Liz Amadio, the Artistic Director of Cosmic Orchid, was weaned as a dancer on Jerzy Grotowski’s “Towards a Poor Theatre”; and came of Artistic age in the downtown theatre of the early eighties, putting up work in friends’ Soho lofts.  Everyone knew you had to get a pay-the-bills job.  One never expected to make money from one’s art.  That expectation was part and parcel to compromising the fundamental nature of the art.  Commercialism was considered the devil that would destroy all downtown, underground theatre.  Fast forward to this millennium:  some of those obstacles proved to be rumors and have fallen away.  Yet, some new ones have been erected.

 

Cosmic Orchid is built upon a foundation of everything that Off-Off Broadway represents at its core:  Artistic exploration; Collaborative development; Interdisciplinary integration; Minimal production values (allowing the strength of the narrative to stand on its own); and of course, Embracing community. 

 

Visual art is customarily presented in galleries with other art.  Theatre is customarily presented alone or collectively with other plays.  Our goal is to curate visual and performing arts simultaneously, with the resulting exhibition a synergy of the visual aesthetic and the passion of live theatre.  We are, in essence, exploring the philosophy of art.

 

As a curator of integrated visual and performing arts installations, we explore aesthetics within the context of storytelling.  Our work is a study on collective interpretation and relevant context of art in society.  All art has inspiration at its core.  There is nothing new in that regard.  What makes Cosmic Orchid unique is that rather than bury that inspiration, we highlight that inspiration so that process becomes an integral part of performance.

 

It is the duty of the artist in society to ask questions – profound spiritual questions – questions that may have more than one answer or no answer at all.  It is also the responsibility of the artist to leave those questions unanswered – to allow their audience the space to find answers for themselves.

 

The work of Cosmic Orchid represents a deeper level of Off-Off Broadway - where the tools of story expand to encompass myriad aspects of art – the theatricality of life itself.