Ego Actus To Premiere New Play SYCORAX, CYBER QUEEN OF QAMARA In November

Ego Actus continues its 2018 season with the World Premiere of Sycorax, Cyber Queen of Qamara, written by Fengar Gael. The production is directed by Ego Actus Artistic Director Joan Kane and runs from November 1 to 18 at HERE.

The witch Sycorax, a character referred to, but never seen, in Shakespeare's The Tempest, has waited 500 years for the right medium to tell her side of the story. The internet is what she was waiting for. The first half of the play is her backstory in wealthy households in Algiers where her family wants to marry her off to a man she does not like and she discovers her supernatural powers. She gets banished to the jungle island of Qamara and plots her revenge. Eight actors play 19 characters including four animals.

"This witch Sycorax,

For mischiefs manifold and sorceries terrible

To enter human hearing, from Argier,

Thou know'st, was banish'd."

The Tempest, Act 1 Scene 2, Prospero to Ariel

Gael has won several playwrighting awards including the Craig Noel Award for Theatrical Excellence and the Manhattan Theatre Works Excellence in Playwriting Award. Kane was awarded Best Director at the 2016 United Solo Festival was named to the Indie Theatre Hall of Fame by NYTheatre.com.

The cast includes Sandra Bargman as Old Sycorax, Lauren Capkanis, as Young Sycorax, Charly Dannis as Ranah, Taylor Graves as Amirah, Nick Giedris as Ariel, Kelly Cooper as Prospero, Brianna Fernandez as Rima, and Michael Pichardo as Caliban.

The creative team includes set design by G. Warren Stiles, costume design by Jeff Sturdivant, lighting design by Bruce A! Kraemer, sound design by Ian Wehrle, projection design by Kathryn Lieber, stage management by Sabrina Moore and casting by Robin Carus Casting. Jacob Nurick serves as assistant director.

Performances take place at HERE (between Dominick & Spring Street), 145 6th Avenue, New York City, NY 10013. Tickets are $25 and available at www.here.org or by calling 212-352-3101. Running time: 75 minutes. This production is a part of SubletSeries@HERE: a curated rental program, which provides artists with subsidized space and equipment, as well as technical support.

Fengar Gael (Playwright) has had workshops and/or productions at The New York Stage and Film Company, the Sundance Playwrights Lab, the Utah Shakespearean Festival, the InterAct Theatre of Philadelphia, New Jersey Repertory, Playwrights Theatre of New Jersey, the Salt Lake Acting Company, Moxie Theatre, Kitchen Dog Theatre, the Athena Project, Detroit Repertory, the Landing Theatre of Houston, and in New York City: MultiStages, Urban Stages, The Secret Theatre, The Spiral Theatre, CAP 21, Turn to Flesh Productions, Project Y Theatre, Yonder Window Theatre, and Playwrights Gallery. She is a recipient of the Craig Noel Award (for Devil Dog Six), the Playwrights First Award (for Opaline), Manhattan Theatre Works Award (for The Drapers Eye); and commissions from South Coast Repertory, New Jersey Repertory, the InterAct Theatre, The Hangar Theatre, and a fellowship from the California Arts Council. In January through March of 2019, the Detroit Repertory Theatre will be producing The House on Poe Street. www.fengar.com

Joan Kane (Director) is the founding Artistic Director of Ego Actus and directed I Know What Boys Want at Theatre Row, Six Characters in Search of an Author in Oslo, Norway and Kafka's Belinda in Prague. She also directed both Safe and what do you mean at 59E59 Theaters and in the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, getting four star reviews for each. Joan was awarded Best Director in the 2016 United Solo Festival was named to the Indie Theatre Hall of Fame by nytheatre.com. She has also directed plays and readings for the Lark, Ensemble Studio Theatre, the NY Fringe Festival, Theater for the New City, Urban Stages, Workshop Theater, Nylon Fusion, Abingdon Theatre, Oberon Theatre, the Samuel French Short Play Festival, the Midtown International Festival and The Actors Studio. Joan has an MFA in Directing from The New School, an MS in Museum Education from Bank Street College. She is a member of The New York Madness Company, the Dramatists Guild and the Society of Stage Directors & Choreographers. Joan currently serves as a Vice President for Programming on the Board of Directors of the League of Professional Theatre Women. www.egoactus.com/bios.html

 

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