Three Sisters




Written by Anton Chekov
Directed by Maggie Cino
Produced by Obvious Volcano in association with Maggie Cino


Nominations: Outstanding Actress in a Lead Role: Sarah K. Lippmann; Outstanding Actress in a Lead Role: Moira Stone; Outstanding Actress in a Featured Role: Ivanna Cullinan; Outstanding Revival of a Play: Three Sisters



Clockwise from top: David J. Goldberg, Paul Weissman, Clara Francesca, Richard Lovejoy,
David Arthur Bachrach, Mick O'Brien, Ivanna Cullinan, Derrick Peterson, Sarah K. Lippmann
(not pictured: Lynn Berg, Amanda LaPergola-Bernhard)



About the Production: A full length, fully realized, environmentally-staged production of the Three Sisters where the comedy comes from fully investing in the story.

Here the artists talk to us about their experiences performing this challenging classical work.
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What attracted you to this project?

Maggie: I work full time for the marvelous storytelling The Moth, but sometimes I like to go deep into psychologically complex literature. Chekhov himself was one of the inventors of contemporary narrative nonfiction, so the connection is closer than it originally appears!

Moira: The cast Maggie put together was like a murderer's row of indie theater. I had deep, years-long relationships with at least half of them. If we were going to put up one of the great plays in the Western canon in a comically short rehearsal period, then this was the way to do it; with a group that had that history and trust on Day One.

Sarah: It's Chekhov! How could I possibly say no?

Ivanna: The possibility of working with the crazy-talented Maggie Cino and her committed ear for the play's meaning

What was your favorite part of working on this production?

Maggie: Having the opportunity to work with actors whose work I respected at a theater that I love and with a script I have wanted to do for a very long time!

Moira: Working with Sarah Lippmann — a fantastic actress who happens to be my best friend of 18 years. Any chance we get to share the stage is one I treasure. Also, falling in love with Derrick Peterson's Vershinin every night was no chore.

Sarah: Great cast, great script, great director. A total gift from beginning to end.

Ivanna: Engaging with Chekhov in a way that finally opened up his work for me, and all the marvelous actors involved.



Moira Stone (foreground); David Arthur Bachrach, Clara Francesca,
Ivanna Cullinan, Mick O'Brien, Richard Lovejoy (background)

What was the most challenging part of working on this production?

Maggie: It's an epic undertaking. Twelve actors, environmental staging that changed configuration from the round to thrust, and a gorgeous script that is so intricate that as we unpacked layers of meaning it felt like a series of psychological Russian nesting dolls!

Moira: I don't do classic plays! I spent maybe a semester in college 20 years ago studying Chekhov, and aside from some Shakespeare, haven't touched a play written before 1950 since. I was completely convinced I would fuck it up, and relied heavily on Maggie's steady directorial hand.

Sarah: Truncated rehearsal process and a short run.

Ivanna: We had a very tight, albeit well-organized rehearsal time frame. It was terrifying and exciting.

What was the audiences' reaction to the work?

Maggie: The audience was warmly invited in as the show began. They were greeted by the servant characters, ate food off the very table the characters eat dinner at in Act 1. But as things got more unstable and uncomfortable for the Prozerovs, they got more unpredictable for the audience as well! The seating configuration was changed at intermission and the audience was forced into a much smaller space. The audience loses the beautiful, comfortable world the same way the characters lose it and so become more invested in their destinies.

What was the quirkiest part of the production?

Maggie: One of our last rehearsals was during the huge March blizzard - and the actors still found their way to the theater rather than lose the opportunity to work more on this intricate script!

Sarah: Always a joy to know so many people in the show. It's like family.

Ivanna: I now have a standing burger date with a cast mate who is equally committed to deadly food.

What insight did you gain while working on this production? 

Ivanna: Every scene in a Chekhov play is its own short story. Ignore its completeness at your peril.

What was it like working with this group of artists?

Maggie: All three actresses have been doing top notch work in Indie Theater for years, and I'm honored that this is the platform that got them recognition from the IT Awards!

Ivanna: The level of commitment to the best show every time



Ivanna Cullinan (left), Sarah K. Lippmann (right)

Opening Doors

Contributed by Stephanie Willing

As a child I knew I wanted to be an actor, but not in an all-encompassing “This is my dream!” kind of way. I also wanted to be a marine biologist, a writer, an equestrian, a ballerina, and when I was very young, either a unicorn or a dinosaur--whichever happened first.

My early acting career was uneventful but satisfying. When I was handed my first script at Bible camp with highlighted lines, I was ecstatic. Later when I auditioned and won the part of the (I now realize) caricatured Jewish innkeeper’s wife in the Christmas play, I was triumphant. And when I played the Virgin Mary in sixth grade with a pillow tied under my robe with my father’s leather belt, I was happy. I dropped that baby weight with a slip of the belt loops, but I never dropped a line.

And then I stopped acting because I still wanted to be a dancer/writer/martial artist/
equestrian/ecologist. As the eldest of four in a household of specific and limited means, I was told, “Pick one.” I chose dance and stuck with it for the next twelve years, all the way through college, thanks to scholarships. Then, like many artistic and nerdy folks, I went to work for a couple years in a used bookstore, saving money and glorying in the dusty pages of potentiality. One day, while shelving a tray of battered romance novels, I knew in my bones what I had to do. Go to New York and be an actor/dancer/stage combatant!

While still in Texas searching Craigslist for jobs and auditions in NYC (I’d never heard of Actors Access or Backstage), I clicked on a “volunteers needed” ad for something called the IT Awards. I responded, emailed, confirmed. It seemed like a good place to begin my reconnaissance; I figured I could meet people, learn the names of the theater companies, and see what kind of work was being made. I found short-term housing in the Bronx, booked a one-way ticket, and flew to New York City. My first week in town I was an usher at the 2008 New York Innovative Theater Awards.

That was the year that the Vampire Cowboys swept with Fight Girl Battle World. I only saw screenshots of the cast and costumes, but I was in love. I was in awe. I said, “I need to know these people.” Again googling, I found The Saturday Night Saloon and signed up for the Rabid Vamps Fight Studio (the VC’s stage combat and choreography class). Through the Saloon, I met the folks behind Gideon Productions, Nosedive, and The Brick.

My first acting opportunity came through those connections, and I was cast in The Ninja Cherry Orchard with a huge bevy of actors that blew me away. Since then, almost entirely, every part I’ve played or production I’ve choreographed has come through a connection that began in 2008, even down to the man I married.



Stephanie Willing (left) performs with the Vampire Cowboys in the
Opening Number of the 2010 IT Awards

Just like my two years in the bookstore, I had found a group of passionate nerds who always had room for one more, and just like that, Indie Theater became home. I can directly trace my path in NYC theater from that single moment standing at the back of the auditorium at the IT Awards manning the doors. If you were there that night, you probably didn’t see me. You saw your friends, the wonderful people of our community that I had yet to meet. But when I held the door open for you to walk into the auditorium, I was also opening all the doors I’d walk through for the next eight years.
 

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Stephanie Willing is a dancer/actor/choreographer/stage combatant/voiceover artist, so the childhood dream is working out so far, but she’s still working on the marine biologist bit. She received a BA in Dance from Texas Woman’s University and studied Fight Choreography with Qui Nguyen of Vampire Cowboys. She is currently an MFA candidate in Creative Writing for Young People from Lesley University. Upcoming projects include fight directing for Flux Theater Ensemble’s production Rizing, opening May 2016. She will also be performing as Joan of Arc in MTWorks’s production of David Stallings’ Anais Nin Goes to Hell in October 2016.

FutureMate

FutureMate
Created by Gyda Arber, Brian Fountain, David Gochfeld, and Allen Hahn
Produced by The Brick Theater

Nominations: Gyda Arber, Brian Fountain, David Gouchfeld and Allen Hahn are nominated for Outstanding Innovative Design for Phone and Text Design; and FutureMate is nominated for Outstanding Performance Art Production



About this Production
Set in a future devastated by “The Cataclysm,” which makes finding a fertile mate more challenging than ever, FutureMate will help audience members locate that special someone (free of the Nightwalker mutation, of course). Come see all the benefits that await you while doing your part to rebuild our great nation. An immersive experience that combines film, theater, and web-based storytelling, FutureMate is a wickedly funny satire about life, love, and the modern surveillance state that should not be missed!

FutureMate was the winner of StoryHack Beta, StoryCode’s first story-centric hackathon hosted at the Film Society of Lincoln Center. The full experience premiered at The Brick in Williamsburg, Brooklyn in 2013. In addition to the theatrical experience, the FutureMate story world spans multiple platforms that include: futuremate.us (a government-run dating site); a two-minute commercial for the FutureMate system, gn0s1s.net (an anti-government manifesto); a guerilla-style anti-government print campaign; ‘in-world’ Twitter feeds; as well as a phone-based speed-dating experience to pair audience members with one another.

Gyda Arber and Brian Fountain talk about creating this truly innovative and interactive theatrical experience.

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What attracted you to this project?

Gyda: FutureMate was developed as part of the StoryCode/Film Society of Lincoln Center StoryHack in March of 2012. We did a 15-minute version of the piece there, and won(!!) which was very exciting. From there, a few of the members of our team really wanted to continue with the piece, so we expanded it to a full-length work.

Brian: It was a fun way to explore the idea of post-apocalyptic dating.

What was your favorite part of working on this production?

Brian: Watching the audience slowly discover the world of FutureMate through small details like: a restructured government, a new national anthem and the existence of Nightwalkers.

  

What was the most challenging part of working on this production?

Brian: Multi-platform shows with audience participation can be tough for theatre-goers to wrap their head around. We worked hard to acclimate attendees slowly.

What is the craziest part of this production?

Brian: We ask audience members to give us a DNA swab when they arrive. As you can imagine, it's lead to some pretty varied responses.

What did you want the audience to come away with after watching your production?

Gyda: The theme of a surveillance-state runs throughout the piece, from the opening DNA swabs to the recorded calls. Something to be aware of with the NSA and our phone companies tracking everything these days!