THEATRE FOR ONE

Christine Jones, Artistic Director, and produced by Octopus Theatricals

Theatre for One is a mobile state-of-the-art performance space for one actor and one audience member. Conceived by Artistic Director Christine Jones and designed by LOT-EK architects, Theatre for One commissions new work created specifically for this venue's one-to-one relationship. Embracing serendipity and spontaneity, Theatre for One is presented in public spaces in which audience members are invited to engage in an intimate theatrical exchange and enter the theatre space not knowing what to expect. Actor and audience member encounter each other as strangers in this suspended space and through the course of the performance allow the divisions and distinctions that separate us to dissolve.

Theatre for One has commissioned several short plays by Lynn Nottage, Jose Rivera, Bill Irwin, John Guare, David Henry Hwang, Naomi Wallace and many others for its mobile unit. 

Available for touring and customized residencies and commissions created in collaboration with host venues.

*See below for more detailed information on the fully VIRTUAL Theatre For One, as well as special opportunities for universities and students.*

Christine Jones

Christine Jones is a Tony-award winning set designer and the Artistic Director of the critically acclaimed Theatre for One. She directed the immersive nightclub dining experience, Queen of the Night, in New York, which won a Drama Desk for Unique Theatrical Experience in 2015. Her Olivier and Tony Award winning scenography can currently be seen on Broadway and in the original London productions of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.  She also won the Tony Award for her design of Green Day’s American Idiot.  Other Broadway credits include: The Cher Show (co-designed with Brett J. Banakis); Old TimesHands on a Hardbody; On a Clear Day; Spring Awakening (Tony Nomination); The Green Bird (Drama Desk Nomination); and Everyday Rapture. Other highlights include Coraline (MCC Theatre, NY); The Book of Longing, based on the poems of Leonard Cohen, with music by Philip Glass (Lincoln Center Festival). She designed Close To You: Bacharach Reimagined at New York Theatre Workshop and then in London at the Menier Chocolate Factory before moving to the West End. Opera designs include Rigoletto (Metropolitan opera) set in 1960s Las Vegas; The Elephant Man (Minnesota); Lucia de Lammermoor (New York City Opera); and Giulio Cesare (Houston Grand). Her designs were featured in the 2008 exhibition Curtain Call: Celebrating a Century of Women Designers for Live Performance at Lincoln Center Library. Along with co-designer Brett J. Banakis, Jones redesigned The Lyric Theatre in NY, home to the production of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.  In 2013, she served as the Denzel Washington Guest Chairperson for the Theatre Department of Fordham University. In 2015, she received an Obie for Sustained Excellence in Set Design. Christine has lectured at Princeton and teaches at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.  Upcoming projects include, Cyrano, off Broadway in NY with music by The National, starring Peter Dinklage, Hopeland, in collaboration with Steven Hoggett with music by Jonsi, and Aida and La Traviata at the Metropolitan Opera.

Creative Team

Christine Jones, Artistic Director and Creator

LOT/EK Architects, Theatre for One Architects

SRĐA, Associate Artistic Director

True Love Productions, Originating Producer

Performance History

  • The Abbey Theatre (Dublin, Ireland) - October 2020

  • T41: Here We Are, Arts Brookfield (Online) - October 2020

  • Loyola University (New Orleans, LA) - October/November 2020

  • Cork Midsummer Festival - June 2019

  • University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR - April 2018

  • Lewis Center for the Arts, Princeton University - October 2017

  • Fairfield University - March 2017

  • Signature Theatre, New York City - November 2016

  • Arts Brookfield (Winter Garden, Zucotti Park, Grace Plaza), New York City - May 2015

  • Times Square, New York City - May 2011

Virtual Theatre For One

Theatre For One: Here We Are is a live digital theatrical experience that brings together one actor and one audience member featuring eight new micro-plays which speak to these times we are in.  Here We Are is commissioned by Arts Brookfield with additional support from Thomas M. Neff.

Featured playwrights, directors and performers: Candis C. Jones, Carmelita Tropicana, DeLanna Studi, Eisa Davis, Jaclyn Backhaus, Lydia R. Diamond, Lynn Nottage, Mahira Kakkar, Nikkole Salter, Patrice Bell, Rebecca Martinez, Regina Taylor, Russell G. Jones, Shyla Lefner, Stacey Rose, Tamilla Woodard, Taylor Reynolds, Tiffany Nichole Greene, and Zuleyma Guevara

While Theatre for One: Here We Are is inspired by the pandemic; the 100th Anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment; and the Black Lives Matter, We See You WAT, and other movements fighting racism, the Here We Are writers have contributed works that span a spectrum of ideas and points of view. Theatre For One elevates a vibrant chorus of voices creating deeply personal works that resonate in this shared moment.

University Dedicated Performances

We have a select number of dedicated student performances of Theatre for One: Here We Are available before late November 2020. One performance can accommodate 60 audience members, with 4 different plays offered. Each audience member sees 1 play, and has a 15 minute personal experience. Thanks to some recent underwriting for the purpose of student performances, we are able to offer this program for $3000 per performance.

If you are interested in having your students work with the Theatre for One platform to create and perform in their own plays, please contact ronee@octopustheatricals.com for more information on the options available.

“... everyone is part of everyone else’s story. In our isolation, it can be hard to remember that. From its title on, “Here We Are” is not about to let us forget."

— Jesse Green, The New York Times

Booking Worldwide

Contributors