Waterwell (2019)

In March of 2019, Adam J. Frank, the first-ever managing director of New York City’s Waterwell, had been with the organization for less than a year. The theater company had grown from the startup brainchild of two undergraduate theater students from Indiana University into a vibrant arts organization over the prior 17 years. The founders established a civic-minded approach to both Waterwell’s devised theatrical productions and its robust education program. After Frank had been hired but prior to his start with the company, Co-Founder and Co-Artistic Director Tom Ridgely departed Waterwell, leading to the creation of a new leadership structure. Ridgely left a few projects still in process, including one well into planning: Fleet Week Follies. The large-scale, immersive event was conceived by Ridgely and the other co-founder and co-artistic director, Arian Moayed, as a means to build upon Waterwell’s relationship with the military community after its successful production of Blueprint Sp