THE LARK AND THE NIGHTINGALE Comes To The 2024 Little Shakespeare Festival Next Week

The Little Shakespeare Festival at FRIGID New York will present The Lark and the Nightingale, written by Mindy Mawhirter and Alyssa Cokinis and directed by Melody Erfani, at UNDER St Marks Theater, 94 St Marks Place.

The Lark and the Nightingale is a queer retelling of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet and Othello. Juliet and Desdemona, two characters canonically destined for tragic endings, break away from their scripts and attempt to find happiness in each other. Desdemona battles duty with love while Juliet struggles to let love consume her entirely. When confronted with their scripted ends, they must advocate for one another and prove that their love is worth fighting for. 

In this play, the playwrights desired to give voice to female characters in Shakespeare's tragedies who often don't have agency of their own or are otherwise punished for their agency. The play "frankensteins" dialogue from other Shakespearean works to weave together a new canon of queer, sapphic love between two characters who otherwise would never meet, showing that true happiness can only be found while living as their most authentic selves. 

The Lark and the Nightingale is directed by Melody Erfani and features Mindy Mawhirter as Juliet, Alyssa Cokinis as Desdemona, and Ahmir Andrews as Othello. Sound design is by Ash (musicbyash.com)

About the Artists

Mindy Mawhirter (co-Playwright and Juliet) is an Oregon- and New York-based playwright and performer with a focus in devised and classical work. Recent Shakespeare credits include Pisanio (Cymbeline), Horatio (Hamlet), and Francis (Much Ado About Nothing). She graduated with a BFA in Acting from Western Oregon University in 2019, where she developed her first solo show, Two and a Half org*sms. Since graduating, Mindy has been an active member of the Portland theatre community, working most recently with Portland Center Stage, Enlightened Theatrics, Bag&Baggage, BoomArts, and LES Shakespeare Co. As a playwright, she strives to tell queer-centric stories that deal with trauma, loss, and womanhood. 

Alyssa Cokinis (co-Playwright and Desdemona) is a writer/theatre artist from Iowa, currently based in Oregon. They hold an MA in Intercultural Communication Studies from Shanghai Theatre Academy and a BA in Theatre Arts and English from the University of Iowa. The Lark and the Nightingale was produced at the Oregon Fringe Festival in April 2024. Other productions and readings include Happy Pills at Oregon Fringe Festival (2021, radio play adaptation), MadLab Theatre (2019), and the University of Iowa (2017); I Love China/我爱中国 at YUZ Museum's SURGE (2019); “Expat-ations” at the New Plays from the Heartland Festival (2019). Their short plays are published or forthcoming in various anthologies and magazines. She is also the founder/editor of some scripts, an independent press dedicated to scripted works, most recently publishing the anthology Monologues by LGBTQIA+ Writers for LGBTQIA+ Actors. www.alyssacokinis.com 

Melody Erfani (Director) is a theatre creator and director that works on both the East and West coasts. She specializes in creating with an ensemble, new works, and classical adaptations. Originally from Dallas, Texas, raised in an Iranian-American family within a diverse community she has deep passion for writing and devising based on true stories from marginalized communities. She founded Lower East Side Shakespeare Co., a non-profit theatre company in 2014. She has a M.F.A in Directing from The Actors Studio Drama School and was a participant of 2013 Lincoln Center Director's Lab. She graduated with a B.F.A. in Theatre Arts during which she procured an internship with Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London. Favorite credits: Bee (Creator/Director), Ironbound, You Got Older (Directed Reading with Third Rail Rep), Antigone, R+J (Adapted/Directed with LES Shakespeare), 97 Orchard St. (Creator/Director), All an Act (The Edinburgh Fringe Festival), Dying City, Raised in Captivity (ASDS Repertory), Our Town, The Importance of Being Earnest (Stagedoor Manor, NY). www.melodyerfani.com  

The Little Shakespeare Festival is FRIGID New York's annual celebration of independent theatre and performance that takes inspiration from the immortal bard, William Shakespeare. Each year, companies are offered a different theme or idea to help guide their work. This year the festival's theme is Camaraderie and Community.

FRIGID New York's mission is to provide both emerging and established artists the opportunity to create and produce original work of varied content, form, and style, and to amplify their diverse voices. We do this by presenting an array of monthly programming, mainstage productions, an artist residency, and eight annual theater festivals that create an environment of collaboration, resourcefulness, and innovation. Founded in 1998, the aim was and is to form a structure, allowing multiple artists to focus on creating and staging new work and providing affordable rental space to scores of independent artists. Now in our third decade we have produced a massive quantity of stimulating downtown theater. www.frigid.nyc

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