The Hive Theatre Company Presents AN AMERICAN FAMILY TAKES A LOVER

The Hive Theatre Company is pleased to present The Hive Exposed Series; staged readings of new and underexposed plays. The second in this series is a benefit staged reading of Amina Henry's AN AMERICAN FAMILY TAKES A LOVER at the cell theatre on Tuesday, December 14th at 7pm. All proceeds are to benefit the Hive Theatre Company's mission to foster the creative growth of new and underexposed playwrights.

The Hive is pleased to have such an illustrious creative team and cast collaborating on this first incarnation of AN AMERICAN FAMILY TAKES A LOVER.

AN AMERICAN FAMILY TAKES A LOVER is a dark exploration of our national character. Rich in allegory, the play paints a shocking portrait of slavery and freedom in modern-day America.

Admission is FREE and tickets will be distributed at the door on the evening of the performance on a first come, first served basis.

Cast includes:
JUSTINE - Almeria Campbell
Richard David - Bob Jaffe
LADY ANNE - Elizabeth Mason
THOMAS - Victor Cruz

All performers appearing courtesy of Theatre Authority, Inc.

AN AMERICAN FAMILY TAKES A LOVER
by Amina Henry
Directed by Kira Simring
Produced by The Hive Theatre Company (Matthew A.J. Gregory, Artistic Director)
Music by Stacy Rock
Lighting Designer: Nick Gonsman
Stage Manager/Designer: Justin Couchara

the cell (www.thecelltheatre.org)
338 West 23rd Street (between 8th and 9th Avenues)
Tuesday, December 14th, 2010 at 7pm

Almeria Campbell (Justine) - Almeria Campbell graduated Mason Gross School of the arts, Rutgers University with her MFA. She's also a resident member of the cell theatre company and is currently touring a one-woman show, Warriors Don't Cry with the Bushnell Center for Performing Arts in Connecticut.

Justin Couchara (Stage Manager/Designer) - New York credits: Assistant Lead Prop Sculptor for Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson (Broadway - Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre), Assistant Scenic Designer for Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson (The Public Theatre), Ultra Violet Live 2010 (The Skirball Center), Cabaret (Pace University), The Hypochondriac (the cell theatre), The Boys Upstairs (FringeNYC), The Imaginary Invalid (Deadline Productions), 1st Assistant Scenic Designer for Dance Dance Revolution! (Ohio Theatre) and Projection Media Creator for Speech and Debate (Roundabout Underground), Assistant Designer for Picasso at the Lapin Agile (Two Rivers Theatre), Spinning into Butter (Montgomery Theatre). He also served as Assistant Props Master for the Discovery Channel's documentary Crime Scene University. Justin recently completed the technical assistant internship at the Metropoloitan Opera and is a graduate of Penn State University in Scenic Design and Technology.

VICTOR CRUZ (Thomas) -Victor attended SUNY Purchase College, where he studied in the Acting Conservatory. The day before graduation from the program, Victor landed his first TV role on HBO's hit show, THE SOPRANOS. From then he went on to do a series of commercials, TV Shows and Films. Some of Victor Cruz's film and TV credits include: The Taking Of Pelham 1:23, Body of Proof, Rescue Me, Inside Man, Law & Order, Ugly Betty, Damages, NIP/TUCK, 30 Rock, FRINGE, and many more. Most recently, Victor could be seen alongside Nicholas Cage in Disney's THE SORCERER'S APPRENTICE. Victor releases his very first live stand-up comedy album VICTOR CRUZ LIVE! in EL BARRIO 2 Disc Set (CD/DVD) on December 15, 2010.

AMINA HENRY (Playwright) - Amina Henry is a playwright/teaching artist/sometime actress who currently lives in Ashland, Oregon. She has a BA in English/Film Studies from Yale University and an MA in Performance Studies from New York University. At the moment she works as a Resident Teaching Artist at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

Bob Jaffe (Richard David) - NY Theater: ... and then you go on. An Anthology of the Works of Samuel Beckett (Off-Broadway and solo@the cell); But for the Grace... (NY Fringe Festival); What the Butler Saw (Secret Theatre); Finishing House (Dixon Place); Major Barbara (La Mama E.T.C.); Statements After an Arrest Under the Immorality Act (NY Fringe Festival). Regional Theater: Bug, Black Maria, Suicide in Bb (Providence Black Repertory); Amadeus (Berkshire Theatre Festival); The Bacchae (Brandeis Theater Company); Ismene (RI Theatre Ensemble). Film & TV: Law & Order: SVU; Showtime?s Brotherhood; Disney?s Underdog; an NBC half-hour television special of But for the Grace...; A Lively Experiment; Mary Mary (award-winning short film); Herbeast Comes to Life (selections of Strasbourg International Film Festival and Romanian International Film Festival). Board Member, Ensemble Studio Theatre; Co-Founder and co-Artistic Director (with Joe Cacaci, Jim Frangione and Matthew Penn) of the Berkshire Playwrights Lab.

ELIZABETH MASON (Lady Anne) - Elizabeth Mason's New York credits include Shelf, Neither Here Nor There. Notable regional credits: Buyers Market (US premiere), La Llorona, Dark Play or Stories for Boys, This is How it Goes, Bash, Henry IV. She holds an MFA from Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University. Elizabeth is a proud member of AEA and SAG.

STACY ROCK (Music) - As a singer/songwriter, Stacy has toured the country several times playing hundreds of shows in support of her debut album, One Way Home. She has been compared to a baffling variety of artists including Tom Waits, Feist, Jeff Buckley, Regina Spektor, Aimee Mann, Stevie Nicks and even Queen. Gabriel Levitt of Brooklyn's Jezebel Music wrote that her live performances are "unequivocally enchanting". She is a two time award winner of the AscapPlus Award for accomplishments as a songwriter and was the resident piano player at NYC's Monkey Bar for two years. Also an actress, Stacy received a BFA in Acting from Boston University and moved on to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London. A few of her acting credits include shows at Barrington Stage Company, North Shore Music Theater, The Voice of America Theater with Bill Pullman and Boston Playwrights Theater. She has starred in several films including the indie hit, "Murder Party", released by Magnolia Pictures.

Kira Simring (Director) - Kira Simring is the Artistic Director of the cell and directed the cell's premier productions of Dinner and Delusion, Blackout and Guilty. She is also the resident director for The Center for Contemporary Opera's Atilier Series @ the cell. Kira has developed and directed many new plays and workshops of plays around and about New York City. She has also directed regionally; Shakespeare with New Village Arts Theatre in San Diego and a collection of works by Handel at the Connecticut Grand Opera. She earned her MFA in Directing at The Actors Studio Drama School of New School University (Schubert Fellow) and her BA in Anthropology at Smith College.

About The Hive Theatre Company
The Hive Theatre Company (Matthew A.J. Gregory, Artistic Director) is an experiment in collaboration dedicated to providing affordable productions of quality and building community. Further, the Hive is committed to producing original works created from the ground up by the full company, reinventing the classics, and fostering the work of new and under-exposed playwrights. To learn more about the Hive, go to: http://www.thehivetheatre.com

 

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