
BRIAN ROGERS.
a theater and film director, video and sound artist, and performing arts curator.
Co-Founder and Artistic Executive Director of Queens’ The Chocolate Factory Theater.

ARTIST BIOGRAPHY.
Brian Rogers is a director, video and sound artist, co-founder and artistic director of The Chocolate Factory Theater, which supports the creation of theater, dance, music and multimedia performances at its 5,000 sq ft facility in LIC, Queens. Since 1997, Brian has conceived and/or directed numerous large scale performances at The Chocolate Factory and elsewhere including Hot Box (September 2012, co-presented with FIAF’s Crossing The Line Festival / January 2013, PS122’s COIL Festival / February 2013, EMPAC Center, Troy NY – supported by a MAP Fund grant), the Bessie-nominated Selective Memory (July 2010, Mount Tremper Arts / September 2011, The Chocolate Factory / January 2011, PS122’s COIL Festival), redevelop (death valley) (2009), 2 Husbands (2007), Gun Play (2006), Audit (2004), and Fundamental (2002).
In addition to his own work, Brian curates The Chocolate Factory’s Visiting Artist Program (now in its 8th year) which supports the work of more than 100 theater, dance, music and multimedia artists each year.
As a video, sound and performance artist, Brian has collaborated with numerous dance and theater artists including Shaun Irons and Lauren Petty (the horror the horror, Movement Research Festival 2010 / Abrons Arts Center 2011), Aynsley Vandenbroucke (Danspace Project, March 2011), Tara O’Con (Danspace Project, January 2009), Jillian Sweeney (September 2009), and the Movement Research Spring 2008 Festival (24x4x4). He presented his first solo exhibition of new video works in November 2012 at Ventana 244 Gallery in Brooklyn; self-released an album of electronic music in September 2013; and will collaborate on a new performance by Irish dance artists Emma Fitzgerald and Aine Stapleton at the Project Arts Center in Dublin in September 2014.
Brian has served as a panelist and/or recommender for numerous organizations including NYSCA, Queens Council on the Arts, ART/NY Nancy Quinn Fund, DTW Outer/Space, the A.W.A.R.D. Show, NYC Dept of Cultural Affairs, Fresh Tracks, Foundation for Contemporary Arts, Made Here, Creative Capital, Pew Charitable Trust, the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, Yaddo, the Macdowell Colony, and others; has lectured and/or worked in a guest teaching capacity at Long Island University, The School at The Art Institute of Chicago, St. Johns University, Carnegie Mellon University, Sarah Lawrence College, The New School, New York University, University of Colorado Boulder, Velocity Dance Center (Seattle) and others; serves on the board of the MacDowell Colony; and is a graduate of Bennington College.
The Chocolate Factory
Brian Rogers
ARTIST INTERVIEW.
Stay tuned for the interview, to be released on April 27.
"Artists develop new ideas and new aesthetics in spaces like ours, and these ideas trickle up into popular culture; but it can take twenty years or more. Many of the bright ideas that you might now see on Broadway, these ideas may have originated in the experimental scene and the avant garde some 30 years ago. The support of this scene is crucial for the whole ecosystem of the arts."

…as taut and tight
NERVE STRETCHED
to its
BREAKING POINT...
-DANCE ENTHUSIAST
GALLERY.
Discover photos and videos from Brian's work.
CREDITS: SMALL SONGS, by Brian Rogers; Headshot by Maria Baranova; FORCE! by Anna Martine Whitead (November 2024); SHINE: tending the glow, by Chloe Alexandra Thompson + DB Amorin (May 2025); Temporary Boyfriend, by Malcolm-x Betts + Nile Harris (January 2025); Beacons, by Anna Sperber (May 2025); Everything Must Go, by Tess Dworman (December 2024); Tacos de Lengua, by Martita Abril (June 2025); Hoary, by Levi Gonzalez (November 2024); Black Life Chord Changes, by Angie Pittman (May 2024).
All production photos by Brian Rogers.






