Naked Angels (theater company)

Naked Angels is an American theater company founded in 1986 and based in New York City. It was named after John Tytell's book about the Beat Generation, Naked Angels. It has produced plays on controversial social topics such as the critically acclaimed Broadway transfer Next Fall, and featured many Hollywood stars.

Naked Angels originated in a former picture-frame factory on West 17th Street in Manhattan. It "soon became the 'it' place for a generation of about-to-be famous young actors and playwrights."^[1]

One of the company's longtime efforts is "The Issues Project", featuring plays or groups of plays focusing on socially relevant issues, often in collaboration with organizations like Amnesty International, The Center for American Progress, Project A.L.S. and The Culture Project. Also known are the group's long-running "Tuesdays@9" cold reading series, where new playwrights, novelists, short-story writers, and actors get together to review work that is still being written.

In 2005, the company partnered with Fox Broadcasting Company to produce Naked TV, an annual showcase of short plays by emerging playwrights. Based on these stagings, Fox executives chose to turn some of the one-act plays into pilot scripts for the primetime network.^[2]^[3]^[4]

Known for "glamorous parties" and "provocative productions", after the first decade the group seemed to have lost the focus on theater. In 1995 the venue on 17th Street (often called "The Place") was closed. By that time many of the early members had gone on to fame in Hollywood or on Broadway.^[1] Naked Angels runs New York City's longest-running cold reading series for new works-in-progress. Every Tuesday, excerpts of new writing is presented to an audience of fellow artists and supporters. The readings operates with an open submission policy throughout the year, and hosts an open casting session at the start of each week.