DREAM UP FESTIVAL

THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY'S SECOND DREAM UP FESTIVAL
AUGUST 14 TO SEPTEMBER 4, 2011

CONTENTS
"A." written and directed by Ayman Elmasry and Daniel Joseph Wolfe.
"Ain't Nobody - A Civil Rights Musical," written and directed by Ardencie Hall-Karambé, choreographed by Chadwick T. Adams
"Anna Nicole: Blonde Glory," written by Grace Cavalieri, directed by Shela Xoregos.
"Breathless," written by Stacy Osei-Kuffour, directed by Stacy Osei-Kuffour and Michael Sutherland.
"Blood/Nectar/Glitter," conceived and choreographed by Suzana Stankovic
"Buried Alive! A Matchbox Theatre," by Deborah Kaufmann
"Close to the Bone," written by Guillermo Yuscarán, adapted by Mario Quesada, directed by Felix Ivanov.
"Dogmouth," written by John Steppling, directed by Stephan Morrow.
"Home," conceived and directed by Garrett Blair and Rachel Karp, created by The Ensemble, produced by Sara Bashor.
"I Don't Have a Title Yet!" by Regina Nejman.
"I wonder if it's possible to have a love affair that lasts forever? (or) things I found on Craigslist," written by Christopher Oscar Peña, with music and lyrics by Jake Rabinbach, directed by Mike Donahue.
"Just Sex," written by Brandt Johnson, directed by Alex Kilgore.
"La Mano: Tales of the End of the World," written and directed by Aravind Enrique Adyanthaya.
"Love Masters," created by Erick Paiva-Nouchi, produced by ASOBI Creative Visions.
"Luminescent Blues," written by Leon Pease, directed by Sarah Semlear.
"M. - Solo for Three Minds (Dialogues with Marcel Proust)," devised and performed by Miloš Sofrenović, text re-translated and spoken by Sheila Sofrenović.
"Nine/Twelve Tapes," with the script arranged by Leegrid Stevens from post-9/11 interviews, directed by Ryan Pointer.
"Nuclear Love Affair," created by Sanaz Ghajarrahimi and Ben Hobbs, directed by Sanaz Ghajarrahimi.
"own, Owned," choreographed by Jesse Phillips-Fein.
"The Choice," written by Riccardo Costa, directed by André Hereford.
"The Fourth State of Matter," written by Joseph Vitale, directed by Robert Angelini.
"The Invisible Draft," written and directed by Claire Moodey, animations and set design by Lotte Marie Allen and Claire Moodey.

"A." (New York premiere) by Ayman Elmasry and Daniel Joseph Wolfe
Cabaret Theater
Saturday, August 20 at 7:00PM; Sunday, August 21 at 2:00PM; Wednesday, August 24at 7:00PM; Thursday, August 25 at 7:00PM; Friday, August 26 at 7:00PM
Running Time: 45 minutes | Tickets: $12

Two students set out to stretch a canvas one lazy Saturday morning. The scene takes place in a campus art studio at 10:00 AM. The students share a class (World Novel after 1830) with Dr. Edmund Bengel, Jr., Associate Professor of English. As they attempt--and fail--to make a coherent whole of the canvas, the two students entertain themselves by recounting the events of the night before--that is, they talk about girls and the various obstacles they face in attaining their desired end. It remains unclear whether their desired end is a loving relationship built upon mutual respect, or undergraduate sex. The students also make misguided impersonations of their instructor, whose impressions intensify as they and the canvas unravel. This collaborative play is about the struggle of creation in the face of the countless theories, discourses, and rambles that comfort the confused in the confrontation of this Google-age.

Ayman Elmasry was born in Tokyo, Japan on 25 November, 1986. Before settling in Fairfax, Virginia, he spent a good deal of his childhood in Fayoum, Egypt. Elmasry enjoys marathon running, oil painting, and playing piano. He currently resides in Charlottesville, Virginia, where he is a Ph.D. candidate in English and Comparative Literature at the University of Virginia. He is also completing his first major work of fiction called "The Whiteness of the Wal-Mart," a seven-hundred-plus page romance with introductions into Arab-American society.
Daniel Joseph Wolfe grew up in West Baltimore with his three brothers, mother and father. He met Elmasry in college and their collaboration continues post graduation. He now lives in East Baltimore where he paints large format doodles, writes poetry, and is applying for graduate school.

"Ain't Nobody - A Civil Rights Musical" (New York premiere) Written and directed by Ardencie Hall-Karambé, choreography by Chadwick T. Adams
Johnson Theater
Saturday, August 27 at 2:00PM; Sunday, August 28 at 2:00PM; Monday, August 29 at 7:00PM; Tuesday, August 30 at 7:00PM; Wednesday, August 31 at 7:00PM.
Running Time: 90 minutes | Tickets: $15

"Ain't Nobody…" examines the Civil Rights Movement by dramatizing some of the major events in that turbulent time in American history. The musical allows audiences to hear and see the people and moments that shaped the subsequent generation, changing the direction of American society and politics. This movement ushered in the ideas of diversity and a more balanced society. Beginning with time of Jim Crow legislation to the formation of the Black Panthers, "Ain't Nobody…" highlights how the Civil Rights Movement was a people's movement and served to benefit not only African Americans, but more importantly, all American citizens.

Ardencie Hall-Karambé was born in Texas and is a benefactor of the Civil Rights Movement. She trained as an actress at Texas State University earning a B.F.A. in Theatre. After graduation, she returned to the Houston area where she performed at The Ensemble Theatre, Stage Repertory Theatre, and Clear Lake Repertory Theatre. Ardencie directed plays while at university but truly found her passion as the director of Spirit Production, Inc. Later invited back to Texas State to choreograph a production, she stayed to receive a Master's degree in Directing with an emphasis in Music. After receiving her degree, she headed to New York City where she worked in theatre. She has theatrical credits from Theatre for the New City, The Public Theatre, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Theatre of the Riverside Church, and P.S. 122. Ardencie later entered New York University's Tisch School of the Arts where she received a Ph. D. in Performance Studies. She currently teaches theatre at Community College of Philadelphia and is the Artistic Director and Founder of Kaleidoscope Cultural Arts Collective.

"Anna Nicole: Blonde Glory" (world premiere) written by Grace Cavalieri, directed by Shela Xoregos.
Cino Theater
Sunday, August 21 at 7:00PM; Wednesday, August 24 at 7:00PM; Friday, August 26 at 9:00PM; Saturday, August 27 at 2:00PM; Sunday, August 28 at 7:00PM.
Running Time: 70 minutes | Tickets: $15

This witty, imagined year in the life of Anna Nicole Smith began as a sheaf of published poems by Grace Cavalieri, playwright and award-winning poet. Ms. Cavalieri's creation of a quintet of characters in Anna's life is a richly invented panorama. Performer Mary Riley channels Smith's charisma, innocence and battered resolutions into a dynamic whole. A cheer-leading production number highlights Anna's quest for fame. There is a supporting cast of five. Lighting is by Don Cate. Costumes are by Rayneese Primrose. Score is by Jon Tomlinson.

Grace Cavalieri has 24 full-length and short-form plays that have been produced on American stages. Her book, "Anna Nicole: Poems" (Case Menendez, 2008), won the national Paterson Award for Literary Excellence in 2009. The characters in that book inspired this play. She founded and still produces "The Poet and the Poem" for public radio, now from the Library of Congress, now celebrating its 34^th year on the air. Cavalieri holds numerous poetry awards: the Allan Ginsberg Award for Poetry, the Pen-Fiction Award for story, the Bordighera Poetry Award and The Columbia Award and the Corporation for Broadcasting Silver Medal, among others. She has a 25-year association with the Xoregos Performing Company.

Shela Xoregos has directed many new plays as well as plays by Shakespeare, Euripides, Wilde, Lillian Hellman, George Kelly, others. She is Producing Artistic Director of Xoregos Performing Company, which commissions works of theater, dance and music. The company presented an outdoor production of "Medea" last summer; this year, Sophocles' "Antigone" will be performed in four boroughs during July and early August. She began as a dancer and has choreographed for the Oakland Ballet, Seattle Chamber Dance, MAD for Dance and others.

"Blood/Nectar/Glitter," conceived and choreographed by Suzana Stankovic.
Cino Theater:
Thursday, August 25 at 9:00 PM, Saturday, August 27 at 7:00 PM, Tuesday, August 30 at 9:00 PM.
Cabaret Theater:
Monday, August 29 at 7:00 PM, Thursday, September 1 at 7:00 PM
Running Time: 60 minutes. | Tickets $15

"Blood/Nectar/Glitter" is a new work by Suzana Stankovic, a New York-based choreographer who grew up in Astoria, the daugher of Serbian-born parents. A work of ballet and physical theater, it is danced to sensual poetry by Stankovic plus works by Emily Dickinson and Anne Sexton. It features Stankovic, one dancer and two actors in a compilation of interwoven emotional episodes, the first half being narrative; the second half being surreal. Soundscape by Andy Altman mixes live and recorded poetry with contemporary and classical music. Lighting design is by Joshua H. Chen; costume design is by Stankovic and the cast.

Suzana Stankovic is an entrepeneurial interdisciplinary artist and founder/director of her own nonprofit dance-theater company. She has appeared at The Joyce Theater, The Flea Theater, Kupferberg Center for the Performing Arts, City Center Studios, Theater of the Riverside Church, Florence Gould Hall, Hudson Guild Theater, Harry Du Jour Playhouse, Richmond Shepard Theater, Dance New Amsterdam Theater, P.S. 122 and Here Arts Center.

"Breathless" (world premiere) written by Stacy Osei-Kuffour, co-directed by Michael Sutherland and Stacy Osei-Kuffour.
Johnson Theater
Thursday, September 1 at 9:00PM; Friday, September 2 at 7:00PM; Saturday, September 3 at 7:00PM; Sunday, September 4 at 5:00PM and 7:00PM.
Running Time: 60 minutes | Tickets $12

"Breathless" is a story of two people from opposite spectra colliding on a train one late night in Chicago, Illinois. A young woman from the suburbs and a wannabe thug from the inner city engage in a unique conversation that forces them to discover they are more similar than they thought. Both people are trapped in a world they do not want to live in, a world in which both people are dying to breathe.

Stacy Osei-Kuffour has had readings, workshops, and productions of her plays all over New York City. Readings include: "Breathless" (produced by TMTC) and "Red Red" (produced by On the Square Productions) at New World Stages. Workshops include: "Breathless," which she co-directed and starred in (Downtown Urban Theater Festival) and "In the Evening," in which she co-directed and starred (Stella Adler Studio of Acting). Productions include: "The Painter," which was a finalist for Best Play of 2010 in the Strawberry Festival of One-Acts (American Theatre of Actors) and the Samuel French Off-Off Broadway Festival (Lion Theater). She received her BFA at NYU Tisch School of the Arts/Stella Adler Studio.

Michael Sutherland directed "The Painter" in the Strawberry Festival, where it was a finalist for Best Play 2010, and at the Samuel French OOB Festival 2011. He co-directed and starred in "Breathless" (Theater for the New City) and "In the Evening" (Stella Adler Studio) both plays by Stacy Osei-Kuffour. Upcoming stage credits include acting in "Killing John Grisham" at Fringe NYC. Sutherland received his BFA NYU Tisch School of the Arts/Stella Adler Studio. www.michaeldsutherland.com

"Buried Alive! A Matchbox Theatre" (world premiere) by Deborah Kaufmann.
Rehearsal Room
Friday, August 19 at 8:00PM; Saturday, August 20 at 7:00PM; Sunday, August 21 at 7:00PM; Friday, August 26 at 8:00PM; Saturday, August 27 at 7:00PM; Sunday, August 28 at 7:00PM; Friday, September 2 at 8:00PM; Saturday, September 3 at 7:00PM.
Running Time: 40 minutes | Tickets $15

"Buried Alive! A Matchbox Theatre," is a frightfully funny exploration of our fear of being buried alive, of dreadful discoveries and of the curious phenomenon of 19th-century "waiting mortuaries." Based on historical and medical facts, this play is tiny, intimate and interactive. Buried Alive is for an adult audience and due to the intimate scale of the show, seating is limited for this intriguing, hysterical and very macabre experience.

Deborah Kaufmann has performed her original solo work in festivals and theaters in Europe, Australia, Canada and throughout the US. This year she celebrates 25 years with Big Apple Circus Clown Care®, professional hospital clowning program. She performs as "Dr. Dibble" and oversees the artistic growth of more than 80 BAC-CC clowns. She teaches Pochinko-inspired mask-to-clown, physical comedy and eloquence, and specializes in authentic audience connection. She coaches and directs performers who create their own material. She directed four acts in the 2010 NY Clown Theatre Festival. Nytheatre.com called her, "a performer to be trusted, enjoyed, and seen!" www.tooshorttofallover.com

"Close to the Bone" (world premiere) written by Guillermo Yuscarán, adapted by Mario Quesada, directed by Felix Ivanov.
Cino Theater
Tuesday, August 16 at 7:00PM; Saturday, August 20 at 5:00PM; Tuesday, August 23 at 7:00PM; Tuesday, August 30 at 7:00PM; Wednesday, August 31 at 9:00PM.
Running Time: 75 minutes | Tickets $15

A story of adventure and hope, "Close to the Bone" is a fictional adaptation of the novel "Blue Pariah" and other works by Guillermo Yuscarán. Told by its characters, this solo show, acted by Mario Quesada explores the mysteries of life, death, and miracle from the streets of California to the mountains of Honduras.

A puppy is bought from a Brooklyn ex-boxer in Southern California in 1969. The puppy, Brown, grows up to compete in boxing matches with other dogs for rule of the sidewalks in Isla Vista. Brown becomes revered as a champion by his fellow dogs in their society, a fearless rebel who defines his own path. But by the late 1970s, the world around his human family has been changed by the Vietnam War, social unrest, and suburban apathy. Seeking a more meaningful and simpler way of life, Brown's human master, Bill, embarks with his young son and dog on a one year trip to live in Honduras. Living in its mountains and villages and making new friends along the way, they begin to discover their unique place in the world and explore "the universe of the impossible dream on foot."

Guillermo Yuscarán (William Lewis) is both a writer and primitivist painter. He has lived in Honduras periodically for more than three decades and currently resides in Santa Lucia, a small village outside of the capital city of Tegucigalpa. A former Fulbright scholar, he holds a PhD in Hispanic Studies from the University of California at Santa Barbara. His work has appeared in major publications in the US, Canada, Latin America and Europe. Exhibitions of his paintings have been held in Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador and Belize, as well as the US. He has authored numerous books, including "Gringos In Honduras," "Velasquez: The Man And His Art," "Points Of Light," and "Blue Pariah."

Mario Quesada is an actor and writer based in NYC. His work includes lead and character roles in "Three Sisters" (Classic Stage Company); "The Cherry Orchard" (Classic Stage Company); "Zastrozzi" (dir. Felix Ivanov) and "The Three Penny Opera" (Columbia Stages). He wrote and performed his first solo piece, "Ya Get The Picture," for the Howl Arts Festival at the Connelly Center. The piece was based on his time working with a street ministry/homeless group. Quesada has also performed with groups such as Columbia Stages, the MFA Directors of Columbia, and The Nature Theater of Oklahoma. He holds a BA in English and Drama from Catholic University in Washington, DC. He worked for four years with the group of Russian and Georgian artists in Washington DC formerly known as the Stanislavsky Theatre. With them, he played roles in the Helen Hayes Award-winning productions of Dostoevsky's "The Idiot" and "Goethe's Faust: Parts 1 & 2," and toured with "Chicha The Fox."

Felix Ivanov is an internationally acclaimed fight choreographer, teacher and director. He is a member of The Wooster Group, The Acting Company, The Russian Guild for Movement and Stage Combat Teachers. Felix trained under the original students of Stanislavsky and Vakhtangov. He holds an MFA in Acting from the Vakhtangov Theater School, and a BFA from the Stasov Music School, both in Moscow, Russia. He is well versed in the art of Musical Clownery, Physical Comedy, Stage Combat, Movement and Character Dance. Ivanov has over 30 years experience in the martial arts, participating annually in both national and international competitions, and holds the master's level in the Chinese Martial Arts of Kuoshu, and the black belt/Shodan rank in Judo. Ivanov has been on the full-time faculty of Syracuse University's Drama Department since 2008. He has served on the full-time faculties of: The Juilliard School (1996 to 2008); North Carolina School of the Arts (1991 to 1996); The Conservatory of the Moscow Art Theatre (1985 to 1991); among others. His stage movement and fight choreography: The Shakespeare Theater (Washington, DC); The Guthrie Theater (Minneapolis, MN); The Shakespeare Theater Festival (Cleveland, OH); New York: The Acting Company; The Lincoln Center Theater; The Metropolitan Opera; The New York Theater Workshop; The Wooster Group; The Pearl Theater; The Cherry Lane Theater; The SoHo Repertory Theater; SoHo Playhouse; among others.

"Dogmouth" (world premiere of a new version) written by John Steppling, directed by Stephan Morrow.
Johnson Theater
Sunday, August 21 at 2:00PM; Wednesday, August 24 at 9:00PM; Saturday, August 27 at 5:00PM; Sunday, August 28 at 5:00PM; Wednesday, August 31 at 9:00PM; Thursday, September 1 at 7:00PM.
Running Time: 100 minutes | Tickets $12

Does an underground mafia of Vietnam vets really exist hoboing around on the rails? Is it as large and powerful as it is portrayed by journalists, or is it a media creation drawing the heat for every murder on the rails from Arizona to California? And has the leader of this group become a changed man, dedicating himself to his nineteen year old pregnant girlfriend? Or is he an unrepentant racist criminal bent on plotting to murder a rival over a deal that went sour. When he visits a black man - is it to buy a dog or to kill him? John Steppling's play “Dogmouth” gives the spectator a good look at people on the edge. The fact that he also deftly manages to place ruminations on death and dying, the brutality of existence and the survival of the fittest on the streets of Phoenix, not to mention the breeding of dogs - in the middle of it - is what makes this play dark and riveting, taking us far beyond just dog fighting and mysterious murders on the rails.

John Steppling was first championed by Robert Egan at The Mark Taper Forum with his play "The Shaper" and the Taper consequently produce Steppling's "The Thrill" in one of its new-works festivals. His characters were from, and remain in, the margins of society. Steppling's other plays include "Teenage Wedding," "The Dream Coast" and "Neck." He also adapted Elmore Leonard's "52 Pickup" for director John Frankenheimer. Steppling mentored Jon Robin Baitz at the beginning of his playwriting career. Steppling has just completed an 11-year stint in Poland (where he taught screenwriting at the Polish National Film School) and created his own adaptation of "King Lear," which he describes as a "sliced-back" and "fairly traditional" version (with Goneril and Regan spoken in Norwegian and the other roles in either Polish or English. ) He wrote a modern day adaptation of "Faust" that was presented at Los Angeles Theater Center in 1998. Steppling is currently Artistic Director of the Gunfighter Nation theater company and had a new play, "Phantom Luck," produced last fall in Los Angeles.

Stephan Morrow directed "Trio" by Mario Fratti at Theater for the New City in 2010 and a sequel, "Quartet," also at Theater for the New City in 2011. That production came fast on the heels of his production of "Triangle - The Shirtwaist Triangle Factory Fire" by Jack Gilhooley at 59E59St Theaters. In March 2007, he acted in and directed a staged reading of "The Deer Park or Hollywood Goes to Hell" by Norman Mailer, which Mr. Mailer attended. On the basis of that work, Mailer invited Morrow to co-direct and perform in a film of "The Deer Park." Mr. Mailer passed away before the film could be realized. Morrow's collaboration with Norman Mailer began with his performance as Rod, a stuntman, in "Strawhead - A memory play of Marilyn" at The Actor's Studio. Morrow can be seen in Mailer's cult classic, "Tough Guys Don't Dance," playing the character Stoodie. As Artistic Director and founder of The Great American Play Series, he has resurrected neglected American classics in 'performances on book' with Rebecca DeMornay and Mark Rydell, Barry Primus, Lyle Kessler and Sally Kirkland, Barry Primus, Lyle Kessler, Paul Mazursky, Judith Light, Betsy Von Furstenberg, Peter Riegert and Rosie Perez. Arthur Miller gave his approval for Stephen to work on "Incident at Vichy" in a three-year mission to get it to a major venue. Morrow staged four 'performances on book' with casts that included F. Murray Abraham, Richard Dreyfuss, Fritz Weaver, Peter Weller and Fisher Stevens among others. Recently he put together and hosted a playwrights' symposium, "Are small theaters from Off to Off Off Broadway Becoming an Endangered Species in N.Y.?," at 45 Bleecker which included Israel Horovitz, Murray Schisgal, Stephen Adly Guirgis, Mario Fratti, Diane De Mateo, Richard Vetere and Quincy Long. That symposium turned out to be all too prophetic when 45 Bleecker St. Theater shut down less than four months later.

"Home" (world premiere) conceived and directed by Garrett Blair and Rachel Karp, created by the Ensemble, produced by Sara Bashor.
Cabaret Theater
Friday, August 19 at 9:00PM; Saturday, August 20 at 5:00PM; Friday, August 26 at 9:00PM; Saturday, August 27 at 7:00PM; Sunday, August 28 at 5:00PM.
Running Time: 45-60 minutes | Tickets: $15

What causes people to exist outside the status quo? What happens to make their daily routines a series of unconventional, outrageous behaviors? "Home" explores remarkable eccentrics from early 20th-century New York. The audience is immersed in the lives of a myriad of eclectic characters who struggle to survive in ways many of us will never experience. While enveloped in their worlds, we discover a select few who live even further beyond the realm of normal. We witness the search for the same connections we all strive to obtain, in places we have all been or passed by, we cannot ignore how-- across time and class-- we might all be intricately connected simply because we share the City of New York.

Garrett Blair is a recent graduate of Columbia University where he studied directing, focusing on the process of creating ensemble based devised work. His devised thesis piece, "Catacombs & Hurricannoes¸" led to a new form of movement based ensemble communication. He is a freelance teaching artist, teaching theatre and creating original work with students across the city from pre-school to high school. He was the resident director for six seasons at the Lexington Youth Summer Theater in Boston, MA. He recently assisted Mikhael Tara Garver, working on such projects as "Choice" (Culture Project's Women in Directing Festival), "Renovations" (White Plains Performing Arts Center), and "Fornicated from the Beatles "(world premiere at the A.R.T.'s Emerging America Festival, New York premiere at Glasslands Gallery).

Rachel Karp is a New York-based director committed to the collaborative creation of new work. She has developed new work at Columbia University, from which she received her B.A. magna cum laude in Drama and Theatre Arts, and at Powerhouse Theater Festival, where she served as a Directing Apprentice. She has assisted the creation of new works by experimental theater artists Young Jean Lee ("Untitled Feminist Multimedia Technology Show," "We're Gonna Die"), Aaron Landsman and Mallory Catlett ("City Council Meeting," HERE), and Kristi Spessard ("Essentials of Flor," Mabou Mines), among others. Upcoming projects include directing "Band Practice" through Incubator Arts Projects' Short Form Series and assistant directing Pearl Damour's "How to Build a Forest." www.rachelkarp.com

"I Don't Have a Title Yet!" (world premiere) by Regina Nejman. (DANCE)
Johnson Theater
Sunday, August 14 at 5:00PM; Tuesday, August 16 at 7:00PM; Thursday, August 18 at 7:00PM; Saturday, August 20 at 2:00PM; Sunday, August 21 at 5:00PM.
Running Time: 45-60 minutes | Tickets: $15

Not having a title and a concept is the guiding force of this piece, where stream of consciousness evokes unexpected desires and motivation. The work is derived and driven by its four inhabitants and follows a kinetic logic supported by eclectic compositions including Bach, Brazilian pop and Mio Morales' deconstructed sounds as well as text created in collaboration with the dancers. The overall effect is a reflection on the collapse of systems and relationships through the exploration of uncertainty, waiting, mischief and creation. By mixing the various influences that inspire her choreography, Regina Nejman has created a fresh work which stimulates audiences to think, feel and to question these turbulent times.

The New York Times (Jennifer Dunning) called Regina Nejman "a modern-dance choreographer with a piquant imagination and visual sense to match." She grew up in Rio de Janeiro and is based in New York, where she has been creating her own choreography since 1993 and founded her own company in 1997. Her company has toured in Brazil twice and she has been presented at Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, Joyce SoHo, Symphony Space, New York International Fringe Festival (where she was awarded the 2005 outstanding choreography award), DNA, DTW's Fresh Tracks, Merce Cunningham Studio, and more. She has received support from The Greenwall Foundation, Puffin Foundation, LMCC/ MCAF; Meet the Composer, MFTA; space grants from 92nd St Y, Queens Museum of Art, Abrons Arts Center, and Joyce Theater Residency. Nejman has received commissions from Princeton University, The Yard, NJCU and most recently received a Mondo Cane Commisssion from Dixon Place, where she premiered "Annette." Nejman received her BA from SUNY/ Empire State College in 1998. She was as a teaching artist for HAI and was a guest artist at Princeton University, Wesleyan University, and was an adjunct teacher at NJCU. She taught master classes at NYU Common Hour Class, Harvard Summer Dance, and LaGuardia Performing Arts High School. As a dancer, she has worked with Donald Byrd/ The Group, Ze' eva Cohen, Sean Curran, Des Moines Ballet and Bat-Dor Dance Company, among others. http://reginanejmancompany.blogspot.com/

"I Wonder if it's Possible to Have a Love Affair that Lasts Forever? (or) Things I Found on Craigslist" (world premiere) written by Christopher Oscar Peña, with music and lyrics by Jake Rabinbach, directed by Mike Donahue.
Cino Theater
Sunday, August 28 at 2:00PM; Thursday, September 1 at 9:00PM; Friday, September 2 at 9:00PM; Saturday, September 3 at 7:00PM; Sunday, September 4 at 2:00PM.

Duendes, Facebook, Narcissus and illicit sexual encounters collide as a group of high school friends now in their late 20s wake up to the fact that they still may have fucked it all up. Cruel, funny, sexy and magical, this play explodes the idea that with or without technology, we may all be a lot more connected than we'd like to think -- and that it might take more than just revisiting the past to discover the future that is now.

Christopher Oscar Peña is a playwright from California currently living in Harlem. His work has been developed or seen at the Public Theater, NYU Graduate Acting, INTAR, the UCSB Summer Theatre Lab, Theatre C, The Studio/ New York, the Ontological Hysteric Incubator, Rising Circle, The Flea Theater and the New York Theatre Workshop. Current projects include the musical "(E)vaporate: A Screwed-Up Reinvention of Orpheus & Eurydice" in the form of a made-up love song with composer Parker Ferguson. With director Chay Yew, Christopher is working on developing his plays "Maelstrom" and "Icarus Burns." Peña is reimagining Calderon's “Life is a Dream” with composer/musician Kevin Joaquin García (who records and tours with Wheatus, Duncan Sheik, Gato Loco and others). With Vayu O'Donnell, he is the creator of "80/20," a new series for the Web launching this fall, in which he will also be co-starring. His play "One of Us," was awarded a 2005 Corwin Award and his play, "5-Letter Word (or How Orpheus Became Learned)," was nominated for a Corwin Award the following year. He has been a visiting fellow at the O'Neill Playwrights Conference. Most recently, his play "Maelstrom" was awarded the 2009 Latino Playwrights Award from the Kennedy Center (ACTF) in Washington, D.C. A member of INTAR's Hispanic Playwrights Lab, he is also an associate artist with Diverse City Theater Company, Theatre C, literary manager of Monarch Theater company, and a 2008-2009 Emerging Artist fellow at the New York Theatre Workshop. In 2010, Peña was in residence with the Ontological Hysteric Incubator developing "l(y)re" in Ontological's Short Form series. He is currently working on commissions from The Studio/ New York, Theatre C, Diverse City Theater and Old Vic New Voices. He received his BA in Dramatic Arts from UC Santa Barbara, where he studied with Naomi Iizuka. He holds an MFA in Dramatic Writing from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts.

"Just Sex" (world premiere) written by Brandt Johnson, directed by Alex Kilgore.
Johnson Theater
Sunday, August 14 at 2:00PM; Monday, August 15 at 9:00PM; Wednesday, August 17 at 7:00PM; Saturday, August 20 at 7:00PM; Monday, August 22 at 7:00PM.
Running Time: 90 minutes | Tickets: $15

Katherine and William are in lust -- with other people. But they are also married -- to each other. Can they follow their erotic impulses without violating their vows? In the online era, does betrayal begin with mere pixels on a screen, or only once flesh touches flesh? Instead of suppressing their desires, or acting on them surreptitiously, Katherine and William make the perilous decision to open their marriage. Sex with others is okay, they agree, as long as it is just sex. But as they grapple with how to keep love intact amid extracurricular escapades, they confront frequent and often comical reminders that "just sex" can be hard to find. What starts as a simple exercise in physical release becomes a complex challenge to the couple's notions of normalcy, love, and marital fidelity.

"Just Sex" is Brandt Johnson's second play to be produced. He performed his first play, a solo show called "Give and Go: Learning from Losing to the Harlem Globetrotters," at FringeNYC 2007 and again at the Metropolitan Playhouse in 2010. He began his career as an investment banker, then played professional basketball in Europe and also played on tour against the Harlem Globetrotters. Johnson now writes and acts and has appeared in numerous New York City productions, including Blue Light Theater Company's "The Pitchfork Disney" (Off-Broadway); Walt Disney's workshop of "Hoopz," directed by Savion Glover and Kenny Leon; and the workshop of "Joe Fearless" with Matthew Broderick and Rosie Perez. Johnson is a Williams College graduate and has an MBA from New York University. www.brandtjohnson.com

Alex Kilgore, as Founding Artistic Director of he stageFARM, an Off-Broadway company, conceived, commissioned and directed both 2008's SPIN series (Gina Gionfriddo, Elizabeth Meriwether, Adam Rapp, Mark Schultz, and Judith Thompson) and 2007's VENGEANCE series (Neena Beber, Ron Fitzgerald, Gina Gionfriddo, Julian Sheppard, and Francine Volpe). He also directed the world premiere of David Folwell's "Drug Buddy for the stageFARM at Cherry Lane and produced Off-Broadway premieres of Elizabeth Meriwether's "Oliver Parker!," Mark Schultz's "The Gingerbread House," and Gina Gionfriddo's "U.S. Drag." Off-Broadway acting credits include the US premieres of David Folwell's "Boise," Philip Ridley's "The Pitchfork Disney" (Blue Light Theater Co.), "Refuge" by Jessica Goldberg, and "Lost Highway" (as Hank Williams). Film credits include "Fever" (1999 Directors' Fortnight Cannes), "If I Didn't Care," "High Maintenance," "Cowboy Jesus"…etc. TV credits include "Wonder Showzen," "The City," and "Swift Justice." In 2009, Alex was hired to adapt the classic B noir film "House on Telegraph Hill" for Bill Bannerman (Twilight: Eclipse) to direct. This script, "Unveiled," is in preproduction, and his original screenplay "Texasstyle" starring Henry Thomas, Bill Sage, Didi O'Connell, and Luke Wilson is set up for him to direct with Sweet 180/Lillian LaSalle producing. Kilgore is the President of The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and plays in the band CLAW.

"La Mano: Tales of the End of the World" (New York Premiere) written and directed by Aravind Enrique Adyanthaya.
Cino Theater
Wednesday, August 31 at 7:00PM; Thursday, September 1 at 7:00PM; Friday, September 2 at 7:00PM; Saturday, September 3 at 2:00PM; Sunday, September 4 at 7:00PM.
Running time: 70 minutes | Tickets $15

"La Mano: Tales of the End of the World" theatricalizes three short narratives dealing with apocalypse, chaos, Babel, violence and beauty. Set in a Caribbean island, the stories bridge what we consider true life and hallucination. Based on a new published narrative anthology by Aravind Enrique Adyanthaya, "La Mano" centers on three stories of quotidian horror. In "Julia and the Jogger of Cemeteries," an eight-year old girl who fervently believes in the end of the world is confronted by a jogger who runs through cemeteries thinking that the tombstones are as infinite as the world itself. In "Slaughterhouse," the encounter of a mature man with a much younger man who affirms that they had studied together in grade-school serves as a starting point of an exploration of memory and exquisite violence as they walk through phantasmagorical towns on the island. Finally, "Readings from the Apocalypse" meta-theatrically presents a stage director who feels the century has not yet ended and tries to use matter (animate and inanimate) to achieve a staging of the point after the end.

Aravind Enrique Adyanthaya is the founder of Casa Cruz de la Luna, an experimental theatre company based in an old house in the historical district of San Germán, Puerto Rico. In the U.S., his work has been presented and developed by Intermedia Arts, Red Eye Collaboration, Pregones Theatre, Teatro del Pueblo, the Weisman Art Museum, the Guthrie Theatre,the Children's Theatre Company of Minnesota, the Public Theatre, the Lincoln Center's Directors' Lab, HERE Center for the Arts, NoPassport Collective and the Solo Nova Arts Festival at P.S.122. Internationally, his productions have traveled to Cuba, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, England and the Netherlands. His theories and practices of "escritura acto" have suggested a way of conceiving the stage as a ground of multiple lines of communication and miscommunication in which the live production and reception of mediated written and spoken words converge. "La Mano," a musical theatre/performance piece, premiered in Puerto Rico in 2010. Adyanthaya's other plays include "Hagiografías (Hagiographies)," "Las Facultades (The Faculties)," winner of the 2007 International Playwriting Award from Casa del Teatro, Dominican Republic and the 2008 Asunción Prize from Pregones Theatre; "Quisimos Tanto a Lydia," featured at the 2008 Latin American Theatre Today Congress; "Prometheus Bound," shown as a special presentation at the American Society for Theatre Research 2009 Conference; and "The Marquis de Sade is Afraid of the Sea," an "escritura acto" ensemble piece which toured the island's universities in 2009. Aravind has been awarded a Jerome Playwriting Fellowship and a McKnight Advancement Grant, both from the Playwrights' Center, and a Jerome Performance Art Fellowship by Intermedia Arts. He is currently an Artist of Color Directing Fellow at New York Theatre Workshop. He holds a Ph.D. in theatre historiography from the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis and an M.D. from Mayo Medical School.

"Love Masters" (world premiere) created by Erick Paiva-Nouchi
Cabaret Theater
Sunday, August 14 at 7:00PM; Wednesday, August 17 at 9:00PM; Thursday, August 18 at 9:00PM; Tuesday, August 23 at 9:00PM; Wednesday, August 24 at 9:00PM; Thursday, August 25 at 9:00PM; Monday, August 29 at 9:00PM; Tuesday, August 30 at 9:00; Wednesday, August 31 at 9:00PM.
Running Time: 70 minutes | Tickets: $12

"Love Masters" is a multimedia performance art play centered around a seventy minute tantric massage session with the Love Masters, the tantric massage master and his tantric massage slave. During the 70-minute session, the audience will have the unique opportunity to presence a spiritual, yet highly sensual and at times erotic connection between master and slave, in a piece that aims to urge the audience to focus on the present moment. Music, visual images and narrative mixed with free-style poetry will serve as the "brain" of the piece. These elements will bring forth the worries, anxieties, thoughts, fears and memories (good and bad) that invade the minds of the master and slave as they surrender to each other during the session, revealing the "soul" of each character. These revelations, conceptualized around each one of the seven chakras in our body, are all true events, the real stories behind the master and slave. This way, the master and slave share their own humanity with the audience in a naked, honest and humble way, while they journey together in search of divine light. The movement of the master as he "dances" through the massage, and of the videographer who will be capturing the massage session sending live video feed onto the screen(s) onstage; plus the natural physical interaction between slave and master, will add to the dynamics of movement and intimacy of the play.

Born in Cusco and raised in Lima, Peru, Erick Paiva-Nouchi has spent half his life between two continents, the Americas and Asia. As a third-generation Japanese-Peruvian, Paiva-Nouchi at the age of seventeen, joined the thousands of Japanese-Peruvians (including his parents and sister) who left Peru in the early 1990s to work in factories across Japan. In 2006, he decided to move to New York City to pursue a career in the performing arts. At Kingsborough Community College in Brooklyn, Paiva-Nouchi discovered his creative path as an experimental dancer and performance artist and adopted a new name, Rico Noguchi, as his professional name as a choreographer (retaining Erick Paiva-Nouchi as his performing name while working in other companies). At the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) he found his third eye: video; medium which he extended to his performances but which also sparked an interest in documentary filmmaking, interest that would grow after being accepted to the School of General Studies at Columbia University. Armed with these new talents, he returned to Japan briefly to stay with his parents and document what life is as an immigrant blue-collar worker in Japan. From this footage, "Mirror of Stone," his first short film, was born. "Mirror of Stone" has been shown at the Globians Film Festival in Germany and obtained an honorary award by the Asian American Research Institute in New York. Paiva-Nouchi then went on to create "Latinos" in Japan, a short film featured on the BBC as part of the BBC's My World competition. As Rico Noguchi, in 2008 he was invited Nicky Paraiso, curator of The Club at La MaMa E.T.C., to perform there. In 2009, he returned to La MaMa as part of La MaMa Moves! Dance Festival, which in turn led him to John McCormack of INTAR Theater, where he developed a full length piece titled "Butoh Rocks!" Paiva-Nouchi joined the dance group The Daisy Spurs after being approached by Bill Coleman, owner of record label and management agency Peace Bisquit. He stayed in The Daisy Spurs until April, 2011. His current piece, "Love Masters," is the first production of his own company ASOBI NY.

"Luminescent Blues" (world premiere) by Leon Pease, directed by Sarah Semlear.
Johnson Theater
Thursday, August 25 at 9:00PM; Saturday, August 27 at 7:00PM; Sunday, August 28 at 7:00PM; Monday, August 29 at 9:00PM; Tuesday, August 30 at 9:00PM; Friday, September 2 at 9:00PM; Saturday, September 3 at 2:00PM; Sunday, September 4 at 2:00PM.
Running time: 90 minutes | Tickets: $12

"Luminescent Blues" is a fun tragicomedy about the internet generation. Set in three neighboring Manhattan apartments, its many characters include a woman who writes homoerotic Harry Potter fan fiction, a young man who creates stop motion Star Wars action figure porn and a drummer who's character in World of Warcraft is about to get married. Incorporating video, live music, and computer projections throughout the piece, "Luminescent Blues" explores our ever-changing relationship with the internet and each other. There's even a big musical number at the end!

Beside being a playwright, Leon Pease is also founder and artistic director of Theatre in a VAN! His writing credits with Theatre in a VAN! include "The Big Spill: A 10-Minute Musical about the BP Oil Spill," "Gilgord," "King of the Moontopians," "The Subatomic Solution: A 10-Minute Musical Solution to the Conflict in the Middle East" and a new adaption of Bertolt Brecht's "The Elephant Calf." He recently premiered and starred in his own ten-minute adaptation of "The Tempest" for a projected called Shakespeare in the Shower. Pease has also co-written for projects with the Glass Bandits Theatre Company, which include "In Memoriam: A Recession Play in 13 Acts," "Hecuba the Bitch of Cynossema" and "The Best Laid Plans of Seamen." He is currently helping to produce and write music for Theatre in a VAN!'s new projects "Mrs.Perfect" and "The Visit of Unexpected Evil!" written by Crystal Skillman, which will premier at The Brick Theatre's Comic Book Festival in June. Pease holds a BFA in Theatre Arts and Film from the conservatory at SUNY Purchase and graduated from the Baltimore High School for the Performing Arts with a concentration in acting.

Sarah Victoria Semlear is a theatre and experimental video director who has worked extensively with Theatre in a VAN!. Her directorial credits with Theatre in a VAN! include "The Big Spill: A 10-Minute Musical about the BP Oil Spill" and "The Subatomic Solution: A 10-Minute Musical Solution to the Conflict in the Middle East." She has also directed and created video promotions for "The Vigil or the Guided Cradle," and "HACK! An I.T. Spaghetti Western," both by Crystal Skillman. Other video and theatre cross over projects include her work on "Hecuba the Bitch of Cynossema" with Glass Bandits Theatre Company and "Friend Me: A Night of Short Performances about Technology and the Internet." Semlear currently works as an editor and encoder for both The Daily Show and the Colbert Report, at Comedy Central. She holds a BFA in Theatre Arts and Film from the conservatory at SUNY Purchase.

"M. - Solo for Three Minds (Dialogues with Marcel Proust)" devised and performed by Miloš Sofrenović, text re-translated and spoken by Sheila Sofrenović. US premiere. (DANCE THEATER)
Johnson Theater
Friday, August 19 at 7:00PM; Saturday, August 20 at 5:00PM; Sunday, August 21 at 7:00PM; Wednesday, August 24 at 7:00PM; Friday, August 26 at 7:00PM.
Running Time: 63 minutes | Tickets $15

"I only know who I am and what I am when I find out who I was and who I was surrounded by." -- Marcel Proust

Live movement -- performed and perceived in the present -- is actually a temporal experience, in the sense that, once executed, it is constantly analyzed and processed as a revisitation of past experience. Through Miloš Sofrenović’s encounter with Marcel Proust's capital work "Remembrance of Things Past," he discovered a strong relationship between three discourses -- Memory, Movement and Monologue. This solo piece, "M. – Solo For Three Minds" (Dialogues with Marcel Proust), investigates this relationship as it is being established and questions it. The subsequent questions became the dramaturgical building blocks upon which this solo performance in 12 scenes is based. It was a three year project and Sofrenović gave each one the name "season" to designate its year. Each project has its own name as well.

"M. - Solo For Three Minds" (Dialogues with Marcel Proust) by Miloš Sofrenović, a performance artist, pedagogue and director who is originally from Loindon and now working in Vienna. It is the second part of a three part trilogy and the second full length piece from Sofrenović's choreographic tryptich, "Three Seasons." He devised and performed his First Season (2009/2010) : "Solo For Three Visions" (Visions of Peter Hanke, Samuel Beckett & Virginia Woolf) to high critical acclaim, bringing him a nomination for the most prestigious state award in choreography "Dimitrije Parlic" at the National Theatre in Belgrade in 2010. Third Season (2011/2012)"Solo for Two Cities" (Imaginary dialogue between Milos Crnjanski's "A Novel About London" and Lawrence Durrell's "Alexandrian Quartet") will close this cycle of solo works exploring the relationship between movement and literature, again devised and performed by the artist himself. Sofrenović received his dance and choreographic education as a scholarship student of the distinguished Laban Centre in London. He is also a recipient of several international scholarships from the Serbian Ministry of Culture, Soros Foundation (Belgrade), Dance Web Program (Vienna), Dance Omi Programe (United States of America), Odyssey Dance Theatre (Singapore). Among others he has collaborated successfully with choreographers Ana Sanchez Colberg (London), Kitt Johnson (Copenhagen), Liz King (Vienna), Danny Tan (Singapore), Mikhail Honesseau (Berlin), Pina Bausch (London), Filippo Armati (Locarno), Sonja Vukicevic (Belgrade). He has presented his works at festivals in Belgrade, Zagreb, Skopje, Zemun, Novi Sad, Edinburgh, London, Vienna, Istanbul, Singapore, Stockholm, Graz, to name a few.

"Nine/Twelve Tapes" (world premiere) script arranged by Leegrid Stevens from post-9/11 interviews, directed by Ryan Pointer.
Cabaret Theater
Wednesday, August 31 at 7:00PM; Thursday, September 1 at 9:00PM; Friday, September 2 at 9:00PM; Saturday, September 3 at 7:00PM; Sunday, September 4 at 7:00PM.
Running time: 90 minutes | Tickets $15

While September 11, 2001 will forever be a day of national tragedy, September 12, 2001 was a day of national confusion, shock and fear. On that day and the days to follow, one young man grabbed a simple audio recorder and hit the streets - compelled to speak with strangers about the attacks. The resulting interviews have been re-created in the nine/twelve tapes just as they were recorded. Using analog equipment and an ensemble of actors, each of these accounts is brought to life with all the background noise and immediacy of those days intact. Equal parts time-capsule and public memoir, the nine/twelve tapes give voice to the national psyche and show us the start of our own recovery.

Leegrid Stevens' plays have been seen in downtown New York theatres such as HERE Arts Center, Lark Theatre, Ontological-Hysteric Theatre, Theatre for the New City, Altered Stages, and Spring Theatreworks' Dumbo space as well as several theatres across the US and Europe. His plays have been published by Playscripts, Brooklyn Publishers, Smith & Kraus, Stage Tribes, and by NY Theatre Experience. Plays include "The Dudleys!," presented at the Dream Up Festival and winner of Talkin' Broadway 2010 Citation for Outstanding New Play, "The Twelfth Labor," developed at the Lark Theatre's Playwright's Week, "Post-Oedipus," "Leda's Swan," "Echo's Longing," "Still Life With Runner" and "Theme & Variations." Stevens was named as one of the "People of the Year" by nytheatre.com in 2005 which caqlled him, "Indisputably one of the smartest and most innovative young playwright/directors working in New York's Indie theatre scene." He is a graduate of Columbia's School of the Arts.

Ryan Pointer wants to bring this important project to the masses as we near the 10 year anniversary of 911. Originally from Texas, he has produced and directed a wide variety of projects there including acclaimed productions of Shakespeare's R&J by Joe Calarco, "Proof” by David Auburn, the dance musical "Swing!," Steve Martin's adaptation of "The Underpants" and "Amadeus" by Peter Shaffer.

"Nuclear Love Affair" (world premiere) by Sanaz Ghajarrahimi and Ben Hobbs.
Johnson Theater
Sunday, August 14 at 7:00PM; Tuesday, August 16 at 9:00PM; Thursday, August 18 at 9:00PM; Thursday, August 25 at 7:00PM; Friday, August 26 at 9:00PM; Saturday, September 3 at 5:00PM.
Running Time: 90 minutes | Tickets $15

In this spectacular multimedia investigation of America in the Atomic Age, unnerving images, rattling rhythms and disturbing text collide with slapstick and highly aggressive physical storytelling to create an erotic pop culture explosion. Focusing on the period of 1941-1969, "Nuclear Love Affair" traces America's obsession with violence through the social and political chain reaction caused by dropping of the atomic bomb. Iconic figures, historical tales and stock film footage are layered with a frenetic music score that combines hits from the era with modern beats to build an expressive and surreal landscape. Featuring Elvis Presley dancing through Vietnam, Charlie Chaplin at Hiroshima, Lucille Ball doing a commercial for an electric chair, and Marilyn Monroe teaching us all how to duck and cover, "Nuclear Love Affair" is a twisted take on the journey of the American Dream. It looks at where we have been, and begs us, "Where do we go from here?"

Sanaz Ghajarrahimi (Director and Co-Author) is an Iranian-American director and choreographer. With Built for Collapse, she has directed and choreographed "Orpheus and the Plastic Masquerade" (Galapagos Art Space), "Elephant Man" (Wings Theatre), "Stork and Owl" (Bleecker Street Theater), "Hamlet" (Galapagos Art Space, Grace Exhibition Space) and "Romeo and Juliet" (Access Theater). Other selected directing credits include "Kill To Eat" by Caridad Svich (Hangar Theatre), "House" (Brooklyn Lyceum), "The States of Panic" by Jon Marans (The Barrow Group), "Melancholy Play" by Sarah Ruhl (Robert Moss Theater) and "Jet of Blood" by Antonin Artaud (Studio Theater). Ghajarrahimi is a Drama League Alumnus and Artistic Director of Built for Collapse. She earned her BFA at New York University.

Ben Hobbs (Choreographer and Co-Author) is a performer, choreographer and visual artist. Currently a cast member of the Off-Broadway hit "Fuerzabruta," Hobbs earned his BFA in Drama from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. He also studied Traditional Chinese Opera at Shanghai Theater Academy and Dance at Point Park University. He has over 18 years of dance and acrobatic training. With Built for Collapse, he has choreographed and performed in: "Nuclear Love Affair" (Theater for the New City), "Orpheus and the Plastic Masquerade" (Galapagos Art Space), "Elephant Man" (Wings Theatre), "Hamlet" (Galapagos Art Space, Grace Exhibition Space), "Romeo and Juliet" (Access Theater). Other selected performance and choreographic credits include: Lynn Barr Dance Theatre (Judson Church, Kaatsbaan, 2007-2010), Theater Mitu's "Hair" (Skirball Center for the Arts), "Savage:Love" (Edinburgh Festival Fringe).

"own, Owned" (world premiere) choreographed by Jesse Phillips-Fein. (DANCE)
Cino Theater
Wednesday, August 24 at 9:00PM; Thursday, August 25 at 7:00PM; Friday, August 26 at 7:00PM; Saturday, August 27 at 5:00PM; Sunday, August 28 at 5:00PM.
Running Time: 40 minutes | Tickets: $15

Inspired by the uninspired, "own, Owned" reflects on how pleasure is constructed and controlled in our post-Hope political landscape. Focusing on small daily acts of pleasurable choices, the piece engages with the unrecognized creative possibility in eating, dressing/primping the self, sex, and modes of entertainment, as well as how these acts become substitutes for an absent collective political power. At the heart of the piece is anxiety about, but craving for desire--our longings for more meaningful ownership of the self. The intention of the piece is to question the significance of where our libidos are focused. It challenges our reliance on these small daily choices to blot out the reality of dehumanized work through empty play but it does not choose sides. Instead, it operates from a "both/and" perspective. It heralds the daily acts of pleasure where we find creative potential in what we often take as banal and repetitive. Exposing that "business does not have to continue as usual," the possible freedom in these acts attempts to acquire a political dimension, but unsuccessfully. In this piece, failure is guaranteed. As a result, it simultaneously denigrates these "mini-choices" as substitutes and distractions from more genuine power. It mourns the way our pleasures are hijacked, packaged and sold back to us. In this process, the piece embraces a troubling of our beliefs about hope and hopelessness in our current global situation.

Jesse Phillips-Fein is a dancer, choreographer, dance educator and producer of multi-genre shows. She grew up in Brooklyn NY, where she studied dance at the Brooklyn Arts Exchange and The Dalton School in Manhattan. She earned a B.A. in Dance & Cultural Anthropology from Smith College and a Diploma in Dance Studies from the Laban Centre in London. Her work has been presented at BRICstudio, BAX/Brooklyn Arts Exchange, Chashama, Connelly Theater, DNA/Dance New Amsterdam, Dixon Place, HERE Arts Center, GreenSpace, Movement Research at Judson Church, Williamsburg Arts Nexus, and White Wave. In addition, she has performed with Shannon Hummel/CORA Dance, Cassie Mey, Sarah Sibley, EmmaGrace Skove-Epes, and Layard Thompson, and collaborated with Adam Matta, Box By Three Dance Co., Shana Bloomstein/State Eighteen on Women's Works in Central Maine. She is a co-founder of White Folks Soul: By Any Dance Necessary, using movement and language to unpack white privilege, and Square One Collective, creating performance meditations in unusual spaces. She received the Outer/Space rehearsal space grant from Dance Theater Workshop in 2008 and was the 2007 Poretsky Artist-in-Residence at the Havurah Summer Institute. She is a past recipient of the Individual Artist grant recipient from the Brooklyn Arts Council in 2005 and was awarded the Community Arts Regrant in 2005 and 2006 for her projects "Sea Stories," an inter-generational project about migration with Sheepshead Bay residents of different backgrounds, and "Root & Branch," an exploration of identity with Arab and Jewish teenagers. She has also received funding from the Puffin Foundation, and a space grant from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council. She has taught dance to all ages, pre-school to senior citizens and currently teaches Middle and High School Dance at the Brooklyn Friends School.

"The Choice" (world premiere) by Riccardo Costa, directed by André Hereford
Cino Theater
Monday, August 15 at 7:00PM; Wednesday, August 17 at 9:00PM; Thursday, August 18 at 7:00PM; Monday, August 22 at 7:00PM; Tuesday, August 23 at 9:00PM; Monday, August 29 at 7:00PM.
Running Time: 85 minutes | Tickets: $15

Who will have a seat at the future's table? "The Choice," writer/filmmaker Riccardo Costa's debut full-length play, explores this and other Big Questions with a provocative mix of sharp-witted comedy, heartfelt drama and taut suspense. Trapped in an open house at the end of the world, one young man, forced to play God, must decide who lives or dies among a group of eight strangers confronting the apocalypse. Each clings to his or her own vision of the future, but "The Choice" is universal: What do you live for, and what compromises would you make to keep it? Directed by André Hereford, and featuring an ensemble cast, "The Choice" addresses division--based on religion or class or gender or politics--and makes a powerful argument for how much we are all the same, especially at a moment when the past ceases to matter, and we stand exposed to the end of everything.

Riccardo Costa, born in Bologna, Italy, holds a Master in Media Studies and a certificate in Media Management and Leadership. He graduated with a BFA in Film & Television Production from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. He recently completed a Master Class Program at LAByrinth Theater. On the occasion of Luciano Pavarotti's summer 1998 benefit concert in Modena, Italy, Costa approached Spike Lee, who would direct the live taping of the concert, and asked to work as Lee's assistant at the event. He got the job and it led to assisting Spike again at the concert the following year. In New York, Costa has continued to work with Lee, first serving as videographer on "Summer of Sam," and now collaborating with Lee's company 40 Acres & A Mule to develop his feature film, "Memory of a Summer," directing from a script he co-wrote. His feature debut will be the film he co-wrote, "Queen of Harlem." While pursuing funding for Blitz's feature projects, Costa has continued to hone his talents--directing a staged reading of Pier Vittorio Tondelli's "Dinner Party" (starring Brian Dennehy), directing a staged reading of his script "Yes 4Ever" (starring Kerry Washington and Malcolm Gets) and completing his award-winning third short film, "Change the World," which screened in more than 30 festivals worldwide receiving important recognition. His fourth short film, "Crossing," starred Joe Morton, Hazelle Goodman and Anthony Mackie, playing in more than 40 festivals and won awards in several international film festivals and it has been broadcast in several TV Channels including CBS. Costa's American Express short film was chosen as Finalist by the Tribeca Film Festival and won a prestigious award. He was a playwright in residence at Philip Seymour Hoffman's LAByrinth Theater Company for summer '09.

"The Fourth State of Matter" (world premiere) written by Joseph Vitale, directed by Robert Angelini.
Cino Theater
Sunday, August 21 at 2:00PM; Monday, August 22 at 9:00PM; Monday, August 29 at 9:00PM; Saturday, September 3 at 5:00PM; Sunday, September 4 at 5:00PM.

Based on the shootings at the University of Iowa in 1991, "The Fourth State of Matter" explores the incidents and forces that drove a gifted Chinese astrophysics student to murder his dissertation advisor and several other students. The presentation, played by a large cast, ponders an unlikely killer’s motive and makes us think about who, the why and the how.

Joseph Vitale received his B.A. in English Literature from Rutgers University, where he graduated magna cum laude and as a member of Phi Beta Kappa. While at Rutgers, he received the Alpha Psi Omega Award for playwriting for his first play, "The 49th Cup," which was produced at the Rutgers-Newark Theater Workshop. He has a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University and a master's degree in Liberal Studies from the New School for Social Research. He spent fifteen years in journalism, working as a reporter for the Bergen Record newspaper and as an editor for United Features Syndicate and Channels magazine. He joined New Jersey Monthly in 1987, eventually serving as the magazine's executive editor. He has been published in The Boston Herald, the San Francisco Review of Books, and several magazines. He was a theater critic for the New York Arts Weekly. He is currently the Executive Director of College Advancement and Planning and Vice President of the County College of Morris Foundation. In addition to his work at Rutgers, he studied playwriting at HB Studios in New York, working with playwrights Dick Longchamps and William Packard. He is currently a member of the Theater Project Writers Group in New Jersey. Vitale is the author of six plays: "The 49th Cup," "A Reasonable Facsimile," "The Company," "Murrow" (which was optioned by David Susskind in 1985), "The Interpreter," and "The Fourth State of Matter." Vitale also wrote a novel, "Image." He is currently working on his seventh play.

Robert Angelini is making his acting and directorial premiere in New York City with this production of Joe Vitale's "The Fourth State of Matter." Bob began directing with the West Park Players of Ocean Township High School in New Jersey in the spring of 1996. In his tenure at the school, Bob has directed over 30 musical and dramatic productions including "A Chorus Line," "Into the Woods," "Curtains," "Ah, Wilderness!," "The Miracle Worker" and "Our Town." He was awarded the Best Director Award for his work in "The Laramie Project," "Cats" and "Les Misérables" by the Count Basie Theater in Red Bank, NJ. Angelini's credits include: Film: "Project Nim" (Lab Tech), James Marsh, Dir.; Regional: "The Full Monty" (Reg) ReVision Theater, NJ; Cabaret: "Elegies for Angels, Punks and Raging Queens" (Walter), Cabaret For Life; Community: "To Whom It May Concern" (Homeless Man), "Picnic" (Alan), Atlantic Stage Company. Angelini has also appeared in various New Jersey college, community and civic theater productions over the last 30 years. His career as veteran police officer of 26 years informs his theatrical life.

"<The Invisible Draft>" (world premiere) written and directed by Claire Moodey, animations and set design by Lotte Marie Allen and Claire Moodey.
Cino Theater
Sunday, August 14 at 2:00PM; Monday, August 15 at 9:00PM; Wednesday, August 17 at 7:00PM; Friday, August 19 at 7:00PM; Saturday, August 20 at 7:00PM.
Running Time: 50 minutes | Tickets $12

"<the invisible draft>" is a radio play silent movie. A multimedia theater piece with puppets and animation, it is inspired by Italo Calvino's novel "Invisible Cities." The seated audience is invited wander through the map of consciousness, riding the sine waves conducted by characters named Our Man of the World and the Girl with a Backpack.

Claire Moodey, author and director, grew up in Erie, PA and attended Bard College where she studied Theater. She has worked as a farm hand, electrician, dry stone wall builder, archeologist, and puppeteer in California, Vermont, France, Scotland, and Jordan. Last year she moved to Brooklyn and her recent credits include "The Escape Artist" at P.S. 122 (video performance, P.A.), "Canned Ham" at Dixon Place (lighting design), Bread and Puppet Theater's adaptation of Monteverdi's "The Return of Ulysses" at Theater for the New City (vocalist, puppeteer) and "My Mother," a performance piece at St. Cecilia's Convent. She has also performed the Herald in "Marat/Sade," "The Ruffian on the Stair," and was a core member of the collaborative theatre company The Blushing Players.

Lotte Marie Allen (puppets and animation) is an artist as well as part-time printmaker, art teacher, opera liaison, artist assistant and model. She makes installations, stop-motion animations, scented stuffed animals, photographs, imaginary landscapes, woodcuts, lithographs and drawings. Right now she is working on textile and animation projects in her studio with the Montrose Arts Initiative in Brooklyn, NY. She is a graduate of Bard College.

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