Our Story

Rachel Klein Productions, an NYC-based company of theatrical dance, movement, and visual storytelling, has been generating original work since 2007. Rachel Klein Productions has produced several full-length plays (both movement and text based) including Metro, Sir Sheever, Aenigma, and Go-Go Killers! and co-produced Hound, All Kinds of Shifty Villains, and Stage Blood is Never Enough. The Rachel Klein Theater Dancers have been presented all over the city in different festivals, art gallery openings, nightlife events and venues including the Kitchen, Theater for the New City, the House of Yes, Night of 1,000 Stevies, the Highline Ballroom, La MaMa Moves! at La MaMa E.T.C. in 2009 and 2010, Dixon Place, the premier of Banzai!  at the Red Lotus Room, Low Life @ HOWL Festival, (le) Poisson Rouge, Sticky with BlueBox productions, legendary rock n roll venue Don Hill's, the Hiro Ballroom, the Bushwick Site Fest at 3rd Ward,  the Bushwick Open Studios Festival, the World Famous Bobs Give Thanks!, Galapagos Art Space in DUMBO, the NY Downtown Clown Review, and Off-Broadway at the Bleecker Street Theater (45 Bleecker, Main Theater). Upcoming RKP projects include A Midsummer Night's Dream with CoLab Theater Company in New Brunswick. NJ, and a commercial Off-Broadway production of Gay Bride of Frankenstein coming this fall. Rachel Klein Productions was the recipient of a 2010 Emerging Artists Grant from the Field in association with the Tides Foundation, curates a monthly performance art review at Bowery Poetry Club, will be featured at the prestigious DUMBO Dance Festival this fall, and has received a dance commission for Dixon Place's 2012 season.

The Impact

RKP has been devising the Tragedy of Maria Macabre since January 2010 upon receiving an Emerging Artists rehearsal space grant from the Field in association with the Tides Foundation. RKP has continued the development of this piece further after the end of the residency, performing workshop presentations of The Tragedy of Maria Macabre including the Fields program at the Kitchen in March 2010 (13 minutes of the work), La MaMa Moves! in June 2010 (13 minutes), at the Bushwick Site Festival at 3^rd Ward in association with Armory Art Week.

In the summer of 2010, Rachel Klein and filmmaker Sean Gill made the (then) existing excerpts of The Tragedy of Maria Macabre into a 22-minute short film. 

On March 2nd, 2011, The Tragedy of Maria Macabre performed its first full length presentation at Dixon Place in NYC to a sold out audience and tremendous acclaim. Macabre then delivered two full length encore performances at the Access Theater in Tribeca, and further excerpts were presented at the House of Yes in their circus variety show, the Lower Manhattan Arts League's Spring Downtown Gala (in association with SoHo Rep and HERE Arts Center) and most recently at the Lower East Side Arts Festival at Theater for the New City.

The Tragedy of Maria Macabre stars the talents of Elizabeth Stewart, Michael Porsche, Abigail Hawk, Danielle Maria Fusco, Eric Schmalenberger, Megan OConnor, Preston Burger, Freddy Mancilla, and Brian Rubiano. Production design by Rachel Klein, sound design by Sean Gill, makeup design by Anita Rundles, and stage managed by RKP's Marina Steinberg.

The Tragedy of Maria Macabre will finally perform a long awaited full run in October of 2011 at the Wild Project in NYC's East Village.  The performances will be every Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from October 20th through October 30th, 2011.

Without support and resources, the project will be unable to continue moving forward!

Audience Quotes from the March 2011 Production at Dixon Place:

Rachel Klein is an original. Her work is immediately recognizable. She has created her own aesthetic, and physical language. Her work is bold, original, bizarre, amusing, provocative. I invite you into her world: if you dare!

             -- Bill Connington writer/performer, ZOMBIE. zombiethefilm.com  zombietheplay.com

"The Tragedy of Maria Macabre was a delightful romp through a Gothic inspired death and rebirth of Maria Macabre! Presenting a darkly choreographed and costumed piece is never easy...Rachel Klein & Co. have accomplished the balance of humor and tragedy through their marvelous efforts and great talents.

            --Lee Chappell, Nightlife Impresario, Caf Panache, Foreign Affairs

I'm a huge fan of Rachel Klein's work! The shows are always outrageous, fun and crazy creative!

            --Sherry Vine, Legendary Actor, Drag Performer, and Artistic Director of Theater Couture

What We Need & What You Get

RKP has been fortunate enough to gain so much acclaim over the past couple of years, and are excited to embrace the upcoming performance opportunities of 2011. In order to accomplish our goal, we need to raise $5,000 by October 26th, 2011. The funding would be broken down as follows to fulfill several professional requirements: $400 for rehearsal space, $400 for professional costume construction, and $1200 towards PR/Publicity. $3,000 for performance space.

Rehearsal space is an invaluable resource that has become very difficult to afford. As for costuming, several of the costumes for The Tragedy of Maria Macabre have already been constructed, but there are four dancers that are without proper detailing and wigs that would make the ensemble look cohesive. And lastly, the most helpful way to move forward with the project is to have proper publicity to get the word out.

You will be helping an emerging theater company fully realize an ensemble production that has been in development for nearly two years! All donors will be mentioned in the playbill for the production, as well as receive complimentary tickets to the show.

Other Ways You Can Help