Professor of Theater Allen Kuharski offers a critical overview of Pig Iron Theatre Company’s history and relationship to contemporary theater in the U.S. and beyond. First launched by a group of Swarthmore College theater alumni in 1995, Pig Iron Theatre Company is now in its 15th season as a critically-acclaimed and growing part of Philadelphia’s professional theater community. Though strongly rooted in Philadelphia, Pig Iron’s cosmopolitan, unpredictable, and highly mobile work (consisting of almost two dozen original works to date) has earned it a national and international profile. The company’s unique character and success reveal a continuation and dialog with certain aspects of the American avant-garde as well as a significant departure from much contemporary theater practice in the United States.

To listen to Prof. Kuharski’s lecture or watch a clip of the work of Pig Iron Theater Company, click here.