A part of the mission of Fire Ensemble Inc. is to expand the canon of musical works and productions that place our values of freedom/collective liberation, intergenerational healing, radical relationship and excellence at their core.
Originally created to celebrate Juneteenth, The Revival: It Is Our Duty is meant to lift people out of their sorrow using songs and rituals that center collective liberation. As they say in the Black church, audiences “won’t leave the way they came.” Written by The Revival is meant to lift people out of their sorrow using songs and rituals that center collective liberation. As they say in the Black church, audiences “won’t leave the way they came.”
Written by Troy Anthony
Additional Songs by Sam Appiah, Tony George, and Johnathan Johnson
Additional Lyrics by Vonae McCray and Assata Shakur
Directed by Troy Anthony and Brisa Muñoz
Band Lead by Sam Appiah
Lighting Design by Daisy Long
Scenic Design by You-Shin Chen
Sound Design by DJ Potts
Costume Consultation by Qween Jean
Spiritual Dramaturgy by Ava Tiye Kinsey
Originally Commissioned by The Shed as a part of “Open Call”
Development History: The Shed (June 2021 + June 2022)
On June 15, 2024, 80 members of our choir community went into the studio to lay down vocals for our first album. This inspirational gospel album will feature all of the songs from Troy Anthony's The Revival: It Is Our Duty after sold out shows at The Shed in 2021 and 2022. The Revival: It Is Our Duty is a theatrical concert/service offering salvation through collective liberation and is built upon the belief that we all have the ability to change and heal.
Produced by Troy Anthony, Sam Appiah, and Will Stone
Written by Troy AnthonyAdditional Songs by Sam Appiah and Johnathan Johnson
Additional Lyrics by Vonae McCray and Assata Shakur
Executive Produced by Fire Ensemble Inc.
Troy Anthony and the Fire Ensemble recording the album for The Revival at Power Station at BerkleeNYC, New York City, June 15, 2024. Photo: Tori Mumtaz. Courtesy The Shed.
Coming in March 2025
Originally commissioned for The Public Theater’s Public Works program, Troy Anthony has written a new musical adaptation of Shakespeare’s Pericles. Anthony combines influences from Black musical traditions including gospel and R&B with Shakespearean verse to offer an updated take on shipwrecks, pirates, jousting tournaments, and epic journeys. Continuing The Fire Ensemble’s collective approach that centers intergenerational BIPOC communities, Pericles explores themes of grief and hard-won joy.
Written by William Shakespeare
Music and Lyrics by Troy Anthony
Dramaturgy by Amrita Ramanan, Mei Ann Teo, and Ayanna Thompson
Originally Commissioned and Developed by The Public Theater (Oskar Eustis, Artistic Director; Patrick Willingham, Executive Director)
Photo: Tori Mumtaz. Courtesy The Shed.
Development History: The Shed (June 2023), Chelsea Factory (August 2024), The Public Theater (TBA)
In the fall of 2022, award-winning author and creator adrienne maree brown became The Fire Ensemble’s inaugural resident artist to develop To Feel A Thing: A Ritual of Emergence. By uplifting a resident artist each season, The Fire Ensemble provides the opportunity for choir community members to collaborate with successful generative artists and thought-leaders for 10 weeks in workshopping a new project.
Directed and co-created by Charlotte Brathwaite, featuring original text from brown, and music co-created with Troy Anthony, To Feel A Thing: A Ritual for Emergence acknowledges the spirit inside each of us that is a wild creature of Earth, along with the feelings that lead us to adapt for survival and to come together to care for our communities. This is a time when art needs to enliven and connect people to themselves and their capacity to shape the future through their own choices. To Feel A Thing: A Ritual for Emergence is a musical ritual rooted in emergent strategy, the sound and spirit of gospel, and creating more possibilities for our species by awakening our capacity to feel what is, and feel each other.
Co-Created + Conceived by adrienne maree brown
Co-Created + Directed by Charlotte Brathwaite
Co-Created + Music Directed by Troy Anthony
ASL Direction by Alexandria WailesAdditional Lyric by Octavia Butler
Originally Commissioned by Oregon Shakespeare Festival and St. Louis Repertory Theater
Produced by Fire Ensemble Inc (Darren Biggart + Amanda Franklin)
Band Lead by Sam Appiah
Dramaturgy by Sunder Ganglani
Lighting + Scenic Design by Kent Barrett
Development History: Oregon Shakespeare Festival (Sept 2022), The Shed (Dec 2022), New York Live Arts (May 2023), Holland Festival (June 2023)
Photos: Ahad Subzwari. Courtesy The Shed.
Antioch Mass is a Black Queer retelling of the story of Jesus and his disciples, told through the lens of grief, memory, and Black male intimacy. In an intimate semi-autobiographical portrait, Troy Anthony revisits the gospels for the first time since childhood and explores the origins of Christianity after learning through a shamanic drumming ceremony that he may have been an original follower of Christ.
Written by Troy Anthony
Dramaturgy by Ava Tiye Kinsey
Band Led by Jon Thomas
Developed with producing support from CNTR Arts (Bryan Joseph Lee).
Development History: CNTR Arts/Chelsea Factory (Sept 2022)
This high-energy punk rock ritual performance, written by Jaime Cepero, honors the history of the 1791-1804 Haitian Revolution. Led by an all-black cast of incredible artists and musicians, this often overlooked part of world history comes to life exploring how a colony divided by race, color, and class became the perfect stage to birth a rebel movement so powerful and leaders so diverse they would rock the foundation of the world as they knew it. . Using immersive storytelling and musical community as our access, over a decade of colonial uprising is filtered through a modern lens: the styles and sounds of the Punk music scene—including New Wave, Alt Punk, and Emo Pop. Declaring independence from France and creating the first black-led republic in the western hemisphere: the kingdom of Haiti, eventually became the catalyst that would bring about the end of transatlantic slavery.
Book, Music, and Lyrics by Jaime Cepero
Choreography by Angela Nicole Patmon
Direction by Troy Anthony
Music Direction by Xander Browne
Produced in part by Fire Ensemble Inc and Misfit Artisans Group
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