November 10 - December 11, 2021
at HERE
Presented by The Bushwick Starr in association with HERE
Written by Hillary Miller
Directed by Kristjan Thor
Cast:
Alison Cimmet, Nora Cole, Tracy Hazas, Lou Liberatore, Luis Moreno and KK Moggie
Creative Ensemble:
Carolyn Mraz (scenic), Rodrigo Muñoz (costumes), Christina Tang (lights), Chris Darbassie (sound) and Patricia Marjorie (props). Casting by X Casting/ Victor Vazquez CSA. Production Stage Manager: Christina M. Woolard, Assistant Stage Manager: Jackie Mercer (and Peggy R Samuels on 11/30+12/1), Production Manager: Erica Zippel Schnitzer. Produced by Oliver Kramer and Amanda Cooper/ALC Management.
The Actors and Stage Managers employed in this production are members of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States
Additional Staff:
Assistant Director: Federica Borlenghi
Fight Choreographer: Tracy Hazas
Assistant Scenic Designer: Jacqueline Brockel
Assistant Lighting Designer: Cameron Farmer
Assistant Costume Designer: Tyler Alexander Arnold
Assistant Sound Designer: Samy Ravs
House Manager: Jen Williams
Technical Director:Jay Maury
Stage Crew: Federica Borlenghi, Aaron Huey, Julia D'Angelo
Wardrobe Supervisors: Sarah Knight, Taelen Robertson
Scenic Shop: Silovsky Studios
Lead Electrician: Conor Thiele
Sound Supervisor: Max Helburn
Electricians: Jon Cottle, Kenny Olguin, Iris Zacarias, Omayra Garriga Casiano, Brie Hernandez, Kourtney Charles, Romi Moors, Taylor Hollister
Carpenters: Liz Jeffery, Michael DeCaul, Eddie Baker, Esai Siddeeq
Audio crew: Nick Cereola, Mellie Way, Emme Worthy
Covid Compliance Officers: Federica Borlenghi, Jen Williams, Amanda Cooper, Patricia Roques
Rehearsal space was generously donated by The Shed, New York
BIOS:
Hillary Miller (Playwright) is a writer from Flatbush, Brooklyn. She is the author of Drop Dead: Performance in Crisis, 1970s New York City (Northwestern University Press) and Playwrights on Television: Conversations with Dramatists (Routledge, 2020). Her essays and reviews have appeared in Performance Research, The Radical History Review, Theatre Survey, PAJ, and Lateral. Her writing for the stage has been seen at the Cherry Lane Theatre, Dixon Place, Manhattan Theatre Source, and HERE Arts Center, in addition to three international Fringe festivals (New York, Edinburgh, Washington D.C.). She has taught at Baruch College (CUNY), Stanford University, and California State University-Northridge, and she is a proud member of the English Department at Queens College (CUNY).
Kristjan Thor (Director) is an Icelandic-American director of Film, Theater and Immersive Experiences. He has directed and produced two feature films, several shorts and music videos as well a host of live experiences. His last film, ASTRAEA, won various awards at festivals throughout the world. He is known for working with companies, writers and producers to collaboratively develop new work. Additionally, Thor has produced large scale live events and conferences and created site specific work for theaters and festivals around the world. The plays he has directed have been seen at CSC, The Wild Project, Dixon Place, and the Public Theater. Finally, Thor is the creator of the international hit fear experience, BLACKOUT.
Alison Cimmet: Broadway: Gary, a Sequel to Titus Andronicus; Amelie; She Loves Me; The Mystery of Edwin Drood; Bonnie & Clyde; Baby, It’s You!; A Tale of Two Cities. NYC/Regional favorites: Lady Capulet in Romeo & Juliet (Westport Country Playhouse); Witch in Into the Woods (Fiasco/The Old Globe); Viola in Twelfth Night (Prince Music Theater); John Guare’s 3 Kinds of Exile (world premiere, Atlantic Theater); My Wonderful Day (Two River Theater); Mame (Kennedy Center). Film: The Big Sick, Tramp’s New World, Chasing Taste. TV: The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Ray Donovan, Blacklist, Younger, Bull, Evil, Dickinson. Training: Brown University (BA in Theatre Arts), Upright Citizens Brigade, The Actors Center. Visit www.AlisonCimmet.com for more!
Nora Cole (Laurette Madison) –Highlights: w George C. Wolfe, Caroline or Change (National Theatre/London), On the Town, Jelly’s Last Jam (B’Way & Nat’l Tour). Rinde Eckert’s, And God Created Great Whales, David Schweizer, dir (Foundry Theatre w The Culture Project, Audelco nominee), Mom, How…..Beatles, (RACCA) Regional: Intimate Apparel, Fences, Angela’s Mixtape, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, To Kill a Mockingbird, Doubt, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, You Can’t Take It with You (w Robert Vaughn), Avenue X, The Colored Museum, Medea (Title role w Vinnette Carroll). TV: Ray Donovan recurring. Playwright: Katherine’s Colored Lieutenant, Olivia’s Opus, Voices of the Spirits in My Soul (Audelco nominee). Recipient: TCG/Fox Foundation Resident Actor Fellow for Distinguished Achievement, Hedgebrook alum and Black Theatre Torch Bearer. noracole.net.
Tracy Hazas (Haydée García-Shelton, Fight Choreographer) has performed at various NYC theaters including New York City Center, Dixon Place, Abrons Art Center, Theater for the New City, and HERE; and made her feature debut in White Rabbit at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival. She's an affiliated artist with the movement theater company Counter-Balance Theater. Regionally, she’s performed at the Aurora Theatre Company, CenterREP and Word for Word in the Bay Area, among others. She has taught undergraduate acting and movement for performance in a range of settings: a conservatory, a community college, state universities, a liberal arts school and an R1. She loves it. tracyhazas.com
Lou Libertore (Jeff Marconi) Broadway: Burn This (TONY, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Award Nominations), As Is. Off-Broadway: Paradise Lost (Theatre Row), God Shows Up (Actors Temple), Daniel’s Husband (Westside Theatre, Primary Stages, Penguin Rep), Orpheus Descending (Bartley/Glezos Productions), A Class Act (New World Stages), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Masterworks Theatre Co.), Pushkin (Sheen Center), Rocket to the Moon (St Clement’s), others. Regional: Angels in America (Actors Theatre of Louisville), Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide… (Berkeley Rep, Theatre J), 12 Angry Men (Pioneer), The Diary of Anne Frank, That Championship Season (Westport Playhouse), others. London: Burn This. TV: Blindspot, Deception, The Affair, Law & Order, Sex and the City, Nurse Jackie, others. Film: Barrio Boy (upcoming), Lesson #4, It’s My Party, Blood from a Stoner, Mary & Louise, Rosen's Son, others. Education: Fordham University (Lincoln Center), William Esper. Member Artist: Ensemble Studio Theatre, The Actor’s Center, Circle Repertory Company (1985-1996)
K.K. Moggie (Carol Lugo) Off Broadway includes: Eureka Day (Colt Coeur), Passage (Soho Rep), The Gravediggers Lullaby (The Actors Company), Daphne’s Dive (Signature Theater), Charles Francis Chan Jr’s Exotic Oriental Murder Mystery (NAATCO), One Night (Cherry Lane), The Golden Dragon (The Play Company), Bottom of the World (Atlantic Theater Company) Grace (MCC), Richard III (CSC). Regional: Mary Stuart (title role, Chicago Shakespeare Theater). Film: Shackled, After Party, Home, Anna and the King, The Sleeping Dictionary. TV includes: Inventing Anna (Netflix), God Friended Me (CBS), The Good Wife (CBS) Gossip Girl (CW), Mercy (NBC), White Collar (USA). Special Thanks to Wiley and Kevin, my heart and soul.
Luis Moreno (Alex) – In NYC: Days Go By and It’s 3:07 Again (Monica Bill Barnes & Co.), The Government Inspector (Red Bull), Three Sisters (Nature Theater of Oklahoma), The Age of Iron (Classic Stage Company), so go the ghosts of méxico, part one (LaMaMa), Distant Star and Open Up, Hadrian (Caborca), Fêtes de la Nuit (The Ohio), among many others. Regional credits: Long Wharf Theatre, Actor’s Theatre of Louisville, Berkeley Rep, Arena Stage, La Jolla Playhouse, Humana, Two River Theater, Cincinnati Playhouse, Kansas City Rep, Capital Rep, and The Acting Company. TV: “Blacklist”, “God Friended Me”, “Good Fight”, “Mysteries of Laura”, “Daredevil”, “Madam Secretary”, “Blue Bloods”, “Person of Interest”. Film: Home, Zzzzzzz. Luis narrates audiobooks for Recorded Books. MFA: Columbia University. Te quiero, madre!
Christopher Darbassie (Sound Designer) is a New York based interdisciplinary artist. (Select Sound Credits): PS (Ars Nova), Fly Away (Petzel Gallery), Black Exhibition (The Bushwick Starr), MTA Radio Plays (Rattlestick Playwrights Theater), The Hole (New Ohio Theater), Neptune (Dixon Place, Brooklyn Museum). Chris has also served as assistant to designers Twi McCallum, Elisheba Ittoop, Dan Kluger, and Lee Kinney at The Shed, Playwrights Horizons, Theater for a New Audience, The Atlantic and Long Wharf. Wingspace 2019-2020 Sound Design Fellow. www.darbassiedesign.com
Carolyn Mraz (Scenic Designer) has collaborated on over 70 world premiere new works such as off-Broadway musicals, immersive events, performance art, and international tours, including some favorite design challenges: a magic show, a spaceship, a sexy lounge on a decommissioned ferry, a rock musical staged in a church sanctuary, and a collapsible performance tent. Carolyn is a longtime associated artist of Target Margin Theater and Clubbed Thumb in NYC, and A Host of People in Detroit, and has earned 5 Hewes award nominations. Carolyn just moved to LA and teaches at Cal State Fullerton, but is grateful to continue collaborating with the Bushwick Starr on this play. Please visit www.cmraz.com for a visual peek.
Patrícia Marjorie (Props Designer) is a Brazilian Multidisciplinary Artist based in NYC with experience on different types and scopes of projects in theater. Director, Performer, Designer and Craft Master, Patrícia moved to NYC after 19 years of extensive work in theater productions in Brazil, where she got her Bachelor Degree in Performing Arts by Universidade de Brasília (UnB). Experienced executing measurable creative solutions in Arts, Design and interactive marketing for theatre, Patrícia's theatrical credits have included performing in classical plays like Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing (Brasilia 2014), directing modern adaptations as Heiner Muller's "Hamlet- Machine" (Brasilia 2001), and new works as "What Will Become of Kaaron?" by Kaaron Briscoe at The Tank (2021); “On How to be a Monster” by Maria Luiza Muller with At Alia Theatre Company in December 2019 and her own work as a playwright "A Song to Keep the Wolves Awake” (Nov 2019) at The Tank NYC. Her Designer works run from Props designer and set dresser for shows like "Black Exhibition" by Jeremy O. Harris and “Skinfolk" by Jillian Walker both at Bushwick Starr; "In The Southern Breeze" by Mansa Ra and scenic design for "Treaty Between Earth & Self" both at Rattlestick Theatre; to Interactive Performances as "Carnavalize the matter" by Rodrigo Fisher at TheatreLab (NYC 2021) and Design solutions for alternative venues like for "Lost & Found" by Kaaron Briscoe at a garage of 4 New York Plaza for Downtown Alliance and "The Sunset PICNIC" for THE TANK at Lincoln Tunnel's ramp, among others.
Christina Tang (Lighting Designer) (she/her) is a lighting designer, production manager, and digital art amateur based in New York City. She is a frequent collaborator on new works for theater and dance. Recent credits include .SUITABLE_FOR.EXE(CUTION) (Shawné Michaelain Holloway, PSNY); My Onliness (One-Eighth), Psychic Self Defense (The Drunkard's Wife), CIRCLE (Martine Gutierrez, PSNY), Untitled: The Black Act (Kia LaBeija, PSNY), and Madame Lynch (The Drunkard’s Wife). She is a 2021 recipient of Opera America's Robert L.B. Tobin Director-Designer Prize. Her upcoming project TRAFFIC will be presented in the 2022 Exponential Festival. Christinaftang.com
Victor Vazquez, CSA (Casting Director) (he/him) is the founder and lead Casting Director of X Casting (www.xcastingnyc.com), and sits on the national board of the Casting Society of America. He is the proud son of Mexican immigrants. Victor gives thanks to the land this theatre and performance is on, the ancestral land of the Lenape Peoples past and present.
Christina M. Woolard (Stage Manager) stage manages for theatre, dance, and live events. Previous credits include Notes on My Mother’s Decline (The Play Company), Passing Through (Goodspeed Musicals), Wilder Gone (Clubbed Thumb), Trainspotting (Brass Jar Productions), Wasted Love (Born Dancing), American Hero, and A Doll’s House, Part 2 (George Street Playhouse). Pandemic activities include stitching PPE with the Broadway Relief Project. Proud AEA member and alumna of Rutgers University. Mom, thank you for all your love.
Jackie Mercer (Assistant Stage Manager) is a theater and opera stage manager who holds her MFA from Rutgers University. For the two years leading up to the pandemic, she was part of the entertainment team for Celebrity Cruise Line and is now back on land full time. Previous credits include Theater: A Christmas Carol (Foxy Film Productions), Bride of the Gulf (Edinburgh Festival Fringe), Vinegar Tom (Rutgers Theater Company with Theater C) Opera: Gianni Schicchi, Candide, La Cenerentola, Street Scene, Don Pasquale, Le Nozze di Figaro (Brevard Music Center) Cosi Fan Tutte (NYU Steinhardt Opera)
Federica Borlenghi (Assistant Director) is an Italian-born multidisciplinary artist based in Brooklyn. Federica is delighted to be collaborating once again with the Bushwick Starr, and in particular, with Kris Thor. Federica’s work has been featured at Lincoln Center Library, Denver Fringe, IATI Theater, Dixon Place, Alchemical Theatre Lab, Our Lady of Pompeii Theater and on Governors Island. She is the curator of colorando, a paint-therapy photography project colorandophotography.com. BFA in Dramatic Arts at the New School (’19). She is a proud Dirty Laundry Theatre and a Rising Sun Performance Company ensemble member, and Italytime Cultural Center’s Production Consultant. federicaborlenghi.com
Tyler Alexander Arnold (Assistant Costume Designer) hails from the South, as a Georgia-born and Texas raised artist. They are a graduate of The Conservatory of Theatre Arts at Webster University, c/o 2017, with a BFA in Costume Design. Shortly after moving to NYC, they were the Playwrights Horizons ‘Van Lier’ Costume Fellow for the 2018-2019 season. They have recently assisted Dede Ayite on “The Last of the Love Letters” at Atlantic Theatre.
Jacqueline Brockel (Assistant Scenic Designer) (@jbroc.jbroc.jbroc) is Thingly with objects and paints transmotions. jbroc fabricates and sources matter for short films and theater. She has been an associate set designer on several immersive productions including Remarkable’s Scarlet Night on the Virgin Voyages Cruise with Carolyn Mraz, and Field and Forest on Isabella Rossellini’s farm with Deb O.
Independently, jbroc paints at events and messes with video. She recently created visuals for an opera film, Recital of the Tarot; as well as all of the animations and music videos for Powerlines album ‘all of this is temporary’.
Cameron Farmer (Assistant Lighting Designer) is thrilled to be working on Preparedness with this lovely team. He is a lighting design and directing student in his fourth year at NYU Tisch School of the Arts, finishing up his BFA in Theatre at the Production & Design Studio with plans to graduate in May of 2022. Past training at the Playwrights Horizons Theater School. Recent lighting credits include The Lower Depths (Tisch Drama Stage) and Sentenced to this Vessel. He is a southern California native whose favorite hobbies are surfing and sandwich-crafting. Special thanks to mom and dad for absolutely everything!
Samy Ravs (Assistant Sound Designer) is a sound engineer and some-time designer based in the Bronx. When he's not assisting with productions across the Tri-state area, he is live-mixing for NYC night-life and DJing for his friends.
Erica Zippel Schnitzer (Production Manager) (she/her) is a Brooklyn-based Theater Maker. Select credits include Fandango for Butterflies and Coyotes by Andrea Thome (EnGarde Arts), Plastic Bag Store by Robin Frohardt (Pomegranate Arts), Open Call (The Shed), A Dozen Dreams (EnGarde Arts), The Great Hunger by Kallan Dana (The Tank), Playdate by Kallan Dana (Dixon Place), What The Constitution Means to Me by Heidi Schreck (NYTW), The Recipe By Kristin Worrall (The Momentary), Black Light by Daniel Alexander Jones (The Public), and Mile Long Opera (The Office Arts). For upcoming projects and additional credits go to ericaschnitzer.com.
HERE (Presenting Partner) From our home in Lower Manhattan, HERE builds an inclusive community that nurtures artists of all backgrounds as they disrupt conventional expectations to create innovative performances in theatre, dance, music, puppetry, media, and visual art. By providing these genre-blending artists with an adaptive, flexible home for developing and producing their work, we share a range of perspectives reflective of the complexity of our city. HERE welcomes curious audiences to witness groundbreaking performances, responsive to the world in which we live, at free and affordable prices.
HERE strives to create an equitable, diverse, and inclusive home in which all people have fair access to the resources they need to realize their visions. We acknowledge structural inequities that exclude individuals and communities from opportunities based on race, gender, disability, sexual orientation, class, age, and geography, and seek to counter those inequities in our work. Through mindful actions on sustainability and regenerative practices, we work toward climate justice, and a safe, livable planet for present and future artmakers and audiences.
SPECIAL THANKS:
Kristin Marting, Meredith Lynsey Schade, Amanda Szeglowski + the entire HERE team; Alison Schilling, Zachary Schnitzer, Remix market Team, Materials for the arts, Kathe Mull (the Queen), Yasmin Santana, Rodrigo Fisher, Danielle Vilella, Luiz Duzinferno, Tatsiana Korzun, Diana & Sofia Starbucks team! Abby Strange, John del Gaudio, Lee Eskin, and Lucy Jackson. Madani Younis, Annabel Thompson and Pope Jackson at The Shed.
SUPPORT:
This project received development at Hubbard Hall in Cambridge, NY as part of a new partnership with The Bushwick Starr.
Preparedness is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. Additional support for this project was provided by a PSC-CUNY Award, jointly funded by The Professional Staff Congress and The City University of New York.
Actors' Equity Association (AEA), founded in 1913, represents more than 45,000 actors and stage managers in the United States. Equity seeks to advance, promote and foster the art of live theatre as an essential component of our society. Equity negotiates wages and working conditions, providing a wide range of benefits, including health and pension plans. AEA is a member of the AFL-CIO, and is affiliated with FIA, an international organization of performing arts unions. The Equity emblem is our mark of excellence. www.actorsequity.org
LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:
HERE and The Bushwick Starr pay respect to the Munsee Lenape ancestors past, present, and future. We acknowledge that HERE and PREPAREDNESS are situated on the Lenape island of Manhattan (Mannahatta) and more broadly in Lenapehoking, the Lenape homeland.
Inspired by the words of Adrienne Wong: HERE acknowledges the legacy of colonization embedded within the technology, structures, and ways of thinking we use every day. This production is using equipment and high-speed internet, not available in many Indigenous communities. Even the technologies that are central to much of the art we make leave significant carbon footprints, contributing to changing climates that disproportionately affect Indigenous people worldwide. We invite you to join us in acknowledging all this, as well as our shared responsibility to make good of this time and for each of us to consider our roles in reconciliation, decolonization, and ally-ship.
The Bushwick Starr's 2021-22 season will take place off-site with partner theaters in Manhattan and Brooklyn while we build our new permanent venue in Bushwick, to reopen in early 2023.
We invite you to join the Starr’s Campaign for a Permanent Home and Flourishing Future, and take part in our ambitious vision! Your gift of any size will jump-start our progress and sustain our service to our artists and community.
Choose to make one comprehensive gift upfront, an annual pledge, or even monthly donations, on the schedule that’s right for you. As we take this giant leap towards our future, your gift of any size is a valued contribution to our mission.
With your three-year campaign commitment of $300 or more, you will be invited as our special guest to our grand reopening events, and receive membership benefits for every Starr production from now through 2024 and updates on project milestones along the way. Gifts of $3,000 or more pledged by June 2022 will be honored on the Starr Galaxy donor wall in our new lobby, and other naming opportunities for leadership gifts are available by request.
The Starr accepts donations by credit card or check, as well as wire transfers and gifts of stock. We gratefully welcome corporate donation matches - please include matching form or information with your pledge form.
For more giving options or questions, please email Development Director Lauren Miller at Lauren@TheBushwickStarr.org or call 443-457-3567. We welcome the chance to meet with you on a site visit or virtually over Zoom!
The Bushwick Starr, Inc. is a tax-exempt 501(c)3 organization (EIN 26-4546315)
THANKS TO ALL THE STARRS IN OUR GIVING GALAXY:
Orbiting Starrs (3 year commitments):
Anonymous
Suzie Bolotin & John Rothman
Steve Coats, in memory of Alma Becker
Rachel Chavkin
Michael Contini
Max Dana
Nadine Daniels
Gita Deo
David Herskovits
Caroline Gart and Justin Nestor
Alice & Robin Griffiths
Annie & Charles Kessler
Maxandra & Oliver Kramer
Alia McKee & Tim Walker
Renee McGarry
Sheldon McLeod
Miller Family Legacy Fund
David Miner
David Jeffrey Ringer
Jessica Jelliffe and Jason Craig of Banana Bag & Bodice
Justin Samoy
Elizabeth Sorrell
Jack Trinco
Rachel Viola
Corinne Woods
Shooting Starrs (one time gifts):
Anonymous
Lance Braunstein
Bonnie Davis
Celine Declayre
Zoë Geltman
Allen & Lucas Hubby
John Michael DiResta & Michael Holtzman
Josh Levin
Janet Pines in honor of Sasha Lukashok
Kaitlyn Meade
Anastasia Olowin
Julia Salkin
Sea Change Strategies
Emily Shooltz
Mary Salter and Mel Kendrick
Marc Kirchner
Jeanne Willis
Gary Winter
Workman Publishing
Capital project funding has been provided by generous institutional funders:
Booth Ferris Foundation; Howard Gilman Foundation; Revada Foundation; New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, with the support of Mayor Bill de Blasio, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, and New York City Council Members Darma Diaz and Antonio Reynoso; New York State Council on the Arts, with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature
2021-22 season funding has been provided by generous institutional funders:
Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; Faro Foundation; Helen Clay Frick Foundation, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, with the support of Mayor Bill de Blasio and New York City Council; New York State Council on the Arts, with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature; Revada Foundation; Seth Sprague Educational & Charitable Trust; Venturous Theater Fund of the Tides Foundation
The Starr Campaign Committee:
Elizabeth Sorrell (chair), Michael Contini, Rachel Chavkin, Max Dana, Denise Dickens