terraNOVA Collective Presents Their 2010 Annual Benefit 4/13

Celebrating the theatrical playground that is terraNOVA Collective, this special evening will begin with a Welcome Reception at 7pm in the upstairs theater at Performance Space 122 with appetizers and drinks. The Mainstage Performance will begin at 8pm.

Performances will feature artists from all three of terraNOVA's programs. Grammy Award winner, Maya Azucena (Joe's Pub, The Blue Note, Galapagos Art Space), will represent the late night salon series, Subterranean; Erin Markey (Our Hit Parade) will preview her solo play Puppy Love: A Stripper's Tail appearing in the 2010 soloNOVA Arts Festival this May, and Martin Dockery (2009 soloNOVA Breakthrough Performer) returns to the Collective with a new story to tell; terraNOVA Groundbreakers Playwrights Program shares scenes from Lucy Gillespie's The Atwater Project, featuring Jennifer Conley Darling, Gian Murray Gianino, Brian Sgambati and Directed by Megan Carter. Concluding the performances, packages for auction will include tickets to some of the hottest Broadway shows as well as NY & NJ sporting events.

"This event truly represents our diverse programming," said Artistic Director, Jennifer Conley Darling.

Tickets for the entire evening are $35 for an Individual Benefit Ticket or $60 for Individual Benefit Ticket and 2 tickets to the upcoming soloNOVA Arts Festival. You may purchase tickets at www.terranovacollective.org or by calling Theatermania at 212-352-3101.

terraNOVA Collective is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization $35 of each $60 ticket is tax-deductible. All proceeds go to benefit terraNOVA Collective.

MAYA AZUCENA is often described as the "hardest working artist I know." Maya Azucena has planted the seeds for her burgeoning career by touring around the world. To date she has shared stages or been on bills with legendary artists, vets and newcomers from the worlds of R&B, Soul, Hip Hop, Jazz and Rock. Artists such as Roberta Flack, Roy Ayers, Vernon Reid, Stephen Marley, Martin Luther, Jaguar Wright, Joss Stone, Leon Ware, Richard Bona, Bilal, Lupe Fiasco, Big Daddy Kane, the Isley Brothers, Gladys Knight, Anthony Hamilton, Platinum Pied Pipers and John Legend comprise the partial list. In addition to criss-crossing the US with riveting performances, she's toured cities in China, Philippines, Canada, Italy and England as well as Stockholm, Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Croatia where Croatian superstar, Gibonni enlisted Maya's vocal talents for a track named "Andejo U Tebi" ('Angel In You'), that consequently won 2 Croatian Grammy awards (or PORIN, as they are called). The critical acclaim for Maya has been worldwide and diverse in its acknowledgement of her undeniable talent. Maya's soaring and sensual performance is featured on producer/songwriter (and son of the legendary Bob), Stephen Marley's track, "Let Her Dance," from his latest Grammy winning Universal/Tuff Gong release "Mind Control." An upcoming single with popular dance producer Bob Sinclair promises radio play. Upcoming recording collaborations with HipHop artists in the underground scene include Immortal Technique, Cheeks (Lost Boys), Dres (Black Sheep), Hasan Salaam, Doujah Raze and more. Maya recently had the Number 3 spot on BILLBOARD'S Hot Club Dance chart with the single, "Make It Happen" on Kult Records. Her recent Jason Fisher-directed video, "Set you Free," is on rotation at BET-J. Her voice may even have grabbed your attention through the national NAIR commercials in "The Less You Wear" and "Short Shorts" campaigns plus others like Gillette, Johnson & Johnson, Icy Hot, Macy's INC, Mike's Hard Lemonade, and Longhorn Steakhouse. Her focus, however, lies with her own band that has built an avid following throughout the world wherever they've traveled. Her sound has been compared to Roberta Flack, Chaka Kahn, Lauryn Hill and Jill Scott. What lies in common between all the comparisons is the high energy, excellent live show and huge range.

ERIN MARKEY is a Brooklyn-based performing artist, comedienne, actress and playwright. Her "outlandishly riotous" (Village Voice) work has been featured at Joe's Pub, Ars Nova, Comix, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Lincoln Center Director's Lab, The O'Reilley Factor and the 2008-09 Sex Workers' Art Show Tour. Currently, she is writing a new musical, The Dardy Family Home Movies by Stephen Sondheim (by Erin Markey), and continuing development on her once solo, but soon-to-be ensemble musical, Puppy Love: A Stripper's Tail. Erin studied with Holly Hughes at the University of Michigan.

MARTIN DOCKERY is a frequent performer in New York's storytelling scene. He's developed two theatrical monologues with director Jean-Michele Gregory, and performed them to critical acclaim all throughout 2009. The first, Wanderlust, enjoyed sold-out runs in San Francisco, Westchester County, New York City, Orlando, London, Toronto, & Winnipeg. The Surprise, which The New York Times called "deftly constucted" and "truly vivid," had success with an extended run in New York City and a sold-out series in San Francisco. Both the shows have won awards at every festival in which they were performed, including being named terraNOVA's ‘2009 Breakthrough Performer of the Year.' In the summer of 2008, he performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival with The Liar Show, which The Scotsman gave 4 stars. In 2010, he'll continue to tour with Wanderlust in Fresno, Charleston, Saskatoon, Edmonton, Victoria, & Vancouver, as well as debuting a new monologue entitled The Bike Trip at the 2010 FRIGID New York Festival. From there he'll bring the show to Phoenix, Orlando, London, & Winnipeg. And he'll be performing The Surprise at the fringe festival in Regina. His stories have made him a seven-time finalist in The Moth's bi-annual Grandslam Storytelling Championship. Also, he was a co-creator of the play C-R-E-P-U-S-C-U-L-E, which ran on Broadway as The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. His play Oh, That Wily Snake! is part of a McGraw-Hill anthology textbook on literature, and The New York Times wrote that it "flashes with humor and insight." Of another play, a lonely monkeyhouse, BackStage West wrote that it was "deliciously enjoyable," while L.A. Weekly added that it was "compelling . . . entertaining . . . divinely inspired." He received his B.A. in English from Kenyon College and his M.F.A. in playwriting from Columbia University.

LUCY GILLESPIE is an Anglo-American writer and performer who is mostly interested in bad people, and the people who suffer them. Writing and collaborating credits include Driving Lesson (Strawberry One-Act Festival), Keeping the Light: Stories of Lighthouse Keepers (Mystic Seaport, CT), Shadow Dracula (Northwestern), and Adrift (Theatermakers Ensemble, Eugene O'Neill Theater Center). As an actor, Lucy has performed with Full Stop Collective in NYC, Remy Bumppo Theater Company and the Oak Park Festival Theater in Chicago, the Mystic Seaport, and at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center's Summer Playwright's Conference. She is also the author of The Pith and the Peel, a novella about a woman who kills and eats her husband. Her first full-length play, Hangman School for Girls, premiered at Manhattan Theatre Source last March in New York City, produced by Vagabond Theater Ensemble and Full Stop Collective. Lucy holds a BA from Northwestern University in Theater and Fiction Writing.

TERRANOVA COLLECTIVE is a vibrant playground for artists devoted to innovative new and original theatrical works. Its multi-layered development process, solo arts festivals, and productions serve to nurture and liberate our community.