Photos: First Look at S. Dylan Zwickel's THE MOSS MAIDENS, Now Streaming through Sunday

The Moss Maidens from playwright S. Dylan Zwickel is making SheNYC Arts Summer Theater Festival history as the first production to be extended twice in the festival’s eight-year existence. Four SOLD-OUT performances will play the Connelly Theater (220 East 4th Street, New York, NY 10009) August 2nd, August 4th, August 5th, and August 6th. In conjunction with the history-making production, digital tickets are also on sale in the range of $5 - $10. The digital production will stream from August 4th - August 6th. For more information, visit https://shenycarts.org/she-nyc/.

Check out the production photos below!

The Moss Maidens is inspired by the true story of a group of Dutch teenage girls who flirted with Nazis, lured them into the woods for a romantic walk, and murdered them. This dramatic play evokes the beauty and sacredness of the woods while amplifying feminist values and human rights.

“As a Jewish woman, I feel like I’m expected to tell stories of kids starving in camps or hiding in attics; that feels like the only story Jews are allowed to tell about World War II. And I didn’t want to tell that story. I wanted to tell the story of people fighting back,” says Zwickel.

“I’m so excited that The Moss Maidens is the first show in SheNYC history to be extended twice and offered a fourth performance. This is such an important story and I’m thrilled that an extra 93 people will get to hear it.”

The Moss Maidens is an award-winning play and one of eight original works selected from 300 submissions for the 2023 SheNYC Arts Festival. The company features an all-female and heavily Jewish creative team with a cast of 90% women and non-binary people. The cast includes Mia Angelique (Mirjam), Teresa Attridge* (Silke), Lily Ganser* (Margarete/Understudy), Al Groppi (Isa), Caitlin Hammond (Floor), Sydney Kane (Helena), Aaron Matteson* (Raf/Others), Johnny Travers* (Raf/Others Understudy), and Rebbekah Vega-Romero* (Rini).

Zwickel continues, “I want to see young women running wild on stage. It’s really important to me that these actors, primarily young women and femme people, get to do these things they don’t normally get to do on stage or in life. They get to be violent. They get to be sexual. And also they get to murder Nazis. At a time when women are having their rights taken away left, right, and center and there is a rising tide of anti-Semitism, this story feels really relevant. And I think there is a lot of anger amongst young women right now. I think it will be cathartic for both the audience and the performers to see women rage.”

The creative team includes S. Dylan Zwickel (Playwright), Daniella Caggiano (Director), Leana Gardella (Fight/Intimacy Director), Mara Jill Herman (Producer), Sydney Kane (Associate Producer), and Kyra Bowie* (Production Stage Manager). *Actors and Stage Managers are appearing courtesy of Actors’ Equity Association in this Equity Approved Showcase.

To purchase tickets and for more information, visit https://shenycarts.org/she-nyc/.

This production is made possible with the partnership of SheNYC Arts, which supports and showcases the talents of writers, composers, producers, directors, and other theater artists who are part of a marginalized gender group, including cis women and trans and non-binary people. Their mission is to prove that there is no reason for male artists to have the overwhelming majority of professionally produced work on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and around the country. They provide artists with the resources they need on their path to leadership roles in the industry. 

Photo Credit: Cathryn Lynne

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