About the Program

Mabou Mines’ performance initiative SUITE/space provides artistic advisement, rehearsal space, stipend and public performances in our state-of-the-art, 84-seat theater to New York City-based artists of color that share Mabou Mines’ commitment to breaking new ground in form and content.

SUITE/space Artists Receive

• A $4,000 stipend and a 50-50 box office split.
• 40 hours of rehearsal space in Mabou Mines’ sunlit studio in the East Village.
• Technical and administrative support.
• Studio visits with the program’s Artistic Directors and guest advisors.
• 12 hours of technical rehearsal in the theater.
• Four SUITE/space in-progress performances in a festival-like setting at Mabou Mines.

Selection Process & Residency Timeline

• • April Application Opens
  • May Application Closes
  • June Selection Process & Finalist Interviews
  • July Resident Artist Announcement & First Artist Meeting
  • August – November Rehearsals, Meetings & Mentorship
  • December Performances

Applications are currently closed.

Check the 2025 SUITE/space Application Guidelines

Direct Program support for SUITE/Space has been provided by the New York Community Trust,  The NYC Department of Cultural Affairs and The Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF).

Program Mentor, Karen Kandel’s deep commitment to collaboration fueled her work with many other like-minded artists committed to expanding traditional notions of theatre, among them Elizabeth Swados, Ann Bogart, Peter Sellars, Andre Serban, and JoAnne Akalitis (one of the Company’s founders). Karen’s work with Mabou Mines has earned her numerous awards including her performance as the narrator in Peter and Wendy (OBIE)– called “astonishing and enchanting.” She became a Co-Artistic Director at Mabou Mines in 2015.

Karen’s creative vision continues to move her toward “work that embraces every possibility.”  She recently co-created with composer Eve Beglarian The Vicksburg Project, a song cycle following women’s lives in Mississippi from the Civil War to today.

Karen is the recipient of numerous awards and honors. Among them are three OBIEs, the Connecticut Critics Circle Award, Drama League Outstanding Performance Citation, United States Artists, Ziporyn Fellowship, and Asian Cultural Council Fellowship. She was one of only six recipients of the Audrey Skirball-Kenis T.I.M.E. Grant.

Program Mentor, Carl Hancock Rux is an award-winning poet, playwright, librettist, novelist, director, essayist, performer and recording artist.  Rux is the author of the novel, Asphalt, the OBIE Award winning play, Talk, and the Village Voice Literary prize-winning collection of poetry, Pagan Operetta. Rux has  performed with Marlies Yearby’s Movin’ Spirits Dance Theater, Urban Bush Women, Jane Comfort & Co., Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater,  Martha Clark, The Foundry Theatre and Robert Wilson.  Rux received a BESSIE© award for his direction of the Lisa Jones/Alva Rogers dance musical, Stained.

Mr. Rux’s albums include Rux Revue (Sony/550), Apothecary Rx (Giant Step), Good Bread Alley (Thirsty Ear)  and Homeostasis (CD Baby).

Rux is the subject of the Voices of America television documentary, Carl Hancock Rux, Coming of Age, recipient of the CINE Golden Eagle Award (Larry Clamage/Richard Maniscalo producers). He is the recipient of the Herb Alpert Prize, NYFA Prize, NYFA Gregory Millard Fellow, and NEA/TCG Artist-in-Residency Fellow. Carl became a became a Co-Artistic Director at Mabou Mines in 2020.