Written and Performed by Colin Summers
Directed by Nessa Norich
Produced by New York Neo-Futurists
Nominated for: Outstanding Solo Performance, Colin Summers; Outstanding Original Full-Length Script, Colin Summers; Outstanding Production of a Musical
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Photo by Hunter Canning
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About the Production
Steve: A Docu-Musical chronicles the true story of Colin Summer’s 8-year online correspondence and artistic collaboration with Steve, a “Gen X” Australian. Together, Steve and Colin have written hundreds of songs. In Colin’s account of their unconventional relationship, Steve’s original songs and emails paint a vivid picture of a fascinating character. A refreshing exploration of the artist within all of us, Steve: A Docu-Musical reveals the potential for human connection sparked by a simple Google search.
Performer and playwright Colin Summer and Producer Yoshi Kuroi briefly give their thoughts on this modern musical.
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What prompted you to write this musical?
Colin: I kept telling my friends this story until I realized I had to make it a real show.
What attracted you to this production?
Yoshi: I love real and human stories about technology making people's lives better and connecting people to one another. Steve: A Docu-Musical is nothing if not a tale of the Internet connecting two unlikely artists who would never have found each other to collaborate without the connectivity of our age and the charismatic creations they made together.
You can follow the New York Neo-Futurists on Twitter @nyneofuturists
Conceived & Directed by Vit Horejs
Produced by GOH Productions
Nominated for: Outstanding Original Music, James Brandon Lewis
About the Production
Dvorak In America depicts Antonin Dvorak's life during his tenure as the first Director of the National Conservatory of Music of America in NYC, and his three-year stay in the US (1892-1895). This musical play uses objects and puppets to depict the characters as we follow Dvorak’s quest to discover the true American sound.
Composer James Brandon Lewis and Executive Director Bonnie Sue Stein talk about creating a biographical play with music based on an historical figure.
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What attracted you to this subject?
James: What attracted me most about Dvorak in America is the courage Antonin Dvorak had in the Late 1800's to make the statement that the source material for American Symphony can be found in the folk melodies of African and Native Americans .
Bonnie: Vit Horejs, Artistic Director of Czechoslovak American Marionette Theatre, has always been intrigued by the years that the renowned composer, Antonin Dvorak spent in the USA from 1893-1895, and the ideas that the composer had about the music of “Negroes” and “Indians”, being quintessentially American. Vit wanted to tell this little known story, of how Dvorak was brought to the USA to serve in the National Conservatory of American Music and was so impressed with spirituals and other types of music that already existed.
Growing up in Detroit in the 1950s, I was exposed to the immense Black-American culture that paved the way for so many new genres of music. I was attracted to this project as much as Vit, and I wanted to do it to learn more about the history and how we could tell this story with a contemporary twist.
What did you want the audience to come away with after watching Dvorak in America?
Bonnie: I want the audience to have questions – to want to know more about Dvorak and his influences and to understand that the train of musical history in the USA was based on many of his ideas in the 19th century. I want the audience to come away with the suspended belief that a violin case can be a character in a play, and to believe in the power of objects as puppets and characters.
I also want audience to question the issues of race and equality as it has developed and not developed through the history of the USA in terms of culture.
What was your favorite part of working on this production?
James: Favorite part of working on the is production was composing for it of course .I enjoyed the process of researching Antonin Dvorak music , and then assimilating my compositions as well as arrangements to the actual production of Dvorak in America . The parring my compositions with script was very insightful and cue based process of which i gained new insight into another world of compositional form .
Bonnie: I love this play and the way the objects and puppets are used to create ambiance and various scenes. The music is a particularly vital part of the show, since the play is based on a famous composer, and we wanted to show both his music and how his music influenced generations to follow. I am fond of the discreet use of the various blatantly racist stereotypes of the time to echo our own 21st Century world. The costumes, scenery, acting, music and the whole gestalt of the play are wonderful…I loved watching the set designer Tom Lee, develop his incredible backdrops with real Dvorak sheet music, and I am very fond of the use of the music instrument cases as part of the scenery.
What was the biggest challenge of working on this production?
James: The most challenging part of working on this production was just being new to working on a theater production , Lots to learn and it was a little overwhelming at first but then i settled in and got to work .
Bonnie: Challenging was the scale of the show. A large theater like the Ellen Stewart at La MaMa needs to be used in a smart way to encompass and transform the space. I have been working on various productions in this theater since the 1980s and am very happy how we were able to transform it for DVORAK IN AMERICA, thanks also to Tom Lee and his smart spatial design, and to the music and puppets.
It was also a challenge to know which part of the history to tell and what to leave out, to be able to really convey the story and the time period in a theatrical play with objects and puppets!
What was the strangest thing that happened during this production?
James: I ended up acting a small role, completely not what I thought I would be doing. Of course but very rewarding, and insightful .
What is it like working with GOH Productions?
James: It's truly a family. Very helpful and encouraging you to push yourself and ask of yourself the things that may expose what you may not feel confident doing at first but then you discover another layer and drive that helps shape new insight and gives you courage to push and touch the intimate place to then give all of who you are to the piece and to your fellow cast members. Truly a family.
What was it like working with James?
Bonnie: James Brandon Lewis is one of the most awesome composers and sax players that I have ever met in my life – and I have worked with countless famous and not so famous musicians. James is the real deal. He is dedicated, disciplined and destined for greatness. This was his first theatrical endeavor and I am certain he has the skill and insight to work on more plays and visual presentations, as well as music-only performances.
The ensemble of this show was stellar to work with, and I am thrilled that we were able to create such a gorgeous, meaningful show together. Vit Horejs is a visionary director, puppeteer, story-teller and playwright.
Written by David Carl & William Shakespeare
Directed by Michole Biancosino
Produced by Project Y Theatre, PM2 Entertainment and Richard Jordan Productions
Nominated for: Outstanding Solo Performance, David Carl
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Photo by Jeanette Sears
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About the Production
Having triumphed in Celebrity Big Brother, survived Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew, taken on Meatloaf and Donald Trump, Keanu Reeves’ favorite costar now undertakes his biggest challenge yet: performing all the parts in Hamlet with outrageous songs and homemade puppets. Carl channels the ultimate Hamlet-ized Busey .
Writer and performer David Carl and director Michole Biancosino talk about creating this offbeat and hilarious one-man show.
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What attracted you to this project?
David: I have been a fan of Gary Busey since I was 10 and Hamlet since I was 15. I started making solo shows 5 years ago and 3 years I got this idea and I knew that I had to do it because it made me laugh every time I thought about it.
Michole: David Carl's Celebrity One Man Hamlet was a crazy idea that came from David Carl's infatuation with Hamlet and a certain off-kilter celebrity. The show is born out of an obsession with Shakespeare and the way celebrities will often be cast in the leading role of a show to sell tickets, so it becomes "their" version of whatever play. The project started as a one-time showing at SOLOCOM (at the PIT) created by two old friends - Michole Biancosino and David Carl - and then grew from NY Fringe to Edinburgh Fringe to a current run at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre. It has taken on a life of its own.
What was your favorite part of working on this production?
David: Working with my director Michole Biancosino is a true joy. She is passionate, hilarious, brilliant and one of my best friends. I also loved building all the puppets, and really getting to play Gary Busey is one of the great joys of my life. I play him with pure, aggressive positivity and that is extremely fun.
Michole: It is an insanely funny show. We love doing it for people. We love doing it for ourselves. It is actually a remarkably accurate reading of Hamlet and yet it is a Hamlet turned on its head. We love that people have an unforgettable night at the theatre.
What was the biggest challenge of working on this production?
David: We've done over 45 our shows at festivals or comedy theaters where you have to get on and off stage in 15 minutes due to a high volume of programing. The few times that we got to set up and take down without rushing were pure bliss.
Michole: It was hard to stop laughing. It was also hard to cut the show down. We have about 30 more minutes of material that we don't use.
What is the oddest aspect of this production?
David: Everything about playing Gary Busey doing Hamlet by himself is odd. My personal favorite is when school groups come who have recently read Hamlet. They laugh harder than anyone and there's no sound in the world like the cathartic laughter of someone who was recently forced to read Hamlet.
Michole: Yes! It is still happening. Still running. Still going. Hopefully it will have a long life.
What was it like working with Project Y Theatre
David: Michole Biancosino is a powerhouse. I compare everything else that I do to my experiences working with her.
What is it like working with David Carl?
Michole: David Carl rocks. He just does. He is an insane performer. He does an improvised talkback at the end of each show with audience. He is so talented and slays every show. He also made all his own puppets for this show.
You can follow these artists on Twitter
Project Y Theatre - @ProjectYTheatre
David Carl - @dcorreycarl
Written by Ayun Halliday
Directed by Jean-Michele Gregory
Produced by Gemini CollisionWorks
Nominated for: Outstanding Original Short Script, Ayun Halliday
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Photo by Schecter Lee
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About the Production
“An agrarian, post-digital settlement of middle-aged women and teenage boys fixate on the fruits of their garden and unexpected encounters with wildlife as catastrophes both natural and manmade lay waste to the surrounding communities. The script is entirely composed of social media posts and comments re-contextualized into a meditation on calamity and grief, as poetic as it is funny and weird.
Farming. Fawns. Food. Doom. Like. Like. Heart emoticon. Like.”
Playwright Ayun Halliday and Gemini CollisionWorks Artistic Director, Ian W. Hill talk about this intriguing work that provides a new perspective to our usage of social media.
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What attracted you this idea?
Ayun: Some friends and I - including Fawnbook cast members Nick Balaban and Marjorie Duffield - were getting together weekly to fool around with improv. One day, we agreed to bring interesting social media posts to our next rehearsal, just to see where they would lead. One guy brought in something about a woman finding a newborn fawn in her suburban backyard. The outpouring of over-the-top love and support she received in response was really quite astonishing, especially when tempered with the occasional sour comment on order of “Good work, now that you’ve touched it, the mother will reject it.” When we put it on its feet, we started gravitating to this weird, agrarian settlement in which everyone was constantly working, hoeing and washing clothes by hand in a river - a Little House on the Prairie type of situation that predated social media. I was smitten. Eventually, I gained their permission to develop it into a script, prowling around Facebook for the dialogue, and transferring the time period to a dystopian near future.
Ian: I have had a long-time admiration for Ayun Halliday and her work. I really wanted to produce -- for the first time -- something through Gemini CollisionWorks that was not actually created by the company itself. I also thought the piece would bring teenage actors and audience to The Brick.
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Photo by Schecter Lee
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What was your favorite part of working on this production?
Ayun: Hearing the platitudes and self-aggrandizement of social media spoken aloud with ritual seriousness by members of our strange little post-digital, pre-apocalyptic community. It was also very gratifying to hear the audience's horrified response to certain highly recognizable tropes... like when the community dismissed an earthquake survivor whose entire world has just been destroyed with a cheerful, "Hugs!"
Ian: Having a group of newcomers work with our company and with The Brick, especially a group including teenagers -- who brought plenty of their friends in to see the show.
What was the biggest challenge of working on this production?
Ayun: Schlepping rakes, buckets, a record player and a giant cart of shredded brown fabric dirt back and forth to our various donated and low cost rehearsal spaces...on the subway. The lion's share of our prop budget went toward the purchase of cucumbers and carrots ... which I, author, performer, publicist and prop mistress was always forgetting to replenish, though I did become quite friendly with the guy who operated the vegetable cart outside my local Trader Joe's.
Ian: Balancing it in repertory with the in-house CollisionWorks play, which was something we're not used to, as we usually take over The Brick ourselves entirely for the weeks of our season every year.
What was the oddest part of the production for you?
Ayun: There were a number of things that really made this experience unique. We hosted a Fawnbook sketch night, where audience members were invited to live-draw the performance. One of those sketches has a place of honor in my living room.
The role of the little fawngirl who appears for 45 seconds at the end of the play was shared by five young actresses - just like Matilda! (There were at least three who would've happily performed every single night, but we mixed it up to make things a little easier on their parent chaperones.
My father died right before we opened - the flurry of emotional support on my Facebook wall softened my opinion of social media condolences somewhat.
Many audience members reported that Fawnbook changed the way they communicate on social media...a couple of them went so far as to pull the plug on their Facebook accounts for good!
Ian: The huge amount of people it brought to The Brick who had never been there before, for a great deal of a near sell-out run.
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Photo by Schecter Lee
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What was it like working with this company?
Ayun: The mix of generations - three middle-aged women and three teenage boys working as equals was very inspiring. Each group inspired the other to a high degree of accountability. There was no slagging, no moping around at rehearsals.
We also had the world's most energetic and cheerful stage manager in Thomas Pflanz. He'd greet you with a hug and then dash out in the rain to pick up whatever vegetable prop we'd forgotten to replenish for that evening's performance.
What did you want the audience to come away with after watching Fawnbook?
Ian: A sense of beauty and fragility and community. With some bittersweet laughs.
What was it like working with Ayun Halliday?
Ian: Ayun Halliday is an amazing writer/performer who has been away from the stage for too long as she's focused on her zine, book, and online writing (and raising her kids). She was an outstanding and founding member of the Neo-Futurists (originally in Chicago, then NYC)
You can follow these artists on Twitter
Gemini CollisionWorks - @Geminicollision
Ayun Hallidy - @AyunHalliday
Written by Mark O'Neil
Produced by MORA Theater
Nominated for: Outstanding Solo Performance, Laura Hooper
About the Production
Crumble is a dark, funny and emotionally powerful one-woman play, hosted by ‘Sylvie Cranshaw’, a baking-obsessed housewife with an unravelling private life. Set in a real kitchen, this is an innovative, interactive, site-specific play.
‘Sylvie Cranshaw’, is a quintessential northern English housewife with a passion for cooking up sauce in the kitchen, fresh meat and spicy innuendo. A woman trying to escape her monotonous existence, she mistakes fantasy for reality and loses herself somewhere in the middle. Hidden between the lines of her scrawled recipe notes and the pages of her romantic fiction collection lies a dangerous truth.
Performer, Laura Hooper talks to us about this site-specific work with a dark twist.
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What attracted you to this material?
Laura: It was organic. Mark O'Neil (the writer) and I coincidentally both relocated to NYC from London in the UK in 2011. We met up and naturally started talking about Crumble's quirky character Sylvie Cranshaw whom we developed in 2005, over a couple of drinks, naturally...! We wondered what New Yorker's would think of this character and our play, would they get it? Would they care? I have specialized in site-specific theatre for some time and thought it would be interesting to put this show in real life kitchens in real life NYC homes to deepen the audiences’ relationship with the Sylvie. It took off from there.
What did you want the audience to come away with after watching Crumble?
Laura: I want the audience to be aware of the magic and power of site-specific theatre and to go away wanting to see more...
I also want to raise awareness of women's issues. Often after the play, I am left sharing wine with audience members and discussing these issues. I hope that some of them may go away and continue these conversations. There are a lot of problems that need to be addressed in society right now, let's get them out in the open.
What was your favorite part of working on this production?
Laura: Being constantly blown away by the generosity of the hosts who open up their homes and hearts to Crumble. These people are true supporters of the arts and we are honored to have been able to collaborate with them.
What was the biggest challenge of working on this production?
Laura: It is knackering to perform! I start off improvising the first half of the show so I have to be at the top of my game, whilst also hosting the audience and ensuring they are well looked after. I then go on a huge emotional journey and am left a bit of a wreck by the end of the piece. After all that, like all good hosts, I am left to clean up the kitchen!
What is the most unique aspect of Crumble?
Laura: Where to start?! I am going into people's homes all over the world...I have had a host in the Financial District offering to buy slippers for all the audience members because she wanted them to remove their shoes. I have had 20 Irish audience members dancing around their handbags, whilst singing "Private Dancer" at the top of their lungs. I have been upstaged by my own Father at a performance in Far Rockaway by coming up with a better joke than I could. The list goes on...
You can follow MORA Theatre on Twitter - @moratheater
Written by Frederick Knotts
Adapted by Jeffrey Hatcher
Directed by Kirk Gostowski and John Arthur Long
Produced by Variations Theatre Group
Nominated for: Outstanding Lighting Design, Aaron Gonzalez; Outstanding Set Design, Aaron Gonzalez; Outstanding Actress in a Lead Role, Christina Elise Perry; Outstanding Director, Kirk Gostowski and John Arthur Long; Outstanding Revival of a Play
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Photo by Matt Wells
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About the Production
In 1944 Greenwich Village, Susan Hendrix, a blind, yet capable woman, is imperiled by a trio of men in her own apartment, tormentors who will stop at nothing to get what they want. As the climax builds, Susan discovers that her blindness just might be the key to her escape, but she and her tormenters must wait until dark to play out this classic thriller’s shattering conclusion.
Kirk Gostowski, John Arthur Long, Christina Elise Perry, and Aaron Gonzalez talk about the joys and thrilling challenges of working on this intense and engrossing play as part of their 2015 season.
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What attracted you to this project?
Kirk: I saw the production that ran on Broadway with Marisa Tomei and Quentin Tarantino years ago and I was so in awe of how effective the show is in front of an audience. It's magnificent how visceral the reactions are from the audience and particularly the climax of the piece.
John: The thing that attracted me to working in this show was having the opportunity to direct the classic thriller Wait Until Dark in a newly revised version that was set in the 1940s.
Christina: What attracted me to the show was first the character's (Susan's) inner strength and her ability to turn her loss of sight; a debilitating and humiliating character flaw as she saw it, into the very element that saved her life. This production had so many moving parts between the special effects, fight choreography, and 1940's time period that the environment itself was a character in the play, and very exciting to work with. Wait Until Dark was the most production and costume-heavy show I have had the opportunity to be a part of and each of those combined elements made it a complete blast to step into each night.
What was your favorite part of working on this production?
Kirk: There are too many things to list here but I loved the team we put together and how exciting it was to work with the new adaptation. When I chose this show, I had been focusing on the original text but when I finally read the new adaptation I knew it was the way we had to go. Moving the play into the 1940s was so brilliant on Jeffrey Hatcher's part, and I think it added to the depth of the piece. There are a lot of moving parts to this show, and when they all came together, it felt like magic.
John: My favorite part of working on this production was staging the play in such an intimate setting of the Chain Theatre's 65-seat black box venue. I've directed the play before in large theatrical houses, but this small venue placed the audience directly within the setting and made them a part of the terror that the blind heroine Suzy was experiencing. In addition, when the stage became totally dark, the audience could hear every step and whisper, gasping as the chills mounted. It was great showbiz fun for all.
Christina: Collaborating with the cast and Co-Directors John Long and Kirk Gostkowski was my favorite part of the production. Their passion and enthusiasm for the story and creating something truly special made each rehearsal a great ride. I trusted every person involved in this production to the fullest. My castmates Paul [Terkel], Patrick [Pizzolorusso], David [Rey], Kirk, and Schuyler [Press] are all immensely talented, humble, and hilarious people to be around, and an experience I'll never forget.
Aaron: Creative problem solving. Little to no budget, and we needed to create a 1940s basement apartment.
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Photo by Matt Wells
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What was the most challenging part of working on this production?
Kirk: I think the set was the most challenging part of the show. Working within a limited budget and time to make a realistic 1940s apartment in the village with rain outside the window and period everything across the board. I started calling it the play about the refrigerator after a while. Everything had to be great, and I didn't want to settle. Aaron Gonzalez's work cannot underestimated here. I love working with him. It was so beautiful and everything I hoped for.
John: One of the greatest challenges of working on this production was creating a totally believable set and atmosphere. We wanted the audience to believe they were actually sitting right behind the invisible wall of a 1940s Greenwich Village apartment and the set designer and tech crew did a fantastic job of creating the perfect setting from the tiniest details like the period labels on soup cans and a working 1940s refrigerator to sound cues of '40s radio music that came through a period radio. And, most importantly, the rain that continued outside to splatter and patter against the apartment window for most of the play, with a stage crew member dousing the cast members with water before they came on stage. It was a great professional effort that created the perfect realistic atmosphere for noir suspense.
Christina: The biggest challenge was the set construction and special effects. A fun challenge really when you never know which way the blood is going to fly that night!
Aaron: Building an off-stage elevated hallway for the actors to enter into the basement apt. in a single-level black box theatre.
What would you say was innovative or quirky about this production?
Kirk: This is the first time I have ever done double-duty on stage as a Director and Actor in the production. I knew I couldn't do it alone and John Arthur Long was the perfect collaborator to co-direct. During a performance of the play, my co-star and long-time girlfriend Christina Perry's family flew out from Arizona to see the show. I proposed to her that night during the curtain call with both of our families there and a regular audience. This production was extremely bittersweet as it was the last mainstage production at the Chain Theatre. Our landlord sold the building for development and ended our lease early. We are continuing to look for a new permanent home for our company. The amount of people screaming through the end of the show is unlike anything I've ever experienced. People were genuinely afraid. I wanted to place the audience inside the apartment so when they get the feeling of being locked in at the end of the play in the dark with a psychopath, people went wild!
John: The most noteworthy aspect of the production would have to be the fact that the audience was right there experiencing every sound from the raining pattering against the window to the humming sound of the refrigerator and the striking of a match and sound of the gas can as the liquid was thrown around the apartment. In the dark, all these aspects became truly terrifying. There was even a great innovative moment in rehearsal: when Mike entered the locked apartment, shattering the door, a jagged piece of the door frame broke off and he picked it up, holding it like a weapon. This worked so well, we rigged it into the door frame so he could use it every performance. A terrific example of a professional actor grabbing a theatrical inspiration during rehearsal.
Christina: Funny? Instead of a blood pack oozing on my intended cast mate, it launched about 6 feet and exploded all over me and the set! It made for a fun reaction to explore since I was blind, couldn't see what was happening, and had to "discover" what was covering my face. Curtain call that night looked extra gruesome! Success.
Aaron: I was able to make it rain down the window, a smoking ashtray, and a trick knife jut out of the wall, and a practical rotary phone ring on a table in the middle of the stage.
What was it like working with Variations Theatre Group?
Kirk: Being the founder and Artistic Director of this company it might be a little biased but I have to say we've found an amazing group of hard-working talented people. We produce consistent visceral work and don't settle. What started as a production company has become a family, particularly over the last few years that we had our own space.
John: The best thing about working with this company would have to be The Chain's total dedication to absolute topnotch professional theater. Every member of the cast, from Christina Perry's outstanding performance of the blind Suzy to the villains, husband and the terrific child actress playing Gloria were dedicated to perfection. Added to this were a stage manager, tech, and stage crew that are a director's dream of theatrical excellence. I feel honored to have been a part, along with Kirk Gostkowski, of such a high quality theatrical experience.
Christina: Everyone's passion for the show and the "in it to win it" quality each person brought every matinee and evening performance.
Aaron: They do not let lack of funding hinder their ambition, and neither do I.
What else would like people to know about this production for you?
Christina: This year of nominations is especially meaningful. Unfortunately, we were forced to move out of our space in February because the owner of the building ended our lease early to sell the space to be demolished and replaced with luxury condos. Thank you for your recognition and sharing your love, of our love, of entertaining audiences in Queens!
