New York Stage and Film Announces Summer Season Featuring Josh Radnor, Lily Houghton, Anna Deavere Smith, and More

New York Stage and Film returns July 9-August 7 for five weeks of in-person programming in Poughkeepsie for their 2022 Summer Season. For 38 years, NYSAF has operated as a vital incubator for artists and their work, a catalyst for stories that continue across the country and around the world. All tickets are $25 and go on sale June 1.

This summer's artists include May Adrales, Shariffa Chelimo Ali, César Alvarez, Sarah Benson, Elisa Bocanegra, Steve H. Broadnax III, Marc Bruni, Diana Burbano, Deborah Cowell, Julia Doolittle, Keelay Gipson, Lily Houghton, Sheryl Kaller, Eric Lockley, Katie Madison, Tre Matthews, Marya Mazor, Don Nguyen, Steph Paul, Josh Radnor, Keenan Scott II, Leigh Silverman, and Anna Deavere Smith.

With artist-driven flexibility, NYSAF offers resources and opportunities to meet projects at every step of their development. Its summer season supports the nation's leading generative artists and boldest creators of innovative and groundbreaking stories for the stage and the screen. In partnership with Vassar College's Powerhouse Theater and Marist College, NYSAF serves the needs of theater and film artists today, bringing them safely together in community to generate new stories and reconnect with one another and audiences.

"New York Stage and Film is thrilled to be expanding our relationships and scope of work this summer," said Artistic Director Chris Burney (He/They). "Our long-term relationship with Vassar College's Powerhouse Theater and our growing relationship with Marist College provide more opportunity for artists to develop and share their stories."

"Vassar College is proud to welcome back New York Stage and Film as part of our annual Powerhouse tradition," said Elizabeth H. Bradley, President, Vassar College. "We are pleased to have our local community members back to the campus this summer. We hope they will enjoy the chance to catch a show at the Powerhouse Theater, venture out to the Farm for an outdoor classic, or stop by the Frances Lehman Loeb and check out the talented members of the Training Company."

"Marist is very pleased to be moving forward for our second summer engagement with NYSAF," said Geoffrey L. Brackett, Executive Vice President, Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer at Marist College. "The arts are a critical component of our Hudson Valley community, and NYSAF's work with Marist and Vassar College is a wonderful testament to their growing significance for the region."

New Play Workshops:

The World Is Not Silent

Written by Don Nguyen

Directed by Marya Mazor

Presentations July 15, July 16, and July 17 at Vassar College's Powerhouse Theater

Don, an astrophotographer, returns home to reconnect with his estranged Vietnamese father only to discover that the communication gap between them has grown even wider in the wake of his father's recent deafness. Hoping that sign language will provide a bridge to overcome that distance, Don begins taking lessons. But the closer he gets to being able to communicate with his father, the further he seems to get from actually understanding the man, leaving Don to realize that mastering a language means very little if you're not willing to speak from the heart. Performed in English, Vietnamese and Sign Language, The World is Not Silent is a multilingual play that explores how language simultaneously divides and unites us.

Don Nguyen (He/Him) was born in Vietnam, grew up in Nebraska and currently lives in NYC. Full-length plays include The Supreme Leader (Dallas Theater Center), Hello, from the Children of Planet Earth (The Playwrights Realm), Red Flamboyant(Firebone Theatre), Sound (Azeotrope/ACT), The Commencement of William Tan (Yale Cabaret), The Man From Saigon (A.C.T New Strands Festival), and The World is Not Silent. Recipient of the 2015 GAP Prize from the Aurora Theatre and a NYSAF Founder's award. Finalist for The O'Neill National Playwrights Conference, The Princess Grace Award, and The Woodward International Playwriting Prize. Nominations include: the Laurents/Hatcher award and the L. Arnold Weissberger Award. Don was a member of the Ma-Yi Writers Lab, The Public Theater's inaugural Emerging Writers Group, The Civilians inaugural R&D Group, and a frequent volunteer at the 52nd Street Project.

Marya Mazor (She/Her) is an award-winning and critically acclaimed director based in Los Angeles. Marya's February 2020 production of Fun Home won the Los Angeles Ovation Award for Best Production of a Musical. Her numerous stage productions have received multiple LA Times Critic's Pick designations, Ovation Award Nominations, and Stage Raw Award Nominations. She has directed for The Geffen Playhouse, South Coast Repertory, Berkeley Repertory Theater, Long Wharf Theater, and many other venues in New York, Los Angeles and regionally. Marya was a National Endowment for the Arts TCG Fellow and an AFI DWW fellow. She directed the digital series, "Sophie in Hollywood," now airing on Asian American Movies. Her AFI Directing Workshop for Women short film "The Winged Man" was lauded at festivals worldwide including ComiCon. She directed the Broadway scale Disney's Aladdin for Disney Cruise Lines. Marya was co-founding Artistic Director of Voice & Vision theater in NYC, developing the voices of women and girls. She holds an MFA in Directing from the Yale School of Drama and has taught at Chapman University, the University of Southern California, Fordham University, Saddleback College, and others.

SWEET CHARIOT

Written by Eric Lockley

Directed by Shariffa Chelimo Ali

Developed with The Movement Theatre Company

Presentations July 22, July 23, and July 24 at Vassar College's Powerhouse Theater

When the prospect of a far off place called Home seems more appealing than the terrors of Earth, Marcus, a down and out teacher, launches himself on a journey across planets and centuries. Marcus risks everything, and a dysfunctional space crew will stop at nothing to discover Home. But as they encounter mysterious alien figures, Afro-Bots, and a very uncertain future, Home may not be all that they expected. SWEET CHARIOT is an Afrofuturistic exploration of the sorted line between escape and resilience, posing the question: is true liberation only possible for Black people beyond Earth?

Eric Lockley (He/Him) is an OBIE award-winning actor, writer, comedian, filmmaker, producer and podcast host. Stage: #DateMe, Choir Boy, How We Got On Screen: First Reformed, Luke Cage, The Inheritance Eric's comedic web series Blacker is featured on "Best Web Series" lists and his short film, The Jump is available on Amazon. Eric's plays including Blacken the Bubble and Without Trace and his solo shows, Last Laugh and Asking For More have been on stages in Chicago, DC, Texas and New York. Lockley was Head Writer for the inaugural awards ceremony, The Antonyos, celebrating Black Theater in 2020. His inspirational podcast, The 180, features guests of many industries discussing a moment when they turned their lives around, and is available on all streaming platforms. Lockley is also a founder of and produces with Harlem-based orgs, The Movement Theatre Company & Harlem9 creating opportunities for artists of color. EnGarde Arts commissioned Eric to create a walking tour that will mix fact and fiction to create a unique experience of Downtown Manhattan. The tour premieres in June 2022.

Shariffa Chelimo Ali (Director) is an international creative leader committed to advancing radical change through the power of art and activism. Originally from Kenya and raised South Africa, Shariffa has been a New York resident since 2013, working primarily as a director, community organizer and academic. As a filmmaker, Shariffa's works have been featured at acclaimed film/VR festivals & institutions worldwide including Sundance Film Festival (USA); Zeitz Museum of Contemporary African Art (South Africa); Brooklyn Film Festival (USA); Pan African Film Festival (USA); Electric Africa VR festival (South Africa) and DOK Neuland (Germany). As a theatre artist and academic Shariffa has directed taught at NYU, Brooklyn College, Yale University and Princeton University where she currently is a faculty member in the Theatre Program. Past theatre productions include Eclipsed, Detroit '67, Intimate Apparel, We Are Proud to Present...and an original new musical called We Were Everywhere. Shariffa's Off-Broadway and Regional Theatre credits include Mies Julie (Classic Stage Company), School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play (Pittsburgh Public Theatre), The Copper Children, (Oregon Shakespeare Festival) and Mlima's Tale (St Louis Rep). Shariffa served as Assistant Director to her mentor Cynthia Nixon for plays Rasheeda Speaking, Steve (The New Group) and Motherstruck! (Culture Project). Shariffa was the executive consultant to Ms. Nixon during her TV directorial debut in episode 106 of HBO Max's And Just Like That, the sequel to the hit series Sex and the City. In 2022 Shariffa was named Elizabeth M. Swayzee Artist in Residence at Miami University where she will be curating the inaugural Black Roots Festival in the spring of 2022.

TELL THEM I'M STILL YOUNG

Written by Julia Doolittle

Directed by May Adrales

Presentations July 28, July 29, and July 30 at Vassar College's Powerhouse Theater

Allen and Kay are approaching 65 when their only daughter is killed in a car crash. Now parents without children, the two struggle to renegotiate their identities and their marriage, as the entrance of two young people revives a painful longing for what's been lost: their family and their futures.

Julia Doolittle (She/Her) is a playwright and screenwriter raised in Los Angeles. Her plays include The Absentee (Know Theatre, Semi-finalist Relentless), Tell Them I'm Still Young (NYSAF, American Theatre Group starring Andre Braugher and Michele Pawk), and Love and Contracts (Writers Theatre, South Coast Rep dir Moritz Von Steulpnagel). Her work has also been seen at Victory Gardens Theatre, Portland Stage, Williamstown Theatre Festival, the Sam French Off-Off Broadway Festival, Rattlestick Playwright's Theatre, The Tank, Tiny Rhino, Urban Stages, and Rogue Machine Theatre. She's a proud recipient of the Elizabeth George Commission from South Coast Rep, a finalist for the Neukom Award, a semi-finalist for the O'Neill Summer Conference, and a finalist for the Heidemann Award at the Humana Festival. She is a member of the Obie-Award winning playwrights' group, Youngblood.

May Adrales (She/Her) is a director, artistic leader, teacher and mother; she has directed over 25 world premieres nationally, most recently at Second Stage (Rajiv Joseph's Letters of Suresh) and MTC (Qui Nguyen's Vietgone). Awards include: Ammerman Award at Arena Stage; TCG's Alan Schneider award for freelance directors; Denham fellowship; New Generations Grantee. Fellowships: Drama League Directing, Van Lier, WP Lab Director, SoHo Rep Writers/Directors Lab, and New York Theater Workshop directing. She served in artist leadership positions at Milwaukee Rep; The Playwrights Center; The Public Theater; and The Lark. She is currently the Director of the Theatre Program at Fordham University. MFA, Yale School of Drama.

NEW MUSICAL WORKSHOPS:

THE RETURN OF YOUNG BOY

Book By Keenan Scott II

Music and Lyrics by Keenan Scott II & Tre Matthews

Directed by Steve H. Broadnax III

Presentations: July 23 and July 24 at Marist College

After a five-year trek to become the next Supreme Ruler upon the death of his grandfather, Prophet, Young Boy finds himself in an unfamiliar home as he's soon reunited with his best friend and first love only to find out that his grandfather wasn't the man he once thought him to be.

Keenan Scott II (He/Him) is a playwright, poet, actor, director, and producer of original work from Queens, New York. His work has been workshopped and produced at notable theaters such as National Black Theater, New York Theater Workshop, Arena Stage and Woolly Mammoth. His critically acclaimed piece 'Thoughts of a Colored Man' world premiered at Syracuse Stage for their 2019-2020 season and transferred to Baltimore Center Stage to finish its regional run, before settling at the Golden Theater during the 2021-2022 Broadway Season, where he made his writing and unconventional acting debut. Scott was chosen to be a part of the 2021 TED Fellow cohort to be among a global community of artists, inventors and scientists. His latest work The Migration LP and new original musical The Return of Young Boy is currently being developed at New York Stage and Film, while his other stage plays are in various stages of development. He is a part of the creative team of the miniseries A Luv Tale by Sidra Smith, now on BET+. He is also developing an array of projects for television and film, currently developing a pilot with UCP of NBCUniversal and adapting a novel by JJ Bola called The Selfless Act of Breathing with BRON Studios.

For Tre Matthews (He/Him), art serves as a vehicle through which he uses to stimulate people's feelings through a cohesive blend of thought-provoking lyrics, topics and visuals that tug on the heart strings of the human heart. Michigan native, Tre Matthews is a creative swiss-army knife as it relates to the world of audio-visual production. A seasoned multimedia visionary, Tre manifests his artistry to audiences as a hip-hop artist, songwriter, music producer, audio engineer and video director and editor. After graduating from American University in 2009, Tre began working at a local recording studio where he wrote and produced songs for some of Washington DC's top unsigned artists as well as filmed and edited television and video productions for national campaigns for the US State Department, BET, Voice of America and other DC based companies. With an eclectic appreciation that spans the vast spectrum of artistic expression and innovation, Tre founded "Be.Leave.", an inter-media brand focused on delivering the highest quality content in music, film, fashion, tech and musical theater. His current work, a musical entitled: The Return of Young Boy, a collaborative effort with Broadway Playwright Keenan Scott II is currently being developed at New York Stage and Film.

Steve H. Broadnax III (Director). Thoughts of a Colored Man (Broadway); Katori Hall's 2021 Pulitzer Prize premiere The Hot Wing King at The Signature Theatre; Lee Edward Colston's The First Deep Breath at Chicago's Victory Garden Theatre (Premiere and Winner of Jeff Awards Best New Work); Dominique Morisseau's Blood at the Root at the National Black Theatre (Winner of Kennedy Center's Hip Hop Theater Creator Award) and William Jackson Harper's premiere Travisville at NYC Ensemble Studio. Ensemble Studio Theatre member and serves as the Associate Artistic Director at People's Light Theatre and a Professor of Theatre at Penn State University; Co-Head of MFA Directing.

Additional Credits include:

Actors' Theatre of Louisville, Hattiloo Theatre, Syracuse Stage, Chautauqua Theatre Company, People's Light Theatre, Apollo Theatre NYC, Classical Theatre of Harlem, Atlantic Theatre NYC, Detroit Public Theatre, Baltimore Center Stage, Cleveland Playhouse, The Black Theatre Troupe in Phoenix, AZ, Arkansas Repertory Theatre, Moore Theatre in Seattle, Market Theatre Johannesburg SA, The Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland, National Arts Festival in South Africa, and The Adelaide Arts Festival Australia.

THE POTLUCK

By César Alvarez

Directed by Sarah Benson

Presentations July 29, July 30, and July 31 at Marist College

On November 3, 1979 five communist labor organizers were murdered in broad daylight in the streets of Greensboro, NC by a group of KKK and Nazis. All five of the victims had committed their lives to fighting the rule of the capitalist class. The murders had been planned and supported by paid informants of the Greensboro Police and agencies within the U.S. government. One year later in Greensboro, César James Alvarez was born into the survivor community and named after two of the victims, César Cauce and James Waller. Thirty-six years after that an "entertainment" company paid César to write a musical about the Greensboro Massacre, but it turned into a seance full of ghosts and queerness and feelings and some stuff about how to recuperate from trauma that happened to you before you were born, and also capitalism.

César Alvarez (They/Them) is a composer, lyricist, playwright, and performance maker. They create large experimental musicals as non-normative possibility spaces for embodiment, inter-dimensionality, socio-political transformation, kinship and coexistence. With a background as a jazz saxophonist, band leader and sound artist, César's work inhabits a space between the worlds of theater, music, performance art and social practice. César has written five full-length musicals, Futurity (2016 Lortel Award for Outstanding Musical); The Elementary Spacetime Show; The Universe is a Small Hat; Noise (a commission of The Public Theater); and The Potluck. César also composed the music for Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' An Octoroon (Soho Rep, TFANA. Drama Desk Nomination), and The Foundry Theater's Good Person of Szechwan (LaMaMa, The Public Theater. Drama Desk Nomination). In 2015 César co-founded Polyphone, a festival of new and emerging musicals at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, and served as Artistic Director for five seasons. César was a 2018-20 Princeton Arts Fellow, 2020-22 Hermitage Fellow, a recipient of The Jonathan Larson Award in 2016, the Kleban Prize for lyrics in 2022 and is currently under commission at Playwright's Horizons and Denver Theater Center. César is an Assistant Professor of Music at Dartmouth College.

Sarah Benson (She/Her) is a theater director based in New York City and one of the three Directors of Soho Rep. Recent credits include: Jackie Sibblies Drury's Fairview (Soho Rep, TFANA, Berkeley Rep, play awarded Pulitzer Prize for Drama); Suzan-Lori Parks' In The Blood (Signature Theater) for Soho Rep: Richard Maxwell's Samara with music by Steve Earle; César Alvarez and The Lisps' Futurity (ART, Walker Arts Center and in New York with Ars Nova, Lucille Lortel Outstanding Musical, Callaway Award for Direction); Branden Jacobs-Jenkins An Octoroon (Soho Rep, TFANA; OBIE Best Play); Lucas Hnath's A Public Reading of an Unproduced Screenplay About the Death of Walt Disney; Sarah Kane's Blasted (OBIE award for direction, Drama Desk nomination); and David Adjmi's Elective Affinities with Zoe Caldwell (site-specific). She is a Vilcek Foundation awardee and moved to New York from London on a Fulbright. She also directed the award-winning 2019 Skittles Superbowl commercial Skittles Commercial: The Broadway Musical (Town Hall).

SUN SONGS

Music & Lyrics by Katie Madison

Book by Deborah Cowell

Presentations: August 5, August 6, and August 7 at Marist College

Revolve...evolve...to solve the question. Depart and start to chart a new answer. Only for you, the answer isn't just what you do, the answer is who you are! So who are we? SUN SONGS is an existential musical from the universe reminding us that we are all, ultimately, stardust. Seamlessly bringing musicians into the narrative, SUN SONGS by Deborah Cowell (book) and Katie Madison (music & lyrics) is an ensemble piece that follows two entities of light trying to find their place in time. Guided by their ancestors and a "narrator" of sorts, their relationship to the natural world inspires memories they thought they had lost. From the past through the present, inspiring endless possibilities of the future, we re[turn] to learn who we are is never far from who we were and who we'll be. You, like me...see.

Katie Madison (She/Her) is a composer, writer, director, producer, and vocalist based in the Canarsie and Munsee Lenape land known as Brooklyn. She is a 2021 Jonathan Larson Award finalist, and was recently seen in conversation with New York Times best selling author Ibi Zoboi debuting a digital commission she produced with Kweli Journal. Katie is part of the inaugural cohort of the Hi-ARTS Artspace Exchange Program in collaboration with the Cowles Center for Dance and the Performing Arts. She is a 2021 New York Stage and Film Founders Award finalist, and was one of three featured emerging artists in the 2021 Crossroads Theatre Genesis Festival. In August of 2021, Katie used her New York City Artist Corps Grant to produce, direct and perform in a concert of her work at the historic Weeksville Heritage Center. She was chosen by The Downtown Alliance in collaboration with En Garde Arts and The Tank to re-open New York City in their first live performance post pandemic. Katie was a Critical Breaks Resident with Hi-Arts in April 2021 developing her show Sun Songs. Her show [ taking ] space was a 2019 Sundance Theatre Lab finalist.

Deborah Cowell (She/Her) is an editor, writer, and digital artist. Working primarily with black and white photography, video, and film, Deborah has had recent work commissioned by Kweli Journal (March 2022), the University of Michigan School of Musical Theater and Dance (November 2020), Hi-Arts (May 2021), The American Opera Project (June 2021). Her work has been featured by The Weeksville Heritage Center (August 2021), Judson Memorial Church (June 2020), The Downtown Alliance in collaboration with En Garde Arts and The Tank. She is currently building a portfolio of black and white candid portraits and still life in and around local Black, Queer musical theater artists developing new works and New York City at large. Debbie has documented the development of shows such as Bye Bye Self-Love Hello Pop-Tarts by Daniel James Belnavis, Spirit in the Vine (words by Jay St. Flono & music by James Dargan), Homecoming (music by Jarrett Murray, book & lyrics by Katie Madison), [ taking ] space (book, music & lyrics by Katie Madison), Sun Songs S (music & lyrics by Katie Madison) and other untitled works in development. Cowell is a product of the public school system, first grade through graduate school.

PLAY READING WEEKENDS:

NUESTRO PLANETA: A Colombia Project

Written by Diana Burbano

Devised and Directed by Elisa Bocanegra

Commissioned by Hero Theatre

Presentation: July 9 at Marist College

A young Colombian American scientist, Alondra travels back to her family's homeland of Colombia after her mother's passing. Her goal is to study the country's rich biodiversity. Through her informative and often comedic travels, she discovers the healing power of nature and the deeper meaning of returning "home." This play is the first commission of NUESTRO PLANETA, a ten-year-long new works initiative based on environmental justice and stories of climate change in Latin America.

Diana Burbano (She/Her) a Colombian immigrant, is a playwright, an Equity actor, and Literary Manager of Breath of Fire Latina Theatre Ensemble. Diana's play Ghosts of Bogota, won the Nu Voices festival at Actors Theatre of Charlotte in 2019. Ghosts was commissioned and debuted at Alter Theater in the Bay Area in Feb 2020. Sapience was a Playground-SF 2020 Winner and was featured at Latinx Theatre Festival, San Diego Rep 2020. Fabulous Monsters, a Kilroys selection will premiere at The Public Theatre of San Antonio, featuring the music of FEA in 2023. She was in Center Theatre Group's 2018-19 Writers Workshop cohort and is in the Geffen's Writers Lab in 20-21. She has worked on projects with South Coast Repertory, Artists Repertory Theatre, Breath of Fire Latina Theatre Ensemble and Center Theatre Group and Livermore Shakespeare Festival. Diana recently played Amalia in Jose Cruz Gonzales' American Mariachi at South Coast Repertory and Arizona Theatre Company, and Marisela in La Ruta at Artists Repertory. See her as Viv the Punk in the cult musical Isle of Lesbos. She is the current Dramatists Guild Rep for Southern California.

Elisa Bocanegra (She/Her) is the founder of HERO Theatre, which she started with the help of her mentor, Olympia Dukakis. She is a Fulbright Scholar and the current Pfaelzer Award winner at NYSAF, where she was also part of the NEXUS program. Elisa won the TCG Leadership U Grant, the nation's largest grant of its kind. This allowed her to be part of the Leadership Team at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival for two seasons. Her stage directing credits include Troy, a modern retelling of The Trojan Women about women and homelessness. She directed Troy and worked alongside Kilroy List playwright Amina Henry in the development. Bocanegra and Henry are recent recipients of an NEA Award. Other directing credits include Festival Irene: A Tribute to Playwright Maria Irene Fornés, The Floating Island Plays by Eduardo Machado, and a new screen and stage project called Nuestro Planeta, which focuses on educating Latinx audiences about environmental justice within the Americas. As an actor, she can be seen on season two of Apple TV's Physical, starring Rose Byrne, and will be returning for season three. Her first film, Girlfight, won the Grand Jury Prize for Best Film at The Sundance Film Festival.

MY BROTHER IS BETTER AT LOVE THAN ME

Written by Lily Houghton

Directed by Leigh Silverman

Presentation: July 9 at Marist College

At a neuro-diverse summer camp tucked in the woods of the Catskills, teenage camper Hank gets swept up in his first summer love-- immediately transfixed by fellow camper and dog lover Ella. The only problem-- his bossy yet rebellious younger sister Ruth has decided to join the camp as a counselor this year, really hindering Hank's studliness and getting herself into all sorts of trouble with toxic lifeguard Roger, who is unfortunately afraid of the water and fish of all kinds. Based on her brother's real life first summer love, My Brother Is Better At Love Than Me highlights a new kind of romantic lead, ultimately revealing which sibling is actually teaching the other the most important lesson of all-- how to love.

Lily Houghton (She/Her) is a twenty-six-year-old playwright born and raised in Manhattan. Her plays have been produced/developed at MCC Theater Company, Atlantic Theater Company, EST/Youngblood, NYU, Seattle Repertory Theater, Normal Ave, The Flea Theater, Yale, Contemporary American Theater Festival and Jermyn Street Theatre in London. She has won two Sloan Foundation Science Grants, the Elizabeth George Grant and was awarded the Launch Commission from the Atlantic Theater Company. She is a proud member of the Obie winning Youngblood at EST. Lily currently has television projects in development at Amazon with Blake Lively's B for Effort, Sister, Rebelle Media, Dakota and Elle Fanning's Lewellen, Belletrist and Temple Hill. She loves her brother, Henry.

Leigh Silverman (Director). Her Broadway credits include Grand Horizons (2ST; Williamstown Theater Festival); The Lifespan of a Fact (Studio 54); Violet (Roundabout Theater Company; Tony nomination); Chinglish (Goodman Theatre; Longacre); Well (Public Theater; ACT; Longacre). Recent Off-Broadway: SUFFS (Public Theater); The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe (Shed); Soft Power (Public Theater; Ahmanson Theater/ Curran Theater; Drama Desk nom); Tumacho (Clubbed Thumb); Hurricane Diane (New York Theatre Workshop; Two River Theater); Harry Clarke (Vineyard Theatre/Audible, Minetta Lane; Lortel nom); Wild Goose Dreams (Public Theater; La Jolla Playhouse); Sweet Charity (New Group); On The Exhale (Roundabout); The Outer Space (Public Theater). Encores: Bring Me to Light; Violet; The Wild Party; Really Rosie. 2011 Obie Award and 2019 Obie for Sustained Excellence.

A NEW PLAY By Josh Radnor

Directed by Sheryl Kaller

Presentation: July 9 at Marist College

How do we learn to forgive? When two people are brought together after the death of a creative genius, they must confront the myth of their idol and the limits of their own ability to forgive. In this new play by Josh Radnor, the lies we tell ourselves can be more painful than the lies we tell each other.

Josh Radnor (Playwright). He can currently be seen in the acclaimed Amazon series Hunters co-starring alongside Al Pacino with Jordan Peele executive producing. On television, Radnor is best known for his leading role as 'Ted Mosby' on CBS' groundbreaking Emmy nominated series, "How I Met Your Mother." Additional television credits include Lou Mazzuchelli on "Rise" (NBC), and Jedediah Foster on "Mercy Street." (PBS). Film: Joey Soloway's Afternoon Delight alongside Kathryn Hahn and Juno Temple, Theresa Bennett's Social Animals (Paramount). Upcoming Film & TV: Fleishman is in Trouble (F/X/Hulu), 3 Birthdays (dir: Jane Weinstock), All Happy Families (dir. Haroula Rose). Radnor has also made his mark as a director and writer. His film, Liberal Arts, premiered at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival and was later released by IFC. His directorial debut, HAPPYTHANKYOUMOREPLEASE, debuted at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Audience Award for Favorite U.S. Drama. Radnor has appeared on stage in a number of theatrical productions, including Little Shop of Horrors at The Kennedy Center; the world premiere of Richard Greenberg's The Babylon Line at Lincoln Center; the Broadway production of Ayad Akhtar's Pulitzer Prize winning play, Disgraced; Roundabout Theatre Company's special one-night-only gala reading of She Loves Me; the Ovation Award-winning world premiere production of Jon Robin Baitz's The Paris Letter; and his leading role as the title character in Terry Johnson's Broadway stage adaptation of the 1967 film The Graduate. He also makes music with Aussie musician Ben Lee as Radnor & Lee. They released their second album, "Golden State," on Flower Moon Records in 2020. His solo EP "One More Then I'll Let You Go" was released in the spring of 2021. And he recently recorded a double album in Nashville (EULOGY: VOLUMES 1 & 2) which will be released later this year. In addition, Radnor debuted as a playwright with Sacred Valley, which premiered at the Mainstage of Vassar & New York Stage and Film's Powerhouse Theater.

Sheryl Kaller (Director). Some recent productions include A Walk on the Moon at George Street Playhouse, Bliss by Tyler Beattie and Emma Lively at Seattle 5th Avenue Theater and The White Chip by Sean Daniels at 59 E. 59. She directed Terrence McNally's Tony Award-nominated play on Broadway, Mothers and Sons with Tyne Daly. Sheryl received a Tony Award nomination for Best Director for the Broadway production of Next Fall by Geoffrey Nauffts. Other projects include Frozen for Disney Cruise Lines, Our Town with Deaf West Theater and Pasadena Playhouse and Sacred Valley by Josh Radnor at NYSAF. The world premieres of Billy Porter's play While I Yet Live at Primary Stages, Nick Blaemire's A Little More Alive (Barrington Stage and Kansas City Rep), Roundabout Theater Company's Underground production of Too Much Too Much Too Many, by Meghan Kennedy, and the LCT3 production ofMr. Joy, by Daniel Beaty. She's is currently in collaboration with playwrights Marilyn Ness, and Josh Radnor, among others.

DEMONS

Written by Keelay Gipson

Directed by Steph Paul

Presentation: August 6 at Marist College

When the death of their patriarch draws family members home, they must reckon with grief and the haunting realities that death often brings to the surface. A surreal dark comedy, demons is a meditation on the reality of growing older, of losing a parent, and that ever-elusive quest to exorcise the trauma a family can pass down through the generations.

Keelay Gipson (He/Him) is an Afro Surrealist writer and teaching artist whose plays include demons. (JAGFest @ Dartmouth), The Red and the Black (O'Neill Finalist), #NEWSLAVES (Princess Grace Finalist), imagine sisyphus happy (P73 Summer Residency @ Yale), Mary/Stuart, a dramatic queering of friederich schiller's classic play (BAM Next Wave Festival), The Lost Or, How to Just B (Kernodle New Play Award). AWARDS: NYSAF Founders' Award, Barrington Stage Spark Grant. FELLOWSHIPS: Victory Gardens Playwrights' Ensemble, Van Lier Fellowship at New Dramatists, Lambda Literary New Voices, Playwrights Realm, Dramatist Guild Foundation. RESIDENCIES: MacDowell, City of New York Public Artist in Residence (PAIR), The Hermitage Artist Retreat. His work has been developed/supported by Roundabout, The Old Globe, Artist Repertory Theater, Bushwick Starr, New York Stage and Film, Ars Nova, National Black Theater, Rattlestick Playwrights' Theater, Classical Theater of Harlem, and New York Theatre Workshop.

Steph Paul (She/Her) is a director/choreographer who clears space for uninhibited physical truth. What comes up must come out. She weaves together her lived experience as a first-generation Haitian-American, body percussionist, dancer, athlete and is passionate about art as a means to build a team. Most recently, she directed and choreographed The Royale by Marco Ramirez at Kansas City Repertory Theatre. Up next, she will choreograph the world premiere musical Shook by Alexis Scheer and Zoe Sarnak, directed by Maggie Burrows, at Northern Stage and co-direct How to Defend Yourself by Liliana Padilla with Rachel Chavkin and Liliana Padilla at New York Theatre Workshop. Recent theater credits include The Last Match (Writers Theatre), America v2.1 (Definition Theatre), Where the Mountain Meets the Sea (Humana Festival), Richard III (Shakespeare Theatre Company), The Wolves (Studio Theatre - Helen Hayes Award Winner, Outstanding Choreography in a Play), Learning Curve (Albany Park Theater Project, Third Rail Projects). International credits include Royal Opera House Muscat and National Theatre of Scotland. Steph is an Artistic Associate of Chicago Dance Crash, a proud member of SDC and a 2021 Princess Grace Award-winner. She is also a lover of acai bowls and improbable comebacks.

MODERN GENTLEMAN

Written by Preston Max Allen

Presentation: August 6 at Marist College

After his partner of five years abruptly ends their relationship, 28-year-old Adam must navigate the world of dating for the first time since coming out as a trans man. But Adam's hopes for a fresh start are quickly derailed when a chaotic new girlfriend, the return of his ex, and long-ignored personal demons force him to finally confront his complicated relationship to his own identity.

Preston Max Allen (He/Him) is a playwright, composer, and lyricist whose work has been featured at the New Amsterdam Theatre, Lincoln Center, Signature Theatre, Musical Theatre Factory, Chautauqua Institution, Feinstein's/54 Below, and Joe's Pub. Preston conceived and wrote book, music, and lyrics for the 2019 Off-Broadway musical We are the Tigers (album now streaming); Agent 335 (dramaturgy/co-book Jessica Kahkoska); and The Rage: Carrie 2, An Unathorized Musical Parody (Jeff Nominee, Best New Musical). Additional musical collaborations include A Very Netfl*x Christmas Musical: Now Streaming Live! and Amy Adams Wins an Oscar (books by Edward Precht). Plays: Modern Gentleman (2020 Pride Plays Festival) and Caroline (2021 Ars Nova Out Loud). Preston is a member of the Writers Guild of America East, the Ars Nova Play Group (2019-21), and an alum of the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theater Workshop. He is currently developing a TV series with Freeform and recently staffed on an upcoming series for FX. @prestonmaxallen

LOVE ALL

Written by Anna Deavere Smith

Directed by Marc Bruni

Presentation: August 7 at Marist College

LOVE ALL tells the story of the rise of tennis icon Billie Jean King against a backdrop of the social upheaval and countercultural revolutions of the 1960s. A tale of tough competition on the court and gritty teamwork in the world, it asks what it takes to be a champion and what more it takes to change the course of history.

Anna Deavere Smith (She/Her) is a playwright and actress. She's credited with having created a new form of theater. Her works for the theater are composed of excerpts of hundreds of interviews. They tell stories about contemporary issues from multiple perspectives. Plays and subsequent films include Fires in the Mirror and Twilight Los Angeles, Let Me Down Easy, and Notes From the Field about the school to prison pipeline. Movies include Philadelphia, The American President, Rachel Getting Married and Billy Crystal's new movie Here Today. Television: "Inventing Anna," "The West Wing," "Nurse Jackie" and "Black-ish." President Obama awarded Smith the National Endowment for the Humanities Medal. She's the recipient of the MacArthur Fellowship, several Obie awards, and the George Polk Career Award in Journalism. She was a runner up for the Pulitzer Prize and nominated for two Tony Awards. She's a professor at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. She has several honorary doctorate degrees including those from Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, Spelman College and Juilliard. She received an honorary doctorate from Oxford last fall.

Marc Bruni (He/Him) directed the Tony, Grammy, and Olivier Award winning Beautiful: The Carole King Musical on Broadway, in the West End, US/UK Tours, and in Australia, winning the Helpmann and Green Room Awards for Best Direction of a Musical. Bruni's other directing credits include: Trevor the Musical (Off Bway- Stage 42, Writers Theatre), The Explorers Club (Manhattan Theater Club), The Tale of Despereaux (With PigPen Theatre Co.- Old Globe Theatre, Berkeley Rep), Old Jews Telling Jokes (Westside Theatre and Royal George in Chicago- Jeff Award nom for Direction), Hey, Look Me Over!, Paint Your Wagon, Pipe Dream and Fanny for NY City Center Encores!, The Music Man, How to Succeed.., and 50 Years of Broadway (Kennedy Center), Roman Holiday: The Cole Porter Musical (Golden Gate), The Sound of Music (Chicago Lyric Opera), Other People's Money (Long Wharf-CCC Nom for Direction), I Hate Hamlet (Bucks County Playhouse), Presto Change-o (Barrington Stage), Ordinary Days (Roundabout Underground), and seven shows for the St. Louis MUNY including Singin' in the Rain, My Fair Lady, The Music Man and The Sound of Music (Two Kevin Kline Nominations). He also directed the eight episode streaming musical A Killer Party. He is a graduate of Dartmouth College and member of SDC.

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