TORCHES.
30+ Years of Downtown Performance in NYC (1990s–2020s)
30+ Video Oral Histories and a Thematically Structured Book
WELCOME TO TORCHES.
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 has spent the past three decades immersed in making, witnessing, and supporting groundbreaking performance in NYC. TORCHES is a much needed exploration of New York City’s unique and influential downtown performance world.
Part memoir, part oral history, and part cultural inquiry, TORCHES weaves Marting's personal journey as a downtown artist and arts leader with in-depth conversations with 35+ of the most imaginative and boundary pushing artists working in the field today. These include writers, performers, directors, designers, composers, arts leaders and genre-defying creators who have shaped the ecosystem of contemporary performance from the 1990s to the present.
TORCHES ASKS:
Why do artists come to New York City—one of the most expensive, chaotic, and competitive places in the world? How do they influence each other? How do artists keep making work—often in the face of financial instability, institutional neglect, and political upheaval? How does their work go beyond NYC to influence the field and impact our culture?
Using intimate artist conversations as a jumping off point to explore themes like identity, risk, scarcity, collaboration, and activism, TORCHES hopes to illuminate the choices and challenges artists face—and to spark a deeper dialogue about how art evolves in the crucible of NYC, the impact of that work on the field at large, and the role of art in our culture.
Inspired by Gloria Steinem’s words—“There is no one torch; I’m using my torch to light other torches”—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.
Whether you're an artist, arts student, or art lover, TORCHES offers insight, inspiration, and a rare window into those who’ve shaped the downtown scene and, in fact, our creative ecosystem— and continue to light the way forward.
WHO'S BEHIND TORCHES.
Kristin Marting is an award-winning visionary artist and arts leader in contemporary performance. Founding Artistic Director Emeritus of HERE, one of New York City’s most influential homes for hybrid performance. Co-Founding Director of Prototype Festival, a city wide contemporary opera and music-theatre festival. For over 30 years, she has championed artists who defy genre, challenge form, and reimagine the role of performance in our culture. She has developed and directed over 37 new works. In 2025, she received an Obie Award for Lifetime Achievement and a Proclamation from the New York State Assembly for her leadership.
"There is no
ONE TORCH;
I'm using my torch to
GLORIA STEINEM
wEEKLY RELEASE.
Join us every Monday at 1pm for the TORCHES Weekly Release: 36 weeks of in-depth conversations with innovative NYC artists about their art, their choices, and their impact.
September 21, 2026
NIEGEL SMITH
Niegel Smith is a Bessie Award winning theater director and performance artist. He is the Artistic Director of NYC’s Obie Award winning theater, The Flea guiding the organization through its refounding as a hub for experimental art by Black, brown and queer artists. He is also a board member of A.R.T./New York and was a ringleader of Willing Participant, an artistic activist organization that whips up urgent poetic responses to crazy shit that happens.
He has helmed the productions of theatrical concerts by John Batiste, Taylor Mac, Suzan-Lori Parks, Lady Rizo and En Vogue; music theater works including The Hang, Plays for the Plague Year and The Ritual of Breath Is the Rite to Resist. His premiere productions of new plays and musicals and his participatory walks and performance art have been presented at museums and theaters around the US.
Niegel is the recipient of the Black Theater Alliance Award for Best Direction, City and State’s Trailblazer in the Arts 2025, and Sainthood from The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.
KEEP UP WITH TORCHES.
Join our email list.