Kyra Sims Named As First Co-artistic Director Of New York Neo-futurists

The award-winning New York Neo-Futurists (NYNF), a diverse collective of writer-director-performers now in their 18th season of writing and performing original work rooted in non-fiction, announce the hiring of senior ensemble member, Kyra Sims as their first Co-Artistic Director in a new shared leadership structure. Sims is a performer, writer, and educator, who has worked and performed with New York Neo-Futurists since 2015.

"Kyra Sims is a fierce artist and compassionate leader. I am thrilled that she is our first Co-Artistic Director," says the other co-Artistic Director, Rob Neill. "Having led multiple projects and filled several essential roles in the organization, Kyra has a keen awareness of what makes this a vibrant and extraordinary company. I am excited for the New York Neo-Futurists as we re-open and move forward into this shared leadership model, as there is no better person to lead the way than Kyra Sims."

"Kyra joins us as Co-Artistic Director at such an exciting time for the New York Neo-Futurists," adds Board President, Jen Leavitt (VP of Product Management at Patron Technology). "For 18 years, the New York Neo-Futurists have uplifted multidisciplinary artists creating original work. Kyra brings experience not only with the work of Neo-Futurism, but in arts leadership, fundraising, and arts education as well. Kyra is a positive and collaborative leader, and the board and I are excited for Kyra to bring her passion for making the arts accessible for everyone to the New York Neo-Futurists. Kyra's collaborative spirit in working with the board, audience, and donors is exactly what the New York Neo-Futurists need in this moment."

"It has been a dream of mine to be able to fully give my 14 years of arts administration experience to the company that gave me an artistic home and family at a time when I needed it most," commented Sims. "I am honored to share this role with Rob, who is the lifeblood of the company, and to keep growing our mission with the rest of the ensemble, without whom none of this would be possible."

Kyra Sims is a performing artist and writer based in New York. She earned her Masters degree from Manhattan School of Music, and as a professional French hornist has backed artists such as Lizzo, Jon Batiste, Carole King, Taylor Mac, and Frank Ocean. She has also played on both Broadway and Off-Broadway shows, originating Horn chairs at the Drama Desk-Nominated shows Carmen Jones, Superhero, and Soft Power, Duncan Sheik's Whisper House, and the Emmy-Nominated online show Ratatouille: A Tik Tok Musical. Kyra has also worked regularly as a substitute musician on the hit Broadway shows The Lion King and Anastasia. Kyra joined the New York Neo-Futurists as a writer, director and performer in 2015, and she made her composition debut that same year as the Composer/Sound Designer for the NYNF's Mainstage production The Human Symphony, for which she received a nomination for a New York Innovative Theatre Award.

The New York Neo-Futurists are a radically dynamic ensemble of multidisciplinary artists who write and perform original work rooted in the truth of our own lived experiences. We fuse elements of poetry, game, and performance art to create ever-changing theater and other artistic experiments to respond to the world around us. Since opening in Brooklyn in 2004 the New York Neo-Futurists have premiered over 6,000 plays and have become a downtown New York institution. In addition to performing The Infinite Wrench fifty weeks a year and producing Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind from 2004 until 2016, the New York Neo-Futurists have been a stalwart presence in the Off-Off Broadway community, having won numerous Innovative Theatre Awards and Drama Desk Nominations. The company was honored at The 2018 Fresh Fruit Festival Awards with the Honeyberry Award for Unrecognized Service to the LGBT Community. The Infinite Wrench unleashes a barrage of two-minute plays and while each one offers something different, be it funny, profound, elegant, disgusting, topical, irrelevant, or terrifying, all are truthful and tackle the here-and-now, inspired by the lived experiences of the performers.

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