Adam L Sussman

THE BACKYARD PLAYS

I am a strong advocate for making work outside of theatre spaces, and when I first moved to the west coast I had no other choice. Without enough money to rent a venue and with few connections in town, I started taking part in the annual International Home Theatre Festival, creating work that investigated the question, “what makes homemade theatre unique?” My starting place for each of these productions was thinking of a project I had always wanted to direct, then asking how I could make it happen for $200 or less in my backyard. In the end it was a utopian project that allowed me to experiment as a writer, director, performer and designer while building a community of collaborators.