Theater for the New City Unveils 2024 Dream Up Festival Lineup

From August 25 to September 15, 2024, Theater for the New City will present its twelfth  Dream Up Festival, a feast of adventurous theater.  The annual event is an ultimate new works festival, dedicated to the joy of discovering new authors and edgy, innovative performances.
 
The Festival is helmed by the theater's Literary Manager, Michael Scott-Price.  This year it offers 17 plays, 12 of which are world premieres and one of which is an American premiere. Audiences will savor the excitement, awe, passion, challenge and intrigue of new plays from around the country. 
 
Theater for the New City has consistently been the most inexpensive theater of its caliber and it continues its commitment to affordable tickets with this festival. Dream Up Festival tickets are $15-$20 for all participating productions.
 
The festival does not seek out traditional scripts that are presented in a traditional way. It selects works that push new ideas to the forefront, challenge audience expectations and make us question our understanding of how art illuminates the world around us.
 
Michael Scott-Price (Curator/Festival Director) has directed in New York City at venues including Chashama, Dixon Place and Collective Unconscious. He has written and directed productions that were presented nationally as well as in Canada, Ireland and England. Currently, he is also Curator of TNC's "New City, New Blood" reading series and "Scratch Night" (works-in-progress). He is Artistic Director of an experimental theater company, Asteroid B612 Theatre Company, which made its debut in the 17th Annual HERE American Living Room Series in August 2006. He has studied at the School of Physical Theatre in London, England, at the Odin Teatret in Hostelbro, Denmark and in the International School Theatre Anthropology (ISTA) in Wroclaw, Poland with Eugenio Barba and company. He is an alumnus of Lincoln Center Theater Director's Lab. He is a member of the Board of Directors of Theater for the New City.
 
Theater for the New City (TNC) maintains a distinctive commitment to high artistic values and community service. In an effort to make theater accessible to all, TNC presents an assortment of distinct, exceptional events each year, including the Lower East Side Festival of the Arts, which celebrates the artistic and cultural diversity of TNC's Lower East Side community; an annual Village Halloween Ball and an annual summer Street Theater tour that presents a free, live, original musical in thirteen neighborhoods in all five boroughs. Most of these are free of charge to the public.  (www.theaterforthenewcity.net)
 
Theater for the New City is located at 155 First Ave., at East 10th Street. For Dream Up Festival tickets, go to: http://dreamupfestival.org. For additional info, call the TNC box office at 212-254-1109.

"Adulting for Idiots," written and performed by Nikki MacCallum, directed by Kelvin Moon Loh

75 minutes
$18, Cabaret Theater

August 29 6:30 PM
August 30 9:00 PM
September 4 6:30 PM
September 14 2:00 PM
September 15 2:00 PM

Ever wonder how to get your credit score up? Or how to get your cholesterol levels down? Fear not! Nikki MacCallum is coming to you with "Adulting for Idiots," a mix of standup and original comedy songs that will teach you everything you’d wish you’d known before reaching adulthood. From learning how to argue with an airline, to the perils of juice cleanses, and coping with loss, this show will make you laugh, cry, and maybe even clarify what a mortgage is.

Cast
Nikki MacCallum

Nikki MacCallum (writer/actor) is a New York City based standup comic, actress, and musician and has been featured on CBS, VH1, and ABC. Her solo show, "Adulting for Idiots," won Best Musical at the 2023 United Solo Festival. She holds a Bachelor of Music from NYU and has performed at 54 Below and Lincoln Center and has soloed at Birdland alongside Tony Award winners Donna McKechnie and Jerry Mitchell. As a standup, she’s a regular at New York Comedy Club, The Grisly pear, and The Tiny Cupboard. As a solo performer, Nikki was one of eight artists worldwide selected for the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Cabaret & Performance Conference under the Musical Direction of John McDaniel (The Rosie O’Donnell Show). Her memoir, "Dry Run," was released in 2019. She co-wrote the book to the musical "Matchmaker Matchmaker, I’(M) Willing to Settle!" with Kelvin Moon Loh, which premiered at the American Reparatory Theatre’s Second Stage, OBERON before transferring to the NYMF Festival in New York. The show went on to have performances at Ars Nova, Merry Go Round Playhouse as part of the PiTCH series, and at NYU.

Kelvin Moon Loh (Director) has performed on Broadway in "Side Show," "Beetlejuice," "SpongeBob SquarePants" and "The King And I." "Adulting for Idiots" is the fourth solo show of MacCallum’s directed by Loh, two of which garnered MAC Award Nominations. The two co-wrote the book to "Matchmaker Matchmaker I’(M) Willing to Settle!" "A Musical Guide to Internet Dating" (music and lyrics by Brandon James Gwinn), which premiered at A.R.T.’s Second Stage, OBERON, and went on to have productions at NYMF, Merry-Go-Round Playhouse’s PiTCH, Ars Nova, NYU.

"Apocalypse Truck The musical," written by Kyle Giller, directed, choreographed and

designed by Sarah Cosgrove
World Premiere, 85-90 minutes
$18, Community Theater

September 6 9:00 PM
September 7 5:00 PM
September 8 2:00 PM
September 13 9:00 PM
September 14 5:00 PM
September 15 2:00 PM

In a near-future, conservative fever dream, a liberal President has banned gas-powered vehicles to promote the use of electric cars. One Florida Man has surreptitiously hidden away his F150 truck, and when a hacker disables all electric vehicles in the country, the President calls on this truck driver to drive to the one remaining oil refinery and connect the country to petroleum once again. A satire.

Cast TBD

Kyle Giller is a lifelong New Yorker, playwright, singer/songwriter, and lawyer. He has staged works in Portland, Oregon and NYC, including full-length productions and participating in a number of one-act festivals.

Sarah Cosgrove is a multi-hyphenate artist whose goal is to explore the possibilities of the human condition through various forms of media. While her experience is mostly in commercial Musical Theatre (Heather MacNamara, Heathers) (Anita u/s: West Side Story), she is excited to discover other parts of herself as a human and an artist.

"Attorney-Client," written by Alex Ladd, directed by Pat Golden

World Premiere, 90 minutes
$20, Community Theater

September 10 6:30 PM
September 11 6:30 PM
September 12 9:00 PM
September 13 6:30 PM
September 14 2:00 PM
September 15 5:00 PM

"Attorney-Client "features two actors, each playing two characters. In each scene the actors, one black and one white, alternate between playing either a co-defendant or an attorney involved in the same criminal case. Tom and Lester, two college students, are charged with a hit and run. Tom comes from a wealthy family, and his parents hire an aggressive private attorney, Derek, to defend their son. Lester is assigned Tom, a well-intentioned public defender. The two codefendants become enmeshed in the criminal justice system that tries to pit one against the other, and in the process the play reveals societal fissures in race and class. The play proceeds at a fast clip, which makes it a fascinating challenge both from a staging as well as an acting perspective. Veteran director Pat Golden stages the piece on a minimalist set at a fast tempo, and the result is that the audience is treated to a theatrical high-wire act, meant to raise the already very high stakes in the play to a thrilling level.

Cast TBD

Alex Ladd (author) was a finalist for The Actors Theatre of Louisville’s Heideman Award in 2002. He is a four-time finalist in the Samuel French Original Short Play Festival. In 2003, he received a Fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. He is the translator of "Life As It Is," the short stories of Nelson Rodrigues. In 2005, he produced "The Asphalt Kiss" at 59E59 Theaters; the play, based on his translation of Rodrigues' "O Beijo no Asfalto," was nominated for a Drama Desk Award. In 2008, he co-produced "Pornographic Angel" (also based on his translation) at the Ohio Theater. The play had its debut at Yale Summer Cabaret 2007. He is a native speaker of Brazilian Portuguese and has translated Nelson Rodrigues’ "The Asphalt Kis" (Nova Fronteira, 2007), Nestor Capoeira’s "The Little Capoeira Book" (North Atlantic Books) and the lyrics for Beleza Tropical II and Tom Zé’s "Fabrication Defect" (compilations of Brazilian music released by David Byrne). He is a member of the Dramatist Guild and PEN.

Pat Golden (director) is a writer, director, producer and award-winning casting director. Trained in theatre and directing at the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University, Golden has helmed both regional and Off-Broadway productions. While at the University of Pittsburgh, she founded her first theater company, The South Oakland Arts Council. In addition to directing, Golden is an award-winning casting director in film, discovering many now-established actors and offering Blair Underwood, Vincent Gallo, Samuel L. Jackson, Chris Rock, Queen Latifah, LL Cool J, Erika Alexander, Golden Brooks, LisaGay Hamilton and Little Richard their first feature film roles. Her innovative casting style led to the discovery of Dr. Haing S. Ngor, a Cambodian physician whom she cast in The Killing Fields (1984). Dr. Ngor went on to win an Academy Award and a BAFTA for his portrayal. Golden was nominated by the Casting Society of America for its Artios Award for Best Casting for Feature Film, Drama for both David Lynch's "Blue Velvet" and Oliver Stone's "Platoon" (1986). She won for "Platoon," which itself went on to win four Academy Awards including Best Picture.

"Babel, Babel, Babel," written and directed by Søs Banke

American Premiere, 60 minutes
$20, Johnson Theater

August 25 8:00 PM
August 27 9:00 PM
August 28 6:30 PM
August 29 9:00 PM
August 30 6:30 PM
August 31 2:00 PM

A musical journey through the diverse expressions of love, built around music from the '30s and '40s. In the first part of the cabaret, the audience is led through the difficult nature of love and in the second part we travel through Europe and the world with its history of war, nationalism, and the desire for freedom.

This cabaret is a musical story about the angel Babylon who, in a Babylonian mixture of languages, tries to find a way out of the human world. In the beginning, everything is a game, but even for an angel, earthly life becomes complicated. In the story of the angel Babylon, humor, irony, and passion are mixed. We meet an angel who talks frantically to himself, the sky, and the audience and slowly you are drawn ever deeper into the labyrinth of love, with both lightness and seriousness.

Cast:
Babel - Søs Banke
Accompanist - Martin Damgaard Kirstensen

Søs Banke is Artistic coordinator, performer, and director at the Nordisk Teaterlaboratorium- Odin Teatret in Holstebro, Denmark. She has worked with theater for more than 30 years on and behind the stage, as an actor, director and coordinator in many contexts and has toured in Denmark, Norway and Germany. Over the years, she has developed the theater character Babylon, which is a recurring character in her cabaret performances.

Martin Damgaard Kirstensen is a multi-instrumentalist and has been associated with Odin Teatret's activities as a freelancer for more than 20 years, and has contributed to a large number of Holstebro Festuge, Odin Teatret's performances, Poetry on a Thursday, and many other activities that originate from Odin Teatret and Nordic Theater Laboratory. In addition, he is an active musician in many contexts, and works freelance both as a teacher, composer, project manager and production manager in music and theater.

"Cafe Munich," written by Anwar N. Suleiman, directed by Barbara Schofield Suleiman

New York Premiere, 60 minutes
$18, Cabaret Theater

August 31 2:00 PM
September 1 5:00 PM
September 5 9:00 PM
September 7 2:00 PM
September 12 6:30 PM
September 14 5:00 PM
September 15 5:00 PM

Set in Munich 1992. A gritty cerebral drama about the far flung consequences of World War 2 in Germany.

Cast TBD

Anwar Suleiman (writer), born to Jewish parents in Basra, Iraq, forced to emigrate at 12 years old. Currently resides on the Upper West Side.

Barbara Schofield Suleiman (director) born to Jewish parents in Liverpool, England, ex member of Treteaux Libre a theatre group in France based on Grotowski technique.

"Colder by the Water," written by Bri Madden-Olivares

World Premiere, 1 hour 5 minutes
$18, Community Theater

August 25 8:00 PM
August 27 6:30 PM
August 30 6:30 PM
August 31 5:00 PM
September 1 2:00 PM
September 3 6:30 PM
September 8 5:00 PM

A family in Harrisonburg, VA. prepares for Christmas and everything, including the love and the chaos, that comes with the holidays, wintertime, and family.

Cast TBD

Bri Madden-Olivares (playwright) is a storyteller from Spanish Harlem. She works to honor her craft by highlighting the rituals and blessings found in everyday life. She enjoys "street corner theater," which she uses to describe the type of theater that happens whether someone is watching or not. She is passionate about theater accessibility, believing that it should be as easy and diverse as stumbling upon the type of drama you find on a "street corner," and enjoys writing snapshots of life in Harlem through plays and poetry. This New York City neighborhood receives more than half of her love letters.

"The Coming Storm-the legacy of Nazism endures," written and directed by Stephan Morrow

World Premiere, 90 minutes
$15, Johnson Theater

September 4 6:30 PM
September 7 2:00 PM
September 8 5:00 PM
September 12 6:30 PM
September 14 2:00 PM
September 15 8:00 PM

Profoundly disturbed by the atrocities of Oct 7, playwright Stephan Morrow set about creating material that dealt with that horror. This led him back to one of the most disturbing chapters in human history: the rise of the Nazis in 30's Berlin -- a reminder of how brutal anti-Semitism can become. Short episodic scenes give a kaleidoscopic impact to the material, which is not a docudrama but a cautionary tale with a fable-like quality. The frightening narrative starts with a Jewish professor brutally ejected from his post at University. After his deportation his prize student, - a loyal German (historically based on Nobel Prize Winner, Werner Eisenberg) - agrees to work on a fission project for his fatherland. But when he witnesses the evils of the Naizi regime, including the murder of a female family friend as well as the young woman he is in love with, he eventually - at great risk to himself - refuses to continue his work on developing an atom bomb for Germany. (It should be noted that German physicists were two years ahead of Oppenheimer and the U.S.'s efforts at the start of Los Alamos.)."

Cast:
George Lugo, Joe Marshall, Stephan Morrow, others

Stephan Morrow is a proud veteran of the Off Off Bway arena where has acted, directed and written and where he finds the freedom it offers so far from the specious projects of most commercial theater. He has worked with Norman Mailer ("Strawhead: A memory of Marilyn," "Tough Guys Don't Dance" and "Deerpark"), with Arthur Miller ("Incident at Vichy") and directed seven productions for Mario Fratti. He is grateful to Crystal Field for supporting his latest efforts of filming stage productions at TNC--"The Assassination of J.Kaisaar" and "The Rise of Augustus - The Sopranos Meet Mad Max"--which have garnered more than a dozen awards in film festivals including Best Science Fiction Feature Film in 'The Golden State Film Festival.

"The Coronation of Queen Jaguar" by Christine Stoddard (writer/director/designer) and Aaron Gold (assistant writer/director/designer)

World Premiere, 1 hour 15 minutes
$15, Johnson Theater
Let’s get meta, baby. Christine Stoddard and Aaron Gold play themselves on stage, presenting several colliding character acts. Queen Jaguar, played by Stoddard, is a warrior poetess from the jungle who communicates only through improvised a cappella as interpreted by The Ambassador, played by Gold. Art Bitch, played by Stoddard, is a Bushwick trust fund brat of the contemporary art world, enabled by her wealthy Uncle Cornelius, played by Gold. The Appraisal Lord, played by Gold, and his assistant, Helpy the Helping Jester, played by Stoddard, will allow audience members to choose their interaction with the characters. The audience is also graced by an honest-to-God AUTHOR, played by Gold. Stoddard and Gold navigate a conflict that challenges them to re-examine the dynamics of their relationship. An ensemble cast of characters and the audience gradually guide them back toward meditation and the love that they both deserve. The show is largely improvised and involves audience participation.

September 6 9:00 PM
September 7 8:00 PM
September 8 2:00 PM
September 13 6:30 PM
September 14 8:00 PM

Cast
Christine Stoddard - Queen Jaguar
Aaron Gold - The Ambassador

Christine Stoddard is a Salvadoran-American writer, artist, and performer named one of Brooklyn Magazine’s Top 50 Most Fascinating People. A Ms. Magazine "Ms. Muse" and Miss Subways Finalist, she founded Quail Bell Press & Productions, including Quail Bell Magazine. She has written and performed original work at The Tank, Gene Frankel Theatre, Broadway Comedy Club, The Players Theater, The People’s Improv Theater, the Magnet Theater, and other venues. She co-hosts the comedy TV show "Don’t Mind If I Don’t" with Aaron Gold and created the talk show "Badass Lady-Folk," both on YouTube and Manhattan Neighborhood Network. She authored the books "Desert Fox by the Sea," "Naomi & the Reckoning," "Belladonna Magic" and "Heaven Is a Photograph." She has been published in Tulane Review, Cosmopolitan, Digital America, MODA Critical Review, Marie Claire, Native Peoples Magazine, Bustle, Rejoinder and Teen Vogue. Her work has been supported by Arts By the People, the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, Chashama, Support Creativity, the Puffin Foundation, ArtBridge, IndieSpace, the Hudson Valley Writers Center, Arts Gowanus, and other fine organizations. A current MS Documentary Film candidate at Columbia University, she earned her MFA in Interdisciplinary Art from The City College of New York. YouTube/IG/FB/TikTok @StoddardSays; WorldOfChristineStoddard.com

Aaron Gold (collaborator) is a comedian, actor, writer, and host. He has appeared on Mtv, Nickelodeon, TNT, and NBC, as well as lent his voice to several Disney cartoons. His mental health comedy show, "You Are Not Alone: An Uplifting Show About Depression," has been enjoying monthly performances at the Magnet Theater for over nine years and has partnered with NAMI NYC to combat the stigma associated with mental health. He is a two-time Silver Telly award winner, appears in the upcoming murder thriller, "The Art of Diversion," sequel comedy fan film, "The Mask: Gone Viral," and recently played several dark and disturbing roles in "Mi Abuela, Queen of Nightmares" at The Tank. He is the host of "Don't Mind If I Don't," a podcast-turned-TV show where fans and experts of things he doesn't like convince him why he is wrong. He co-starred in the limited podcast, "Bad Guys & B-Sides," playing an angsty teenage guitarist turned magical sorcerer. He starred in the indie features "White People Problems" and "Where Demons Dwell" and is playing a role in an upcoming Untitled Marvel Project.

"Every 6ish Minutes" by Rebecca Kane (writer, primary director & producer), assistance and consultation by Taylor Thomson and Daniel Neiden, props and scenic design by Kelsey Bowens
World Premiere, 40 minutes
$15, Community Theater

August 25 5:00 PM
September 1 5:00 PM
September 5 6:30 PM
September 7 8:00 PM

A combination solo show and naloxone training, with something for everybody (literally – the style of show changes every six-ish minutes).

Cast Rebecca Kane

Rebecca Kane’s writing has appeared in numerous theatres, festivals, and readings in New York City and beyond, with presentations in Lanford Wilson New American Play Festival, Last Frontier Theatre Conference, William Inge New Play Festival, the National Women’s Theatre Festival and many more. Publications include repeated features in Smith & Kraus’s "Best of 2023" and "Best of 2024" collections and internationally published literary magazines.

"If Words Could Talk," written by Jenn Amelia Martin, directed by Stephanie Stowers
World Premiere, 30-35 minutes

$ 18, Johnson Theater

August 30 9:00 PM
August 31 5:00 PM
September 1 8:00 PM
September 7 5:00 PM
September 8 8:00 PM

Set in a stream-of-consciousness inside the enclosures of Mama’s house, this play explores the dysfunctional relationship between a mother and her deceased daughter paying a visit with distance through closed-door memories. The play follows a sequence of stages: i. Awakening, ii. Denial, iii. Rage, iv. Bargaining, and v. Acceptance. Mama embarks on cycles of grief that collides with the reimagination of her daughter’s lived past– as Ali grieves for her long-deceased father, Mama grieves for her daughter in a return to the dead and (un)buried. The piece explores themes of communicative collision marking a dreamed life of cohesion, raising the myth of beginning, middle & end in the face of old wounds. Here lies the proof: the circularity of a mother’s love transcends names, faces, and places. If only words could speak for themselves– only then, perhaps grief would bend fiction to break the truth.

Cast TBD

Author Jenn Amelia Martin (she/her) is a 19-year-old Chinese-Italian-American artist based in New York. As a rising sophomore at NYU Tisch School of the Arts, she studies Drama (BFA) at Playwrights Horizons Studio (PHTS). With a focus on writing and performance, her work explores themes of navigating mixed culture, communication lost and found, the dual empowerment and disempowerment of words, and the concept of "home." As a nationally published poet, she is known for blending her artistic disciplines to cultivate theater that embraces multiplicity rather than one-dimensional expression.

Director Stephanie Stowers (she/her) is a Haitian-American, New York City-based director and actress. Stowers strives in her artistic career to provide a platform for diverse art to be appreciated and more accessible. She has acted in many short films and directed productions at Playwrights Horizons Theater School, including If Words Could Talk. Stowers is pursuing a BFA in Drama with a double minor in Producing and Business in Entertainment, Media, and Technology at New York University.

"Leaving Kiev: Coming Full Circle" by Mila Levine, directed by Lissa Moira

60 minutes

$20, Cabaret Theater

September 4 9:00 PM
September 6 6:30 PM
September 8 2:00 PM
September 10 6:30 PM
September 11 9:00 PM
September 13 6:30 PM

An autobiographical one-woman show about a timid, imaginative, and resilient Jewish girl from Kiev, Ukraine, who immigrates to the US and who has always wanted to be an artist – filled with original music and poetry. A play about leaving the home we always carry inside.

Cast
Mila Levine

Mila Levine is a Kiev-born performing artist, poet, singer, songwriter, actor, and playwright. She performed her solo shows, "Leaving Kiev" and "Leaving Kiev, Part 2" at numerous festivals in New York City. A shorter version of this show, "Behind Closed Doors," was done virtually, and is currently on Mila’s YouTube Channel, @Milochka89. She received multiple honorable mentions in several songwriting contests. The album of her original Russian songs, "My Voyage Back," written by her as a teenager and then partially translated into English, is currently available online under her first name "Mila." Mila arrived to the United States when she was eighteen years old with no knowledge of English. She has been writing poetry since she was seven and songs since she was thirteen. In the United States, Mila earned two master’s degrees as well as multiple fitness certifications that allow her to teach various fitness formats. She is also an owner of a nonprofit theater company, Stage Love Theater, Inc. Her YouTube Channel includes several of her music videos, including, "Hometown" dedicated to her hometown, Kiev, and the war in Ukraine.

Lissa Moira (director) is a playwright, screenwriter, director, artist and poet. She is two-time Jerome Foundation grantee and an OOBR Award-winning actress. She directed and was dramaturg of "Siren’s Heart, Norma Jean and Marilyn in Purgatory" by Walt Stepp, which enjoyed a seven-week run at TNC in 2011 and then played 14 months Off-Broadway at the Actors Temple starring Louisa Bradshaw. The following year, she directed "Skybox," also by Walt Stepp, at TNC. Her direction of "Cocaine Dreams" at the Kraine was described by the NY Post (Chip Deffaa) as "inspired." Last season, she directed two musicals at TNC: "Who Murdered Love?" a Dadaist musical comedy which she co-wrote with Richard West, and "Bliss Street," an Indie Rock musical by Abra Bigham from a concept by Rich Brotman with songs by Charlie Sub. The latter show traced the role of the club-owning Sub family in the making of New York’s decade of punk, glam and glitter rock. This February, she has helmed "The Boy Who Listened To Paintings," a musical theater work based on the memoir of the same name by the late visual artist and poet Dean Kostos (1954 – 2022), an extensively published, award-winning poet.

"Matt, James, and Ben In Lord Finnington Bus In The Positively Puzzling Case of The Purloined Pelvis: At Vicar’s Gate,"

written by James Sweeney and Matt Tanzosh; directed and designed by James Sweeney, Matt Tanzosh and Ben Fletcher
World Premiere, 65 minutes
$15, Cabaret Theater

August 25 5:00 PM
August 27 6:30 PM
August 30 6:30 PM
September 1 8:00 PM
September 2 9:00 PM

Inspired in style by Victorian-era "drawing room" plays, this absurd play-within-a-play finds its actors in an Agatha Christie-esque whodunnit so extreme and unhinged that they begin hijacking it from the inside.

Cast
Matt Tanzosh - Lord Finnington Bus, Matt
Ben Fletcher - The Vicar, Ben
James Sweeney - The Chambermaid, The Butler, Vicar’s Nephew, The Constable, Moira, James

James Sweeney (writer, director, actor) is a comedian and writer from New Hampshire. He met Matt Tanzosh and Ben Fletcher as students at Hofstra University, where the three of them spent much of college writing for their campus humor magazine and performing comedy together. After college, Sweeney and Fletcher worked together at the SoHo Playhouse, forcing them to engage with theater and performance in a more profound way than they ever imagined. The three friends have continued to write and perform together a decade later, and now Sweeney has fulfilled a longtime goal of putting them all in a play that’s ostensibly about England.

Matt Tanzosh (Writer, Director, Actor) Is a comedian and writer who is sometimes asked to act in people’s things. Born in the East Village, he spent his time as a teenager hitting the open mics in the neighborhood. He found his creative community in the artistic scene surrounding the Tuesday mic at the Under St. Mark’s theater, where he currently works the door. Tanzosh left for college at 17, where he met Sweeney and Fletcher writing for Nonsense, the campus humor magazine, and developed the original character Lord Finnington Bus, a charming and magnanimous investigator who ALWAYS gets his man! Post graduation, Tanzosh has continued performing in the city, including opening for Gary Gulman and acting in the plays of Roman Primativo Albert. Tanzosh currently hosts and produces shows at the Soho Playhouse, including The Thursday Night Open Mic and Rap Roulette.

Ben Fletcher (actor) is a Queens based actor/writer/director/stand up comic/eligible bachelor originally from Pflugerville, Texas. He met Flletcher and Tanzosh upon joining Nonsense Humor Magazine while attending Hofstra University, where they all instantly decided to be silly together forever. Outside of standup, he is most known for his accomplishments and innovations in the world of Guitar Hero, where he is self proclaimed "At Least Top 30 Active Players In The City, Probably." He can be found power walking with gumption around the city, loitering at most bar pool tables, and passionately defending the Denver Nuggets on the internet.

"Pulling It All Into The Current," written by Letta Neely, created by Greg Allen and Letta Neely, directed by Greg Allen

World Premiere, 90 minutes
$20, Cabaret Theater

September 1 2:00 PM
September 3 6:30 PM
September 5 6:30 PM
September 7 8:00 PM
September 8 5:00 PM

This one-woman show uses a fusion of poetry, storytelling, and dramatic performance to bring to life multiple characters–from teenagers to veterans, elders to addicts, and queers to teachers–and creates a series of interconnected narratives that delve into themes of love, struggle, and transformation. The performance is a compelling testament to the power of personal and collective histories, weaving together Letta Neely's own experiences with broader societal issues, urging viewers to confront and embrace the complexities of their own lives and the world around them.

Cast
Letta Neely

Letta Neely (Co-Creator, Writer, Performer), from Indianapolis, IN, is a Black lesbian playwright, performer, poet, mother, teacher, and community activist. Her artistic pursuits explore the powerful connections and intersections of queerness, Blackness, and consciousness. In 2002, her first play, "Hamartia Blues," was produced by The Theater Offensive at the Boston Center for the Arts. The production garnered significant recognition, earning two nominations for the IRNE (Independent Reviewers of New England) awards. Her subsequent plays, "Last Rites" and "Shackles & Sugar," and a musical, "99% Stone," were presented in Boston, Philly, and Los Angeles. Her poetry books, "Juba" and "Here," both published by Wildheart Press, received esteemed finalist positions in the Lambda Literary Awards. Her writings have appeared in anthologies, literary journals, and magazines. She is co-artistic director of Fort Point Theatre Channel. She hosts "FireWater Poetics," a monthly hybrid open mic event at Emerson College. She directed "Unmasked" by Renita Martin for Revolution of Values, produced by Greg Allen. She has received an NEFA (New England Foundation for the Arts) grant.

Greg Allen (Co-Creator, Director) is an educator, freelance stage director, and producer concentrating on new work. He is currently an Assistant Teaching Professor at Northeastern University. He directed "Pulling It All Into The Current" by Letta Neely, which has been performed in Boston, at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and the United Solo Theatre Festival (‘Best Drama’ and ‘Best Direction’ awards) and is now touring the U.S. He created and directed "Thunder - A Musical Memoir," a one-person show featuring Broadway tap dancer Jimmy Tate, which won the Outstanding Choreography award at the New York International Fringe Festival. His work has appeared on Theatre Row, Ensemble Studio Theater, and Bleeker Street Theater in New York City, as well as various venued in Boston. He holds a theater degree from Sarah Lawrence College, an M.F.A. in Theater Directing from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and an M.Ed. from Cambridge College. Currently, he is Co-Artistic Director of ‘A Revolution of Values Theatre Project’ with Letta Neely and a co-Artistic Director at Fort Point Theatre Channel in Boston.

"roller rink death kink sex cult," written by Skylar J. Beirne

90 minutes
$18, Cabaret Theater

August 31 8:00 PM
September 2 6:30 PM
September 3 9:00 PM
September 9 6:30 PM
September 10 9:00 PM
September 14 8:00 PM
September 15 8:00 PM

It's exactly what it sounds like - but wait, there's more! Emma, mourning the "death of her fiancé," picks up a book called Death: The Final org*sm. She meets the author, falls in love, and decides to follow him to a community he has created as a safe-space for those with misunderstood kinks. Emma wants to belong to someone other than herself. Almighty Bob is working hard as a small business owner in denial about being a cult leader. There's 1970’s/80's music, beach parties, and lots of roller-skating – what more could you want from a death kink sex cult? As Emma navigates the different Levels of the roller rink death kink sex cult, trying to find a place within the community where Almighty Bob, and Almighty Bob alone, will accept her, she is met with murderers, sadists, masochists, necrophiliacs, and a really bitchy woman named Carol, all of whom make Emma question: which "skate" level is she best suited for, and how far will she go to be wanted?

Cast
Allie Donnely, Daniel Oakley, Christina Cotignola, Rose Meehan, Tessie Herrasti, Carl Bindman.

Skylar J. Beirne (playwright, they/she) is a playwright, director, and "performer if you ask nicely" based out of New York City and Milford, Connecticut. Her work strives to provide both a mirror outward, reflecting the grotesqueness of humankind in spectacles of beautiful violence and divine aesthetic, and a microscope inwards, with every artistic venture being another step forward on the journey of self-discovery. "roller rink death kink sex cult" had a staged reading at La MaMa. Other credits include "Press This Button To Elevate to Your Highest Frequency" at The Vino Theater (director), "Jet of Blood via Zoom" (director), "The Elephant Man" at Marymount Manhattan College (director), "Carrier Pigeon" in Theater for the New City’s Dream Up Festival (playwright), and "Man-I-Fest-O" at Manhattan Repertory Theater (playwright). Instagram @skyber and @rrdksc.

"Tongs and Bones Shakespeare: Tempestuous Amusements, Interludes, Noises, and Drollery," written by Bob Shuman, directed by Frank Farrell

World Premiere, 90 minutes
$18, Community Theater

September 1 8:00 PM
September 4 6:30 PM
September 6 6:30 PM
September 8 8:00 PM
September 11 9:00 PM

"Tongs and Bones Shakespeare" is a work of the imagination, based on Virginia Woolf's fictional idea that Shakespeare had a sister named Judith, who collected fragments of his works. With this as the conceit, "Tongs and Bones Shakespeare" includes three one acts culled from miscellaneous papers and sides, as well as incomplete early drafts, of the great Bard. The manuscripts, found diluted and corrupted, discovered in Brno, Czech Republic after WWII, were only recognized and identified by collectors in 1993, following the end of the Cold War. The story of the uneducated sibling's work, with an itinerant actor who helped her organize and compile the pieces, before her untimely death, due to suicide, in London, has largely been ignored and untold. Bob Shuman's revised versions of the material, directed by Frank Farrell. The fragments highlight characters who do not always play prominent roles in the larger "sister" or well-known companion works, and answer questions such as: What became of the Little Indian Boy in "A Midsummer's Night Dream"? How did Jacques, in "As You Like It," lose his mirth? And why did Ariel need to be freed, before ever meeting Prospero, in "The Tempest?" among others. The Tongs and Bones texts have been called "grotesque," "comic," and "proto-Brutalist," and highlight compositions from the recordings of current Congolese musicians.

Cast
Tianna Noni Alley, Eisley Constantine, Meghan Covington, Alejandro Flores, Jennifer Kim, Mychal Leverage, Emily Ross

Bob Shuman (playwright) earned an MFA in Dramatic Writing at NYU/Tisch. He owns the Marit Literary Agency and the Theatre Web site Stage Voices (www.stagevoices.com), which offers video Shakespeare quizzes, world theatre news, Stanislavki quotes, current show reviews and more. He is also a playwright, a senior editor, with experience in mainstream publishing, a college professor, and a recipient of Hunter College's Irv Zarkower Award for excellence in playwriting. His dramatic work has appeared in four anthologies from Applause Theatre and Cinema Books. He has also co-edited five drama books, including Acts of War, Iraq and Afghanistan in Seven Plays (Northwestern University Press). He has written for the Eugene O'Neill Society and judged work for the New York Innovative Theatre Awards. Shuman is a past fellow of the Lark Theatre Company, and his work has been given readings with the Amoralists, Phoenix Theatre Ensemble, Second Stage, and the WPA, among others. Productions and readings of his work have been given at Ursinus College, Hunter College, and at the Arthur Seelen Theatre at the Drama Book Shop.

Frank Farrell (director) is Artistic Director of the First Flight Theatre Company. He was an actor in Chicago for 40 years receiving three Joseph Jefferson acting nominations and recently returned to NYC where he was born. While in Chicago he directed and produced plays for Free Shakespeare Theatre Company, Temporary Theatre, Shakespeare’s Herd, Steppenwolf Theater, Raven Theatre, Equity Library Theater Chicago, the North Lakeside Players and Theatre-Hikes. For Citadel Theatre in Lake Forest, IL he directed outdoor productions of "A Midsummer Night’s Dream," "As You Like It," "Spoon River Anthology," "Romeo and Juliet" and "Scapin." He formed six theater companies along the way including Theatre-Hikes in Chicago and, in Grand Haven, Michigan, the Pigeon Creek Shakespeare Company. In NYC he wrote, directed and produced "Forgotten Soldiers from Our Forgotten War" for the First Flight Theatre Company, the seventh theatre group he has formed. Since 2015 he has published seven books including "Forgotten Soldiers from Our Forgotten War," all available at Amazon. He has recently directed three short films and one full length.

"The Void," directed by Kristen Keim, written by Jonathan G Galvez, fight and movement director Emily Anne Davis

World Premiere, 75 minutes
$18, Johnson Theater

August 28 9:00 PM
August 29 6:30 PM
August 31 8:00 PM
September 1 5:00 PM
September 3 6:30 PM
September 5 6:30 PM

In a space just outside our reality, where individuals go in and out of mysterious portals as part of their daily routine, one person starts to question their existence when one of their own doesn’t return.

Cast: Emily Anne Davis, Sophie Hoyt, Robert Maisonett, Joe Marx, Emma Ruth Matthews

Jonathan G Galvez (playwright) is a playwright and performer from the NJ/NY area. He is a co-founder and Artist-in-Residence of Theatrical Gems, a non-profit theater company, and a graduate of the Playwrights Lab at Hollins University. His work has been presented multiple times in the New York International Fringe Festival. His work has also been presented in the Planet Connections Theatre Festivity, the Strawberry One-Act Festival, the Red-Eye International Play festival, and at the Manhattan Repertory Theater. His award winning play, "The Alice of Ward 13," received its world premiere at William Paterson University. www.jonathanggalvez.com

Kristen Keim (director) is a Brooklyn-based director/choreographer. Directing credits include "Forever Plaid" (Depot Theater), "Lenny Bruce Is Not Afraid" (Frigid Festival 2018), "Stories From September" (SoloCon 2017/Pit Loft), "Waiting..." (PCTF 2017/Winner Congeniality award, Directing Nominee), "Arsenic And Old Lace" (Heights Players), "A Life: TBD" (NYC Int'l Fringe 2015), "Skylar" (NYC Int'l Fringe 2018), "A Hand Across the Bridge" (PCTF 2018), "Return of the Christmas Stars" (Rogue Theater Festival) and a solo show, "Blockbuster Guy."

Emily Anne Davis (fight & movement director) is a multi-faceted dancer, actor, choreographer and Pilates instructor originally from the L.A. area, where she was featured in numerous dance festivals. She has appeared in cabarets featuring the music of Thomas Hodge and has been a regular performer with the Women on Fire series, with whom she has also served as choreographer. A regular performer and collaborator with Royal Family Productions, she has worked with the company on "Anne of Green Gables," "The Ugly Duckling" and "COVID Sux: A Musical Parody." A graduate of UC Irvine, she is also a certified pyrotechnician, working annually for the Macy's 4th of July fireworks show.

"The Waiting Room," written by Vel Grande, directed by Dennis Oliveira
World Premiere, 20 minutes

$15, Community Theater

August 25 2:00 PM
August 28 9:00 PM
August 29 6:30 PM
August 30 9:00 PM
August 31 8:00 PM

"The Waiting Room" is a short lighthearted comedy that tells the story of theater goer, Daniel Underwood, who is forced on stage to participate in a play where nothing happens. On stage Daniel navigates a world that doesn’t make much sense, much like our own, while searching for the meaning of why he is here, quite literally in this case. Daniel meets many different people on stage, who share stories and thoughts, some more helpful than others, as he desperately tries to get off stage.

Cast
Brett Fox, Jake Declan, Heather Alzapiedi, Sofia Pastena, Anthony Piccininni, Shaena Kate, A’lysai Robinson, Jess Pace, Khalil Louigene, Max Andrae, Evan Gibley, Jess Sconfienza, Blair Duncan.

Vel Grande (Playwright) was born in Philadelphia and is currently a Utah-based transit executive. He is author of "The Essence - A Ghost Story in Three Days," a YA serial novel which was a winner of a Moonbeam Children's Book Award. He has also published two short stories, "Counsel to God" and "Attorney in Time." He is also author of a one-act play, "Again."

Dennis Oliveira (Director) is a current student at Columbia University's MFA Directing program. He is an alumnus of Florida State University’s Grad Opera Directing program, the Institute for American Musical Theatre, the Stella Adler Studio, and Montclair State University (BFA Acting). Other directing credits include Drought (New York Theatre Festival), Mavra, The Magic Flute (Florida State Opera), and The Wild Party (Old Library Theatre).

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