Crichton Atkinson is a film, video and theater director who also writes and performs. She is currently working on the short film Close at a Distance about a father asking his daughter to be there for him during his end of life. Before that she recently finished The First Book, a video art piece about the Gods giving fire to humanity. Her film and theater directing reveals raw and truthful emotions while talking about heady ideas. Her video and performance art is poetic and often colorful.
Her work has been shown in New York, Los Angeles, Denver, Pittsburg, Santa Fe, Shanghai and London. Her performance work has been exhibited at MoMA and the Flux Factory, her video work at the AC Institute in Chelsea, and her writing at the New Museum. She has performed in Performa 11 and 13, as well as at the New Museum, Dia:Beacon, the Knockdown Center, and the Whitney. She has contributed to films that have been shown at BAM and nominated for an Independent Spirit Award. Her theater work was shown Off Broadway at the Under the Radar Festival and featured in the New York Times and the New Yorker.
Education: Bard, BFA
2020
Close at a Distance, short film, in post production, Madison, CT
2019
The First Book, video, Performance Palace, Brooklyn, NY
Camp Fire on Canal Street, performance, Adult Swim's Studios, Manhattan, NY
Marta Minujín: Menesunda Reloaded, performer, New Museum, Manhattan, NY
State Sanctioned MADness vs. The People's Peace of Mind, art exhibition, Open Orbit, Kingston, NY
Pyramids Of, performance, Chinatown Soup, Manhattan, NY
2018
Invisible Sentence, performance, Marianne Vitale studio, Queens, NY
Visual Interview, digital images, www.artandtranslation.com/visual-interview-with-crichton-atkinson/
The First Book, Ch. 1, video, Secret Project Robot, Brooklyn, NY
Chinatown Utopia, performer, director Olimpia Dior, Secret Project Robot, Brooklyn, NY
Cute Expectations, performance, Secret Project Robot, Brooklyn, NY
Everything You Expect Won’t Come to Pass, and Other Cute Songs!, performance, JVL@B, Windjammer, Brooklyn, NY
Close at a Distance Reading, writer and director, Secret Project Robot, Brooklyn, NY
Flash/Light, curator, video series, Secret Project Robot, Brooklyn, NY
2017
Buku Love, director and designer, music video, released on Atwood Magazine
28”2”3”, performer, artist Katherine Mavridis and Ellinor Stingle, Hotel Particulier, New York, NY
Journey’s Price, writer, poem, published on Metambesen
Church of Smoke, performer, artist Olimpia Dior, Bizarre Bushwick, Brooklyn, NY
2016
The Keeper, performance, BOOKLUB 10, The Newsstand, MoMA, New York, NY
The Keeper, performance, All Together Now, The Lilypad, Boston, MA
The Keeper, performance, Friendship, Flux Factory, Long Island City, NY
The Keeper, video, Up(Lyft), Otion Front, Brooklyn, NY
Authority Figure, performer, choreographer Kathleen Dycaico, Knockdown Center, Brooklyn, NY
All One, performer, choreographer Kathleen Dycaico, Otion Front, Brooklyn, NY
How to Act at the Table, performer, artist Olimpia Dior, Bizzare Bushwick, Brooklyn, NY
The Last in Chinatown, performer, artist Olimpia Dior, Georgia, New York, NY
Confessions of a Video Bitch, performer, artist Olimpia Dior, A Night of Intimacy, S.A.D. Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
Xmas in July, actor, director Joel Clark, post-production
2015
Cry Baby: A Series of Instructions, work on paper, writing, Zines and Objects by Artists Fair, The New Museum, New York, NY
As-Is, writer, poem, Festschrift, published on Metambesen
Monologues for Orpheus, prints, permanently installed at the Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project, Florence, AZ
Monologues for Orpheus, video, solo show, Monologues for Orpheus, AC Institute, Chelsea, NY
2014
Monologues for Orpheus, video, Composing the Tinnitus Suites: 2014, Nothing Space, Bushwick, NY
Golfing Party of Brancusi, Satie, & John Quinn, performer, artist Carl Andre, Dia:Beacon, Beacon, NY
River of Fundament, actor, director Matthew Barney, BAM, Brooklyn, NY
Man from Reno, songwriter, director Dave Boyle, John Cassavetes Award at the Independent Spirit Awards (nominated), Los Angeles, CA
2013
Monologues for Orpheus, video, Space Witch, Bushwick, NY
Monologues for Orpheus, video, It Is What It Is, 331 Gallery, Beacon, NY
The Keeper, performance, Shadow Sign: Dance/Performance, Nothing Space, Bushwick, NY
Monologues for Orpheus, video, Crush the Serpent, Studio 109, Bushwick, NY
Monologues for Orpheus, video, Apparition or Illumination: Video Art from the Underground, Nothing Space, Bushwick, NY
The Missing Book of Spurs, performer, artist Marianne Vitale, Performa 13, Long Island City, NY
2012
Monologues for Orpheus, print, N2NM: Exchange, Santa Fe, NM
Borders/Exchanges, writing, Sketches: Propositions and Potentials, Nothing Space, Brooklyn, NY
Atlantis, writing, New//Fresh//Now, Symposium, Brooklyn, NY
The box in a plastic bag (la boîte-en-sac plastique) New York version, performer, artist Bona Park, The Ungovernables, New Museum Triennial, New Museum, New York, NY
The Exquisite Corpse Project, actor/co-writer, director Ben Popik, Anthology Film Archives, New York, NY
The Rub, set designer, director Nessa Norrich, Magic Future Box, Brooklyn, NY
2011
Spartacus Chetwynd: Home Made Tasers, performer, artist Spartacus Chetwynd, New Museum, New York, NY
Positions: An Action by Public Movement, performer, The Ungovernables, New Museum Triennial, Performa 11, Occupy Wall Street, New York, NY
2010
Oedipus after Colonus, director, Dangerous Ground Productions, HERE, New York, NY and The Byrdcliffe Theatre, Woodstock, NY
John Cassavetes’ Husbands’, production manager, director Doris Mirescu, Dangerous Ground Productions, The Public Theater, New York, NY
Moving Around Filling Spacetime, video, artist in residence, Dia:Beacon, Beacon, NY
2009
Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Fund for Creative Communities, grant recipient
Use Your Body/Words, video, School, New York, NY
2008
NARRATOR, director, Dangerous Ground Productions, Paradise Factory, New York, NY
Last Tango in Paris, producer, director Doris Mirescu, Dangerous Ground Productions, Paradise Factory, New York, NY
Beware of a Holy Whore, actor 'Redhead', director Doris Mirescu, Dangerous Ground Productions, SVA Theatre, New York, NY
The Madness of Day, assistant director, director Doris Mirescu, Dangerous Ground Productions, Paradise Factory, New York, NY
2007
The Distance from Here, assistant director, director Doris Mirescu, Dangerous Ground Productions, Paradise Factory, New York, NY
2006
Prairie Piece, the Reveries of Pioneer Women, performer, choreographer Rebecca Mendel, BAX, Brooklyn Arts Exchange, Brooklyn, NY
Song for New York, stagehand, director Ruth Maleczech, Mabou Mines, Voice and Vision, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY
Tales of Dracula, assistant director, director Maureen Brennan, Red Dive, Voice and Vision, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY
2005
Orestes, actor ‘Helen of Troy’, director JoAnne Akalaitis, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY
Before the Kiss A.K.A. The Creatures of Nostalgia, director and writer, Poor Man’s Copyright, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY
2004
Blue Moon (True), director, world premiere, Finborough Theatre, London Fringe Festival, London, UK
The Winters Tale, actor, director Irena Brown, London, UK
The Gods and the Good Person, Kang Tie, director Jeff Sichell, Shanghai, China
2003
The Gods and the Good Person, Kang Tie, director Jeff Sichell, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY
The Painting, actor ‘Iona’, director Vanessa Bombardieri, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY
2002
Wanda’s Visit, actor ‘Wanda’, director Eddie Bennett, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY
The Secretaries, actor ‘Patty Johnson’, director Ian Belton, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY
Her work has been shown in New York, Los Angeles, Denver, Pittsburg, Santa Fe, Shanghai and London. Her performance work has been exhibited at MoMA and the Flux Factory, her video work at the AC Institute in Chelsea, and her writing at the New Museum. She has performed in Performa 11 and 13, as well as at the New Museum, Dia:Beacon, the Knockdown Center, and the Whitney. She has contributed to films that have been shown at BAM and nominated for an Independent Spirit Award. Her theater work was shown Off Broadway at the Under the Radar Festival and featured in the New York Times and the New Yorker.
Education: Bard, BFA
2020
Close at a Distance, short film, in post production, Madison, CT
2019
The First Book, video, Performance Palace, Brooklyn, NY
Camp Fire on Canal Street, performance, Adult Swim's Studios, Manhattan, NY
Marta Minujín: Menesunda Reloaded, performer, New Museum, Manhattan, NY
State Sanctioned MADness vs. The People's Peace of Mind, art exhibition, Open Orbit, Kingston, NY
Pyramids Of, performance, Chinatown Soup, Manhattan, NY
2018
Invisible Sentence, performance, Marianne Vitale studio, Queens, NY
Visual Interview, digital images, www.artandtranslation.com/visual-interview-with-crichton-atkinson/
The First Book, Ch. 1, video, Secret Project Robot, Brooklyn, NY
Chinatown Utopia, performer, director Olimpia Dior, Secret Project Robot, Brooklyn, NY
Cute Expectations, performance, Secret Project Robot, Brooklyn, NY
Everything You Expect Won’t Come to Pass, and Other Cute Songs!, performance, JVL@B, Windjammer, Brooklyn, NY
Close at a Distance Reading, writer and director, Secret Project Robot, Brooklyn, NY
Flash/Light, curator, video series, Secret Project Robot, Brooklyn, NY
2017
Buku Love, director and designer, music video, released on Atwood Magazine
28”2”3”, performer, artist Katherine Mavridis and Ellinor Stingle, Hotel Particulier, New York, NY
Journey’s Price, writer, poem, published on Metambesen
Church of Smoke, performer, artist Olimpia Dior, Bizarre Bushwick, Brooklyn, NY
2016
The Keeper, performance, BOOKLUB 10, The Newsstand, MoMA, New York, NY
The Keeper, performance, All Together Now, The Lilypad, Boston, MA
The Keeper, performance, Friendship, Flux Factory, Long Island City, NY
The Keeper, video, Up(Lyft), Otion Front, Brooklyn, NY
Authority Figure, performer, choreographer Kathleen Dycaico, Knockdown Center, Brooklyn, NY
All One, performer, choreographer Kathleen Dycaico, Otion Front, Brooklyn, NY
How to Act at the Table, performer, artist Olimpia Dior, Bizzare Bushwick, Brooklyn, NY
The Last in Chinatown, performer, artist Olimpia Dior, Georgia, New York, NY
Confessions of a Video Bitch, performer, artist Olimpia Dior, A Night of Intimacy, S.A.D. Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
Xmas in July, actor, director Joel Clark, post-production
2015
Cry Baby: A Series of Instructions, work on paper, writing, Zines and Objects by Artists Fair, The New Museum, New York, NY
As-Is, writer, poem, Festschrift, published on Metambesen
Monologues for Orpheus, prints, permanently installed at the Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project, Florence, AZ
Monologues for Orpheus, video, solo show, Monologues for Orpheus, AC Institute, Chelsea, NY
2014
Monologues for Orpheus, video, Composing the Tinnitus Suites: 2014, Nothing Space, Bushwick, NY
Golfing Party of Brancusi, Satie, & John Quinn, performer, artist Carl Andre, Dia:Beacon, Beacon, NY
River of Fundament, actor, director Matthew Barney, BAM, Brooklyn, NY
Man from Reno, songwriter, director Dave Boyle, John Cassavetes Award at the Independent Spirit Awards (nominated), Los Angeles, CA
2013
Monologues for Orpheus, video, Space Witch, Bushwick, NY
Monologues for Orpheus, video, It Is What It Is, 331 Gallery, Beacon, NY
The Keeper, performance, Shadow Sign: Dance/Performance, Nothing Space, Bushwick, NY
Monologues for Orpheus, video, Crush the Serpent, Studio 109, Bushwick, NY
Monologues for Orpheus, video, Apparition or Illumination: Video Art from the Underground, Nothing Space, Bushwick, NY
The Missing Book of Spurs, performer, artist Marianne Vitale, Performa 13, Long Island City, NY
2012
Monologues for Orpheus, print, N2NM: Exchange, Santa Fe, NM
Borders/Exchanges, writing, Sketches: Propositions and Potentials, Nothing Space, Brooklyn, NY
Atlantis, writing, New//Fresh//Now, Symposium, Brooklyn, NY
The box in a plastic bag (la boîte-en-sac plastique) New York version, performer, artist Bona Park, The Ungovernables, New Museum Triennial, New Museum, New York, NY
The Exquisite Corpse Project, actor/co-writer, director Ben Popik, Anthology Film Archives, New York, NY
The Rub, set designer, director Nessa Norrich, Magic Future Box, Brooklyn, NY
2011
Spartacus Chetwynd: Home Made Tasers, performer, artist Spartacus Chetwynd, New Museum, New York, NY
Positions: An Action by Public Movement, performer, The Ungovernables, New Museum Triennial, Performa 11, Occupy Wall Street, New York, NY
2010
Oedipus after Colonus, director, Dangerous Ground Productions, HERE, New York, NY and The Byrdcliffe Theatre, Woodstock, NY
John Cassavetes’ Husbands’, production manager, director Doris Mirescu, Dangerous Ground Productions, The Public Theater, New York, NY
Moving Around Filling Spacetime, video, artist in residence, Dia:Beacon, Beacon, NY
2009
Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Fund for Creative Communities, grant recipient
Use Your Body/Words, video, School, New York, NY
2008
NARRATOR, director, Dangerous Ground Productions, Paradise Factory, New York, NY
Last Tango in Paris, producer, director Doris Mirescu, Dangerous Ground Productions, Paradise Factory, New York, NY
Beware of a Holy Whore, actor 'Redhead', director Doris Mirescu, Dangerous Ground Productions, SVA Theatre, New York, NY
The Madness of Day, assistant director, director Doris Mirescu, Dangerous Ground Productions, Paradise Factory, New York, NY
2007
The Distance from Here, assistant director, director Doris Mirescu, Dangerous Ground Productions, Paradise Factory, New York, NY
2006
Prairie Piece, the Reveries of Pioneer Women, performer, choreographer Rebecca Mendel, BAX, Brooklyn Arts Exchange, Brooklyn, NY
Song for New York, stagehand, director Ruth Maleczech, Mabou Mines, Voice and Vision, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY
Tales of Dracula, assistant director, director Maureen Brennan, Red Dive, Voice and Vision, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY
2005
Orestes, actor ‘Helen of Troy’, director JoAnne Akalaitis, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY
Before the Kiss A.K.A. The Creatures of Nostalgia, director and writer, Poor Man’s Copyright, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY
2004
Blue Moon (True), director, world premiere, Finborough Theatre, London Fringe Festival, London, UK
The Winters Tale, actor, director Irena Brown, London, UK
The Gods and the Good Person, Kang Tie, director Jeff Sichell, Shanghai, China
2003
The Gods and the Good Person, Kang Tie, director Jeff Sichell, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY
The Painting, actor ‘Iona’, director Vanessa Bombardieri, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY
2002
Wanda’s Visit, actor ‘Wanda’, director Eddie Bennett, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY
The Secretaries, actor ‘Patty Johnson’, director Ian Belton, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY
