ABOUT
DENDY/DONOVAN PROJECTS
Dance Theatre. Multimedia. Design. Social Commentary.
Founded in 2008 by longtime creative collaborators Mark Dendy and Stephen Donovan, dendy/donovan projects is an innovative dance-theatre and multimedia company dedicated to the creation of original, interdisciplinary performance. Rooted in a shared commitment to artistic experimentation, the company embraces all forms of design and creative collaboration, bringing together choreography, theatre, film, visual art and multimedia within a distinctly political framework and a language of uncompromising, often searing social satire.
An Obie, New York Dance & Performance (Bessie) and Herb Alpert Award-winning choreographer, writer and director, Mark Dendy joined forces with designer, director and filmmaker Stephen Donovan to develop a creative partnership that challenges conventional boundaries between artistic disciplines. Their collaboration began in 2003 with the Broadway musical TABOO!, with Dendy serving as choreographer and Donovan as Assistant Director. What began as a theatrical collaboration evolved into a dynamic and sustained artistic partnership, culminating in the formation of dendy/donovan projects.
The company's work is distinguished by its ambitious visual imagination, theatrical invention, political sensibility and incisive examination of contemporary culture. Through an expansive approach to performance, Dendy and Donovan create richly layered theatrical experiences in which movement, design, technology, narrative and satire function as integral elements of a unified artistic vision.
AN EXPANDING ARTISTIC VISION
Through dendy/donovan projects, Mark Dendy and Stephen Donovan have established a distinctive collaborative practice that resists conventional categorization. Their productions move fluidly between dance, theatre, visual composition, film and multimedia, creating work that is simultaneously entertaining, provocative, politically engaged and visually ambitious.
At the heart of the company's identity is a belief in the transformative potential of collaboration and the power of performance to question, challenge and illuminate the world around us.
dendy/donovan projects is an ongoing exploration of the intersection of art, politics, design and contemporary culture — a fearless theatrical collaboration driven by imagination, innovation and searing social satire.
MARK DENDY
Internationally Acclaimed Choreographer, Director, Playwright, Performer & Visual Artist
Mark Dendy is an award-winning American artist whose extraordinary career spans more than four decades and encompasses contemporary dance, theatre, Broadway, opera, ballet, performance art and visual art. A distinctive and influential presence in the American performing arts, Dendy has built an internationally recognized body of work defined by artistic fearlessness, theatrical brilliance, provocative imagination and an uncompromising commitment to creative freedom.
Born in Weaverville, North Carolina, Dendy began his professional dance career working with distinguished artists including Pooh Kaye, Ruby Shang, Pearl Lang and the Martha Graham Ensemble under the direction of Yuriko. These formative experiences established the foundations of an artistic practice that would evolve into one of the more distinctive interdisciplinary voices in American performance.
Arriving in New York in the early 1980s, Dendy emerged within the city's groundbreaking experimental dance and downtown theatre communities. In 1983, his provocative work Wave, featuring men dancing in dresses, challenged conventional representations of gender, masculinity and identity in contemporary dance. His determination to confront artistic and social conventions became a defining characteristic of his work. In 1984, he founded Mark Dendy Dance, establishing an independent creative platform through which he developed an original choreographic and theatrical language.
Over the following decades, Dendy transformed the boundaries between dance and theatre, combining choreography, spoken text, music, satire, autobiography, historical references and dramatic storytelling. His productions have explored some of the most compelling subjects of contemporary life, including identity, sexuality, religion, celebrity, politics, power, cultural heritage, violence and the complexities of the human condition. His work is distinguished by its physical intensity, intellectual curiosity, irreverent humor and extraordinary theatrical imagination.
His achievements have been recognized with major distinctions including the Obie Award, the New York Dance and Performance Award (Bessie), the Herb Alpert Award in the Arts and the Joseph A. Callaway Award. His career has also included National Society of Arts and Letters recognition, multiple National Endowment for the Arts fellowships and other institutional support. His choreography for The Wild Partyreceived additional recognition through Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle nominations.
Dendy's artistic reach extends well beyond the experimental dance world. His Broadway choreography includes Taboo and The Pirate Queen, while his theatrical credits encompass The Wild Party, The Miracle Brothers, Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris and other major productions. His work in opera includes productions associated with the Metropolitan Opera, New York City Opera and Gotham Chamber Opera. He has also created choreography for established ballet and dance companies, including Pacific Northwest Ballet.
Among his landmark original productions are Dream Analysis, Golden Belt, Ritual Cyclical, Dystopian Distractions!, Labyrinth, NEWYORKnewyork @ Astor Place, Whistleblowerand Elvis Everywhere. His 2013 production Ritual Cyclical, presented at Lincoln Center Out of Doors, brought together 80 dancers in an ambitious site-specific performance, demonstrating his ability to transform public spaces into extraordinary theatrical environments. His later work, particularly Elvis Everywhere, continued his examination of American mythology, celebrity, popular culture and the contradictions of contemporary society.
New York has remained central to Dendy's artistic identity and legacy. From the experimental downtown performance scene to Lincoln Center, Broadway and major cultural institutions, his career reflects an enduring relationship with a city that has continually inspired artistic innovation. His contributions have helped expand conversations about gender, identity and theatrical expression while connecting experimental performance with established cultural institutions.
In 2008, Dendy and longtime creative collaborator Stephen Donovan established dendy/donovan projects, extending their collaborative practice across choreography, theatre, film, visual design and multimedia performance. Their work reflects a shared commitment to interdisciplinary creation, political awareness, theatrical invention and social satire.
Beyond the stage, Dendy's creative practice encompasses visual art, painting, drawing, collage and mixed media. This expanding dimension of his work continues his exploration of symbolism, identity, memory and transformation, revealing an artist whose imagination is not confined to a single medium or discipline.
The historical significance of his career is further reflected in the preservation of the Mark Dendy Papers, 1981–2017, held by the American Dance Festival Archives and catalogued through Duke University's Rubenstein Library. This substantial archival collection documents his artistic development through photographs, programs, posters, scripts, correspondence, notebooks, production materials and audiovisual records, preserving an important chapter of American experimental dance and theatre history.
Throughout his career, Mark Dendy has remained committed to the possibilities of art as an instrument of expression, disruption, discovery and cultural reflection. His work resists easy categorization, moving freely between the experimental and the theatrical, the personal and the political, the intimate and the monumental.
With more than four decades of artistic achievement, Mark Dendy stands as a distinctive voice in American contemporary performance: an independent visionary, an innovative choreographer and a multidisciplinary artist whose work continues to challenge expectations and expand the boundaries of artistic expression.
STEPHEN DONOVAN
is an actor, artist, filmmaker and producer of Irish and Welsh family heritage, born in Birmingham, England, and based in New York. His work spans theatre, film, performance and visual art.
His career spans more than two decades of experimental and contemporary performance. Since 2003, he has maintained a close creative partnership with choreographer and director Mark Dendy. Together they established dendy/donovan projects in 2008, an interdisciplinary collaboration exploring the intersection of theatre, dance, film, design and social commentary.
Dendy is an internationally recognised choreographer and director whose accolades include an Obie Award, a New York Dance and Performance (Bessie) Award, the Herb Alpert Award, the Joe A. Callaway Award and National Endowment for the Arts fellowships.
Together, Donovan and Dendy have conceived, developed and produced original works including Andru's Head, Golden Belt, Ritual Cyclical, Dystopian Distractions!, Labyrinth, NEWYORKnewyork @ Astor Place, Whistleblower and Elvis Everywhere. Their productions have been presented at Lincoln Center Out of Doors, the American Dance Festival, Jacob's Pillow, New York Live Arts, Abrons Arts Center, Joe's Pub, Dixon Place and the Lobero Theatre.
As a creative collaborator, Donovan has worked as a performer, producer, co-director, dramaturg, costume, set and video designer, contributing to the conception, development and visual identity of the company's productions. His work encompasses original performance concepts, theatrical environments, film and multimedia installations.
Their production of Labyrinth received coverage in The New Yorker, with Andrew Boynton describing the work as "a maelstrom of text, music, movement, and memory." Donovan performed in the production and created its video, set and costume design.
FILM
In 2021, Donovan co-created tHe aGe oF aNXieTy, the first film from dendy/donovan projects, commissioned by the American Dance Festival with support from the Doris Duke/SHS Foundations Award for New Works. The 40-minute experimental dance film, directed by Stephen Donovan and Mark Dendy, features sixteen performers across iconic New York locations, exploring isolation, anxiety, political upheaval and the psychological landscape of the pandemic.
Donovan co-wrote and edited the film, served as producer and co-director, and developed its distinctive visual language, production and costume design. The film was named among The New York Times' Top Five Picks of 2021.
Its festival appearances include the Malibu Film Festival, Rome Short Film Festival, Munich New Wave Short Film Festival and New York Tri-State International Film Festival, where it received Best Dance Film recognition.
His wider film practice includes producing independent short films and screen-based projects, including collaborations with Bryan Powers.
ACTING & THEATRE
An actor as well as a multidisciplinary artist, Donovan has a longstanding background in theatre and performance. He trained at the Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute, where he was a member of Irma Sandrey's professional class. His performance practice encompasses text-based theatre, physical performance, devised work and experimental theatre.
His stage experience includes Off-Broadway performance in Comedians at La MaMa E.T.C. and an extensive three-year period of performance and creative collaboration with experimental theatre artist Ann Liv Young.
His work with Young included Marie Antoinette, in which Donovan performed and served as co-director, live-directing the action and contributing to the development of the performance. His role was documented in a January 2024 interview with Young in BOMB Magazine, in which she specifically describes Donovan as "playing the co-director."
His wider theatre credits include Assistant Director on the Broadway musical Taboo, starring Boy George, and costume design for Desperate Writers at Union Square Theatre.
Donovan studied Contemporary Art at Nottingham Trent University under the guidance of interdisciplinary artist and social sculpture practitioner Shelley Sacks.
Working across disciplines, Donovan's practice is rooted in experimentation, collaboration and an ongoing interest in the relationship between performance, image and contemporary culture.