The Incubator Arts Project, a well-regarded experimental performance company, announced on Wednesday that it would close in July after deciding not to renew its lease at St. Mark’s Church in the East Village. In a statement, Incubator’s leaders were vague about the reasons for the decision but others involved with the company said the closing was due to the difficulty of raising money and generating revenue – a challenge faced by many theaters of all budget sizes.
Shannon Sindelar, one of the curators at Incubator, said in a telephone interview on Wednesday that the decision to close the company – after a successful run of presenting about 20 premieres a year as well as other works – was a painful one.
“We had specific goals about how to support artists, financially and otherwise, and over the years we’ve been able to achieve those goals to varying success,” said Ms. Sindelar, who also directs shows. “Recently, getting to a solid place where we and the artists could meet halfway became more difficult. And the reality is, since the recession, theaters and artists have really struggled with getting enough financial support.”
Relying in part on foundation and government financial support, Incubator Arts Project presented cutting-edge plays, musicals, concerts, adaptions, film installations and other new works year-round; its last production was the critically praised “Chang in a Void Moon,” an absurdist serial about a scam artist; its creator has been writing new episodes on and off since 1982. In recent years the company has also mounted its Other Forces festival of innovative new works in January at St. Mark’s.
A variety of ad-hoc theater endeavors came together under the Incubator umbrella in 2005 as a program of Ontological-Hysteric Theater, the acclaimed avant-garde company founded by the playwright and director Richard Foreman. Mimi Johnson, the managing director of Ontological-Hysteric, said in a telephone interview that Incubator Arts Project had been struggling financially.
“It’s extremely hard work to run a theater, to the extent that one can actually pay the bills and pay the staff what is required,” Ms. Johnson said. “All of the curators of the project have worked very, very hard, and we’ve worked hard. But we’ve been unable to raise the money to keep going, period.”