Thirdwing premieres a new drama about the unionization of Disney studios.
September 6 - 18 at the wild project

Buy tickets HERE.

"Smart and entertaining... Warm and alive, it’s layered with nuance as it captures the anxiety that can grip a workplace amid a labor struggle — and the ruthlessness that can ensue on all sides." -- Laura Collins-Hughes, The New York Times

"An enjoyable cross-section of a time in the life of Disney as a business, with some thought-provoking notions about the cost of making art." - Christopher Caz, TheaterScene.net

"Burbank is fun, thought-provoking, and insightful." -- Edward Kliszus, Front Row Center

"A compelling, hard-hitting one act from Thirdwing... the production resonates, and captivates, from start to finish." -- Jon Sobel, Blogcritics.org

Thirdwing, an innovative new hybrid theater company that has been presenting bold new works both live and streaming under a subscription model (like Hulu or Netflix) since January 2020, will present the World Premiere of BURBANK by Cameron Darwin Bossert beginning September 6 at the wild project.

It is 1941 and Walt Disney is out of his depth in their new Burbank studio; Pinocchio and Fantasia are losing money. An outside union is signing up employees and making personal threats against Walt and the studio. When Art Babbitt, the womanizing genius animator of Goofy, finds a female worker passed out on the lawn for lack of nutrition, he decides to join with the union and lead a strike against the studio. BURBANK presents a clash of egos, art, and commerce, as the Disney studio faces what could be the end of the golden age of animation.

BURBANK stars Ryan Blackwell (The Onion News Network), Kelley Lord (Life & Beth), and Cameron Darwin Bossert. Directed by Thirdwing, the production features costumes by Yolanda Balaña and sound design by Deeba Montazeri.

BURBANK is part of A Venomous Color, two plays and a series of streaming videos about the mythic and personal struggles of the Walt Disney Studios from 1935 to 1941 as they try to redefine American culture after the depression. The other full lengthplay in the diptych, The Fairest, about the struggles of the women who painted Snow White, premiered in October 2021 at the wild project.

Cameron Darwin Bossert (playwright/ Walt Disney) is the founder of Thirdwing, whose directing credits include the streaming anthology The Female Genius, by Rachel Carey (2020), the hybrid streaming and theater cycle A Venomous Color (2021/ 2022), the stage play The United Nations: the Border and the Coast (2022), and feature films The Last 48 (2011) and Jewtah (2018). He designed the opening sequence for John Turturro’s feature film Fading Gigolo (2013), and the multimedia/ film elements for Yasmina Reza’s A Spanish Play at Classic Stage Company (2007). As an actor he appeared in Bambi Everson’s The Thin Man in the Cherry Orchard (NYC Fringe, 2019) and Rachel Carey’s The Disciple (2021). Bossert is also a composer whose work has been performed by the American Symphony Orchestra, the Brooklyn Symphony Orchestra, DaCapo Chamber Players, and the JACK Quartet, for which he was commissioned by the Utah Symphony Orchestra as part of the 2008 Meet the Composer Series.

Launched in January 2020, Thirdwing is a hybrid theater and streaming company taking inspiration from the classic mid-century teleplays pioneered by Paddy Chayefsky and Harold Pinter. Their mission is to bridge theater and film to tell expansive, world-building stories and make traditional in-person theatergoing more affordable with a subscription model offering new content every month, either online, in-person, or both. Thirdwing’s first narrative offering, The Female Genius, by Rachel Carey, had its first episode premiere on March 8th, 2020, presenting a new streaming theater experience 4 days before the NYC Covid lockdown. The rest of the series was released in April, as the first new streaming play with full staging, lighting, and costumes. Since then, Thirdwing has premiered three more hybrid shows, their in-person offerings being The Disciple, The Fairest, and The United Nations: The Border and the Coast. Burbank will be their fourth live on-stage production in a little over a year. Up next will be Doctors vs. Lawyers, mixing a traditional soap opera online with in-person productions bringing the audience into the courtroom.

BURBANK runs September 6 -18. Performances are Tuesday - Saturday at 8pm and Sunday at 3pm and 8pm. No performances on Sept 12 & 13. Running time is 80 minutes. The Wild Project is located at 195 E. 3rd Street between Aves A & B. Tickets are $25 at www.thirdwing.info. Patrons can also purchase a 1-year membership to Thirdwing for $49 (or $4.99/month) which includes 2 tickets to the show, 1 ticket to each upcoming production, and access to all content on their streaming platform.