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A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF THE PERFORMANCE COMPANY

Founded in New York City in 1984 by Artistic Directors Kari Margolis and Tony Brown, the Company is dedicated to the creation of original theatre born directly from the imaginations of the ensemble.  The Company has created seventeen full-evening productions as well as several large-scale, site specific performances for such places as the Brooklyn Museum, the Minnesota Science Museum and the beach at Coney Island NY.  The Company has toured nationally and to Barcelona, Berlin, London, Singapore and throughout Canada and Mexico. 

Under the creative guidance of Margolis and Brown, the company has achieved both critical and popular acclaim for its signature physically-charged approach to theater. Known for spectacular ensemble imagery, a rapier wit and the marriage of cutting edge multimedia technology with a muscular and emotionally rich acting style, the company creates theatrical experiences that Alan M. Kriegsman of the Washington Post hailed as... "so exciting, so original, so unexpected it renews your faith in the artistic future". The Company has been researching its latest production, HEADSHOT! over the past year and a half, and will be in rehearsal Summer 2015 to perform at NACL Theatre August 15th and 16th. More information HERE.

The MB ADAPTORS Company was resident company at the acclaimed BACA Downtown Arts Space from 1985 to 1988, where it premiered AUTOBAHN, DECODANCE, THE BED EXPERIMENT ONE and SUITE SIXTEEN.  In 1989 it opened its own performance space and multimedia studio in downtown Brooklyn where it produced KOPPELVISION and OTHER DIGITAL DEITIES, THE DILEMMA OF DESMODUS & DIPHYLLA and CAFE PARADISE.   

The Company relocated from NYC to Minneapolis in 1993, where it played a leading role in the Twin Cities active artistic community and created VIDPIRES!, VANISHING POINT, STARRY MESSENGER, AMERICAN SAFARI, SLEEPWALKERS and THE HUMAN SHOW.  

In 2004, the Company began to establish the Margolis Method Center in the Town of Highland NY, while continuing to premiere its productions in the Twin Cities. In 2010, the Company officially relocated, setting up residence full time in the Town of Highland, NY.  Since relocating, the Company has produced a series of Behind the Scenes performances as well as CYCLOPEDIA, IN SEARCH OF TONTO BLUE and PULLING STRINGS.  

At universities nationally, the Company has devised works with students including DEJA VU at Fort Lewis College, INSULA at Montclair State University and THE LOVE ME KNOT at Viterbo University.  

The Company has received funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, the Brooklyn Arts Council, the Minnesota State Arts Board, the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council, the Bush Foundation, Dayton Hudson Foundation, Jerome Foundation, Target Foundation and private donors.

Thank You To Our International HEADSHOT! Project Donors

MB ADAPTORS Company would like to express our profound gratitude to the donors of our Indiegogo campaign, who helped make Phases II and III of the HEADSHOT! Project a success. Thanks to: Maggie Anderson, Erica Babad, Kelly Alice Bahlke, Sue Barnes, Quinn Bivins, Wally & Julie Bivins, Katharine Brehm, Rusty Brown, Beth Byrd-Lonski, Jeff Braswell and Ginger Oppenheimer, Barbara Christensen, Janet Clarke. Micheal Cleary, Kim Cunningham, Julie Dalgleish, Chuck Delaney, Anna DeMers, Emily DiCarlo, Lisa Ebeltoft, John Egan, Shain Larry Fishman, Andrew Flack, Stephanie Harper ,Jihan Heasman, Tim Heitman, Annie Hewlett, Erik Hoover, Renee Howard, Anna Jany, Alba José, Michal Kolbialka, Pam Kuntz, May Lane, Laura Ledford, Kathy Lynch-Knobloch, Juliette Machado, Ella Mahler, Diane Manley, Kat Mann, Benjamin Margolis, Josh Margolis, Stuart Margolis, Carolyn McCarthy, Carrie McCutcheon, Rhoda & Daren Mehl, Belinda Mello, Millikin Margolis Students 2015, Ximena Montieth, Frank and Beth Moseley, Denise Myers, Rachel Nelson, Gabrielle Nomura, Janice Orlandi, Charles Petersheim, Joseph Ritsch, Martha Rockwell, SallyRowe, Jonathan Saliger, Dan Sassenberg, Jon Seeley, Pam Sinnett, Elizabeth Smith, Robert Speck, Alan Stein, Jennifer Stott Madsen, Alex Swanson, Carter Timmins, John Tomlinson, Angelica Vesseli, Larry Wechsler, Christina Wienhold, Bill Wilson, Patty Wycoff, and the many anonymous donors.

ARTISTIC STATEMENT

Our artistic goal is to reflect on life rather than imitate it. The Company seeks in all its productions, to reveal the extraordinary within the ordinary and believes that within the suspended animated world of theatre there lies a place where universal ideas can touch an audience on a personal level. For the Company, it is this point of connection that makes for great theatre.

In working to create a new modern theatre, we are inspired to first look back to ancient theatre forms where theatre was a transformative communal experience. We find in theatre’s ritualistic roots an intriguing and powerful performer who embodied the skill sets of actor, dancer, singer and puppeteer. We also find a performance event that was so essential, one could barely separate the experience of the viewer from that of the performer. It is this heartfelt level of connection with an audience we seek today.

Our commitment to this goal is so deep that the Company has, since 1984, been exploring new ways to tell stories that challenge the traditional linear narrative in order to move an audience on a visceral level and stimulate their imaginations. The creation of such a theatre experience has called on us to create a new kind of actor and redefine the actor’s place within the creative process.

The pursuit of this actor has led to the Margolis Method, an in-depth theatre training approach built on three decades of studio research and professional application. What initially started as a means to train the Company’s ensemble, has now become a recognized body of work that has taken hold in universities, theaters and with individuals worldwide.

Training is an ongoing part of company life, and the Company and Training Center have always maintained a symbiotic relationship, one inspiring the other.  The Company produces a new production approximately every year to eighteen months, and also collaborates on devised productions during extended residencies at universities. 

While economics and politics have made ensemble theatre something of an anomaly in the United States today, the Company has always remained vigorously committed to maintaining a “home” for a group of artists to train, grow, create and ultimately, contribute back to society. We believe that ensemble theatre — a group of people united in mind, muscle and breath -- demonstrates the power of coming together and can help us remember just how generous the human spirit can be.