“Hit the lights! speaks to all ages and all sensibilities, not unlike a Disney, and or Pixar film does.  HTl! asks us to be imaginative in a way we were capable of as children, but with the understanding that these stories are truly about things we don’t experience until we’re adults.”

HIT THE LIGHTS! CO. is an ensemble born from an artistic agreement to create and perform stories through collaborative non-hierarchy. We follow the motto ‘Less Talk, More Rock.’ in the creative, administrative, and producing processes. This culminates in work that is often:

• Hyper-theatrical: Where performers multitask onstage in real time to create the technical, musical, and narrative components of a story simultaneously. 

• Hand-made: Shows are meticulously built by the performers themselves, often including shadow puppets, direct manipulation puppetry, vintage overhead projectors, flashlights, original live music and immersive techniques. 

• Dialogue-light: Believing that motion, color, sound, and atmosphere are more evocative and experiential than spoken text, a heavy emphasis is placed on dialogue-less, action-oriented storytelling. Consequently, this allows the work to connect with audience members of varying theatrical experience and physical ability. All HTL shows are accessible, offering audio description, ASL, and other elements that help bring the work to life.

Our core company is comprised of four multidisciplinary artists who write, perform, puppet, direct, and produce the work as a collective. They are: 

• Samantha Blain

• Claron Hayden

• Casey Scott Leach

• Mikayla Stanley

PRODUCTION HISTORY: 

Original works include DUNGEON (Audience Pick of the Fringe at the Cincinnati Fringe and Editors Pick at the Minnesota Fringe); WHALES (nominated for three New York Innovative Theater Awards including Outstanding Innovative Design, Outstanding Original Music, and Outstanding Premiere Production of a Play, Artist Pick and Venue Award Minnesota Fringe); an original site-specific immersive theater experience in collaboration with the Know Theatre of Cincinnati (THE OTHER RHINE); original shadow puppets for Vogue Magazine’s March 2021 cover shoot featuring Gigi Hadid; a live cinematic puppet adaptation of Gimlet Media’s hit podcast (The Habitat); an original adaptation of Hamlet created in partnership with Portland Stage Company; a collaboration with New York Botanical Garden’s Spooky Pumpkin Nights; a live music video for Grammy Award-nominated Sammy Miller and the Congregation; and Nominated for an Off-Broadway Alliance Award for “Best Family Show” for their theatrical adaptation of the book TASTE THE CLOUDS commissioned by New York City Children’s Theater. HTL!’s Off-Broadway credits include performances at the New Ohio Theatre, Dixon Place, La MaMa ETC, New Victory Theater Lab Works, The Flea Theater, Franklin Stage Company, and Ars Nova in NYC, where we were Company in Residence in 2018 and 2019. 

EDUCATION

A core manifestation of HTL’s mission, vision and values is its Education Series. As long as HTL has been creating theater, we have also been educating artists across all ages in shadow puppetry, shadow play, dialogue-less storytelling, collaboration and ensemble devised theater making. Using our “Less Talk, More Rock” motto, we are able to create fun and inspiring learning environments, where students learn to express their ideas more clearly, to work together healthily, and to practice a future where they are empowered to create and perform their own stories.

Hit The Lights! has taught Masterclasses at New York University (NYU), The University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, Elefante Music School, and CO/LAB Theater Group in NYC. We were company-in-residence at William’s College’s STUDIO62 summer theater program where they taught workshop intensives as guest artist faculty in 2018 and 2019.

Currently HTL! in collaboration with New Victory Theater and New School of Drama is directing our adaptation of Taste The Clouds.