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foolsFURY Theater Company
FoolsFURY was founded in 1998 by Artistic Director Ben Yalom, who was eager to broaden the idea of what theater could be for a contemporary audience. Since then we have been named the city’s “Best Theater Company” by the San Francisco Weekly, awarded the Bay Guardian’s GOLDIE award for outstanding local theater group, and received much acclaimed as well as notoriety. We create boundary pushing plays, including numerous world and West Coast premieres, placing a premium on the creation process, spending longer periods developing our work than most mainstream American theaters, aiming for greater innovation, complexity, and collaboration. We are based in San Francisco, but also tour our works throughout the US.
Some recent productions include the world premieres of Sheila Callaghan’s PORT OUT, STARBOARD HOME (Z Space in San Francisco and La Mama in New York), MONSTER IN THE DARK, our collaboration with novelist Doug Dorst, and FAULTED by foolsFURY company member Angela Santillo. In 2006 we translated and produced the American premiere of French playwright Fabrice Melquiot’s THE DEVIL ON ALL SIDES. This show was a success in both San Francisco and New York (PS 122), and a book of our translations of Melquiot’s plays was published in 2016. In October 2017 we premiered (dis)Place[d] and Sheryl, Hamlet, and Me, two original works by Deborah Eliezer and Michelle Haner, women members of foolsFURY. We are currently booking numerous touring engagements for these plays.
We are the region’s premiere home for training in contemporary physical performance. We offer workshops taught by members of the ensemble, or by master teachers of national repute, such as Anne Bogart’s SITI Company, Pig Iron, Deb Slater, Mary Overlie, and more. In recent years, actors who have trained with us have appeared on every major stage in the region, from ACT and Berkeley Rep to the SF Opera and San Jose Rep. No other company in the area provides similar programs.
We also support and present the work of hundreds of other theater makers, choreographers, and circus artists through the FURY Factory Festival of Collaborative and Devised Theater, described in detail above. And through our BRIDGE internship and apprentice programs, we help dozens of young artists and arts administrators cross the chasm between academic work and professional theater making, particularly focusing on ensemble and collaborative models.
Some recent productions include the world premieres of Sheila Callaghan’s PORT OUT, STARBOARD HOME (Z Space in San Francisco and La Mama in New York), MONSTER IN THE DARK, our collaboration with novelist Doug Dorst, and FAULTED by foolsFURY company member Angela Santillo. In 2006 we translated and produced the American premiere of French playwright Fabrice Melquiot’s THE DEVIL ON ALL SIDES. This show was a success in both San Francisco and New York (PS 122), and a book of our translations of Melquiot’s plays was published in 2016. In October 2017 we premiered (dis)Place[d] and Sheryl, Hamlet, and Me, two original works by Deborah Eliezer and Michelle Haner, women members of foolsFURY. We are currently booking numerous touring engagements for these plays.
We are the region’s premiere home for training in contemporary physical performance. We offer workshops taught by members of the ensemble, or by master teachers of national repute, such as Anne Bogart’s SITI Company, Pig Iron, Deb Slater, Mary Overlie, and more. In recent years, actors who have trained with us have appeared on every major stage in the region, from ACT and Berkeley Rep to the SF Opera and San Jose Rep. No other company in the area provides similar programs.
We also support and present the work of hundreds of other theater makers, choreographers, and circus artists through the FURY Factory Festival of Collaborative and Devised Theater, described in detail above. And through our BRIDGE internship and apprentice programs, we help dozens of young artists and arts administrators cross the chasm between academic work and professional theater making, particularly focusing on ensemble and collaborative models.