ALMOST 13 to be Presented in the East to Edinburgh Festival at 59e59 Theaters This Month

"Almost 13" by Joan Kane will be presented by Ego Actus in the East to Edinburgh Festival at 59E59 Theaters July 16, 26 and 30. The play dramatizes the memories of a young girl's being emotionally broken by the people and events in her neighborhood.

Production History

Almost 13 was originally written by Joan Kane in the summer of 2015 at the LaMama Playwrights Symposium in Umbria, Italy with the encouragement and guidance of playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins. The first version was for 15 actors. Joan directed a reading of that version at LaMama ETC on February 27, 2016. Joan Kane later adapted the play into a solo piece and performed it twice, under the direction of Bruce A! Kraemer, for the United Solo Festival at Theatre Row opening on September 24, 2019. Ego Actus remounted the show with additional material for four performances at the Episcopal Actors Guild October 14 to 17, 2021 and one show in the Estrogenius Festival on March 26, 2022. We excerpted ten minutes of it for the Lower East Side festival on May 27, 2022. After East to Edinburgh Ego Actus will present the play in the 2022 Edinburgh Festival Fringe for 18 performances at Greenside Venues.

Joan Kane

Joan Kane (writer/actor/producer) is the founding Artistic Director of Ego Actus. She directed Sycorax at HERE, Play Nice! at 59E59 Theaters, I Know What Boys Want at Theatre Row, Six Characters in Search of an Author in Oslo, Norway and Kafka's Belinda in Prague. She also directed both Safe and what do you mean at 59E59 Theaters and in the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, getting four star reviews for each. Joan was awarded Best Director in the 2016 United Solo Festival where she has directed six pieces. Joan was named one of the 2011 People of the Year in honor of her contributions to the NY theatre scene and inducted to the Indie Theatre Hall of Fame by nytheatre.com. Her shows have been nominated for 61 awards, winning 21. Joan has also directed plays and readings at the Lark, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Urban Stages, Workshop Theater, Nylon Fusion, Articulate Theatre, Abingdon Theatre, Oberon Theatre, the Samuel French Short Play Festival, The Actors Studio, T. Schreiber Studio, the Broadway Bound festival and many others. Joan graduated from the High School of Performing Arts, studied acting at The Neighborhood Playhouse and has an MFA in Directing from The New School and an MS in Museum Education from Bank Street College. Early in her career she was an Equity, AFTRA and SAG actress. She later became a teaching artist for Henry St Settlement, Young Playwrights and Theatre for a New Audience. Joan went on to teach in New York City Public Schools where she was also a staff developer and at Fordham University as an adjunct professor for both under graduate and graduate classes.

Joan is a member of The New York Madness Company, Rising Sun Performance Company, The Episcopal Actors' Guild, the League of Independent Theatre, the Dramatists Guild, New York Women In Film and Television and the Society of Stage Directors & Choreographers. She is a voting member for the New York Innovative Theatre Awards Artistic Achievement committee and a Nominator for the Kilroys List. Joan is also an ex-officio Vice President for Programming on the Executive Board of Directors of the League of Professional Theatre Women.

Bruce A! Kraemer

Bruce A! Kraemer (producer, director designer) is the producer of all Ego Actus shows. He directed Almost 13 to sold out audiences in the United Solo festival. Bruce has done lighting design for Roundabout Theatre and Soho Rep and has designed shows at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Ensemble Studio Theatre, 59E59 Theaters, the NYC Fringe, Theatre Row, and many others. He has designed many sets for Ego Actus festival shows, including the award winning set for Hamlet, Bound and Unbound in the Midtown International Festival. Bruce has created both sound and projection designs and has been a prop master for The Ensemble Studio Theater Marathon of one act plays. As a playwright Bruce wrote what do you mean which played at 59e59 Theater and in the 2014 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. His Identity Paper was in the 2016 United Solo Festival and he co-wrote Kafka's Belinda which played in the 2015 Prague Fringe Festival and was nominated for an Inspiration Award. Bruce also does TV and event lighting, audio, technical direction, stage management, production intercom and RF coordination. He has done one or another of those for the Summer and Winter Olympics, the Paralympics, the World Cup, two Papal visits, three Superbowls, the Commonwealth Games, the Goodwill Games, six Tony Awards, the Grammys, three Video Music Awards, the WNBA All Star Game, the NBA All Star game, the NBA Draft, four NFL Drafts, the MLB Draft, ten Christmas Tree Lightings at Rockefeller Center, on Broadway, off Broadway, off off Broadway, for dance, fashion shows, art installations and hundreds of corporate events.

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