"Wonderful theatre, full of humor, heart and imagination...with highly inventive writing." —NYTheatre.com
About Theatre 167
Named for the 167 languages spoken in the world's most diverse neighborhood, Theatre 167 is a multicultural, multilingual ensemble with an 8-year history of producing innovative, emotionally vibrant new plays that explore issues of social justice and build bridges between and among diverse communities.
Named for the 167 languages spoken in the world's most diverse neighborhood, Theatre 167 is a multicultural, multilingual ensemble with an 8-year history of producing innovative, emotionally vibrant new plays that explore issues of social justice and build bridges between and among diverse communities.
Beginnings
From 2009-2014, Theatre 167 created and produced The Jackson Heights Trilogy — three full-length plays written collaboratively by a totality of 18 playwrights, featuring 37 actors in 93 roles speaking 14 languages.
From 2009-2014, Theatre 167 created and produced The Jackson Heights Trilogy — three full-length plays written collaboratively by a totality of 18 playwrights, featuring 37 actors in 93 roles speaking 14 languages.
"The Jackson Heights Trilogy is an epic song of America's most diverse neighborhood"
--TheaterMania
"To tell stories about a place like Jackson Heights, one of the world's most diverse neighborhoods, requires theater that's as bold and rich as the community itself. Good thing there's Theatre 167..."
--amNewYork
Recent Awards and Innovation
In 2017, Watched, our touring production exploring the impact of surveillance on Muslim-American communities, was a featured performance at NYU's Forum on Ethnodrama.
In 2016, Artistic Director Ari Laura Kreith and Theatre 167 were honored with the League of Professional Theatre Women's Lucille Lortel Award., and Theatre 167's production of Mourning Sun, exploring women's rights and the reproductive health epidemic of fistula, toured to the Kampala International Theatre Festival in Uganda
In 2015, Theatre 167 received the New York Innovative Theatre Foundation's Caffe Cino Fellowship Award presented to a theatre company that consistently produces outstanding work
In 2014, the company received the Randall Wreghitt Award forThe Church of Why Not, a collaboratively authored play inspired by an institution that houses Christian, Jewish, and Muslim congregations, and social services.
In 2014, Theatre 167 received the NYIT award for Outstanding Premiere Production of a Play for Pirira. Set simultaneously in Malawi and New York, the play tackled questions of cross-cultural connection, responsibility and the challenges of activism.
In 2017, Watched, our touring production exploring the impact of surveillance on Muslim-American communities, was a featured performance at NYU's Forum on Ethnodrama.
In 2016, Artistic Director Ari Laura Kreith and Theatre 167 were honored with the League of Professional Theatre Women's Lucille Lortel Award., and Theatre 167's production of Mourning Sun, exploring women's rights and the reproductive health epidemic of fistula, toured to the Kampala International Theatre Festival in Uganda
In 2015, Theatre 167 received the New York Innovative Theatre Foundation's Caffe Cino Fellowship Award presented to a theatre company that consistently produces outstanding work
In 2014, the company received the Randall Wreghitt Award forThe Church of Why Not, a collaboratively authored play inspired by an institution that houses Christian, Jewish, and Muslim congregations, and social services.
In 2014, Theatre 167 received the NYIT award for Outstanding Premiere Production of a Play for Pirira. Set simultaneously in Malawi and New York, the play tackled questions of cross-cultural connection, responsibility and the challenges of activism.
"Pirira is extremely accurate and probably one of the most important pieces I've seen. I wish audiences everywhere could see this."
—Philippe van den Bossche,
former Executive Director, Raising Malawi
—Philippe van den Bossche,
former Executive Director, Raising Malawi
Commissions
Commissions include I Like to Be Here: Jackson Heights Revisited, Or, This is a Mango at the New Ohio Theatre for the Theater:Village Festival and three pieces for Queens Theatre’s World's Fair Play Festival.
Communities
Theatre 167 is a resident company at the West End Theatre, 263 W 86th St. They have performed in venues throughout NYC, including Queens Theatre, The New Ohio, Queens Museum, LaGuardia Center for the Performing Arts, The Chain Theatre, 777 Theatre, Museo Del Barrio, Brooklyn Museum, Jackson Heights' PS 69, and the Transit Museum.
Commissions include I Like to Be Here: Jackson Heights Revisited, Or, This is a Mango at the New Ohio Theatre for the Theater:Village Festival and three pieces for Queens Theatre’s World's Fair Play Festival.
Communities
Theatre 167 is a resident company at the West End Theatre, 263 W 86th St. They have performed in venues throughout NYC, including Queens Theatre, The New Ohio, Queens Museum, LaGuardia Center for the Performing Arts, The Chain Theatre, 777 Theatre, Museo Del Barrio, Brooklyn Museum, Jackson Heights' PS 69, and the Transit Museum.
"You'll walk away with a fresh perspective and a renewed faith in the goodness of humanity."
—TheaterMania
"A gloriously entertaining celebration of the astonishing goings-on at a great New York house of worship that has turned its wondrously diverse neighborhood into a true community. Don't miss this unique and important offering! ”
--NY Theater Buying Guide
Theatre 167 is thrilled to be part of the community of the NY Innovative Theatre Awards, and to have performed at the NYITA ceremony and received honors there.
I Like to Be Here featured on Voice Of America TVI Like To Be Here: Jackson Heights Revisited, or, This Is A Mango performed at the New Ohio Theater as part of the Theater:Village Festival. Part 4 of Theatre 167's multi-writer Jackson Heights Trilogy, it featured 17 actors playing 20 characters speaking 5 languages!
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Photos by Joel Weber
Theatre 167 is supported by grants from A.R.T./New York, the Nancy Quinn Fund, and the Creative Opportunity Fund, and has received support from Queens Council on the Arts, the Marta Heflin Foundation, the Arch and Bruce Brown Foundation, and the Puffin Foundation. We are proud to be members of A.R.T//New York, the League of Independent Theatres, and Materials for the Arts.