Art House Productions Announces 2019-2020 Inkubator Playwrights

Art House Productions has announced the 2019-2020 cohort of its INKubator Program. INKubator is a year-long generative process for a select group of 6 playwrights in residence at Art House Productions. This year's playwrights are Kev Berry, J. Julian Christopher, Alyssa Haddad, Christopher-Rashee Stevenson, Leila Teitelman, and Colin Waitt.

The 2nd Annual INKubator New Play Festival, a three-day marathon festival that serves as the culmination of the residency will take place May 8-10, 2020. Audiences who attend the festival will also have the opportunity to participate in conversations with the writers, directors, and actors following each performance.

Meredith Burns, executive director of Art House Productions, says, " INKubator holds a special place in my heart: it's where I first learned about Art House when I was a young actor looking for opportunities in my hometown. For many years the program has developed plays, screenplays, solo shows, and web series from local and regional writers. The sixty plus applicants this year were extremely talented, making it difficult for the Art House team to narrow it down to 6 playwrights. Kev, Julian, Alyssa, Christopher, Leila, and Colin have tremendous skill, unique voices, and creativity. With INKubator director, Alex Tobey's guidance, I look forward to seeing these 6 new plays take shape."

Kev Berry is a New York-based playwright, solo performance artist, and creator of Gay mythologies. His work, both as a writer and performer, has been seen at The Tank, Joe's Pub, Feinstein's/54 Below, 3-Legged Dog, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, Judson Memorial Church, HERE Arts Center, New York Live Arts, the New Ohio Theatre, The Duplex, the Dramatists Guild Foundation, Dixon Place, The Brick Theater, Access Theater, Littlefield, The 9 Studios, Otto's Shrunken Head, The Cobra Club, Skidmore College, and across the harsh North Country of upstate New York. Kev is an Associate Artist at The Tank, a Full Access Resident Artist at Access Theater, the September 2018 Artist-in-Residence at Judson Memorial Church, a 2017 Artist-in-Residence with Fresh Ground Pepper, a January 2019 resident with Hot Bread, and the former Artistic Associate at 3LD. He serves as the curator and producer of Fast and Furious: Rapid Responses to Current Events at The Tank. His play Peter was a Semi-Finalist for the Princess Grace Award in 2019. His performance in Nadja Leonhard-Hooper and Dan Nuxoll's Eat the Devil was recently hailed by the New York Times as "vehemently campy." B.Sci. Theater, B.A. Gender Studies, Skidmore College. kevberry.com

J. Julian Christopher is a Queer, Puerto Rican and Dominican playwright. He holds an MFA in Acting from The New School for Drama. Playwriting awards include: New Dramatist Residency (Class of 2025), 2019/2020 Rita Goldberg Playwrights' Workshop Fellow at The Lark, 2017 & 2018 Pipeline Theatre Company PlayLab, 2018 LaGuardia Community College's LGBTQ History Project Grant, 2015 Queens Arts Council Grant, 2009 Public Theater Emerging Writers Group, and 2014 Best New Work Motif Award. Productions include: Man Boobs (Pride Films & Plays, 2011), Nico was a Fashion Model (Counter-Productions Theatre Company, 2013), Animals Commit Suicide (First Floor Theater, 2015), and Locusts Have No King (INTAR, 2016). He wrote the book for LatinXoxo at Joe's Pub in 2019. Other plays include, Alligator Mouth, anOTHER, ¡OSO FABULOSO! & The Bear Backs, Bundle of Sticks, Julio Down by the Schoolyard, and Bruise & Thorn (2018 PlayPenn Conference). He is a co-producer and co-writer of the hit web series, Bulk- The Series and an Assistant Professor of Theatre at Queensborough Community College.

Alyssa Haddad is a Brooklyn-based, award-winning (and losing) playwright. Her plays have been presented at the Capital Repertory Theatre, Centenary Stage Company, The Secret Theatre, Theater for the New City, Kraine Theatre, and The Midtown International Theatre Festival where she was the recipient of the Playwright's Award. She is an alumna of Living Room Theater's New Play Incubator Lab and New Perspectives

Theatre Company's Women's Work Play Lab. She was a 2019 Artist-In-Residence and Guest Lecturer at Adams State University's Rare A.I.R program. She is a frequent columnist for Eleanora Magazine. She holds a BA in History and Writing from The College of Saint Rose and an MFA in Dramatic Writing from NYU Tisch School of the Arts. More at alyssahaddad.com.

Christopher-Rashee Stevenson is a writer-director from Baltimore. Was recently seen as a performer in Wilderence's immersive work Elgin Park alongside Drew Petersen. His reworking of Amiri Baraka's cult classic "Dutchman" enjoyed a one night only showing at the Wild Project in November and at the Tank last February. A recent alum of Lincoln Center Theater Director's Lab '18. His work as director and performer has been featured at The Performing Garage, The Tank, JACK, HERE Arts Center, The Actor's Studio, American Repertory Theater, Millennium Film Workshop, Lincoln Center Education, LaMaMa, and the Eubie Blake Jazz Institute. Stevenson is preparing to helm a loose adaptation for the stage of Octavia E.Butler's novel Fledgling and will be a part of the coming UP Close Festival at the New Ohio in December/January.

Leila Teitelman is a playwright and artist from New Hampshire. She holds a degree from Connecticut College where she majored in theater with a concentration in playwriting. While at Connecticut College, she accepted the Crabtree award for excellence in theater and presented her thesis production (Of The Beast) as an exploration of changing theatrical representation of motherhood. Her plays include: Sex Without Energy (The National Theater Institute), Awful People Pray (National Playwrights Conference Semi-Finalist, Princess Grace Fellowship Semi-Finalist, Breaking Through the Box Theater, Fresh Fruit Festival, Working Title Productions) and Baby Cakes (B-Street Theater Inaugural Comedy Festival, The Hearth Theater Co.) Leila was a 2017/2018 resident playwright at Athena Theater and is on playwriting faculty at The National Theater Institute. Leila has worked in Education and Literary offices at Manhattan Theatre Club, New Dramatists, The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center and Barrington Stage Company. As a performer, she has worked with David Dorfman Dance, The College Light Opera Company, The Hearth, NYC Fringe and NYC Musical Theater Festivals. Her visual art was recently published in Ricky's Backyard Magazine. She lives in Brooklyn, NY and Pittsfield, MA.

Colin Waitt's work has been produced by The PIT, The Tank, This Is Not a Theater Company, Dixon Place, Barn Arts, and The Minnesota Fringe Festival. Café Play (Co-written with Erin Mee, Jenny Lyn Bader, and Jessie Bear) was called "Best of Off-Off Broadway" by Time Out New York. His musical, Little, was a finalist for The New Victory Theater's LabWorks. His short play, The Pain of Loving You, was a finalist for the Ken Davenport Short Play Prize. Colin produced the original run of Puffs at The Peoples Improv Theater and was an Associate Producer on its record-breaking run off-Broadway at New World Stages.

Playwrights will meet on a monthly basis alongside program director Alex Tobey to share new work, receive feedback, and develop a first draft of a new play. In the spring, each writer will team up with a director and actors to present a public reading in May as a part of the annual INKubator New Play Festival. In addition to monthly meetings, INKubator playwrights will receive free admission to performances, mixers, and other events at Art House Productions. Playwrights will also have the ability to schedule time in both the theatre and classroom for any meetings, rehearsals, and readings as needed for free.

Art House Productions is generously supported by The New Jersey State Council on the Arts, MACK-CALI Realty, SILVERMAN, Manhattan Building Company, CoolVines, and Congressman Frank Guarini.

Art House Productions is committed to accessibility and inclusivity in all the public programming presented by our organization at our newly constructed performance venue.

Art House Productions produces work with a shrewd sense of social responsibility and challenges the idea of "universal" mind and "universal" body in each artistic endeavor.

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