New York Stage and Film Announces Casting; Founders' and Pfaelzer Award Winners

New York Stage and Film begins its summer season in Poughkeepsie on Saturday, July 9 and will run for five weeks to Sunday, August 7 for in-person programming that will support more than 35 new stories for theater, film and television.

For 37 years, NYSAF has operated as a vital incubator for artists and their work, a catalyst for stories that continue across the country and around the world. Tickets are $25 and currently on sale at www.newyorkstageandfilm.org/summer.

The First Play Reading Weekend on Saturday, July 9 at Marist Colleage features My Brother Is Better At Love Than Me by Lily Houghton and directed by Leigh Silverman at 12:00 PM; Nuestro Planeta: A Colombia Project by Diana Burbano and devised and directed by Elisa Bocanegra at 3:30 PM; and a new untitled play by Josh Radnor and directed by Sheryl Kaller at 8:00 PM. Casting includes Midori Francis, Carla Gugino, Bill Heck, Henry Houghton, Thomas Sadoski and Reza Salazar.

NYSAF supports residencies for artists and theater companies by providing tailored resources to meet their specific needs. During the Summer Season, individuals, small teams, and large companies receive support that ranges from a private writing retreat to detailed project resources.

The 2022 Summer Artists-In-Residence are Nissy Aya, Molly Carden, Stephen Belber, Kyle Beltran, Abigail Zealey Bess, Jaki Bradley, Molly Carden, Adam Chanler-Berat, Shayok Misha Chowdhury, Kate Douglas, Lee Sunday Evans, Estefanía Fadul, Yvette Gainer, Diego Vazquez Gomez, Gethsemane Herron, Rebecca Holderness, Cedwan Hooks, Shayfer James, Tim J Lord, Roopa Mahadevan, Gloria Majule, Grace McLean, Talene Monahon, jeremy o'brian, Ibi Owolabi Jon Riddleberger, Dominique Rider, Sruti Sarathy, Samantha Speis, Shiv Subramaniam, Shona Tucker, Noelle Viñas, Nicole A. Watson, and Dawn Monique Williams.

"The Summer Season Residency Community is a beautiful distillation of the NYSAF mission in action: artists in various stages of process representing a broad spectrum of experiences, assembling in pursuit of their own goals, while also providing vital support and perspective for their peeers," said Artistic Producer Liz Carlson. "Each week's unique cohort brings its own version of joy, and we are honored to serve their work."

Each year NYSAF awards the prestigious Founders' Award and Pfaelzer Award to emerging artists. This year Nissy Aya is the recipient of the Founders' Award with Calley N. Anderson, natyna bean, Johnny G. Lloyd, Carmen LoBue, and Andrew Rincón as finalists. And Dawn Monique Williams is the recipient of the Pfaelzer Award with Minita Gandhi, Tara Moses, and Abigail Vega as finalists.

Nissy Aya (Recipent Founders' Award) is a Black girl from the Bronx. She and all her younger selves tell stories and tall tales -- while helping others to do the same. As a cultural worker and writer, we believe in the transformative nature of storytelling, placing those most affected by oppressive systems in the center, and examining how we move forward through healing justice and afrofuturist frameworks. Our creative work reflects those notions while exploring the lines between history and memory, detailing both the absence and presence of love, and giving all the life (and then some) to Black Femmes.

Dawn Monique Williams (Recipient Pfaelzer Award) is the Associate Artistic Director at Aurora Theatre Company in Berkeley, CA. Her recent directing credits include the world premiere production of The Incrementalist by Cleavon Smith, an audio version of Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye adapted by Lydia R. Diamond, Bull in the China Shop (Aurora), Lauren Gunderson's The Half-Life of Marie Curie (TheatreSquared), Sweet Water Taste (Orlando Shakespeare Theatre), Letters to Kamala (American Stage Company), Earthrise (Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts), The Merry Wives of Windsor (Oregon Shakespeare Festival), Moon Man Walk, Tijean and His Brothers, A Midsummer Night's Dream (American Conservatory Theatre, MFA program), an audio version of Lynn Nottage's Las Meninas, The Secretaries (Profile Theatre), Romeo & Juliet (Chautauqua Theatre), August Wilson's The Piano Lesson (Le Petit and UNCO), Lynn Nottage's By The Way Meet Stark (Douglas Morrisson and UNCO), and Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (Town Hall). Dawn's awards include a Princess Grace Theatre Fellowship, a TCG Leadership U Residency Grant, and a Drama League Directing Fellowship. She holds an MA in Dramatic Literature and an MFA in Directing. Dawn is a proud member of SDC.

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