17 Border Crossings, now at New York Theatre Workshop, is not a light-hearted romp. It is, as the title suggests, a recital of, well, 17 Border crossings. Thanks to Thaddeus Phillips’ skill as a storyteller (he is also credited with the set design: one chair, one table and one cup), these border crossings are vivid. Thanks to the superb lighting design by David Todaro, these events crackle... Read more

New York Theatre Workshop continues its 2018-2019 off-Broadway season with 17 Border Crossings, created and performed by Thaddeus Phillips and directed by Tatiana Mallarino.
Thaddeus Phillips previously collaborated with NYTW on the 2006 production of ¡El Conquistador! and 2014 production of Red Eye to Havre de Grace.
(Photos by Johanna Austin)
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17 Border Crossings Image and Video Gallery

With his signature blend of childlike curiosity, adult skepticism, and theatrical imagination, raconteur Thaddeus Phillips returns to New York Theatre Workshop with 17 Border Crossings. The play begins with a man at a desk on an empty stage and ends up everywhere but, taking audiences on a trip around the world via Phillips’s effortlessly fluent storytelling. A chair, table, and bar of lights become the imagined settings for invasive body searches at Charles de Gaulle, ayahuasca experiments in the Amazon, KFC-smuggling in Palestine, and run-ins with Ace of Base on Croatian ferries in this engrossing look at the imaginary lines that divide up the world and the very real barriers they create.