The Light We Carry Festival

Throughout HB Studio’s rich history, we have acted as a home for artists to hone their craft, to promote the value of excellence through effort and to honor the brilliant staff who have made us the longest continually active theater school in New York City. Since HB’s 1945 beginnings, the Studio has been inextricable from the history of American theater, film and television. The spirit that Herbert Berghof, Uta Hagen and hundreds of other teaching artists and creators crafted at HB Studio over the decades has never been limited to our longtime home at Bank Street. We exist within an 81 year lineage of thousands of performers. We are the spotlight that shines on each new generation of actors, whether it’s on Broadway or at their first moment in the rehearsal room. Now we are letting that beacon shine even brighter: to illuminate our past, set the scene for our present and peer into our future.

Welcome to HB Studio’s first annual The Light We Carry Festival.

Over the course of a full week running from May 30-June 5, HB Studio will host performances, workshops, masterclasses, and other events to invite our community to appreciate and engage with the talent that HB produces today. We will also act as a hub for the collection of oral histories, familiar ground for prior eras of performers to reunite with alumni, a gallery to peruse exhibitions of HB ephemera, and an opportunity to look back on all the work that brought us to now. Lastly, The Light We Carry will offer a glimpse of HB’s future with special events at major theaters around the city, conversations around trends in contemporary performance and a closing night party on Bank Street. Whether you’re a past student, a current practitioner, curious about becoming a new student or simply want to know more about the tradition of American theater, we invite you to join us for The Light We Carry.

FESTIVAL SCHEDULE

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DAY 1 – Carrying the Flame
Saturday, May 30

A ritual journey from HB Studio’s first location to our home today, followed by a live performance and an opening night party.

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DAY 2 – Living the Craft
Sunday, May 31

Two performances of the Ives classic anthology play All in the Timing.

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DAY 3 – Roots and Stories
Monday, June 1

A conversation with HB Teaching Artists Jessica Hecht, Mercedes Ruehl, Marsha Mason and Peter Francis James at The Lucille Lortel Theatre; a screening of a new HB documentary film and a memorial to friends who have passed.

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DAY 4 – Inside the Practice
Tuesday, June 2

An interactive live exhibition, masterclasses, performances and tours of HB’s studio spaces.

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DAY 5 – Investing in What Endures
Wednesday, June 3

A rare screening of Cleopatra at the IFC Center starring HB founder Herbert Berghof.

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DAY 6 – Letters to Our Future
Thursday, June 4

An exploration of the future of actor training at NYU with representatives of major schools from across NYC and an interactive meditation on where the art is taking us at HB.

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DAY 7 – Collective Renewal
Friday, June 5

Close the festival with an interactive workshop, live performances and a free come-one-come-all street party!

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*Festival Ambassadors of the Day
Each day of The Light We Carry Festival will be guided by Festival Ambassadors of the Day: artists, alums or members of the extended HB community invited to embody the spirit of that festival day’s theme. These Ambassadors will serve as a connective presence throughout these events, offering a brief introduction, framing the day’s theme or helping to carry the conversation along between artists and audiences. We are pleased to welcome them as valued representatives of HB’s living history.