photo credit: Lee Rayment, Ilan Bachrach
Created by Normandy Sherwood and Nikki Calonge, The Mushroom is a radial play with spokes pointing outward that transforms the Arts Center at Governors Island into a world of growth, decay, wonder and transformation. Blending pageantry, dance, incantation and surreal theatrical spectacle, this immersive work explores fungal movement and the porous boundaries between bodies, landscapes and forms of life. The Mushroom is an enchanted and enveloping experience made by hand to evoke a tender awe. Featuring costumes that become scenery with successions of lacy meshes, The Mushroom invites audiences into a theatrical experience that unfolds in one of New York City’s most distinctive cultural settings while asking provocative questions: How do we reenchant the world? What knows it is alive?
“Gorgeously textured, totally trippy”
– Sara Holdren, Vulture
CREDITS
Creators: Normandy Sherwood & Nikki Calonge
Co-Directors: Normandy Sherwood, Nikki Calonge & Sarah Blush
Choreographer: Nikki Calonge
Writer, Production Designer: Normandy Sherwood
Lighting Designer: Christina Tang
Sound Designer: Johnny Gasper
Performers: Nicolas Noreña, Laurel Atwell, Alei Russo, Emma Wiseman, Stephanie Jean Lane & Susannah Millonzi
Creative Producer: Caitlin Adams
Production Manager: Jack Woods
Stage Manager- Madelyn Barkocy
Associate Stage Manager: Tabirah “Tabby” Muhammad
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Nikki Calonge is an educator and artist whose past credits include performing in the Tony Award-winning Life of Pi on Broadway, the Obie-award winning Psychic Self Defense at HERE Arts Center, Lincoln in the Bardo at the Metropolitan Opera and Clown Show by Geoff Sobelle. Her work has been developed by Object Movement Puppetry Festival and in a New Georges Audrey Residency. Nikki teaches movement at Playwrights Horizons Theater School at NYU Tisch. She has a B.F.A. from NYU Tisch and an M.S. from Pratt Institute in Dance and Movement Therapy.
Normandy Sherwood is a writer, a director, and designer for theater. Recent work includes her curtain spectacular PSYCHIC SELF DEFENSE (2024 OBIE Award, HERE Arts Center’s HARP resident); Scenography and Co-creation of Theater in Quarantine’s Phantom of the Opera (2025) and Nosferatu (2023), presented by NYU Skirball; scenic and/or costume design for projects at NYLA, HERE, Target Margin and more. She was a co-artistic director of The N.T.U.S.A. (2001-2017, R.I.P.) and more recently of The Drunkard’s Wife. She has been an artist in residence at HERE, MacDowell, Yaddo. Normandy is a Clinical Professor in Expository Writing at NYU with an MFA in playwriting from Brooklyn College.
FUNDING + SUPPORT
The Mushroom would like to thank Foundation for Contemporary Arts Creative Research Fund; A.R.T./ New York Fund for Small Theaters, Creative Opportunity Fund and Design Enhancement Fund; New York State Council on the Arts; New Georges Audrey Residency; Mercury Store; IndieSpace; the Exponential Festival; and Materials for the Arts for their support of this project. The Mushroom is presented In Collaboration with New Georges, supported by Venturous Theater Fund.
VENUE NOTES + ACCESSIBILITY
LMCC’s Arts Center at Governors Island
110 Andes Road, NY, NY 10004
Accessible via Governors Island Ferry from the Battery Maritime Building (10 South Street in Lower Manhattan).
Access the Ferry by Subway:
1 to the South Ferry stop
4/5 to the Bowling Green Stop
R/W to Whitehall Street Stop
Venue Access
The Arts Center at Governors Island is accessible on the first floor entrance located next to Soissons Landing. Restrooms are located on the first floor. Access to the second floor and Upper Gallery is available via the elevator on the first floor in the cafe.
The ferry at the Battery Maritime Building is accessible via the entrance at Slip 6 (Note: Due to construction, you may see an accessibility sign at Slip 7, but the correct entrance is Slip 6). Subject to change by January 2027.
Access Notes
ADA Accessible but production requires audience members to move between spaces. This show uses theatrical haze.
Appropriate Age Range
Appropriate for all ages.
SCHEDULE
Thursday, January 14 at 4pm & 7pm
Friday, January 15 at 4pm & 7pm
Sunday, January 17 at 2pm & 5pm
Friday, January 22 at 4pm & 7pm
Saturday, January 23 at 2pm & 5pm
Sunday, January 24 at 2pm & 5pm
Performances continue following the Festival through January 31.
VENUE
LMCC’s Arts Center at Governors Island
110 Andes Road, NY, NY 10004
Accessible via Governors Island Ferry from the Battery Maritime Building (10 South Street in Lower Manhattan).
map to ferry
Accessibility
For access + directions, click here
Run Time:
75 minutes, no intermission
