About
Gorilla Repertory Theater Company, Inc. was incorporated in 1992 based on an aesthetic created by Christopher Carter Sanderson in 1989.
MISSION STATEMENT
Gorilla Repertory Theater Company, Inc.’s mission is to provide the highest quality productions of classical dramatic material with the flavor of contemporary immediacy to people where they are for free.
Christopher Carter Sanderson, (BFA New York University, MFA Yale School of Drama) founded New York’s Gorilla Repertory Theater Company in 1992 after inventing the company’s unique aesthetic for a production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Washington Square Park that would subsequently enjoy a ten-year run. This aesthetic, which has inspired dozens of artists and companies around the world, is the subject of his book, Gorilla Theatre (Routledge 2003). Gorilla Rep has produced 70+ productions in its 18 years, most directed by Mr. Sanderson, who also maintains a practice as a freelance director, primarily of world-premier productions of new plays and opera. Gorilla Rep’s work is regularly reviewed by major news outlets including the New York Times, and covered in articles in American Theatre Magazine, The Village Voice, the Sunday New York Times and others. As a developmental dramaturg, Mr. Sanderson’s work has brought him into collaboration with playwrights such as John Guare, Sarah Treem, Robert Steven Ackerman, Matt Freeman, Leah Ryan and many others both independently and for the company. For Gorilla Rep, he has also composed or co-composed music for three musicals and designed numerous productions’ lights, costumes and sound. Mr. Sanderson is the Resident Theatrical Director for Houston’s Opera In The Heights 2009-2010 Season. His academic posts include adjunct stints at Princeton and Yale, numerous guest lectures all over the world including Kuwait and Dubai, and he will be on the faculty of TITAN International Theater School in Oslo, Norway for Spring Semester of the 2009-2010 academic year. Mr. Sanderson’s private acting and directing workshops for Gorilla Rep have been a fixture in New York for decades.
