WHAT SHE FOUND to Make World Premiere at Frigid New York Theatre Festival

Megan Bandelt has announced that the world premiere of her latest work, what she found, will be presented at the 12th Annual FRIGID Festival. The festival will take place February 14th through March 4th 2018 at The Kraine and UNDER St. Marks Theaters on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.

what she found was developed as a part of Rising Sun Performance Company's Residency program on Governors Island last fall, and tells the story of Fiona, a twenty-something recovering from a depressive episode. In the midst of blurring the worlds between fictional and factual, she dares to explore a frightening world that tests her ability to work through dissociation unharmed. what she found pays homage to Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass while seeking to delve into the scathing reality and implications of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, dissociation, and living with the stigma of seeking psychiatric treatment.

what she found will feature the talents of the local NYC Indie Theatre Scene featuring Helena Farhi (Fiona), Jacobella Luongo (B), and Brenden Gregory (A). The Creative Team of what she found includes NJ Agwuna (Director), Akia (Co-Producer), Conor Daniel Bartram (Tech Director), Gregory F. Jackson (Stage Manager), Ashleigh Herndon (Choreographer), and Christine Sullivan (Graphic Designer).

Using devised and immersive storytelling origins, what she found promises to lead the audience on a journey that is sometimes uncomfortable, but ultimately illuminating, leading us into a deeper understanding of what it means to be human.

what she found plays the following schedule during the 2018 FRIGID Festival: Thursday, February 15th 7:10pm| Wednesday, February 21st 5:30pm|Thursday, February 22nd 8:50pm|Saturday, February 24th 10:30pm|Sunday, March 4th 5:10pm

Tickets are $15-$20 and available online at www.FRIGIDNEWYORK.info or at the door. Additional information may be found online at www.meganbandelt.com.

Run Time: 60 Minutes
Categories/Themes: Drama, performance art. Advisories: Sensitive material, mental health

Megan Bandelt (Playwright) is a theater-maker who is usually found as a writer, dramaturg, & gluten-free cookie eater. For three years, she served as the Marketing Director for the FRIGID Festival, along with Horse Trade Theater Group. Recent writing credits: her thesis, what she found (RSPC Laboratorium), GARBAGE (UNDER St. Marks, Portfringe Theater Festival). Megan recently graduated with her MA in Theatre History & Criticism from Brooklyn College, where she focused on exploring Greek theatre and spectatorship theory.

"GARBAGE is a frank, colorfully theatrical one-woman show, chronicles a journey through depression. The NYC-based Bandelt makes excellent use of the small space, stringing a triangle of cords to which she clips drawings, photos, and - in especially nice bits of stagecraft - a single light bulb. Rich in props - vodka bottles, mementos in a box - and off-beat sound design, Garbage engagingly paces Megan's chronology. Bandelt has endearing candor, she does a fine job calibrating Megan's ages (her 13-year-old's bubbliness becomes a 15-year-old's stricken restraint) and the script is riddled with empathy-arousing surprises. Here's depression, for example: like "when you step on a chestnut, and the edges of the chestnut are digging into your toe." -The Portland Phoenix

GARBAGE was also listed on Maine Today's PortFringe 2016 "Fringe Pick" List, and featured Bandelt on the cover of the magazine.

NJ Agwuna (Director) is a freelance theatre and film director hailing from central Maryland. Performing from a young age, Nj began studying theatre at REP Stage Summer Institute, where she not only learned the art of acting, but was also inspired to pursue the adventurous life of directing. She approaches theatre with curiosity and wonder, believing that theatre can not only heal us, but show us all the possibilities of the world that we inhabit. She has worked on a national and international scale exploring classic text, developing new plays, devising, and investigating new ways to explore trauma and mental illness through theatre.

Akia (Co-Producer) is an award winning Producer, Director & Arts Administrator. She is the Founding Artistic Director of Rising Sun Performance Company and Company Manager for the Innovative Theatre Foundation where she serves on their honorary awards committee as Sub-Committee Chairman and as an At-Large Judge. She served as the Company Manager for the international sensation, Blue Man Group at the Astor Place Theater for 10 years. Akia has received critical praise for her direction of multiple productions including "Hellcab", "Goodnight Lovin' Trail", "The Last Supper", "Crapshoot", "Bug" & "The Glory of Living". Past notable credits include working on staff at Horse Trade Theatre Group, serving as General Manager for FRIGID New York's inaugural year, and returning in multiple positions for each subsequent year; as Production Coordinator for nationally acclaimed Puerto Rican Traveling Theatre, overseeing the Playwrights Unit and INSIGHT 13 production series and on the Advisory board of the Paul Butterfield Fund & Society. She is a recipient of the New York Innovative Theatre Awards "Founders Award" for her contributions to the organization and Off Off Broadway Community and Two Time "Congeniality" Award Winner from the Planet Connections Theatre Festival for her community involvement. You can learn more about her work here at www.akiasquitieri.com and www.risingsunnyc.com

Helena Farhi (Fiona) is delighted to make her onstage FRIGID debut after spending the last three years offstage serving as Festival Coordinator. Favorite acting credits include Into the Woods (Heartwood Regional Theater), Much Ado About Nothing (Annapolis Shakespeare Company),The Tempest (Heartwood Regional Theater), Miss Nelson is Missing (Theatreworks/Two Beans nat'l tour), Love and Information (Artists Entrained),The Christmapocaylpse (Brainmelt Consortium). BFA: NYU.

Our Charity Cause: Producing work that highlights the difficulties faced in our society is important. what she found is more than just another show to us, and allows a conversation to unfold about the loneliness that occurs while recovering from mental illness and eradicating this stigma that looms over us every day. To make good on our commitment to mental health advocacy, we pledge to donate 20% of our box office sales to The Suicide Prevention Lifeline. To learn more, please visit wwww.suicidepreventionlifeline.org.

FRIGID New York @ Horse Trade is a theater development group with a focus on new work that produces a massive quantity of stimulating downtown theater every season. FRIGID New York grew out of the annual FRIGID Festival, the first and only festival of its kind in New York City to offer artists 100% of their box office proceeds, and Horse Trade Theater Group, a self-sustaining theater development and management group.