Welcome to grind arts
Grind Arts Company is dedicated to breaking down the expectations of where and how theater takes place to reach new audiences. Under the Grind umbrella, extraordinary talents in theater, film, dance, and music collaborate to create bold, innovative theatrical experiences that stimulate connection, empathy, and awareness within our contemporary culture.
Our projects range from immersive experiences, to contemporary adaptations of classics, to virtual reality ventures and beyond. They take place between prosceniums, in found spaces, and even on your phone.
it started on a loading dock...
In April 2014, Eamon Foley and Graham Phillips founded Grind Arts Co. That month, they debuted a site-specific production of Sweeney Todd in the Jadwin Gym Loading Dock, a recycling plant on the outskirts of Princeton University’s campus. The immersive staging, concept, and unlikely setting of this production sparked the imagination of students, faculty, administrators, staff, and community members alike. The result was an audience unprecedented in size and diversity for a student production at Princeton. The lessons learned in Sweeney-- that pushing the boundaries of the art form and inspiring new audiences to attend the theater aren’t at all at odds-- remain central to Grind Arts Co.’s philosophy.
Breaking the theater open
The way we engage with art is changing. A study by the National Endowment for the Arts, “A Decade of Arts Engagement,” found that 71% of American adults participate in the arts by using electronic media. How might the performing arts fit into a world of screens?
The stories we put on stage form the collective consciousness of our society. We at Grind Arts Co. are devoted to honoring great works of theater and dance, old and new, and disseminating them to a world of people glued to their phones. We must acknowledge that the parameters of the theater itself have changed. We embrace the new platforms that consume modern audiences to bring theater to them, and, in turn, bring them to the theater.
