Erik Ehn's New Experimental Drama CLOVER to Play La MaMa

La MaMa presents Clover, a new experimental theater drama about America's history of violence by Erik Ehn, directed by Glory Kadigan with original music by Maya Solovéy and original puppet design & puppetry direction by Jeanette Oi-Suk Yew. Performances will be staged at the First Floor Theatre at La MaMa, 74a East 4th Street, New York, NY 10003 from December 1-16, 2016.

A killer walks in a circle, finds a killer, circles the killed. Experimental writer Erik Ehn's latest play about the violent and universal cycle of life follows the tragedy of Emmett Till and his mother that helped spur the Civil Rights Movement as well as three other stories, illustrating America's history of violence towards those most vulnerable. Society cannot hide from any of this, from losing, moving, seeing, longing. This poetic and lyrical play creates a unique world where the victims are allowed to show the killer himself again, and again, despite...

The cast of 20 includes Francesco Andolfi, Richarda Abrams*, James Edward Becton*, Carlotta Brentan, Kaela Mei-Shing Garvin, Trevor Latez Hayes, Bob Jaffe*, Laura E. Johnston*, James B. Kennedy, Adin Lenahan, Joyce Miller, Kathleen O'Neill*, Neil Tyrone Pritchard, Gina Marie Russell, Sawyer Spielberg*, David Stallings, Ken Straus, Harold Surratt*, Perri Yaniv*, and Kayte Zhang. *Member, Actors' Equity Association, AEA Showcase.

"I'm honored to be collaborating on this important new experimental play by renowned writer Erik Ehn," states director Glory Kadigan. "?The play is humorous at times and deeply moving at others. The piece is a conversation that needs to be had, communicated through fragmented storytelling creating a dream-like aura. The style of the play is captivating for me, as Erik leads us on a journey into the darker recesses of humanity."

Puppeteers and Puppet Builders: Amy Jensen, Leah Ogawa, Linh Valerie Pham, Josh Rice, Sophie Weisskoff, Meghan Williams.

La MaMa presents Clover, a Planet Connections production. Assistant Producer: Zac Cline; Director: Glory Kadigan; Assistant Director: Adam Chisnall; Music Director: Jason Trager; Scenic Designer: Mike Kaukl; Choreographer: Susan Tenney; Costume Designer: Izzy Fields; Lighting Designer: Benjamin Ehrenreich; Sound Designer: Jacob Subotnick; Production Stage Manager: Craig M. Rosenthal; Asst. Stage Managers: Michael Danker & Maddey Lemmon.

Tickets are: $18 Adults; $13 Students/Seniors; Ten tickets are available for $10 each, in advance only as part of La MaMa's 10 @ $10 ticketing initiative. Visit lamama.org or call 212-352-3101.

Twelve performances will be staged from December 1-16, 2016 on the following schedule: Thursdays-Saturdays at 7:30pm; Sundays at 2:30pm; plus, Tuesday, Dec. 13 & Wednesday, Dec. 14 at 8:00pm.

Erik Ehn (playwright) - Work includes The Saint Plays, No Time Like the Present, Wolf at the Door, Tailings, Beginner, and Ideas of Good and Evil. The Soulographie project is a series of 17 plays written over 20 years, on the history of the US in the 20th Century from the point of view of its genocides (produced at La MaMa, NY, November 2012), and Soulographie scripts include Maria Kizito, Heavenly Shades of Night are Falling, Yermedea, and Drunk Still Drinking. ?With Planet Connections he has presented Frail/Ingellin at Classic Stage Company and Her Speech at The NY Theatre Workshop directed by Glory Kadigan as part of Playwrights For A Cause. ? His works have been presented in San Francisco (Intersection, Thick Description, Yugen), Seattle (Annex, Empty Space), Austin (Frontera), New York (BACA, Whitney Museum), San Diego (Sledgehammer), Chicago (Red Moon), Atlanta (7 Stages), Los Angeles (Cal Rep, Museum of Jurassic Technology), Belgrade (Dah); Oslo (Fyrhusset); elsewhere. He has taught at the U of Iowa, Naropa, UC San Diego, UT Dallas, and Cal Arts (graduate); U San Francisco, SF State, Santa Clara, and Skidmore (undergrad); he has taught workshops with the Belarus Free Theater in Minsk, and Mashirika in Rwanda. Artistic Director, Tenderloin Opera Company (Providence RI - generating new works of music-theater by, for and about people who are homeless/homeless advocates). Artistic Associate, Theatre of Yugen (SF). Graduate of New Dramatists. Director of Writing for Performance, Brown University.

Glory Kadigan (director) founded Planet Connections and served as the Producing Artistic Director for six seasons. Among her directing credits: World Premieres of ReGina Taylor's Biting the Bullet and John Patrick Shanley's Doublecross at the Playwrights for a Cause benefit at the Atlantic Theater, St. Anne's Soup (Israel Horovitz, World Premiere), Breaking Phi?l?lip Glass (Israel Horovitz, World Premiere), Her Speech (Erik Ehn, World Premiere), Over the River and Through the Woods (Neil LaBute, World Premiere), Two Minute Warning (Neil LaBute, World Premiere). Most recently, she directEd Penny Jackson's Safe at the 14th Street Y and the staged reading of Omen Road to Starville by Erik Champney for the La Mama staged reading series. Upcoming?, directing the World Premiere of Israel Horovitz's The Day Before Yesterday in February 2017. She is a freelance stage director and is an alum of the Lincoln Center Directors Lab, La MaMa Directors and Playwriting Symposium and of The LAByrinth Theater Company's Master Class. Ms. Kadigan is a member of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers and has been the recipient of the Meritorious Achievement Award in Direction from the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival.

An integral part of New York City's cultural landscape, La MaMa has a worldwide reputation for producing daring work in theatre, dance, performance art, and music that defies form and transcends boundaries of language, race, and culture. Founded in 1961 by theatre pioneer and legend Ellen Stewart, La MaMa is a global organization with creative partners and dedicated audiences around the world. La MaMa presents an average of 60-70 productions annually, most of which are world premieres. To date, over 3,500 productions have been presented at La MaMa with artists from more than 70 nations.

MEET THE CAST:

Francesco Andolfi - Previous credits Off-Broadway: Iphigenia in Tauris. Other: Prometheus Bound, The Picture of DorIan Gray, The Decameron, The Mandrake Roots, King Lear, Romeo and Juliet. Festivals: Beats Me(Fringe Rome), The troubadour struck by lightning(Fringe NYC), Drones(Planet Connections, Winner of "Outstanding Lead Actor in a Play"), Defence(as playwright at Planet Connections, Best Reading and Best Production nomination. Francesco is an Italian actor, classically trained at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting, who is building his career though NYC's stages, and as a member of KIT(Kairos Italy Theater), he helps bring classic and Italian culture to the States.

Richarda Abrams received Audelco Awards for Home and Sassy Mamas (Hadley Players), Performances include: Red Emma by Maxine Kern, director Ludovica Villar-Hauser, nominated for Outstanding Overall Production of a Staged Reading at Planet Connections, Last Days of Judas Iscariot, director Estelle Parsons, Vagina Monologues (HERE), Fear Itself (Crossroads Theatre), Ascension (NYFringe), Suzan Lori-Parks' In the Blood (Kennedy Center Festival), 365 Days/365 Plays Finale director Joanna Settle (Public Theatre), Insurrection and Booty Candy writer/director Robert O'Hara, Vieux Carre director Austin Pendleton, Contribution (2nd Stage), ABC, CBS, Lifetime, Showtime & Sesame Street, MuhAl Richard Abrams' cd "Songs for All," Amina Claudine Myers' Voice Ensemble SONS D'HIVER MUSIC FESTIVAL (France). Richarda tours her one woman show First by Faith: the Life of Mary McLeod Bethune. Memberships: Actors Studio, AACM, League of Professional Theatre Women, New York Women In Film and Television, AEA, & SAG-AFTRA. www.RichardaAbrams.com

James Edward Becton last appeared in Zach Karabashliev's Lissabon. Most recently, James Edward embodied The King of Ethiopia opposite Austin Pendleton's King Priam in Dress of Fire and Willy in Double Cross by John Patrick Shanely for Planet Connections' Playwrights for a Cause. For a complete view into James Edwards' eclectic and diverse resume, stop by: www.JamesEdwardBecton.com. Keep an eye out for him in the Stephen King short "On the Road;" Mike in Waterwells' WWII Production of Blueprint Special starring Laura Osnes and Will Swenson; Ready Set Go Theatre Co.'s Hamlet; the web series as Laertes; and he'll be breathing life into the incomparable Frederick Douglass with www.HistoryAliveNY.com.

Carlotta Brentan is a New York-based stage, film, commercial & voiceover actress and theater artist. Recent theater: Susan Atkins in Cyndy A. Marion's You Are Perfect (White Horse Co. at WorkShop theater, World Premiere), Zhanna in Frank J. Avella's Lured (World Premiere, sold-out engagement at Theater for the New City, coming back in 2017), collaborations with Nylon Fusion Theatre Co., Him & Her Theatre Co., toUch Performance Art. Recent film: Sleeping Dogs (feat. Suicide Squad & True Blood's Jim Parrack.) Graduate of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and Academy Company. Proud member of Playhouse West Brooklyn Lab (Jim Parrack & Andrea Dantas) and Kairos Italy Theater. Carlotta has also been the Executive Producer of In Scena! Italian Theater Festival since 2013. www.carlottabrentan.com

Kaela Mei-Shing Garvin is a Brooklyn­-based writer, producer & performer. Founding member of Undiscovered Countries, co­-creator of original series 2 Girls | 1 Asian. Recent credits include Ambition: the female American serial killer musical (Ars Nova, Dixon Place; three time winner including Outstanding Production of a Musical, Outstanding Music and Lyrics at Planet Connections 2016); Corners Grove (Winner, Best Featured Actress, Planet Connections 2015); wardrobe at Blue Man Group; writer for upcoming series BKPI created by Hye Yun Park. BFA, NYU. www.kaelameishinggarvin.com

Trevor Latez Hayes is a third year student at NYU studying Drama, Africana Studies and Dance. Recent Credits: Dutchman (Clay), The Motherfucker With The Hat (Ralph D), The Laramie Project (Jedidiah/Multiple), The Golem: A Horror Opera by Liz Swados (Phantom/Ensemble), Middletown (Cop). trevorlhayes.com

Bob Jaffe - Planet Connections: Solo play about hunger, But for the Grace...was at 2014 Planet Connections - Advocacy Award and Award for Best Solo Performance. The short film "Water Dogs" (in which he starred) also won the Best Film award. Stage: recently six characters in Mariah MacCarthy's Honors Students at Ensemble Studio Theatre. Other solo plays: Willy Holtzman's The Real McGonagall; performer/adapter of ...and then you go on. An Anthology of the Works of Samuel Beckett (Off Broadway) Other: Ensemble Studio Theatre, Queens Theater; Berkshire Theatre Festival, the cell, HERE, Theater for the New City, La Mama E.T.C., The Brick, Amios, FringeNYC, Trinity Rep, Providence Black Rep, Perishable Theatre, others. Film/TV: Showtime's "Brotherhood," "Law & Order: SVU," many independent films, including award-winners "Imagine I'm Beautiful," "Water Dogs," "The Offering," and "Crazy Famous" (soon to be released); Ensemble Artist of Ensemble Studio Theatre, Artist-in-Residence at the cell.

Laura E. Johnston* - Selected Theater-In the Shadow of a Dream (MITF); Taming of the Shrew (The Queen's Company); IYOM (The WorkShop Theater); Killa Dilla (directed by André De Shields); Seven Against Thebes; Rain (Hudson Guild); 48 Hours in Harlem; Romeo and Juliet; For Colored Girls. Regional-To Kill a Mockingbird, Much Ado About Nothing, The Miracle Worker (Arkansas Rep). TV/Film-"The Mysteries of Laura"; "Believe"; "NYC 22"; "Law & Order"; James White; Down, down, baby (NYU); The Quiet; and Mind the Gap.

James B Kennedy - Selected recent stage credits include Hall of Fame pitcher Rube Waddell in Jonathan Goldberg's Sousepaw: A Baseball Story at the NYC, Minnesota, Indianapolis, & San Francisco Fringe Festivals (Fringe Famous Nominee- Best Actor, Winner- Best of SF Fringe). Shelby Company's Ephemerama (Magnet Theatre, NYC), Carey Lovelace's Couples Counseling (Edinburgh Fringe, & 59E59 St. Theater NYC), Dan Moyer's New Beulah (Planet Connections Award Winner- Best Featured Actor), & Ashley Jacobsen's His Beauty (Planet Connections Award Nominee- Best Supporting Actor). James can be seen in the upcoming web series "Seeking Sublet", and heard on the upcoming podcast "The Fall of the House of Sunshine."

Adin Lenahan is an actor, writer, and receptionist. New York: Pilgrim Notes (Winner of Planet Connections Outstanding Performer in a Solo Show), U.S. Drag, ArtaudArtaud, Corners Grove (Planet Connections Nominated Featured Actor), Midwestern Gothic (original solo show), History of the Donner Party: an American Musical!, The Grapes of Wrath, Pvt. Wars, Valhalla, Reid Farrington's A Christmas Carol, and Lemon Cake. Regional: MaryShelleyShow (Congressional Church of Jefferson Park, IL), Lark/Song (Red Cloud Opera House, NE). New York University (BFA Drama). adinlenahan.com

Joyce Miller - recent and memorable credits include Stage: The Upper Room (Philipa/Rady & Bloom/New Ohio), Broken City: Harlem (Ebony Noelle Golden/PopUP Theatrics), The Green Night (Lady Morgan/Rady&Bloom/Planet Connections) Film: "Tango on the Balcony" (Featured/Minos Papas), "Cold Fusion" (Lead/Eric Sanders), "My 28 Years of Heterosexuality Was Just a Phase" (Lead/In Production/Self-Produced). Joyce has also published satire with McSweeney's Internet Tendency. Training: Tisch School of the Arts, Atlantic Theater Company. www.joyfulmilton.com.

Kathleen O'Neill - NYC favorite original theatre acting credits include Older in Over the River and Through the Woods with Planet Connections (dir., Glory Kadigan), Annie Jump Canon in Insignificant by Sean Michael Welch, Nana Jo in Sweet Spirit by Carol Carpenter, Blue Heron in Dark Water by David Stallings, and the role of Su in A Collapse by Vincent Moreno. Other cherished credits include Lyubov in Cherry Orchard, Clytemnestra in The Greeks, Jessica Lyons in Cat's Paw, and Olympia in The Conduct of Life (won The Hispanic Festival's Best Supporting Actor award). Film/TV: "Law and Order: SVU". She is a proud member of SAG-AFTRA, AEA. Kathleen has a Production Company, BOO-Arts Productions. www.kathleenaoneill.com.

Neil Tyrone Pritchard is a New York Based Actor/Singer/Writer. As an actor, His most recent work has been featured at The Actors Studio, LAByrinth Theater Company, Lincoln Center, Primary Stages, and Atlantic Theater Company. He was also seen at Planet Connections in Chokehold for which he was nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actor and In Suicide By Wife for which he was awarded Best Actor in a Staged Reading. His vocal work has been featured at Rockwood Music Hall, The National Black Theater, Bowery Poetry Club and The Nuyorican Poets Cafe. He is working on an acoustic Jazz concept album "Tentatively Titled Ballad of a Sad Young Man." He is currently on staff at the Park Avenue Armory where he assists in Bringing Arts Education to public schools throughout the 5 boroughs.

Gina Marie Russell - Prospero in the incredible media storm that was Torn Out Theater's Naked Tempest in both Prospect Park and Central Park. She has also performed in NY as Marcus in Martyr'd Signs: a Titus Andronicus adaptation (Hudson Shakespeare), and Betsy in Sandbox (Greenhouse Ensemble). Favorite regional credits: Factory Girl in Les Mis (Village Theatre); Lucy Brown in Threepenny Opera (Seattle Shakespeare Company); Titania in Midsummer Night's Dream (GreenStage); Mrs. Walker in Tommy, and Rona Lisa Peretti in 25th Annual...Spelling Bee (Bainbridge Performing Arts). http://ginamarierussell.wixsite.com/actor

Sawyer Spielberg studied at the Atlantic Theater Company. Sawyer played Peter van Daan in Bay Street Theaters 2013 production of Anne Frank and Bay Streets production of Of Mice and Men playing Whit. Sawyer also performed in Guild Hall of East Hamptons 2014 production of Hamlet playing Guildenstern and Francisco. In NYC, Sawyer has performed at the East 4th Street Theatre playing Micha in a production of The Belgrade Trilogy and just performed Philip in a production of Safe at the 14th Street Y.

David Stallings - Selected NYC: The Picture of DorIan Gray (Lord Henry), An Ideal Husband (Lord Goring), Somdomite: The Loves of Oscar Wilde (Edward Carson), Macbeth (Lady Macbeth), Farewell to Sanity (Dr. Henley) - winner of Outstanding Actor for Planet Connections, A Home Across the Ocean (Connor), Sweet, Sweet Spirit (Kendall). David is also a playwright whose plays include Dark Water (winner of the 2014 New York IT Award for Best Original Full Length Script), Ana?s Nin Goes to Hell (1st Prize Winner Boston Theatre Works Unbound Festival, Winner of the Arthur W. Stone New Play Award Louisiana Tech University), The Baby Monitor (2014 finalist for the National New Play Network, The Stranger to Kindness (Winner of Planet Connections Playwriting Award Short Form and Outstanding Production of a One Act Play), among others. David is the Associate Artistic Director and theater Manager at the 14th Street Y. www.stallingswrites.com

Ken Straus studied film and theatre arts at UCLA, living and working in Hollywood, and eventually moving to New York City in the mid 1980's. Ken's most recently appeared as Maurice Chevalier in the off-Broadway production of Defendant Maurice Chevalier. Other recent NY stage appearances include: Driving Miss Daisy, at The Player's Theatre, The Three Sisters, at Columbia University, An Iliad, with The Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, and King John, with The Frog and Peach Theatre. Ken has also recently completed his first feature film titled "Dick and Jack," playing the role of Richard Nixon. www.kenstraus.com

Harold Surratt was last in ReGina Taylor's Biting the Bullet for Planet Connections' Playwrights For A Cause directed by Glory Kadigan. Other credits include Familiar by Danai Gurira, directed by Rebecca Taichman at Playwrights' Horizons, Seven Guitars directed by Coleman Domingo at Actors Theatre of Louisville. Also seen in Father Comes Home from the Wars by Susan-Lori Parks, Directed by Jo Bonney at the American Repertory Theater; and The Piano Lesson Directed by Jamil Jude at the Olney. Credits include: (Broadway) Impressionism directed by Jack O'Brien, and Serious Money directed by Max Stafford-Clarke. (Regional) The Convert by Danai Guirira at The McCarter, The Goodman, and The Kirk Douglas directed by Emily Mann. Trouble in Mind, and The Sunset Limited at Triad Stage directed by Preston Lane. Other theaters include Premiere Stages, The Public, Keen Company, Berkshire Theater Festival and The Folger. Television: "Babylon Fields" (pilot), "Orange is the New Black," "The Temptations" (mini-series), "Fringe," "The Practice," and "ER." Films: "Sudden Death," "The Pelican Brief," and "Blood In Blood Out."

Perri Yaniv is a native New Yorker who has performed in over 30 productions locally, regionally, and internationally. He has originated roles in premieres by playwrights John Patrick Shanley, Jack Agueros, Candido Tirado, Maurice Decaul, and Owen Panettieri, and has played title roles in the revivals of George Bernard Shaw's Don Juan in Hell and S. Ansky's The Dybbuk. He has worked repeatedly with Obie-winning companies Metropolitan Playhouse, Medicine Show Theatre Ensemble, and Nicu's Spoon. Film work includes "Winter Has No Sun," "Al Qarem," "The Wolf of Wall Street," "Delivery Hour," and the forthcoming feature "The Restaurant."

Kayte Zhang has performed in The Drowsy Chaperone, Candide, and The Music Man at College Light Opera Company; Bye Bye Birdie at Arizona Broadway Theatre; Avenue Q at the Phoenix Theater and The Amory House Teams at The Tank. Training from Arizona State University and the Uprights Citizens Brigade.

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