2017-18 Script Development Series “BEIGE”

Written by Desi Moreno-Penson
Directed by Lorca Peress
Dramaturg, A.J. Muhammad

Beige has received an Honorable Mention on The Kilroys List for 2017: The Kilroy’s List, and was a finalist at the O’Neill’s National Theatre Conference, and the winner of Arizona Theatre Company’s 2016 National Latino Playwrights Award.

Beige received informal table readings with Desi and A.J. on the play’s development. Desi’s play “Comida de Puta” won the MultiStages New Works Contest.

Beige is a surreal tale of self-identity and the sometimes schizophrenic effects of post-colonialism. Set in 2001 after the tragedy of 9/11, the play tells the story of Soledad Iglesias, a Nuyorican journalist who finds herself caught between the reality of her Jewish fiancée and the ideals of the Puerto Rican Nationalist, Lolita Lebron. Existing at the crossroads of history, reality, and cultural imagination, Beige is a cautionary tale of race, Puerto Rican politics, and love. 

2016-17 Script Development Series – “ESAI’S TABLE”

ESAI’S TABLE

Written by Nathan Yungerberg   Directed by Lorca Peress

Featuring:  LaChrisha Brown, Dyllon Burnside, Brandon Gill, Marcel Spears, and Charles E. Wallace as Esai
Nichole Thompson-Adams reading Stage Directions

Two Readings:  Wed., November 16 at 3pm and Thurs., November 17 at 7pm (reception to follow)

Shetler Studios, PH1, 244 W. 54th Street.

Free Admission

RSVP: contact@multistages.org

We are thrilled to announce our next play in development, ESAI’S TABLE by Nathan Yungerberg. Esai’s Table was a 2016 O’Neill National Playwrights Conference semifinalist.

Esai’s Table follows the fantastic journey of three young black men on a mythical night sea atop a magical old table. Through cartoon animation and personal revelations, we learn why they’ve been chosen to navigate this trek across the unknown. Destiny meets eternity in this story of black lives, friendship, family, and love.

Nathan Yungerberg is a Brooklyn-based playwright. His plays include Esai’s Table, The Son of Dawn, Pousada Azul, Orchids, and Polka Dots and Brush Strokes. Nathan’s work has been developed or featured  by The Playwrights’ Center, The Brooklyn Museum, The Lorraine Hansberry Theater, Brava Theater, The Lark, The Fire This Time Festival, 48 Hours in Harlem, The National Black Theatre, The Hansberry Project, The National Black Theatre Festival, The Classical Theatre of Harlem, Blackboard Reading Series, The Dramatist Guild,  Flashpoint Theater, the August Wilson Red Door Project, New Venture Theater, The Brooklyn Generator and BBC Radio Afternoon Drama. Nathan is one of seven black playwrights commissioned by The New Black Fest for HANDS UP: 7 Playwrights, 7 Testaments. Awards and honors: The 2016 O’Neill National Playwrights Conference (Semifinalist), Ken Davenport 10-Minute Play Festival (Winner), 11th Annual InspiraTO Festival (Finalist), Blue Ink Playwrighting Award (Semifinalist), and PICK OF THE VINE 2016 at Little Fish Theatre (Semifinalist).

UPDATE: Esai’s Table will receive its Off-Broadway premiere at The Cherry Lane Theatre in 2020.

2016 Script Development Series – “JANUARY”

MultiStages Script Development Series
Presents a Swan Day Event celebrating Women in the Arts during Women’s History Month

JANUARY

A new play by Paula Cizmar, Directed by Lorca Peress
featuring Darlenis Duran, Russell Jordan* Candice Myers* Romy Nordlinger*

Video Consultant Christopher Marston; Tate Kenney and Keiza Tyson, assistants

*AEA members

Thursday, March 17, 2016 at 7PM
Shetler Studio, Penthouse 1
244 W. 54^th St. (between 8^th and Broadway)
FREE

JANUARY is a multimedia play about the effects of gun violence on our society. Paula Cizmar presents a shocking and emotive story set within the minds of the mothers of the 10 year-old victim and the 10 year-old killer.

When does public concern turn to obsession? When does media reporting become exploitation? Who is the victim?  What is our responsibility? Can we change the gun situation in the US?

JANUARY was nominated for the Kilroy List and is a MultiStages 2013 New Works Finalist. An earlier version of JANUARY was presented in the 2014 New Works Festival.

Playwright PAULA CIZMAR (Playwright) is a playwright whose work often combines poetry and politics. Her plays have been produced at Portland Stage, San Diego Rep, Playwrights Arena @LATC, the Jungle Theater, among others.  Plays include Candy & Shelley Go To the Desert, The Chisera, Still Life with Parrot & Monkey, Street Stories, and Salvage (work-in-progress) for which she received a TCG/Mellon Foundation On the Road grant. She is the recipient of an NEA grant and is one of the writers of the documentary play Seven, which has been translated into 20+ languages and produced in over 30 countries. She is an assistant professor of playwriting at USC. January and The Chisera were first Kilroy List Nominations. January was a MultiStages 2013 New Works Finalist.www.paulacizmar.com

1999 | VARIATIONS ON CHRISTOPHER STREET: Four Short Works for Five Tall Women

In Spring 1999, MultiStages produced a quartet of Dance/Theatre/Poetry pieces with choreographer Joan Murray at the Lark Studio Theatre.

Three pieces written by Lorca Peress: Broadway Bound, a spoken word piece on the IRT featuring dramatic percussive dance accompaniment and rhythmic verse; Sound Off, a comedic duet for tap dancer and opera singer vying for the stage; and Rock-A-Bye (Winner of the La Mia Ink! One-Page Play Contest), a solo dance with song where a woman abandons her baby. The fourth piece was a dance interpretation w/ text from the one-act Eugene O’Neill play, Before Breakfast.

Variations On Christopher Street was chosen for the Artists Embassy International Festival in San Francisco.

The Company featured actor/dancers Alison Courtney, Karen Millard, Zazel O’Garra and Lorca Peress, and opera singer Becky Holbrook. Joan Murray, Choreography, Amanda Ellis, Assistant Choreographer and Tap Director. 

1997 | MONTANA DREAMING

MultiStages made its debut in November 1997 with a bang! The same month Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski was arrested, MultiStages produced a workshop production of Montana Dreaming, a politically stirring three-act docudrama by Alex Gross loosely based on the infamous Unabomber.

Much attention was given to the play including a National Public Radio interview with Margot Adler and scenes from the show aired on All Things Considered as part of a Unabomber Special. Also, an article in the Sunday London Telegraph, November 9, 1997, by James Langton featured the MultiStages’ production; a television crew taped rehearsals for German television; and on opening night at The John Houseman Theatre, a bomb threat was made – it was only a threat, and the show went on as planned.

The Cast featured Valorie Niccore, Tom Humes, Michael Halata, Jane Lowe, Sarah Young, Tim Burke. 

2008-14 SCRIPT DEVELOPMENT SERIES – TEMPLE OF THE SOULS

A Brief Developmental History:

TEMPLE OF THE SOULS is a dramatic musical that began as an opera libretto written by Puerto Rican born playwright Anita Velez-Mitchell. During a return visit from NYC to her homeland, Anita went to the Camuy Caves. Water dripped from the cave stalactites and Anita envisioned she was hearing the tears of the indigenous Taino people who  had been enslaved and murdered by the Spaniards in the 15th-16th Centuries. Anita sat down and wrote the poem Totem Taino, which became the basis for the libretto. The original opera composer Joseph Lliso felt it would take ten years to complete the music and Anita was already 92 years old. She brought the libretto to Lorca Peress (her granddaughter) who felt it could be successful as a musical drama. Lorca and Anita began honing the script. They then contacted composers Dean Landon and Anika Paris (Anita’s granddaughter/Lorca’s sister) who had composed music for other MultiStages productions. Lorca asked Anika and Dean to write the Temple of the Souls theme song to Anita’s lyrics. The song was sensational and Anika and Dean were on board to compose their first musical. Temple has been a true labor of love. Together the four creators: Anita Velez-Mitchell, Lorca Peress, Anika Paris and Dean Landon have dedicated many years to this gorgeous and important piece that represents the three women’s heritage and culture.

This epic story of forbidden love explores the conflict between the Taínos (the indigenous people) and the Spaniards on the island of Puerto Rico in the 1500s. This multilingual (Spanish, English, Taino) musical tells the story of Amada and Guario, two young lovers in a forbidden union during the cultural wars between the Spaniards and the nearly extinct Tainos of Puerto Rico. Composers Landon and Paris are Platinum Award-winning songwriters; Anita Velez-Mitchell is a multi-award winning Puerto Rican poet and author. Bruce Baumer, Music Director has been with the project since 2010. Lorca Peress has produced and directed.

2008 First read-through – book only at La Tea
2010 Second read-through – with original music at Strasberg
2011 Third read through – Pearl Studios
2011 First Developmental Production at West End Theatre, NYC
2014 Second Developmental Production at Theatre for the New City, NYC
2017 Off-Broadway Production under a NYMF contract at Acorn Theatre, NYC – with additional book development by Lorca and Anika.

Awards: 2011 production received HOLA’s Zaldivar Award for Outstanding Production, Lighting, Choreography, and Music. 2014 NY Innovative Theater Nominations including Outstanding Production, Original Music, Original Script, Design and Best Lead Actress. 2013 and 2015 Two Taino Areitos for Anita Velez-Mitchell and Lorca Peress.

Visit the website for more information and updates on future productions:  www.templeofthesouls.com

In Memoriam

The artist Emelí Vando, whose beautiful artwork “Los Amantes de Sol y Luna” (Lovers of the Sun and the Moon), seen here graced all the publicity for Temple of the Souls has just passed away from an inoperable brain tumor. Emelí was in her early 60s, and was passionate about art and politics in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Her work touched us all, and she will forever be part of MultiStages.

The playwright and creator of Temple of the Souls, Anita Velez Mitchell, passed away in 2015 at the age of 99.

Anita Velez-Mitchell was a legend in the Puerto Rican and NYC literary and theater arts community. Anita was a performer, poet, writer, and journalist born in Vieques, Puerto Rico on February 21, 1916. She is the subject of the award-winning documentary, Anita Velez: Dancing Through Life, by her daughter, journalist and author Jane Velez-Mitchell, and will be featured in the upcoming documentary, Light Years, by Claire Panke. Anita received the Proclamation from the Governor’s Office of Puerto Rico at a memorial in her honor in September 2015, and the Proclamation from the City of New York in 2006 on her 90^th birthday. She was featured along with daughter Gloria Vando and granddaughter Anika Paris in the award-winning poetry book, “Woven Voices” (Scapegoat Press, Latino Book Award Finalist, available at Amazon.com). Her body of work is housed in the archives of the Puerto Rican Diaspora Centro de Estudios Puertorriqueños at Hunter College in New York City.

Anita is holding her Taino Areito Award in Drama from the Taino Nation in the Bronx. 

2011 Script Development Series – “APPETITE”

A New Play by Arden Kass
Reading Directed by Lorca Peress
Music Composed by Rob Redei

October 3rd, 2011, Pearl Studios

Starring Lynn Cohen*, Tovah Feldshuh*, Kathryn Layng*, with Mark Alhadeff*, Ron Cohen*, Molly Carden,* Mikel Sarah Lambert*, Anna O’Donough*, Marina Squerciati*, Susan Wallack*, Tracy Sallows.* Stage Directions: Romy Nordlinger.*

Pianist, Evan Closter

A WWII story about food, family and survival.

When a book of recipes written by Hana’s mother in Teresienstadt mysteriously finds its way into Hana’s hands decades later, it opens a doorway into the past she has struggled to put behind her.

2009-10 Script Development Series – SHADOWS

SHADOWS

By David Sard

featuring Richarda Abrams, Gena Bardwell, Matthew Carr, Oliver Conant, Karen Eilbacher, Brandon Kyle Goodman, Robert Kya-Hill, Kathryn Layng, Paul Notice II, Richard B. Watson

Step into the tormented caste-ridden world of Old Virginia on the eve of the Civil War. Behind the shadows is a world of secret relationships, intrigue, betrayal, and revolt, where brave young lovers dare to break the suffocating bonds of racist law and custom. This is a world where mothers learn to accept their own sisterhood by paying a terrible price in a past that still binds us all.

Presented at Primary Stages. 

2008 Script Development Series – BALD LIES, WILD CRIES & OTHER ACTS OF LOVE

BALD LIES, WILD CRIES AND OTHER ACTS OF LOVE
Written By Adam Kraar
featuring Angelica Torn, John Haggerty, Jenna Kalinowski, Bryant Mason, Kate Michaud

Somewhere between true love and madness is a world where deceit, illusion and obsession blend with reality. This collection of five plays ranges from spiky romantic comedy to wild surreal farce.

Presented at the Geraldine Page Salon in 2008. 

2007 Script Development Series – INSIDE OUTSIDE

INSIDE OUTSIDE
By Gena Bardwell

Producers Club and Theatre for the New City’s L.E.S. Festival.

featuring Richarda Abrams, Gena Bardwell, Adrian Bethea, Rasheila Daniels, Gil Deeble, Phil McGlaston, John Myers

What do you do when the words won’t come? Time stops, bonds shred, silence surrounds. Find your way home, my love, my friend. This is where Maime’s story begins in this love story of loss and family.

2001 Script Development Series – NOVEL

NOVEL
By Nick Bellitto
featuring Gena Bardwell, Michael Citrinitti, Peter Reznikoff
Developed from 2000-2001 and workshop readings presented at The Lark Studio Theatre
Full Production 2001 at HERE

In Winter 2001, MultiStages produced Novel by Nick Bellitto at HERE. Novel was developed by MultiStages in its Script Development Series between 2000 and 2001, and received several MultiStages staged readings at the Lark Studio Theatre. Novel was developed and directed by Lorca Peress.

This poetic play is portrait of a struggling artist who is forced to face his creative demons and the guilt over the death of his son as he creates his novel. This surreal memory piece incorporated stylistic movement and poetry. 

The Company featured: Peter Reznikoff, Gena Bardwell and Michael, Citriniti; Sets/Costumes, Mark Borders. Lorca Peress, Dramaturg.

Multidisciplinary collaborating artists were composers Anika Paris and Dean Landon. Partial funding for the Script Development Series was received from the N.W. Dible Foundation.