The Civilians

The Civilians is an investigative theatre company in New York City founded in 2001 by Artistic Director Steve Cosson. The Civilians artists pursue their inquiries using interviews, community residencies, research, and other methods. Working with a combination of journalism and art, The Civilians creates theatrical events that seek to promote an inquisitions of current issues. The company has created seven original plays. According to Variety Magazine, The Civilians "travels far and wide researching a piece around a given subject, conducting interviews and comparing notes along the way, sometimes for years."

Company history

Artistic Director Steve Cosson founded the company in 2001, with a multi-disciplinary group of artists including some fellow University of California-San Diego graduates, as “a breeding ground for new styles of collaboration” Inspiration was taken from the British Joint Stock Theatre Company, Cosson having studied under director and Joint Stock member Les Waters at UCSD. Cosson has said “I wanted to create a theatre that would engage with larger social, cultural, and political realities through the eyes of real, ordinary people, or 'civilians.'” In keeping with this goal, the name of the company was derived from a vaudeville term for those not within the vaudeville community.