North American Cultural Laboratory

creating space for exploration and discovery


NACL was conceived in 1997 as an ensemble of theatre practitioners led by co-founding Artistic Directors Brad Krumholz and Tannis Kowalchuk. More than 25 years and 20 original productions later, NACL has evolved into a performing arts residency center serving diverse artists from around the country, the continent, and beyond.

 
 

Mission

North American Cultural Laboratory provides a haven for artists and ensembles to explore their craft, experiment with new work, and share their investigations in ways that have a profound impact on their practice, the field of performance, and the public.

 
 
 

VALUES

(re)Search – We value the concerted search for meaning, for solutions (elegant or otherwise), for the sublime. We see value in the sensory experience of the embodied search. We not only seek, but we find, and we believe in the importance of sharing our findings. We value exchange, and we share songs and games and meals as part of our work.

Craft – We value the process of honing. We think attending to process is at least as important as presenting product. We also value excellence. We appreciate things that are well made and we try to make them well; and we value the artful inclusion of abstraction, surprise, and joy in live performance.

Equity – We want people to feel welcome, safe, and appreciated here. We value difference. We recognize that we live inside structures of oppression — both visible and invisible — and they live inside us, and we value the work it takes to illuminate and dismantle them. We also believe that striving for fairness in our labor practices is essential to contributing to a healthy culture (in and out of the workplace).

 
 

NORTH AMERICAN CULTURAL LABORATORY is a 501(c)(3) non-profit center for research and development in the performing arts, serving artists and audiences in the Southwestern Catskills, including communities in the Upper Delaware region of New York and Pennsylvania — lands and waters once stewarded by the Minisink Munsee.