06/22/2022
To Our Beloved Shelter Community,
It's with a full palette of emotions that we announce The Shelter will be closing its doors. In 2009, The Shelter began in a basement on Bond Street with the ideal to be a haven for courageous creators seeking to collaborate, grow, and discover in both the work we develop and the way it is created. We would meet each Sunday night to put the stories of our hearts in front of others to be held, witnessed, and cared for.
In that time we developed and premiered over 150 original pieces of work. Shorts to full lengths, radio plays to immersive holiday parties, peep shows to playdates, and from NY Fringe to the Cherry Lane, we stretched ourselves beyond the individual artists we had arrived as, into The Shelter, a community of artists that was much larger than the sum of its parts. Even in the midst of the pandemic, The Shelter continued to be a beacon of light for those looking to create through the Virtual Shelter Sunday Cohort, The Lear Project, and Monday Monologue Jams.
Beyond the work created at The Shelter, equally if not more important were the relationships forged within it. New York can be a lonely town for creative folks without an artistic home, but every Sunday night from 6:30 to 10:30 there was a place anyone could come and bring in some pages, prep for an audition, explore a scene, sing a song, or just watch others while they worked up the courage to jump in the middle. Thank you for helping to build this little sanctuary. Whether you were a creative collaborator, an audience member, a donor, or one of the many stewards of The Shelter; each of you served as a brick in its foundation that helped artists find their voices, find a platform, and for some of us find a family. We're eternally grateful for your support and contributions, and we hope that some bit of The Shelter continues to live in you all.
As we turn out the lights and leave the stage bare, we trust its vacancy will be filled by the next generation of courageous creators. Call your friends, write a play, find a basement, and fill the stage with brave new stories. And don't forget to let us know where to get a ticket! Thank you for all of it, we hope we touched your hearts. You all certainly touched ours.
With care, we bid you adieu.
Dave, Meghan, Michael, and Morgan
Image Design by Jonathan Ashley (thank you for all your beautiful poster designs over all these many years, Jonathan!)
