Reynaldo Piniella and Pierre Marais Announced as Abingdon Theatre Company Artists in Residence

Abingdon Theatre Company has announced two new Artists in Residence for their upcoming 30th Season beginning in the fall. Reynaldo Piniella and Pierre Marais are set to be the next participants in the Carolyn Halpert Artist in Residence Program, which began in 2017.

Carolyn Halpert was a lifelong devotee of the arts but, as an actress, her heart lay in the theatre. She became a staunch supporter of Abingdon Theatre Company and when she passed away in late 2015, she remembered ATC in her will. As a result, Abingdon named the Artist-in-Residence program in her honor. Every season, ATC selects artists for a year-long residency. The program aims to nurture emerging artists and new work offering mentorship and the opportunity to continue further exploration of their work.

Artistic Director, Chad Austin said, "I am elated to have Pierre and Reynaldo in residency during our 30th season celebration. They represent the type of artist I believe in and exemplify the kind of humans I wish to support as they carve out their artistic journeys."

Pieniella said, "As an emerging artist, having an artistic home is an invaluable privilege. Abingdon Theatre Company has fostered my artistic growth as an actor, writer and creator and I couldn't be more excited to be joining them as an artist-in-residence."

"I am deeply honored to be selected as the artist in residence for Abingdon Theatre Company's 30th season," said Marais. "Abingdon artistically represents everything I moved my life from South Africa to New York City to pursue. They champion work that is new and innovative and breath life into it. I'm grateful to Artistic Director Chad Austin for his faith and trust in me; the guidance and platform provided by him and the whole team at Abingdon has made me a better and braver artist. I so look forward to all the work we will create together on this milestone year for the company."

Reynaldo Piniella is an actor, writer, activist and educator from East New York, Brooklyn. In 2021, he was in The Acting Company of two Broadway shows at the same time - Thoughts of a Colored Man and Trouble in Mind. His Off-Broadway acting credits include The Death of the Last Black Man..., Venus (Signature), The Skin of Our Teeth (TFANA), Lockdown (Rattlestick), The Space Between the Letters (The Public/UTR), and The Best of Theatreworks (Working Theater). Regional acting credits include work at Baltimore Center Stage, Syracuse Stage, St. Louis Shakespeare Festival, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, O'Neill, Sundance Theatre Lab and Cleveland Play House. As a playwright, his work includes Black Doves (Thomas Barbour award for Playwriting), Real Life RPG (commissioned by Baltimore Center Stage, produced by San Diego Rep, Shakesqueer Theater Company and Pioneer Theater Guild), No Shade (produced by the Lee Strasberg Institute at NYU Tisch), I'm Old School (produced by Single Carrot Theater) and Black and Blue (Ars Nova's ANT Fest.) He received the Fox Foundation Resident Actor Fellowship from Theatre Communications Group to develop a bilingual English-Spanish Hamlet with the Classical Theatre of Harlem. He is a current member of All for One Theater's Solo Collective and is an alum of The Civilians' R&D Group. He is the inaugural recipient of the All Stars Project's Fellowship for Young Artists of Color, a FREEdom Fellow at the Weeksville Heritage Center and has received residencies from The Public Theater's Shakespeare Initiative and HB Studio.

Originally from Cape Town, South Africa, Pierre Marais is an award-winning short film director and actor based out of NYC. As a Broadway performer himself, most recently in Aladdin The Musical, dance has been a cornerstone of his film work and he has defined his style largely through movement. Over the past year alone, Pierre's films have garnered over 50 selections from different film festivals across the globe. Most notably, his short film, 'As Apple Pie' has earned him a selection as Best Young Filmmaker in the Cannes World Film Festival. Narratively, Pierre serves as a director and cinematographer for 'For The Boys', a popular and award-winning web-series streaming on SlayTV. He also works as a director for Broadstream, a new online streaming platform. Most recently as a director, Pierre's documentary, 'Ensemble' was released on Broadway on Demand; a reframing of the recorded sessions that created the musical "A Chorus Line" through the lens of the pandemic. As an actor, he is currently starring in 'Anne of Green Gables', a new musical adaption of the classic story at Goodspeed Opera House.

Abingdon Theatre Company was formed in 1993 by a group of theatre artists, eager for ongoing collaboration and greater control over their creative lives. Now, 30 years later Abingdon has collaborated with over 200 playwrights including Tony Award Winner, V (Formerly Eve Ensler), Philip Dawkins, David Greenspan, Anne Bogart, James Lecesne, Michael Weller, Dominque Fishback, Charles Mee and many more. In recent years their annual galas have honored artists such as Bebe Neuwirth, Donna Murphy and Andrew Lippa. Recent productions include the New York Premieres of both Fruit Trilogy and The Gentleman Caller and the critically acclaimed Drama Desk Nominee, Get On Your Knees. The company provides a safe home where playwrights, directors and actors can collaborate within a supportive and nurturing environment. They search for stories about the human experience that reflect our social, political, historical and cultural diversity. They are acutely aware of the theatre's power to unite disparate population groups through stories about common human interests and strive to shed light on a variety of perspectives.

For more information visit: www.abingdontheatre.org

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