Where are you performing your show and why is it a good fit for your production?
We’re performing at New OHIO’S Ice Factory and it’s an excellent fit because they’re all about producing independent and awesome theatre.
What’s next for you?
In post-production of a new web series I created with my friend Bethany and currently filming another web series I did not create, but which is also awesome. Both should be out after August 🙂
What is the name of the last show you saw?
Last show I saw was a workshop production of “Superstar!” the Musical. Hilarious.
Any advice for your peers?
Auditions are your job. So go do your job. Rock on!
Want More?
Website: whatupari.wix.com/arisaelrivera
Twitter: @ari_sael_riv
Instagram: @arisael_riv
Arisael Rivera was born in Puerto Rico and raised in the Bronx. He received his MFA in Acting from The New School. He’s had the privilege of working with various theatre companies in NY including The Working Theater, The Secret Theatre, Shadowland Theatre, New Perspectives Theatre Company, and New York Theatre Workshop. He was most recently part of the Ensemble in Shakespeare in the Park’s “Julius Caesar.”
Show Information:
New OHIO’s Ice Factory July 26 – July 29 at 7pm
New Ohio Theatre
154 Christopher Street; Buzz 1 + 5 + Enter to enter from sidewalk
What is your current project?One Nation, One Mission, One Promise
Where are you performing your show and why is it a good fit for your production?
The Steve and Marie Sgouros Theatre, under The Players Theatre Artist in Residence program. The Team at The Players Theatre are just amazing. Everyone is supportive and caring about the work that is being produced. The location is amazing, right in the heart of Greenwich Village, surrounded by the most beautiful and historic buildings and landmarks. One Nation, One Mission, One Promise brings the best of our history alive and the neighborhood around the theatre breathes life into our history and creates new memories everyday.
What’s next for you?
One Nation, One Mission, One Promise opens on July 8, 2017. We are excited to hear from the audience after the show during our talk back. The next step will be to re-stage the show based on our audience at The Steve and Marie Sgouros Theatre. In 2018 we look forward to growing into the main stage theatre, so stay tuned, because each performance will be its own unique experience.
What is the name of the last show you saw?
Groundhog Day
Any advice for your peers?
Read Sam Mendes 25 Steps to be a director. Many of his suggestions I think apply to all positions in theater production.
Victoria has been invited to participate in The Players Theatre Artist In Residence Program. For over twenty years she has dedicated her life to her three passions: photography, writing and performing. This theatrical journey, One Nation, One Mission, One Promise, represents the climactic 3rd stage of this project which includes all three disciplines along with speaking engagements. She is so excited to see her trifecta of photos, writing and theater come to full fruition!
It began life as the photographic art exhibit, American Spirit, and was then developed into an Amazon best-selling book entitled One Nation, One Mission, One Promise, featuring exhibit images alongside her original poetry and prose plus quotes from famous and not-so famous Americans. Images from the American Spirit exhibit were also featured in the debut stage production of the award-winning show, Zuccotti Park – The Musical.
Victoria is also delighted to have joined the Song of Solomon: A New Musical producing team. She has also produced Latinos and the Business of Acting at the Public Theatre, and has been on the production team of several independent films in Los Angeles.
Show Information:
When: July 8, 2017 @7:00 pm Where: Steve and Marie Sgouros Theatre
115 MacDougal Street
1 block from West 4th Street Subway
212-475-1449
THE KILROYS Photo credit: Elisabeth Caren at The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts
Continuing the fight to achieve gender parity in the American Theater, LA-based playwright/producer collective The Kilroys has facilitated its fourth annual List of industry-recommended new plays.
The List 2017 features the most recommended un- and under-produced plays written by female and trans writers of color, following a survey of hundreds of professional artistic directors, literary managers, professors, producers, directors, and dramaturgs. The List is organized by The Kilroys: an independent, LA-based group of female playwrights and producers, dedicated to taking action in the face of gender disparity in American Theatre.
In 2014, The Kilroys created The List survey in response to systemic gender bias in theater programming. The vetted collection of industry-recommended works was designed to bring worthy plays by female and trans playwrights to the forefront of the American theater conversation. And it has. In the first three years of its existence, The List has featured 131 plays (46 plays on the List 2014; 53 plays on The List 2015; 32 plays on the List 2016), and over 1,000 plays have been nominated by hundreds of industry professionals. Since then, more than 100 productions of plays on The List have been mounted or announced.
Momentum for female theater makers is on the rise, despite continued under-representation of female and trans playwrights on American stages. According to The Count, an ongoing study funded by The Lilly Awards and The Dramatists Guild released in 2015, just 22% of productions in regional theaters over the previous three years were written by women.
However, only 3.4% of the overall plays produced reported by The Count were written by women of color. This year’s List assembled by The Kilroys addresses this concern in the hopes for inclusive parity.
The Kilroys seek to focus attention on underrepresented voices as a powerful means of overcoming systemic and implicit biases that create exclusion. Through our and others’ efforts, the results of attention on underrepresented voices has increased visibility and opportunity. Historically, female and trans writers of color face additional discrimination. This year, in an effort to widen our scope and attention toward the underrepresented, and explore the intersectional facets that make up the dynamics of bias, The Kilroys have asked nominators to recommend plays by female and trans writers of color, resulting in The List 2017.
The List serves as a resource for producers and theaters committed to gender parity. The Kilroys have partnered with the New Play Exchange to provide interested parties fast and easy access to The List plays.
The List survey uses the following criteria this year:
Each industry respondent may recommend 3-5 plays, representing the best work they have encountered in the past 12 months.
A nominated play must be un-produced, or have had no more than one production.
A nominated play must be by an author of color who identifies as female or trans.
Plays on The List 2014, 2015 and 2016 are not eligible.
Theater professionals who have read or seen at least 40 plays in the previous year are invited to nominate themselves as respondents for next year’s List. Recommendations are submitted anonymously. Members of The Kilroys act as facilitators and do not recommend plays for The List.
CAMBODIAN ROCKBAND PLAY by Lauren Yee
Part comedy, part mystery, part rock concert, this thrilling story toggles back and forth in time, as father and daughter face the music of the past. Neary, a young Cambodian American has found evidence that could finally put away the Khmer Rouge’s chief henchman. But her work is far from done. When Dad shows up unannounced—his first return to Cambodia since fleeing 30 years ago—it’s clear this isn’t just a pleasure trip.
THE GREAT LEAP by Lauren Yee
When an American college basketball team travels to Beijing for an exhibition game in 1989, the drama on the court goes deeper than the strain between their countries. For two men with a past and one teen with a future, it’s a chance to stake their moment in history and claim personal victories off the scoreboard. American coach Saul grapples with his relevance to the sport, Chinese coach Wen Chang must decide his role in his rapidly-changing country and Chinese American player Manford seeks a lost connection. Tensions rise right up to the final buzzer as history collides with the action in the stadium. Inspired by events in the life of the playwright’s own father.
YOGA PLAY by Dipika Guha
Just when newly hired CEO Joan is about to launch a new brand of women’s yoga pants, yoga apparel giant Jojomon is hit by a terrible scandal. Desperate to win back the company’s reputation (and her own), Joan stakes everything on a plan so crazy it just might work. YOGA PLAY is a journey towards enlightenment in a world determined to sell it.
THIRST by C. A. Johnson
Samira and Greta lead a peaceful life. They have their own clearing in the woods, their own hut, and their son Kalil to keep them laughing. When Kalil returns home one day without their water rations, however, Samira and Greta find themselves in conflict with their local political leader. Set in a tense segregated society, Thirst is a complex look at race and love in war-time.
BLKS by aziza barnes
Some days feel like they will never end. After a morning that includes a cancer scare and kicking her girlfriend out of the house, Octavia decides to have a last turn up with her best friends.
IF PRETTY HURTS THEN UGLY MUST BE A MUHFUCKA: AN UNDERSTANDING OF A WEST AFRICAN FOLKTALE by Tori Sampson
In Affreakah-Amirrorkah, an imaginary but uncannily familiar place, debutantes Akim, Adama, Kaya, and Massassi embody the culture’s notion of Beauty in all its shades and shapes. Still, something about Akim sets her apart, and her allure makes her a target for Massassi and her pretty, “jealous” peers. If Pretty Hurts Ugly Must Be a Muhfucka weaves contemporary African and American cultures into a sweeping journey about what—and whom—we suppress in pursuit of an ideal always just beyond reach.
IS GOD IS by Aleshea Harris
IS GOD IS is an epic tale of twin sisters who, haunted by a brutal family history, sojourn West to seek revenge.
WE, THE INVISIBLES by Susan Soon He Stanton
In 2011, the director of the International Monetary Fund was accused of sexual assault by a hotel maid, Nafissatou Diallo, but all charges were dismissed. we, the invisibles shares the rarely-heard stories of people like Diallo, people from all over the globe working at New York’s luxury hotels. Funny, poignant, and brutally honest by turns, the play is an investigation of the complicated relationship between movers and shakers and the people who change their sheets.
QUEEN by Madhuri Shekar
At the very last minute, a scientist realizes that her groundbreaking environmental paper – co-authored with her best friend – is based on flawed data. Should she risk her friendship, her career, the fate of the world… for the truth?
THE OPPORTUNITIES OF EXTINCTION by Sam Chanse
Taking refuge from a twitterstorm and other assorted upheaval on a last-minute camping trip, Mel and Arjun meet Georgia, a solitary young woman studying the impact of climate change on the imperiled Joshua tree.
HANG MAN by Stacy Amma Osei-Kuffour
The community of a shitty southern town grapples with the murder of a Black man who is found hanging from a tree.
LAST NIGHT AND THE NIGHT BEFORE by Donnetta Lavinia Grays
When Monique and her 10-year-old daughter Samantha show up unexpectedly on her sister’s Brooklyn doorstep, it’s the beginning of the end for Rachel and her partner Nadima’s orderly lifestyle. Monique is on the run from deep trouble, her husband Reggie is nowhere to be seen, and Samantha becomes ever haunted by the life in southern Georgia she was forced to leave behind. Poetic, dark and often deeply funny Last Night and the Night Before explores the complex power, necessity, and beauty of loss.
EL HURACÁN by Charise Castro Smith
In Miami, on the eve of Hurricane Andrew, three generations of women huddle together to weather the storm. Beset by late-stage Alzheimers, Valeria (the family matriarch and a former magicienne) wanders between present-day family tensions and the siren call of her memories. But thirty years later, in the wake of a seemingly unforgivable mistake, the family is faced with the impossible necessity of reconciliation. Inspired by Shakespeare’s The Tempest, El Huracán is a story about what we carry when we’re forced to leave everything behind.
TWO MILE HOLLOW by Leah Nanako Winkler
When the Donnelly’s gather for a weekend in the country to gather their belongings for their recently sold estate—both an internal storm and a literal storm brews (uh oh!). As this brood of famous, longing-to-be-famous and kind of a mess but totally Caucasian family comes together with their non-white personal assistant, Charlotte, some really really really really really complicated and totally unique secrets are revealed over white wine…
BLACK SUPER HERO MAGIC MAMA by Inda Craig-Galván
Sabrina Jackson cannot cope with the death of her 14-year-old son by a White cop. Rather than herald the Black Lives Matter movement, Sabrina retreats inward, living out a comic book superhero fantasy. Will Sabrina stay in this splash-and-pow dream world where sons don’t die, or return to reality and mourn her loss?
ENDLINGS by Celine Song
On the island of Man-Jae in Korea, three elderly women spend their dying days diving into the ocean to harvest seafood with nothing but a rusty knife. They are “haenyeos”— “sea women” —and there are no heiresses to their millennium-old tradition. ENDLINGS is a real estate lesson from the last three remaining “haenyeos” in the world: don’t live on an island. Unless it’s the island of Manhattan…
EVE’S SONG by Patricia Ione Lloyd
Outside, black men and women are being killed by police. Inside, Deborah is trying to keep her smart-but-weird son and newly-out daughter safe and happy as light bulbs pop, shadows come to life, and the house gets strangely colder. With theatricality and lyricism, this unlikely ghost story explores what it means to let your song be heard in a world that’s trying to silence you.
TO THE YELLOW HOUSE by Kimber Lee
1888. Paris and Provence. A failing artist in desperate pursuit of a new way of seeing, haunted by his past, and hoping to remake his future in the color and light of the south. At what point in an endless cycle of failures does faith and persistence become delusion and foolishness? A meditation on love, art, and not being popular.
florissant & canfield by Kristiana Rae Colón
at the intersection of tear gas and teddy bear memorials, at the intersection of darren wilson and michael brown, at the intersection of looting and liberation, florissant & canfield refracts the realities of ferguson in the wake of the black lives matter movement. colliding in the unlikely eden of a civil rights renaissance, a newly formed alliance of protesters are forced to put their nascent ideologies to the test in the quest for new visions of justice.
LES FRÉRES by Sandra A. Daley-Sharif
Inspired by Lorainne Hansberry’s Les Blancs, Les Fréres tells the story of three estranged brothers of Haitian descent, who come home to Harlem for their father’s final days. Troubled memories filled with anger and abuse come rushing back as they deal with their father’s death. They are forced to deal with how each choose to deal with memories, how each have escaped, feelings of abandonment, betrayal and loss. Finally, the end asks two of the brothers if they will escape back into the lives they have forged for themselves or will they try to make new life amongst the embers of pain. The play deals with issues of race and culture, family, and identity.
THE HOMECOMING QUEEN by Ngozi Anyanwu
A bestselling novelist returns to Nigeria to care for her ailing father, but before she can bury him, she must relearn the traditions she’s long forgotten. Having been absent for over a decade, she must collide with her culture, traumatic past, painful regrets, and the deep, deep love she thought she could never have.
REDWOOD by Brittany K. Allen
Redwood concerns an interracial couple (Meg, a middle school teacher, and Drew, a physicist) who are thrown into crisis when Meg’s recently-retired Uncle Stevie makes a project of charting the family tree, via Ancestry.com. When Stevie discovers that his would-be nephew-in-law is heir apparent to the family that owned his (and subsequently, Meg’s) relatives in an antebellum Kentucky, a time and space-bending dramedy of manners gone very far South ensues. Long-dead ancestors appear, to comment on their light-skinned progeny. Meg speechifies on the nature of forgetting before the State Senate, and a hip-hop dance class chorus guides the action. The play is interested in the ways love can and cannot transcend both modern social barriers and historical power structures. Meg and Drew must learn if we can we ever truly forgive, champion or fully understand those beloved who are fundamentally ‘other.’
BURNED by Amina Henry
Jamal wants to be force for good, like a Jedi in Star Wars, but he did a bad thing, firebombing a synagogue for money. Now he wonders if he’s an evil Sith. A fugitive, he lays low at his mother Mary’s house. Mary and Jo, Jamal’s girlfriend, wonder about the good and evil in Jamal, too, as they witness the different parts of him. For Officer Brown, Jamal is just one thing: black.
HATEFUCK by Rehana Lew Mirza
A local Michigan literary professor seeks out a famous Muslim-American novelist to find out if he’s a self-hating Islamophobe or a really good lay. But they find that getting under each other’s skin can easily become a habit, for better or worse.
MAGIC CITY OR JULIE IN BASEL by Hilary Bettis
An explosive elixir of power, class, and immigration status, which, when shaken hard with love and betrayal, creates a dangerous cocktail that threatens to destroy lives. In this Spanish language infused contemporary adaptation of Strindberg’s Miss Julie is set in the back kitchen of a Miami hotel during a night of debauchery.
NOMAD MOTEL by Carla Ching
Alix lives in a tiny motel room with her mother and two brothers, scrabbling to make weekly rent. Mason lives comfortably in a grand, empty house while his father runs jobs for the Hong Kong Triad. Until the day his father disappears and Mason has to figure out how to come up with grocery money and dodge Child Services and the INS. Mason and Alex develop an unlikely friendship, struggling to survive, and trying to outrun the mistakes of their parents. Will they make it out or fall through the cracks? A play about Motel Kids and Parachute Kids raising themselves and living at the poverty line in a land of plenty.
NOURA by Heather Raffo
NOURA reflects the dilemma facing modern America: do we live for each other or for ourselves? Told from inside the marriage of an Iraqi immigrant family to New York, the play speaks directly to modern marriage and the leaving of home. This fast paced script highlights an acutely relevant awakening of identity that tackles our notions of, shame, violence, assimilation, exile and love. It’s a unique insight into the interior crisis that lies behind the collapse of the modern Middle East and America’s inseparable relationship to it.
USUAL GIRLS by Ming Peiffer
On an elementary school playground, a boy threatens to tell on a group of girls for swearing – unless one of them kisses him. But just before lips can touch, Kyeoung tackles the boy to the ground. The victory is short-lived. Over the coming years, Kyeoung herself is knocked down again and again. By an alcoholic dad. A group of quick-to-judge friends. And an endlessly invasive parade of men. As we follow Kyeoung from the discoveries of childhood to the realities of adulthood, her stories get stranger, funnier, more harrowing – and more familiar. How do girls grow up? Quickly, painfully, wondrously.
AZUL by Christina Quintana
When a lifelong New Yorker faces the loss of her Cuban-born mother and her own sense of identity in the process, she digs into her legacy and uncovers the story of her mother’s beloved aunt, her own tia-abuela whom she never met. While the family fled Cuba at the time of Castro’s revolution, she remained on the island for the love of another woman—a complicated choice in a less forgiving time.
BREACH: A MANIFESTO ON RACE IN AMERICA THROUGH THE EYES OF A BLACK GIRL RECOVERING FROM SELF HATE by Antoinette Nwandu
What happens when a woman trapped in a dead-end job and a fizzling relationship accidentally gets pregnant by a man that she’s not dating? A coming of age story about race, class and motherhood, BREACH examines how hard it is to love others when it’s you that you loathe most of all.
HOW TO CATCH CREATION by Christina Anderson
A wrongly convicted man is released from prison after 25 years. As he settles into a new life he begins the quest to become a father. Spanning more than 40 years, this play explores family, connection, parenthood, and the right to start over.
NIKE or WE DON’T NEED ANOTHER HERO by Ngozi Anyanwu
Is an Origin story of the Goddess Nike and a retelling of the Olympus myth Black Greek Super hero style
SELLING KABUL by Sylvia Khoury
Taroon once served as an interpreter for the United States military in Afghanistan. Now the Americans – and their promises of safety – are gone, and Taroon spends his days in his sister Afiya’s apartment, hiding from the increasingly powerful Taliban. Desperate to escape with his wife and newborn son, Taroon must navigate a country left in upheaval, in which everyone must fend for themselves and few can be trusted.
SOMEBODY’S DAUGHTER by Chisa Hutchinson
A Chinese-American guidance counselor helps a troubled protege through some gender-bias bullshit.
THE PAPER DREAMS OF HARRY CHIN by Jessica Huang
During the Chinese Exclusion Act, Harry Chin, a Chinese national, entered the U.S. by buying forged documentation. Like other “Paper Sons,” Harry underwent a brutal detention and interrogation, and lived the rest of his life keeping secrets – even from his daughter. Told through the eyes of a middle-aged Chin, THE PAPER DREAMS OF HARRY CHIN reveals the complicated loves and regrets of this Chinese immigrant who wound up in Minnesota. Through dreamlike leaps of time and space and with the powerful assistance of ghosts, the story of the Chin family reveals the personal and political repercussions of making group of people “illegal.”
THE THANKSGIVING PLAY by Larissa FastHorse
In this satirical comedy, a mismatched but well-meaning foursome sets out to devise a politically correct school play that can somehow sensitively celebrate both Thanksgiving and Native American Heritage Month. How can this wildly diverse quartet-separated by cultural chasms and vastly different perspectives on history-navigate a complicated, hilarious thicket of privilege, representation, and of course school district regulations? The schools are waiting, and the pageant must go on!
UNRELIABLE by Dipika Guha
Gretchen is a lawyer. Yusuf is her client. Yusuf is being held indefinitely without trial for terrorism. Hattie is Gretchen’s mother. Only, Hattie thinks Gretchen is a secretary, Gretchen thinks Hattie is sick and Yusuf believes he’s been framed. In a world of competing narratives, facts no longer exist. UNRELIABLE investigates the consequences of living only in a story of your choosing.
THE KILROYS are a gang of playwrights and producers in LA who are done talking about gender parity and are taking action. They mobilize others in their field and leverage their own power to support one another. They are Zakiyyah Alexander, Bekah Brunstetter, Sheila Callaghan, Carla Ching, Annah Feinberg, Sarah Gubbins, Laura Jacqmin, Joy Meads, Kelly Miller, Meg Miroshnik, Daria Polatin, Tanya Saracho, and Marisa Wegrzyn.
BIOS FOR THE KILROYS
ZAKIYYAH ALEXANDER’s work has been seen and developed around the country, including: 10 Things To Do Before I Die (Second Stage), Sweet Maladies (Brava Theater Center, Rucker Theater) and, The Etymology of Bird (Summerstage). Her musical, GIRL Shakes Loose, has been the recipient of a Map and Joyce Fund Award, developed at the O’Neill Music Theater Conference and recently received a world premiere at Penumbra Theater. An alumni of: The MacDowell Arts Colony, New Dramatists, Center Theater Groups Writers Lab, Women’s Project Lab, Drama League Fellow, Youngblood EST. Yale School of Drama: MFA in playwriting. Zakiyyah has written for: 24 Legacy and Grey’s Anatomy.
BEKAH BRUNSTETTER’s plays include The Cake (upcoming at The Echo Theater, La Jolla), Going to a Place Where you Already Are (SCR), The Oregon Trail (O’Neill Playwright’s Conference), Be A Good Little Widow (Ars Nova, The Old Globe) and Oohrah! (The Atlantic; Steppenwolf Garage). She has written for Switched at Birth and Starz’ American Gods and is currently a producer on NBC’s This is Us. MFA, the New School for Drama. http://blog.bekahbrunstetter.com
SHEILA CALLAGHAN is a NY and LA based playwright, founding member of the Obie winning playwright’s organization 13P, and New Dramatists alum. Plays include Scab, Crumble (Lay Me Down, Justin Timberlake), Dead City, That Pretty Pretty; Or, The Rape Play, Everything You Touch, Elevada, and Women Laughing Alone With Salad. She is published with Playscripts and Samuel French, and several of her collected works are published with Counterpoint Press. Sheila is currently a writer/producer on the Showtime comedy Shameless. http://www.sheilacallaghan.com
CARLA CHING is a native Angeleno who fell into theater in New York. Her plays include Nomad Motel (forthcoming at City Theatre in Pittsburgh; O’Neill Playwrights Conference), The Two Kids That Blow Shit Up (Artists at Play; Mu Performing Arts; Huntington’s Breaking Ground), Fast Company (EST; South Coast Rep; Lyric Stage; Porkfilled Players), TBA (2g) and The Sugar House at the Edge of the Wilderness (Ma-Yi) among others. Alumna of the Women’s Project Lab, Lark Playwrights Workshop, CTG Writers’ Workshop and the Ma-Yi Writers Lab. Former Artistic Director of Asian American theater company, 2g. Proud member of New Dramatists. Carla has written on Amazon’s I Love Dick, USA’s Graceland, AMC’s Fear the Walking Dead and The First forthcoming from Hulu. http://carlaching.com
ANNAH FEINBERG’s plays, which include The Beautiful Beautiful Sea Next Door, Numismatics, and The Ivories, have been developed and produced by Ars Nova, Naked Angels, EBE Ensemble, The Blank and Clubbed Thumb. She has served in artistic and literary capacities for The Civilians, LCT3, MTC, Steppenwolf, Northlight, ICM, TimeLine and 13P. She wrote and directed short film “Gretch and Tim”, cartoons @memyselvesand, and her musical web series “Balloon Room” is coming soon. She served as script coordinator on I Love Dick, and has assisted on Arrested Development, Flaked, Damien and Veep. MFA Dramaturgy: Columbia University. http://www.annahfeinberg.com
SARAH GUBBINS hails from Chicago. Her plays include The Kid Thing (Jeff Award and Edgerton Foundation New American Play Award), fml: how Carson McCullers saved my life, Fair Use, The Drinking Problem, and Cocked. She’s has been a Carl J. Djerassi Fellow and Jerome Fellow. Currently she’s a Core Writer of the Playwrights’ Center. She holds a M.F.A. from Northwestern University in Writing for the Screen + Stage. She lives in Los Angeles.
LAURA JACQMIN is a writer for television, video games, and the live theatre. She currently writes for Get Shorty (MGM/Epix). Plays: Residence (40th Humana Festival of New American Plays at Actors Theatre of Louisville), A Third (Finborough Theatre), Look, We Are Breathing (Sundance Theatre Lab; Rivendell Theatre), January Joiner (Long Wharf Theatre), Ski Dubai (Steppenwolf Theatre), Dental Society Midwinter Meeting (Chicago Dramatists/At Play, remounted 16th Street Theater and Theater on the Lake; Williamstown Theatre Festival), and more. Awards: Wasserstein Prize, two NEA Art Works Grants, ATHE-Kennedy Center David Mark Cohen Playwriting Award, two MacDowell Fellowships. Other television: Grace and Frankie (Netflix); Lucky 7 (ABC). Video games: The Walking Dead – A New Frontier: The Telltale Series and Minecraft: Story Mode (both with Telltale Games). BA Yale University, MFA Ohio University. http://www.laurajacqmin.com
JOY MEADS is Literary Manager/Artistic Engagement Strategist at Center Theatre Group. Recent dramaturgy credits include Forever by Dael Orlandersmith, Marjorie Prime by Jordan Harrison (2015 Pulitzer Prize finalist), The Royale by Marco Ramirez, & Radiate by Daniel Alexander Jones. Previously, Joy was Literary Manager at Steppenwolf Theatre Company and Associate Artistic Director at California Shakespeare Theater. Joy has also developed plays with NYTW, Berkeley Rep, Denver Center, the O’Neill, Portland Center Stage, South Coast Rep, & Campo Santo, among others.
KELLY MILLER is a Manager at The Shuman Company in LA. Recently, she served as the Director of Development for New Neighborhood and as South Coast Repertory’s Literary Director and the Co-Director of the Pacific Playwrights Festival from 2009-2015. She dramaturged over 40 world premiere productions and readings at SCR and created the CrossRoads commissioning project. Miller has worked at Actors Theatre of Louisville, Williamstown, Long Wharf Theatre and consulted for the O’Neill, Berkeley Rep, the Kennedy Center, Public Theater, Native Voices at the Autry and many others. Recent residencies include Lake Tofte Center and SPACE on Ryder Farm. She serves on the board for the Women’s Project Theater and is an Ambassador-at-Large for the National New Play Network. She develops new work with her company Creative Destruction.
MEG MIROSHNIK is an LA-based, Minneapolis-bred playwright who writes heightened language. Plays include The Fairytale Lives of Russian Girls (Yale Rep; Alliance), The Tall Girls (Alliance; O’Neill; La Jolla Playhouse DNA Series), The Droll (Pacific Playwrights Festival; Undermain) and Lady Tattoo (Pacific Playwrights Festival, Rattlestick F*cking Good Plays Festival). Awards: Whiting Award, Susan Smith Blackburn finalist, Alliance/Kendeda Graduate Playwriting Award. Publications: Samuel French. MFA: Yale School of Drama under Paula Vogel. Affiliation: Core Writer at the Playwrights’ Center. Upcoming: Sonnet: A Play, a Shakespeare-inspired commission for the Acting Company.
DARIA POLATIN is a playwright, TV writer and author. Daria’s plays include Palmyra, In Tandem, Guidance, That First Fall, D.C., and The Luxor Express, inspired by her father’s life growing up in Egypt; work produced at The Kennedy Center, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Naked Angels, Ensemble Studio Theatre NY, Golden Thread Productions, Noor Theatre, Malibu Playhouse, Cape Cod Theatre Project, in London, Los Angeles, and Hong Kong. Member of Center Theatre Group Writers’ Workshop, Echo Theater Writer’s Lab, residency with London’s Royal Court Theatre, alumna of Youngblood. Daria has directed plays, and her short film, “Till It Gets Weird.” She writes for the upcoming Amazon TV series Jack Ryan, starring John Krasinski, and wrote for the Hulu psychic drama Shut Eye. Daria’s debut novel Devil in Ohio will be published in November 2017 by Macmillan. Awards: Kennedy Center/A.C.T.F. Best One-Act Play, Middle East America Playwriting Prize Honorable Mention, Wasserstein Prize Nominee, Princess Grace Award Finalist; MFA Columbia University. http://www.dariapolatin.com
TANYA SARACHO was born in Los Mochis, Sinaloa, México. She is a playwright and Television Writer who’s worked on How To Get Away With Murder, HBO’s Looking, & Girls, and Devious Maids. She is creating and has been tapped as showrunner by Starz for “Pour Vida,” a series in development. Named “Best New Playwright” by Chicago Magazine, Saracho has had plays produced at: Primary Stages in NYC, 2nd Stage in NYC, Denver Theatre Center, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, The Goodman Theater, Steppenwolf Theater, Teatro Vista, Teatro Luna, Fountain Theater, Clubbed Thumb, NEXT Theater and 16th Street Theater. Saracho was named one of nine national Latino “Luminarios” by Café magazine and given the first “Revolucionario” Award in Theater by the National Museum of Mexican Art. She is the founder of Teatro Luna (the first all-Latina Theatre Company in the nation, now defunct) as well as the founder of ALTA (Alliance of Latino Theatre Artists). Saracho is currently in development with Big Beach Films for a project about brujería and under commission with: South Coast Repertory Theatre and Two Rivers Theatre.
MARISA WEGRZYN Chicago playwright working in LA. Writer of Mud Blue Sky, The Butcher of Baraboo, Hickorydickory, Killing Women, Ten Cent Night, other stuff. Gigs at Steppenwolf, Second Stage NYC, Baltimore Center Stage, A Red Orchid Theatre, Chicago Dramatists, Theatre Seven, Moxie Theatre, other places. Winner of the Wendy Wasserstein Playwriting Prize. Writer on TV shows Mind Games (ABC), The Mentalist (CBS), and Feed the Beast (AMC). Enjoys weather.
Barrie Gelles stages revivals in unexpected ways. That’s what she said to me when we were chatting about her upcoming revival of Sondheim’s Marry Me a Little. The musical premiered Off-Off Broadway in 1980 for a two month run and then ran again for a in 1981 at The Actors Playhouse. After that, Marry Me… enjoyed runs around the world though it’s never been produced on Broadway. Gelles felt that this was a musical that best reflects her aesthetic. She knew her concept of a two character play performed by three casts would be ambitious and a great challange. However, she knew she had her vision and the support of the historic,The Gallery Players, to make it happen. A woman after my own heart.
When I heard about your concept for Marry Me a Little, I was intrigued. This is a two character musical by Stephen Sondheim and your concept of a rotating cast (2 couples: a man and a woman; two men; and two women) is a fresh and new approach. It’s clever and ambitious. How did the concept present itself and how did you go about bringing it to fruition?
Barrie: I am going to cheat a little here and answer by way of the “director’s note” that I wrote for our audiences. When I started working on this show, months before casting, it became clear to me that the appeal of this show was its central thesis on love. With that thought, it seemed obvious that this production could and should subvert the typical gender-normative casting and hetero-normative narratives of most musical theatre. The premise of Marry Me a Little is that of two strangers, living in New York City, in the same apartment building, one floor apart. The story is about love lost and love yet to be found. It seemed a perfect opportunity to be more inclusive and rethink the casting of the lovelorn duo. I decided to cast three separate duos (one male/female, one male/male, and one female/female) because I believed that the distinctly different interpretations of the same piece of art would create a unique musical theatre experience.
I appreciate you saying it was clever, and I acknowledge that it certainly was ambitious, because we didn’t have any more time that we would usually have to create a musical. An equity showcase production allots five weeks of rehearsal, regardless of how many casts you may have. On top of that, we are doing Marry Me a Little in repertory with You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown, so we had even less time. We had to budget our time wisely and create a system in order to block the show with three sets of actors. We spent each rehearsal tagging-in to the blocking session. So we’d begin blocking our opening number “If You Can Find Me, I’m Here” and one duo would start the work. About a third of the way through the song, they would step down and the second duo would get on their feet for the blocking session, then the third duo would follow. Once the entire number was blocked, each duo would have a chance to run through it in its entirety. It was as strange as it sounds and more marvelous than you can imagine.
What are some of the challenges and breakthroughs during the rehearsal process?
Barrie: As you can imagine, it was very challenging to block in the way I have described. However, many of our breakthroughs happened because the actors had a chance to watch someone else play their part. By having three actors all creating the same character, they could be inspired by the adjacent interpretations.
In order to keep the show cohesive, I insisted that all three duos commit to following one clear and consistent narrative. In that sense, I was very much the dramaturg of the show as well as the director. During the months leading up to rehearsal, I worked on the show a great deal. It has no libretto, it is a sung through musical and it is made up of songs that were originally written to be part of other musicals. Because these songs have been uprooted from their original context, they carry with them their ghosted meanings. In order to direct this show, I had to strip the songs of their original narratives and reconsider them anew. I had to create a given circumstances for the show and a narrative arc that we could all latch onto in order to ensure the coherency of the piece. Because we had three casts, I had to go into the first day of rehearsal with this story already fully formed so that the actors would have a tether to keep them grounded in a very emotional musical that has no traditional plot. I believe that this process allowed the actors to move into the more delicious realm of character development and intricate song work. I think that the breakthroughs that they had (individually and collectively) about the songs were so rich because we hit the ground running with the narrative of the piece.
For practicality reasons, most of the blocking of the show is the same between the duos. But there are distinct differences in the physical interpretations of each of the characters. No two actors play the characters exactly the same way, nor do they take up the stage space in the same manner. One of the most challenging rehearsals was also the most delightful: I had to choreograph three different dances for “A Moment With You” in order to suit the actors’ bodies and to honor each duo’s particular story. What other circumstance would yield such a crazy exploration?
Did the script and score need to be adjusted to fit your vision?
We did not change a single word of the score – the music and lyrics have all remained the same. In fact, there is a female actor singing the “Man” role and a male actor singing the “Woman” role and we didn’t even change the key of the music for them, we simply cast actors who could sing it (and can they ever!). Through the magic of musical theatre, where we are so willing to suspend disbelief while acknowledging the overt theatricality of people bursting into song, the pronouns and gender specific words just seem to blend into the narrative seamlessly. This is a huge credit to the actors who are playing the roles.
Why did you choose this show?
Stephen Sondheim’s music is so lush and so heartbreakingly complex. It is a pleasure to work with his material. But I mostly chose this show because it is a unique character study within a musical. It has the trappings of a realistic, contemporary drama: it is the small world of an apartment, on a single Saturday night, where the action of the play is steeped in everyday life tasks such as reading the paper and pouring a drink. But along with this “real life” simplicity comes an overwhelmingly emotional journey for the characters, told entirely through song. Furthermore, because the two characters live in two separate apartments, they spend a great deal of the show without interacting with a scene partner. The show presents one of the strangest and most intoxicating acting challenges in musical theatre: realism within a musical; unity while being alone; and a story about love that is of the past or the future, but not the present.
SHOW INFO
This is a charming and bittersweet musical featuring rarely heard songs by Stephen Sondheim. Two urban singles live through a Saturday night of deep yearning and sweet fantasies while never leaving the confines of their solitary New York City apartments. Together they breathe new life and meaning into a collection of trunk songs that were culled from the original Broadway productions of shows such as Follies, Company, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, and A Little Night Music. A must for Sondheim aficionados and any New Yorker who ever found themselves alone on a Saturday night, thinking about love that was lost and love to be found.
By special permission from Mr. Sondheim, Gallery will be presenting this two character musical with male/female, male/male and female/female pairings.]
THE CASTS OF MARRY ME A LITTLE
[A first for this show, there will be three rotating casts performing each weekend.]
Once upon time before my foray into theatre, I was a singer who studied music and eventually majored in music for 2 years before I realized that it wasn’t my calling. My inspiration: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. He’s my favorite composer. He’s brilliant.
I was sad that I missed The Other Mozart when it premiered last year especially since I was in the audience when the creator and performer, Sylvia Milo, and her team, won two New York Innovative Theatre Awards. So when I learned that it was being reprised with fellow indie theatre artist, Jody Christopherson, I was getting to The Players!
I wasn’t disappointed. It was worth the wait. The Other Mozart is about the sister of Amadeus, Nannerl Mozart, a virtuoso and accomplished composer in her own right whose story was lost to the annals of time. The solo performance art piece is set in and on a majestic and imperial 18-foot dress which fills the stage. It is on and in this dress, that Jody Christopherson beautifully and poignantly engages the audience with this haunting story of Nannerl’s life: the talented sister who accompanied her genius brother on tour throughout Western Europe; the daughter who was both praised and subjugated as well as touted and urged to be domesticated by her parents; the wife who became a baroness to raise his children and then hers in the wilderness.
Under the flawless direction of Isaac Byrne, the music created by Nathan Davis and Phyllis Chen supported the narrative laid out by Christopherson. The costume designs by Magdalena Dabrowaka and Miodrag Guberinic are art pieces and will inspire any artist who sees this show.
For me, I wish I knew about Nannerl when I was growing up. Instead of writing an essay on Mozart, I wrote a 20 page poem based on his life when I was in high school. My recollection of her being mentioned all those years ago are vague. And how apropos and timely this piece is in the climate we are enduring. A feminist manifesto of how it was for women and how fortunate we are today.
Show Info:
Little Matchstick Factory presents:
The Other Mozart: the forgotten story of Mozart’s genius sister
Written by Sylvia Milo
Directed by Isaac Byrne
Performances Sept 23 – Nov 13 and Jan 6 – 9 at the Players Theatre
Performed (in rotation) by Sylvia Milo, Samantha Hoefer, Daniela Galli and introducing Jody Christopherson*
Location:
The Players Theater is located at 115 MacDougal Street, 3rd floor, no elevator (b/w Bleecker and West 3rd Streets). A/B/C/D/E/F/M trains to West 4th Street stop.
Tickets: $45-$65 available online at https://web.ovationtix.com/trs/cal/277 or by calling866-811-4111. Tickets may also be purchased in-person at the theatre’s box office 1⁄2 hour prior to performance. Student tickets $15 available at the door.
In the new play World Without End, a grieving mother meets her widowed daughter-in-law for the first time. The two women struggle to find solace in one another despite what their disparate faiths might allow.
***Flesh & Spirit*** by Sara McDermott Jain & Steven Skeels
Michael, a priest, begins a journey of self-discovery that connects his life to that of Daphne, a drug addict and a prostitute. In trying to help Daphne and come to terms with his own sexuality, Michael incurs the wrath of his most devout parishioner, the scorned and jilted Mary.
***Most Likely To*** by Ryan Vincent Anderson
The recent barrage of tragic events regarding the deaths of unarmed black men splatter our news and social media feeds. With each new victim there’s another statistic. Another hashtag. Another protest. But how often do we get to see the humanity behind the incident?
***The Love Junkie*** Bridget Barkan
The Love Junkie is thestory of one woman’s journey on the road to recovery from sex and love addition. It’s a roller coaster ride of musical numbers, characters, comedy, spoken word,costumes, dancing and unapologetic truth.
***Trashman’s Dilemma*** by Bruce Gooch
10 years after The Purge, Words are feared, not spoken. Thoughts are tele-communicated. Memories monitored by CORP satellites. In a structure CORP monitors cant reach, a warrior and a disposable soldier encounter two refugees of The Purge. Language is reborn and with it hope for humanity. Of the four, two will live. Two will
***Palin LIVE!*** by Erica Vlahinos
See Sarah like youve never seen her before – voluntarily!
Its 2016 and Sarah Palin is back, but this time shes a MUSICAL! Spend an evening with the self anointed Maverick of Melody as she dances down the yellow brick road to the White House in Americas first ever musical campaign.
ALL PERFORMANCES AT TIMES SQUARE ARTS CENTRE, 300 W 43rd Street, New York, NY 10036 – 2nd Floor AT 7PM sharp.
—- DRESS TO IMPRESS —-
** Please note that tickets can also be purchased at the door on the evening of the performance, however purchasing in advance is recommended to avoid disappointment. Door Tickets: $35 CASH ONLY.
The Convent of St Clare. Abortion, lesbians, a holier than thou mother superior, a priest and a determined fiancee all make this story not your grandmother’s Catholic Church. “The Convent Of St Clare” a new dramedy debuts in the Thespis Festival at Hudson Guild Theatre this fall. Come see how all is crumbling under the weight of changing times and unconventional habits. The cast features two actors, Amy Losi and Kalen J. Hall from last year’s critically acclaimed de Simone/Gleason production of “Olivia’s Roses”. Rounding out the cast are Lisa Dennett, Kalene Speranza, Kaitlin Paige Adkison, Ed Ryan and Andrea Warriner. Jayde Fuentes is the Stage Manager.
Where are you performing it and why is it the right fit for your piece?
Hudson Guild Theatre on 26th Street in Manhattan….intimate 99 sear theatre where you can get close to the sordid, sorry and silly action of the nunnery.
Dennis Gleason just wrapped up the heralded “Houseless in Paradise” in the New York Fringe Festival. Earlier NYC successes include “An Adult Evening of Shel Silverstein” Off Broadway, 2nd Place in the UnFringed Festival with “An Appetizing Yarn”, 2nd Place in the Midtown International Theatre Festival with “Devil’s Advocate” and five Finalists in the Strawberry Festival. Having directed coast to coast, he has won 15 Outstanding Production & Outstanding Director Awards over a thirty year career. With 150 directing credits, Dennis is an Associate Member of Stage Directors & Choreographers Society.
Joanne de Simone is a author, playwright and film historian who has written eight plays. Her “Judy’s Dead” took first prize in the Writer’s Digest Stage Play competition and is in negotiations for an upcoming TV movie. “Norma Jeane Enlightenment” was well received in the MITF Festival as was “Livvie and J.De Beau” at MRT. “Suicide Angel” is in feature film pre production and her historical play “Earthman” will be released as a short film in 2017. Joanne is also known for her succession of teen books.
Show information (venue, dates, ticket info)
Performances are Sept 13 at 9 PM, Sept 14 at 6:15 PM and Sept 17 at 6:00 pm at the Hudson Guild Theatre, 441 West 26th Street in NYC, between 9th and 10th Avenues. Tickets are available at the door for $ or may be purchased in advance through Brown Paper Tickets online or by calling 1-800-838-3006. You may contact the festival atthespistheatrefestival@gmail.com for more information.
What is your current project?
I’m a publicist for the theatre and film industries, and am currently working on two projects. I’m doing the publicity for the documentary film, “And Scene…A Woman’s Journey to Walk Again,” produced by Casting Director and Indie Film Producer, Liz Ortiz-Mackes and her production company, I Ain’t Playin’ Films. Mrs. Ortiz-Mackes has also written a book about audition preparation for actors, “Ace Your Acting Audition, Second Edition: Using Iconic Specificity and Other Surefire Techniques” and I have the great honor of promoting it, as well.
Where are you performing it and why is it the right fit for your piece?
One of my main focuses is to conduct as much advocacy and activism as I can through my work; social causes are very important to me. “And…Scene” is about actress and wheelchair dancer, Jamie Petrone and the narrative dives deeply into the themes of disability, diffusing stereotypes and pursuing what you love to do regardless of any obstacles. This film depicts and conveys so many important messages that are universal and I have made it my mission to help tell this story of courage and truth.
What’s next for you?
I have recently begun providing publicity consultations to voice over actors through Edge Studio, a leading training institution for the voice over industry. I’m very excited about this opportunity and look forward to this new journey.
Who is your biggest inspiration right at this moment and why?
My mom is a constant well of inspiration and so much of what I do is fueled by her. She came to this country as a single mom and not speaking the language and was fearless. Every day she tells me to do what I believe in and makes me happy. And I do:)
Susanne is a publicist with a passion for providing out-of-the-box, and top-quality, public relations and communications services. Originally from Miami, Florida, she re-located to New York in 2012 and launched Pinedo Public Relations, which specializes in generating publicity for the performing arts community, whether the client is an individual artist, a group, or a theater/production company. She has a BFA in Theatre from Florida International University. Some credits include, Off Broadway: Broke Wide Open, by Rock Wilk, Fried Chicken and Latkes by Rain Pryor, Andrew J. Nemr & Friends by Andrew J. Nemr. Off Off Broadway: Donkey Punch by Micheline Auger and produced by Ivy Theatre Company, The Scary produced by IRTE (Improv Repertory Theatre Ensemble), Right to Remain by Meshaun Labrone, Lady Luck is a Whore by Leanne Linsky, Listen…Can You Hear Me Now? by Gloria Rosen, A Little Potato and Hard to Peel and The Boy Who Would Be Captain Hook by David Harrell, and The Road to High Street by Andrew Potter.
Show information (venue, dates, ticket info)
200 shows. Hot Summer. The New York International Fringe Festival celebrates 20 years.
My journey with the Fringe began in 2001 supporting my friends’ plays. Then in 2006, my theatre company, Black Henna, produced Naughty Prep School Stories by Michael Quinones and for the last 3 years, I have been fortunate to be on the team for amazing shows.
One of the great perks is seeing shows and sharing it with you. I won’t be able to do all of them but here’s a taste:
HomoSapiens Interruptus by Carlos Dengler; Directed by Scott Wesley Slavin
If Soren Kierkegaard and Jane Goodall had a baby and that baby was raised by Megadeth’s Dave Mustaine and spiritually directed by Motley Crue’s Nikki Sixx, he’d grow up to be Carlos Dengler.
It is so refreshing to see a show that simply tells the story. Carlos D sits at a table and tells his compelling story of growing up a headbanger, then a philosopher and then the co-founder of the New York-based band, Interpol using the evolution of man as thread and metaphor.
As a metalhead, I was easily transported to my youth. The time when I was one of few girls who loved Metallica and Megadeth, defending it at my all girls high school, and now the woman who goes to nostalgia concerts – except Metallica because the tickets are ridiculously expensive. What a beautiful trip down memory lane under the guise of intellect which I too experienced. Open, raw, concise under the direction of Scott Slavin with light design by Leslie Smith.
The Illusory Adventures of a Dreamer by Michael Bradley; Directed by
Chris Goodrich
Ask a dreamer the question “Who are you?” and the myriad of thoughts and feelings dance around the fine line of reality and fantasy. Michael Bradley’s clever and creative retelling of Ibsen’s Peer Gynt takes us through the maddening and sensual adventure of a young man wrestling with himself. I’ll be honest. I’m always on the fence when it comes to a retelling because it is hit or miss. This is a hit. An intense 90 minutes, this energetic and connected ensemble cast take us on Peer’s adventures. we see that sometimes wanting it all and experiencing it all is sensory overload; making a decision to want what you desire comes with rules and maybe you don’t want it; or saying you hold many values instead of living them causes disappointment to those who look up to you.
The story is told on a bare stage with movable set pieces and brilliantly choreographed by Geovanny Fischetti. The play keeps moving. Kudos to Taylor Turner for turning out a lovely portrayal of Peer Gynt, the whole cast for moving seamlessly through characters and sharing their talent on what felt like the hottest day in NYC history.
Directing and producing playwright John Minigan’s EASTER AT THE ENTREE GOLD, going up at the Sam French Off Off Broadway Fest on August 9th
Where are you performing it and why is it the right fit for your piece?
John and I have been collaborating for two years now, and he said, ‘Hey, I’m going to submit this piece again (we did the fest last year too), and can I put you down as producer again, no pressure?’ Of course we said yes. To our surprise, it got in (as playwrights we’d both gotten so many ‘nos’ this year and just assumed we’d continue the trend), and that was that. Hey Jonte!’s director, Stephen, is out of state currently, so it was either find a new director, or approach it as an opportunity to build my professional resume. So I’m directing for the first time ever. It’s terrifying. Terrifying. As for the right fit, John’s plays are fraught with gorgeous language and gorgeous conflict. His pieces are layered and so demanding, and they capture the baseness of people with so much beauty- not easy to do! We’d be crazy not to produce his work.
What’s next for you?
Worst. Question. Ever. Because I never know the answer! I think a lot of people feel as if they never know if they’re going to work or create again. I’m going to buckle down and audition my face off for the next two years- theater, film, and TV. I *also* want to turn my play ST. FRANCIS (being published this December!) into a film and film in my hometown in Northern California. There’s another play brewing in my head as well, but it hasn’t made its way past pictures and single lines in my mind’s eye. Hopefully it’ll make its way down from my head into my hands and out onto the page. I never know.
Who is your biggest inspiration right at this moment and why?
HAHAHAHA Everyone who’s working. Or, Lake Bell, who wrote, directed, and starred in the little indie gem IN A WORLD, Joey Lauren Adams, who wrote a movie for herself, and upon realizing she needed to direct it, found an actor to replace her in the lead. (Ashley Judd starred in COME EARLY MORNING) People who create their own work, and who collaborate, and who make smart business decisions. Oh. And Ed Burns. He is the epitome of making work for himself and doing everything in his power to get it done- and being unafraid to ask for help.
Miranda Jonte was born & raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. She received her MFA from the Actors Studio in New York, her BA in Theatre & German from Chico State, & studied at the University of Tuebingen, Germany. There, she played Suzanne (Picasso at the Lapin Agile), & Tracy (Seascape with Sharks and Dancer). Roles in the States include Mary (Mary Stuart), Mercy (I Am Yours), Juliet (Romeo and Juliet), Madame (The Maids), Katherine (The Secret Rapture), Kim (This Isn’t Working): FringeNYC, Amy (Refuge), & mercenary killer Danielle Bosola in the new retelling of the Duchess of Malfi, Malfi, Inc. with Milk Can Theatre Company. She decided to try her hand at creating her own work, the result being the full-length play Greasemonkey, in which she originated the role of Mara in its world premiere in NYC, Winter 2013. Greasemonkey led her to a semi-finalist position for the Princess Grace Award in playwriting. Her next play, St. Francis, premiered successfully last Spring as a one-woman show; the expanded one-act had its first public reading in Fall 2014, was a semi-finalist again for Princess Grace in 2015, and in August of the same year, debuted at New York International Fringe Festival (FringeNYC). St. Francis was selected to be published in Applause Books’ THE BEST PLAYS FROM AMERICAN THEATRE FESTIVALS 2015. She has also written the ten minute play All in a White Trash Pie, directed by Stephen Brotebeck. She and Stephen helmed the professional production of John Minigan’s Breaking the Shakespeare Code at the Greenhouse Theater in Chicago in June 2014. They followed up with the New York premiere of Shakespeare Code with the New York International Fringe Festival, August 2014. She played Anna in both productions. In her spare time, she does road races & mud runs, eats junk food with fervor, & watches Netflix waaaayyyyy too much.
Name: Dennis Gleason and Joanne de Simone
HomoSapiens Interruptus by Carlos Dengler; Directed by Scott Wesley Slavin
Name: Miranda Jonte
Malini Singh mcdonald 