Brief History
Permafrost Theatre Collective (PTC) came about through the years long process of bringing Are You Alice: A New Wonderland Tale to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. PTC itself had been percolating in the mind of founding artistic director Christina Rose Ashby for almost a decade at that point. Ashby had wanted to establish a creative community where artists from across mediums can come together to share their art and support each other. Ashby was inspired by the following quote by Franz Kafka:
“I think we ought to read only the kind of books that wound and stab us. If the book we’re reading doesn’t wake us up with a blow on the head, what are we reading it for? So that it will make us happy, as you write? Good Lord, we would be happy precisely if we had no books, and the kind of books that make us happy are the kind we could write ourselves if we had to. But we need the books that affect us like a disaster, that grieve us deeply, like the death of someone we loved more than ourselves, like being banished into forests far from everyone, like a suicide. A book must be the axe for the frozen sea inside us. That is my belief.”
Taking that quote and fusing it with her theatrical and cultural upbringing across her home state of Alaska, Ashby was determined to create a Collective that valued the importance of community within storytelling.
The Collective is an evolving organism and has been through many iterations since 2018. We strive to meet the needs of our community and are open to feedback as long as it is offered with empathy and understanding.
Permafrost Theatre Collective is a multidisciplinary collaboration of artists dedicated to creating bold new work and reimagining classics. Our storytelling is rooted in the ensemble and puts communication and empathy above all else. Artists come together in The Collective under the common belief that the shared experience of our art should be transformative and cathartic for both artist and audience.
The Collective acts as a resource and platform for artists of diverse backgrounds to create in whatever medium effectively presents itself. First, last, and foremost; the work created here is to act as an axe for the frozen sea inside us, to break through the Permafrost of the human condition.
Mission Statement
Process and Policies
Above all, PTC is a process based organization. We are a new works incubator that takes the time to ask the question: How can we help you make the best version of your story? As a white-led organization, we believe this question is imperative to help our BIPOC community succeed even if the answer is to step aside completely.
We are a grass-roots organization and offer small stipends to our artists when we can. We understand that not all artists are able to work this way and we are making the necessary steps to be able to offer fair compensation to all for each project.
The Collective resides on Canarsie, Lekawe (Rockaway,) Matinecock, and Munsee Lenape land. PTC believes in the power of storytelling and we will work to honor the voices and stories of those populations who have been displaced by settler colonialism. The stories of genocide and forced removal of Indigenous populations from these lands must be acknowledged as reality as do the current struggles that these communities face.
The Collective aims to give back. Proceeds from past events have gone on to aide the National Network of Abortion Funds, Students Organizing for Labor Rights, and the Black Trans Advocacy Coalition. Our Script to Screen series has helped to shine a spotlight on organizations that are important to the artists within our collective.