Martin E. Segal Theatre Center Will Present Its 2023 FRANKIE Awards, October 14

Accompanying its 20th annual PRELUDE Festival (October 7-22), the Martin E. Segal Theatre Center of CUNY Graduate Center will present its 2023 FRANKIE Awards October 14 at 9:30 PM at The Tank, 312 West 36th Street, honoring a group of 15 distinguished leaders for their significant, important and meaningful contributions towards theater and performance in New York City.

 

The FRANKY Award was created to recognize artists who have made a long-term, extraordinary impact on contemporary theatre and performance in New York City. It was named and created by Caleb Hammons in honor of Martin E. Segal Theatre Center Executive Director and PRELUDE founder Dr. Frank Hentschker. 

 

The 2023 FRANKIE Awardees:

 

Alex Roe, METROPOLITAN PLAYHOUSE 

Awoye Timpo, CLASSIX

Anita Durst, ChaShaMa

Jim Nicola, NEW YORK THEATER WORKSHOP

Keith Josef Adkins, THE NEW BLACK FEST

Kristin Marting, HERE ARTS CENTER

Linda Chapman, NEW YORK THEATER WORKSHOP

Manuel Antonio Morán, INTERNATIONAL PUPPET FRINGE FESTIVAL

Morgan Jenness, Dramaturge

Mark Russell, UNDER THE RADAR

Meghan Finn, THE TANK

Nicole Birmann Bloom, VILLA ALBERTINE/FRENCH CULTURAL SERVICES in the US

Robert Lyons, THE OHIO

Theresa Buchheister, THE BRICK

Jeffrey Shubart, Lucille Lortel THEATRE FOUNDATION 

 

The Martin E. Segal Theatre Center of CUNY Graduate Center is presenting its PRELUDE '23 FESTIVAL from October 7 to 22 with over 60 presentations in 17 venues in and around NYC. This event brings together artists, thinkers, activists, and presenters from New York City and beyond in free performances and panels to explore the many ways in which new forms of theater and performance are taking place today. This festival is the annual flagship event of the Segal Center. Traditionally, it is dedicated to artists at the forefront of contemporary NYC theater, dance, interdisciplinary and mediatized performance and offers an array of short performances, readings, and screenings -- a survey of the current New York moment and the work being prepared for the next season and beyond, plus new commissions and panel discussions with artists, scholars, and performers.  The complete festival schedule can be downloaded at:  https://www.jsnyc.com/season/Prelude2023.pdf.

 

ABOUT THE 2023 FRANKIE AWARDEES

 

Alex Roe, METROPOLITAN PLAYHOUSE

Next to his work as a director, actor, and playwright in New York City Alex Roe's artistic leadership of The Metropolitan Playhouse has been a shining example of the liveliness and diversity of the New York theatre and performance landscape. Since 2001, Roe has directed over 60 productions. He created the Alphabet City monologues, solo performances based on interviews with the theatre's neighbors, East Village Chronicles, new one-act plays by emerging playwrights inspired by the life and history of the theatre's East Village neighborhood, the Living Literature series, new plays and adaptations produced by guest artists and companies celebrating the writing of American authors who worked primarily outside of the theatrical genre, and the Virtual Playhouse, bringing graphically enhanced video performances to audiences around the world. The Metropolitan Playhouse closed its own theatre in 2023, but will continue to produce work.

 

Awoye Timpo, CLASSIX 

Awoye Timpo created CLASSIX—together with Brittany Bradford, A.J. Muhammad, Dominique Rider, and Arminda Thomas—to explore the classical canon through an exploration of Black performance history and dramatic works by Black writers--engaging artists, historians, students, professors, producers and audiences to launch these plays into the public imagination and Spark Productions worldwide. Awoye Timpois a New York-based director.  She received her M.A. from the University of London/British Institute of Paris.

 

Anita Durst, ChaShaMa 

Since 1995 Anita Durst has been working toward securing studio and presentation space in Midtown Manhattan for thousands of struggling artists by partnering with Property Owners that provide unused space to Chashama—while honoring the legacy of theatre visionary Reza Abdoh. Durst believes programs like Chashama are the vital building blocks to ensuring cultural capital in New York City. She was born in New York City.

 

Keith Josef Adkins, THE NEW BLACK FEST 

Keith Joseph Adkins gathers artists, thinkers, activists and audiences who are fiercely dedicated to stretching, interrogating and uplifting the Black aesthetic experience in theatre.  Adkins's commitment to celebrate, advocate and showcase diverse and provocative work in a festival of Black theater artists from throughout the Diaspora is a shining example of the liveliness and diversity of the New York City theatre and performance scene. His leadership, mentorship and close personal work with playwrights over a decade, especially during the Time of Corona, is a shining example of how just one theatre can make a difference and contribute to real change. Adkins's is a playwright, screenwriter and artistic director working in New York City.

 

Kristin Marting, HERE 

Kristin Marting has been presenting over decades at HERE ARTS CENTER groundbreaking hybrid performance, dance, theater, multi-media, music and puppetry since 1993. HERE has been at the forefront of directing, producing and presenting independent, innovative, multidisciplinary works in New York City that do not fit into conventional programming agendas. Marting handed over the artistic leadership for HERE ARTS CENTER in 2023. 

 

Linda Chapman, NEW YORK THEATER WORKSHOP 

Linda Chapman's work at the New York Theater Workshop over many decades has been an excellent, shining example of the real impact just one theatre can have in a neighborhood, within the landscape of theatre and performance in New York and the nation. Chapman, in close collaboration with Jim Nicola, gave birth to hundreds of important theatre works and your support made a crucial difference to the careers of thousands of writers, directors, actors and artistic directors.

 

Mark Russell, UNDER THE RADAR 

Since 2006, under the artistic leadership of founder Mark Russell, UNDER THE RADAR, has been a unique and urgently needed theatre festival in New York City presenting new and cutting-edge performance from the U.S. and abroad during APAP, the national service, advocacy and membership organization for the performing arts presenters.  UNDER THE RADAR successfully presents international contemporary theater, richly distinct in terms of perspectives, aesthetics, and social practice, and pointing to the future of the art form. Especially the lasting global connections created by Russell and the UNDER THE RADAR represent a most significant contribution to the liveliness and diversity of the New York theatre and performance landscape.

 

Morgan Jenness, DRAMATURGE 

Morgan Jenness has been a pioneer dramaturge in American theatre and her work with leading US theatres and independent performance groups has been groundbreaking. Her real support for young, experimental and emerging artists—especially, but not limited to playwrights--as well as her fierce loyalty over decades to artistic friends and collaborators has been exceptional role model for generations of NYC theatre makers. Jenness's work serves as a shining example of what impact just one dramaturge can have within the landscape of theatre and performance in New York City and how urgently such work is needed. 

 

Manuel Antonio Morán, NYC INTERNATIONAL PUPPET FRINGE FESTIVAL 

Manuel Antonio Morán is the founder and artistic director of The International Puppet Fringe Festival-- New York's only global fringe festival dedicated to puppetry with over 40 performances in one week. Founded in 2018, the IPFF festival has had 3 editions since its inception, most recently in August 2023. It is a unique contribution to the diverse landscape of New York puppetry and object theatre.

Morán is a Puerto Rican actor, singer, writer, composer, puppeteer, theater and film director and producer. He is also the Founder and Artistic Director of the Latino Children's Theater, Teatro SEA, (Society of the Educational Arts, Inc.) in New York City. Teatro SEA has become a prominent institution in the performing arts landscape for youth audiences, curating diverse theatrical performances, including puppet shows, plays, and musicals.

 

Meghan Finn, THE TANK 

As the Artistic Director at THE TANK for the past six years, Meghan Finn has supported the work of thousands of multidisciplinary artists. The Tank was awarded an OBIE AWARD for institutional excellence, under Finn's leadership as Artistic Director and for presenting, producing and serving emerging New York City artists. The Tank removes economic barriers from the creation of new work for artists launching their careers or experimenting within their art form, while being inclusive and accessible. 

 

Nicole Birmann Bloom, VILLA ALBERTINE/CULTURAL SERVICES OF THE FRENCH EMBASSY IN THE UNITED STATES

Nicole Birmann Bloom's work at the French Cultural Services over the decades within the landscape of theatre and performance in New York City has long been an excellent, shining example of meaningful cultural diplomacy with a deep impact through the years.  With great knowledge and emotional intelligence, Birmann Bloom has connected countless French and American theatre artists, companies and institutions, playwrights and directors, dancers and stages. She contributed to the creation of performances, tours and public events across creative disciplines and facilitated exploratory residencies in New York City and across the United States. Her work supporting, les Rencontres, la Recherche et la Création had a real impact in the field and is highly respected and beloved by her American friends and colleagues. 

 

Robert Lyons, THE OHIO

Since 1988 Robert Lyons developed and presented some of the boldest and most innovative work from NYC's diverse independent theatre community. His New Ohio Theatre, a pillar of the downtown independent theatre community, actively expanded the boundaries of what theatre is, how it's made, and why. For 30 years Lyons' ICE FACTORY festival has been serving NYC's diverse indie theatre community—the small, inspired, artist-driven ensembles and the daring producing companies who operate without a permanent theatrical home. Robert is also a playwright with more than twenty NYC premieres. In 2023 New Ohio Theatre closed its doors for good.

 

Theresa Buchheister, THE BRICK

As the Artistic Director Theresa Buchheister made a significant, important and meaningful contribution towards theatre and performance in New York City at THE BRICK--developing and presenting with an open-door policy the work of countless pioneering emerging artists and career experimenters in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Buchheister (They/Them) is a Kansan New Yorker and founder and also the co-director of Title:Point, founder and Artistic Director of The Exponential Festival,  and co-founder of Vital Joint. Theresa directs, produces, performs, curates, facilitates and writes for theatre and theatre-adjacent performance realms. 

 

For complete info on the 20th annual PRELUDE Festival (October 7-22), see the complete schedule at https://www.jsnyc.com/season/Prelude2023.pdf  or visit: https://www.jsnyc.com/season/PRELUDE.htm and https://www.thesegalcenter.org/prelude.