HB Studio Announces 2020 Residencies

HB Studio, a legendary New York institution for theater training and practice, announced today the 12 recipients of its 2020 HB Rehearsal Space Residency and HB Playwrights Reading Series programs.

Both programs support practicing theater artists at various stages of their careers, granting recipients the opportunity to collaborate on experimental projects to be shared among peers and colleagues for constructive critical feedback and mutual growth.

The residencies and readings were awarded to theater artists of merit, selected by HB Studio's Artistic Council through a competitive application process open to the New York City theater community. The programs collectively received over 100 applications-almost double the number of applications from the previous year.

The HB Rehearsal Space Residency offers workspace to theater artists for two months each, culminating in public sharing of their creative works-in-progress. The HB Playwrights Reading Series provides playwrights each one evening for a staged reading in the HB Playwrights Theatre, followed by a talk-back with the audience.

This year's recipients represent an international array of artists and voices. The projects explore themes of identity, community, marginalization and empowerment, particularly those that stimulate communication and dialogue across genres, cultures and beliefs.

The 2020 HB Residency Recipients are:

"Untitled Whale Project" by Gwen Kingston, directed by Ashley Teague
Public showings: May 30 & 31, 2020 at 8:00p.m.

"Untitled Whale Project" invites a diverse group of female artists to try on the trappings and costumes of the American classic novel Moby Dick and ask themselves, and the audience: "Does this feel universal?" We embark on adventure: a boat full of seamen, all played by women, in pursuit of a giant sperm whale. Battling thunderstorms, whirlpools, boredom, toxic masculinity, and the occasional whale, our heroes Ishmael and Queequeg make their way around the world.

"Averno: Wild Things" by Morgan Smith, directed by Daniella Caggiano
Public showings: July 18 & 19, 2020 at 8:00p.m.

"Averno is a new multimedia universe that defies genre and encompasses a play, a musical, two novels, a TV show, a podcast, a collection of short stories, and more. Set over the course of 300 years, the various projects follow the secrets, lies, histories and mysteries that enshroud the town of Averno. A love letter to souther gothic, the occult, and the seedy underbellies of seemingly peaceful towns everywhere, "Averno" is a sprawling map of the secrets that intertwine humanity, the horrors we inflict on each other, and the mysteries we can never unravel.

"Int'l Girls Ensemble" directed by Jacqueline Raymond and Amanda McDowall
Public showings: August 22 & 23, 2020 at 8:00p.m.

International Girls Ensemble (IGE) aims to empower girls and women in the U.S. and abroad through educational theater and the performing arts, promoting leadership skills, advocacy, actors and teaching artists to create a devised piece of theater. The group will look at social justice topics pertaining to girls and women in the U.S. and in Southeast Asia, where IGE has partnerships with refugee communities.

"There is a Portal" by Kayhan Irani, directed by Rania Lee Khalil
Public showings: October 3 & 4, 2020 at 8:00p.m.

A multimedia, one-woman performance that uses storytelling and participatory theater to create a space for dialogue among theater goers. The work chronicles Irani's experience of immigration from Tehran to Queens as a young girl, mixed with tales of her family's migration from Iran to India in the tenth century (as Zoroastrians). Set against the backdrop of 9/11 in her early adulthood, this performance is designed to create a space for conversation and healing among immigrant communities.

"MFA" written and directed by Hyojin Park
Public showings: November 7 & 8 at 8:00p.m.

A devised-documentary theater piece that takes an unflinching and humorous look at the experiences of discrimination, micro-aggression, othering and silencing of young artists of color in historically white universities' theatre MFA programs. "MFA" explores the deeply personal stories of an array of recent graduates from institutions across the country. While coming from widely different backgrounds, they share heartbreaking yet often humorous experiences of marginalization, as each pursues higher learning in the arts.

"Print(Dialogue)" by Blair Simmons, directed by Tara Elliott
Public showings: December 12 & 13, 2020 at 8:00p.m.

"Print(Dialogue)," named after a line of code, is a play about the very human elements of Artificial Intelligence: when it fails us and when it makes us laugh. Generated through Artificial Intelligence that has been coded by the play's author, who is both a playwright and a computer programmers, "Print(Dialogue)" poses the question: because AI technologies are developed by humans, do they inherently have human bias? And is that a positive or a negative? This is a cutting-edge performance that allows us to examine the capabilities-and problematic bias-of AI, as well as our human relationship to technology.

The 2020 HB Playwrights Reading Series Recipients are:

"Missing Words" by Matt Heftler
Public showing: June 23, 2020
A closeted dyslexic writer and his new no-nonsense editor whose son was recently diagnosed with dyslexia: the story of two polar opposites who need each other.

"Why We Have Book Club" by Grace Parker
Public showing: June 24, 2020
Every month, college friends Mac, Audrey, Lia, and Sarah meet for Book Club to talk about literature (their lives), favorite authors (each other), and to analyze plot and character (to drink). A play about the closeness and danger of intimate female friendships.

"KP" by Peter Reich and Lynda Crawford
Public showing: June 25, 2020
Over a 15-hour workday in mid-October 1968, a handful of GI's on Kitchen Police (KP) at a small Army fort wrestle with daily life in the Army, while the escalating Vietnam War is on everyone's mind.

"Year Rounders" by Eliza Bent
Public showing: June 26, 2020
A poetic, semi-fictional meditation on the demise of a marriage. Part one is about unraveling and part two is about recovery.

"The Sounds of Birds You Don't Expect" by Adam Kraar
Pubic showing: June 27, 2020
In the early 1970s, a rebellious American teen suspended from boarding school for breaking into a synagogue is sent to stay with her grandmother, an elderly German-Jewish Holocaust refugee.

"Stewart and Lamb" by James Tyler
Public showing: June 28, 2020
The year is 1994 and Zack Lawson, a 63-year-old African American military veteran, works at Primary Video, a VHS movie rental store in Las Vegas, NV. When Zack finds out a secret about Ian, his 25-year-old white supervisor, he uses it to his advantage, ultimately bringing both men to painful realizations.