About Alchemical
The Alchemical is a creative space with six white box-studios and a gorgeous rooftop for the performing and visual arts. A true artistic laboratory where artists can engage in the research and development of new work through rehearsal, teaching and performance.
Our brand new space was designed and built specifically for your art, connection, respect & inspiration. Our two performance spaces & four other affordable clean rehearsal studios are uniquely inviting spaces for rehearsals, performances, readings, photography & video shoots, workshops, dance, fashion, lectures, auditions, screenings, and more.
We are proud to run an organization which serves a great diversity of NYC and international artists. The Alchemical is a safe haven to work in and create. It provides a uniquely inviting social atmosphere in which serious artists can find community and support. We closely attend to the needs of everyone who works here, and strive to maintain a respectful and constructive atmosphere to support the community we happily serve. We are an artist-run facility and understand the importance of your work.
By providing affordable space to emerging artists, as well as to established organizations who seek The Alchemical’s intimate environment, we strive to catalyze our dedication to supporting research into the contemporary meaning and nature of live performance.
Photo of dancer
Shaina McGregor
by Nicki Bosch
A Note from Founder Carlo Altomare
"I have always loved the work of producing and organizing a place where artists can develop and present their projects.
It’s a privilege and a creative endeavor in its vision and attention to detail. Every day I aspire toward
it being a work of art in itself. I see The Alchemical as such a place.
When I left The Living Theatre in 1979, it seemed clear to me that the theatre was primarily about the meeting of artist and public,
a creative public assembly. The occurrences on stage serve as a catalyst to ignite an often surprising experience of
how we see ourselves and one another, how we might better understand community,
or achieve a glimpse of inspired communion. This is the intended outcome of the alchemical opus."
Artistic Directors
Carlo Altomare is a director, producer, composer, and actor. In 2005, he co-founded Theaterlab just across 14th Street from The Alchemical's current location. He was Co-Artistic Director of Theaterlab for 7 years. He is also founder and presiding Director of ATL’s resident acting company, The Alchemical Theatre Company (1981-) which presented many works including the world premiere (1982) of There Is No More Firmament by Antonin Artaud, and devised an original piece, Pure War / The Madness of the Day based on the writing of Paul Virilio and Maurice Blanchot, last revived in 2011.
Mr. Altomare was a member of The Living Theatre from 1973-1980, devising and acting in the plays of The Legacy of Cain Cycle, and composing music for The Dismantling of The Money Tower and Prometheus. He returned to the LT in the late 80’s to compose and perform the music for The Tablets and I and I, and again in 2011 to stage Korach, the Biblical Anarchist, as assistant director to Judith Malina. He regards Malina and Julian Beck (founders of The Living Theatre) as his teachers and mentors.
He is an expert in the reconstruction of Meyerhold’s Biomechanics, a rigorous acting technique, in which the inner life of the character is evoked through physical means. He has developed an extended form of this study, which he calls Jazz Acting, which combines techniques of “non-fictional” acting with more traditional methods of naturalism. In 2006, Carlo directed the first Jazz Acting performance piece: Appearance – A Suspense in Being. He currently teaches Meyerhold’s Biomechanics and Jazz Acting at The Alchemical.
He has taught and lectured around the world in universities including The Sorbonne, The Max Rhienhardt Schule in Berlin, and DAMU in Czech Republic. One of his featured workshops was called Direct Action Workshop in which the participants created a piece in one week and performed it on the street. He taught over 50 Direct Action Workshops. The objective was also to teach collective creation and for the group to create a piece guided by an agreement in answer to, “What is the burning question of our times?”
His primary objective as a theatre educator and director is to bring the art of acting to the forefront as the centerpiece, and catalyst, of a revitalized contemporary theatre.
Gia Lisa Krahne is a healer, teacher, writer, dancer, actress, and affiliated with the grassroots Black Lives Matter movement. In 2011, she joined Artistic Director Carlo Altomare in re-establishing The Alchemical Theatre (1981-). Their first collaborative effort, Pure War / The Madness of the Day, part I of the trilogy Deus X Machina, was performed by the resident company of actors in 2011.
Gia performs, teaches, and creates with relentless devotion and attention- bridging her healing practices with her life as an artist and teacher. She is a productive poet and writer, as well as an accomplished theatre dancer, specializing in the repertoire of Bob Fosse. A former company member of General Mischief Dance Theatre.
She received her BA in psychology & English from NYU, honors in classical voice & piano from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, with further medical studies at Columbia University & Hunter, actors training at The New Actors Workshop, yogic studies at Sambhava School of Yoga (SLC), and her doctoral degree in Āyurvedic Medicine from Āyurved Sādhana. Gia also spent some intermittent years working in neuroscience at NYU Medical Center. She currently practices Āyurvedic medicine & body therapies.
In past years, she acted with The Living Theatre in Korach and Seven Meditations on Political Sado-Masochism. In 2010, she presented her solo dance piece, The Radiance, inspired by the tantric sutras, in collaboration with kirtan artist Leraine Horstmanshoff in Salt Lake City.
She has been teaching piano, singing, and acting to children and adults for 25+ years. Much of her ritual of study is devoted to teaching and practicing meditation, yoga, tantra, Āyurveda, and the Vedic sciences, in which she finds a deep confluence with her theatrical vision.
Staff
CYRUS KRAPF-ALTOMARE
(he/him)
Studio Manager
JASON TYUS SMITH
(he/him)
Studio Manager
woodslighting.com
Theatre Lighting Supervisor