Corin Wiggins
Artist Statement
FIRST AND FOREMOST, MY WORK CONCERNS LIBERATION.
ACTING IS AN ART WHICH REQUIRES THE UNLEARNING OF SOCIALLY CONSTRUCTED, SELF-IMPOSED INHIBITORS IN ORDER TO LIBERATE THE BODY, VOICE, AND MIND. THEATRE IS THE MAGICAL, COMMUNAL SPACE FOR THIS TO OCCUR AND BE WITNESSED.
MY MOTHER DESCRIBES ME AS A CHILD WHO “ALWAYS WALKED TO THE BEAT OF HIS OWN DRUM”, A KIND OF WAY OF EXPRESSING CLEAR COGNITIVE AND BEHAVIORAL DIFFERENCES MANY OTHERS, CHILDREN AND ADULTS ALIKE, LABELED AS “WEIRD”. BEFORE THE THEATRE DISCOVERED ME AT AGE EIGHT, I HAD NEVER BEEN IN A SPACE WHERE THIS PERCEIVED WEIRDNESS WAS NOT ONLY WELCOMED, BUT APPLAUDED. THEATRE BECAME A SOCIAL HOME; A PLACE TO LEARN ABOUT HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS, MEET LIKE-MINDED KIDS, AND EXPRESS MY OWN HUMANITY TO MY COMMUNITY. I NEVER WANTED TO LEAVE.
MY WORK AND ITS METHODOLOGIES – FOR MYSELF, FOR MY ENSEMBLE, FOR MY AUDIENCE – SEEKS A FREER EXISTENCE, MARKED BY EMPATHY, OPEN-MINDEDNESS, AND PRESENCE. IT IS RESISTANCE TO HUMANITY’S RECURRING TENDENCY TO OPPRESS ITSELF. IF ALL FORCES EBB AND FLOW, THE EBBING EROSION OF RIGHTS, LIBERTIES, AND THE FREEDOM OF THOUGHT ACROSS TODAY’S GLOBAL POWERS MAKES THE THEATRE, BOTH AS AN ARTFORM AND A COMMUNAL GATHERING, MORE VITAL THAN IT HAS EVER BEEN IN MY LIFETIME.
WHILE MY VERSATILE TRAINING AND PERFORMANCE EXPERIENCE SPANS THE FULL BREADTH OF THEATRE HISTORY, I GRAVITATE TOWARDS FORMS WHICH EMPHASIZE THEATRE’S IDIOSYNCRASIES AS A LIVE PERFORMANCE ART, FINDING INSPIRATION IN ARTISTS LIKE JERZY GROTOWSKI, TATSUMI HIJIKATA, AND THE EARLY ITALIAN COMMEDIA TROUPES WHO DISTILLED THE THEATRE INTO ITS ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS. I HEAR THE CALL FOR AN UNAPOLOGETICALLY HUMAN THEATRE OF MUSCLE, BONE, AND SWEAT. AS OUR WORLD, OUR REALITY, BECOMES INUNDATED WITH FORMLESS ARTIFICE, MORE AND MORE PEOPLE WILL NEED TO SEEK THE IMMEDIACY, TANGIBILITY, AND EPHEMERALITY OF IMPULSE AND ACTION FOUND IN OUR BODIES. I BELIEVE IN THE MATERIALITY OF THE HUMAN ANIMAL TO TRANSCEND ITSELF AND SPEAK DIVINELY TO THE UNIVERSAL EXPERIENCE; I HAVE SEEN IT. MY WORK CREATES WAVES AND BOLTS OF ENERGY, UNAFRAID TO PIERCE THE DARK, REVEAL THE LIGHT, RESONATE IN GREY.
I AM COMMITTED TO LIFE AS AN ARTIST BECAUSE ART AND THE COMMUNITIES FOSTERED AROUND ART ALLOW ME TO BE MYSELF. IT IS A GIFT. MY AIM IS TO SUPPORT THIS GIFT THROUGH STRONG, MATURE ARTISTRY THAT CULTIVATES HOPEFUL AND INSPIRED COMMUNITIES, DISSOLVING LONELINESS. I AM AN INTERNATIONAL, INTERCULTURAL ADVENTURER SEEKING A SPECIFIC SPACE TO HOUSE MY THEATRE. I AM HUMBLED AGAIN AND AGAIN.
Bio
Corin Wiggins (they/he/she) is an actor, director, and deviser of theatre. Their training and performance experience encompasses forms from the entirety of theatre history, with particular emphasis on classical verse, contemporary realism, commedia dell’arte, butoh (舞踏), and new devised work. Cultivating sharp, tight-knit ensembles of actors, Corin crafts original works of live performance. To date, they have contributed to well over one hundred projects, collectively seen by tens of thousands around the world.
Raised in South Carolina, USA by a family of civil engineers, Corin first discovered the stage at age eight through a local children’s theatre. Growing up in community musical theatre and child actor film agencies, Corin began their professional actor training at the South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities Drama program. They hold a B.F.A. in Physical Theatre from a joint program between Coastal Carolina University and the Accademia dell’Arte in Arezzo, Italy.
Their extensive time abroad in Italy instilled a deep love of cultural immersion and international collaboration. Following graduation in 2023, Corin worked with the Kazakh National Academy of Arts in Almaty, Kazakhstan to devise performances for the Prague Quadrennial theatre festival in Czechia. While in Kazakhstan, Corin also taught their first university-level workshop at KIMEP University.
As a budding professional, Corin spent nearly two years in Chicago working as an actor and director. During this short time, Corin received grants from the Sarah Siddons Foundation and the South Carolina Arts Commission, played an original piece at the Philadelphia Fringe Festival, became a Theatre Artist-in-Residence at The Cliff Dwellers, created an acting for non-actors class titled Attune, and joined the Neo-Commedia theatre company The Conspirators, among other endeavors. Critics found Corin’s work to be "immaculately played” and “truly dynamic”, noting “Wiggins brought some in the audience to tears”.
Corin is spending the summer of 2025 teaching devising and drama to students from across the globe at Leysin-American School in Switzerland, continuing their international quest to discover a home for their own theatre company and arts venue. Dedicated to high-quality work that fosters community, conversation, and hope, Corin is actively seeking their next opportunity to create.
