Theresa Columbus

Work samples

Please Take Off

“Please Take Off” by the Are You Thinking What I'm Thinking? Collective
We are experimenting with ideas of removal surrounding memory—how humans create events of the past by focusing on certain details and removing or forgetting others—and the idea of removing some expected elements from performance. Through a variety of disciplines and styles, including poem theater, puppetry, and experimental song, characters have conversations about memories with wildly different interpretations, elders speak using few recognizable words, guitarists create emotional intensity through movement rather than sound, and one piece moves from tender clothing rituals into creature transformation and a mythic-west meditation on the idea of freedom.
We first performed an earlier version of “Please Take Off," titled “Take Off Your Blank," in January 2024 on a DIY tour to DC, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Richmond, Wilmington, and Atlanta. Using that version as a jumping-off point, we created a new iteration that we performed in Baltimore as part of the Free Fall Festival and in Philadelphia as part of the Cannonball Festival at Philly Fringe 2025.
Devisers/Performers:
Jacob Zabawa
Luu Pham
Theresa Columbus
Francisco Benavides
Photo by Francisco Benavides
SmAll WiNS

SMall WIns is an original play by about the serious and humorous pursuit of winning at life. The show is something like a surreal TEDtalk where the audience is carried on a journey on which researchers are saying true things about the importance of lifting each other up in community, while at the same time going down rabbit holes such as insisting that having no boundaries is potentially healthy. Case studies in their research include observing someone neglecting their plant who is portrayed by a magnificent movement artist, as well as asking the audience for input as someone attempts to parallel park their cardboard car badly. The case studies take a wild turn when they become abstracted performed tales of salmon entering dangerous waters, or a giant piece of toast landing butter side up, and a game show where insects may or may not be eaten by the other contestants. Interspersed throughout the show is audio of real-life interviews with a wide spectrum of Baltimore residents that share their experiences or recognizing, acknowledging, and celebrating their wins. At the end, the audience is invited into a festive serenade where velvety roses and certificates are distributed and audiences are awarded for doing something worth celebrating. A researcher belts out “we set out to prove something simple…” Yes, in some ways, simple,

Performed at the Submersive HQ in Feb. 2025
Concept and Direction
Caitlin Weaver

Produced by the Are You Thinking What I'm Thinking? Collective

Creators and Performers
Defne Aksoy
Theresa Columbus
Derek Crowe
Savannah Fisher
Dave Iden
Sarah Kate Jacklin
Tori McReynolds
Jakey Zabawa

Stage Manager
August Bryant

Music Composition by Emefa Agawu & Eli Hancock
Sound design by Caitlin Weaver, Ableton Consultant Ruby Fulton

Lighting design
Chris Allen

Poster design
Jakey Zabawa

Program design
Derek Crowe

Interviewees
Mr. Robert- New Day Gallery and Antique Shop
Diana- Dunkin' Donuts on Maryland Ave
Erin Weaver
Aaron Posner
Maisie Posner
Tom Weaver
Anne Marie Weaver
Evan Watson
Abigail Swisher
Emefa Agawu
Melanie Brill
Joe from Austin
April Kersey
Sadie Zabawa
cadia montero
christian hatcher
Variety Show the Musical Play

This theater piece was created by Theresa Columbus and 8 writer/performers: Izaak Collins, Cliff Doby, Ruby Fulton, Myles Hamilton, Caitlin Weaver, Jacob Zabawa, Francisco Benavides, and Allison Clendaniel. Their process challenges the traditional roles of writer/director and actors. The play contains short plays, performance art, and songs, producing the effect of a surreal vaudevillian variety show, even though several narrative and formal through-lines connect the “variety” of pieces. Different theatrical forms bump up against and expand each other, splashing into the poetry of everyday conversation. Set design by Mika Nakano, costumes by Nikki LeFaye, and stage managing by Lauren Kane!
8 Short Plays Excerpts

8 Short Plays is a surreal vaudevillian variety show. The plot of this poetic dialogue is performed by an ensemble of 8 and held together with a wild emotional logic. These passionate stories explore relationships to memory, art, and song. A live experiment holding the audience responsible for absorbing a universe where frolic & logic exist together.
Written by Theresa Columbus , with individual acts by Cliff Doby, Malaika Aminata Clements, Rae Red and Megan Livingston
Co-directed by Sarah Jacklin and Theresa Columbus
The cast: Malaika Clements, Theresa Columbus, Cliff Doby, Sarah Jacklin, Elvis Karegeya, Megan Livingston, Parker Matthews and Rae Red
Music by Allison Clendaniel
Costumes by Nicolette LeFaye
Set by Mika Nakano
Lighting by Chris Allen
Video shot by Andy Shenker and Tom Kessler
Performed for 3 weekends, 9 shows at the Mercury Theater in Baltimore, and performed in part at the Space Gallery in Pittsburgh and Rhizome in DC (2019)

About Theresa

Theresa has been writing, directing, and performing in poetic, song-ensconced plays and performance pieces, and organizing performance events for over 30 years, without a period of not doing these things that has lasted more than a few months. She also made a few films. In the last three years she has been focusing on whole-group theatrical devising processes with the Are You Thinking What I'm Thinking? Collective and producing and organizing events. That brings us up to this very… more

View Theresa's Resume

Please Take Off

“Please Take Off” by the Are You Thinking What I'm Thinking? Collective

We are experimenting with ideas of removal surrounding memory—how humans create events of the past by focusing on certain details and removing or forgetting others—and the idea of removing some expected elements from performance. Through a variety of disciplines and styles, including poem theater, puppetry, and experimental song, characters have conversations about memories with wildly different interpretations, elders speak using few recognizable words, guitarists create emotional intensity through movement rather than sound, and one piece moves from tender clothing rituals into creature transformation and a mythic-west meditation on the idea of freedom.

We first performed an earlier version of “Please Take Off," titled “Take Off Your Blank," in January 2024 on a DIY tour to DC, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Richmond, Wilmington, and Atlanta. Using that version as a jumping-off point, we created a new iteration that we performed in Baltimore as part of the Free Fall Festival and in Philadelphia as part of the Cannonball Festival at Philly Fringe 2025.

Devisers/Performers:
Jacob Zabawa
Luu Pham
Theresa Columbus
Francisco Benavides

2024 Performances of "Take Off Your Blank"

Jan 16-27 DC @ Rhizome, Richmond, VA @ Ghost Family House, Wilmington, NC @ Barzarre, Atlanta, GA @ Limelight Theater Blackbox, Philadelphia, PA @ Vox Populi Blackbox, Baltimore, MD @ 2640 Space

2025 Performances of "Please Take Off"

Sept 19, 20, 21 Asian Arts Initiative, Philadelphia (Cannonball Festival), Sept 17 and Oct 7 St. Mark's Church Baltimore

Please Take Off

Grandparent Soup at the Asian Arts Collective at the Cannonball Festival of the Philly Fringe
Photo by Christina Pham Linhoff
Please Take Off

2 performers dance with guitars at the Cannonball Festival of the Philly Fringe
"Please Take Off"

A lawyer serves an injunction to a longtime friend as another friend looks on in the final scene of "Please Take Off"
Photo by Francisco Benavides
Take Off Your Blank

A tour poster for "Take Off Your Blank" by the Are You Thinking What I'm Thinking? Collective and "Future's Future" by Rae Red

Top and bottom photos and poster design by Jacob Zabawa

Central photo by Francisco Benavides
"Please Take Off" poster for Free Fall Baltimore event

Poster by Jakey Zabawa. A similar poster was created for the Cannonball Festival at the Philly Fringe 2025
Please Take Off

Sitting at the busstop performing Misremembering at the Cannonball Festival of the Philly Fringe

Variety Show the Musical Play

This theater piece was created by Theresa Columbus and 8 writer/performers: Izaak Collins, Cliff Doby, Ruby Fulton, Myles Hamilton, Caitlin Weaver, Jacob Zabawa, Francisco Benavides and Allison Clendaniel. The play contains short plays, performance art, and songs, producing the effect of a surreal vaudevillian variety show, even though several narrative and formal through-lines connect the “variety” of pieces. Different theatrical forms bump up against and expand each other, splashing into the poetry of everyday conversation. Material was generated through devising processes and contained writing and leadership by all cast members.

The play was directed by Theresa Columbus

Set design by Mika Nakano, costumes by Nikki LeFaye, and stage managing by Lauren Kane!

Performance still from Mobtown Ballroom in January 2023

Variety Show the Musical Play

Video clip of the "Opening Experiment," the ending of Caitlin Weaver's "Art of Conversation," and "The Final Song" of Variety Show the Musical Play
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Please Take Off

Songs in Boxes was written by Theresa Columbus and Ruby Fulton
The choreography was created by the performers: Izaak Collins, Cliff Doby, Myles Hamilton, Caitlin Weaver, and Jakey Zabawa

Tweets You Can Hold: A Fashion Presentation

An intrepid group of thespians awake one morning to startling news: their friend, the supermodel, is calling in a favor. She has an important obligation and can’t make her runway that evening– can they cover for her? Of course they can! After pumping each other up with affirmations, they have an incredibly successful experience on the fashion runway. It’s so successful that they immediately get a call from the Fashion Industry itself, encouraging them to continue their journey. They know, as a group of skilled thespians, that they can accomplish this task– as long as they NEVER EVER wear the cursed yellow dress… One ghost story later, we find our thespians asking the advice of a catty fashion expert and dabbling with new fashion ideas (the absence of fashion) in their next runway. But like many successful rockstars before them, the fashionistas let the fame go to their heads and they don the proverbial yellow dress. They say cruel words to each other and the band breaks up. The only problem is, their friendship is too great to be cut in twain like a scrap of fabric! Reuniting through dance, our heroes walk one last runway and straight to the altar. Their friendship secured, the thespians marry their art and fashion and invite the audience to walk the runway with them.

Devised by:
Francisco Benavides
Izaak Collins
Theresa Columbus
Luu Pham
Dana Woodson
Jacob Zabawa
Directed by:
Izaak Collins

Tweets You Can Hold: A Fashion Presentation
by the Are You Thinking What I'm Thinking? Collective

Aug 21 Providence, RI at the Lost Bag
Aug 23 Philadelphia, PA at Deep End Studios 8pm
Aug 24 DC at Rhizome 7pm
Aug 26 and 27 Baltimore at the Undercroft

Photos by Dave Iden (at Current Space and Mobtown Theater)

Tweets You Can Hold: A Fashion Presentation

5 thespians in sports-themed bridal clothing dance about the stage as they marry their art
Tweets You Can Hold: A Fashion Presentation

This is one of their best looks
Tweets You Can Hold: A Fashion Presentation

4 thespians are confronted with an amazing fashion diva who gives them advice
Tweets You Can Hold: A Fashion Presentation

Thespians become fashion designers and models all at once
Tweets You Can Hold: A Fashion Presentation

As their band breaks apart, they must cut their robe of relaxation with gigantic scissors

8 Short Plays

Written by Theresa Columbus , with individual acts by Cliff Doby, Malaika Aminata Clements, Rae Red and Megan Livingston
Co-directed by Sarah Jacklin and Theresa Columbus The cast: Malaika Clements, Theresa Columbus, Cliff Doby, Sarah Jacklin, Elvis Karegeya, Megan Livingston, Parker Matthews and Rae Red Music by Allison Clendaniel Costumes by Nicolette LeFaye Set by Mika Nakano Lighting by Chris Allen Video shot by Andy Shenker and Tom Kessler Performed for 3 weekends, 9 shows at the Mercury Theater in Baltimore, and performed in part at the Space Gallery in Pittsburgh and Rhizome in DC (2019)

8 Short Plays is a surreal vaudevillian variety show. The plot of this poetic dialogue is performed by an ensemble of 8 and held together with a wild emotional logic. These passionate stories explore relationships to memory, art, and song.

A live experiment holding the audience responsible for absorbing a universe where frolic & logic exist together, the cast employs humor and storytelling to unfurl unexpected connections and the wonder of humans on stage. In the process traditional forms are celebrated, taken apart, and reinvented.

Final Bow

The cast of "8 Short Plays" takes a final bow.
8 Short Plays Excerpts

"8 Short Plays" is a surreal vaudevillian variety show with a narrative woven through.
People Dressed Sophisticated

3 people in the cafe (the 3 Fates?) take note as Wingle expresses his concerns and Debonair Man looks irritated in the background.
2 Sisters

One sister describes how the other gave her a prize by telling her she was really smart.
Bean Song

Artistalapa sings about waking up with "7 Beans" stuck to her leg, and by the end of the song she finally has made bean windows (a metaphor).
Cliff Doby

Cliff Doby performs his ACT!
Private Scene

Blint tells Fathom that repression can be sexy sometimes.
All a Song Is

The cast sings "All a Song Is, is some words that you sing and you memorize them that way."
Poster for the Show

Poster design by Caleb Ali Miller
8 Short Plays Script

The script of "8 Short Plays" was written by Theresa Columbus. The song "It's Comin'" was written in collaboration with Xavier Leplae. Not included in the script are the 4 acts created by Malaika Aminata Clements, Cliff Doby, Megan Livingston, and Rae Red.

Perched at a Table in Pittsburgh

Written and recorded by Theresa Columbus
Video recording by Dan Zink and Andy Shenker
Performed at the Whole Gallery and the Undercroft, Baltimore (2019)

We encounter Our Character early one morning writing a performance piece in Pittsburgh. Or are we at that actual performance when we encounter her? Well, one thing is for sure, amazing and odd things just seem to happen when she sits down to write. Right before her eyes, with an audience watching her, a gray furry cat has run up a tree and is staring right at her. A large red cat is right behind him, but can’t climb as high- what will happen? It is a little harder to write when other people are in the kitchen, but don’t feel bad- no really, you are invited; she may have seemed a little unwelcoming at first, but there must have been some mix up with the time. Together you can explore what an audience really wants, the importance of thinking events over, the nature of seduction and confidence, and subtleties of creating dance moves in the morning. So, really, you don’t have to leave.

Perched at a Table in Pittsburgh Excerpts

Our Character is reluctant to invite you to join her at the kitchen table when she is on tour in Pittsburgh, though she really wants you there!
At the Table

"I'm at a table in Pittsburgh; we just performed last night."
Writing in Pittsburgh

Our Character seems to enjoy writing with the company of the audience.
Thinking it Over

Our Character wonders if she spends too much time thinking about what already happened, in Perched at a Table in Pittsburgh
Power Stance

She saw it on a TED talk.
Standing Still

Our Character takes on a slightly confrontational tone as she stands still and asks the audience, "What do you want from me?"

Artist House

"Artist House," written and performed by Theresa Columbus
Video shot by Hoesy Corona (stills taken from video)

"Artist House" (with a little wink to Judy Chicago's Womanhouse) is a tale of a woman in her studio/ home/ on a stage where she encounters and faces head-on many challenges: writer's block, self doubt about her stand-up comedy routine being funny, audience members trying to get too intimate, a visit from a friend who won't give her any phoophoo nuts, exposing her intentions too fast, and destroying things she deeply cares about. Luckily, she is able to "wriggle her way out of ensnaring self doubt with some music," and keep it moving. Speaking and singing along with her prerecorded voice, the premeditated mixed with spontaneous quality of her words is magnified, as is oddness of a performer speaking thoughts directly to an audience. Through speaking, writing, singing, dancing, and a funny costume change, the artist celebrating the difficulty, strangeness, and intense joy of creating and connecting.

At the Bathroom Door

Her heart is knocking yearningly at the empty bathroom door...
No Frolicsome Water

The Artist was so excited to write, but somehow lost her train of thought and confidence this morning, and describes how soft towels are not absorbing the frolicsome water that the shower provides.
Self Doubt

"Forget it!"
Dancing in Artist House

"Time doesn't matter exactly what time it is."
Dancing in Artist House

Artist "wriggles her way out of ensnaring self doubt with some music," singing and dancing!
Dialogue with "The Voice"

"Of course she is the voice that represents you, in my IMAGINATION."

A Flood of Emotions

Written and directed by Theresa Columbus
Comedy sketch written in collaboration with: Jinnene Ross
Music by Aaron Smith, Ruby Fulton, Liz Downing (DC performance) and Theresa Columbus

Cast: Stephanie Barber, Malaika Clements (Psychic Readings performance), Theresa Columbus, John Eaton, Moss Froom, Megan Livingston (Fields Fest and DC performance), Aaron Smith

Stage manager: Lauren Kane
Video shot by: Sonya Norko

What was so strange about the dress in the dream? How can your friends appear at your desk early in the morning? Will there be a flood of emotions? How do you write a song of deep friend love to someone? Can you over-analyze humor? What happens to a dream when you write it down, and what happens when you perform a play on one Wednesday night 25 years ago and it is deep?

First performed as part of the Late Night Series at Psychic Readings in 2016, then at Fields Festival in Darlington MD, and finally at the DC Arts Center in 2017, "A Flood of Emotions" attempts to answer these questions as it bounces back and forth between the studio where the play is being written and the bar the night before that inspired it. People bond through doing and making theater, and also by loving their friendships.

Flood of Emotions excerpts

What was so strange about the dress in the dream?
The Dream Notebook

While cleaning the desk, Zot and Zeg hear mysterious sounds and are drawn to the dream notebook.
Backdrop

The cloth that separates the morning world from the previous night.
At Your Desk

"I will be at your desk, if you just write a little song!"
Stand Up Comedy

I'm with #1 Comedian
Singing to Scompaly

"And I think you oughtta know, right here at my heart's door, you've been a good friend to me."
The Musicians

Musicians play music, creating a flood of emotions.
Poses

The cast freezes in emotional poses.
Body Formation

All the different heads tell about a time in high school when they were in a small ensemble piece with lots of movement where they all wore black turtle necks and it was really good.
Musicians

Musicians play mysterious songs.

The Refrigerator is Making Crazy Noises

Written and performed by Theresa Columbus

First performed at the Holy Underground in 2014, then on tour with Ami Dang and Poncili Creacion in Pittsburgh, Rochester, Toronto, Quebec and Providence.

The Refrigerator is Making Crazy Noises reflects an arrangement of thoughts a person has when inspired in the middle of the night. These thoughts are stylized and self conscious of the act of writing, and contain musings on editing, promises to self, fashion, and not being in love with everything. With a recurring mystery punchline "This is a full term baby!" and other lines delivered sporadically, we watch our performer navigate through common and uncommon phrases with an urgency to translate something. Garnished with song, dance, and even a flailing sock puppet, she narrates these phrases and also connects with the audience by talking about and delivering letters to them.
Sound recording by Aaron Smith

Mask and Sock Puppet in Action

The Sock Puppet is on the Foot, and is singing and flailing with a hairy flower.
Putting the Mask on

"This is a full-term baby!"
Power Suit

The performer announces she will deliver letters later in the performance.
Letters

The performer delivers letters to audience.

Theater Room in Rooms Play

Installation and performance by Theresa Columbus
Room constructed with the help of Copy Cat Theater
Costume made by Melissa Webb and Theresa Columbus
Copy Cat Theater, 2010

Rooms Play was an enormous undertaking by the Copy Cat Theater and the artists that participated. The installation/performance stretched across two large art spaces (The Whole gallery at the H + H and the Current gallery) with a walk in between the buildings. Audience members went through 22 rooms 3 at a time, experiencing 22 different installation/ performances, which took them roughly an hour. The second year of its performance, Rooms Play drew inspiration from Joseph Campbell's mono-myth, each room representing a different stage of the story of the epic journey that has been repeated in many cultures throughout history. The performance had the theme of immigration, and the trials and rewards of being an immigrant in a foreign country.
In the room Columbus produced, the hero (audience members) had completed their major accomplishment, and had just been induced by the previous room's character to forget about completing their journey, but instead remain in the comfort of their newly acquired status as a hero in a new place. Columbus's job was to induce them to get back to what they had intended to do. She burst into a room where they had been treated as children by their kindly grandmother, reminding them that they need to be on stage: "the show is starting in 2 minutes!" They warmed up backstage, and then the performers let loose a rendition of a personal memory, all together, to an audience of a lot of papers with writing and drawings on them (and Columbus). The drama of being on stage and pouring out is what they needed to make their heroic decisions with a clear mind.

Rooms Play Installation and Performance

The audience discovers they are being watched by an audience of one human and many drawings.
The Theater Room

In the "Theater Room," the heroes remember who they are and the purpose of their journey.
Close-up

The papers in the "Theater Room" have many drawings and exciting writings.
Writing

Writing about the nervous system and art

Scenes Play

Scenes Play, co-directed by Theresa Columbus and Joy Davis

Starring Autumn Breaud, John Bylander, Theresa Columbus, M. Jane Taylor, and Elizabeth Zacharia; Tiffany DeFoe on saxophone

Costumes made in collaboration with Melissa Webb

Performed at the Annex Theater in June 2009; at the Barn in Brooklyn and PIFAS in Philadelphia in August 2009

Scenes Play jumps between the quality of daring myself to tell people things I kind of don't want them to know, and proclaiming joyfully what I know about friendship, art, family, love, and how things can be put together. The title "Scenes Play" points to the way each scene has its own manner of relaying ideas self-conscious about its structure, yet each uses a colorful combination of characters and interactions between them to convey something often painfully true but also funny about relationships between people or between people and art. Poking fun of my tendency to be overwhelmed by the importance of everything we say and do, my self-reflexive musings are textured and transformed by brilliant actors performing characters, breaking up monologues into random pieces, interacting with costumes which also serve as backdrops, and performing experimental movement. This piece grabs gleefully from different theatrical tropes, presenting sometimes mundane musings in a myriad of lights and shapes.

Scenes Play
Just Trying to Work

A character is just trying to work while the others pose dramatically.
Dialogue with the Subconsious

What is the big woop about wordcounts?
Motion

"I've always had a mixed up sense of direction."
Taking Turns

"She said to call it clementine."
Interacting

Discovering each other on the floor.
Analyzing Humor

Characters discuss ways of being funny.
End of the Show

Theater is wonderful, but since the show is over, "Let's have some real life drama now."