2021 SEASON – SPEAKOUT FESTIVAL

In February 2020, MultiStages went dark due to NYC’s COVID-19 restrictions; general anxiety caused by lock-down and the deaths of family members, friends and colleagues set in. We were a company in mourning. When the BLM movement happened, MultiStages collaborators took to the streets. The streets were our theatre, the screams were real, and the pain was palpable. In deciding how to support this movement, and address the politics and pandemic surrounding us, Artistic Director and activist, Lorca Peress, created the idea of a multicultural, multidisciplinary SPEAKOUT call-to-action Festival.

SPEAKOUT is a virtual festival that highlights the times we are living in and stories we need to tell. Through a variety of artistic lenses: theatre, dance, poetry, music, and multimedia, we invite you to join us in solidarity.

FESTIVAL WEEK TWO:

SPEAKOUT: Protest Dance, Poetry & Music

From June 28 – July 5, 2021, we are presenting a Free streaming of protest dances, poetry and original music only available on this website.

To view the work, please click the Link below.

PROTEST POETRY & DANCE FESTIVAL LINK

READ THE PLAYBILL:  FESTIVAL PLAYBILL PDF

Commissioned New Modern Dance Works by Jennifer Chin.

Poetry by Gloria Vando.

Dancers: Jennifer Chin, Madeline Jafari, Anne Parichon-Buoncore, Oscar Antonio Rodriguez, Richard T. Sayama.

Projections, Video Backgrounds, Editing by Jan Hartley, Sound/Music by Sun Hee Kil, Costumes by Lisa Renee Jordan, Dances filmed by Jan Hartley & Michael Lee Stever, “Rage” Dance featuring drummer Paul Peress, Poem filmed by Anika Paris. 

Creative Festival Director and Producing Artistic Director Lorca Peress, Associate Producer Gena Bardwell.

Week One of the SPEAKOUT Festival ended its run on June 25, 2021. We thank everyone who attended, supported the Benefit, and all the artists and company who participated in making the Protest Plays & More a success.

Highlights from Week One of the Protest Plays & More Festival:

SALES ARE NOW CLOSED

BENEFIT OPENING NIGHT: Monday, June 21, 2021, Live Audience and Meet the Artists Talk-Back, TICKETS: $35.00

STREAMING ON DEMAND: June 22-25, 2021, TICKETS:  $10.00, Donation or FREE

MEET THE COMPANY:

SPEAKOUT Protest Plays feature commissioned New Works written by Gena Bardwell, Melody Cooper, Fengar Gael, Dorothy Tan & Nathan Yungerberg.

Commissioned New Modern Dance Works by Jennifer Chin.

Poetry by Gloria Vando.

Actors: Kate Bornstein, Dimitri Carter, Rainbow Dickerson, Brie Eley, Vanessa Guadiana, Wai Ching Ho, Michael Gene Jacobs, Amanda Salazar, Donnell E. Smith, Michael Striano, Messeret Stroman Wheeler, Lu Yu.

Dancers: Jennifer Chin, Madeline Jafari, Anne Parichon-Buoncore, Oscar Antonio Rodriguez, Richard T. Sayama.

Directors: Kimille Howard, Toussaint Jeanlouis, Eugene Ma & Lorca Peress.

Projections, Video Backgrounds, Editing by Jan Hartley, Sound/Music by Sun Hee Kil, Costumes by Lisa Renee Jordan, Dances filmed by Jan Hartley & Michael Lee Stever, “Rage” Dance featuring drummer Paul Peress, Poem filmed by Anika Paris. 

Production Stage Manager: Zija Brubaker Lubin-West

Press Representative: Jonathan Slaff & Associates

Producing Artistic Director Lorca Peress, Associate Producer Gena Bardwell

“SPEAKOUT: Protest Plays & More” is made possible in part with public funds from Creative Engagement, supported by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and administered by LMCC. Other support includes the N.W. Dible Foundation, A.R.T./New York Relief Fund for NYC Small Theatres, the Cultural Arts Solidarity Fund administered by the Indie Theatre Fund, and Leon Levy Foundation COVID Relief Fund, administered by A.R.T./New York, Arlene Goldman Giving Fund, and private donations.

MultiStages expresses its gratitude to the performing unions, Actors Equity Association, American Guild of Musical Artists, American Guild of Variety Artists and SAG-AFTRA, through Theatre Authority, Inc. for their cooperation in permitting the artists to appear on this program. 

2015 CLIMATE CHANGE FESTIVAL

We are one global community with a common goal to honor and protect the earth,
its amazing inhabitants, and our future. 

MultiStages
presents

CLIMATE CHANGE FESTIVAL

Presented by Lorca Peress, MultiStages Producing Artistic Director and Gena Bardwell, Producer
In association with The Arctic Cycle, Theatre Without Borders, NoPassports
Climate Change Theatre Action, a global event created by Chantal Bilodeau and Caridad Svich

MultiStages presents a pop-up theatre event of 7 short plays and video from around the world to inspire and celebrate the need for Climate Change. This fundraiser honors MultiStages’ 18th year of producing multicultural and multidisciplinary new works in New York City.

Directed by Lorca Peress
Choreography by Jennifer Chin

“Where Has All the Water Gone? Long Time Passing…” By Arthur Kopit (US) ; Performer: Dennis Gagomiros

“Tsunami Country” by Chiori Miyagawa (US); Performers: Valorie Niccore, Zoe Lau, Min Jung Kwon

“The Ocean” by Abhishek Majumbar (India); Performer: Eshan Bay

“Cuisine” by Elyne Quan (Canada); Performers: Christina Paterno, Melissa Golliday, Marcos Sotomayor

“Flotsam” by Elspeth Tilley (New Zealand); Performers: Gena Bardwell, Melissa Golliday, Marcos Sotomayor
Dancers Jennifer Chin and Lorenzo Walker; Choreographed by Jennifer Chin

“Mother” by Chantal Bilodeau (US/Canada); Performer: Joyce Griffen

“Hanami” by Naomi Iizuka (US); Performers: Zoe Lau, Christina Paterno, Dancers Jennifer Chin and Lorenzo Walker; Choreographed by Jennifer Chin

“A video pδstcard from thε end of the ψorld” (Italy); Production: Skaraventer Project; Videomaking, Text Assembling and Design: Marcello Serafino Visconti; Artistic Direction: Lucia Falco; Performed by: Peo Paccia

Info on the Climate Change Theatre Action Festival:
CLIMATE CHANGE LINK

MultiStages Festival consists of short plays from around the world: Brazil, Uganda, Canada, Colombia, India, and the United States. Reception donated by Rums of Puerto Rico. Ticket proceeds will support the Hispanic Federation to benefit the people of Puerto Rico who survived Hurricane Maria. Actors appearing through AEA Theatre Authority.

MultiStages is partnering once again with #ClimateChangeTheatreAction. 225 events are scheduled in 40 countries between October 1 and November 20, 2017. Climate Change Theatre Action is a worldwide series of readings and performances of short climate change plays to coincide with the United Nations COP23 meeting in Bonn, Germany. We are excited to produce this important event and join this world-wide theatre movement.

2019 NEW WORKS FINALIST FESTIVAL

MAY 10, 11 & 12, 2019
A.R.T/N.Y. – Bruce Mitchell Room
520 Eighth Avenue, 3rd Floor
FREE ADMISSION

RSVP: [email protected] (include Show and # of reservations)

HANG MAN

Written by Stacy Osei-Kuffour
Directed by Mia Walker

Reading on Friday, May 10 at 7PM
RSVP: [email protected]

The community of a backwoods Southern town grapples with the murder of a Black man who is found hanging in a tree. As events unfold, the hanging mystifies the people of the community, forcing them to confront their complicity in this man’s horrific demise.

Stacy Osei-Kuffour, born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, is a BFA graduate from NYU (major: Drama) and an MFA graduate from Hunter College (major: Playwriting). Previous plays include: The Painter, *Samuel French Festival finalist. Breathless, workshop productions at the Dream Up Festival & Downtown Urban Theater Festival (both at Theater for the New City). Dirty Blood, reading at Rattlestick Theater. Animals, *Irv Zarkower Award winner through Hunter College, readings: Lark Development Center, NYTW, Blank Theatre, and IAMA Theatre. The Pearl and The Black Sea, *Honorable Mention in The Kilroy’s 2015 The List. Hang Man, Bay Area Playwrights Festival finalist, Boston Court New Play finalist, MultiStages New Works Contest finalist, and The Kilroy’s 2017 The List. This past year, Stacy was accepted into EST in LA, Youngblood, MacDowell Colony Fellowship, New Georges the Jam, Nashville Repertory Theatre’s Ingram Play Lab alongside Christopher Durang, Humantias PLAY LA Workshop, and MADLAB. In addition, Stacy became a two-time Van Lier finalist at the Lark Development Center. Stacy is also a TV writer. Just last year she wrote for the TV show Happy! which airs every Wednesday night on the SYFY network. Currently, Stacy is writing for the HBO TV show WATCHMEN based on the acclaimed comic book by Alan Moore. Stacy’s goal as an artist is to bring untold stories to the stage and screen, stories that challenge our political, societal, and stereotypical views of the Black experience.

ATALANTA K.O.

Written by D.L. Siegel
Directed by Katrin Hilbe

Reading on Saturday, May 11 at 7PM
RSVP: [email protected]

Atalanta is a fearsome amateur boxer, hungry for a professional career. Abandoned at birth, Atalanta trusts no one save her faithful trainer, Samir. But when she goes head-to-head with “The Boar of Bushwick” in a highly publicized fight, Atalanta attracts the attention of her long-absent father who will stop at nothing to get her back. Inspired by an ancient Greek myth, Atalanta K.O. is the story of one woman’s struggle to be the heroine she was destined to be.

D.L. Siegel received her BA in English and Theater from Princeton University and her MFA in Playwriting from The New School for Drama. She was a member of The Amoralists’ inaugural playwriting residency, ‘Wright Club, from 2015-2016. Plays include: Members Only, Untouched, Atalanta K.O., Like the Last, Chosen, and I Know What I Saw. D.L. also served as dramaturg and co-adaptor for Jeremy Duncan Pape’s Woyzeck, F.J.F., most recently mounted at The New Ohio Theatre by No-Win Productions. She is currently workshopping ‘Untouched’ for its New York premiere in summer 2018. A born and raised New Yorker, D.L. resides in Brooklyn with her playwright husband and their beloved corgi, Sancho Panza. Visit www.dlsiegel.com for more. Awards, Grants, Honorariums: 2016 Excellence in Playwriting Award & Audience Favorite Award, Silver Spring Stage (‘Like the Last’), 2014 Finalist for Wordsmyth Theater Company’s reading series (‘Untouched’), 2014 Finalist for Heartland Theatre’s 10-minute play competition (‘…but where would they live?’), 2014 Finalist for 10 by 10 in the Triangle’s National 10-minute play competition (‘I Know What I Saw’), 2012 Georgia College & State University Arts & Letters Prize in Drama, 2nd place (‘haiku for an earthquake’).

LA RUTA

Written by Isaac Gomez,
Directed by Lorca Peress
Music Directed by Bruce Baumer

Reading on Sunday, May 12 at 2:30PM
RSVP: [email protected]

As Yolanda and Marisela embark in an epic, endless journey to find their missing daughters, the rabbit hole of violence, impunity and crime is far more insidious than they ever imagined. Pulled from real testimonies, La Ruta is a visceral unearthing of secrets left buried in the desert sand and the Mexican women who live resiliently in their wake.

Isaac Gomez is a Chicago-based playwright originally from El Paso, Texas/Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. His plays include La Ruta (developed at Primary Stages, Steppenwolf Theater Company, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Goodman Theatre, and Pivot Arts); Wally World (Sideshow Theater Company Commission); PerKup Elkhorn (developed at Northlight Theatre and Chicago Dramatists); The Way She Spoke: A docu-mythologia (Greenhouse Theater Center, 2016; The VORTEX, 2018); The Displaced (Haven Theatre, 2018); Throwaway Kids (Cunningham Commission for Youth Theatre — The Theatre School at DePaul University); The Soul of the World (Actors Theatre of Louisville Acting Apprentice New Play Commission). Other companies he’s worked with include Victory Gardens Theater, American Theater Company, Teatro Vista, Definition Theater Company, Jackalope Theatre, Broken Nose Theater, Stage Left, and Something Marvelous. He is the recipient of the 2017 Jeffry Melnick New Playwright Award at Primary Stages, an inaugural 3Arts “Make A Wave” grantee, an Elizabeth George Commissioned Playwright at South Coast Repertory, a member of the 2017-18 Goodman Theatre’s Playwrights Unit, Co-Creative Director at the Alliance of Latinx Theatre, a Resident Playwright at Chicago Dramatists, an Artistic Associate with Victory Gardens Theater, Ensemble Member with Teatro Vista, Artistic Associate with Pivot Arts, Artistic Curator for Theater on the Lake 2017/2018, a steering committee member of the Latinx Theatre Commons (LTC) and an artistic community member at The Hypocrites in Chicago. He is a Professional Lecturer at The Theatre School at DePaul University, and is represented by The Gersh Agency and Circle of Confusion.

The “New Works Finalist Festival” features three finalist plays from our 2017 New Works Contest. Complete Cast TBA soon.  Meet the 2017 New Works Contest Winner, Desi Moreno-Penson Here:  New Works Contest Results

2017 CLIMATE CHANGE FESTIVAL II

We are one global community with a common goal to honor and protect the earth,
its amazing inhabitants, and our future. 

MultiStages
presents

CLIMATE CHANGE II FESTIVAL

Wednesday, November 15, 2017
at 7PM
TheaterLab, 357 W 36th Street, 3rd Floor, NYC
followed by a Reception fundraiser for Hurricane Relief for Puerto Rico 

Directed by Lorca Peress
Choreography by Jennifer Chin

FESTIVAL ACTING COMPANY
Gabrielle Lee, Gus Scharr, Kathryn Layng, Avondre E.D. Beverley, Tanya Perez, Joyce Griffen, Lorca Peress, Maya Saroya
Daniel Carlton, Cary Hite, special appearance by Bruce Baumer

General: $25.00; Student: $15.00
CLICK FOR TICKETS

FESTIVAL PRODUCTION PHOTOS

CLIMATE CHANGE THEATRE ACTION & MULTISTAGES PLAYWRIGHTS
Keith Josef Adkins, Elaine Ávila, Chantal Bilodeau, Mindi Dickstein, Angella Emurwon, Kendra Fanconi
Vinicius Jatobá, Abhishek Majumdar, Silvio Martinez-Palau, Lorca Peress, David Sard, Caridad Svich
Jordan Tannahill, Nathan Yungerberg

Info on the Climate Change Theatre Action Festival:
CLIMATE CHANGE LINK

MultiStages Festival consists of short plays from around the world: Brazil, Uganda, Canada, Colombia, India, and the United States. Reception donated by Rums of Puerto Rico. Ticket proceeds will support the Hispanic Federation to benefit the people of Puerto Rico who survived Hurricane Maria. Actors appearing through AEA Theatre Authority.

MultiStages is partnering once again with #ClimateChangeTheatreAction. 225 events are scheduled in 40 countries between October 1 and November 20, 2017. Climate Change Theatre Action is a worldwide series of readings and performances of short climate change plays to coincide with the United Nations COP23 meeting in Bonn, Germany. We are excited to produce this important event and join this world-wide theatre movement.

2017 The Future is Female Festival

“THE FUTURE IS FEMALE” Festival

MultiStages is joining the movement with our own multicultural and multidisciplinary “The Future is Female” Festival of Women Playwrights, Dancers, Composers, Musicians, Poets, and Artists.  The Future is Female Festivals are being presented across the country in March 2017 in honor of Women’s History Month. Let’s come together in solidarity to protect women’s rights and our future.

TWO NIGHTS ONLY
Tues., March 21 and Thurs., March 23, 2017 at 7PM
The Shop Theatre
CAP21, 18 W. 18th St., 6th Fl.
RSVP: [email protected]
Tickets $10.00

FESTIVAL PRODUCTION PHOTOS
Photos: Hunter Peress

MultiStages Festival Participants:

Playwrights:
Raquel Almazan, Maya Contreras, Cynthia Cooper, Cecilia Copland, Cesi Davidson, C.S. Hanson, Penny Jackson, Chiori Miyagawa, Desi Moreno-Penson, Angelica Pinna Perez, Noemi de la Puente, Lizabeth Sipes, Daniela Thome, Nichole Thompson-Adams

Dance:
JENNIFERCHINdance

Poets:
Ela Alster, Tess Cacciatore, Gloria Vando

Video Performance:
Anika Paris

Poster Art:
Nikki Peress

Conductors:
Tong Chen, LaFrae Sci

Directors:
Sara Berg, Elowyn Castle, Kimille Howard, Lorca Peress

Performers: Andrea Abello, Raquel Almazan, Tonia Anderson, April Armstrong, Gena Bardwell, Sara Berg* Darryl K Brown, Tess Cacciatore, Kim Chinh, JY (Jeong yun) Chun, Bobby Crace, Veronica Cruz* Noemi de la Puente, William Franke* Victoria Franzetti, Joy Kelly* Kathryn Layng* Tate Kenney, Romy Nordlinger* Anika Paris, Desi Moreno-Penson, Lorca Peress* Angelica Pinna Perez, Tanya Perez* Gary Ramsey, Clea Straus Rivera* Crystal Rodriguez, Kate Armstrong Ross, Dan Teachout* Daniela Thome, Nichole Thompson-Adams, Gloria Vando, Alexandra Williamson

*AEA members
Union performers appearing courtesy Theatre Authority

“The Future is Female” Festival was created by writer Mya Kagin. Instead of merely honoring women’s history in March, the festival will celebrate women’s futures. Following the election, Mya was struck by the phrase, “The Future Is Female,” which recently emerged and has taken on great significance during and after the election with many women re-contextualizing the phrase into their own modern interpretation. By participating in this joint venture, our voices are magnified and we can create a larger impact across the country.

Strength in numbers — Stronger Together.

For more info on Women’s History Events:
https://thefutureisfemalefestival.com/
http://www.womenarts.org/swandates/

MultiStages “TFIF” Festival is a Swan Day Event! 

2013 | New Works Festival

THE WINNER

COMIDA DE PUTA (F%&KING LOUSY FOOD) by Desi Moreno-Penson –– Phaedra in the Bronx. A bodega owner’s wife is obsessed with her husband’s son, the lunch counter boy, and not even her confidant, the neighborhood ‘spiritual’ woman, can help her.

This full-length play began as a ten-minute play in the 2011 Going To The River Festival (plays by women of color) at NYC’s Ensemble Studio Theatre. “As a writer, my literary objectives have been to present a revisionist, expressionistic view of contemporary U.S. Latino consciousness, devoid of the need for abject sentiment or apology.” Desi Moreno-Penson holds an MFA in Dramaturgy and Theatre/Literary Criticism from Brooklyn College. Her awards include the 2004 Samuel Levenson Memorial Scholarship for academic and creative achievement, three-time recipient of the BRIO (Bronx Recognizes Its Own) Fellowship for playwriting/live performance, finalist for the 2007 Princess Grace Award for emerging artists, and a finalist for the Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwrights Program at Juilliard. Her work has been developed and/or produced at New Georges, 59E59, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Urban Stages, Classical Theatre of Harlem, Perishable Theater, INTAR, SPF Summer Play Festival, The Puerto Rican Traveling Theatre, Henry Street Settlement, among others. Her play, 3 To a Session: A Monster’s Tale won Best Play at the 2005 Downtown Urban Theater Festival at the Cherry Lane and received its international premiere at Teatro Coribantes in San Juan, PR. Her solo show, Dos Mujeres (2 Women), was presented as part of the 10th Annual soloNOVA Arts Festival produced by terraNOVA Collective. She’s been a featured playwright in the bilingual theatre arts publication, OLLANTAY. Her plays Devil Land, Ghost Light, Lazarus Disposed, 3 To a Session: A Monster’s Tale are published through Broadway Play Publishing and Spirit Sex was selected as part of the short plays anthology THE BEST TEN-MINUTE PLAYS OF 2010 published by Smith and Kraus. Her play, Devil Land will receive its Midwest premiere by Urban Theater Company in Chicago in spring 2014.

THE FINALISTS

PUPPET MAN by Andrew Black – In the early 2000’s, the warden at North Central Correctional Institute in Marion, Ohio authorized a puppet theater program for children visiting their fathers at the facility. This play is inspired by real-life events and the inmates who started the puppet theater.

Andrew Black changed his life by re-locating to Athens, Ohio to pursue graduate studies in playwriting at Ohio University. His thesis play, Puppet Man was accepted into the National Puppetry Conference at the O’Neill Theatre Center. He has co-written or written seven full-length plays and many short plays. Most of them have been produced.

WITCHES VANISH by Claudia Barnett – In a series of stylized, highly visual vignettes employing puppetry, poetry, and surrealism, the weird sisters from Macbeth explore the stories of women who disappear, whether by choice or force. Inspired by history, astronomy, and Shakespeare, Witches Vanish examines the nature of change and the value of human life.

Claudia Barnett’s plays have been produced regionally as well as in NYC. Awards and commissions include the Distinguished Creative Activity Award (Middle Tennessee State University, 2012), Semi‐finalist, Princess Grace Playwriting Fellowship (Princess Grace Foundation, 2010), Finalist, 10th Annual EstroGenious Festival (Manhattan Theatre Source, 2009); Residencies include Downstage Left Playwright Residency, Stage Left Theatre Chicago, Ingram New Works Playwright Residency, and Tennessee Repertory Theatre. Witches Vanish received a workshop at LeapFest 9 at Stage Left Theatre in Chicago.

SUNDAY EN LA CASA DE GRANMA by Chris Longo – Longo takes us on a wild ride in a pedicab decorated with Che Guevarra’s portrait deep into a far-off world of Music, Magic, and Mystery in Havana.

Chris Longo is a New York-born playwright who has lived in Hawaii, Los Angeles, Monte Carlo, Italy, and now Seattle after a twenty-five year residence in Argentina working as a professor of literature and theater, and artistic director of the bi-lingual Buenos Aires Cabaret Theatre. He is a three-time MultiStages New Works Finalist. Other awards: Nantucket Short Play Competition, National Repertory Foundation Award, John Golden Award for Creative Writing, and three Office of Advanced Drama Research nominations. He published a science fiction novel, The Last Gene, in the US, and a bi-lingual edition of his play Abracadabra in Argentina. During his Los Angeles residence, he developed a KCET Public Television project, Aztecs in a Field of Flowers funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, Footprints of the Pheasant in the Snow (American-Chinese co-production for Tower Film Corporation), and Bugatti on the life of Ettore Bugatti for John Travolta Productions (Orion Pictures). Currently a member of Northwest Playwrights Alliance in Washington, his play Little Voices will receive a reading workshop at Seattle Repertory Theater this fall. His play, I’m Outa Here! is scheduled for a production in Los Angeles in 2014.

JANUARY by Paula Cizmar – is a play about two mothers (the mother of a child who was murdered, and the mother of a child who is a murderer), the media exploitation of tragedies, and gun control.

Paula Cizmar’s plays aim to discover a poetic way to explore human issues and are concerned with the way stories get told in a culture and who gets left out of the discussion. She wrote SEVEN – a documentary play about human rights –with Catherine Filloux, Gail Kriegel, Carol Mack, Ruth Margraff, Anna Deavere Smith, and Susan Yankowitz. (Published by Dramatists Play Service), which has received performances around the world. Awards include Center for Scholarly Technology 2012 C3 Grant; 2011 Creative Capital Fund Grant, National Endowment for the Arts Consortium Grant (for Seven); National Endowment for the Arts Playwriting Fellowship; DramaLogue Critics Award for Outstanding Playwriting; Susan Smith Blackburn Literary Prize (Runner-up/Special Commendation); Rockefeller Foundation International Residency at Bellagio, Italy; Jerome Foundation Commission/ Women’s Theatre Project of Minnesota; O’Neill National Playwrights Conference; Sundance Playwrights Lab; Envision at Bard. 

2011 | New Works Festival

¡CENOTE!

By Isabella Russell-Ides, directed by Lorca Peress; with Jen Anaya, Joshua Torrez, Gabriel Gutierrez, Fidel Vicioso, Miguel Sierra, Laura Lebron-Rojas, Robmariel Olea, Denia Brache, Lillian Rodriguez

This love story slips between the portals of the past and the present, and takes us on a timeless and exciting journey.

ISABELLA RUSSELL-IDES, winner of Echo Theatre’s Big Shout Out 2010 (The Early Education of Conrad Eppler), Nora’s Playhouse, NYC Outstanding New Play 2009 (Leonard’s Car), DFW Critics Forum Best New Play 2008 (Coco & Gigi). Lawson Taitte: “A tour de force…ingenius, proof that once is not enough.” Mark Lowry: “More significant than any new work by a local playwright…in my nine years of attending festivals.” Alexandra Bonafield: “Brilliant…the charmed audience holds its collective breath.” In 2009 the playwright’s inter-racial romance The Big Bend opened simultaneously in NYC (Estrogenius) and L.A. (TowneStreet). In 2010, The International Center For Women Playwrights selected Seventeen Tiaras and Pagan Babe for “Babes And Beginnings (Mother/Daughter monologues)” Volume I. Also a published poet and essayist, this post-historical Queen of Spain is still looking for the new world and she sees signs everywhere.

REMEMBRANCE

By Jeffrey Harper, directed by Robert Kalfin; with Sam Guncler, Jason Collins, Ylfa Edelstein, Michael Lawrence Eisenstein, Michael-Kennan Miller, Natalie Mosco, Larry Pine, Joseph Urla

An imaginative and expressionistic meditation on memory, where three friends encounter the savant Solomon Sherashevsky as they desperately attempt to survive Stalin’s Terror and make life and death choices about who and what they will choose to remember.

JEFFREY HARPER: In the Valley of the Shadow, a true-crime drama with gospel music (winner Playwrights First Award, readings in NYC and Los Angeles w/Tim Daly and Andrew McCarthy); My Mariners, co-written with Damon Dimarco (2004 Sundog Theatre); If You Could See: The Alice Austen Story, book and lyrics by Harper, Louis Tucci composer (NYC 2011); Eden, about Rwandan genocide (readings at Jermyn Street Theatre in London, NYC w/ Tony nominee Jayne Atkinson and David Margulies); Borderlines, a political thriller (readings in NYC and Los Angeles w/Bruce Davison and Richard Portnow; optioned by Zuckerman Entertainment Film). Harper is a past playwright-in-residence at New River Dramatists in Healing Springs, NC, was awarded a Canada Council playwriting grant for A Cross for Vimy Ridge, a drama about WWI veterans; and is a graduate of Harvard University where he was awarded the Eliot Director’s Bowl. heatre Representation: Marta Praeger at Robert Freedman Dramatic Agency; Film/TV: Jeffrey Thal of Ensemble Entertainment.

LITTLE VOICES

By Chris Longo, directed by Tea Alagic; with Richarda Abrams, Alec Beard, Michele LaRue, Christiana Nelson, Anna O’Donoghue, Keoni Scott

An Evening of Dreams and Poetry with the Absolutely Fabulous Katherine Mansfield in a fusion play that charts the brief life of the early 20th Century feminist short story writer.

Chris Longo born and raised in the US, has lived in Italy, Latin America, and was been a permanent resident of Argentina for twenty years, where he teaches, writes, and works in theatre and film. His plays have been produced in NYC, Hawaii, Los Angeles and Argentina: The Assassin’s Notebook; Abracadabra; The Yankee Doodles Blues; The Street of Dark Shops; Machu Picchu; A Tango for Two Women; Piccola Memoria; Saturday Night at the Thundering Hooves Motel; Take Off Those Wings, Faye Seraphim; I Hear Ya Knockin’ But Ya Can´t Come In; White Tennis Shoes. Memberships: Theatre West, The Group Theatre, First Stage, Actors Studio West, and the Ensemble Studio Theatre, Writers Guild Of America, West And Actors Equity. AWARDS, HONORS: Nantucket Short Play Contest Winner (2nd) 2005, 2009; MultiStages New Works Playwriting Contest (Finalist); The National Repertory Foundation Award; Office Of Advanced Drama Research Selection (Three Times); The Peter Pauper Press Prize; The John Golden Award For Creative Writing. Films: Adventure in the Andes (Translation and adaptation of screenplay originally entitled Magic Week, KCET Public Television; Aztecs in a Field of Flowers (developed for public television, funded by the National Endowment for the Arts.); Footprints of the Pheasant in the Snow (American-Chinese co-production filmed in Mainland China, Tower Film Corporation, a division of Cyrus Eaton Enterprise); Bugatti (writer/developer project on the life of Ettore Bugatti, John Travolta Productions, division of Orion Pictures).

2009 | New Works Festival

EMPIRE OF THE TREES

by Adam Kraar, directed by Giovanna Sardelli; with Quincy Dunn-Baker, Sanjiv Jhaveri, Annie Purcell, David Sajadi, Sarah Garza

Deborah and her foreign correspondent husband are a young American couple living in New Delhi in 1963. A relationship with an Indian bookseller leads Deborah to discover a mysterious spiritual connection to ancient Indian myth, but myth spills into reality in this powerful, political, and poetic piece.
ADAM KRAAR is a playwright whose work includes New World Rhapsody (Manhattan Theatre Club commission); The Spirit House (finalist, Actors Theatre of Louisville Humana Festival; premiered at Performance Network of Ann Arbor); The Abandoned El (Illinois Theatre Center; Urban Stages reading); Storm In The Iron Box (National Play Award runner-up), and The Lost Cities of Asher (New River Dramatists fellowship). His work has been produced and developed by Primary Stages, N.Y. Stage and Film, N.Y. Shakespeare Festival, Ensemble Studio, Theatreworks U.S.A, Rude Mechanicals, H.B. Playwrights Theatre, Geva Theatre, Bloomington Playwrights Project and others. Awards: Sewanee Writers’ Conference, Inge Center for the Arts fellowship, Millay Colony (Berilla Kerr fellowship), Southeastern Theatre Conference, Manhattan Theatre Club playwriting fellowship; MultiStages 2007 New Works Finalist. M.F.A., Columbia University. Plays published by Dramatic, Applause and Smith & Kraus. Adam grew up in India, Thailand, Singapore and the U.S. www.adamkraar.com

AIN’T ETHIOPIA

by Michael Bettencourt, directed by Elfin Vogel; with Sandra Berrios, Freedome Bradley, Carlton Byrd, David L. Carson, Bruce Faulk, Dennis Fox, Bryant Mason, Douglas Taurel, Afton Williamson, Natasha Yannacañedo

After Jesse Colton’s wife is lynched in Mississippi for allegedly being a communist, he escapes to Harlem, joins a revolutionary movement and heads to Spain to fight Franco. Step back in time to the 1930s in this passionate, bilingual play that will keep you on the edge of your seat!

MICHAEL BETTENCOURT is an award-winning playwright and screenwriter, and monthly columnist for Scene4, an online arts journal. He has received awards for 17 plays for stage and screen, including Ostrander Award (Memphis TN) for Best Original Script); Silver Medal in the Pinter Review Prize for Drama; Winner, Maxim Mazumdar New Play Competition – Alleyway Theatre, Buffalo NY; Best Play in the 7th Annual Turnip Theatre 15-Minute Play Festival; Winner of the Boston Theater Works BTW Unbound Festival of New Plays; Winner of the American Alliance of Theatre and Education Unpublished Playreading Project; Winner, Eric Bentley New Play Competition of the New Phoenix Theatre of Buffalo, NY; Region II Finalist in the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival; Finalist in the Lamia Ink International One-Page Play Competition; Finalist, Sundance screenplay competition; Finalist, Filmmakers Screenplay Competition; and others. All of Michael’s scripts are at www.m-bettencourt.com. Many thanks to his wife, Maria-Beatriz.

DANCING WITH ABANDON

by Karen Hartman and Phil Lebovits; directed by Vince Pesce, music director Mark Hartman; with Danny Beiruti, Sandy Binion, Debra Cardona, Zachary Clause, Natalie Charle Ellis, John Haggerty, Karla Mosley, Ronica Reddick, Alison Scamarella

Opera diva Alice Silverstein (the "Oprah of Opera"), is receiving a Kennedy Center Honor when her abandoned, drunk, teenage son Dwyane, crashes onto the stage triggering a scandal hat brings this diva down. See Alice rise and fall, and rise again, in this one-of-a-kind rock ‘n opera fusion.

KAREN HARTMAN (Co-writer, Composer) is a comedy writer/performer, composer, lyricist and librettist. She began as an opera singer, winning the prestigious Metropolitan Opera Audition on the West Coast. Unable to keep a straight face with opera, she wrote a stand up act and entered the comedy world. One of the first female comediennes, she was a regular at The Comedy Store in Los Angeles for ten years, and developed a one and a half woman show, Diva Takes a Dive which toured nationwide. Writing/ Music credits include HBO Comedy Specials, Showtime, and nationally syndicated television. She appeared and starred in movies and television series, and is a member of The Dramatists Guild, National Board of Review, AEA, SAG and AFTRA. She is winner of Caroline’s Comedy Competition, “The Funniest Woman in America,” and L.A. First Class as “The Best of the Best.” Karen lives and laughs with her husband in NYC. www.dancingwithabandon.com
PHIL LEBOVITS (Co-writer) has been a comedy writer for over 20 years. Credits include The Dennis Mille Show, Comic Strip Live, and working with Jason Alexander on such TV projects as “The Whitey Show” and “Liquid Soap.” A graduate of Syracuse University, Phil founded Guilty Children, one of Boston’s most successful comedy troupes. Following his stint with the group, Phil wrote sixteen comedy murder mystery shows that have been produced in over 40 cities. As a musician and lyricist, Phil wrote the opening song “Shop Til I Drop” for the movie The Debtors starring Michael Caine and Randy Quaid. He’s currently developing two reality series with BBC America.  

2007 | New Works Festival

THE STORMS OF DOLPHINA

by Mary Fengar Gail, directed by Lorca Peress

On the Caribbean Island of Dolphina, exiled marine biologists Gwendolyn and Marlin Welles await the birth of their daughter. No one knows why the expectant Gwendolyn’s skin has a silvery glow or why she consumes live fish from the aquarium until an ultrasound reveals her secret. Enter a strange new world that explores the future consequences of global warming, toxic oceans, motherhood and the magic of voodoo.

MARY FENGAR GAIL’S plays include Drink Me, Opaline, and Devil Dog Six. She has had plays developed at the Utah Shakespearean Festival, the New York Stage and Film Company, and the Eugene O’Neill National Playwrights Conference. Full productions were performed at the InterAct Theatre of Philadelphia, the New Jersey Repertory Company, the Seanachai Theatre of Chicago, and Theatre Conspiracy of Florida. Ms. Gail is a recipient of the Arnold Weissberger Award administered by New Dramatists, the National Children’s Theatre Award, and the Playwrights First Award. She recently received commissions from New Jersey Repertory, the Salt Lake Acting Company, South Coast Repertory, and the National New Play Network, as well as a playwriting fellowship from the California Arts Council.

FREEDOM HIGH

by Adam Kraar, directed by Gregory Simmons, with Katie Atcheson, Rosalyn Coleman, Leland Gantt, Dion Graham, Peter Handy, Jake Myers, Kevin Orton, Franny Silverman

June 1964: Black Civil Rights workers teach non-violent tactics to hundreds of white volunteers en route to Mississippi to help register blacks to vote. Jessica, a young white volunteer, has no idea how dangerous ─ emotionally and physically ─ the project will be until she falls in love with a young black Civil Rights worker and three workers disappear in Mississippi.

ADAM KRAAR’S plays include New World Rhapsody (Manhattan Theatre Club commission); The Spirit House (finalist, Actors Theatre of Louisville Humana Festival; premiered at Performance Network of Ann Arbor); The Abandoned El (Illinois Theatre Center); Storm In The Iron Box (National Play Award runner-up), and The Lost Cities of Asher (New River Dramatists fellowship). Plays produced and developed at: Primary Stages, N.Y. Stage and Film, N.Y. Shakespeare Festival, Ensemble Studio, Theatreworks U.S.A, Rude Mechanicals, H.B. Playwrights Theatre, Geva Theatre, Bloomington Playwrights Project and others. Awards: Sewanee Writers’ Conference, Inge Center for the Arts fellowship, Millay Colony (Berilla Kerr fellowship), Southeastern Theatre Conference, Manhattan Theatre Club playwriting fellowship. M.F.A., Columbia University. Plays published by Dramatic, Applause and Smith & Kraus. Adam grew up in India, Thailand, Singapore and the U.S. Visit www.adamkraar.com

HOWARD’S HAND: A HISTORIC FANTASTICAL

by Nick Zagone, directed by Jose Zayas, with Pete Barker, Nicole Becker, Thursday Farrar, John Fitzgibbon, Maurice Peress, Peter Schuyler, Paul Siemens, Monica Steuer, Ed Trucco, Robert B. Watson

In this mythical tale told with music, dancing, and puppetry, a Soviet submarine sinks off the coast of Hawaii and President Nixon relies on Howard Hughes’ brilliance and money to raise the sub and their spiraling careers. Aided by an aging starlet and subservient Mormon counsel, Nixon gains access to the ailing, drug addled Hughes, and the rest is history, or is it?

NICK ZAGONE’S plays have been enjoyed throughout the US and the world. Awards include: Mark A. Klein Playwriting Award, Artistic Director’s Achievement Award by San Fernando Valley Theatre League Alliance, Los Angeles Ovation Award Nomination, Fulton Opera House Award, JAW Festival Selection, Northwest Playwright’s Series Finalist, Seattle Times Footlight Award, Prospect Theatre Project Competition Winner, Northwest Playwright’s Series Finalist and Winner of Lamia Ink! One-Page Play Competition. Nick is the Founding Member of Open Circle Theatre in Seattle WA. Theatre Companies include: Cal-State Stanislaus, Stage 3, No-Shame Theatre, Mark Taper Forum, Seattle Repertory Theatre, ACT & Printer’s Devil. Commissions include: Sierra Repertory Theatre, Iron Ring Theatre and Prospect Theatre. Nick is also a screenwriter and is published by Dramatic Publishing and Black Box Press.

2005 | New Works Festival

FEAR OF A FUHRER

by Abi Basch, directed by Tania I. Kirkman, with Brendan Bradley, Thursday Farrar, Jessica Hedrick, René Keller, Francisco G. Rivela, Rebecca White

Fear of a Führer is a performance collage of the unexpected, told through song, puppetry, poetry, and a mix of theatrical genres. A cacophony of sound, music, and historical dialogue is interwoven through a love story of searchers for peace in a time of war.

Abi Basch is a playwright and director whose plays and performance installations have been presented at the Bay Area Playwrights Festival, Brave New Works in Atlanta, Fusebox, PulseWorks, and Out of Ink in Austin, Best Feet Forward in Minneapolis, hotINK! in New York City, and Transeuropa in Hildesheim, Germany. She’s received three Austin Critics Table award nominations, been a finalist for the Weissberger Award at Williamstown and for PlayLabs at the Playwrights’ Center in Minneapolis, and received Best of Fest in Fronterafest. She has developed plays and performance installations collaboratively with Live Action Set and the Soap Factory in Minneapolis, and Refraction Arts Project and Physical Plant Theater in Austin. Abi is a core member of Austin Script Works, has received two Jerome Fellowships from the Playwrights’ Center, and a Fulbright Fellowship for research on collaborative physical-theater methods in Germany. She holds an AB in History from Brown University and an MFA in Playwriting from The University of Texas at Austin.

WHAT COMES NEXT

by Pamela A. Popeson, directed by Lorca Peress, with Mauricio Bustamante, Joe Cross, Veronica Cruz, Charles Everett, Marin Gazzaniga, Raquel Gutiérrez, Daniel Hicks, Ward Nixon, Dan Teachout, Lane Trippe

What Comes Next treks cross-country in a timelessly traveling wagon train of abstract realism. On the trail we meet Ulysses S. Grant, Marilyn Monroe, and Charlie Parker Atlas. With humor and pathos, we are forced to examine our country, people, and endless struggles.

Pamela A. Popeson’s first full-length play, The Bigger Thing, premiered Off-Off Broadway at the Red Room (Born Slippery Productions, May 2002), it was optioned by True Love Productions for Off-Broadway following performances at Fringe ‘02 in Edinburgh, Scotland at the Bedlam Theatre. Other full-lengths: Miss Weekends (developed and read at The Living Room in New York City, January 2004), and What Comes Next, began during a granted residency at the Norcroft Writer Retreat for Women in Minnesota, 2004. One-acts: The Moat (premiered at the New Orleans Center for Contemporary Art as “Featured Artist” in Dramarama 12 Performing Arts Festival, 2005), The Spy (8 Minute Madness Festival, Turtleshell Productions, NYC 2004), Up on the Beach written for Terrepin Productions, 2004, The Climber (New Orleans Dramarama 11), and Alas Poor Spike. Popeson is a frequent contributor to NYARTS Magazine and COVER Magazine, writing articles on art and art culture. She is a member of the Dramatist Guild of America and The Playwright’s Center.

THE TORMENT

by Nicole Quinn, directed by Chris Silva, with Joe Ambrose, Denise Collins, Tamara Green, Leanne Hutchison, Adam LeFevre, Melissa Leo, Michael Patterson, Shawn Randall, Mindy Raymond, Seret Scott, Arie Thompson

The Torment takes us back to a time of blacks who owned slaves, concubines, and the fight for freedom in turbulent antebellum New Orleans. The mysterious and dramatic plot twists and turns until it reveals tormented truths buried under the skin.

Nicole Quinn has written for HBO, Showtime, the networks and Jodie Foster’s Egg Pictures. Her play, War at Home, written with award-winning writer Nina Shengold and some 40 high school students and community members, is published by Playscripts, Inc. and in the anthology Under Thirty, Vintage Originals. Playscripts will publish Odds & Ends, a collection of Quinn’s short plays in 2005, and Information in 2006. Information was a 2005 Samuel French Off-Off Broadway Play Festival participant. She is a member of Actors & Writers. Quinn’s current endeavors are to be found at http://www.racingdaylightthemovie.com, featuring Melissa Leo and David Strathairn.

2003 | New Works Festival

MACHU PICCHU

by Chris Longo, directed by Elowyn Castle with Mary Albertoli, Sandra Berrios, Rudolfo Diaz, Shawn Elliott, Stephen Innocenzi, Said Jimenez, Vivienne Jurado, Alicia Kaplan, Miguel Sierra

Skeletons of a man and woman locked in an erotic embrace are unearthed by an American archaeologist in 1930’s Peru in this thrilling mystery of secrets, spirits, and love.

CHRIS LONGO is New York born and raised, and received a BA from Queens College and an MGA in Playwriting from the University of Hawaii. He has spent his life teaching, writing and working in amateur and academic theatre. He has lived in Hawaii, Los Angeles, Monte Carlo, Florence, Rome and Lima, Peru. He currently resides in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he writes, teaches and performs in English language theatre. Awards include John Golden Award, Peter Pauper Press Prize, National Repertory Theatre Foundation Award, and the Office of Advance Drama Research Sponsorship. As a film writer, he has written for John Travolta Productions (Orion), Fata Morgana Films (Argentina), KCET Public TV (Los Angeles), and others.

HOTEL SPLENDID

by Lavonne Mueller, directed by James B. Nicola with Eric Bondoc, Marissa Ignacio, Valorie Niccore, Linh-Dan Pham, Stephanie Wang, Nancy Wu

This poetical play of comfort women in WWII Japan was inspired by the author’s interviews of Korean women abducted as teenagers and forced into prostitution. Lavonne Mueller is the recipient of numerous awards, including NEA and Rockefeller fellowships

LAVONNE MUELLER is the author of numerous plays, including Letters To A Daughter From Prison about Nehru and daughter Indira (First International Festival of the Arts in NYC, and on tour in India); Violent Peace (London production; Time Out Magazine "Critics Choice"); Little Victories (Bryna Wortman directed at the Women’s Project; Riho Mitachi directed at Theatre Classic Productions, Tokyo); The Only Woman General (Bryna Wortman directed at the Women’s Project, starring Colleen Dewhurst; Edinburgh Festival "Pick of the Fringe"). Awards include Roger Stevens Playwriting Award, a Guggenheim Grant, a Rockefeller Grant, three National Endowment for the Arts Grants, a Fulbright to Argentina, an Asian Culture Council Grant to Calcutta, and a U.S. Friendship Commission Grant to Japan. Ms. Mueller is a Woodrow Wilson Scholar and a Lila Wallace Reader’s Digest Writing Fellow. Her plays and monologues are published by Dramatist Play Service, Samuel French, Applause Books, Performing Arts Journal, Theatre Communication Group, Heinemann Books and Baker’s Plays. Her play Hotel Splendid was in a 2001 festival with Boston Theatre Works, and received the 2001 award for outstanding drama opposing war and injustice, given by Peace Writing, directed by Dick Bennett, and sponsored by the consortium of peace, research, and development (COPRED). Ms. Mueller also taught at Columbia University for five years.

THE BREASTS OF FORTUNA

by Mary Fengar Gail, directed by Scott C. Embler, with Sabrina Avila, Eugenie Bagur, Iresol L. Cardona, Scott Evans, Lea Michele, Francisco G. Rivela, Julie Tolivar, Amirh Vann, Anita Velez Mitchell

On a fictitious Argentine island, a widower father of an infant with a defective heart decrees that she be raised in a paradise where all language is sung, all yearnings fulfilled and all men are absent.

MARY FENGAR GAIL plays include: Drink Me, Fuschia, Jambulu, The Garden on F Street and The Wormwood Chronical. She has had readings, workshops and productions at Sundance Institute, The Eugene O’Neill National Playwrights Conference, the Lark Theatre, the InterAct Theatre of Philadelphia, and the Kitchen Dog Theatre of Dallas. Her awards include Arnold Weissberger Award (New Dramatists), the TheatreFest Playwrighting Competition, the National Children’s Theatre Festival Award, Stanley Drama Award (Wagner College), Santa Fe Performing Arts Co. Playwriting Competition, Crossing Borders Playwriting Contest (Wharf Rat Productions), and the Rte 66 Great American Playwriting Competition (Vortex Theatre, New Mexico). She has received commissions from South Coast Repertory of Costa Mesa and the National New Play Network; and a playwriting fellowship from the California Arts Council.

2001 | New Works Festival

THE ELEPHANT AND THE DOVE

by Naomi Lazard, directed by Robert Kalfin, with Veronica Cruz, Tovah Feldshuh, Clark Huggins, Jane Lowe, Valerie Niccore, Francisco G. Rivela, Stephanie Wang, Richard B. Watson

The Elephant And The Dove by NY poet and NEA grantee, Naomi Lazard, is the story of Frida Kahlo, a woman whose life is a constant struggle for survival of the spirit, the flesh, and as an artist in relation to Diego Rivera, her husband, tormentor, and deepest love; accompanied by a plot in which contemporary moviemakers create a film that will exploit her life story.

NAOMI LAZARD started writing as a poet in a workshop with John Logan at the University of Chicago. She has published six books of poetry, a book of translations of the poetry from the Urdu of Faiz Ahmed Faiz (the beloved 20th century Pakistani poet) (Princeton University Press); a book for children (Greenwillow), short stories, screenplays and is the author of “The Elephant and the Dove.” Awards and Grants: Ann Stanford Memorial Award (1998); National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship for Translation (of Faiz Ahmed Faiz from the Urdu) (1996); Ordinances selected as best book by Writers’ Choice (1985); Traveling and Writing Grant; University of Montana (1981); National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship (Poetry) (1981); CAPS Grant: New York State Council on the Arts (Poetry) (1979); Ferguson Award; Friends of Literature in Chicago for The Moonlit Upper Deckerina (1978); di Castagnola Award; The Poetry Society of America for Ordinances manuscript (1977); 1976: FELS Award for poems from Ordinances (1976); CAPS Grant: New York State Council on the Arts (Poetry) (1975) Ms. Lazard is working on a new comedic play entitled “With all Due Respect.” In addition to writing, she is a graphic artist, and very involved with the Hamptons International Film Festival. A Dramatist Guild member.

LIONS ON THE NILE

by Michael Murphy, directed by James Cunningham with William Joseph Brookes , Stacie J. Dotson, Mark Lien, Jane Lowe, Stina Nielson, Jerry Rago, Ken Wiesinger

Lions On The Nile by Michael Murphy (a recent NYC transplant via San Francisco) is an epic docudrama set in 1855, that follows the historic expeditions of Captain Sir Richard F. Burton and Captain John Speke as they search Africa for the source of the Nile, and the scandalous relationship that develops between them.

MICHAEL MURPHY "Lions on the Nile" received a staged reading at FirstStage, a new play development group founded by the Sundance Theatre Lab, and a Brown Foundation Development grant for historical plays. Michael is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society in London, which sponsored the Burton-Speke expeditions dramatized in the play. His play, "The Debating Society,” appeared at Denver Center Theatre’s TheatreFest this past June, directed by Randall Myler. "The Legendary St. Vincent Design" appeared at the Wings Theatre in New York this past July/August, directed by Jules Ochoa. Both plays were developed at The Playwrights Lab in San Francisco, a playwrights collective that received a NEA grant for new play development. Other plays: "Absolute Reality" (Nat Horner Theater, NYC), "The Book of Jeremy" (White-Willis New Play Award; Finalist, Jerome Fellowship; Finalist, Julie Harris Beverly Hills Theatre Guild Festival); "My Mother Danced with Frank Sinatra" (Finalist, ALR New Play Search), "The Hatmaker" (Finalist, Key West New Play Festival) and "Like Noah Rain" (Blue Bear Theatre). Screenplays: the short film, "Time’s Arrow" (1996), and the feature, "The Light of Day" (Honorable Mention, Monterey Film Festival and currently under option for production in 2001). Michael moved to NYC from San Francisco last year. A Dramatist Guild member.

SURF

by David Muschell, directed by Elowyn Castle with Gena Bardwell, William Joseph Brookes, Milton Carney, Daniel Hicks, Mark Lien, Stina Nielson, Lorca Peress, Carolyn Tenney

SURF by Georgian playwright David Mushcell is a two-act play that brings the internet to the stage through a contemporary chat room, and the emotional relationships that result. The play presents an original concept: the actual chat room dialogue is projected onto the stage.

DAVID MUSCHELL’s work as a playwright has resulted in four national and five regional awards, including the Southeast Playwrights’ Competition, the Little Nashville Competition sponsored by Feedback Theatrebooks, and the Stage3 New Play Competition. Ten of his plays have been published. His most widely produced, “Mixed Emotions,” has been seen in twenty-three states, Canada, and Japan. He also writes nonfiction, including two books on word origins, Where in the Word? and What in the Word? He is an assistant professor at Georgia College & State University in Milledgeville, Georgia, where he teaches English, speech, and creative writing. Mr. Muschell just completed a one-act comedy, “Muriel and Abby Find Irving,” about death and friendship; and two new plays will be coming out this fall from Baker’s Plays of Boston: “The Jesus Trip” and “The Golden Nest.” A Dramatist Guild member.

THE CHARITY FISH FRY TINIKLING SHOW

by C. Rusch, directed by Lorca Peress, with Gena Bardwell, Hadley Boyd, Daniel Hicks, Everton Lawrence, Jane Lowe , Francisco Rivela, Miguel Sierra,

The Charity Fish Fry Tinikling Show by South Carolinian C. Rusch, is an absurdist romantic comedy with a comedia del arte sense. This one-act play weaves a wacky romantic story which includes a show, a botched romance, a philanderer, a professor, a sex pot, a fortune teller, buried treasure, a magic tree, and more with tinikling dance (a dance performed with wooden dowels that are rhythmically beaten on the floor).

CHRISTINE RUSCH has been a founding artistic director of a playwrights theatre in Greenville, NC; with the NC Humanities Committee, she created the educational program Human Values in New Works for the Stage; was a founding board member of the NC Writers Network, and is a 2000 Drama Fellow of the SC Academy of Authors. Studies include: John Ford Noonan, Arthur Giron, Bill Hardy, Harvena Richter, M.Ed. Temple Univ. Fellowships/Admin: The VA Center for the Creative Arts, Dorset Colony House, Southern Appalachian Repertory Theatre, Mars Hill, Hambidge Center for the Creative Arts and Sciences, Rabun Gap, The Millay Colony for the Arts, various Artist in Residencies; Playwrights Fund of NC, Best Lunch Theatre Ever, and Southeastern Playwrights Conference. Productions/ Awards: NC Black Repertory, Performance Network, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Actors Theatre of Louisville National Playwrighting Competition (Semifinalist), Works by Women, Southeastern Theatre Conference, Love Creek Short Play Fest, Theatre Works, New Ensemble Actors Theatre, Turnip Theatre Fest, and numerous others. Publications and anthologies include Café La Mama Issue of Lamia Ink! Upcoming production: “Trane: Behind the Blues” (Dallas; Oslo); and “Sarajevo” (Cauchemar Literary Journal). Dramatists Guild and The Authors League member.