New Comedy USE YOUR WORDS! Comes to The Tank Next Month

The Tank will present Use Your Words! by writer/actor Karen Eleanor Wight.

Use Your Words! is a one-woman show-in five wordless scenes-about a new mother struggling with the responsibility of caring for a tiny human. The show is rooted in comic physicality with many props mimed-most importantly, the baby.

This new comedy features Karen Eleanor Wight* and musician Adam Auslander on trombone. It is Co-Directed by Zinc Tong with Lighting Design by Natasha Rotondaro, Sound Design by Ella Danyluk, Production Stage Management by Thomas J. Donohoe II, and Play Development by Melissa Attebery.

Performances take place in the Tank's 56 seat theatre, 312 West 36th Street, Manhattan on the following dates: Oct 23 at 7pm, Oct 30 at 7pm, Nov 12 at 3pm, Nov 12 at 7pm, & Nov 13 at 7pm. *This is an Equity Approved Showcase.

Karen Eleanor Wight* (Producer, Playwright, Co-Director, Performer)

A NYC-based actress, improviser, and movement coach, Karen recently starred in the Off-West End/Off-Broadway production of The Screwtape Letters, a two-person play for which she originated the role of Toadpipe, a demon-creature who physically transforms into nine human characters portraying various victims of sin. National tours included Peter Pan (Tiger Lily/Liza, u.s. Peter Pan & Wendy) and A Christmas Carol (Ghost of Christmas Past). Select NYC/Regional roles: Much Ado About Nothing (Margaret/Verges), The Show Off (Clara), Twelfth Night (Olivia), As You Like It (Celia), The Pajama Game (Gladys), Macbeth (Weird Sister/Lady Macbeth.) Karen has been improvising for over 25 years and made up 1/2 of the wordless improv duo Imp (think Chaplin meets Looney Tunes). Imp performed long-form improv at festivals for 18 years. Karen is a graduate of California State University, Fullerton, a founding member of NYC's On the Road Repertory Company, and proud member of AEA & SAG-Aftra. www.kareneleanorwight.com

Adam Auslander (Musician)

I am Adam Auslander and I am a former Ringling Bros clown. (Aren't we all). I am also an actor who has studied with Uta Hagen. And an award winning short film maker -'The Thin Blue Sign'. I have played Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center and balanced a large cross on my chin as Jesus on the Conan O'Brien show. I have helped Vincent D'Onfrio and Kathryn Erbe find a killer on Law and Order Criminal Intent. I have been in a bathroom with Robert DeNiro in the film 'Being Flynn' and done group therapy with John Travolta in 'Old Dogs'. A Miss America once snapped my Ninja Turtle costume crotch. Did I mention Carnegie Hall? I've entertained First Ladies (at the Clinton Inauguration) and an ex president in NJ. For 25 years I provided the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade with stiltwalkers, jugglers, hula hoopists and dog acts. When I'm not at home yelling at my kids, or getting yelled at by my wife, I have entertained pediatric hospital patients. Recent principal credits include a commercial with John Mayer, dying on The Blacklist (sorry SPOILER ALERT), The Late Late Show with James Corden and the Netflix film Okja directed by Bong Joon Ho.

CREATIVE TEAM BIOS

Zinc Tong (Co-Director, they/them) is a director, deviser, and arts facilitator. As someone who grew up in China, awakened in SoCal, and thrives in NYC, they see story making as their harbor for communities, through which they're able to connect the truth of both their own and others'. In stories, they're most interested in exploring the dynamic between the privileged and the marginalized, and are always striving to document, reflect and reveal what it means to be human with an acute mindset like a neurosurgeon, and a need for sensory immersion. Zinc is currently a resident director for Neurodivergent New Play Series at Piccione Arts. They've been workshoping SALESMAN 之死 (GUNG HO Project), and associate directing CARE/FULL, a devising piece by immigrant English learners in Sunset Park. Credits include: Cabin (Performance Project), Impossible Theories of Us (Piccoine Arts), Playing the Other (Wild Project), Enkidu (Lime Arts Production), Shhh... Do You Remember (Found Space).

Thomas J. Donohoe II (Production Stage Manager) is an NJ/NYC-based stage manager and graduate of Ramapo College of New Jersey with a degree in Directing/Stage Management. Select credits include First Flight Theatre Co: Little Women (PSM/Sound), Frigid Little Shakespeare Festival: Ladies at Tea & Shakespeare's Deaths (PSM/Tech Design), New Studio on Broadway: An Experiment. (PSM), Once More (PSM), Montclair Studio Players: Miracle on 34th Street (PSM/TD), Triad Theatre: Magic Box (PSM/Lighting), Charles Seller Foundation: The Addams Family (PSM/Sound Design), Wolfsmouth Players: Effigy (ASM/Tech), A Very Great Mischief (Tech), Acting Under the Influence: Julius Caesar (Director), Twelfth Night (PSM), The Tank NYC: 20th Anniversary Gala (SM), Autumn Affair (Tech), Modern Swimwear (Tech), Ramapo College: Stop/Kiss (PSM), Baltimore (PSM), The Big Unknown 1.5° (PSM), A Midsummer Night's Dream (ASM), Antigone (ASM), The Sonic Life of a Giant Tortoise (ASM). Nutley Little Theatre: Hand to God (TD), Tin Cat Shoes (PSM), [Title of Show] (Tech), Gemini (Tech), The Musical of Musicals! (the musical) (Tech), Regrets Only (Tech), Amazons and their Men (Tech). He currently serves as the first chair of the Nutley Little Theatre Youth Committee. In 2020, he won the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival Region 2 Award for Stage Management Excellence. Contact at tdonohoe05@gmail.com.

Natasha Rotondaro (Lighting Designer) is a Canadian Lighting Designer based out of New York City and Toronto. She uses light to build worlds and tell stories within them. She loves collaboration, and aims to explore light through theatre, dance, and other art forms where light can sculpt space. Natasha is a recent graduate from NYU Tisch Design for Stage and Film MFA program, and is excited to continue working in New York City. She also hopes to find herself working internationally throughout the course of her career. Her work can be found at www.natasharotondaro.com, and you can keep up with her on Instagram and TikTok! @natashagetslit

Ella Danyluk (Sound Designer, she/they) is a New York based sound designer currently entering their senior year at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts (Playwrights Horizons and Production & Design) and is eagerly awaiting her excursion into the industry post-grad. Along with a BFA in Drama, they are also on course to graduate with honors, as well as with a double minor in Business of Entertainment and Media Technologies as well as Classics. Outside of toiling away on QLab and Logic files, Ella is interested in social media marketing, Greek tragedies, and taking pictures of her cat. Previous works include Bonefruit (The Tank), Mistresses (Theatre Row), Waning Crescent (NYU's Playwrights Horizons Theatre School), and That's Not Supposed to be Happening (NYU's Festival of Voices). For more info, you can check out Ella on Instagram @ella.k.danyluk or on their website https://elladanyluk.wixsite.com/my-site

Photo Credit: Bjorn Bolinder, Find the Light Photography

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