| THE DRAMA LEAGUE'S "DIRECTORFEST" ANNOUNCES COMPLETE CAST FOR 34TH ANNUAL FESTIVAL JANUARY 13-22 | |
| Posted by: Official_Press_Release 01:37 pm EST 01/04/18 | |
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| COMPLETE CAST ANNOUNCED THE DRAMA LEAGUE PRESENTS "DIRECTORFEST" 34th FESTIVAL CELEBRATING THE ART AND FUTURE OF AMERICAN STAGE DIRECTING SPOTLIGHT DIRECTORS INCLUDE LAURA BRANDEL, BONNIE GABEL, MATT DICKSON, FLORDELINO LAGUNDINO, REBECCA MARTINEZ, AND ILANA RANSOM TOEPLITZ ACTING COMPANY INCLUDES JEN BLOOD, CHRISTINE BRUNO, ELIJAH CALDWELL, DRAE CAMPBELL, CORY CENSOPRANO, JENN COLELLA, LYNN CRAIG, CINDY DE LA CRUZ, TANESHA GARY, TAMRIN GOLDBERG, JENNA LEIGH GREEN, DOUG HARRIS, STEPHEN HU, LATOYA JACKSON, MARY KNAPP, SAMI MA, ZOE MANAREL, JASON MOODY, MARY LIZ MCNAMARA, AARON PHILLIPS, SCHUYLER PRESS, JAMIE ANN ROMERO, ELIZA SIMPSON, SAIDU SINLAH, JASON VEASEY, PILAR WITHERSPOON RARELY-SEEN PLAYS BY DAVID HENRY HWANG AND ENDA WALSH ALONGSIDE NEW WORKS BY GABRIELLE REISMAN, ALEJANDRO RICAÑO AND ALEX RUBIN AND SELECTIONS FROM NEW MUSICALS BY ANGELICA CHERI, ROSS BAUM, TIMOTHY HUANG, AND MARY LIZ MCNAMARA JANUARY 13 - 22, 2018 The Drama League (Executive Artistic Director Gabriel Stelian-Shanks) has announced full casting for the newly reimagined annual event DirectorFest, a multi-week, city-wide festival focusing on the art and future of contemporary American stage directing at various locations around NYC: The Sheen Center for Thought and Culture (18 Bleecker Street), The Drama League Theater Center (32 Avenue of the Americas), and The Drama Book Shop (250 West 40th Street) from January 13-22, 2018. Festival details, tickets and additional information are now available at www.directorfest.org For its 34th year, the festival will include four fully-staged productions, a showcase evening of new musicals, staged readings, discussion panels, book signings, workshops and conversations with America's most notable directors. Taking place over two weeks in venues across Manhattan, highlights of the festival include the rarely-seen plays F.O.B. by David Henry Hwang, and Disco Pigs by Enda Walsh, the new works Storm, Still by Gabrielle Reisman, and Pork Kidneys To Soothe Despair by Alejandro Ricaño, translated by Daniel Jáquez, and the staged readings Group by Alex Rubin, and an evening of selections from new musicals called She Persisted, directed by Laura Brandel. The 2017 Drama League Directors Project Fellows include Laura Brandel, Bonnie Gabel, Matt Dickson, Flordelino Lagundino, and Rebecca Martinez. Chosen last spring from over 330 applicants nationwide, these five visionary emerging directors recently completed their year of mentorship, assistantships, training and career development as part of The Drama League Directors Project. The creative team for DirectorFest includes Reid Thompson (sets), Lauren Gaston (costumes), Lois Gordon (lights), Justin Propper and Mike Tracey (sound), Mitch Krieger (props), Ling Tang (choreography), Sean Bradley (Fight Director), Brandon Pape (Production Manager), with Travis LeMont Ballenger (Associate Producer), Gabriel Stelian-Shanks (Executive Artistic Director), and Sherri Eden Barber (Program Director). Casting for the festival by Harriet Bass, Michael Cassara, Stephen DeAngelis, Kate Lumpkin, and Stephanie Klapper. The festival will also include UpClose, a series of conversations with America's foremost contemporary directors, including Anne Bogart (Dead Man's Cell Phone), Anne Kauffman (Mary Jane), Damon Kiely (Oklahoma!), Robert O'Hara (Bootycandy), Kimberly Senior (Disgraced), and George C. Wolfe (Shuffle Along). "Having supported American theatre directors for over thirty years, The Drama League has far too often heard the question, 'What does a director really do?' Finally, the time has come to answer that question," noted Executive Artistic Director Gabriel Stelian-Shanks. "By foregrounding the director's art, it's our hope that we can amplify DirectorFest into a national conversation about the state of the art form." Associate Producer Travis LeMont Ballenger added: "Through nearly two dozen performances and events this January, DirectorFest will ask audiences to explore the craft of directing, celebrating master directors at the top of their field alongside the brightest rising directors in the country." During DirectorFest, Ms. Brandel, Ms. Gabel, Mr. Dickson, Mr. Lagundino, and Ms. Martinez will join the ranks of the illustrious 325+ alumni of The Drama League Directors Project, including Tony® Award winners Christopher Ashley (Come From Away), Rebecca Taichman (Indecent), Sam Gold (Fun Home), Diane Paulus (Waitress), Michael Mayer (Hedwig and the Angry Inch), Pam MacKinnon (Amelie), John Rando (On The Town), Tony Award nominees Rachel Chavkin (Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812), Moritz von Steulpnagel (Present Laughter), Alex Timbers (Rocky The Musical), and Mark Brokaw (Heisenberg), to name only a few. DirectorFest is made possible thanks to the generosity of The Achelis and Bodman Foundation, Howard Gilman Foundation, The Shubert Foundation, and The Leo Shull Foundation for the Arts. Programs are supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the New York State Council on the Arts, with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. Special thanks to The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust for supporting The Drama League. Subsidized studio space provided by the A.R.T./New York Creative Space Grant, supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. * * * DIRECTORFEST SCHEDULE Tickets Available at www.dramaleague.org/directorfest FESTIVAL PRODUCTIONS January 13, 2018 at 7:30pm January 14, 2018 at 2:00pm & 7:30pm Black Box at The Sheen Center for Thought and Culture 18 Bleecker Street $18 General Admission Cultural difference, history, and relationships collide in this evening of plays exploring the gripping ways we respond to change in our lives. STORM, STILL An abridged version by Gabrielle Reisman Directed by 2017 Drama League Fellow Bonnie Gabel The three-member cast features Drae Campbell as Regan, Cindy de la Cruz as Cordelia, and Pilar Witherspoon as Goneril. The Stage Manager is Emily Roth. Casting by Harriet Bass. In Storm, Still, three modern-day sisters - who might bear a resemblance to the daughters of King Lear - encounter unexpected events as they sort through the belongings of their deceased father. F.O.B. By David Henry Hwang Directed by 2017 Drama League New York Directing Fellow Flordelino Lagundino Choreography by Ling Tang The three-member cast includes Cory Censoprano as Dale, Stephen Hu as Steve, and Sami Ma as Grace. The Stage Manager is Joanne Pan. Casting by Stephen DeAngelis. In F.O.B., a revival of the acclaimed play by David Henry Hwang (M. Butterfly), "the possibilities and perils of assimilation" (New York Times) are upended as two Americans encounter a new immigrant who believes himself to be the reincarnation of a legendary Chinese warrior. * * * January 19, 2018 at 7:30pm January 20, 2018 at 2:00pm & 7:30pm Black Box at The Sheen Center for Thought and Culture 18 Bleecker Street $18 General Admission Love, obsession, and the occasional murder -- as this evening of plays illustrates, relationships are reaaaally complicated! PORK KIDNEYS TO SOOTHE DESPAIR by Alejandro Ricaño, Translated by Daniel Jáquez Directed by 2017 Drama League New York Directing Fellow Rebecca Martinez The two-member cast features Jamie Ann Romero as Marie, and Jason Veasey as Gustave with Mary Knapp on Accordion. The Stage Manager is Danielle Thomsen. Casting by Michael Cassara. Set in 1940's Paris, fact and fiction intertwine in Pork Kidneys To Soothe Despair, where an unsuccessful writer and his paramour stalk Samuel Beckett, ostensibly to ensure that his masterpiece, Waiting for Godot, is completed. DISCO PIGS By Enda Walsh Directed by 2017 Drama League New York Directing Fellow Matt Dickson Movement Consultant Laura Brandel The two-member cast features Doug Harris as Pig, and Eliza Simpson as Runt. The Stage Manager is Tracey Wooley. Casting by Stephanie Klapper. Disco Pigs, by lauded playwright Enda Walsh (Once), is the story of Pig and Runt, two lifelong, violence-prone friends who have developed their own private language since birth. As they celebrate their 17th birthday in the nightclubs of Cork, they unexpectedly discover that their relationship is about to change forever. * * * FESTIVAL WORKS IN DEVELOPMENT DRAMA LEAGUE DIRECTORS PROJECT ALUMNI READING January 19, 2018 at 3:00pm The Drama League Theater Center 32 Avenue of the Americas FREE GROUP A new play by Alex Rubin Directed by 2016 Directors Project Alumna Ilana Ransom Toeplitz Featuring Tony Award nominee Jenn Colella (Come From Away), Jenna Leigh Green (Wicked), and Schuyler Press. Tony Award-nominee Jenn Colella (Come From Away), joined by Jenna Leigh Green (Wicked) and Schuyler Press, leads a reading of Alex Rubin's provocative new work. In a quiet New Jersey beach town Kari, Rachel, Janet, and Joy -- the 1988 graduates of Deena Boyd's Home for Disturbed Young Women -- are about to have a very unusual reunion. Thirty years later, their lives have taken vastly different directions, but one secret still unites them. * * * A LEO SHULL FOUNDATION FOR THE ARTS SPOTLIGHT EVENT January 22, 2018 at 7:30pm Black Box at The Sheen Center for Thought and Culture 18 Bleecker Street $18 General Admission SHE PERSISTED Conceived and Directed by 2017 Drama League Leo Shull Musical Directing Fellow Laura Brandel Music Direction by Josh Kight Casting by Kate Lumpkin Casting Excerpts from: Koi Story - Music, Lyrics, and Books by Timothy Huang Gun and Powder - Book and Lyrics by Angelica Chéri, Music by Ross Baum Body and Soul - Book, Music, and Lyrics by Mary Liz McNamara; Based on the documentary "Body and Soul" by Alice Elliott The cast will feature Jen Blood, Christine Bruno, Elijah Caldwell, Lynn Craig, Tanesha Gary, Tamrin Goldberg, Latoya Jackson, Zoe Manarel, Jason Moody, Mary Liz McNamara, Aaron Phillips, and Saidu Sinlah. She Persisted is a surprising, moving, and unexpected musical evening celebrating the fortitude and resilience of female characters in American musicals. Through scenes, songs and moments from both classic and contemporary musicals, director Laura Brandel leads us on a journey through her insights and experience of the past twelve months. Made possible by support from the Leo Shull Foundation for the Arts. * * * FESTIVAL CONVERSATIONS A Leo Shull Foundation for the Arts Spotlight Event UPCLOSE: BONNIE GABEL AND FLORDELINO LAGUNDINO January 14, 2018 at 4:30pm Black Box at The Sheen Center for Thought and Culture 18 Bleecker Street FREE Enjoy this freewheeling conversation with two of America's most promising theatre directors. Based in New Orleans, Ms. Gabel's work ranges from community-based projects to world premieres. Mr. Lagundino, who leads New York City's Leviathan Lab, has directed across the country giving voice to the Asian-American experience. Made possible by support from the Leo Shull Foundation for the Arts. * * * UPCLOSE: A CONVERSATION WITH GEORGE C. WOLFE Moderated by Kamilah Forbes January 16, 2018 at 7:00pm The Drama League Theater Center 32 Avenue of the Americas $50 Premium Seating | $25 General Admission | $20 Members Few theatre directors have imprinted upon the American mind like George C. Wolfe has, with iconic productions of Topdog/Underdog, Angels in America, The Wild Party, Jelly's Last Jam, and more. As he approaches his upcoming Broadway revival of The Iceman Cometh starring Denzel Washington, Mr. Wolfe sits down with The Drama League to discuss his work in theater, television and film over the past four decades. * * * UPCLOSE: A CONVERSATION WITH ANNE BOGART January 17, 2018 at 7:00pm The Drama League Theater Center 32 Avenue of the Americas $50 Premium Seating | $25 General Admission | $20 Members Internationally-renowned for productions with her ensemble SITI Company, as well as her advocacy for Viewpoints and Suzuki training methodologies, director and author Anne Bogart has transformed generations of theatre directors. In this candid conversation, Ms. Bogart will explore her career's legacy and offer possible clues as to the future of directing. * * * HOW TO READ A PLAY A Conversation and Book Signing featuring Director/Author Damon Kiely with directors Anne Kauffman, Robert O'Hara and Kimberly Senior Moderated by Gabriel Stelian-Shanks, Executive Artistic Director, The Drama League January 19, 2018 at 5:00pm The Drama Book Shop 250 West 40th Street FREE How To Read A Play: Script Analysis for Directors, published earlier this year by Routledge, is the brainchild of Chicago-based director Damon Kiely. Threading together interviews with over forty of the most acclaimed directors working today, Kiely distills the shared knowledge of today's brightest visionaries into a working process for 21st-century directors. In this panel discussion, Kiely is joined by three of the directors interviewed: Anne Kauffman (Marvin's Room, Mary Jane), Robert O'Hara (Bootycandy, Bella: An American Tall Tale) and Kimberly Senior (Disgraced). Moderated by Gabriel Stelian-Shanks. * * * A Leo Shull Foundation for the Arts Spotlight Event UPCLOSE: REBECCA MARTINEZ AND MATT DICKSON January 20, 2018 at 4:30pm Black Box at The Sheen Center for Thought and Culture 18 Bleecker Street FREE So what is a "disco pig" anyway? In this open conversation with two of America's most exciting rising directors, you'll find out the answer to this and much more. Both New Yorkers, Rebecca Martinez has already made a name for herself, exploring the Latinx writers and artists who inspire her. Matt Dickson is an actor-turned-director whose work illuminates the nuances in human interaction. Made possible by support from the Leo Shull Foundation for the Arts. * * * The Drama League Directors Project, since its founding in 1984, has grown to become the preeminent development program for early and mid-career theater directors, providing talented young artists with career-transforming experiences in the professional theater. The program provides opportunities for young directors to present their work to the professional community. In addition, the program augments a network of professionals to whom new directors can turn for counsel, support, and employment, that helps to accelerate the process through which new directors gain acceptance within the professional community, bringing their unique skills and vision into the working life of the American theater. The Drama League Directors Project also maintains an active support network for its alumni. The alumni of The Drama League Directors Project, which now number over 300, can be found working in all aspects of the entertainment profession. 'Drama League Directors' are directing on Broadway, Off-Broadway, at regional theaters across the country, and in film and television. They are the artistic directors and associates at 58 regional theaters. Others hold prominent positions throughout the industry as producers, writers, agents and administrators, and many are educating the next generation of directors at some of our finest professional training programs. Their directing work has been honored with Tony, Emmy, Obie, Peabody, Drama Desk, GLAAD, Drama League, New York Drama Critics Circle, Outer Critics, Evening Standard, Lucille Lortel, Bessie, Princess Grace, Garland, Drama-Logue, Barrymore, Helen Hayes, Elliot Norton, and Joseph Jefferson Awards, as well as the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. They have literally shaped the future of the American theater, with the praise of critics and audiences alike. The Drama League of New York, since 1916, has been at the forefront of the American Theatre community, providing talent, audiences, and prosperous support. It is one of the nation's oldest continuously-operating, not-for-profit arts advocacy and education organizations. Through its programs, initiatives and events, The Drama League indelibly transforms the lives of artists and audiences by harnessing the unique social and creative dynamism of theatre. Its nationally-renowned, award-winning efforts have two vital goals: To train and nurture the artists of tomorrow and to deepen and strengthen the audience experience. The Sheen Center for Thought & Culture is a forum to showcase works highlighting the true, the good, and the beautiful. Located downtown on historic Bleecker Street, the Sheen Center is a vibrant arts organization that focuses on theater, music, film, and talk. A project of the Archdiocese of New York, the state-of-the-art complex encompasses the 270-seat Loreto Theater, equipped with five-camera high-definition live-stream capability and a multi-track recording studio; the 80-seat Black Box Theater; four rehearsal studios; and an art gallery. It was named after the late Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, best known for his popular, inspirational radio and TV ministry in the 1950s and 60s. For additional information, please visit the website at www.dramaleague.org/directorfest. |
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