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Jeffrey Mosser

Unpacking the expectations of how theatre can be made.

Jeffrey Mosser (he.him) is currently the Artistic Producer: Director of the Emerging Professional Residency at Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Lecturer at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and host of the HowlRound Theatre Commons podcast FROM THE GROUND UP: a show dedicated to exploring the artistic, financial, and social sustainability of ensemble-based theater practices with collaboratively creative companies from around the world. 

Primarily a director and devisor, his practices stem from physical composition having trained at Dell’Arte School of Physical Theatre, Double Edge Theatre, Pig Iron School for Advanced Performance Training, and with internationally known artists such as Giovanni Fusetti, Dominque Serrand, Liz Lerman, and Augusto Boal.

He has contributed to new play development at Lookingglass Theatre, Goodman Theatre, Northlight Theatre, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, O’Neill Theater Center, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, and Actors Theatre of Louisville with directors and playwrights including Anne Bogart, Jamie Castañeda, David Catlin, Trip Cullman, Sean Daniels, Michael Friedman, Lauren Gunderson, Israel Hicks, Mike Lew, Kirk Lynn, Mark Masterson, Aaron Posner, Jessica Thebus, and Mary Zimmerman.

He’s also an Aquarius and don’t you forget it. MFA Northwestern University, www.JeffreyMosser.com IG: @Ensemble_Ethnographer

From the Ground Up Podcast Teaser image featuring guest profile image.
Opening the National Theatre’s Doors to Devised Work
Podcast

Opening the National Theatre’s Doors to Devised Work

31 May 2023

Stewart Pringle, senior dramaturg at the National Theatre, sheds light on the theatre’s Generate program. Jeffrey Mosser and Stewart discuss the problem with the term “literary department,” when to take a risk, and why it’s important that the big fish in the big pond makes the investment in smaller-scale ensemble-based companies.

From the Ground Up Podcast Teaser image featuring guest profile image.
Ontroerend Goed’s Participatory Metaphors
Podcast

Ontroerend Goed’s Participatory Metaphors

24 May 2023

Artistic director of Belgian theatre company Ontroerend Goed, Alexander Devriendt talks through their process for imagining and developing participatory content. Alexander and Jeffrey Mosser also dig into financing art in Europe, the cost of touring internationally and how COVID has affected it, and sustaining family and art simultaneously.

From the Ground Up Podcast Teaser image featuring guest profile image.
SoulWork and Soul Searching
Podcast

SoulWork and Soul Searching

17 May 2023

Culture worker and theatre practitioner Dr. Cristal Chanelle Truscott provides a primer on her SoulWork process, applies it to her present processes, and expands our horizons as artists.

From the Ground Up Podcast Teaser image featuring guest profile image.
Turning City Council Meetings into Performance
Podcast

Turning City Council Meetings into Performance

10 May 2023

Creatives and book authors Mallory Catlett and Aaron Landsman dig into their new book based on their piece City Council Meeting, an exciting performance, rooted in a commonplace bureaucratic event, that develops dynamic participatory relationships with audiences and local government.

From the Ground Up Podcast Teaser image featuring guest profile image.
Looking for Another Way
Podcast

Looking for Another Way

3 May 2023

Playwright and director Karen Malpede joins Jeffrey Mosser to talk about her career and connections from the Open Theater to Theater Three Collaborative, as well as her partner George Bartenieff, an actor and champion for the avant-garde.

From the Ground Up Podcast Teaser image featuring guest profile image.
Philanthropies, Foundations, and Boards (Oh, Wow)
Podcast

Philanthropies, Foundations, and Boards (Oh, Wow)

26 April 2023

Since the “great pause,” funders have shifted their giving models. Ben Cameron has seen it from every side—and he talks all about it. Through anecdotes about his experiences at organizations from Theatre Communications Group to the Jerome Foundation, Ben offers many insights into how ensemble fits in a thriving theatre ecosystem.

From the Ground Up Podcast image featuring Miranda Wright.
Ensemble as Contemporary Commentary
Podcast

Ensemble as Contemporary Commentary

19 April 2023

Miranda Wright, producer and executive director at Los Angeles Performance Practice, and Jeffrey Mosser discuss how Miranda has developed a presenting organization for sharing ambitious, collaboratively created work over the last ten years, as well as what she’s learned from some major arts funding research.

From the Ground Up Podcast Teaser image.
A Living History of Ensemble Theatre (or Bob Leonard’s Ensemble Encyclopedia)
Podcast

A Living History of Ensemble Theatre (or Bob Leonard’s Ensemble Encyclopedia)

12 April 2023

Bob Leonard chronicles his work from the People’s Bicentennial Commission and the Road Company through the founding of the Network of Ensemble Theaters and Alternate ROOTS. Together, Jeffrey Mosser and Bob connect the dots through the middle wave of ensemble-based theatre in the United States.

From the Ground Up Podcast Teaser image.
Maintaining Connections from the Hyperlocal to the International
Podcast

Maintaining Connections from the Hyperlocal to the International

5 April 2023

Carlos Uriona and Jennifer Johnson, co-artistic directors at Double Edge Theatre, connect with Jeffrey Mosser to discuss how working in rural Massachusetts for over thirty years has enabled them to share art on the world stage.

From the Ground Up Podcast Teaser image.
What Ensemble Touring Can Learn from Dance
Podcast

What Ensemble Touring Can Learn from Dance

29 March 2023

Jeffrey Mosser connects with Willa Jo Zollar, who is founder, chief visioning partner, and MacArthur Genius at Urban Bush Women. Together they talk about touring, the festival circuit, and strategy necessary to sustain a company for thirty years.

From the Ground Up Podcast image featuring Mara Isaacs.
Connecting Collaborative Passion to a National Network
Podcast

Connecting Collaborative Passion to a National Network

15 February 2022

Tony Award-winning producer Mara Isaacs discusses how she puts collaboratively creative work in front of national audiences through her producing organization, Octopus Theatricals. This final episode of season two holds hot takes on boards, theatricality, and the connective tissue around artist-centered producing.

From the Ground Up Podcast image featuring Colleen Hughes.
Fiscal Sponsorship and the Path to Non-Profit Status
Podcast

Fiscal Sponsorship and the Path to Non-Profit Status

19 January 2022

What does fiscal sponsorship do for you and your organization? Colleen Hughes, associate director of programming at Fractured Atlas, walks us through the broad array of opportunities they provide. She’ll also shed light on fundraising trends she’s seen with nonprofit organizations throughout the pandemic.

From the Ground Up Podcast image featuring David Catlin.
Growth Through Touring and Tension
Podcast

Growth Through Touring and Tension

12 January 2022

Founder, Ensemble Member, and Former Artistic Director of Lookingglass Theatre Company, David Catlin, shares how their limitless aesthetic showcases their Chicago-based artists across the country. In addition we dive into their unique shared leadership model, their growth and goals for the future, and how tension with your board members can be a good thing.

From the Ground Up Podcast image featuring Michael Rohd.
Civic-Minded and Morally-Guided Practices
Podcast

Civic-Minded and Morally-Guided Practices

5 January 2022

The job of the facilitator, the logic of shared leadership, and how it all translates to directing a process. Michael Rohd stands at the forefront of ensemble-based practices equipped with questions about how we create the future that we want to be working in socially, civically, and artistically. Join us as we unpack and define what’s next.

From The Ground Up Title.
Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s Resident Ensemble Theatre: UNIVERSES
Podcast

Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s Resident Ensemble Theatre: UNIVERSES

22 December 2021

Alison Carey, formerly of Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and Mildred Ruiz-Sapp and Steven Sapp, co-founders and artistic directors of UNIVERSES, discuss putting ensemble producers inside a major producing entity and the capacity necessary for things to fall into place.

From the Ground Up Podcast image featuring Rachel Dickstein.
Process Performances and the Completion Commission
Podcast

Process Performances and the Completion Commission

15 December 2021

Rachel Dickstein, Artistic Director of Ripe Time, takes us through her experience with Center Theatre Group’s completion commission for their adaptation of SLEEP. She also spotlights some necessary and helpful relationships with tour presenting partners, the Association of Performing Arts Professionals, as well as champion and friend Diane Rodriguez.

From the Ground Up Podcast image featuring Olga Garay-English
Funding the Regional-Ensemble Producing Model
Podcast

Funding the Regional-Ensemble Producing Model

8 December 2021

Founding Program Director for the Arts at Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Olga Garay-English and Jeffrey Mosser discuss the revolutionary process of getting ensemble work in regional theatre spaces including her unprecedented partnership with Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Other topics include touring models, festival culture, and her experience as an international arts consultant.

A photo of Patricia Garza on a graphic for From the Ground Up.
A Roadmap for the Ensemble-Regional Producing Model
Podcast

A Roadmap for the Ensemble-Regional Producing Model

1 December 2021

From the Ground Up returns to the airwaves with Patricia Garza who shares their experience producing hyper-collaborative and ensemble-based theatre at the regional theatre level. Their work at the Network of Ensemble Theaters, Los Angeles Performance Practice, Center Theatre Group, and artEquity provides significant insights into contemporary theatre-making practices and next steps for the industry.

set of not every mountain
How You Make/What You Make with Kirk Lynn of The Rude Mechanicals
Podcast

How You Make/What You Make with Kirk Lynn of The Rude Mechanicals

From the Ground Up Episode #15

19 August 2019

On this episode of From the Ground Up, Kirk Lynn of Austin, Texas’ Rude Mechanicals talks about their place on the national scene and how they sustain their work as they continue to grow as artists and individuals.

actors onstage
Blurriness and Fragmentation with Julia Rhoads of Lucky Plush Production
Podcast

Blurriness and Fragmentation with Julia Rhoads of Lucky Plush Production

From the Ground Up Episode #14

5 August 2019

Julia Rhoads of the ensemble dance-theatre company Lucky Plush Productions talks to From the Ground Up about their sustaining efforts, strategies for developing work, and why the messiness of human relationships is such fertile ground for making work.

actors on an outside stage
No Screens with Ariel Fristoe of Out of Hand Theater
Podcast

No Screens with Ariel Fristoe of Out of Hand Theater

From the Ground Up Episode #13

22 July 2019

On this episode of the From the Ground Up Podcast, Ariel Fristoe of Out Of Hand Theatre talks about how their unique games and creation process translates from free experiences for audiences all over Atlanta to corporate training.

a group posing for a photo in a train station
The Aesthetic Fingerprint with Quinn Bauriedel of Pig Iron Theatre Company
Podcast

The Aesthetic Fingerprint with Quinn Bauriedel of Pig Iron Theatre Company

From the Ground Up Episode #12

1 July 2019

In episode twelve of the From the Ground Up Podcast, Jeffrey Mosser talks to Pig Iron Theatre Company co-founder and co-artistic director Quinn Bauriedel about the history and future of the company, which is celebrating its twenty-fifth year.

four actors standing upstage of a seated actor with a large radio
The Living Ticket Model with Heather Cohn and Corinna Schulenburg of Flux Theatre Ensemble
Podcast

The Living Ticket Model with Heather Cohn and Corinna Schulenburg of Flux Theatre Ensemble

From the Ground Up Podcast Episode #11

18 June 2019

In this episode of the From the Ground Up Podcast, Jeffrey Mosser talks with Heather Cohn and Corinna Schulenburg of Flux Theatre Ensemble about their Living Ticket model is making transparent how much it costs to make a living wage in the theatre. This episode was recorded live at the TCG Miami 2019 Conference on Friday 7 June 2019.

actors on stage
The Audience Ensemble with Rachel Grossman and Colin K. Bills of dog & pony dc
Podcast

The Audience Ensemble with Rachel Grossman and Colin K. Bills of dog & pony dc

From the Ground Up Episode #10

3 June 2019

In this episode of the From the Ground Up Podcast, Jeffrey Mosser discusses devising audience integrated performances with dog & pony dc founder Rachel Grossman and co-conspirator Colin K. Bills.

quita sullivan
Creation is a Personal Thing (And So Is Your Grant) with Quita Sullivan of NEFA
Podcast

Creation is a Personal Thing (And So Is Your Grant) with Quita Sullivan of NEFA

From the Ground Up Episode #9

20 May 2019

In this episode of the From the Ground Up Podcast, Jeffrey Mosser and Quita Sullivan of New England Foundation of the Arts talk equity in the grant making process, and share some best practices for artists applying to grants.