In anticipation of his July 7th concert at the 2015 New York Musical Theatre Festival, award-winning musical theatre writer Joel B. New sat down with Shakina Nayfack, an actress appearing in the upcoming NYMF production of Noemi de la Peunte, David Davila, and Howard Post's Manuel Versus the Statue of Liberty (July 21-27).
Shakina Nayfack is the Founding Artistic Director of Musical Theatre Factory and the first transwoman to be honored with a Lilly Award recognizing the remarkable contributions to the American Theatre made by women. Her autobiographical ONE WOMAN SHOW has played Joe's Pub, 54 Below, Sophie's, TheatreWorks Silicon Valley,
Barrington Stage Company, and was the flagship project of her groundbreaking KickStartHer campaign to crowdsource funds for her gender confirmation. She holds a Bachelors Degree in Community Studies, a Minor and a Graduate Certificate in Theatre Arts from the University of California Santa Cruz, as well as an MFA in Experimental Choreography and a PhD in Critical Dance Studies from UC Riverside. Shakina is a proud alumna of the Drama League Directors Project and a member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers union. Her writings on theatre and dance have been published in The Drama Review and the anthology Dancing Across Borders. Her first book Butoh Ritual Mexicano - Alchemy is Dancing is really good but no one buys it because it was published by an obscure academic press in Germany and it's really expensive, so if you want to read it email her and she'll send you a PDF.
Mr. New's "TO HELL AND BACK: An Album Musical In Concert" opens the Festival tomorrow night at 6PM at the
Laurie Beechman Theatre. For tickets, go to
nymf.org/tohellandback and enter the discount code "25HELL" for 25% off the ticket price. Directed by
Lori Wolter Hudson, TO HELL AND BACK boasts a cast that includes
Nikka Graff Lanzarone,
Becca Ayers,
Blake Whyte,
Joshua Hinck, Kate Steinberg, and
Hansel Tan. Musical direction by
Matt Castle. Orchestrations by Scott Wasserman. Music and lyrics by
Joel B. New.
For the live song portion of the episode, Ms. Nayfack performed "Your Baby Better Cover His Tracks" from New's MACKENZIE & THE MISSING BOY. This episode was recorded live at Musical Theatre Factory, which has teamed up with NYMF to host a post-show Salon-A-Thon every night of the festival. For more info, please visit mtf.nyc.
Named one of the Top 20 Podcasts for Theatre Fans by BroadwayWorld.com, "Something New" dissects what it means to be a working, multifaceted artist in America and always concludes with a premiere recording from one of New's latest musical projects. "Something New" is available on iTunes, SoundCloud, Stitcher, and TuneIn. For more info, please visit
joelbnew.com.
