fillmore Corridor Neighborhood Coalition. One of our primary objectives with the project is to raise the cultural visibility of the east side.

Construction Project

ARCHITECTURE + CONSTRUCTION

• Design Architect: Natalie Tan, AIA, of Integrated Environments + Architecture
• Architect of Record: Stieglitz Snyder Architecture
• Construction Manager: R&P Oak Hill
• Project Manager: Jeannine Yager-Aiello, Y.A.D.S. — Yager Architectural Design Services, Architect

FACADE + FABRICATION: Light/Station at Torn Space

• Facade Designer and Fabrication Consultant: Christopher Romano, Studio NORTH Architecture
• Design Assistants: Daniel Vrana, Brandon Stone, and David Heaton
• Facade Manufacturer: Rigidized Metals Corporation