Queens Theatre's Developmental Play Reading Series to Continue With AS I WAS NOT AS I AM

Saturday, March 26th at 8pm ET, the Spring 2022 season of Queens Theatre's popular play reading series New American Voices (NAV), will continue with "AS I WAS NOT AS I AM" by Alice Hakvaag.

"AS I WAS NOT AS I AM," directed by Hannah Postlewait and featuring local actors Eryn Barnes, Heather Birmingham, Nazlah Black, Lauren E. King and Christine Vapsva is a hip, contemporary play about queer roommates, headaches, clubbing, upstairs neighbors, arson, and washing machines that follows the story of twenty-something Laurel who is sick. Her roommates want her to get better, but how do you help someone who can't afford health care? Does it involve setting a car on fire?

For playwright Alice Hakvaag, who identifies as queer, "AS I WAS NOT AS I AM" is personal.

"The play was written out of love for my friends. All of us are worried about how we are going to afford taking care of ourselves as we reach adulthood, and realize that traditional casting is not made for this next generation of queer, racial-minority theatre artists," said Hakvagg. "I wanted to reflect the vibrancy and joy in these communities, even when faced with the hardships and sorrow that life brings us."

New American Voices Spring 2022 concludes with "TUMBLEWEED" by Marcus Scott on Saturday, April 23rd at 8pm. Directed by Dev Bondarin, "TUMBLEWEED" is a slice-of-life drama about an interracial family, in which the natural hair of a young girl named Willow stirs up heated controversy in the household. This timely play explores beauty standards both in and out of the Black community, ethnic relations, the mixed-race family, coming of age, interracial marriage, parenting, womanist identity and the visibility of black men in the family dynamic.

As I Was, Not As I Am: https://queenstheatre.org/event/new-american-voices-as-i-was-not-as-i-am/

This reading will also be live streamed from the Queens Theatre studio and must be viewed live. Replay after the performance will not be available.

Tumbleweed: https://queenstheatre.org/event/new-american-voices-tumbleweed/

For more information about New American Voices visit www.queenstheatre.org.

All guests 5 years of age and up must present proof of COVID-19 vaccination upon arrival at the Queens Theatre facilities and patrons over the age of 18 must also show a valid form of ID. Masks are required, regardless of vaccination status. Learn more about our COVID Safety Protocols here.

About the Playwrights

Alice Hakvaag is a queer playwright originally from rural Pennsylvania, currently based in Philadelphia. She holds a BA in Theater from Temple University and is a proud Ring of Keys member. Her work has been seen through Elephant Room Productions, The Women's Theatre Festival, Mal-Adjusted Theatre Company, Mad Cow Theater, Richmond Triangle Players, and Wings of Paper Theater Company. Her play As I Was, Not As I Am was nominated for a Susan Smith Blackburn Award, and was a semi-finalist for the Princess Grace Fellowship Award. Most recently, her play But Not Uncle Vanya premiered in Philadelphia with Aporia Artist's Collective, of which she is a founding member. She has also worked internationally as a director, actor, and sound designer. When she isn't writing, she's probably doing something else in theater, and when she isn't doing that, she's probably playing Dungeons and Dragons.

Marcus Scott is a playwright, musical theatre writer & journalist. His work includes "Tumbleweed" (finalist for the Bay Area Playwrights Festival & Festival of New American Plays at Austin Playhouse; semi-finalist for the New Dramatists Princess Grace Fellowship Award), "Sibling Rivalries" (finalist for the Seven Devils Playwrights Conference & the ATHE-KCACTF Judith Royer Excellence In Playwriting Award; semi-finalist for the Blue Ink Playwriting Award & the New Dramatists Princess Grace Fellowship Award), "Cherry Bomb" (New York Theatre Barn New Works Series; recipient of the Drama League First Stage Artist-In-Residence). He was commissioned by Heartbeat Opera to adapt Beethoven's "Fidelio" (Libretto; Baruch Performing Arts Center, The Met Museum, Mondavi Center, The Broad Stage, Scottsdale Center for The Performing Arts; called "poignant" by NY Times). Residencies & retreats: Prospect Musical Theater Lab, María Irene Fornés Playwriting Workshop, JACK Governor's Island Artist Residency, Catwalk Artist Residency, The Center at West Park Virtual Performance Residency, Gingold Theatre Group Speaker's Corner Writer, Liberation Theatre Company's Playwriting Residency Fellowship, Athena Theatre Company's Athena Writes Playwriting Fellowship, the inaugural LIT Council at the Tank, Fresh Ground Pepper Artist-In-Residence BRB Retreat, One Co. Writers' Residency at Little Farm & Goodspeed Opera House Retreat. Scott is a 2021 NYSAF Founders' Award finalist and a 2021 Doric Wilson Independent Playwright Award semi-finalist. His articles appeared in Architectural Digest, Time Out New York, American Theatre Magazine, Playbill, Elle, Out, Essence, The Brooklyn Rail, among others. MFA: NYU Tisch School of the Arts.

About the Directors

Hannah Postlewait (She/Her) is a NYC based Theatre Artist & proud graduate of Temple University's BA Theatre Program in Philadelphia. Apart from her Directing work, Hannah is a Play Licensing Associate with Broadway Licensing and has also spent a significant amount of time working in New York's Casting Industry: assisting with auditions for Broadway shows, National Commercials and Regional Theatres across the country. Recent Directing Credits include BUT NOT UNCLE VANYA (Aporia Artists Collective / Philly Theatre Week Festival), ACUTE EXPOSURE (Richmond Triangle Players); and EURYDICE by Sarah Ruhl (TTSS/Pig Iron Theatre Company) among others. Hannah is also the founder of The Aporia Artists Collective, which has put up both in-person; Zoom productions, as well as 75 Zoom Readings since May 2020.

Dev Bondarin is a theater director and Associate Artistic Director of Prospect Theater Company. For six seasons, Dev served as Artistic Director of Astoria Performing Arts Center where her credits include the NY premiere of Marguerite (with Tony Award- winner Cady Huffman, Broadway Records cast album), Merrily We Roll Along and Raisin (which both earned NY Innovative Theatre Awards for Outstanding Musical), Caroline, or Change (AUDELCO Award for Outstanding Musical Revival), Follies, In The Bones, and readings/workshops of plays and musicals. Other selected directing: Rule of Three (Prospect Theater Company's 2021 musical theater lab), A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder (upcoming) and Little Women (Festival 56), King Lear (American Bard), and seven tours with TheaterWorksUSA. Dev has been nominated for two AUDELCO Awards and an NYIT Award, and received an Alumni of the Year Award from the Theater Department at Brooklyn College, where she earned an MFA. She is thrilled to be collaborating with Marcus Scott for the seventh time and working with Queens Theatre. devbondarin.com @devbondarin

About Queens Theatre

Queens Theatre (QT) is a performing arts center located in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Queens, NY. Its mission is to provide high-quality performances and programs that are accessible to the residents of Queens, the most diverse county in the nation. The Theatre's work reflects and celebrates its community. QT presents dance companies, produces, presents, and develops new works of theatre, family programming, community engagement events and initiatives, and offers a range of education programs onsite, in schools and in senior centers. In 2016, QT launched, and has since expanded, Theatre For All (TFA), a ground-breaking initiative to advance the inclusion of disabled people in the performing arts. Since COVID-19, QT has produced a range of digital programming - readings of new plays, wellness checks with performances for seniors, original dance showcases, a Storytellers series, an online round of its TFA training program for Deaf/Disabled actors, and more.

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