A Collection of Shiny Objects will present the world premiere of queerSpawn. This new play by Mallery Avidon will be directed by Jesse Geiger, starring Obie Award winner David Greenspan. Previews begin May 10 at HERE with opening slated for May 14.
When you've got two moms in a small town sometimes it's hard to believe that "It gets better". For this queerSpawn kid, freshman year of high school looks like it's only going to get worse. A scathing & humorous look at standing up to bullies, surviving high school, and finding the strength to keep going.
In addition to David Greenspan (who plays sex columnist and It Gets Better creator Dan Savage), queerSpawn also stars Noel Joseph Allain, J. Alexander Coe, Akeem Baisden Folkes, Chris Perfetti, and David Ryan West. The production features set by Carolyn Mraz (Target Margin), lighting by Natalie Robin (The Bad and the Better), costumes by Kerry Gibbons, and sound by Nathan Leigh (2 time IRNE Best Sound Design winner)
Mallery Avidon's plays include O Guru Guru Gura, Or Why I Don't Want To Go To Yoga Class With You (premiering at the Humana Festival this summer), Breaks & Bikes, Mary-Kate Olsen is In Love and Everyone They Knew Was Famous. Her work has been produced by Pavement Group, Target Margin Theater, On The Boards, angry BLVD and Williams College Summer Theater Lab and developed by Playwrights Horizons, BAPF, IRT, Seattle Repertory Theatre & New Century Theater Company. Ms. Avidon is an alum of the Soho Rep Writer/Director Lab, an affiliated artist with New Georges, an artistic associate of Pavement Group & Target Margin Theater, and co-curator of The Bushwick Starr's monthly reading series. She holds a BFA in Theater from Cornish College of the Arts and an MFA in Playwriting from Brown University.
Jesse Geiger is a Brooklyn based director and Co-Artistic Director of A Collection of Shiny Objects. He has directed shows for Ars Nova, The Adelaide Cabaret Festival in Australia, The Hangar Theatre & Fordham University among others and developed work with The Public Theatre's Emerging Writers Group and The American Repertory Theatre Institute. Recent projects include: Sex Tips For Straight Women From A Gay Man, The Servant of Two Masters, Introducing Molly Pope, and The Bacchae. His production of Fan-Boy was a finalist in the 2010 Samuel French Festival. He co-directed the world premiere of Funeral Wedding for the Strange Tree Group (Chicago Tribune, Best of "On The Fringe" 2006). 2009 Drama League Fellowship, 2010 New Directors New Works seed grant recipient and a 2011 Geva Theatre Center Directing Fellowship. Adjunct Faculty, Marymount Manhattan College. MFA in Directing, Brown University/Trinity Rep.
A Collection of Shiny Objects is a performance collective founded and led by Creative Producer Elizabeth R. English, Director Jesse Geiger and Composer Nathan Leigh, with a rotating group of collaborators and associate artists. They create live performance to explore the complexity of contemporary society and popular culture, especially representations of gender, sexuality, class and race. They are committed to blending performance disciplines: incorporating theater, music, dance, puppets, multimedia, and the deconstruction of the artifacts of popular culture. A Collection of Shiny Objects presented a concert version of their feminist/hipster/videogame rock musical, Darling, as part of Ars Nova's ANT Fest 2011 and produces an ongoing performance salon series, The Collections, at locations around Brooklyn. Their work has been supported by Women's Project, the Drama League, the Puffin Foundation and SPACE on Ryder Farm, among others.
This production is a part of the Sublet Series@HERE, HERE's curated rental program, which provides artist with subsidized space and equipment, as well as technical support.
queerSpawn runs May 10 - 19, Tuesday - Saturday at 7pm and Sunday at 2pm & 7pm. HERE Arts Center is located at 145 Avenue of Americas at Dominick Street, one block south of Spring Street (accessible from the C,E trains at Spring Street). The box office is open after 5pm on show days or 2 hours before any performance. Tickets are $18, available at 212-352-3101 or www.here.org.
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