Photo Flash: DirectorFest Wraps Up With FIRST LOVE and DEATHWATCH

The Drama League (Executive Artistic Director Gabriel Stelian-Shanks) presents DirectorFest 2019: The 35th Annual Directors Festival, the only festival in the United States exploring the art of Contemporary Stage directing, concludes with First Love andDeathwatch at the New Ohio Theatre (154 Christopher Street). Festival programming, tickets and additional details are available atwww.directorfest.org, or by calling (212) 244-9494.

The double bill included the First Love by Charles L. Mee and directed by 2018 Drama League New York Directing Fellow Seonjae Kim. The three-member cast for First Love features Dennis Holland as Harold, Anne O'Sullivan as Edith, and Charlotte Rosenberg as Waitress. The Stage Manager is Rachel Kaufman. Casting by Harriet Bass.

In First Love, Edith and Harold unexpectedly meet on a park bench...and romance, long-delayed, is in the air! But is it too late? In Charles L. Mee's wistful, surprising and engaging play, a chance encounter is a catalyst for change; it's both a last chance and a new beginning, navigating the emotions and pitfalls of new love and embracing a potentially different future.

Seonjae Kim is originally from Seoul, South Korea. Riot Antigone, her original Riot Grrrl musical adaptation of Sophocles' tragedy, premiered at La MaMa and received productions at ANTFest and Bryn Mawr College. She recently served as Associate Director for the immersive musical KPOP(Ars Nova/Ma-Yi/Woodshed Collective). Her work has been seen at Atlantic Theatre Company, Baryshnikov Arts Center, Dixon Place, Williamstown, PEN/World Voices Festival, New York Theatre Barn, Prelude Festival and Chicago Fringe. Honors: Van Lier Fellowship (Asian American Arts Alliance), Mike Ockrent Fellowship (SCDF), and Robert Moss Fellowship (Playwrights Horizons). New Georges Affiliated Artist. BA: Northwestern.

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The second play was Deathwatch by Jean Genet and directed by 2018 Drama League New York Directing Fellow Dennis Yueh-Yeh Li, with choreography by Antonio Brown. The three-member cast for Deathwatch features Jorge Luna as LeFranc, Arash Mokhtar as Green Eyes, and Christian Elan Ortiz as Maurice. The Stage Manager is Melanie Aponte. Casting by Alan Filderman.

Deathwatch, Jean Genet's gripping, claustrophobic masterpiece -- which preceded his later works like The Maids and The Balcony - features two prisoners and a condemned man as they vie for supremacy in a prison that, both literally and metaphorically, turns inward to upend our notions of class, crime, and desire. Genet's deft and thrilling exploration of identity and society may be set in the direst of circumstances, but its issues and struggles could very well be the people next door...or even ourselves.

Dennis Yueh-Yeh Li, currently an Associate Artistic Director of The Living Theater, earned his Master of Arts degree in Performance Studies at Tisch School of Arts/New York University. He works as a director, playwright, performer, and performance artist, creating productions addressing sexuality, literature, philosophy, and politics. Dennis endeavors to make powerful and transcendental performances to stimulate compelling reactions in the audience. Recent directing productions include Blind (Theater for the New City), The (New) Trial (Theater for the New City), andCivilization and Its Discontents (Judson Memorial Church).

First Love and Deathwatch play as a double bill for each performance.