Category: Theater

Meet Joe Kelly & Aliens Coming The Musical

Name: Joe Kelly

What is your current project? Aliens Coming

Where are you performing your show and why is it a good fit for your production?

Aliens Coming is returning to the PIT’s Striker Mainstage Theater, where we held our premier back in April. The PIT has produced a lot of talented performers like Ellie Kemper, Kristen Schaal, and Hannibal Buress. We’re extremely excited to call the PIT our home and to share a common starting place with these talented performers. The PIT is known for it’s hilarious improv and is a perfect fit for our fast-paced, campy show.

What’s next for you?

I’m currently developing a new play that revolves around a very bloody week leading up to the Westminster dog show.

What is the name of the last show you saw?

James, Jonathan, and I all went to see the Play That Goes Wrong together. We’ve been knocking on wood ever since.
  
Any advice for your peers?

I would say that if you’re someone who’s aspiring to produce a play in New York then the first step is to surround yourself with motivated and like-minded people. Theater is an intensely collaborative art, and you’d be surprised what you can will into existence with a good group of creative and dedicated people.

Want More?

Website: http://www.joekelly.space/alienscoming

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alienscomingthemusical/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/JoeyJKelly/

Joe Kelly is a New York based playwright who wrote the book and lyrics for ‘Aliens Coming’. Joe is a senior at the Tisch School of the Arts at NYU where he is majoring in Dramatic Writing and studying playwriting. Joe’s previous credits include writing ‘She’s Totally Dead’ and appearing in a radio commercial for Tyson chicken when he was thirteen.

Show Information: 

WHERE: The People’s Improv Theater’s Striker Mainstage – 123 E. 24th St. NY, NY

TICKETS: Tickets can be purchased here for only $10

WHEN: 

  • Thursday, 8/17 at 8pm
  • Friday, 8/18 at 9:30pm
  • Saturday, 8/19 at 9:30pm
  • Thursday, 8/24 at 8:00pm
  • Saturday, 8/26 at 9:30pm
  • Thursday, 8/31 at 9:30pm
  • Tuesday, 9/5 at 8pm
  • Saturday, 9/9 at 9:30pm
  • Tuesday, 9/12 at 8pm
  • Monday, 9/18 at 8pm
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Meet Griffin Osborne & Aliens Coming The Musical

pasted image 0Name: Griffin Osborne
What is your current project? Aliens Coming: The Musical
Where are you performing your show and why is it a good fit for your production?
 
We’re thrilled to be taking Aliens Coming back to the People’s Improv Theater and to join the ranks of the hilarious programming that has gone on there for so long. Since it’s a theater built for stand up and improv, finding out how to bring a large musical (that includes an alien invasion no less) to that space and make it feel large was the artistic challenge that I think pushed us to think about the show and its staging in a deeper way.
What’s next for you?
I will be finishing up my last semester at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and working on my second full length play ‘Here There Be Dragons’ which I will be workshopping in the coming year.
What is the name of the last show you saw?
Anatomy of a Suicide.
Any advice for your peers?
 
Make something. I read recently that ideas mean very little in this world. Everyone has ideas. It’s human nature to think about the world and what, if anything, new can be brought to it. It is the ability to take that idea and make something out of it – pursue what others won’t – that defines someone as a working artist. This feels obvious but I think holds true for all, including myself. 
Want More?
Website: http://www.griffinosborne.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alienscomingthemusical/
Instagram: @griffin.osborne
Griffin Osborne is a New York based actor, writer, and director as well as founder of Theater/Film production company Old Fellow. Recent directorial credits include Bare: a Pop Opera (Tisch School of the Arts), unfinished (Experimental Theater Wing), and Assistant Direction on Happy Days (Sledgehammer_, dir. Scott Feldsher). As an actor, he was seen last summer in 600 Highwaymen’s The Fever (The Public Theater) as well as starring in Constellations (Playwrights Horizons Theater School) and Leader Day (Shoreham Films). Short plays from his published anthology Writer’s Block have been performed in high schools and colleges across the United States, and his new work The Executioner can be seen on the New York stage this coming year (Madcap Repertory). Fourth year student at Tisch School of the Arts, currently training at Stonestreet Studios. He would like to dedicate his work on this production to his brother.

WHERE: The People’s Improv Theater’s Striker Mainstage – 123 E. 24th St. NY, NY

TICKETS: Tickets can be purchased here for only $10

WHEN: 

  • Thursday, 8/17 at 8pm
  • Friday, 8/18 at 9:30pm
  • Saturday, 8/19 at 9:30pm
  • Thursday, 8/24 at 8:00pm
  • Saturday, 8/26 at 9:30pm
  • Thursday, 8/31 at 9:30pm
  • Tuesday, 9/5 at 8pm
  • Saturday, 9/9 at 9:30pm
  • Tuesday, 9/12 at 8pm
  • Monday, 9/18 at 8pm
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Meet Jonathan Evans & Aliens Coming The Musical

pasted image 0Name: Jonathan Evans
What is your current project? Aliens Coming: The Musical
Where are you performing your show and why is it a good fit for your production?
 
The PIT is a very unique venue in that it is primarily an improv theatre. This gives us a lot of ‘play’ room even with a pre-written script. The music and actors can have fun on stage and really enjoy themselves, creating a unique performance every night.
What’s next for you?
I am working on my own musical with my writing partner, very different in tone and far more ‘contemporary’. Other then that – grad school!
What is the name of the last show you saw?
‘The Great Comet.’ It was incredible.
Any advice for your peers?
 
Do everything! Never pass up on an opportunity no matter how out of your comfort zone it is. You never know where it might lead.
Want More?
Website: http://www.evansj.co
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alienscomingthemusical/
Instagram:  @jdapevans
Jonathan Evans is a recent NYU graduate and the Music Director of ‘Aliens Coming’, as well as one of the show’s composers and a producer. His previous credits include Producing and Music Directing ‘She’s Totally Dead’ at the 13th Street Theatre and extensive work as a Creative Producer and Music Supervisor in New York.

Show Information: 

 

WHERE: The People’s Improv Theater’s Striker Mainstage – 123 E. 24th St. NY, NY

TICKETS: Tickets can be purchased here for only $10

WHEN: 

  • Thursday, 8/17 at 8pm
  • Friday, 8/18 at 9:30pm
  • Saturday, 8/19 at 9:30pm
  • Thursday, 8/24 at 8:00pm
  • Saturday, 8/26 at 9:30pm
  • Thursday, 8/31 at 9:30pm
  • Tuesday, 9/5 at 8pm
  • Saturday, 9/9 at 9:30pm
  • Tuesday, 9/12 at 8pm
  • Monday, 9/18 at 8pm
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Meet Madeleine Rose Parsigian & The Untold Yippie Project

Name: Madeleine Rose Parsigian

What is your current project? The Untold Yippie Project

Where are you performing your show and why is it a good fit for your production?

Access Theater, because a) it allows us to be intimately in the round and b) is easily accessible from the subway!

What’s next for you?

I am hoping to mount The Untold Yippie Project in a larger space for a longer run!  The goal is to get as many people as possible to see this important American story.

What is the name of the last show you saw?

Little Foxes

Any advice for your peers?

Directing is an act of facilitation, not dictation.  Meaningful communication is the most important ingredient to positive collaboration.  In my opinion, this is the best way to create a piece of theater.

Want More?

Website: http://www.sunglassesafterdark.org

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/145659755987743/

Twitter: @untoldyippieproject

Instagram:  @theuntoldyippieproject

 

MADELEINE ROSE PARSIGIAN (Director) is the artistic director and co-founder of Sunglasses After Dark, a performing artists’ collective dedicated to challenging their audience through deconstructing stereotypes with color and gender-blind casting.  The Untold Yippie Project’s premiere production marks her and Schlossberg’s 12th Director/Playwright collaboration, a journey that enriches tremendously with each new chapter.  Other Sunglasses After Dark highlights include recently appearing as effortlessly cool and constantly stoned, Lakey, in our original web series 4and20; and directing the collective’s first film Punches, as well as their critically acclaimed sold-out run of 3boys.   Additionally, Madeleine is a Certified Movement Analyst (CMA) from the Laban/Bartenieff Institute in Brooklyn, NY and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Dance/Movement Therapy at Pratt University.

Show Information:

WHERE: Access Theater, 380 Broadway, NYC

WHEN: AUG 3 – AUG 19, 2017
Wed, Thu, Fri at 8pm
Sat (8/12) at 1pm & 8pm
Sun (8/13) at 2pm & 8pm
Sat (8/19) at 2pm & 8pm

TICKET INFO: $18.00 (Students $12.00 & Wednesdays are FREE)
http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/3019803

 

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Meet Nicole Orabona & The Untold Yippee Project

YippiePoster1_v2Name: Nicole Orabona
 
What is your current project? The Untold Yippie Project

Where are you performing your show and why is it a good fit for your production?

We’re at the gallery space at Access Theater. It’s a big, open empty space that’s perfect for our show because we transform it into several venues. Our ensemble becomes many characters in many locations, so having an empty, raw space is ideal. The audience gets to fill in the rest of the details with their imaginations.

What’s next for you?

Heading on a cross country tour for the month of September with my partner, Nathan, who is a musician.

What is the name of the last show you saw?

Million Dollar Quartet at Berkshire Theater Group
  
Any advice for your peers?
 
Don’t compare yourself to others.

Want More?

Website: http://www.nicoleorabona.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/norabona
Instagram: @knuckle_sando

Nicole Orabona is a New York based actor, collaborator, and cat lover who lives on a boat. With a focus on interactive theatre, she has recently worked with Live In Theater, Interactive PlayLab,The Sterling Renaissance Festival, Playing with Reality, 8Players and the Night Circus. Recent credits: The Aurora Project (The Navigators), Bram Stoker’s Dracula (Jenny Wiley Theatre), world premiere Rocking Dead: Bedlam (Feast Productions), The Farnsworth Invention (Alley Repertory Theater), Stella, Streetcar Named Desire (Danny Peterson Theater).

Show Information: 

WHERE: Access Theater, 380 Broadway, NYC

WHEN: AUG 3 – AUG 19, 2017
Wed, Thu, Fri at 8pm
Sat (8/12) at 1pm & 8pm
Sun (8/13) at 2pm & 8pm
Sat (8/19) at 2pm & 8pm

TICKET INFO: $18.00 (Students $12.00 & Wednesdays are FREE)
http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/3019803

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Meet Becca Schlossberg & The Untold Yippie Project

Name: Becca Schlossberg

What is your current project? The Untold Yippie Project

Where are you performing your show and why is it a good fit for your production?

Access Theater – we needed a big, wide open space for the dynamic staging we do.

What’s next for you?

Probably gonna work a solo show of mine, Blood Memory, in the upcoming year.

What is the name of the last show you saw?

Really Rosie and NY City Center!

Any advice for your peers?

Give yourself permission to write the worst shit in the world.

Want More?

Website: http://www.beccaschlossbergplaywright.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rebecca.schlossberg

Twitter: @schlossbossfun

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/schlossbossfun/

Becca’s play Just Like I Wanted, a drama about teen suicide, has been performed throughout the United States and the world.  Her one act, 3boys, published by Original Works Publishing, received a 4-star review by Time Out magazine for its an 2010 NYC Fringe production.   Other plays include Hands (produced by City Theatre), Unkempt (produced at the Sam French Off Broadway Play Festival), Cal & Grey (produced at Thespis Theater Festival and the NYC International Fringe Festival), Guidance, All We Are, and Brightly Shone The Moon. Becca’s newest play, The Untold Yippie Project, will be produced summer 2017 by Sunglasses After Dark, where she is co-founder. (Tickets can be found here.) She is a proud alum of Page 73’s Interstate Writer’s Group, Ensemble Studio Theatre’s Youngblood, and a current member of The Amoralists’ Wright Club.  Becca is also featured in Playscripts’ Actors Choice Monologues for Teens, Vol 2 and Scared Silly: 10 Hauntingly Hilarious Short Plays.  When not writing, Becca likes to perform, and can be seen in her solo show, Blood Memory, and her short feature, Punches. She lives in Brooklyn where she also makes bad fan art. (follow her @beccasbadfanart) MFA: New School for Drama.  B.A. Drew University.

Show Information:

WHERE: Access Theater, 380 Broadway, NYC

WHEN: AUG 3 – AUG 19, 2017
Wed, Thu, Fri at 8pm
Sat (8/12) at 1pm & 8pm
Sun (8/13) at 2pm & 8pm
Sat (8/19) at 2pm & 8pm

TICKET INFO: $18.00 (Students $12.00 & Wednesdays are FREE)
http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/3019803

 

 

 

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Meet Darien LaBeach & The Untold Yippie Project

Name: Darien LaBeach

What is your current project? The Untold Yippie Project: A new American play by Becca Schlossberg

Where are you performing your show and why is it a good fit for your production?

Access Theater. Not only do they support innovative work, but the Gallery Space in which our show takes place allows the greatest creative freedom to transform into whatever is necessary. Theater in the rounds makes the show more immersive and personal which is a core message of the story.

What’s next for you?

Standup comedy around the city and preparing for performances at the first ever fundraising gala for Brunch Theatre. They are a theatre company serving millennials what they love best: fresh entertainment and fresh brunch.

What is the name of the last show you saw?

War Paint. I was fortunate enough to see my friend Tally Sessions perform in this captivating production at the Nederlander Theatre. Patti LuPone & Christine Ebersole were also fantastic!

Any advice for your peers?

Surround yourself with people who inspire both on and offstage – in front and behind the camera. It’s when you get to know your fellow creators as people you build deeper levels of understanding. And if what they are doing outside of your shared work inspires you, and vice versa, you find that you can exist in stillness with one another because you KNOW who they are and what they’re about.

Want More?

Website: http://www.darienlabeach.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/darienlabeach/

Twitter: @dlabeach

Instagram: @dlabeach

Darien LaBeach is a Brooklyn-based actor and comedian daylighting as a digital strategist at a global marketing agency. He’s been seen in The Unfringed Festival, the Broadway Comedy Club and regularly performs standup comedy with A-list pros from Letterman, Tonight Show, and Conan in Character Flawed: New York City’s marquis standup event at the Dangerfield’s Comedy Club.

Show Information:

WHERE: Access Theater, 380 Broadway, NYC

WHEN: AUG 3 – AUG 19, 2017
Wed, Thu, Fri at 8pm
Sat (8/12) at 1pm & 8pm
Sun (8/13) at 2pm & 8pm
Sat (8/19) at 2pm & 8pm

TICKET INFO: $18.00 (Students $12.00 & Wednesdays are FREE)
http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/3019803

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New York New Works Theatre Festival Returns & Accepting Submissions

LOGO_BUG+TYPE-resized-2-1_blkbg (1)I have worn many hats in this festival and the connections I made have been fruitful. Nick Radu’s Imaginary is now in the process of becoming a movie. So this is a great opportunity if you are looking for a platform to get your work seen by industry folks. They are currently accepting submissions through August 15th.
The Broadway panel behind the New York New Works Theatre Festival is once again donating their time to assist aspiring writers!
Approximately 50 writers will be given the opportunity to have their work reviewed by a panel of Broadway Producers, Emmy Award winners, Tony Award winners, and industry professionals at the 199 seat Duke Theatre this coming October.  Submissions are free and the Festival will absorb many of the costs so as to be manageable by the participants. The selection process is all about the talent and EVERY submission is reviewed by at least one Broadway Producer.
The historical performances have covered a large range of experience and have included a piece directed by Jayne Atkinson that is now heading to Broadway, a group where nearly all of the cast members were currently in leading roles ON Broadway, a Broadway revival that had been nominated for six Tony Awards when originally released, and talented writers from all walks of the industry who wanted a shot in front of the right people.
The energy is incredible and the successes have surpassed the team’s wildest expectations.  It truly is a one of a kind event.
Visit http://www.nynwtheatrefestival.com/ for more details!

The panel includes: Gene Fisch, Jr., Lucia Kaiser, Hinton Battle, Larry Freitag, Larry Kaye, Paul Sladkus, Vincent Morano, Lauren Class Schneider, Jana Robbins, Douglas Denoff, Lizebeth Zindel, Christian Cazerez, R. Erin Craig, Cindy Sibilsky, Paula Levine, Stu Sternbach, Michael Barra, Carol Ostrow, Ben Cameron, Brette Goldstein, Craig “MuMs” Grant, Sjon Dowell, Benjamin Simpson, Joseph Longthorne, Matthew Lombardo, Aaron Grant, Stephanie Iscovitz

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Meet Audrey Alford & A Real Boy

Name: Audrey Alford

What is your current project? A Real Boy by Stephen Kaplan

Where are you performing your show and why is it a good fit for your production?

59E59 is the perfect fit for this intimate piece. We have turned Theatre C into a Kindergarten classroom with the audience up close and personal in alley seating. Watching it from different angles really does change the way you understand a character, as well as the puppets.

What’s next for you?

I’m a member of the SDC Observership Class so hopefully I will be working under an established director very soon. Otherwise, I’ll continue to keep my eye out for projects that fit with my personal mission.

What is the name of the last show you saw?

Waitress

Any advice for your peers?

Create a space where everyone is able to fail. Some of the best moments come from someone in the room trying something zany.

Want More?

Website: http://www.Ivytheatre.com

Facebook: Ivy Theatre

Twitter: @audrey_directs

Instagram: Ivytheatre

You Tube: Audrey Alford: Sharing My Crazy

Audrey is the Artistic Director and Co-Founder of Ivy Theatre Company. Her Off Broadway production of Donkey Punch, by Micheline Auger, was a Time Out New York’s Critic’s Pick, and the Off Off production was nominated for 3 NYIT Awards, including Best Premiere Production of a Play. In 2013, she was nominated for Best Director in the Midtown International Theatre Festival for Black Ice, by Lezlie Revelle. She has directed in New York, Charlotte, Seattle, and New Orleans. She is a proud feminist and is working toward a theatrical community inclusive of everyone’s stories.

Show Information:

WHERE: 59E59 Theaters, 59 E59th Street, NYC

WHEN: AUG 2, 2017 – AUG 27, 2017/Tue, Wed, Thu at 7:30, Fri at 7:30, Sat at 2:30 & 7:30, Sun at 3:30

TICKET INFO: $25.00 (59E59 MEMBERS $20.00)

For groups of 10+ please contact: GINGER DZERK, Director of Ticketing Services P 646.892.7986 | GD@59e59.org
http://www.59e59.org/moreinfo.php?showid=293

 

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Meet Katie Braden & A Real Boy

Name: Katie Braden

What is your current project? A Real Boy by Stephen Kaplan

Where are you performing your show and why is it a good fit for your production?

59E59 Street Theaters; this is an amazing fit for our show, because they present such innovative, thought-provoking work from all over the world! I’m thrilled that we’re included in this season!

What’s next for you?

I’m taking classes for a graduate degree, so I start my next course 3 days after closing!

What is the name of the last show you saw?

A Brimful of Asha, part of the Soulpepper festival at The Signaure Theatre

Any advice for your peers?

I’ve found that I’m a better actor when I have balance in my life of work, fun, and family. I think it’s important to find the right ratio on an individual level, so don’t feel like you have to fit into someone else’s timeline or expectations. There are lots of ways to be happy in the theatre, and it may not be the way you expect!

Want More?

Website: http://www.KatieBraden.com

Facebook: Katie Braden

Twitter: @bradenkatie

Instagram: @bradenkatieactor

Katie Braden is a co-founder of Ivy Theatre Company and a proud member of WorkShop Theater. Ivy Theatre: Mill Fire, Reach, Outside/Inside, Incongruence, Black Ice, Like Poetry, and The Perfect Wife. Other NYC:  Romeo and Juliet,  The Tempest, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Mrs. Warren’s Profession.

Show Information:

WHERE: 59E59 Theaters, 59 E59th Street, NYC

WHEN: AUG 2, 2017 – AUG 27, 2017/Tue, Wed, Thu at 7:30, Fri at 7:30, Sat at 2:30 & 7:30, Sun at 3:30

TICKET INFO: $25.00 (59E59 MEMBERS $20.00)
For groups of 10+ please contact: GINGER DZERK, Director of Ticketing Services P 646.892.7986 | GD@59e59.org
http://www.59e59.org/moreinfo.php?showid=293

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