Honors Students

Produced by Tavine Productions
Written by Rae Mariah MacCarthy
Directed by Leta Tremblay

Nominations: Outstanding Lighting Design - Cha See; Outstanding Sound Design - Jeanne Travis

About Honors Students
Kora and Minnie are best friends. And honors students. (Duh.) They are as smart as they are mischievous. And yes they are plotting a scheme involving a lot of money and a little blood. But when their volatile relationship is threatened by Minnie's friendship with awkward YouTube sensation Megan, all bets are off. In the tradition of Heathers and The Virgin Suicides, Honors Students asks one question: Who will survive?

Photos by Stephen Shadrach

The nominees and producer Hope Chavez answer questions about their experience of creating this production.

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What first attracted you to Honors Students?

Hope: We were drawn to Mariah's play Honors Students because it puts the ambiguities of female friendships and the extremes of being a teenage woman front and center.

Cha: The idea of being nostalgic going back to my high school days. How it can a tool to mold the shape of your body and mind.

Jeanne: Mariah MacCarthy! I have been a HUGE fan of Mariah 's work for years! She's so cool and her work is so important for women.

What was your favorite part of working on this production?

Hope: This production process was transparent and joyful in so many ways, and we think that is no accident when you put a mostly queer, femme, and POC team together. The team was able to be authentically and safely themselves which made the work shine even more!

Cha: The collaboration with sounds, sets and direction.

Jeanne: The design team was a blast! It was an all-girl-badass line up of amazing designers. It was a dream team and we had a million inside jokes after it was all said and done.

What was the most challenging aspect of this experience for you?

Hope: 100% the fake blood. We had to create danger and chaos onstage that literally made the audience squirm in there seats—on a shoestring budget. Our magical team pulled it together, though! We heard the gasps every night.

Cha: The dimensions of the space. It was very challenging doing the math and dealing with colorful backdrops and are arranged diagonally.

Jeanne: The most challenging part of the show was not wanting to leave tech! The acting was so good. The dance montages were challenging but they were so much fun we could have watched them over and over again. I still re-play the last min. of the show in my mind sometimes and my eyes get teary!

What was the funniest part about this process for you?

Cha: When the collaborators are fun and focused- half of my job is done. Everyone came in the room with openness and smart ideas.

Jeanne: Haha. We had an inside joke from a line in the show. One of the main characters says "you're so basic" a lot. So, we hashtagged #basic to everything. EVERYTHING. Even in conversation. And the whole company ran with it. If someone ate a carrot on break, we would say. OMG, gurl, that's so basic. That carrot is like so basic right now. (We're weird!! haha). :D

What did you want the audience to come away with after watching Honors Students?

Rae Mariah MacCarthy: If you find yourself judging these characters, ask yourself why. Ask yourself what your judgment is protecting you from. What would you have to give up in order not to judge them? What might you learn about yourself by relinquishing that judgment?

Did you gain any insight or learn anything new while working on this production?

Cha: It brought me back to my experiences when I was in high school in the Philippines. It was very different but at the same time it was also very similar. The struggles, the awkwardness... 

Jeanne: I met a lot of really awesome new people that I have huge design crushes on now. We're so lucky to have a community of folks that are so freaking talented.

What was it like working with this company of artists?

Hope: Cha and Jeanne are actually the perfect example of brilliance and flexibility in a production process. There was so much we dreamed for with this play and such a finite amount of resources with which to make it all possible. Jeanne and Cha worked with a spirit of abundance and not scarcity, putting the playwright’s vision front and center, and doing it joyfully along the way. They remained always curious about what was possible and highly collaborative in designing their elements of the work. Without them, the world of this play would not be possible.

Cha: They trust me. They're open for discussions - all agreements and disagreements are healthy because we all have the same end goal- to bring out what it means to be a woman or more like being a teenager in high school.

Jeanne: The producers put their hearts, souls and guts into making this show. There were a lot of risks but no one backed down to the challenges. I owe this IT nom to our fearless director, Leta Tremblay!

What does this nomination mean to you?

Hope: This nomination is a validation that work by, for, and with QPOC communities matters and stands up to the rigor of “mainstream” theater. We believe this production centered equity, justice, and access at every point (did you hear about our land acknowledgment practice and gender pronouns in the programs?) while also bringing rigor and artistry to the production. We thank all the voters for seeing us and supporting this gem of a story.

Cha: I feel that I have won already. Showing my artwork (lighting design) is very vulnerable in my opinion. Showing it is one thing and being recognized is another. It makes me feel like I am seen.

Jeanne: I'm so honored. If it wasn't for the ITs so many artists would feel "without a home". I cannot help but feel incredible appreciation for all involved. It's always a humbling experience. Thank you!

The Head Hunter

Produced by One Shot Deal in association with Scott McCord
Written by Mark Borkowski
Directed by David Zayas Jr.

Nomination: Outstanding Actor in a Featured Role – Scott McCord

Scott McCord and Ali Arkane

About The Head Hunter
Casmir, a screenwriter, has sold the exclusive rights of his screenplay to a sleazy Hollywood producer. He confesses what he has done to his cousin Salvatore, a hit man for the mob. The screenplay, a bio-pic, contains truths about Sal’s father that are more than incriminating. Enraged, Salvatore vows to get the screenplay’s rights back to Casmir even if it means eliminating the producer. The two cousins are forced to deal with issues that tore their family apart and drove them to be who they are: one an artist, the other a ruthless killer.

 
What first attracted you to The Head Hunter?
Scott: The writing by Mark Borkowski, and working with Ali Arkane

What was your favorite part of working on this project?
Scott: The character work. Writing was so rich - Mark is an actor and wrote deeply flawed characters who desperately need each other’s love

What was the most challenging part of the experience for you?
Scott: Two act Two hander - lots of lines

What was it like to work with this company of artists?
Scott: Mark, Ali and myself are about always deepening the work. I think we did that with every performance

Did you gain any insight through your work on this project?

Scott: That it’s about deepening the work every time out there.

What does receiving this nomination mean to you?

Scott: That we did what we needed to do out there. I’m deeply honored and grateful for this recognition of the work.

MEET THE 2019 NOMINEES: Assassins

Produced by The Secret Theatre
Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim 
Book by John Weidman
Director: Lauren Shields
Musical Director: Morgan Morse

Nominations: Outstanding Director – Lauren Shields; Outstanding Actor in a Lead Role – Evan Teich (see post); and Outstanding Production of a Musical

About the Secret Theatre
The Secret Theatre strives to provide New York City and surrounding communities with inexpensive, but high-caliber performances, to expand the horizons of patrons young and old alike who would normally not venture outside of the main borough. As a venue for assorted live entertainment, particularly classical theatre, as well as new works, comedy, and musicals.

Photos by Jakub Djeko

About Assassins
Nine individuals who have attempted a presidential assassination tell their stories in this revue-style musical of humor, drama, history, and fiction. Assassins is an illustration of very different people who have made extreme choices for varied reasons.

What about directing Assassins was most attractive for you?

Lauren: We all have a shadow side of ourselves that lurks deep in our consciousness. The consequences of the impact on us by our culture and our own individual tragedies can make us do reprehensible things in desperation. Some act on it, while others do not. No one person or set of experiences can be seen as black and white. I wanted to show audiences a deeper side of the humans that are seen as villains to so many of us.




What was it like to work with The Secret Theatre?

Lauren: This company dedicated so much of their time and passion into this project. They spent hours researching and working before they stepped into the rehearsal room. It made the rehearsal process powerful, moving and inspiring. I could not have had a better team.

Make sure to check out The Secret Theatre on Twitter - @secrettheatreny

Catch the Sparrow

Produced by Isle of Shoals Productions, Inc.
Written & Directed by Alex Mace

Nominated for: Outstanding Actress in a Featured Role, Meredith M. Sweeney

 About Isleof Shoals

The Isle of Shoals motto is “Theatre for Discovery.” Since its founding, Isle of Shoals has maintained a commitment to developing and producing pieces (from brand new to ancient), which might otherwise never or seldom get to see the light of day in our present theater ecosystem. The works Isle of Shoals gravitates towards are those which celebrate the human spirit and enrich the artistry of early and mid-career theater professionals of every stripe and creed. We pride ourselves on being the inclusive theater company that says “yes” to brilliant new ideas that are elsewhere met with echoing “no”s.

About Catch the Sparrow
A gripping drama about a rebellious son and his dying father trying to reach out to each other before it's too late. In this powerful and resonant new play, written and directed by Alex Mace, a family, torn apart by grief and blame, is forced to settle their differences and learn the true worth of family and, whats more, what it means to forgive and let go.

Photos by @Studio5Q

 Meredith Sweeney and producer Bryan Williams shared some insights into the process of presenting this new script.

What first attracted you to this project?

Meredith: Based on the audition notice, I knew it was an original work that seemed to be a small but mighty character-driven family drama in an intimate setting. And who wouldn't want to do that?

Bryan: The complexity of the family situation is both universal and specific.

What was your favorite part of working on this production?

Meredith: I loved being a part of the first production of an original play. The script shines light on the tough and ugly parts of being a family (of being a human) and I got to work with a company of humans who jumped fully into this challenge with such joy and love. Together, we created something brand new and moving that had never been done before and I will always carry that with me.

Bryan:  Watching the growth of the actors as they took the naturalistic dialogue and elevated it to the realm of poetry. Also when the audience learns at the end of the first act that one of the characters died years ago, I loved listening to them explaining to each other their own interpretations of what it mean.

What was the biggest challenged you faced while working on Catch the Sparrow?

Meredith: I found the most challenging part to be the same as the most exciting part- bringing this character to life for the first time with the writer always in the room. I have a profound respect for writers and felt a great responsibility to honor his story. It's exciting to be able to collaborate with a director/writer who is so giving of his time and open to other perspectives... But it's challenging because there are no rules or guidelines to creating something new and you don't want to get carried away and step on toes, cross a line, or completely miss the mark and disappoint the person who is there with you at rehearsals, trusting you with these words.

Bryan: As in any new production, there are changes to the text and these, particularly if they come late in the game, created challenges for some of the actors.

What did you want the audience to walk away with after watching Catch the Sparrow?

Bryan: How richly complex and happy-sad is the story of any family.

What was it like to work with Meredith?

Bryan: Meredith lit up the stage whenever she came on. She is not just a wondrous actor, but a joy to work with. Though she had fewer scenes than the others, her patience and enthusiasm never failed.

What was it like to work with this company of artists?

Meredith: We became our own little dysfunctional/functional family unit during this process. For example, my birthday fell on one of the tech rehearsals. Earlier that morning, I had totally bombed an audition and had just had kind of a rough day, so I wasn't feeling great when the Stage Manager called the cast to the stage for last minute notes. To my complete surprise, the "notes" turned out to be the cast and crew singing happy birthday to me while the director held a candle-lit birthday pie (who needs cake??) Because of the kindness of that group of people, I was able to reboot, refocus, and feel loved in the process. And that's pretty noteworthy.

What does receiving this nomination mean to you?

Bryan: Giving a young playwright a chance he might otherwise not have had in the immediate future.

Meredith: You know the expression "It's an honor just to be nominated"? Well it is. I mean, I was completely floored. It's very easy to feel disconnected and alone as an artist and actor in this city. For me, receiving this nomination is a reminder that there is a greater and great community out there, that we're all apart of it, that I am a part it. And that is truly an honor.

Check out Isle of Shoals on Instagram @isleofshoalsproductions

Alex & Eugene

Produced by Isle of Shoals Productions, Inc.
Written by Bryan Williams
Directed by Justy Kosek

Nominations: Outstanding Choreography/Movement – Alex Johnson, Outstanding Lighting Design – Asa Lipton, Outstanding Ensemble: Aja Downing, Reggie Herold, Katherine Leidlein, Joseph M. Mace, Rori Nogee, Noah Pyzik, Jae Shin, Anna Stefanic, Brittany Zeinstra

About Isle of Shoals Productions:
The Isle of Shoals motto is “Theatre for Discovery.” Since its founding, Isle of Shoals has maintained a commitment to developing and producing pieces (from brand new to ancient), which might otherwise never or seldom get to see the light of day in our present theater ecosystem. The works Isle of Shoals gravitates towards are those which celebrate the human spirit and enrich the artistry of early and mid-career theater professionals of every stripe and creed. We pride ourselves on being the inclusive theater company that says “yes” to brilliant new ideas that are elsewhere met with echoing “no”s. Isle of Shoals has invested deeply over the years in developing pieces that defy the commercial theatre tropes of “straight plays” and “musicals.” Mindful that the earliest dramas were in fact chanted, and the earliest operas placed more emphasis on words than on music, we strive to find unique and adventurous ways to bring the two together.

About Alex & Eugene:
A world premiere musical suggested by Alexander Pushkin’s "Eugene Onegin," but set in contemporary New York among a group of theatre kids valiantly trying to hang on to friendship, love and idealism while trying to make it in a cutthroat business. A thoroughly modern tale of young artists struggling to find themselves in a world where their bond with each other is often the only refuge from despair


What first attracted you to this project?

Reggie: I had just graduated from college, and it was a piece about a group of overconfident artists graduating college, finding solace and a tribe in one another; there was a message there that I loved.

Katherine: My character. I love getting to play the comic relief.

Joseph: The sides!

Rori: It was a world premiere musical in NYC

Anna: I’d had a great experience working with Isle Of Shoals before, and was excited to work with Justy and Bryan again!

Alex: Isle of Shoals doing a musical!

Asa: The combination of drama and comedy in the writing and the lighting opportunities that go with the high theatricality of the piece.

Bryan: It's a multi-leveled story of love and friendship that is funny and heartfelt, and ultimately tragic.

What was your favorite part of working on Alex & Eugene?

Asa: My favorite part was programming the lights for the various musical numbers. I really loved working out the timing of the cues to work with and support the music.

Bryan: The unbridled enthusiasm and creativity of the entire company.

Reggie: It was my first show in Manhattan, and as an introduction to the city and the acting community - it couldn’t have been a warmer or more welcoming experience. Additionally, the role itself was dialogue heavy, so I had a chance to really play as an actor in addition to doing my musical theater thing.

Katherine: Being able to collaborate on a new piece with so many talented actors was a dream!

Joseph: The ensemble!

Jae: The other castmembers!

Rori: Being surrounded by a company of unique and amazing artists

Anna: The fun, friendly and supportive cast!

Alex: The ensemble for sure. Every ensemble that works well together is so rich and rewarding.

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

Bryan: Because it ends in the suicide of a young man, the temptation was to make that the subject of the play, when in actuality it was about both the power and the limitations of friendship

Katherine: Dealing with such a heavy topic like suicide.

Reggie: The singing! My degree is in acting, and while I did musicals in college, I hadn’t taken voice lessons in years, I started with Matt Farnsworth and Mike Maixner during that rehearsal process.

Joseph: The moving set pieces and keeping the scene changes in order!

Asa: The most challenging part was making a well-rounded product with the time and resources we had for tech. Musicals are difficult to program lights for in general because they are usually more cue-heavy and have lots of tech-heavy moments. Therefore, it was difficult to give each scene and each lighting moment the time it needed to make the show well-rounded and keep it visually interesting throughout.

Rori: Figuring out how to give humanity to an unlikable character

Anna: I’m not the most confident singer and certainly not the most confident dancer, so it was challenging to push my boundaries and try to live up to the musical!

Alex: Choreographing for characters who don’t really dance.

What was the funniest part of your experience working on this production?

Bryan: We had a brilliant set built around a group of seesaws that the cast would often move to change the scene. Sometimes these changes were fairly elaborate and took longer than we would have liked. We encouraged the cast to fill in the silences, and they ran with that so some of the changes became mini-improvisations that were enjoyable scenes in themselves

Reggie: I almost didn’t get the role! I got viciously sick right before the callback, and when I went in I could barely speak. They had to ask the accompanist to play more quietly so they could hear me sing. Luckily, the reads themselves went really well, and they called me in for a special callback on my own once I had healed up a few days later to make sure I could actually sing the part.

Katherine: My role was really a two person role and it would be nothing without Noah!

Rori: We all had a laugh when the announcements told the audience it was a two hour and 45 minute production. Inevitably, someone in the audience would get vocally cranky after hearing that.

Alex: We did an awesome number with sock puppets!

Asa: One of the quirkiest things about the production was that there is a musical number where all the actors are using sock puppets while singing. We had to keep re-teching that scene and re-focusing the lights for it because the puppets weren't landing properly in their lights. In very few other industries are your recurring work problems/aggravations caused by puppets. Also, we had a decent budget for this show (as far as independent theatre goes), but in order to get all the lighting equipment we needed we still had to rent from three different companies, including another independent theatre company (Flux Theatre Ensemble), so that we could get the best prices for all the gear we needed.

Did you gain any insights or learn anything new from your work on this production?

Rori: It was fascinating to watch the writer make edits and cuts during the process. Sometimes you have to "kill your darlings!"

Alex: The importance of intimacy directors, AND the value of a movement director as well as choreographer.

Asa: I learned some new strategies for how to economically place a limited number of lights to effectively cover a large playing space.

Reggie: New York is a lovely place to be an actor! I had heard so much negativity and had so much fear instilled in me by my college professors about what moving to New York would mean, but I’m a year in and I’m still having a great time. It all started with Alex & Eugene!

What did you want the audience to come away with after watching Alex & Eugene?

Bryan: What an inspiring group of struggling young people, I know them (or would like to)

What was it like to work with Isle of Shoals?

Reggie: The friendships that were built was really the best thing about this company! Cliche answer, but truly, the people I met doing this show have become lovely friends, and we still have a little group chat going a year later. Bryan (our writer/composer extraordinaire) gave us so much freedom to improvise and play with the script, and the result was that our characters became so individualized and wedded to who we are as artists.

Katherine: Everyone was just so talented and kind and full of ideas it made the process very special.

Rori: Getting to follow their the careers of the people who worked on the show has been really fun. One girl went straight to her Broadway debut after we closed!

Alex: Very supportive, forward thinkers at this company.

Asa: Their fun, collaborative attitudes and respect for the technical aspects of their productions.

Why are the artists nominated for Alex & Eugene so awesome?

Bryan: The whole project was truly an ensemble effort with everyone supporting and collaborating with each other

What does receiving this nomination mean to you?

Bryan: A validation that all the work and passion we put into the show did manage to reach and was appreciated by the audience

Reggie: So much! I didn’t expect a thing, but it’s lovely for the work we did to be recognized.

Joseph: It is very special that our team was recognized, it was a true ensemble effort.

Alex: That I can hold my own at a big kid job.

Asa: Receiving this nomination is huge for me. I've been hearing about and watching the IT Awards since I first moved to the city about 6 years ago. I've seen people that I looked up to and (eventually) colleagues, get nominated for and win them. Therefore, it's truly thrilling to consider myself of the same caliber of those designers that I looked up to when I first moved here.

Rori: That my hard work isn't falling on deaf ears. Someone is paying attention!

Check out Isle of Shoals on Instagram @isleofshoalsproductions

Whirlwind

Whirlwind
Produced by Jordan's Play Lab in association with Rebecca Crigler & Barn Owl, LLC
Written by Jordan Jaffe
Directed by Dan Amboyer

Nominations: Outstanding Set Design - Gabriel Firestone, Outstanding Innovative Design – Sarah George &  Sonya Plenefisch, and Outstanding Premiere Production of a Play

About Whirlwind
Whirlwind centers around Bethany, a health and safety manager for wind developer Arrow Energy, as she is tasked with distracting and diverting the efforts of Michael, a wildlife advocate, from challenging the expansion of their wind farm—an assignment that becomes all the more complicated when the two become romantically entangled, while Bethany also dodges inappropriate courting from her boss, Cooper. Darkly comedic and unpredictable, Whirlwind explores the precarious intersection of business, science, and sexual politics involved when “going green.”

What first attracted you to the subject matter and this project?

Jordan: I wanted to write a play that would draw people in to see our position in the natural world more clearly. My generation is adamant that it wants to respect and protect the natural world but then people get locked into extreme ideological positions that don't necessarily bring us the results we want. All the characters in the play believe they want the same thing, to mitigate climate change and remove the danger to our ecosystems. But then there is the reality of how our own base natural instincts - we too are just animals in the same eco-system- can make that impossible to do. I wrote a play where humor allows the audience to see ourselves more clearly and without the falsity of our social constructions. This play was inspired by the two strongest, most amazing women in my life: my mother and my sister. Both are leaders in the field of sustainability, and inspire me everyday with their tireless commitment to advocating for sound energy policy.

Sarah: I thought the script was really fun, well-crafted, and was about something seemingly unknown to most people. It seemed like a really fun challenge!

What was your favorite part of working on Whirlwind?

Sarah: I really loved the team! Everyone was a joy to work with and it truly felt like a team effort and I think that came through in the cohesiveness of the show.

Jordan: All of it. As a producer there is no greater joy than watching written words on the page brought to life by a dedicated group of talented artists. As a playwright, it is exciting to see how the work evolves as the creative team comes to absorb the layers of meaning and innovate on how to express it best to the audience.

What was the most challenging aspect of this production?

Sarah: The time (I was also an associate producer on this project), and coming up with a non-messy way to create a bunch of decomposed eagle carcasses.

Jordan: The set and properties in the production were hands down our greatest challenge, which makes our nominations in those particular categories all the more gratifying. From creation to execution everything was difficult about the process. It's a testament to talent, drive, and dedication of my producing team, director, and designers that we overcame every obstacle we were presented with - The challenge, how to give a true experience of the beauty of the natural world inside a small interior theatrical space, seemed overwhelming at first. It is so inspiring to have our vision for the production recognized with this nomination.

Did you gain any insight or learn anything new from your experience of working on Whirlwind?

Sarah: Sonya, who made the dead eagles with me, is amazing at the craft and was instrumental in that process - I learned a ton from her about the magic of liquid latex! I also learned a lot about my limitations as a person and that it's totally okay to ask for help.

Sonya: I learned, or rather realized, how important weight can be with regard to props - which, of course, I knew, but had previously only really given great consideration in importance to in regards to designing & making puppets. (You'd think it'd be obvious, but I think we've all got that built-in human ability to overlook a really simple thing for a long time. Which isn't so bad, because then you get these weirdly exciting and clarifying moments where your brain finally flips the switch)

Was there anything notable or ironic about your experience?

Sonya: The first time I met most of the rest of the team, I was crouched under the low dark ceiling of audience seating bank, hands dripping in red, surrounded by stained and scattered feathers and hastily stuffing newspaper and weights into the bloody dismembered prop bird head (a bird which, I have now found out, people did indeed find realistic). It's not particularly innovative, but it was, I'm sure, both concerning and haunting. Way back in high school, I spent a fair amount of free time browsing through various set designs and set designers, and actually remembered being inspired by a few images of work by a set designer named Gabriel Firestone...who is now currently nominated for scenic design for Whirlwind. Life comes at you fast. I DO regret first realizing why I knew his name, and simultaneously meeting him, while , as previously stated, stuffing the innards into an eagle.

Jordan: The ultimate irony is that in presenting a play about environmental compromises that I made one. In our early design conversations my ambition was to not use wood or lumber in the making of our set as a sort of environmental challenge and sacrifice as birds play a central role in the narrative and deforestation is such a big issue for birds. In the end I caved in, and we built the stunning set that was nominated for these very awards. However, I think that experience of letting go of that idea was so apropos and indicative of the great dilemmas we face as a species in terms of our environmental impact. Where do we dig in and where do we compromise? The answer to this question will define not only the future of humanity but also our natural co-inhabitants of our planet.

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

Jordan: I want the audience to come away with a greater appreciation for the creatures we share this planet with and therefore to feel more engaged to know more about the challenges we face in terms of juggling our energy needs versus our environmental impact.

Why are Gabriel, Sonya, and Sara so awesome?
Jordan: Whirlwind is an amazing play. It's funny, moving, chalked full of bird puns, and speaks to the current moment of environmentalism like no other play dares to do. Gabriel Firestone is that special kind of visionary artist who only grows stronger as the pressure mounts. He came up with the inspired concept of this award-nominated design in a very short time. Two to three weeks later it was up in the theater in all it's majesty in no small part to his two sturdy hands and many a late night at the theater. The final emotional moment and really the entire journey of the play hinges on the reveal of the bird carcasses that Sarah and Sonya created. They tackled this challenge with care, reverence and dedication and in so doing created the lasting button? audiences will never forget.

What does receiving this nomination mean to you?

Jordan: It's a wonderful opportunity to celebrate this play and all our hard work with our friends and my family. It gives me heart that the judges and audiences could share the same passion for the endangered eagles, laugh a little and then be moved to recognize the play and its mission.

Sarah: I haven't been prop designing for long and still have a LOT to learn, so it's nice to be recognized!

Sonya: I moved to NYC less than two years ago without really any contacts, leaving behind all my former classmates and every designer & director I'd worked with over in the UK. As that statement should imply, I'm pretty damn happy about it. A little more than pretty damn happy, maybe.

Check out Whirlwind on both Instagram and Twitter - @whirlwindplay

#yourmemorial

Produced by Pigeonholed  @pigeonholedco
Written by Emily J. Daly
Directed by Emily Lyon

Nomination: Outstanding Original Full-Length Script - Emily J. Daly

About Pigeonholed: Pigeonholed gives theater artists the chance to make the work they want to make, not the work the industry tells them they should be making.

About #yourmemorial: Lottie has always been that all-star student who’s everyone best friend. Fresh out of college, she’s determined to change the world and make a difference. But when she dies at her internship in Afghanistan, the internet threatens to tear her memory apart. As fangirls, rubberneckers, pseudo-friends, trolls and her own social media fuel the digital storm, Lottie's friends will struggle over how and who gets to tell her story, and what her legacy should be. #yourmemorial is a play about what we choose to remember, what we refuse to see, and what it means to be real in the Facebook age.

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What first attracted you to this subject matter?

Emily: #yourmemorial is a play about what we choose to remember, what we refuse to see, and what it means to be real in the Facebook age. Looking back, I think the heart of this story was born during the times of the US invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq following 9/11. I remember thinking very clearly at the time “I’m only fourteen and even I know this is some horrifying bullshit going down.” Ever since then, I’ve been surprised again and again by how little Americans (myself included!) notice or even think about the military actions that America is waging around the world, in the name of our supposed safety. At the same time, I’ve always been fascinated by our relationship to trauma through social media. In my very humble opinion, social media allows us to flirt with the sexiness of political action and others’ trauma - then conveniently dismiss that with a scroll. Again - that’s some horrifying bullshit. They say that for a person with a hammer, everything becomes a nail. Playwriting is the biggest hammer I have. I wanted to tell a story in a super theatrical way that forced us to confront the ways we choose to forget or remember with social media, and the hubris and hope of “making a difference”. You know. Kitchen Sink Drama stuff.

What was your favorite part of working on #yourmemorial?

Emily: Getting to work on any production feels like it’s your birthday every day of rehearsal. Using the rehearsal process to actively workshop the script by trying things out in the room was such a joy, even during those stressful moments that come with any process (hey, joy can be stressful).

Justin Cimino (Producer): Emily Daly's  play is awesome and getting to workshop the play with her over the course of a year was the best part of this experience.

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

Emily: In a very basic sense, #yourmemorial is a digital ghost story - featuring a social media account come to life, speaking through posts, comments and photos. I always knew that our greatest challenge in this production was going to be translating that digital haunting into a theatrical vocabulary. Thankfully, I had a team of incredible collaborators, including director Emily Lyon, costume designer Sera Bourgeau, set/props/projection designer Susannah Hyde, lighting designer Sammy Jelinek, and sound designer Carsen Joenk. We also talked a lot about how this play takes place in 2013, which in social media terms means its a period piece. Remember what the old Facebook interface looked like back then? We do.

What was the coolest part about your experience?

Emily: I sat in the back row of the theater for every show, so I could watch the audience watch the performance. (Yes, Audience. We playwrights are always watching you. We’re creepy like that.) There was one night where I watched a woman in the front row who, to my eyes, spent the whole-time sighing, squirming, and looking around the room. At the end, she spoke intensely with all the audience members around her before leaving. I assumed she had just had the worst night of theater in her life and was telling everyone how much she hated it. I found out later that I had it totally backwards - she had loved it, she had been so excited and provoked by the story, and had just been telling everyone how moved she was. That felt pretty cool.

What is the best thing about working with Pigeonholed?

Emily: Dude, they are so smart. There were so many changes to the script, and I brought in a lot of new pages. By a lot, I mean A LOT. Pigeonholed producer Justin Cimino was always supportive, and the actors John Dewey, Sasha Lazare, Esmeralda Garza and Meredith Starkman were theater warriors 100% ready to play. Also, my director Emily Lyon and stage manager Lindsey Zinbarg deserve gold medals for gently taking the script out of my hands a week before we opened and saying “Sweet Playwright, we love you, but you have to stop writing entirely new scenes, dammit.”

Did you discover anything new while writing #yourmemorial?

Emily: David Van Asselt, the founding Artistic Director of Rattlestick Playwrights, told me way back when I started writing that the best way for playwrights to learn is to see their work fully up on its feet in production. This process showed me just how true that is. By getting to see this story fully realized onstage, I learned so much not just about this play, but about my own artistic process - what it means to rewrite, what it means to collaborate, and what it means to let a story fly on its own.

What does receiving this nomination mean to you?

Emily: So often in the theater, especially as a writer, it feels like you’re throwing stuff into the void. This nomination is a wonderful reminder that I’m writing for real people, who generously listen to the stories I have to tell. Thank you!

Justin Cimino: This will be the first awards recognition our fairly young company has gotten, and for our first time producing an original work. It makes it that much more special that we nursed the piece over the course of the year with Emily.

 Follow Pigeonholed on Twitter: @pigeonholedco

Founder's Award

In honor of it's fifteenth year, the the New York Innovative Theatre Awards presented a very special award, the Founders Award.

This award, which is bestowed in recognition of significant contributions to the Innovative Theatre Foundation, is not given out every year. In fact it has only previously been presented three times.

In the first year of the awards, it was presented to Paul Adams, Artistic Director of Emerging Artists Theatre Company; in the fifth year, it was handed to Akia Squiteri, the Company Manger of the It Awards and Artistic Director of Rising Sun Performance Company; and in the tenth year, it was presented to arts advocate and patron Donn Russell.

This year the award was presented to two people who have been stalwart members of the Indie Theatre community and an important part of the development of the organization: Publicist and Founder of Kampfire PR, Katie Rosin Green and actor and writer, Christopher Borg.

"Both Katie and Christopher have been dedicated members of the Indie Theatre community. For the past 15 years we have been incredibly lucky that they have shared their passion and skills with our organization. We were honored to be able to recognize their contributions to the It Awards and to the community as a whole," stated Nick Micozzi, Co-Executive Director of the New York Innovative Theatre Awards.

Katie has been a wonderful and thoughtful partner and we are so grateful to her for her many contributions to the It Awards. She has worked with a slew of incredible artists and helped promote so many Indie Productions including: IT Award recipient Children of Eden; GLAAD Award Winner, She Like Girls; IT Award recipient Elizabeth Rex; and Drama Desk Nominee, (mis)UNDERSTANDING MAMMY: The Hattie McDaniel Story. She was also instrumental in the launch of the Broadway musical Brooklyn and the National Tour of Mother Load. She was on the publicity team for the comedian, Jerry Seinfeld, and his movie Comedian. Check out her website: www.kampfirefilmspr.com

If you have met Christopher, you will not forget him. He has a huge personality and an even bigger heart. He is a performance artist, writer and director, who has shared his talents with many Indie Theatre companies including: Emerging Artists & TOSOS with whom he received 2 OOBR Awards, and nominations for a GLAAD Media Award and an HX Award for directing the celebrated Bernadette & The Butcher of Broadway. Borg, (as he is affectionately known) was also a member of the NY Neo-Futurists where he co-created the autobiographical (NOT) Just A Day Like Any Other which received the 2009 New York Innovative Theatre Award for Outstanding Ensemble as well as the critically acclaimed experimental docutheatre piece Locker #4173b.

The New York Innovative Theatre Awards has has benefited many times over because of their generous and steadfast contributions. Thank you Katie and Christopher for your years of dedication and all you do to help elevate our community.

And Miss Reardon Drinks A Little

Book by Paul Zindel
Directed by Shay Gines
Produced by Retro Productions

Nominations: Outstanding Revival of a Play, Outstanding Innovative Design: Sara Slagle; Outstanding Actor in a Featured Role: Christopher Borg; Outstanding Set Design: Jack & Rebecca Cunningham

Photos by Kyle Connolly

About the Company
It is the mission of Retro Productions to present works of retro theatre. Retro is defined as "involving, relating to, or reminiscent of things past (American Heritage Dictionary)." At Retro Productions, we will tell good theatrical stories which have an historical perspective — with an emphasis on the 20th century — in order to broaden our own understanding of the world we live in. We believe through stories of human lives and struggles, both dramatic and comedic, we can understand social history and culture and how it affects us today.

About the Production
And Miss Reardon Drinks A Little is a dark comedy of the late 1960s that focuses on the lives of three Reardon sisters whose father abandoned the family long ago and whose mother recently passed away. All grown up and working in the New York City public school system, they have come to a crossroads — the youngest sister, who has already barely survived a scandalous incident at school, has suffered a nervous breakdown. When the married sister comes back to the childhood apartment, the two unmarried sisters now share in an effort to commit her sibling to an institution, pushing built up resentment from the last decade to the forefront. Should Anna be committed? Is it in her best interest or is it just easier for Ceil if she doesn’t have to care for her? Is it selfish of Catherine to want to keep her at home? Who is strongest in this fight of wills — and does Catherine really need another cocktail?

2017 IT Awards nominees Sara Slagle, Christopher Borg, and Jack Cunningham, along with Artistic Director and actress Heather Cunningham discuss the joys and challenges of putting this play on

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What first attracted you to this project?

Sara: I was actually scared of working on this show but thought the challenge would be helpful in advancing my prop skills forward.

 Christopher: I had never heard of the play but when I read it, I was really intrigued by this forgotten gem of a character study. I was also attracted to the role of Bob, which is so far from my normal type: he is a hot tempered, mansplaining "old-school" New York guy who is having trouble keeping up with the changes in 1967.

Jack: Love this play.

Heather: Truthfully I've wanted to do Miss Reardon for over 25 years! I think it's such a wonderfully witty play with incredible and strong roles for women of a certain age — the kind you just don't find that often. It only amazes me that it's not done more often.

What was your favorite part of working on this production?

Sara: Believe it or not, tech was my favorite. Up until that point I just had a (huge) pile of props and glassware and it all came together (and had to be choreographed) on stage during tech — that's where the magic happened.

Christopher: The director and cast were amazing and very supportive. We all learned a lot from each other.

Jack: Back in the early 1970's I designed this show for Ivoryton Playhouse. Doing the set for this production was nostalgic and very fulfilling.

Heather: Shay Gines is an amazing director — I only wish she'd been eligible for award consideration.

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

Sara: The meat. It's a nightmare prop and had to work out a lot of variables such as actor dietary restrictions, cost, being non-perishable due to theater logistics, etc.

Jack: Designing a realistic set; this play demands realism, and it is difficult to do on a very limited budget and working in off-off Broadway venues.

Heather: The most challenging part of any production of MISS REARDON is the props. It stopped me from doing this play sooner, honestly. It has every nightmare prop scenario you can think of: edible food, onstage food preparation, a gun that fires multiple times, props that are thrown, glassware (vintage at that — the play takes place in the late 1960s), and so much more. I knew I couldn't do this production until I had a kick-ass property designer — and I have one in Sara Slagle — and her nomination couldn't make me prouder. The hardest task I gave her was to create a prop that looked like raw ground beef but was not raw and was not beef and was edible — for an actress who had to eat it on stage who does not eat beef — and she did it!

What did you want the audience to walk away with after watching this production?

Heather: A sense of how far we've come and how far we've still got to go (regarding feminism and the women's movement).

What were the funniest moments of your experience of working on this production?

Sara: Again, the meat. I had no idea that a simple prop such as that would have so much effect on the production. After every performance, it seemed that several audience members were enamored by it, and it was strange for me.

Heather: See my story about meat. ;) We had a few performances where our gun prop could not fire for a variety of reasons. First, it was that we ran out of blanks, and the blanks we'd ordered did not arrive in time. Then the ones we received were making awful sparks — long story short we had about three or four performances where we could not have a live gun fire. The cast came together to rally around a foley effect that worked like magic — I even had a friend in the audience one night who said he had no idea that there were no blanks in the gun! This cast was an incredible bonding experience — all so wonderful, thoughtful and professional.

Christopher: This was one of the smallest theatres I've ever worked in. The dressing area was so small that it could not accommodate the whole cast at the same time so we had to be creative about how we used the space in order to prepare.

Did you learn anything new from your experience of working on this production?

Sara: That I will never, ever, not ever...open another can of spam as long as I live.

What was it like working with this group of artists?

Sara: The entire production team and cast members. It was such a joy to work on this show and everyone had a great time doing it. It's those moments that make working on Indie Theatre worth it. We were truly a team, and I feel that the production spoke loudly that we all worked so hard on polishing the details but also having fun with the material.

Christopher: Retro Productions was extremely professional and really showed their love of theatre artists. We felt valued and well taken care of.

Jack: They were all outstanding professionals.

Heather: How much time do you have? Jack and Beckie Cunningham are some of the most talented set designers you will find In Indie Theatre. Their nomination means so much because Jack says he's retiring after Reardon — that this is his last set. Sara Slagle is amazing — see my story above about meat. Christopher Borg is an incredible actor — he was just so perfect as Bob, and it's incredible because he's nothing like Bob in real life — but he just became Bob in a totally seamless way.

You can follow Retro Productions on Twitter: @RetroProdsNYC

The Cabaret At The End Of The World

Written by Melody Bates
Directed by Joan Jubett
Produced by Hard Sparks in association with IRT Theater

Nominations: Outstanding Choreography: Hettie Barnhill; Outstanding Sound Design: John Salutz; Outstanding Original Full Length Script: Melody Bates; Outstanding Original Music: Melody Bates; Outstanding Original Music: Rebecca Hart


About the Production
The Cabaret At The End Of The World leads audiences through Julius Caesar with the vibrant Flora and Fawna as guides, inviting you to the “hottest club in Ancient Rome” for an adaptation full of burlesque numbers, clever satire and themes of modern society. 

In this exclusive interview, 2017 NYIT nominees Hettie Barnhill, Melody Bates and Rebecca Hart share their process creating new and innovative theatre with a reference point we know so well.

l to r: Melody Bates, Samantha Bilinkas. Photo by Jody Christopherson.

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What attracted you to this production?
Hettie: The writer Melody Bates and I met while performing at the Metropolitan Opera, I knew of her previous work and loved it. So when she asked me come on board it was a Yes!

Melody: Meg Taintor, Artistic Director of Opera House Arts at the Stonington Opera House, and I started talking about creating a new work that takes off from Julius Caesar. Ideally it would be something musical, something comedic, and something that illuminated Shakespeare’s play in a new way. Meg was into it, and I asked Rebecca Hart to help me write it. When she said yes I thought, “okay, we’re doing a two-woman cabaret based on Julius Caesar” …which turned out to be way more subversive than I expected, as I’ll get into below. So we’re sisters, Flora and Fawna, and we run the hottest underground club in ancient Rome. It’s the kind of place where everyone is welcome and people from all parts of society can mix and mingle with an expectation of peace. We’re just there to do our big Ides of March show, but the events of Shakespeare's play start happening outside and we have to deal with them. It’s a classic clown set-up: we have a thing we’re trying to do, and other things keep getting in our way. Shakespeare’s play becomes the obstacle to ours, and hilarity and illumination ensue.

Rebecca: I love adaptation; I love telling a well-known story from a fresh angle and I loved the sound of "two women do Julius Caesar". I liked the irreverence and the humor of it. I liked writing songs for Portia and Calpurnia. Also, Melody asked me to work on it.


What was your favorite part of working on this production?
Hettie: Bringing the humor into the movement and working with the team, it was very organic, which made it the entire experience a delight!

Melody: There is a thing that happens in rehearsal when I have written funny scenes, and I am playing one of the characters in the funny scenes, especially when my acting partners are very good. I turn into a giggle monster. It’s ridiculous. But it has the one redeeming factor that it’s also a sign that we’re getting the scene right. So there’s this scene in Cabaret at the End of the World where my sister Fawna is trying to tell a knock-knock joke, and my character Flora doesn’t know how a knock-knock joke works. It’s one of my favorite funny things I’ve ever written. And Sam Bilinkas, who played Fawna, kept making me crack in rehearsal. I just love making people laugh so much! And when I can feel us getting there, I might as well be a three-year-old seeing a pie-in-the-face gag for the first time. It’s sheer delight. I get it together eventually. At least by the time the audience arrives. But the part of the process where the other actors are making the writer in me laugh like a little kid—I’m grateful for their tolerance, and it sure is a good time.

Rebecca: Being a composer/songwriter on a show is a fairly new role for me, and I loved going to see the play and hearing the songs in performance.

l to r: Melody Bates, Samantha Bilinkas. Photo by Jody Christopherson.

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

 

Hettie: Balancing the thin line between "slap-stick" and "silliness". Also making sure that the two main stars were able to confidently deliver their lines while performing my movement.

Melody: In the summer of 2016, not long after the first version of this play was commissioned, J.Stephen Brantley suggested producing it in New York. We were both excited about the prospect. I knew I’d want to do some rewrites, and I knew there was time to do so before the scheduled run in March 2017.

Then the election happened.

After the body-blow of that November day, it took me some time to find my words. The first thing I knew for sure was that the satire in this play about two women dealing with the Roman patriarchy was probably going to take a turn for the darker.

Which it did. And it made the play better. Balancing the bleak reality of inequality with an inextinguishable hope for something better—exercising our ability to find humor in dark times and letting that give us strength to keep going: that feels completely of the moment right now. Negotiating that balance led to discoveries like the standout anthem “Resist,” which was the final song that Rebecca wrote for the show. Satire and ridicule, and the supernova power of art to speak truth to power are essential tools in dark times. So the biggest challenge turned out to be overcoming post-election despair and rage and finding that balance. Even to the point of allowing for hope. Stubborn, stupid, relentless, gossamer hope, knocking from the inside of Pandora’s box to be set free. I feel almost embarrassed to feel the possibility of hope, because what we’re facing is so terrible. But still: get up. Keep going. Resist. Or as a fortune from a fortune cookie that I keep on my dresser says: “Keep charging the enemy as long as there is life.” 

Rebecca: Writing chord charts.


What was your favorite part about working with this group of artists?
Hettie: The shenanigans! No... really the diverseness in talent.

Melody: Hard Sparks is an incredible company. The visionary and brilliant J.Stephen Brantley is a mentor, an inspiration, a gorgeous writer, one of my favorite acting partners, a kick-ass producer, and one of the best human beings I know. Along with Robert Lohman, he runs an independent theatre company that lives up to its mission of championing daring productions of adventurous new plays. They take on the impossible, the improbable, the wild, the jump-off-a-cliff-and-see-if-we-fly stuff. Which is probably why I love them—I’m into that, too. And the company who coalesced around The Cabaret at the End of the World was wonderful. Actors Samantha Bilinkas, Connor Bond, Rachel Murdy (in addition to J.Stephen and myself), our intern Guillermo Sanchez-Vela, our stage manager Darielle Shandler, music director Peter Szep, fight choreographer Dan Renkin, costume designer Liz Kurtzman, our generous and gifted director Joan Jubett, everyone on our production team. And of course the great Rebecca Hart, whom I have known since we spent a magical summer together playing Titania and Hermia in Maine, who is a joy to collaborate with and a musical genius.

Rebecca: How game everyone is to be both totally ridiculous and totally sincere in the same show. Also how much they obviously enjoyed singing the tunes.

l to r: Rachel Mundy, Melody Bates, Samantha Bilinkas, Connor Bond. Photo by Jody Christopherson.

 What did you learn from working on this production?
Hettie: My love for classic texts. 

Melody: The overall ratio of male roles to female roles in classical theatre is 7 to 3. In Julius Caesar, it’s 49 to 2. 

I mean, holy sh*t.

I knew it was bad, but I didn’t realize it was that bad until I sat down with the dramatis personae and counted. On top of that, most of the characters in the play are aristocrats. So it turns out that just telling the story of this story from the perspective of two non-aristocratic women is a revolutionary act. 

The surprises continued thanks to Rachel Murdy’s offer to help with the show, in whatever capacity. I know what’s good for me so I decided to write a role for her. “What if I’m sort of an Anfisa character, like an old discarded servant?” she suggested. I told her I couldn’t be less interested in writing an old discarded woman character. "But," I said, "…what if you’re a goddess in disguise?” Thus was born Feronia, the Sabine goddess “who came with the building,” whose arrival also led to a major discovery about the Sabines and the founding myth of Rome.

Rome was founded through a massive, Boko Haram-style kidnapping and rape. 

I’d certainly seen depictions of the Rape of the Sabine Women in art history. But no one ever taught it to me for what it was: the pre-meditated abduction and rape of hundreds of women, because the Roman generals had established a city of all men, and decided to kidnap and enslave women so they could create future generations of Romans. This is the great Rome, the seat of democracy. Founded on kidnapping and rape. I knew history had a man-washing problem, but researching and developing the play brought it home in a whole new way.

Playwrights make choices about whose stories matter. Our historical accounts, including our literature and art, suffer from man-washing. Check out Livy’s insane account of the rape of the Sabine women if you have any doubts. We’re living in a moment when many male lawmakers seem to have no theory of mind when it comes to women—they fail to empathize with a woman’s experience unless they can imagine it through another man's mind. Hence the “I have a mother/ sister/ wife/ daughter, therefore I don’t want bad things to happen to other men’s mothers/ sisters etc.” nonsense. It’s infuriating. So these discoveries gave us the opportunity to tangle with Roman history in a new way, to give voice to the half of society that has largely been ignored. The Cabaret at the End of the World is subversive because it makes you laugh and takes you on a ride and shows you a good time—and underneath it is a steely demand that you join us in fighting for equality, for love, for a better world.




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