Deep Space Performance Residency

Core to the NACL mission, DEEP SPACE is a performance residency program for artists and groups who are experimenting and making new works along the fringes of the mainstream. We believe performance that pushes the envelope of form and content requires time and space beyond what is customary, in order to allow artists to dig deeply into the processes of creation and production. DEEP SPACE provides artists with use of the NACL performance hall and artist residence for a period of rehearsal and development (one week residencies are typical, April-November) culminating in a public sharing with an invited audience.

Deep Space Performance Residencies support artists or ensembles creating new works at any stage in the development process, from concept through technical production. Each year we attempt to schedule a mix of early-phase, mid-phase, and late-phase projects for week-long residencies at our Cultural Laboratory and Artist Residence in New York’s southwestern Catskills. We accept applications on a rolling basis throughout the year; however, if you would like to be considered for a 2027 residency, we ask that you complete the online form by January 31, 2026. Our Curation Council — made up of past Deep Space artists and NACL artistic staff — convenes in March and finalizes programming decisions by May, 2026.

APPLY FOR DEEP SPACE

  • We are humbled by this place, and by the creativity that has been infused into us. By living and working together around the clock, we've learned a lot about what our show is and we are excited to share our work with you...

    Christopher Loar, New York Neo-Futurists
    The Complete and Condensed Stage Directions of Eugene O'Neill, Vol. 2

  • It was such an unbelievably positive experience for all of us. Words cannot convey how grateful I am. Having that time in the theater and in your beautiful house allowed us to take the show to a place I am not sure it would have gotten otherwise.

    Robin Frohardt
    The Pigeoning

  • The success of the show in New York—due in no small part to our workshop at NACL—has garnered some touring opportunities for us.

    Paul Willis, director of Kristen Kosmas' There There

DEEP SPACE ARTISTS 2010-2024

Camille Simone Thomas; Lyndsey Anderson & Bread Arts Collective; Jane Wells; Kevin Augustine & Lone Wolf Tribe; Maya Sharpe; Long Story Short; Ximena Garnica and Shige Moriya/LEIMAY; Transforma Theatre; Robert Lyons & Daniel Irizarry; Paul Pinto & Kristin Marting; Title:Point; thingNY; Mariana Newhard; Deepali Gupta; Strike Anywhere; Transforma Theatre; Tracy Broyles; Earls 2 Gearls; Megan Campisi; AnomalousCo; Mike Daisey; Jane Wells; Megan Stewart & Julie Hammond; Wistaria Project (Jeremy Goren, Timothy Edward Craig, Amy Liou, Aaron Ellis, Ras Badejo); WAMOO (Juan Alvarez); box collective (Sara Fay George, Andrea Goldman, Maria Menegaki); Lindsey Hope Pearlman & Bread Arts Collective; Merlixse Ventura; Cindy De La Cruz; Emily Windler Group (Emily Windler, Jessica López-Barkl, Susan Stroupe, Nick López, Brian Kuwabara); Cara Francis; Mariana Newhard; Holly Holsinger; Jaime Bouvier; Donna Costello, Stacy Lynn Smith, Jennifer Paar, Larry Jackson, & C. Tai Tai; Cleveland CORE Ensemble (Raymond Bobgan, Anastasia Urozhaeva); India Nicole Burton Ensemble (India Nicole Burton, Jaiie Dayo-Aliya, Molly Andrews-Hinders, Michael Akintoye); Great Small Works; Ann Marie Dorr & Paul Ketchum; Leonie Bell, Hyung Seok Jeon, & Marcella Murray; Modesto “Flako” Jimenez & ¡Oye Group!; Justin Hicks & The HawtPlates; Kareem Lucas; The Drunkard’s Wife (Normandy Sherwood, Craig Flanagin); Sean Donovan; Vagabond Inventions (Jennifer Sargent); Nellie Tinder (Julia May Jonas, Sarah Hughes); LAVA; Heather Christian; Bread Arts Collective; Purva Bedi, Kristin Marting, & Mariana Newhard; William Burke & Alaina Ferris; Itai Erdal, Dima Alansari, & Ker Wells; Minor Theater (Julia Jarcho, Ben Williams); Theatre Nohgaku; A Host of People; Title:Point; Kristin Marting & Robert Lyons; MB Adaptors; The Assembly; Scott Adkins; Kevin Augustine's Lone Wolf Tribe; Pontine Theatre; Superhero Clubhouse; Orange Theatre; Sprat Theatre; Lightning Rod Special (formerly Groundswell Theatre Co. - Jenn Kidwell & Scott R. Sheppard); Liberty Free Theatre; Gold No Trade; DDT; Robin Frohardt; Eliza Bent & Dave Malloy; New York Neo-Futurists; Holly Holsinger, Chris Seibert, & Raymond Bobgan; Theater Mitu; Human Lard Dog & The Band of Shy; Sojourn Theatre & The TEAM; Goat in the Road Productions; Kristen Kosmas; Conni's Avant Garde Restaurant; Emily Mendelsohn, Jeff Becker, & Eric Ehn; Nightjar Apothecary (Brett Keyser); Rosaruby Kagan; Bob Wiseman; Mimi McGurl; Einy Aring/Eye Knee Coordination; Performers Exchange Project; Dance Box Theater

  • Frohardt and company have been finessing their piece for years, and the result is something extraordinarily integrated, burnished to a high gloss.

    Time Out New York

  • I can’t think of a better way to start the theatergoing year than with this language-drenched, resonant knockout...

    The New York Times on Kristen Kosmas' There There

  • Ms. Kidwell and Mr. Sheppard are accustomed to making work that’s rooted in the body. “Underground Railroad Game” is more text-based than they’re used to, yet it’s rooted in the body, too — the black body and the white body, female and male, locked in a poisoned dynamic of scarring damage and enormous pain.

    The New York Times: The 25 Best American Plays Since 'Angels in America' - No. 21 - The Underground Railroad Game by Lightning Rod Special (formerly Groundswell Theater Co.)

Pictured Above: 2017 Deep Space artists Mariana Newhard and Purva Bedi in Assembled Identity, Directed by Kristin Marting; Photo by Paula Court