Company Biography

The Debate Society is a Brooklyn based company that creates new plays through the collaboration of Hannah Bos, Paul Thureen (writer/performers) and Oliver Butler (director/developer). Typically shaping a new play via a rigorous 12-18 month development process, the company specializes in creating unexpected stories set in supremely intricate, vividly theatrical worlds.

The Debate Society’s plays include Buddy Cop 2 (Ontological-Hysteric Incubator; published by Samuel French), You’re Welcome (The Brick; published by Playscripts), Cape Disappointment (PS122; published in PLAY A JOURNAL OF PLAYS), The Eaten Heart, The Snow Hen and A Thought About Raya.

The Debate Society was awarded a “Village Voice Best of Award” for “Best Argument for Devised Theater - 2010”. The Debate Society trio are 2011 Sundance Institute Fellows.

The company’s past tour destinations include Portland, OR, Austin, TX, Hartford, CT, Martha’s Vineyard, MA and Syracuse, NY. The work of The Debate Society has been supported by grants from NEA/chashama, The Greenwall Foundation, The Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, The Puffin Foundation, The Sons of Norway Foundation, Fractured Atlas and The Mancini Foundation, The Edith Lutyens and Norman Bel Geddes Foundation.

The Debate Society Board

Internships

The Debate Society provides a super involved, super unique, super rewarding internship program. We are always looking to talk to new intern candidates. If interested, visit our CONTACT page to drop us a line. Past Interns: Anna Elliott, Alexandra Young, Marisa Savic, Benjamin Palacios & Julia McGill.

Among the better experimental companies to emerge in the past five years, the Debate Society fills a unique, shadowy niche. While the others might employ gestural vocabularies, metacabaret or high-concept lampoon, the Debate Society is carving out a body of work notable for its queasy humor and moody, haunting tableaux.

David Cote, Time Out New York