Industry Reading Of ONE DAY DOWN Comes To The Dramatists Guild Foundation This Month

Morgan Hogenmiller, Maraika Lumholdt, and Katy Zapanta will present an invite-only industry reading of One Day Down by Samantha Toy Ozeas. Directed by Michelle Chan (You Should Be So Lucky, WP Theater/Moxie Arts NY) with Dramaturgy by Kalina Ko (Dear John, Brick Aux; Ma-Yi Writer's Lab Co-Coordinator), the reading will be held at the Dramatists Guild Foundation on Wednesday, February 28th at 3 PM.

The play focuses on the stigma and toll of speaking up against sexual violence, and the paranoia inflicted on survivors. Having premiered in New York City as part of the SheNYC 2022 Theater Festival, the team is excited to partner again with the New York City Alliance Against Sexual Assault (NYCAASA) to distribute educational materials after the reading.

The cast includes Julianna Austin (Marion, One Day Down at SheNYC, awarded Best Actor of the festival), Jonathan Champion (Partnership, Mint Theatre Company), Sadithi De Zilva (Vermont, Thirdwing at The Wild Project Theater), Mikael Gemeda-Breka (King in Yellow, Center Park West), Lilian Rebelo (Our Dear Dead Druglord, Center Theatre Group), and Betsy Scott (Godspell, Carnegie Mellon University).

The show's creation by playwright and director Samantha Toy Ozeas was a direct response to the 2016 U.S. Presidential election. Originally written under the title of Major Minor, Ozeas updated the script after being selected for the SheNYC 2022 Theater Festival, with further development for the reading. "The opportunity to revisit this story with a fresh, matured perspective is incredibly exciting," she said.

Days away from the National Mock Trial Tournament, drama unfolds when a high school mock trial team receives an oddly violent practice case in the mail. The team begins to fall apart at the seams, and a larger vengeance plot begins to unfold.

Samantha Toy Ozeas (she/they) is Chinese-American theater artist and a 2022 graduate of Carnegie Mellon University's BFA Directing program in the School of Drama, joining distinguished alumni including Billy Porter, Judith Light, and Martin Platt. Her work includes Chinatown, My Chinatown (Ma-Yi Theater Company), Intentions (SheNYC), Nannyville (Grassroots Artist Collective), The Chinese Lady (Southern Plains Productions), Park Song (Frank-Ratchye Studio for Creative Inquiry), and Athena (Carnegie Mellon School of Drama). Their original work explores mixed race identities, the connection of nature to humanity, solidarity, exploitation, PTSD, internet anonymity, the intersections of race and sexual violence, alt-right hatred, and racial bias in academic institutions. samanthatoyozeas.com @samo.zeas

Michelle Chan (she/her) is a director, theatremaker, and arts producer from Hong Kong. She is a first-gen Taiwanese-American whose work is committed to stories that have been historically marginalized or unauthentically portrayed in attempts to redefine the roles that fabricate the American culture. Michelle is currently a member of The Drama League's 2023-2024 Director's Project, a resident artist at Breaking & Entering Theatre Collective, and teaching assistant to Suzan-Lori Parks at NYU/Tisch's Graduate Department of Dramatic Writing. Her recent directing work has been seen at WP Theater, The Flea, Theatre Row, Keen Company, Dixon Place, A.R.T/New York Theatres, The Maker's Space, Lime Arts Productions, The Fled Collective, Moxie Arts NY and Atlantic Acting School. She has also assisted illustrious directors at Manhattan Theatre Club and Keen Company, including May Adrales, Mark Cirnigliano, Portia-Krieger/">Portia Krieger, and Lou Moreno. Michelle is also the first female college graduate in her family lineage, holding a degree in Directing from Pace University's International Performance Ensemble. michchan.com @michellechaann

Instagram: @onedaydownplay

Website: https://onedaydownplay.wixsite.com/one-day-down/

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