The Chocolate Factory Theater

The Chocolate Factory Theater “It feels a little bit like the first New York I knew in the ’70s and ’80s" - Tere O’Connor,

Equally thrilled to announce Nelson Downend is joining our Board of Trustees!Nelson joins us as a dear friend, a long ti...
07/21/2026

Equally thrilled to announce Nelson Downend is joining our Board of Trustees!

Nelson joins us as a dear friend, a long time LIC neighbor, show attendee, and even as a lighting designer at CF back in 2013! Read above & below for more about Nelson & his current artistic practice. We could not be more excited to have Nelson steer along side us and join our stellar board. 💫Welcome Nelson!💫

Nelson Downend is an award-winning screenwriter and lighting designer based in New York City. Recently named one of ISA’s “Top 25 Screenwriters to Watch in 2026”, he is currently staffed on a television series with Beach House Pictures, that is in development with Netflix. Nelson’s written work explores emotional and psychological trauma and the power of the human connection in the aftermath. Informed by his experience in lighting, Nelson’s feature and television scripts often employ a grounded surrealism to enhance the visual storytelling. His projects include dramas, psychological thrillers, political thrillers, crime dramas, and dark dramatic comedies, but are always character driven.

In addition to stage lighting, Nelson was an Associate at architectural lighting firm Domingo Gonzalez Associates (2000-2006), and a Senior Designer at Lumen Architecture (2007-2013). His architectural projects have included galleries, hotels, restaurants, transportation facilities, offices, monuments, schools, theatres and residences, and have the recipient of several G.E. Edison Awards & IIDA Awards. Nelson has decades of experience as a creative team leader and collaborator. Nelson is the proud father of Celestial and Galileo.

Trilled to announce that has joined our Board of Trustees! Aki joins us as a Chocolate Factory Theater expert, having p...
07/16/2026

Trilled to announce that has joined our Board of Trustees!

Aki joins us as a Chocolate Factory Theater expert, having performed in a festival (Fresh Meat) in the very first season of CF (circa 2004!). Aki has returned several times, producing new work in 2009 & 2012, and as a cherished audiencee. Read above & below for more on what she’s gotten up to! We are excited to have her guide us along and join our stellar board. 💫Welcome Aki! 💫

Aki Sasamoto (born in Kanagawa, Japan; lives and works in New haven/Brooklyn, USA) works in sculpture, performance, video, and more. In her installation/performance works, Aki moves and talks inside the careful arrangements of sculpturally altered objects, activating bizarre emotions behind daily life. Her works appear in gallery spaces, theater spaces, and odd sites. Her works were shown at Queens Museum, SculptureCenter, The Kitchen, The Chocolate Factory Theater, Whitney Biennial 2010, MoMA PS1, New York; Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Aichi Triennale 2022, National Museum of Art-Osaka, Hirosaki Museum of Contemporary Art, Yokohama Triennale 2008, Japan; Busan Biennale 2022, Gwangju Biennial 2012, South Korea; Shanghai Biennale 2016, China; Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2016, India; Kunsthal Rotterdam, Netherlands; Studio Voltaire, U.K.; Pirelli Hangar Bicocca, the 59th Venice Biennale, Italy. She is a professor at Yale School of Art, Sculpture Department.

06/30/2026

Round out our 2025-2026 season with a donation to support incredible, creative, risk-taking artists and a home for experimental dance and performance in NYC!

🍫🍫🍫🍫🍫🍫🍫🍫🍫🍫🍫🍫🍫🍫🍫🍫🍫🍫
Please consider supporting The Chocolate Factory Theater with a gift of any size that feels meaningful to you 🤎donate to our Spring campaign to raise $45k before June 30th.

These funds will directly support our commissions and fair hourly wages for the lead artists and performers working within our spaces. 🩵

Link in bio & at chocolatefactorytheater.org

taking a moment to shout out our incredible Board of Trustees! Over 20+ years, CF has remained artist-led, continuing to...
06/26/2026

taking a moment to shout out our incredible Board of Trustees!

Over 20+ years, CF has remained artist-led, continuing to respond to the evolving needs of independent artists in NYC. Our Board of Trustees have steadfastly believed in our work and champion CF in Long Island City, NYC and the outer world!

THANK YOU Diane Eisenstat Frank Chris Ajemian Vallejo Gantner Neil Greenberg Diana Leah Manalang Jerry LaSpisa Mohammad Yousuf Nunally Kersh 🩵🤎

🍫🍫🍫🍫🍫🍫🍫🍫🍫🍫🍫🍫🍫🍫🍫🍫🍫🍫
Please consider supporting The Chocolate Factory Theater with a gift of any size that feels meaningful to you 🤎donate to our Spring campaign to raise $45k before June 30th.

These funds will directly support our commissions and fair hourly wages for the lead artists and performers working within our spaces. 🩵

Link in bio & at chocolatefactorytheater.org

06/26/2026

“. . .And though abstract, risky, and experimental, the work feels unmistakably connected to the world beyond the theater doors” -

Peep a window into our 2025-2026 season of premieres, residencies, dinners, and performances 🩵🤎

Led by


& co





ztye













and their wonderful collaborators, performers, designers, admin & production! 🥂

A note from our Director of Development Regine Pieters:We believe in Artists. We believe in the Possible Futures they un...
06/12/2026

A note from our Director of Development Regine Pieters:

We believe in Artists. We believe in the Possible Futures they unfold.

Please consider supporting The Chocolate Factory Theater with a gift of any size that feels meaningful to you 🤎donate to our Spring campaign to raise $45k before June 30th.

These funds will directly support our commissions and fair hourly wages for the lead artists and performers working within our spaces. 🩵

Link in bio & at chocolatefactorytheater.org

Pictured: Champagne Jerry Neal Medlyn singing out to our audience at Neal & ulrika andersson ‘s Made in Heaven show this past March. — if you look closely, you can spot Regine Pieters in the crowd!

A note from our 🩵We believe in Artists. We believe in Risk. Please consider supporting The Chocolate Factory Theater wi...
06/05/2026

A note from our 🩵

We believe in Artists. We believe in Risk.

Please consider supporting The Chocolate Factory Theater with a gift of any size that feels meaningful to you 🤎donate to our Spring campaign to raise $45k before June 30th.

These funds will directly support our commissions and fair hourly wages for the lead artists and performers working within our spaces. 🩵

Link in bio & at chocolatefactorytheater.org

We had an absolute blast at the 4th annual Mother’s Day Block Party on May 10th with and and ! Thank you to the 300...
05/31/2026

We had an absolute blast at the 4th annual Mother’s Day Block Party on May 10th with and and ! Thank you to the 300+ amazing friends, families, and neighbors who came out and hung out with us this year!

Shout out to the phenomenal artists who led and fed us:
🎶🎸🎤
The Band
☀️😎🍳🍪
Solar Cooking & Shadow Puppets
🏳️‍🌈📚🎉
Drag Artists for Expression NYC
🕺🏻🎺💃🏻
LIC Salsa School
🎶💿👾
Karaoke
🪅🍭🍬
Piñata
🎨👩🏻‍🎨🖌️
Face Painting
🌸🫟🖇️
Flower Making Station
🪄🔥👏🏻
Magic .thompson.315080
🪴🌱🖍️
Seed Planting
💿🕯️ 🎶
Album listening Session
🫧🫧🫧
Bubble Station
🧑🏻‍🍳🌭🌮🌟
Chef
🍪🧁✨
Cookie Decorating

And to the incredible organizing team, crew, volunteers, family members, supporters and MOTHERS who made it possible!! 💖

Tickets released for Wed 6/10! Moriah Evans’s […/+*^%€£¥$&@!!!!^^^] is ready for you this June 5-6, & 10-13.[…/+*^%€£¥$&...
05/29/2026

Tickets released for Wed 6/10!

Moriah Evans’s […/+*^%€£¥$&@!!!!^^^] is ready for you this June 5-6, & 10-13.

[…/+*^%€£¥$&@!!!!^^^] confronts the body as a site of political and existential conundrums. The title is intentionally unsayable, engaging that which cannot be uttered in the ineffable present, a way to stay with the body. It resists the explicative we so often demand of the historical moment and instead offers dance and performance as a form to negotiate these complex times.

The work probes how material, immaterial, biological, and sensorial resources coexist in dancing actions that oscillate from the unstable and unresolved to unified group choreographies of mesmerizing dance steps.

In this maze of interdependence, […/+*^%€£¥$&@!!!!^^^] proposes non-linear thinking and embodied ways of knowing, questioning how bodies can and cannot be isolated from social, economic, and political urgencies.

Direction and Choreography: Moriah Evans
with Performers: Cyril Baldy .cyrilbaldy, Malcolm-x Betts , Chloë Engel , Kris Lee , João dos Santos Martins , Varinia Canto Vila ;
Lighting Design: Madeline Best ; Scenic Design: Doris Dziersk ; Sound Design: Ian Douglas Moore ; Costumes: Strauss Bourque-LaFrance ; Dramaturgy: Joshua Lubin-Levy ; Fabrication: Matt Shalzi; Studio Management: Margaret Knowles

The premiere of […/+*^%€£¥$&@!!!!^^^] is Co-Commissioned with the Walker Art Center and supported through Moriah Evans’ 2025-2027 Fellowship with the Vera List Center for Art and Politics with additional support by Villa Albertine.

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38-33 24th Street
Long Island City, NY
11101

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