Design Team Set For Dael Orlandersmith's SPIRITUS / VIRGIL'S DANCE at Rattlestick Theater

Rattlestick Theater has announced the full creative team behind the New York premiere of SPIRITUS/VIRGIL's DANCE.

From the creator of New York Times Critic's Pick, Until the Flood, don't miss the return of one of the most celebrated performers in the American Theater to the Rattlestick stage, award-winning writer and performer Dael Orlandersmith, in her latest piece SPIRITUS / VIRGIL'S DANCE. Pulitzer Prize finalist, Obie Award winner, and winner of the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, Orlandersmith is a dynamic force in American theater, celebrated for her insightful and poetic exploration of life's intricacies. 

Presented in partnership with Merrimack Repertory Theatre, directed by Neel Keller (Office Hour, Quack, The Nether)  and loosely inspired by Dante's Divine Comedy, SPIRITUS/VIRGIL'S DANCE  offers a soul-stirring examination of middle age and the transformative power of life. Performances are set to run from February 1 through March 9 at Rattlestick Theater in Manhattan's Greenwich Village. Tickets are on sale now at https://www.rattlestick.org/spiritus-virgilsdance


The creative team to help bring SPIRITUS/VIRGIL'S DANCE to life includes Takeshi Kata (Scenic Designer), Kaye Voyce (Costume Designer), Mary Louise Geiger (Lighting Designer), Lindsay Jones (Original Music & Sound Designer), Nicholas Hussong (Projection Designer), and Martha Donaldson (Production Stage Manager).

"I am thrilled to welcome back these esteemed designers to Rattlestick.  Their collaboration with Dael and Neel throughout the nearly year long development of SPIRITUS/VIRGIL'S DANCE exemplifies Rattlestick's commitment to nurturing artists' creative processes by providing holistic, long-form development that centers each artists' unique needs."  - Will Davis, Artistic Director, Rattlestick Theater

ABOUT THE TEAM:

Dael Orlandersmith is a playwright whose plays include Beauty's Daughter, Stoop Stories, Black N' Blue Boys/Broke Men, Horsedreams, Bones, The Blue Album, Yellowman, The Gimmick, Monster, Forever and Spiritus/Virgil's Dance. Ms. Orlandersmith was a Pulitzer Prize finalist and Drama Desk Award nominee for Yellowman, and the winner of the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize for The Gimmick. She is the recipient of a Lucille Lortel Foundation Playwrights Fellowship and an Obie Award for Beauty's Daughter, as well as a New York Foundation for the Arts grant, The Helen Merrill Award for Emerging Playwrights, a Guggenheim Fellowship, along with several other awards and honors. Her play, Forever, was commissioned and performed at the Mark Taper Forum/Kirk Douglas Theatre Fall of 2014, followed by performances at the Long Wharf Theatre in Winter 2014/15, New York Theatre Workshop in Spring 2015, and at Portland Center Stage in Winter 2016. Her play Until the Flood was produced at St Louis Repertory in the fall of 2016, Rattlestick Theater in 2018, and Milwaukee Rep in 2019, as well as Portland Center Stage, ACT Seattle, the Arcola Theatre in London, the Galway Arts Festival at the Druid Theatre, and the Traverse at Edinburgh Festival. In 2020, Ms. Orlandersmith received the Doris Duke award. She is currently working on two commissions for Artists Repertory Theatre in Portland and Milwaukee Repertory Theatre.

Neel Keller has enjoyed a long and happy directing collaboration with Dael Orlandersmith after meeting almost 30 years ago on a production of Romeo and Juliet. Over the last several years they have worked closely on creating and producing Orlandersmith's acclaimed plays Until The Flood, Forever and Spiritus/Virgil's Dance on stages across the US and Europe.  Neel's other recent productions include, the world premieres of Julia Cho's Office Hour, Eliza Clark's Quack, Jennifer Haley's The Nether, Kimber Lee's to the yellow house, and Lucy Alibar's Throw Me On The Burnpile and Light Me Up. Neel has directed at many theaters including, The Public Theater, New York Theatre Workshop, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, La Jolla Playhouse, Mark Taper Forum, Kirk Douglas Theater, Goodman Theatre, South Coast Repertory, and Williamstown Theatre Festival. Neel is a member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society and the Directors Guild of America.

Takeshi Kata (Scenic Designer) Broadway: Prayer for the French Republic (Friedman), Clyde's (Helen Hayes), Derren Brown's Secret (Cort), Water for Elephants (upcoming). Off Broadway: Atlantic, NYTW, Playwrights Horizons, Public, Rattlestick, Second Stage, Signature, Vineyard, among others. Other Recent Projects include Until the Flood (FIND festival, Shaubühne, Berlin) and Bug (Steppenwolf). Kata is the recipient of the 2022 Michael Merrit Award for Excellence in Design and Collaboration, and has received Drama Desk, Obie, and Jeff Awards. He is an Associate Professor at University of Southern California, School of Dramatic Arts.

Kaye Voyce (Costume Designer) Rattlestick: Until The Flood, Ironbound, Horsedreams, Faster. Broadway: Sea Wall/A Life (co-design),True West, The Nap, Significant Other, The Real Thing, The Realistic Joneses, and Shining City.  Selected off-Broadway: Jonah (Roundabout), The Bedwetter (Atlantic Theater - book by Sarah Silverman), Shhhh (Atlantic), Morning Sun (MTC), Mud/Drowning (set and costume design, Mabou Mines), Anatomy Of A Suicide (Atlantic), Marys Seacole, After The Blast (LCT3), Mary Page Marlowe (2ST), The Antipodes, Signature Plays, The Wayside Motor Inn (Signature), Coriolanus, Hamlet, Measure For Measure (Public Theatre), Greater Clements (LCT). Other recent credits include Stranger Love, a seven hour opera/dance/orchestral event with the LA Philharmonic.

Mary Louise Geiger (Lighting Designer) at Rattlestick Until the Flood, Draw the Circle.  Broadway: The Constant Wife (American Airlines Theatre).  Off-Broadway: Partnership, Conflict, Becomes a Woman (The Mint); Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven, Good Television, The New York Idea (Atlantic Theatre); X, Or Betty Shabazz v. The Nation (Acting Company); Nat Turner in Jerusalem, Forever, Oedipus at Palm Springs (New York Theatre Workshop); Kindness, Blue Door, The Busy World is Hushed (Playwrights Horizons); Mabou Mines Dollhouse, Red Beads (Mabou Mines).  Regional:  ACT, 5th Avenue, Goodman, Huntington, Steppenwolf, Milwaukee Rep, Guthrie, Pioneer, Cleveland Playhouse, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Center Theatre Group, LA Opera, among others.  Training:  Yale School of Drama. Faculty: NYU Tisch.  www.mlgeiger.com

Lindsay Jones (Original Music & Sound Designer) Broadway: Slave Play (Tony nominations for Best Score and Best Sound Design of a Play), The Nap, Bronx Bombers and A Time to Kill. Off-Broadway: Privacy (The Public Theater), Bootycandy (Playwrights Horizons), Feeding the Dragon (Primary Stages), Top Secret (New York Theatre Workshop) and many others. Regional: Guthrie Theater, Center Stage, American Conservatory Theater, Hartford Stage, Alliance Theatre, Goodman Theatre, Arena Stage, Old Globe Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Steppenwolf Theatre and many others. International: Stratford Festival (Canada), Royal Shakespeare Company (England) and many others. Audio dramas: Marvel, Audible, Next Chapter Podcasts, award-winning “The Imagine Neighborhood.”  Film/TV scoring: HBO Films' A Note of Triumph (2006 Academy Award for Best Documentary, Short Subject) and over 30 other films. He is the co-chair of Theatrical Sound Designers and Composers Association, and teaches Composition For Theatre and Music History at the University Of North Carolina School Of The Arts. www.lindsayjones.com

Nicholas Hussong (Projection Designer) is a designer for live (and now digital) performance and events. Creative Producer at Dwight Street Book Club. Broadway: Skeleton Crew (Tony Nomination). Off-Broadway: Skeleton Crew, These Paper Bullets (Atlantic, Drama Desk Nom) Wet Brain (Playwrights Horizons), On That Day in Amsterdam (Primary Stages, Drama Desk Nom), White Guy on the Bus (59E59), Chick 6 (LaMama), Until the Flood (Rattlestick).  Other credits include: The Wizard of Oz (Geva), RENT! (Paper Mill Playhouse), Vietgone (The Guthrie), To the Yellow House (Lajolla), Kleptocracy (Arena), Until the Flood (15 regional and international locations); Haint Blu, Hair & Other Stories (Urban Bush Women); Woman's Party (Clubbed Thumb); Grounded (Alley); Arden Theater, Playmakers Rep, Berkshires Theatre Group, Other work includes; Atlanta Opera, Virginia Museum of Art, David Zwirner Gallery, Marc Jacobs, Mass MoCA, Complex Magazine, AMC+, San Diego Shell, San Diego Symphony, Nashville Symphony, Hartford Symphony, Tony Awards (CBS), Ask Ronna Podcast. He also designed in England, Scotland, Ireland, Germany, China, Canada and Vienna. Co-Creator of FEAST, an immersive dining experience with Listen&Breathe (Nantucket, Ireland & please, hopefully, someday, the US). Adjunct Lecturer NYU Tisch. Yale MFA. UAW & USA829. www.nickhussong.com

Martha Donaldson (Production Stage Manager) Broadway: Leopoldstadt, Diana: the musical, The Lifespan of a Fact, Escapeto Margaritaville, The Children, The Glass Menagerie, The Crucible, A View from the Bridge, You Can't Take It with You, Next to Normal, [title of show], Top Girls, The Year of Magical Thinking. Most recent Regional: Babbitt (La Jolla Playhouse), Off Broadway: New York Theatre Workshop, Public Theater, Manhattan Theater Club, St. Ann's Warehouse, and many others. 

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