A Conversation with Brian Rogers

On 27 April 2026, TORCHES continues with a conversation with theatre and film director, video and sound artist, and performing arts curator Brian Rogers. He is the co-founder and artistic executive director of Queens’ The Chocolate Factory Theater.

Brian Rogers is a theatre and film director, video and sound artist, and performing arts curator. Since 1997, Brian has created films, performances, albums, and other time- based projects including Small Songs (2023/2024), Screamers (2018), Hot Box (2012, co-presented with FIAF’s Crossing The Line Festival / PS122’s COIL Festival / EMPAC Center, Troy NY and supported by a MAP Fund grant), and the Bessie-nominated Selective Memory (2010). Brian composed the soundtrack for Shaun Iron & Lauren Petty’s film Standing By: Gatz Backstage and has collaborated as a sound and video artist with numerous experimental dance and theatre artists in New York and elsewhere. Brian is a MacDowell Fellow, and has had residencies at Yaddo and Mount Tremper Arts. Brian is the co-founder and artistic executive director of The Chocolate Factory Theater, an internationally recognized venue for experimental dance, theater, and interdisciplinary performance based in Long Island City, Queens, New York City. Brian serves as chief curator of the organization’s artistic programming (now in its 21st year) and leads its artistic and administrative operations. Brian has taught at Kenyon College, University of Michigan, University of Colorado, The School at The Art Institute of Chicago, St. Johns University, Carnegie Mellon University, Sarah Lawrence College, The New School, New York University, Princeton University and others; and has served as a panelist / recommender for NYSCA, Queens Council on the Arts, Fresh Tracks, NYC Dept of Cultural Affairs, Foundation for Contemporary Arts, Creative Capital, Pew Charitable Trust, Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, Kresge Foundation, Yaddo, Macdowell, MacArthur, Guggenheim, and others. He is a graduate of Bennington College.

TORCHES: 30+ Years of Downtown Performance

As co-founder of HERE Arts Center—described by the Obie committee as “a lasting home for the weird and wild in downtown performance”—Kristin Marting spent the past three decades immersed in making, witnessing, and supporting groundbreaking performance in New York City. TORCHES is a much needed exploration of New York City’s unique and influential downtown performance world from the 1990s through the 2020s. Part memoir, part oral history, and part cultural inquiry, TORCHES offers in-depth video conversations with more than thirty of the most imaginative and boundary pushing artists working in the field today. TORCHES is both a living archive and an offering for the future. Learning about these artists and their work is not just looking back; it can ignite what’s coming next. They are not only inventors of form—they are keepers of community, fire-starters for our future. See more about the project on the TORCHES website at torchesnyc.org.

About HowlRound TV

HowlRound TV is a global, commons-based, peer-produced, open-access livestreaming and video archive project stewarded by the nonprofit HowlRound. HowlRound TV is a free and shared resource for live conversations and performances relevant to the world’s performing arts and cultural fields. Its mission is to break geographic isolation, promote resource sharing, and develop our knowledge commons collectively. Anyone can participate in this community of peer organizations revolutionizing the flow of information, knowledge, and access in our field by becoming a producer and co-producing with us. Learn more by going to our contribute content page.