New York Stage and Film Announces Winter Season and Companies-in-Residence
Companies-in-Residence include Breaking the Binary Theatre, The Latiné Musical Theatre Lab, and more.
By: Chloe Rabinowitz Feb. 14, 2023
New York Stage and Film's Winter Season, running February 27-March 5, at the Marist College Manhattan location will support overlapping processes for artists developing new stories, and officially begin the tenure for their 2023 Companies-in-Residence: Breaking the Binary Theatre, The Latiné Musical Theatre Lab, The Movement Theatre Company, and The Recovery Project. The free public-facing programming will feature "Directors in Process," a roundtable discussion with Raja Feather Kelly and Nicole A. Watson, curated and moderated by Dominique Rider, on February 28 at 6:30 PM. And a play reading of The Birth of the Pill by Jessica Huang and directed by Jaki Bradley on March 2 at 3:00 PM.
This marks a return to NYC-based programming for NYSAF after a three year hiatus and what will be the first of many year-round opportunities made possible by the recently-announced dedicated collaboration with Marist College. To get free tickets to NYSAF's Winter Season at the Marist College Midtown location at 420 Fifth Avenue, please visit www.newyorkstageandfilm.org/winterseason. Advance registration is required and there are limited tickets available.
"The 2023 Winter Season marks the beginning of an impactful era for NYSAF," said Interim Artistic Director Liz Carlson. "We are overjoyed to bring our celebrated approach to developing new works back to NYC after the long and necessary hiatus, and to be in collaboration with Breaking the Binary Theatre, The Latiné Musical Theatre Lab, The Movement Theatre Company, and The Recovery Project for the duration of this year. Enhancing community support is a core tenet of NYSAF's work, and we are proud to do so with such exceptional peers."
The 2023 Companies-In-Residence (Breaking the Binary Theatre; The Latiné Musical Theatre Lab; The Movement Theatre Company; and The Recovery Project) will each receive committed time within the 2023 Summer Season in Poughkeepsie, tailored administrative support for their respective needs, amplification within NYSAF's communication portals, and other community gatherings to connect them to a larger network for peer support.
In addition to the public programming, NYSAF will also support the second touch-point for the 2022 Filmmakers' Workshop cohort, featuring follow-up conversations with professional mentors, masterclasses, and peer-to-peer support, and community gatherings and outings to shows in NYC that NYSAF has helped develop like Emily Feldman's The Best We Could at MTC.
"DIRECTORS IN PROCESS" ON FEBRUARY 28 AT 6:30 PM (Free):
Dominique Rider (Moderator and Curator) is a Brooklyn-based director whose work seeks to answer the question: "What is a world unmade by slavery?" while attempting to analyze the layers of anti-blackness that maintain the world we live in. Deploying theatre and performance as tools of Afropessimism, Dominique has developed and staged work with The Park Avenue Armory, Audible, The New Group, NYTW, Roundabout, The Atlantic, Princeton, Rattlestick, BRIC Arts, Two River, Portland Center Stage, and more. Past fellowships/residencies include Hi-Arts, The National Black Theatre, TheaterWorks Hartford, NYSAF, BRIC Arts, Roundabout, and NAMT. Dominique is a producer with CLASSIX.
Raja Feather Kelly is a choreographer and director, and the Artistic Director of the dance-theatre-media company the feath3r theory-for which Kelly has created 16 premieres, most recently UGLY Part 3: at the Chelsea Factory. Raja Feather Kelly choreographed the Tony-Award winning Broadway musical A Strange Loop. He is a frequent Off-Broadway choreographer whose collaborators include Lileana Blain-Cruz, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Sarah Benson, Rachel Chavkin, and Michael R. Jackson. Recent works include Bunny, Bunny (Poticker Theatre), Lempicka (La Jolla PLayhouse), We're Gonna Die (2st), and the Pulitzer Prize-winning productions Fairview and A Strange Loop. Current projects include Lempicka, White Girl in Danger, and The Listeners. His accolades include three Princess Grace Awards, an Obie Award, an Outer Critics Circle honor, a Creative Capital award, and many others.
NICOLE A. WATSON is the HGB Bold Associate Artistic Director at the McCarter Theatre Center. Prior to this appointment, she served as the AAD at Round House Theatre. On behalf of both theaters, she produced the Adrienne Kennedy Festival, directing a digital version of Kennedy's She Brought Her Heart Back in a Box. Select credits include: Blues for an Alabama Sky (Guthrie) Passing, (McCarter/Bard at the Gate) School Girls; or, The African Mean Girls Play (Helen Hayes winner Best Ensemble, and Best Supporting Artist). The world premieres of A Wind in the Door, (The Kennedy Center) The West End (Cincinnati Playhouse) it's not a trip it's a journey (Round House) In addition to her work as an arts leader and advocate, Nicole continues to work as a freelance director and educator. A former history teacher, Nicole started directing in 2008 and has worked at theaters and universities across the country, championing new plays and playwrights, especially female playwrights of color. She has worked with New Dramatists, the Lark Play Development Center, the Fire this Time Festival, the New Black Fest, the Women's Project Theater, The 52nd Street Project, Cincinnati, Playhouse in the Park, The Guthrie, Portland Center Stage, Baltimore Center Stage, Signature Theater, Playmakers Repertory Theatre, A.C.T., Asolo Rep, Washington National Opera, Theater Latte Da, The Playwrights Center, The Kennedy Center, The Contemporary American Theater Festival, Working Theater, Smith College, UNCSA, NYU, and LIU. She is a New Georges Affiliated Artist and an alum of the Drama League, the Lincoln Center Directors Lab and the Women's Project Directors Lab and a member of the SDC. BA: History, Yale. MA: NYU Gallatin School of Individualized Study. http://www.nicoleawatson.com/
NEW PLAY READING ON MARCH 2 AT 3:00 PM (Free):
THE BIRTH OF THE PILL
By Jessica Huang
Directed by Jaki Bradley
Margaret Sanger and Katharine McCormick schemed for decades about a pill that women could swallow like aspirin that would grant total autonomy over their fertility. To achieve this feat, they need to team up with maverick scientist Gregory Pincus and charismatic gynecologist John Rock - and find willing human test subjects from New Hampshire to Puerto Rico. Based on the book by Jonathan Eig, The Birth of the Pill depicts the transformation in science, society and possibilities for women that came alongside the invention of the birth control pill, made ever more complex by the link between the pill and the Eugenics movement.
JESSICA HUANG is a playwright and librettist based in New York, from Minnesota. Her plays include: The Paper Dreams of Harry Chin (History Theatre, Indiana Repertory Theatre, San Francisco Playhouse, New York Stage and Film Powerhouse Season, Barry and Bernice Stavis Award, Kilroy's List), Mother of Exiles (NNPN Annual Showcase, Rosa Parks Playwriting Award, Paul Stephen Lim Playwriting Award, Kendeda Prize Finalist) and Transmissions in Advance of the Second Great Dying (2022 EMOS Ecodrama prize). Her audioplay Song of the Northwoods is now available on Audible. She is developing an original television show with WBTV. She has commissions with Manhattan Theatre Club, Timeline Theater, Theater Masters, History Theatre and Theater Mu. Jessica was the inaugural 4 Seasons Resident Playwright, and has received awards from The National Theatre Conference, the Jerome Foundation, The Dramatists Guild, and The Bret Adams and Paul Reisch Foundation. She has developed work at the Hermitage, Hedgebrook, New York Stage and Film, The MacDowell Colony, Space on Ryder Farm, Atlantic Theater Company, Mixed Blood Theatre, The New Group, and The Old Globe, among many others. She is a three-time Playwrights' Center fellow, and has been a member of Ars Nova Play Group, Civilians R&D Group, Two River Theatre's Emerging Writers Group and Page 73's Interstate 73. She is a graduate of the Playwrights Program at Juilliard.
Jaki Bradley is a director for theater, TV and film. Recent theater projects include The Paper Dreams of Harry Chin (IRT), How to Load a Musket (LTR) White Noise (Berkeley Rep); Radio Island and Good Men Wanted (NYSAF); House Plant and 1969: The Second Man (NYTW: Next Door); Mama Metallica (Denver Center); and Playing Hot (Ars Nova). She has developed and presented work with The Public, Williamstown, Soho Rep, Clubbed Thumb, the O'Neill, and Arena Stage, among others. She has been a member of The Civilians R&D Group, an artist-in-residence at Ars Nova, a Drama League artist-in-residence and TV/Film Fellow, the Soho Rep Writer/Director Lab, Williamstown Directing Corps, Lincoln Center Director's Lab, and a U.S. Fulbright Scholar. In TV and film, she has written for Netflix, FX, Chernin, Paramount and is in development with her feature directorial debut.
2023 COMPANIES-IN-RESIDENCE:
Breaking The Binary Theatre is a new work development and community building hub wherein transgender, non-binary, and Two-Spirit+ (TNB2S+) artists come together to reclaim our artistic license and liberty on our own terms in spaces built by and for us. Breaking the Binary Theatre hosts a number of programs and initiatives, including our flagship artistic event each October: the all-TNB2S+ Breaking the Binary Theatre Festival. @BreakingTheBinaryTheatre on Instagram. www.btb-nyc.com.
The Latiné Musical Theatre Lab is an organization that develops and advocates for new Latiné-written works of musical theatre in order to radically change who gets to tell musical stories on stages across the country. Founded in November 2021, the Lab's free programs have helped Latine writers develop more than 24 different, new musicals in its first year alone. www.latinemtlab.org
The Movement Theatre Company creates an artistic social movement by developing and producing herculean new works by artists of color. Under the leadership of David Mendizábal, Deadria Harrington, Eric Lockley, and Ryan Dobrin, our work engages a multicultural audience in a rich theatrical dialogue, enlightens communities to the important issues affecting our world, and empowers artists to celebrate the many sides of their unique voice. Founded in 2007, The Movement has established itself as an artistic staple in the NYC theatre community and was awarded a 2019 Obie Award Grant. Our 2018 production of What to Send Up When It Goes Down by Aleshea Harris, directed by Whitney White, received critical praise and recognition (2019 Drama Desk Award nomination), increased the visibility of those affected by racially-motivated violence, and challenged the limitations of a theatrical experience. Additional past production successes include Harrison David Rivers' And She Would Stand Like This, choreographed by Kia LaBeija, and Look Upon Our Lowliness, both directed by David Mendizábal, and breakout NYTimes lauded production of Bintou by Koffi Kwahulé, translated by Chantal Bilodeau, directed by David Mendizábal.
The Recovery Project wants to change the narrative of the public health crisis that is addiction in our country. By being of service to artists--who both need support and create the stories that form our understanding of the world-and the general public, we hope to shatter the stigma of asking for assistance, thereby saving lives. The Recovery Project is an initiative of Florida Studio Theatre (FST): Sarasota's contemporary theatre. Founded in 1973, FST has grown to a village of five theatres located in the heart of downtown Sarasota. FST is the largest subscription theatre in the state of Florida and among the largest in the country, serving more than 200,000 live attendees each year across its diverse programs: Mainstage, Cabaret, Stage III, Children's Theatre, The FST School, New Play Development, and FST Improv. Under the leadership of Producing Artistic Director Richard Hopkins, FST develops theatre that speaks to our living, evolving, and dynamically changing world.
ABOUT NEW YORK STAGE AND FILM:
New York Stage and Film is a not-for-profit company dedicated to artists developing new stories for theater, film and beyond by supporting responsive processes and by providing a home for artists free from critical and commercial pressures. Since 1985, New York Stage and Film has been a vital incubator for emerging and established artists and their work, a catalyst for stories that start with them and continue across the country and around the world. Through this work, NYSAF has established themselves as a vital cultural institution for residents of the Hudson Valley and the New York metropolitan region. The New York Times calls the company a "formidable breeding ground for new work," and dozens of notable works trace their developmental roots to NYSAF, including the Tony Award winners Hamilton, Hadestown, Side Man and The Humans; Broadway productions such as American Idiot, Head Over Heels, Junk, and Bright Star; and Pulitzer winners and finalists such as Doubt, The Wolves and Taylor Mac's A 24-Decade History of Popular Music. www.newyorkstageandfilm.org
ABOUT MARIST COLLEGE:
Located on the banks of the historic Hudson River and at its Florence, Italy campus, Marist College is a comprehensive, independent institution grounded in the liberal arts. Its mission is to "help students develop the intellect, character, and skills required for enlightened, ethical, and productive lives in the global community of the 21st century." Marist is consistently ranked among the best colleges and universities in America by The Princeton Review (Colleges That Create Futures and The Best 386 Colleges), U.S. News & World Report (3rd Most Innovative School/North), Kiplinger's Personal Finance ("Best College Values"), and others. The College is top-ranked for long-term study abroad (#3 in the U.S.) by the U.S. State Department's Open Doors report. Along with the College's prestigious reputation as a whole, it also boasts a robust Arts and Music scene for its students and the community. Marist offers more than 15 academic programs in music and arts including Art History, Digital Media, Studio Art, Music, Theatre, and its world-renowned Fashion Design and Fashion Merchandising programs, ranked by Forbes as one of the "Best Colleges That Are Shaping The Future of Fashion." Marist also provides a wide range of non-academic opportunities in the arts, such as over 15 College-and student-run music ensemble groups and the Marist Theatre program and performances. The College also operates the Institute for Data Center Professionals, which provides individuals and corporate teams with skills-based education and credentialing to support the data center and enterprise computing environments of the future. Marist educates more than 5,000 traditional-age undergraduate students and 1,400 adult and graduate students in 47 undergraduate majors and numerous graduate programs, including fully online MBA, MPA, MS, and MA degrees, and also Doctor of Physical Therapy and Physician Assistant programs.
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