Malini is a native New Yorker who has been involved in the arts for her entire life. She's served the theatre in many aspects of which she's very proud – actress, director, producer, stage manager, costume designer, prop designer, theatre reviewer, publicist and most recently writer/monologist. She received her BA in Theatre Arts and English Literature from Baruch College and her MFA in Directing from the Actors Studio Drama School. In 2003, Malini and her husband, Ian, created Black Henna Productions with a handful of innovative artists. Every member of the company collaborates on every piece, either writing, acting, directing, designing, or filling any other role that fit their own personal skills with a commitment to bring new, exciting, and challenging theatre to the world. She is an associate member of Stage Directors and Choreographers Society and a member of the League of Professional Theatre Women. Malini received the Woman of Distinction Award for her contribution to Media, Arts and Culture from the City of New York in 2008. She is also a Person of Godspell which ran at Circle in the Square on Broadway from 2011-2012.
THE LEAGUE OF PROFESSIONAL THEATRE WOMEN PRESENTS THE 7TH ANNUAL WOMEN STAGE THE WORLD PARADE
Photo credit: Erik McGregor
TUESDAY, JUNE 11 IN TIMES SQUARE
The League of Professional Theatre Women (Kelli Lynn Harrison & Catherine Porter, Co-Presidents), an organization which has been leading the gender parity conversation and championing women in the professional theatre for over 35 years, will lead the seventh annual Women Stage the World Parade, a march to advocate for equal representation for women in theatre, on Tuesday, June 11 from 6-7pm, beginning and ending at the TKTS booth in Times Square.
Women Stage the World, an advocacy project of the LPTW, is designed to educate the public about the role women play in creating theatre and the gender barriers they face as men continue to outnumber women by 4 to 1 in key roles such as playwright, director and designer. Women buy two-thirds of the tickets and represent 65% of the audience, yet 80% of the time the storytelling on stage is shaped by men’s voices, not women.
The Women Stage the World Parade and March will prompt ticket-buyers to ask three questions as they make buying decisions:
(1) Who wrote, directed and designed this play?
(2) What is this theatre’s track record in giving opportunities to women?
(3) How can you spread the word and promote women’s voices?
Like the suffragettes before them, Women Stage the World empowers women and men to become aware, take action and influence others. For the past seven years Women Stage the World has marched through Times Square- educating theatre goers about the importance of gender parity in the American Theater.
March participants will gather at the TKTS booth in Times Square starting at 5:30pm. The march will commence at 6pm and weave through Times Square and the Broadway district. The event is FREE and the League of Professional Theatre Women invites all theatre women and allies to participate in this march, as we boost awareness, lift our voices, and advocate for more opportunities for women in theatre. All march participants are encouraged to dress as their favorite historical theatre woman or in all white. Women Stage the World sashes and signs will be provided, as supplies last.
The League of Professional Theatre Women (a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization) has been championing women and leading the gender parity conversation in the professional theatre for over 35 years. Since its founding, the LPTW’s membership has grown to 500+ theatre artists and practitioners of all backgrounds, across multiple disciplines, working in the commercial and non-profit sectors. To increase visibility of and opportunities for women in the field, the LPTW spearheads events, public programming, advocacy initiatives, media, and publications that celebrate industry luminaries, preserve the legacy of historic visionaries, raise awareness of the importance of nurturing women’s voices, and shine a spotlight on the imperative of striving for gender parity and fostering a diversity of expression, both in the theatre world and the world at large. To find out more about how you can support its endeavors, please visit www.theatrewomen.org.
Immerse yourself in the wild and indomitable female spirit with the Third Annual Andromeda’s Sisters Gala to benefit the dance theater company The Neo-Political Cowgirls. The compelling three-day journey includes play readings, a private estate fundraiser and an interactive creativity workshop on June 14th 22nd and 23rd which can be enjoyed collectively or individually. The brain child of Kate Mueth who is the founder of the 501 ( c ) 3 company Neo-Political Cowgirls, Andromeda’s Sisters is an arts and advocacy forum to create more work for women in theater and to increase the female voice in the narrative of our society’s stories. Mueth brings her vibrant, unconventional, mind-expanding magic to the event. This is not your typical write-a-check and have a cocktail fundraiser. Guests will be treated to talented voices of the theater, advocacy, and legal world to expand their horizons and network with fascinating women. This is the uniquely fertile soil where community, arts and advocacy merge to grow both roots and blossoms. And men are most welcome to join in the fun.
Kate Mueth talks about her inspiration for the event: “Andromeda’s Sisters is The Neo-Political Cowgirls’ version of a Gala. We use that word as we’d like to change what a ‘gala’ looks like. We’d like it to become an activating celebration, a chance for supporters to get closer to the work we do, to learn why we do it, and to feel the joy and celebration we share with audiences through our professional performance and education outreach. We want to fill it up with inspiration and education and connection and activation and community problem solving and networking and the highlighting of hard-working women in the theater and social justice organizations, leaders, and powerful creatives.
‘Andromeda’s Sisters,’ is a title taken from a moment in our devised theater production ANDROMEDA (summers of 2016 and 2017 at Montauk County Park) when Poseidon’s nymph daughters swim against the currents of the sea to help save Andromeda who is lashed to a rock by their father and about to be consumed by a violent sea monster. The young girls didn’t have to save Andromeda, in fact if they’d given over to their father’s wrath, they should have even hated her. When women swim against the tide of society’s powerful thinking and behaviors and expectations, we do remarkable things. When we help our sisters regardless of friendship or kinship or convenience, we are extraordinary humans walking the talk for real change. When women do these things we then, in turn, become examples for our children, our neighbors, our fellow employees, our families and the men in our lives.”
Andromeda’s Sisters is generously sponsored by Jackie Lowey of Saunders & Associates and Melissa Cohn and Family First Funding LLC, Private Client Group.
SCHEDULE:
Friday, June 14th, John Drew Theater at Guild Hall, East Hampton, NY
7:00 – Cocktail Garden Party
8:00 – Performance of 7 One Act Plays by Women-Identifying Playwrights
Cast to include Cathy Curtin (Orange is the New Black, Stranger Things, Homeland) and Laura Gomez (Orange is the New Black)
Very special guest playwright Joy Behar will present new work
Post Show – VIP Backstage Prosecco Meet and Greet
Saturday, June 22nd, At a Private Estate in the Hamptons
3:00-5:00 Amy Spitalnick (Integrity First for America) interviews civil rights attorney Roberta Kaplan about their landmark suit against the leadership of the violent white nationalist movement
Sunday, June 23rd, John Drew Theater at Guild Hall, East Hampton, NY
10:30-1:30 – Women’s Workshop For Creative Deep Diving and Interview/Conversation With Sarah Greenman of StateraArts interviewed by Kate Mueth, NPC Founder and Artistic Director
A formidable litigator with decades of experience in both commercial and civil rights litigation, Roberta Kaplan is the founding partner at Kaplan Hecker & Fink, a new law firm fusing a high-stakes litigation practice with a groundbreaking public interest practice. Kaplan is best known for successfully representing her client Edith Windsor in United States v. Windsor, ultimately arguing the case before the United States Supreme Court. In Windsor, the Supreme Court ruled that a key provision of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) violated the U.S. Constitution by barring legally married same-sex couples from enjoying the benefits of marriage conferred under federal law. The consequences of the Windsor decision were both rapid and profound, leading to marriage equality nationwide two years later.
Amy Spitalnick is the Executive Director of Integrity First for America, a nonpartisan- nonprofit organization dedicated to holding those accountable who threaten longstanding principles of our democracy. Most notably, IFA is suing the neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and hate groups who violently attacked Charlottesville. Amy joins IFA with over a decade of experience in government, politics, and advocacy. She most recently served as Communications Director and Senior Policy Advisor to New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood. Amy previously served as an advisor and spokesperson for NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio, and as Communications Director in the New York State Senate. She has also worked for a number of federal, state, and local campaigns and advocacy organizations. Amy was named a City & State 40 under 40 Rising Star in 2013.
Anna Ziegler is an award-winning playwright whose widely produced play PHOTOGRAPH 51 won London’s 2016 WhatsOnStage award for Best New Play. It was selected as a “Best of the Year” play by The Washington Post (twice) and The Telegraph. Nicole Kidman won the Evening Standard Award for Best Actress at the West End production. Ziegler is developing a series for HBO and screenplay for Scott Free Productions. Oberon Books has published a collection of her work entitled Anna Ziegler: Plays One.
Julia Jordan is currently working on two musicals; Bernice Bobs Her Hair (book and lyrics, composed by Adam Gwon); and Storyville (original book, lyrics by Kristen Anderson Lopez, composed by Lisa De Spain.) She is also working on the feature film of her play Dark Yellow (Susan Smith Blackburn Award shortlist) which premiered at Studio Dante in 2006. A film based on the same play but entitled Tell Me Something I Don’t Know is currently in development. Other plays include, Tatjana in Color (The Francesca Primus Prize, short-listed for the Susan Smith Blackburn Award, Best Plays by Women 1997); Boy (Susan Smith Blackburn Award honorable mention); St. Scarlet; Nightswim; Smoking Lesson. Plays for children include, Summer Of The Swans; Guitar (music by Duncan Sheik); and Walk Two Moons (music by Lucas Pappaelias.) Other musicals include, The Mice (part of Harold Prince‘s 3HREE) and Sarah, Plain and Tall (Kleban Award for libretto and an ATT Onstage award.) Her short film, The Hat, premiered at Sundance and was the most played short shown on Bravo and IFC that year.
Clare by Suzanne Bradbeer
Suzanne’s play Confederates opened the 2016-17 season at TheatreWorks – Silicon Valley and received seven Bay Area Critics Circle nominations including Best Production. Other productions include Naked Influence(Capital Rep); The God Game (Gulfshore Playhouse/Capital Rep, 4th Wall Theatre Company, Hudson Stage, etc.); Shakespeare in Vegas(Dreamcatcher Rep/PTNJ); Full Bloom (Barrington Stage; Hudson Stage, etc.); Lone Star Grace (Theater Workshop of Nantucket); Rita Faye Pruitte(Six Figures Theatre Company); Broken Window Theorem (Barrington Stage, Mile Square Theatre).
Five Star D-A-D by Liana Sonenclar
Liana Sonenclar is a writer and actress based in New York City. As an actress, she has performed Off Broadway, and she also shoots comic memes for Elite Daily. Her original play “Before This New Year” was presented for industry this fall. Her most recent short story, “Alibi”, was a finalist for the Al Blanchard Award at the New England Crime Bake, in which she was the youngest author in history to place. Liana currently works for the League of Professional Theatre Women.
Mistress Marlene by Margo Hammond
Margo’s plays have been produced in London, England, Milan, Italy, NYC and at various theatres across the U.S. Mistress Marlene has been published in Smith & Kraus’ “Best Ten-Minute Plays of 2015” and “Mae the Magnificent” in their 2019 edition. Luna Stage(West Orange, NJ) recently included “Mae” in their 7th Annual New Moon Short Play Festival. Margo’s full-length, “Let Maisy Rest In Peace” was recently presented at Barter Theatre‘s 2019 Appalachian Festival of Plays and Playwrights (January 2019) and also received a reading at Mile Square Theatre (Hoboken). Margo’s other plays have been seen in NYC at 78th St. Theater Lab, Soho Playhouse and Theater 54 (for AND), at CAP21 & Little Church Around the Corner and Directors Company (for ARTC) and at Workshop Theater Co. Her play, Look Me In the Eyes was produced in Colorado Springs, CO at Six Women Playwright’s Festival and in San Diego, CA at North Park Playwright Festival. Margo is the grateful 1st Place recipient of the 2016 Jerry Kaufman Award for Excellence in Playwriting.
Lucy Boyle is a playwright whose plays include The Blue Deep (Williamstown Theatre Festival with Blythe Danner and Heather Lind), Girls’ School Gothic (Hangar Theatre), and Mort (F*It Club). She wrote for the ABC Family television series HUGE, created by Winnie Holzman. She was a member of Ensemble Studio Theatre‘s Youngblood Playwrights Collective, and the Dramatists’ Guild Fellows. She received her BA from Brown University magna cum laude and her MFA in acting from Brown/Trinity Rep.
June 23 Creative Workshop:
Sarah Greenman of Statera Arts
Sarah Greenman is a playwright, painter, actor, and advocate for women in the arts. As an artist and community organizer, Sarah’s work is joyful, inclusive, strategic, and fiercely focused on equity and collective liberation. She holds a BA in Creative Writing with a Women’s Studies emphasis from Mills College where she was awarded the Gertrude Hung Chan Playwriting Prize for her original play LENI and the June Jordan Prize for Poetry. Sarah’s plays have been produced in New York, Oakland CA, Berkeley CA, Portland OR, Santa Maria CA, and Seattle WA. Sarah is also a graduate of the Pacific Conservatory Theater (PCPA) where she most recently served as interim Director of Outreach and Education. UPLIFT. AMPLIFY. ADVANCE. Statera takes positive action to bring women into full and equal participation in the arts.
Theater 2020 presents Marc Blitstein’s musical masterwork:
BROOKLYN, NY May 8, 2019 – THEATER 2020, Brooklyn Heights’ NY award winning professional theater company is pleased to announce its June 2019 run of the masterwork “THE CRADLE WILL ROCK,” in a limited run of 16 performances (indoors & out) Friday, June 7th – Sunday, June 30th, 2019.
Press is invited beginning Saturday, June 8th at 2:30pm.
Marc Blitzstein’s riveting musical The Cradle will Rock was born in 1937 during the Great Depression. Cradle sings a tale of the downtrodden, the 99%, who ultimately rise together. In Cradle we see artists selling out to the wealthy, healthcare influenced by big money, the press owned by big business, the church controlled by its donors and war encouraged for corporate greed. Sound familiar? Cradle’s genesis, and the events surrounding its opening night, represents a seminal moment in American Musical Theater history. A video of the original producer, John Houseman, describing that amazing opening can be found here: https://youtu.be/_LDb0fn4Uek
Creative team: Director David Fuller, Music Director/Pianist Brian Fitzsousa, Costume Designer Sarah Constable, Choreographer Judith Jarosz, Production Stage Manager Nat DiMario, Assistant Stage Manager Kristina Voznick .
Cast: Desiree Baxter*, Debra Thais Evans*, David Fuller*, Fred Frabotta, Scott Harrison*, Kate Holland*, Zoe Kanter, Ellen Martin, Alex Shafer*, Jeneen Terrana*, Kristofer Thornton*, Hannah Viederman. (*Appearing courtesy of Actors Equity Association)
Venues:TheGreat Room at ART NY studios at 138 South Oxford Streetin Brooklyn. Convenient to all trains: B, C, D, G, N, R, Q, 2, 3, 4, 5, and the LIRR.
Cadman Plaza Park War Memorial lawn area atFulton and Tillary Streets in Brooklyn Heights. Subways: 2, 3, 4, 5 to Borough Hall, N, R to Court Street, A, F to Jay Street, C to High Street.
Dates and Times:Please note the varied dates & times.
Great Room ART NY: Fri. 6/7 8pm, Sat. 6/8@2:30pm, Sun. 6/9@2:30pm, Wed. 6/12 @8pm, Thur. 6/13@8pm, Fri. 6/14@8pm, Wed. 6/19@8pm, Thur. 6/20@8pm, Fri. @6/218pm, (NO PERF SAT & SUN, JUNE 22 & 23!) Wed. 6/26@8pm, Thur. 6/27 @8pm, Fri. 6/28@8pm Sat. 6/29@8pm, Sun. 6/30@8pm.
Cadman Plaza Park, War Memorial lawn. Sat. & Sun. June 15 & 16, both at 6PM. (note early curtain in park) Running time: 120 min.
Cadman Plaza Park, all tickets FREE, no reservations required.
Theater 2020 “Visions for a New Millennium”
“Theater 2020 has once again proven that you can easily delight an audience when you have 1,000 times more imagination than funding!” – The Huffington Post
Director’s Note: “THE CRADLE WILL ROCK”
THE CRADLE WILL ROCK, A Musical Of, By and For the People!
Book, Music & Lyrics by Marc Blitzstein, Directed by David Fuller
Musical Director/Pianist Brian Fitzsousa, Choreographer Judith Jarosz
Marc Blitzstein’s The Cradle will Rock was born in 1937 during the Great Depression. Cradle sings a tale of the downtrodden, the 99%, who ultimately rise together. In Cradle we see artists selling out to the wealthy, healthcare influenced by big money, the press owned by big business, the church controlled by its donors and war encouraged for corporate greed. Sound familiar? We laugh at the lampooned stereotypes, all the while discovering what our hero Larry Foreman knows: when we work together the “Cradle Will Rock!”
Upon hearing a rendition of the song, A Nickel Under Your Foot, Brecht encouraged Blitzstein: “Why don’t you write a piece about all kinds of prostitution – the press, the church, the courts, the arts, the whole system?” He did and dedicated it to his friend, “to Bert Brecht.”
Blitzstein called Cradle a labor opera, composed in a style falling somewhere between realism, romance, Vaudeville, comic strip, Gilbert & Sullivan, Brecht and Agit Prop. He wrote, “The characters in The Cradle Will Rock are two-dimensional; types, rather than individuals. In a sense they are cartoon characters, larger than life, sometimes even larger than theatre life. The Cradle is thus a kind of modern morality play.”
Cradle’s genesis, and the events surrounding its opening night, represents a seminal moment in American Musical Theater history. A video of the original producer, John Houseman, describing that amazing opening can be found here: https://youtu.be/_LDb0fn4UekThe Cradle Will Rock, with its sharp, witty and sometimes poignant call to arms against oppression, is as timely today as when it was first performed in 1937.
Multi Award winning & nominated (OOBR, NYIT, GLADD awards) producing team of David Fuller & Judith Jarosz
Theater 2020, Inc., Visions for a New Millennium, Brooklyn Heights’ first professional theater company, was founded in 2010 and represents the natural culmination of many years in the performing arts by its Producing Artistic Directors, Judith Jarosz and David Fuller, and its board members. Jarosz has performed, directed, choreographed or produced on Broadway and off, at major regional houses, and the New York City Opera. In her years at the helm of Theater Ten Ten Jarosz produced 49 main stage productions, together with countless cabarets, workshops, readings and special events. Fuller has acted nationwide, directed regionally and in NYC, and his 25-plus years in theater includes six years at the helm of Off Broadway’s Jean Cocteau Repertory, as well as seasons in partnership with Jarosz at Theater Ten Ten. All told, Fuller has produced 64 Off Broadway and NYC Indie Theatre productions, in addition to staged reading and music series, workshops and educational outreach programs. They have together or singularly produced tours of 21 plays and musicals and have been recognized with multiple awards and nominations from many institutions including, The National GLADD awards, OOBR Awards, Nytheatre.com People of the Year, and New York Innovative Theater Awards. Hundreds of thousands of people have seen their work, children, students, adults and seniors.
Our Mission
Theater 2020, Inc., Visions for a New Millennium is dedicated to producing classic and contemporary plays and musicals for a 21st Century audience and to providing a nurturing atmosphere for both emerging artists and seasoned professionals. We are dedicated to reaching out to the community and to producing quality theater at affordable prices, utilizing established professionals and fostering young artists as they emerge into the theatrical mainstream, with a particular emphasis on providing more opportunities for women in theater.
The only professional union theater company based in Brooklyn Heights, Theater 2020 produces everything from classic theater to contemporary satire, with forays into musicals and light opera, making them immediate to modern audiences using both innovative and traditional approaches. We believe live performance is a vital part of a healthy culture and that it is through theater that audiences are engaged dynamically in today’s issues and in perpetual questions of the human condition.
Through our many audience outreach programs, we offer free and deeply discounted tickets because we believe theater must be for everyone, and no one should be deprived of the experience due to economic status. Through our educational initiatives we are firmly committed to the idea that today’s youth is tomorrow’s audience, and we work with educators to provide opportunities for students as interns and assistants.
Theater 2020, Inc. produces in Brooklyn, Manhattan and elsewhere, including the under-served Greene County in New York’s Catskill Mountains.
SCHOOL GIRL CRUSH Written by Jeannine Foster-McKelvia Directed by Isreal McKinney Scott Featuring Cate Bottiglione, China Colston, Ashlee Danielle, Daralyn Jay & Betsy Rosen Post show conversation with Martha Steketee “TWO MOTHERS, TWO DAUGHTERS, RACE, CLASS, INTERRACIAL DATING & VERBAL FIREWORKS.” George Bruce Library 518 West 125th Street New York, New York 10027 May 18, 2019 4-5 PM
Jeannine Foster-McKelvia- director, actor, playwright. Her full length play The Perfect Reunion, developed in the 7th Potpourri World Women’s Series, and given a reading at the 2017 National Black Theatre Festival’s Readers Theatre of New Works on the “A” list; short plays Sisters & Friends, Love, Life and the Revolution and School Girl Crush. Some of her directing credits include, Garvey (Trilogy Opera Company), Swing andMiss N’Victas (Negro Ensemble Company), Belonging (original student work, CUNY City Tech), A Doll’s House and The Story (Sarah Lawrence College), A Question of Taste (original production Pittsburgh Playwright’s Theatre and producer/director Midtown International Theatre Festival, NYC.), The Kitchen (Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre) and Christmas is Comin’ Uptown (African American Council on The Arts). Jeannine is a graduate of Duquesne University and Sarah Lawrence College and an Alumni of the Lincoln Center Theatre’s Directors Lab.
A THERAPY SESSION WITH MYSELF at the Kraine Theater “…a glimpse of what life can be like when we let our phobias get the best of us.” -Opplaud NY
“…brave…thought-provoking…” -Arts Independent
After a successful premiere at the New York Theatre Festival’s 2019 NYWinterfest this past January, A Therapy Session with Myself – Anthony J. Piccione’s controversial, semi-autobiographical drama about living with mental illness and autism – returns this May for an open-ended run of monthly afternoon performances at the Kraine Theater.
Tickets are on-sale now for performances from May to November 2019, with additional performance dates to be announced in the coming months. Tickets – $25
Location The Kraine Theater 85 E 4th Street New York, NY 10003 Between 2nd & 3rd Avenues (Bowery) First Floor, no wheelchair access
Performance dates May 18th – 2pm June 15th – 2pm July 20th – 2pm August 17th – 2pm September 21st – 2pm October 19th – 2pm November 16th – 2pm
A Therapy Session with Myself tells the story of Alex Grayson, a young college student and aspiring writer suffering from severe social anxiety, depression and Asperger’s syndrome. During the summer before his senior year, he receives a mysterious visit from “himself”, a human incarnation of his inner consciousness . As they interact, Alex is forced to reflect on his own flaws and personality quirks, as well as some of the darkest and most painful memories of his adolescence, while also pondering the question of whether or not he can overcome his many inner demons, and ultimately build a brighter future for himself.
Mr. Piccione described his inspiration for the play in an interview with Five-Star Arts Journals last December. “[It’s] a semi-autobiographical play that’s mainly inspired by real-life events that occurred from my first year of high school up to my last year of college, [and] I’d say the actual story itself is about 80 to 90 percent the truth, with only some minor changes,” according to Piccione, who went on to say that “[w]hen people come see the show, it’ll likely feel more like a stream of consciousness, rather than a traditional story with a beginning, middle, and end, so I imagine it’ll raise at least as many questions as answers. But still, my hope for this play is that it leaves people thinking about issues of social anxiety, depression, and Asperger’s syndrome [in] a different way than perhaps they used to.”
Returning to helm the play is award-winning director Holly Payne-Strange, who last year was named Best Director for her work on Opposites and Contradictions at the NYC Theatre Festival and Showcase at Theatre 80. St Marks, while acclaimed actor/director/songwriter Andres Gallardo Bustillo returns as assistant director.
The production stars Nick Roy as Alex; Shane Zimmerman as “you”, the human incarnation of Alex’s inner consciousness; and Nathan Cusson as “me”, Alex’s younger self who appears in flashbacks. The cast is rounded out by Emma Romeo (Kelly), Louise Heller (Kate/Ms. Appleton/Beth), Tony Bozanich (Ray/Professor Collins), Travis artin (Henry/Ensemble), Alexander Pepper (Tim/Ensemble), Nick Capriotti (Philip/Ensemble), Rosie Coursey (Ensemble) and Lizzy Moreno (Ensemble).
I’m an actor/comedian, a cancer, Slytherin, and introvert. Trained at the Magnet and UCB Theaters in NY, performed at Boom Chicago (Amsterdam), with Baby Wants Candy, and toured nationally with my one-man show Asian Gracefully. Love seltzer and french fries, my spirit animal is a penguin. I’ve appeared on Comedy Central, HBO, TBS, FX and The New York Times. I’m also a lead in the feature Lucky Grandma, which premiered at Tribeca Film Festival this year.
Tell us about your current project?
Have you ever thought “there’s not enough Asian faces onstage?” After this show you will think “that was TOO MANY Asians!” Too Many Asians! is a live one-man characters show by actor, comedian and writer Woody Fu. Watch him become a KPOP boy band, a very confident pigeon and more in a series of tight comedy sketches. After half an hour, you will be an Asian ally or dead, GUARANTEED. Directed by Hunter Nelson.
Where are you performing your show and why is it a good fit for your production?
This show is going up at New York City’s premiere venue for sketch comedy, the Upright Citizens Brigade in Hell’s Kitchen.
What’s next for you?
I’m making a short film about time travel!
What is the name of the last show you saw?
The last thing I really enjoyed is the podcast CONVICTION on Gimlet Media.
Any advice for your peers?
Keep doing it. Don’t stop doing it.
Woody Fu performs on Maude Night, Characters Welcome, and Baby Wants Candy at UCB. He was a castmember of Boom Chicago (Amsterdam), and Thrones! The Musical Parody (Edinburgh Fringe). He’s appeared on Comedy Central, HBO, TBS, FX, and The New York Times. He is a lead in the feature Lucky Grandma, premiering at Tribeca Film Festival this year.
His webseries Asian American Studies is an official selection at Slamdance 2019, and his forthcoming series UR Asian Friend was produced by UCB Comedy and Nerdist. His one-man show Asian Gracefully toured New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Austin, and Toronto.
He’s also a professional DJ who loves penguins, seltzer and french fries.
He is represented by Ken Treusch at Bleecker Street Entertainment.
Playwright Megan Monaghan Rivas Photo credit: Louis Stein
WRITTEN BY MEGAN MONAGHAN RIVAS
CO-DIRECTED BY MICHOLE BIANCOSINO & ANDREW W. SMITH
WORLD PREMIERE
PREVIEWS JUNE 5, 6 & 8
OPENING NIGHT JUNE 8
JUNE 5-29 @ A.R.T./NEW YORK THEATRES
Project Y Theatre Company will present the World Premiere of Megan Monaghan Rivas’ Three Musketeers: 1941, co-directed by Michole Biancosino and Andrew W. Smith, as part of the fourth annual Women in Theatre Festival, June 5-29 at the Jeffrey and Paula Gural Theatre at the A.R.T./New York Theatres (502 West 53rd Street New York, NY 10019). Performances will be on Wednesday, June 5 at 7:30pm, Thursday, June 6 at 7:30pm, Saturday, June 8 at 2pm, Saturday, June 8 at 7:30pm, Sunday, June 9 at 2pm, Friday, June 14 at 7:30pm, Saturday, June 15 at 7:30pm, Sunday, June 16 at 2pm, Friday, June 21 at 7:30pm, Tuesday, June 25 at 7:30pm, Thursday, June 27 at 7:30pm, Friday, June 28 at 7:30pm, and Saturday, June 29 at 7:30pm. Tickets ($27) are available for advance purchase at https://witfestival.brownpapertickets.com or by calling 1-800-838-3006.
Inspired by characters from Alexandre Dumas’ classic adventure novel, this new play is set in the occupied Paris of World War II. The Third Reich has hung every balcony in the City of Light with swastika banners and filled the streets with the tramp of goose-stepping boots. While the French police pander to Nazi occupiers, in a secret room five brave women struggle to keep hope alive for themselves and their fellow citizens. The arrival of two strangers sets off a chain of events that might just turn the tide in this thriller about what happens when a group of women take up the chant, “All for one, and one for all!”
The cast will include Ashley Bufkin (Pride and Prejudice with Pittsburgh Public Theater; Julius Caesar with Shakespeare’s Globe), Zack Calhoon (Water by the Spoonful with Premiere Stages; Dancing Lessons with Kitchen Theatre Company), Ella Dershowitz (Can You Forgive Her? With Vineyard Theater; Card and Gift with Clubbed Thumb), Helen Farmer (Fake with EST/Youngblood; Arms and the Man with Shakespeare Theatre of NJ), Christina Liang (Quack with Alley Theatre; In The Line with Project Y Theatre),Kate Margalite (The Empaths with Wellfleet Harbor Actors’ Theatre; Damn Yankees with Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera), Valentino Musumeci (“Daredevil” on Netflix), Javan Nelson (The Great God Brown with Target Margin; She She She with Hook & Eye Theatre), Essence Stiggers (Men I’m Not Married to with Santa Cruz Shakespeare), and Joleen Wilkinson (Bea Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table with Ars Nova; Song for a Future Generation with The Management) with Costume Design by Olivia V. Hern(Aquamarine in the Sam French Off-Off Broadway Play Festival; The Magic Flute with NYU Steinhart Opera), Set Design by Chen-Wei Liao (As One with Pittsburgh Opera; assistant designer on Downstairs at Primary Stages), Fight Chorography by Carlotta Summers (Assistant Fight Director on Therese Raquin on Broadway), Sound Design by Yiran Zhang(Wicked tour in China), and Lighting Design by Hallie Zieselman (Brecht on Brecht with Potomac Theatre Project/Atlantic Theater).
Megan Monaghan Rivas (Playwright) is a dramaturg, director, and playwright based in Pittsburgh, PA. She has been honored by the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas (LMDA) with the international Elliott Hayes Prize in Dramaturgy. Megan has held artistic leadership positions at the Lark Play Development Center in New York City and The Playwrights’ Center in Minneapolis, and served as literary manager of South Coast Repertory Theatre, literary director of the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, and director of new play development for Frontera @ Hyde Park Theatre in Austin, TX. She has freelanced with the O’Neill National Playwrights Conference, the New Harmony Project, the Geffen Playhouse, Quantum Theatre, Aurora Theatre, the Salt Lake Acting Company, TheatreSquared, Actors Express Theatre, and Horizon Theatre. She joined the faculty of the School of Drama at Carnegie Mellon University in 2013.
Michole Biancosino (Director) is the Co-Founding Artistic Director of Project Y Theatre Company, where she has developed and directed new work in Washington, D.C. and New York City over the past 19 years. With Project Y, she has led various professional productions, as producer, director, and writer. She devised and directed the world premiere of the NY Innovative Award-winning Landmarks & TRANSformations: a queer ritual piece in NYC. She is the co-creator and director of the long-running shows, Trump Lear and the award-winning, Gary Busey’s One Man Hamlet (as performed by David Carl), both of which received runs in various theatres including Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Kitchen Dog Theatre in Dallas, TX, and runs in Colorado and Florida. Both shows received co-productions in Edinburgh Fringe with the U.K.-based Richard Jordan Productions. She directed the NY Innovative Theatre Award-winning NY Premiere of CONNECTED, by Lia Romeo, at 59E59 Theaters where it had record sales and attendance. She also directed Addie Walsh’s That’s All I Got, at the United Solo Festival where it won an Award for “Best Variety Show.” In the past she has directed the World Premiere of Lee Blessing’s User’s Guide to Hell, featuring Bernard Madoff, at Atlantic Stage 2, the World Premiere musical LoveSick or THINGS THAT DON’T HAPPEN, plays by Lia Romeo, songs by Tony Biancosino, at 59E59 Theaters, nominated for 3 NYIT Awards including Best Production of a Musical, the critically acclaimed The Revival, by Samuel Brett Williams, at Theatre Row, nominated for 7 NYIT Awards, including Best Production of a Play and Outstanding Direction, and named The Advocate’s #2 show of 2010. Her production of Samuel Brett Williams’ Derby Day at Theatre Row’s The Clurman was named one of the Top 10 shows of 2011 by Paper Mag. Michole was the recipient of the prestigious SDC Gielgud Fellowship for classical directing and was featured as a Top Young Woman Artist in Nervy Girl Magazine. She holds a BA from Middlebury College and an MFA in Directing from Rutgers University. This past year she collaborated with dancer, Christal Brown, and composer Matthew Taylor, to create a dance/theatre adaption of Toni Morrison’s Recitatif which funded as part of the Clifford Symposium at Middlebury College, where is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Theatre.www.micholebiancosino.com
Andrew W. Smith (Director) is a professional Actor, Director, and Producer whose work has been seen throughout New York City, regionally, and internationally. He is also the Co-Founding Artistic Director of award-winning Project Y Theatre Company in New York City. Selected regional acting work includes: Pittsburgh Public Theatre, Pittsburgh City Theatre, Quantum Theatre, Actor’s Theatre of Louisville, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Arena Stage, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Roundhouse Theatre, Potomac Theatre Project, Ars Nova, Studio Theatre, and Olney Center for the Arts. He toured with The National Players on their 50th anniversary as Cyrano in Cyrano de Bergerac. Filmwork includes Lucid, Shooting Script, Death of a Nation (Winner: Best Short, IndieFest 2011; Best in Show, Best Shorts Competition 2011), Under-Ground. Andrew is currently an Assistant Professor of Acting at the Carnegie Mellon School of Drama. He also spent two years as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Theatre at Middlebury College, Vermont, from which he also received his BA in theatre. He is also graduate of the MFA Acting program at the University of California, San Diego, from which he received the Teaching Excellence Award upon graduation. www.smithandrewwilliam.com
The Women in Theatre Festival seeks to broaden the opportunities for women in the entertainment industry by producing new work by women with more than 50% female representation of all artists involved. The 4th Annual Women in Theatre Festival will feature 10 separate productions including two fully staged World Premieres, commissioned specifically for the festival.
Founded in 1999, Project Y Theatre Company has been called the “smartest of the city’s theatre troupes,” by N.P.R. Project Y has had an unwavering presence in the New York Off-Off Broadway community and has been nominated for nine Innovative Theater Awards. Project Y has been the recipient of grants from NYSCA, ART/NY, The Nancy Quinn Fund, NYC Department of Cultural Affairs and the humanitarian Puffin Foundation. They have produced work which includes Trump Lear, Gary Busey’s One-Man Hamlet…, A User’s Guide to Hell featuring Bernard Madoff, Connected, Fubar and Great Again, at venues including 59E59, A.R.T./New York Theatres, HERE, Theatre Row Theaters and Edinburgh Fringe. They have produced and/or developed work by playwrights including Karl Gadjusek, Charles Mee, Lee Blessing, Sean Christopher Lewis, Antu Yacob, Johnna Adams, Tori Keenan-Zelt, Amina Henry, EM Lewis, Crystal Skillman, Lia Romeo, Chiori Miyagawa, Nimisha Ladva, and Erin Mallon. www.projectytheatre.org
The A.R.T./New York Theatres are a project of the Alliance of Resident Theatres/New York (A.R.T./New York), which provide state-of-the-art, accessible venues at subsidized rental rates, plus free access to top-line technical equipment, so that the city’s small and emerging theatre companies can continue to experiment, grow, and produce new works. Founded in 1972, A.R.T./New York is the leading service and advocacy organization for New York City’s 400+ nonprofit theatres, with a mission to assist member theatres in managing their companies effectively so that they may realize their rich artistic visions and serve their diverse audiences well. We accomplish this through a comprehensive roster of real estate, financial, educational, and community-building programs, as well as research, advocacy, and field-wide initiatives that seek to improve the long-term health and sustainability of the industry. Over the years, A.R.T./New York has received numerous honors, including an Obie Award, an Innovative Theatre Award, a New York City Mayor’s Award for Arts & Culture, and a Tony Honor for Excellence in the Theatre. For more information, please visit www.art-newyork.org.
Megan Hill as The Magician Photo credit: Maria Baranova
WRITTEN BY CRYSTAL SKILLMAN
DIRECTED BY JESSI D. HILL
FEATURING MEGAN HILL
WORLD PREMIERE
PREVIEWS JUNE 8, 9 & 11
OPENING WEDNESDAY, JUNE 12
JUNE 7-22 @ THE TANK
The Tank (Meghan Finn and Rosalind Grush, Artistic Directors) in association with All For One Theater (Michael Wolk, Artistic Director; Nicholas A. Cotz, Executive & Producing Director) will present the World Premiere of Open, writtenby Crystal Skillman (Rain and Zoe Save the World, 2018 EMOS Award-Winner; King Kirby at The Brick; Geek with Vampire Cowboys)directed by Jessi D. Hill (Surely Goodness and Mercy with Keen Company; Interstate at NYMF), and featuring Megan Hill (Do You Feel Anger?at Vineyard Theater; Eddie and Dave at The Atlantic)at The Tank (312 West 36th Street between 8th and 9th Avenues), June 7-22. Performances will be on Friday, June 7 at 8pm, Saturday, June 8 at 8pm, Sunday, June 9 at 3pm, Tuesday, June 11 at 8pm, Wednesday, June 12 at 8pm, Thursday, June 13 at 8pm, Friday, June 14 at 8pm, Saturday, June 15 at 3pm & 8pm, Sunday, June 16 at 3pm, Tuesday, June 18 at 8pm, Wednesday, June 19 at 8pm, Thursday, June 20 at 8pm, Friday, June 21 at 4pm & 8pm, and Saturday, June 22 at 8pm. Tickets ($25) are available for advance purchase at www.thetanknyc.org. The performance will run approximately 60 minutes, with no intermission.
Open is a magic show with no magic. A woman called The Magician seems to pantomime a myriad of tricks, but her act reveals she is attempting the impossible—to save the life of her lover, Jenny. And yet, is it possible that the more we believe in their love, the more The Magician’s illusions are actually becoming real? The clock is ticking, the show must go on, and as impossible as it may seem, this Magician’s magic act may be our last hope against a world filled with intolerance and hate.
Crystal Skillman (Playwright) is an award-winning Brooklyn based playwright. Plays include Geek, Cut, King Kirby (New York Times Critics Pick), Rain and Zoe Save the World (2018 EMOS New Play Competition Winner), and Pulp Vérité (workshopped at the Playwrights Foundation; 2015 The Clifford Odets Ensemble Play Commission). Crystal is the book writer of Mary and Max, with composer/lyricist Bobby Cronin, which premiered at Theatre Calgary, directed by Stafford Arima. Postcard American Town was selected for a 2018 Rhinebeck Writers Retreat. Awards: 2018 MUT Award (Critics’ Prize), Clifford Odets Ensemble Play Commission, NY Innovative Theatre Award. Work in TV/Comics includes “Adventure Time” and Eat Fighter, published on Webtoon where new episodes premiere each Saturday. www.crystalskillman.com
Jessi D. Hill (Director) is a theatre director based in New York City. New York credits include new work at New York Theatre Workshop, The Public Theater/Joe’s Pub, The Playwrights’ Center, Primary Stages, Keen Company, Labyrinth, The Women’s Project, 59E59, P73, The New Group, Rattlestick, Ensemble Studio Theatre, terraNOVA Collective, Culture Project, Musical Theatre Factory, The Acting Company, The Barrow Group, New Dramatists, The Lark, The Playwrights Realm, New Georges, and many others. She has been a director and teacher in professional training programs at Yale School of Drama, Juilliard, Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center/NTI, Fordham University, Long Island University, Powerhouse/NY Stage & Film, NYU/Tisch, The Atlantic School, Playwrights Horizons Theatre School, Hunter College, American Academy of Dramatic Arts, and many others. Jessi is a recipient of the Denham Fellowship from the Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation, an Alum of the Women’s Project Lab, and an Affiliated Artist at New Georges. She served as Associate Artistic Director of terraNOVA Collective from 2009-2015 where she co-created the Groundbreakers Playwrights Group and Groundworks new works program. She is currently the Artistic Associate at Flying Carpet Theatre Co and the Literary Team Director at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater. Her work has been seen internationally in Edinburgh, London, New Zealand, Berlin and Hamburg. MFA: Yale. Member SDC.
Megan Hill (The Magician) has originated roles in the world premieres of Do You Feel Anger? (The Vineyard and Humana Festival), Eddie and Dave (The Atlantic), Kentucky (P73/EST), Hand to God (EST), and Crystal Skillman’s Cut (The Management), to name a few. As an actor and writer, her play The Last Class: A Jazzercise Play (created with Amy Staats and Margot Bordelon) has enjoyed sold-out runs in New York, D.C., and Seattle. She has also worked with Bushwick Starr, Berkeley Rep’s Ground Floor, SPACE on Ryder Farm, NACL, Soho Rep Lab, Ars Nova’s ANT Fest, Playwrights Horizons, Primary Stages, The Lark, HERE, Morgan Gould & Friends, New Dramatists, NYTW, Clubbed Thumb, New Georges, Labyrinth Lab, Target Margin, Ma-Yi, Pittsburgh Public, Stein/Holum, Intiman, Seattle Children’s Theater/Speeltheatre Holland, Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center, and The Guggenheim, among others. BFA: Acting/Original Works, Cornish College of the Arts. MFA: ART/MXAT IATT at Harvard University.
All For One Theater (AFO) is dedicated to producing and developing extraordinary solo theater. AFO believes the solo show is more than a vehicle for personal narratives; it blurs the line between performance art and theater, and has the capacity to forge connections between artists and audiences more personal than those of traditional theatrical storytelling. Since 2011, AFO has presented acclaimed full-length solo plays Off and Off-Off Broadway, nurtured dozens of the brightest mid-career solo theater artists through the AFO Solo Collective, and initiated an Artist In Residence program to incubate one artist’s new work for up to 18 months of development. www.afo.nyc
The Tank is a non-profit arts presenter and producer. Our mission is to remove economic barriers from the creation of new work for artists launching their careers and experimenting within their art form, and to do so in an environment that is inclusive and accessible. We serve over 2,000 artists every year in over 800 performances, and work across all disciplines, including theater, comedy, dance, film, music, puppetry, and storytelling. The heart of our services is providing free performance space in our two-stage theater complex Manhattan, and we also offer a suite of other services such as free rehearsal space, promotional support, artist fees, and much more. We support work at all phases of development, from readings and residencies to fully-produced world premieres. We keep ticket prices affordable and view our work as democratic, opening up both the creation and attendance of the arts to all.
Recent Tank-produced work includes Drama Desk-nominated productions Ada/Ava (2016), youarenowhere (2016), The Paper Hat Game (2017), the ephemera trilogy (2017), and The Hunger Artist (2018), as well as New York Times Critics’ Picks The Offending Gesture by Mac Wellman, directed by Meghan Finn (2016) and Red Emma & The Mad Monk by Alexis Roblan, directed by Katie Lindsay (2018). www.thetanknyc.org
WHAT: Too Many Asians! is a live one-man characters show by actor, comedian and writer Woody Fu. Watch him become a KPOP boy band, a very confident pigeon and more in a series of tight comedy sketches. After half an hour, you will be an Asian ally or dead, GUARANTEED. Directed by Hunter Nelson.
WHEN:
Monday, May 13, 9:00pm
Friday, May 31, 7:30pm
WHERE: UCB Hell’s Kitchen – 555 W 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036
Woody Fu performs on Maude Night, Characters Welcome, and Baby Wants Candy at UCB. He was a castmember of Boom Chicago (Amsterdam), and Thrones! The Musical Parody (Edinburgh Fringe). He’s appeared on Comedy Central, HBO, TBS, FX, and The New York Times. He is a lead in the feature Lucky Grandma, premiering at Tribeca Film Festival this year.
His webseries Asian American Studies is an official selection at Slamdance 2019, and his forthcoming series UR Asian Friend was produced by UCB Comedy and Nerdist. His one-man show Asian Gracefully toured New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Austin, and Toronto.
He’s also a professional DJ who loves penguins, seltzer and french fries.
He is represented by Ken Treusch at Bleecker Street Entertainment.
Neuro-inclusive theatre company, Actionplay, to present World Premiere of
Welcome To My World
Saturday, May 18 @ 7 pm & Sunday, May 19 @ 2 pm at The Sheen Center
Actionplay is proud to present the World Premiere of the neuro-inclusive musical, Welcome To My World. The musical was created by the participants in the company’s AIMS (Action Improv Musical) program, a 25-week musical theatre devising workshop. Welcome To My World runs Saturday, May 18 at 7 pm and Sunday, May 19 at 2 pm at The Sheen Center. The limited run is directed by Executive Director Aaron Feinstein, Artistic Director Gabriel Lit serves as musical director.
Welcome To My World is an original musical that follows a teenage autistic girl named Aliza who is visited by an unexpected guest from another planet. The idea of the show and the theme song was created by actor Natalie Kaiser, a participant on the autism spectrum in Actionplay’s AIMS program. The story and songs were devised by the group and reflect many themes the group deals with on a daily basis including feeling different.
The cast features Alan Basiev, Adelaide Desole, Patrik Gelbart, Shafer Gootkind, Elijah Goring, Ryan Hanna, Karen Isabelle Hara, Natalie Kaiser, Sandy Karpe, Emily Kendall, Ana Meneses, Josh Miller, Max Moore, Garrett Newman, Georgina Ruiz, Ariella Sandberg, Nick Talcott, Nicholas Tangney and Emmalee Weinstein.
The creative/production team includes Assistant Director Sara Morgulis, Assistant Music Director Sarah Morris, and stage management by Anna Whitty.
Performances take place at the Sheen Center Loreto Theater, 18 Bleecker Street (between Mott & Elizabeth Street), New York, NY, 10012. Subways: 4/5/6 to Bleecker Street, B/D/F/M to Broadway/Lafayette, N/Q/R/W to Prince Street. Tickets are $25 for general admission, $100 for VIP tickets and afterparty on May 18, and are available at https://bit.ly/2DsoQDk.
Actionplay is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing children, teens, and adults on the autism spectrum and related conditions equal access to education, arts, and culture. The company provides a creative and compassionate learning environments, professional development, and training modules teach respectful ways of inviting people on the autism spectrum to experience education, arts, and culture. Actionplay is dedicated to improving the lives of individuals on the autism spectrum, their families, and the community at large. Actionplay strives to build a more inclusive world.
Actionplay’s signature program, Action Improv Musical, is open to the general public and is a neuro-inclusive improvisational music and theatre residency for teens and adults on the autism spectrum and with related conditions. Led by theatre director Aaron Feinstein and Music Therapist Gabriel Lit, the group creates original pieces about the unique interests and passions of our performers in a supportive space. Action-Improv Musical is inspired by the work of Elaine Hall and The Miracle Project, The Miracle Project New York, DIRFloortime developmental approach, and Nordoff Robbins music therapy, the goal of this program is to encourage greater confidence and increase communication and social skills.
Aaron Feinstein (Director) is a film/theater director and arts educator based in NY. Aaron is the creator of the AIMS inclusive improvisational musical comedy workshop program, and the Actionplay Chorus that was featured on the HBO and Comedy Central Broadcast of Night of Too Many Stars. He co-directed the widely celebrated pilot program The Miracle Project with Elaine Hall which has been featured at the 92nd Street Y, Rebecca School, Celebrate the Children and the Educational Alliance. The Miracle Project was the subject of the 2006 HBO 2-Time Emmy Award Winning Documentary Autism: The Musical. Aaron has presented nationally at the United Nations, NYC Department of Education, NYU Forum on Educational Theater, Wonderplay, Arts in Education Roundtable, The Voice Foundation, Museum Access Consortium, and ICDL, among many others – and is the published author of several books, articles and journals focused on changing the stigmas surrounding disability.
Gabriel Lit M.A., MT-BC (Musical Director) is a composer, performer, and board-certified Music Therapist from Austin, Texas currently living in Queens. He obtained his Master’s Degree in Music Therapy from New York University, finishing his clinical internship at the Nordoff-Robbins Center for Music Therapy, and his Bachelor’s Degree in Music Composition from the University of North Texas. Gabriel has worked as a staff Music Therapist at Arts For Healing since 2009, was the Music Director of the Miracle Project NYC from 2009-2014, and is thrilled to be a founding member and the Artistic Director of Actionplay. He has a wealth of experience in a wide variety of Music Therapy settings from Early Intervention through End of Life Care with Arts For Healing, the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, the Creative Music Therapy Studio, and Heartsong Inc., as well as 5 years and counting of co-creating shows with children and teens on the Autism spectrum. Gabriel has composed, orchestrated, and performed original, interactive orchestral music for developmentally diverse audiences with the Greenwich Village Orchestra, and has recorded and performed with numerous professional bands and ensembles.
Malini Singh mcdonald 