exit strategy presents How to Win a Gameshow
New York City, New York | Theatre
Experimental, Game-Show
Graham has been the star of a popular gameshow for either 4 or 427 days. COME PLAY. Led by a series of violently charming hosts, Graham and YOU, our live studio audience, compete under the watchful eye of a strange and mysterious force. Smile! You’re on camera :) THANK YOU.
exit strategy presents How to Win a Gameshow
New York City, New York | Theatre
Experimental, Game-Show
1 Campaigns | New York, United States
19 supporters | followers
Enter the amount you would like to pledge
$1,257
Goal: $6,900 for production
Graham has been the star of a popular gameshow for either 4 or 427 days. COME PLAY. Led by a series of violently charming hosts, Graham and YOU, our live studio audience, compete under the watchful eye of a strange and mysterious force. Smile! You’re on camera :) THANK YOU.
About The Project
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
invest in our experimental, immersive GAMESHOW starring YOU-the audience-as we cheerfully interrogate the surveillance systems we all help watch us every day :)
Founded by Jane Skapek, MaryKate Glenn, and Rupert Krüger, exit strategy is a multi-disciplinary, New York City-based performance collective investigating the role of the audience in live performance. exit strategy’s work pursues a state of primal, kinetic presence in performers and audience alike-often blurring the line between the two. Our work stands in direct contrast to film, social media, and all technologies of surveillance capitalism that encourage people to think of themselves as compliant consumers of art. In the spring of 2025 exit strategy received a developmental residency with Triplets Amsterdam, and from that, Gameshow was born.
We now invite YOU to join us each night as our live studio audience, for the taping of our long-running EXTREMELY POPULAR gameshow, featuring our VERY CHARMING host (MaryKate Glenn) and our STAR CONTESTANT, Graham (Rupert Krüger). Each night the audience competes against Graham to see if they can break his winning streak. As Graham and the audience play a series of just ever so slightly off-putting games, it becomes clear that all is not as it seems. In fact, does anyone actually know what is going on here? Overseen by a mysterious Clinician (exit strategy associate artist, Samori Etienne) and bureaucratic Jaime (Jane Skapek), the show becomes increasingly invasive, and the goal increasingly unclear.
The result is a piece that is as funny as it is confronting. Some previous audience feedback we've gotten that we are proud of: "wonderfully unnerving," "very American - really hysterically nice," and "so stressful I wanted to leave." :)
As of December 2025, exit strategy confirmed that Gameshow will be co-produced by theSpaceUK at Edinburgh Fringe 2026. We are so excited to be performing a 16-show run at two of the festival’s most historic venues. Which brings us to .......
Edinburgh Fringe is a tremendous opportunity for our company. A historic festival where thousands of artists meet from around the world, the Fringe is an opportunity for exposure and future programming for exit strategy’s work. Your support will help us with the upfront production costs - transportation, lodging at the Fringe, venue fees, marketing, and stipends to begin to compensate our artists for their hard work (the rest of compensation will be paid out of box office revenue post-run). We do not ask for these things lightly. With your support, we can continue exit strategy’s journey in the future we know it deserves.
YOU can help ensure exit strategy's SUCCESS at Edinburgh Fringe-the largest performance festival in the world. Check out our WISHLIST page for how-no donation is too large or too small! From the bottom of our tender little hearts, THANK YOU in advance.
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Cover Remaining Venue Fees for Edinburgh
Costs $1,100
exit strategy pays venue fees at TheSpaceUK up front, but will retain 100% of box office profits for company compensation & future work!
Cover a Company Member's Travel Expenses!
Costs $1,000
sponsor one of our company member's travel to and from the fringe!
Contribute to our Edinburgh Lodging
Costs $2,500
Help cover our accommodation fees while our team is in Edinburgh!
Per Diem Stipends for our Performers at the Fringe
Costs $1,200
per diems are not a necessity but WOULD BE REALLY NICE. Contribute to our sandwich fund for our fringe run!
Fringe Marketing Budget
Costs $600
Graham's face will be all over Edinburgh! On the ground adverts and flyering are THE number one way to get audiences in.
Contribute to our Public Transit Costs While at the Fringe
Costs $500
help cover our train tickets in and out of the city everyday as we advertise and perform!
Direct link:
Share this update!
About This Team
MaryKate Glenn - Founding Member / Lead Collaborator / Performer
MaryKate (she/her) is a bicoastal maker and performer, drawing on her backgrounds in ballet, Grotowski-lineage physical theater, and psychoanalysis in her work onstage and off. Her current performance research investigates the absurd, the uncanny, and the assumed passivity of the viewer theatrical space. Collaborators include: Krymov Lab NYC, La Mama ETC, Prototype Festival, Transport Group, Great River Shakespeare, Triplets Amsterdam, CULTUREHUB LA, and The Useless Room. She is a founding member of the performance collective exit strategy, which recently workshopped exit strategy presents How to Win A Gameshow at the Broedplaats Bouw Arts Center and OT301 in Amsterdam, NL. Training includes Teatr ZAR of the Grotowski Institute in Wrocław, Poland. BA Theology/Philosophy, Fordham Rose Hill Honors College. MFA CalArts. https://www.marykateglenn.com/
Rupert Krüger - Founding Member / Lead Collaborator / Performer
Rupert (he/him) is a German/American martial artist, maker, and performer based in Brooklyn. Drawing from backgrounds in classical ballet and Okinawan Karate, his work explores the meeting point between narrative performance and the physical language of martial arts, with an emphasis on myth, masculinity, shame, and violence. He has presented work at PhysFest NYC, The Brick AUX, ESTIA House of Movement, and internationally at Broedplaats Bouw Arts Center, OT301, and Djike Theatre in the Netherlands. He has taught physical devising workshops in New York City and abroad. Krüger is a founding member of the performance collective exit strategy. He has trained with Frantic Assembly, and at the Grotowski Institute in Wrocław, Poland with Studio Kokyu. Rupert holds the rank of Nidan in Goju Ryu Karate, and is a student of Ryūgan Savoca at Brooklyn Aikikai, where he holds the rank of Yonkyu. https://www.rupertkruger.com/
Jane Skapek - Founding Member / Lead Collaborator / Performer
Jane Skapek (they/them) is a theater director, filmmaker and installation artist who creates surreal and elegiac pieces to interrogate the space between physical and digitally imagined reality. Using archived and historical images, live camera, performance and dance, their work centers queer bodies and themes of constructed space. They have developed work in New York City at The Brick, the Tank, Ars Nova Antfest, and Target Margin, among others. Selected Associate and Assistant director credits include two national tours of The Lightning Thief, Jasper (off-Broadway, Signature Theatre), and Angels in America (Broadway, 2018). In 2024, Skapek won best director at the LA International Horror Short Film Festival for their film directorial debut “Close to Home”, shot internationally in Panama. Recently: directed a queer, drag adaptation of Romeo + Juliet at The Voxel in Baltimore. MFA The New School. https://www.janeskapek.com/
Samori Etienne - Guest Artist / Lead Collaborator / Performer
Samori (he/him) is a theatre maker, photographer, videographer, multi-hyphenate creator, many-hats-wearer from New Jersey. In New York City, he has performed with Performa, Fishmarket Theatre Co., Cheers to 40, Live Animals Onstage, and exit strategy. Samori was delighted to be a part of the previous iteration of How to Win a Gameshow at Greek Cultural Center n July 2025. He has a B.A. in Theatre and English from Williams College. He has also studied at the National Theatre Institute (NTI) and LAMDA. https://www.samorietienne.com/
Current Team
Incentives
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
invest in our experimental, immersive GAMESHOW starring YOU-the audience-as we cheerfully interrogate the surveillance systems we all help watch us every day :)
Founded by Jane Skapek, MaryKate Glenn, and Rupert Krüger, exit strategy is a multi-disciplinary, New York City-based performance collective investigating the role of the audience in live performance. exit strategy’s work pursues a state of primal, kinetic presence in performers and audience alike-often blurring the line between the two. Our work stands in direct contrast to film, social media, and all technologies of surveillance capitalism that encourage people to think of themselves as compliant consumers of art. In the spring of 2025 exit strategy received a developmental residency with Triplets Amsterdam, and from that, Gameshow was born.
We now invite YOU to join us each night as our live studio audience, for the taping of our long-running EXTREMELY POPULAR gameshow, featuring our VERY CHARMING host (MaryKate Glenn) and our STAR CONTESTANT, Graham (Rupert Krüger). Each night the audience competes against Graham to see if they can break his winning streak. As Graham and the audience play a series of just ever so slightly off-putting games, it becomes clear that all is not as it seems. In fact, does anyone actually know what is going on here? Overseen by a mysterious Clinician (exit strategy associate artist, Samori Etienne) and bureaucratic Jaime (Jane Skapek), the show becomes increasingly invasive, and the goal increasingly unclear.
The result is a piece that is as funny as it is confronting. Some previous audience feedback we've gotten that we are proud of: "wonderfully unnerving," "very American - really hysterically nice," and "so stressful I wanted to leave." :)
As of December 2025, exit strategy confirmed that Gameshow will be co-produced by theSpaceUK at Edinburgh Fringe 2026. We are so excited to be performing a 16-show run at two of the festival’s most historic venues. Which brings us to .......
Edinburgh Fringe is a tremendous opportunity for our company. A historic festival where thousands of artists meet from around the world, the Fringe is an opportunity for exposure and future programming for exit strategy’s work. Your support will help us with the upfront production costs - transportation, lodging at the Fringe, venue fees, marketing, and stipends to begin to compensate our artists for their hard work (the rest of compensation will be paid out of box office revenue post-run). We do not ask for these things lightly. With your support, we can continue exit strategy’s journey in the future we know it deserves.
YOU can help ensure exit strategy's SUCCESS at Edinburgh Fringe-the largest performance festival in the world. Check out our WISHLIST page for how-no donation is too large or too small! From the bottom of our tender little hearts, THANK YOU in advance.
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Cover Remaining Venue Fees for Edinburgh
Costs $1,100
exit strategy pays venue fees at TheSpaceUK up front, but will retain 100% of box office profits for company compensation & future work!
Cover a Company Member's Travel Expenses!
Costs $1,000
sponsor one of our company member's travel to and from the fringe!
Contribute to our Edinburgh Lodging
Costs $2,500
Help cover our accommodation fees while our team is in Edinburgh!
Per Diem Stipends for our Performers at the Fringe
Costs $1,200
per diems are not a necessity but WOULD BE REALLY NICE. Contribute to our sandwich fund for our fringe run!
Fringe Marketing Budget
Costs $600
Graham's face will be all over Edinburgh! On the ground adverts and flyering are THE number one way to get audiences in.
Contribute to our Public Transit Costs While at the Fringe
Costs $500
help cover our train tickets in and out of the city everyday as we advertise and perform!
Direct link:
Share this update!
About This Team
MaryKate Glenn - Founding Member / Lead Collaborator / Performer
MaryKate (she/her) is a bicoastal maker and performer, drawing on her backgrounds in ballet, Grotowski-lineage physical theater, and psychoanalysis in her work onstage and off. Her current performance research investigates the absurd, the uncanny, and the assumed passivity of the viewer theatrical space. Collaborators include: Krymov Lab NYC, La Mama ETC, Prototype Festival, Transport Group, Great River Shakespeare, Triplets Amsterdam, CULTUREHUB LA, and The Useless Room. She is a founding member of the performance collective exit strategy, which recently workshopped exit strategy presents How to Win A Gameshow at the Broedplaats Bouw Arts Center and OT301 in Amsterdam, NL. Training includes Teatr ZAR of the Grotowski Institute in Wrocław, Poland. BA Theology/Philosophy, Fordham Rose Hill Honors College. MFA CalArts. https://www.marykateglenn.com/
Rupert Krüger - Founding Member / Lead Collaborator / Performer
Rupert (he/him) is a German/American martial artist, maker, and performer based in Brooklyn. Drawing from backgrounds in classical ballet and Okinawan Karate, his work explores the meeting point between narrative performance and the physical language of martial arts, with an emphasis on myth, masculinity, shame, and violence. He has presented work at PhysFest NYC, The Brick AUX, ESTIA House of Movement, and internationally at Broedplaats Bouw Arts Center, OT301, and Djike Theatre in the Netherlands. He has taught physical devising workshops in New York City and abroad. Krüger is a founding member of the performance collective exit strategy. He has trained with Frantic Assembly, and at the Grotowski Institute in Wrocław, Poland with Studio Kokyu. Rupert holds the rank of Nidan in Goju Ryu Karate, and is a student of Ryūgan Savoca at Brooklyn Aikikai, where he holds the rank of Yonkyu. https://www.rupertkruger.com/
Jane Skapek - Founding Member / Lead Collaborator / Performer
Jane Skapek (they/them) is a theater director, filmmaker and installation artist who creates surreal and elegiac pieces to interrogate the space between physical and digitally imagined reality. Using archived and historical images, live camera, performance and dance, their work centers queer bodies and themes of constructed space. They have developed work in New York City at The Brick, the Tank, Ars Nova Antfest, and Target Margin, among others. Selected Associate and Assistant director credits include two national tours of The Lightning Thief, Jasper (off-Broadway, Signature Theatre), and Angels in America (Broadway, 2018). In 2024, Skapek won best director at the LA International Horror Short Film Festival for their film directorial debut “Close to Home”, shot internationally in Panama. Recently: directed a queer, drag adaptation of Romeo + Juliet at The Voxel in Baltimore. MFA The New School. https://www.janeskapek.com/
Samori Etienne - Guest Artist / Lead Collaborator / Performer
Samori (he/him) is a theatre maker, photographer, videographer, multi-hyphenate creator, many-hats-wearer from New Jersey. In New York City, he has performed with Performa, Fishmarket Theatre Co., Cheers to 40, Live Animals Onstage, and exit strategy. Samori was delighted to be a part of the previous iteration of How to Win a Gameshow at Greek Cultural Center n July 2025. He has a B.A. in Theatre and English from Williams College. He has also studied at the National Theatre Institute (NTI) and LAMDA. https://www.samorietienne.com/