| Corkscrew Theater Festival Closes With Johnny G. Lloyd's PATIENCE, July 24-August 3 | |
| Posted by: Official_Press_Release 05:12 pm EDT 06/27/19 | |
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| CORKSCREW THEATER FESTIVAL CLOSES WITH WORLD PREMIERE OF JOHNNY G. LLOYD’S PATIENCE, JULY 24-AUGUST 3 Third Annual Summer Festival Concludes with Meditation on Black Excellence in the World of Competitive Solitaire Corkscrew Theater Festival presents Patience Written by Johnny G. Lloyd Directed by Velani Dibba Produced by Jon Bleicher July 24-August 3: July 24, 25, 30, 31 and August 1, 3 at 7pm; July 28 at 8pm; July 27, August 3 at 1pm; August 2 at 10pm Opening Performance: July 25 at 7pm Paradise Factory (64 East 4th St, Manhattan) $24; corkscrewfestival.org; 347.954.9125 90 minutes with no intermission Corkscrew Theater Festival’s third annual summer season concludes with the world premiere of Johnny G. Lloyd’s Patience. Directed by Velani Dibba and running July 24-August 3, Patience follows the world’s #1 professional solitaire player, a young black man named Daniel, as he struggles to allow other people into his life while fending off an even younger challenger, a teenager named Ella. In tracing the kinship and competition between the two elite players, Patience illustrates a relationship paralleling that of Venus and Serena Williams, exploring questions about excellence, opportunity, and jealousy in a less athletic (though still high-stakes) setting. Performed by Joshua Gitta as Daniel, Kristin Dodson as Ella, Brenda Crawley as Mother, Christopher Rand as Jordan, and DeAnna Supplee* as Nikita, Patience is the last of four mainstage productions that are part of Corkscrew Theater Festival, which provides early-career artists with a high level of production support. Though he’s been the world’s #1 ranked Solitaire player since age 20, Daniel is hung up on another title used to describe him: “the Venus Williams of solitaire.” The threat of being eclipsed by a Serena (who just might be the determined up-and-comer Ella) is one of many pressures Daniel carries, alongside his difficulty communicating with his soon-to-be husband, his fraught relationship with his “momager,” and the burden of being excellent in a field that only has room for one excellent person at a time. Patience is Johnny G. Lloyd’s ingenious portrait of a young black man struggling to build a life with other people when all he’s learned so far is how to be alone. “When I was writing Patience, I was really obsessed with card games, and I wanted to write something that used the card game as a jumping off point to explore so many things that felt universal to me – relationships, work, our relationship with talent,” said Lloyd. “And as we explored those things, it became so clear that this was also a play about giving black characters a chance to exist somewhat outside of the confines of the whiteness and straightness of western culture. It became somewhat of a Rorschach test: when you remove explicit mentions race – specifically whiteness – from a play written and created by black bodies, what do audiences implicitly see? And how do we challenge that vision?” Corkscrew Theater Festival features four world premieres, four workshop productions, and four readings performed in repertory over four weeks. Special attention has been given to theater makers who are developing work through tight-knit collaborations. A majority of the participating artists identify as women, trans, or non-binary. The creative team for Patience includes Aoshuang Zhang (scenic designer), Daniel Schreckengost (lighting designer), Antonio Consuegra (costume designer), Nina Kao (sound designer), Cole Stern (dramaturg), and Lola Bao (stage manager). Performances of Patience will take place July 24-August 3 (see schedule above) at Paradise Factory (64 E 4th St, Manhattan). Critics are welcome as of the 7pm performance on July 25, which serves as the official opening. Tickets are $24 and can be purchased at corkscrewfestival.org or by calling 347.954.9125. About the Artists Johnny G. Lloyd is a New York-based writer and producer. As a playwright, his work has been seen and developed at 59E59, Dixon Place, The Tank, Judson Memorial Church, Theatre Lab (Boca Raton, FL), FringeNYC and more. Johnny was a semi-finalist for the 2018 Open-Application Commission at Clubbed Thumb and the 2017-2018 Shubert Fellow for Playwriting at Columbia University. He is the producing director of InVersion Theatre. MFA Candidate in Playwriting at Columbia University. jglloyd.weebly.com Velani Dibba is a theater artist currently in her second year at Columbia University's Theatre Directing MFA program. She is an inaugural Fellow at the Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics and a former Global Cultural Fellow at the University of Edinburgh's Institute for International Cultural Relations. Upcoming works include Apologies to the Bengali Lady at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and Falling & Loving with SITI Company. Jon Bleicher is a Theatre Management & Producing MFA candidate at Columbia University School of the Arts. He worked in public relations for the past ten years, leading campaigns for clients across the entertainment industry, including artists like Dr. John, Elvis Costello, Kenny Chesney, and Grateful Dead. Prior to publicity, he worked at XM Satellite Radio, where he produced and hosted a weekly show featuring independent musicians. Jon also has an extensive performance background, having appeared in several Broadway, Off Broadway and regional productions as a child. Recent producing credits include A Modest Proposal at Cherry Lane Theatre, The Seagull, Antarabhava, Apsu At Dusk, and Family Show (Columbia). Joshua Gitta (Daniel). Stage: Rothko in Red (3Ps); Omar in Obstacle Course (Silk Road Rising); Solly in Gem of the Ocean (Tufts Drama Dept.); James Baldwin in Waiting for Giovanni (Harvard Drama Dept.). Film/TV: Josh in "A Dolt's Life" (Trioptic Cinema), Voice of Darren Wilson in "Where the Pavement Ends". BA in Film, Tufts University. Love and thanks to the cast and crew of Patience - y'all are so dope! :') Kristin Dodson (Ella) – Favorite theatre credits include Noises Off, Waiting for Godot, A Raisin in the Sun, and A Midsummer Night's Dream. Film: Roxanne Roxanne (Sundance, Netflix), short film Ambition. She has studied with NY Film Academy, Weist Barron, The Negro Ensemble, Berg Studios, and at The British American Acting Academy at Oxford University. She won an Audelco “The Viv” Award for her role as Amanita in the NEC production of Daughters of the Mock. Currently, Kristin is a first year at Columbia University Graduate Acting Program. Abrams Artist Agency, proud member of SAG-AFTRA. DeAnna Supplee* (Nikita) is a Philadelphia-born, New York City-trained actress. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania (BA, Theatre Arts & English), she has also studied at the British American Drama Academy at the University of Oxford and the Actors Studio Drama School (MFA, Acting). NYC Theater credits: On Strivers Row (Metropolitan Playhouse), Much Ado About Nothing (New York Shakespeare Exchange), The Trojan Women (The Flea Theater). Regional Theater: Skeleton Crew (TheatreSquared). International Theater: Look/Alive (Edinburgh Fringe Festival). Television credits: Investigation Discovery's Grave Secrets. DeAnna is a proud member of Actors' Equity Association. www.deannasupplee.com Brenda Crawley (Mother) - Theatre credits: Anfisa, Three Sisters (Columbia University), Ann whatdoesfreemean (Nora’s Playhouse), Denise House of Karen, (Columbia Stages), Evelyn Breaking in the Boss, (NJ Repertory Theatre), Oralia Daughters of the Mock, (Negro Ensemble Company), Heroina Keys, (Broadway Bound Festival), Nurse Uncle Abram, (Little Eagle Project), La Madrecita Camino Real (Columbia Stages), Mrs. O’Neil The Sunshine Boys, (Amateur Comedy Club). Special thanks to Johnny Lloyd, Velani Dibba and the great cast and crew of Patience. Christopher Rand (Jordan) is excited to be a part of the Patience family. He was last seen playing Tiresias in Skin Flick City, a play by Anna Jastrezmbski. Christopher studied Performance Art at Tufts University and The Museum School in Boston. He currently produces and performs his original pop music and also DJs under the name 'CJCJ'. Christopher thanks his friends and family for their love and support. *Appearing courtesy of Actors Equity Association. About Corkscrew Theater Festival Founded in 2017, Corkscrew Theater Festival reduces the barriers to entry for early-career artists in NYC in order to showcase world premiere productions of ambitious new plays and musicals. Corkscrew is defined by its commitment to tight-knit collaboration, not only in the projects that are programmed but also around the festival itself, which incites constant dialogue and support among its community of artists through a series of initiatives. The festival presents four to five mainstage productions (plus a series of workshops and staged readings) performed in repertory over four weeks during the summer. In Corkscrew’s inaugural year, The New York Times described the festival as being “packed with young talent…in the risk-taking venture that is summer festival-going, encountering talent you want to see more of is a worthy payoff.” Corkscrew has been the subject of features and interviews in the Village Voice, WNYC, Hyperallergic, and Playbill, who wrote in 2019 that Corkscrew features “some of the city's most exciting emerging artists.” Corkscrew requires no fees to apply or to participate. In addition, the festival offers unique support intended to professionalize the process for early-career artists and to encourage a spirit of collaboration: a bimonthly Directors/Producers Lab, where creators of all projects discuss challenges and solutions; a Writers’ Group for script development; pre-rehearsal readings for each production during Spring Reading Weekend; and new in 2019, a festival casting process led by a team of professional casting directors. 2019 also brings the first iteration of Corkscrew Downstairs, a series of four workshop productions sharing one design team and one highly flexible scenic design. Ultimately, Corkscrew seeks to merge the communal atmosphere of a festival with the rigor of a not-for-profit theatre company. www.corkscrewfestival.org |
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