Evelyn Perez and Eli Burgos in The Runaround at Housing Works Bookstore Cafe, 2018.
theatre of the oppressed nyc (2012-2020)
Through partnerships with social service organizations, advocacy groups, and city agencies, Theatre of the Oppressed NYC (TONYC) creates theatre troupes with New Yorkers who face pressing social, economic, health, and human rights issues. As a Joker, I work with troupes to create and perform plays based on their real life struggles, and facilitate theatrical brainstorming (or Forum Theatre) to spark creative change on the individual, interpersonal, and institutional levels. Recent partners have included Housing Works, Youth Organizing to Save Our Streets, the Center for Alternative Sentencing and Employment Services (CASES), and Harlem Justice Corps.
Wyckham Avery and J. Argyl Plath in Beertown at 59E59 Theaters, 2014.
beertown (2011-2014)
As part of the ensemble dog & pony dc, I was one of the creators of Beertown, the first collaboratively devised work to be nominated for the Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding New Play. Since 2011, Beertown has been produced in Washington, DC, Maryland, New York, Omaha, Cincinnati, and Raleigh, and returns to DC this fall. I joined the cast for the Off-Broadway run at 59E59 Theaters in 2014.
Beertown explores the relationship between individuals, community and memory. Every five years, Beertown celebrates its Quinquennial Time Capsule Day: citizens vote new artifacts into the capsule, and vote out others. Starting with a pre-show potluck, audience members are all Beertonians: they eat, chat, debate, and vote.
Kristen Parker and Gianmarco Soresi in <50%, 2014.
<50% (2014)
I directed the world premiere of <50%, written by and starring Gianmarco Soresi (better known as "Owen" from those GE commercials) in the New York International Fringe Festival and Fringe Encores! series.
"It's a look at every side of love in the Facebook era, while remaining funny and alive as the audience goes into hysterics again and again. Poignant, interestingly unconventional, witty, and all-around fascinating and funny, <50% packs a new kind of punch. Bravo." (BroadwayWorld)
"Though the play is billed in its press release as 'Annie Hall' meets 'Inception'...in practice, it feels more like Netflix's rom-com library sucked through the brain of Charlie Kaufman, a direct descendant of the Ouroboros-like structure of 'Adaptation,' in which a neurotic creator engages us in the process of his creation." (ARTINFO)
"Director Max Freedman helps weave all these different elements together into a wonderful theatrical tapestry. The fact that it flows as one continuous arc is a tribute to Freedman's directorial skills with comedy." (Six Perfections)
"Fringe NYC has a crowd-pleaser on its hands in the comedic new work <50% by Gianmarco Soresi, and if I were a betting woman, I would give this production excellent odds for a bright future for both the piece and its talented team." (nytheaternow)