Theatre Mash Up: Plays Against Humanity
6 Plays in 24 Hours
The Playwrights
Tariq Hamami's plays include The Town of No One, The One Percy Ent, Everything Will Be Alright, and Spite. His short play Queen Elizabeth of Factory Fifteen was part of the 2011 Samuel French OOB Festival and his short play Don't Eat Almonds off a Dead Guy has been seen in two installments of TinyRhino with Ugly Rhino Productions. He teaches theatre at Neumann University in Aston, PA and studied playwriting at Columbia University and Kean University. For more information on his work, visitwww.tariqhamami.com.
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Bara Swain's plays and monologues have been performed across the country. in more than 100 venues in 15 states. NYC theatres include the The Barrow Group Theatre Company, Abingdon Theatre Company, Urban Stages, The Samuel French Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival, Artistic New Directions, Project Y Theatre, Kaufmann Theatre, The Gallery Players, Turnip Theatre, and Ego Actus. Give and Take, Beyond a Reasonable Doubt, Critical Care, and Prized Begonias are published in the Smith & Kraus Best Ten-Minute Plays anthologies. Her work is also published by Art Age Press, Applause Books, Original Works Publishing, Meriwether, and JAC Publications. Critical Care, produced on stage and in film, will be featured in the textbook, Creative Writing: A New Introduction (Oxford U. Press). Honors include Heideman Award Finalist, Aboard the Guy V. Molinari; 2013 City Theatre National Award for Short Playwriting for The Hotel Lobbyist; and by special invitation from Burt Reynolds, An Evening With Bara Swain, BRIFT, Jupiter, Florida, directed by Burt Reynolds.
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Megan is a dramaturg and playwright. Sometimes, she performs, if she is offered gluten-free cookies. BA, Kean University. She successfully co-produced her original play "Funeral Food, A Staged Reading" directed by Nj Agwuna with FRIGID New York at Horse Trade in November. Megan currently is working as the Front of House Coordinator for FRIGID Festival and heads Marketing & Literary at FRIGID New York at Horse Trade. She often is found traveling the world with her backpack and Nikon. Follow her misadventures at meganbandelt.com.
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Bret Richard Hoskins
From Brandon, Mississippi and later relocated to Virginia at a young age, Bret Richard Hoskins has written eight full-length plays (A Cold Day in Limbo; The Sex in Greenwich; Duchess of the Mississippi; American Terrorists; Masque of the Macabre; Oddities of Otto’s Obsessions; A Pig-Pen for Stained Skin; and Reparations for the Scarred Skin) and has also written several one-act plays (Moonshine, Marlboros, and Other Southern Things; Gone Fishin’ on a Cloudy Day; The Mouth of the South and the Voice of Reason; Tunes of a Static Songbird; From Here to Kingdom Come; and Roarin’ Down Thunder Road). In 2011, he became a resident playwright for Look at the Fish Theatre, alongside Don Nigro. He received a B.F.A. in Acting from Brooklyn College, and is a proud alumnus of the Governor’s School for the Arts in Norfolk, Virginia. |
Lavinia Roberts is an activist, visual artist, and playwright. She has published over a dozen plays with Heuer Publishing, Meriwether Publishing, Brooklyn Publishers, One Act Play Depot, and others. Her work has been produced with the Subversive Theatre Collective in Buffalo, NY, Stone Soup Theatre in Seattle, Washington, the Los Angeles Women’s Theatre Project, and the Bloomington Playwrights Project, in Bloomington, Indiana, and others. Her full length play, Counting Skunks, won the 2011 Mario Fratti-Fred Newman Political Playwriting Award at the Castillo Theatre in New York City. She was a member of the 2012 Women’s Work Lab at the New Perspective Theatre. Her work has been featured in New York City, at Here Arts Center, Galapagos, Metropolitan Playhouse, the Brick, the Bushwick Starr, the Tank, Dixon Place, with the Sparrow Tree Theatre Company, the Manhattan Repertory Theatre, Theatre for the New City, Secret Theatre, in the Midtown International Theatre Festival, the Thespis Fringe Festival, and others.
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Amy Grossman is a comedic writer originally from New Jersey. She holds a BA in Drama Studies from SUNY Purchase and has stage managed, directed and produced various projects all across the city. Original works include But I Want Him...(SUNY Purchase) The Favor (The Queens Men Theater Company) Head of Household (Rising Sun) She is excited to be working once again with Rising Sun.
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The Directors
Shay Gines graduated from the Actors Training Program at the University of Utah with a dual degree in theatre and marketing. She then made the smartest decision of her life and (despite her father’s wishes) choose to pursue a career in theatre. Since then she has done everything from spackling walls at the Pasadena Playhouse and running follow-spot for the Pioneer Theatre Company to serving as the Artist in Residence for Touchstone Theatre. She has performed in theatres of all sizes from 30 seats to 1,000 across the country, from L.A. to NYC. She is an award winning producer and she was a Founding Member and the Producing Director for Esperance Theatre Company, Managing Director for Emerging Artists Theatre for 5 years. Currently she is the Executive Director of The New York Innovative Theatre Foundation and occasionally a mermaid.
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Kathleen ‘Schlemmer’ Reilly loved acting as a Rising Sun Performance Company member and is thrilled to be returning now as a director. A theater & theology graduate from Whitman College and the University of St. Andrews, Kathleen rediscovered her passion for directing last year when she was fortunate enough to assistant-direct Moon Over Buffalo with Emmy-winning director/producer Roy Steinberg at the ACC. Kathleen still enjoys acting; her last independent film, The Drought, was a finalist in the YouTube Your Film Festival and was screened at the Venice Film Festival among many others. She eagerly anticipates playing Poison Ivy in the web-series, Nightwing: Escalation. You can follow her at www.kathleenreilly.info
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NJ Agwuna (Director) A freelance theater and film director, hailing from the ‘burb’s of central Maryland, NJ is thrilled to be apart of the 24 hour play festival. Performing from a young age, NJ found herself drawn more to the directorial and technical side of theatre. In 2009 she pursued her passion for theatre, at Binghamton University, where she majored in Theatre Directing and Cinema. A recent resident of NYC, some of NJ’s credits include Funeral Food (Director), When Irish Eyes Are Flirting (Director), My Penny (Director), Dracula (Director), Then She Fell (ASM), Roadside Attraction (SM) Amazing Spider-Man 2, Ice Age (Asst Director), Alondra was Here (Stage Manager), Bodega Bay (Asst. Stage Manager), Alice In Wonderland (White Rabbit/ Writer/ Choreographer), Today’s Special, Boardwalk Empire, Elementary, The Following, Punchdrunk’s Sleep No More (Stage Management Sub), and Redhead Randy; Anti-Bullying film. In her spare time she coaches auditioning techniques for young actors, rehearses with her musical Improv troupe, works on devising new pieces, and assists with casting at various casting agencies. . www.njagwuna.com
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Dennis Gleason
With a MFA in Directing from the Actors Studio Drama School here in NYC Dennis is back for his 2nd 24 hour festival with RSPC; earlier directing credits with them include Median Line.....Fears Made Flesh....and An Adult Evening of She'l Silverstein Off Broadway. Director of over 140 plays & musicals in CA & WI & LA & TX & SD & SC he has won 15 Outstanding Director/Production awards. Up next is Immunity at Manhattan Repertory Theatre in February. Dennis is thrilled to be back |
Mia Y. Anderson is excited to be directing her 7th piece with Rising Sun. Previous work included Cravings, I love Homeless People and Games People Play. She recently was part of the New Perspectives New Work Lab where she was resident director and dramaturg for plays that were developed over a 6 month development process. You may like her on Facebook at Miayandersonchannel and check out her website at www.miayandersonchannelcom.
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Tim Errickson (Director) is the Artistic Director of Boomerang Theatre Company. Previous Boomerang credits include directing productions of Hamlet, Fenway, Burning The Old Man (6 NYIT Nominations, including Outstanding Direction), Stoppard Goes Electric, Much Ado about Nothing and As You Like It. Other recent directing credits include The Desk Set for Retro Productions (6 NYIT Nominations including Outstanding Production), Brad Fraser’s Unidentified Human Remains and the True Nature of Love, Racine’s Phaedre, Jamie Pachino’s Famous for Fifteen Years, Michael Weller’s Moonchildren (OOBR Award for Outstanding Production) and Brian Smallwood’s The Wedding Play. His recent play Endless Summer Nights recently premiered with Boomerang in September 2010, and was a “Pick of the Week” by nytheatre.com. Tim has previously developed projects with John Pielmeier, Bill C. Davis and Mike Folie, including the treatment for the feature film script “Places”. He continues work with his band Mother Tortilla recording songs for their upcoming album “Mental Salad”,
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The Actors
Claire Lebowitz is an actor, director and writer happy to be playing with the Rising Sun Performance Company where she has recently participated in their Under Rehearsed reading series. She most recently wrote and directed Bradass87 (www.bradass87theplay.com) a play about WikiLeaks whistleblower Chelsea Manning in readings in NYC and DC and co-directed Judith Sloan's one woman show Yo Miss at Joe's Pub..
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Julia Torres is grateful to Rising Sun Performance Company for having her be a part of this exciting and experimental show. Julia studied Theatre at Hunter College. She has performed in I (heart) Subway, The Vagina Monologues, The Wizard of Oz (Wicked Witch of the West), The Stars are Out Tonight (playwright/Janis Joplin/Cathy), End of the Line (Jessica), Then (Zoe), and The Unwanted (Liz). She has also written a few short plays including, Directions From a Convict and Tattle Tell.
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Clara F. Pagone hails from Italy/Australia and arrived in NYC late 2013 as a SITI Company Inaugural Conservatory Artist to write, direct and act. Pagone is a proud Phoenix Theatre Ensemble Artist and Assistant to the Artistic Director and Outreach Coordinator, and Associate Member for theatre companies GF&CO and Rising Sun Theatre Ensemble. Pagone’s local credits include: performing ‘Cubism’ in This is Not A Theatre’ Company’s A Very Serious Banquet & Staten Island RadioPlay, ‘Kafka’s Gregor’ in Gabriel Barcia-Colombo & Benita de Wit’s The Secret Society of Forbidden Literature NYPL. International& bilingual credits include: performing ‘Mia Rose’ for George Town Penang International Arts Festival Hi It’s Me, ‘Claudia’ in touring Italian Musical Spectacular Spettacolo, ‘Robyn’ in award-winning feature film Johnny Ghost, directing Melbourne-stage-success How To Direct From Inside. Improv credits include: ‘Comedian’ for Mary Fe’ NYU Tisch Google Made Me Do It, ‘Solstice’ in Audra Woloweic’s Socrates Sounding Park. Up next: ‘Nurse’ in Gia Forakis & Co’s Greek Noir O.REX www.clarafrancescapagone.com / cfpagone@gmail.com
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Dante Jayce is a New York based actor who is thrilled to be working with the Rising Sun Performance Company. A stage and screen veteran, Dante was named one of the brightest talents in the 2012 NY International Fringe Festival, and has starred in a statewide Chock full o’ Nuts advertising campaign. He received the inaugural Dante Negro Memorial Award for his theater contributions at Brooklyn College, where he has a Bachelor’s degree. Favorite past theater credits include Bitches (Dench), Cardenio (Melchiore), Nocturnal (Vangelis), Superhero (Leonard), Twelfth Night (Sir Andrew), Autobahn (Man from All Apologies), The Trickeries of Scapin (Geronte), and Occupy Earth (Sgt. Axelrod). Dante appears in the upcoming independent films We Just Met and Heart on a Wire. He thanks everyone for their love and support.
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Miles Butler- is thrilled to be returning with RSP after a zippy run of Dream Exchange. Miles recently appeared as Flute (A Midsummer Night’s Dream) with Boomerang Theatre. DC Theater: Woolly Mammoth, Studio, Folger, Synetic, Kennedy Center, Ford's, Wolf Trap, Olney; International (UK): Cavern Club (Liverpool), Prince's Theatre (Clacton-On-Sea); Favorite Roles: Sir Andrew (Twelfth Night), Posner (History Boys), Chet (Rough Magic), Rudi (Cardenio), Echo-Boom (Pangea); BFA: Brooklyn College; ESU Shakespeare Competition Semi-Finalist; Miles also works in film and television, is a vocalist, and champion swing dancer. Thanks to Akia for this fantastic opportunity. www.MilesButler.com @milesdoesstuff
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Raised in New York City, Chris Sanchez, growing up loved Michael Jackson and he loved dance. He has worked in Europe and Latin America in various performance professions. He was on the radio and part of a boy band in Guatemala, a salsa instructor and GIO in Mexico, a freestyle rapper and b-boy in Germany and a Zumba Instructor in New York. He studied Performing Arts at University of San Francisco, Film and Dance at Huner College, and attended the 1 yr. Acting program at NY Film Academy.
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Leon Morgan is the last of a dying breed: a New York based actor who is actually from New York. Performing in Eric Robertson's Off-Broadway comedy, "Gym Shorts: The Show" and Jan Buttram's powerful,"Lost on the Natchez Trace," Morgan has proven himself to be a versatile actor. Along with credits in Off-Broadway and Regional Theater, he has experience in Television and Film. A graduate of the William Esper Studio, Morgan has had the opportunity to study under the watchful eye of Barbara Marchant. He is an avid runner and a movie buff who spends most of his time studying the work of accomplished actors. Morgan wishes to thank his friends and family for their everlasting support. "Stay hungry, stay Foolish."
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Simoné is very excited to kick off the new year with Rising Sun's Theatre Mash Up! Favorite theatre credits include: Maggie, "Cat On A Hot Tin Roof", Rickie Walters, "A Chorus Line", Samantha, "Bohemian Valentine", and Tracy, "Seascape With Sharks & Dancer", as well as television credits on Comedy Central's "Broad City" and puppeteering for NBC's "Odyssey". "Make following your heart the whole point." www.simoneelizabethbart.com
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Bob Pearlman
Last spring my wife and I retired from teaching after long and rewarding careers. We then sold all of our worldly possessions and moved to Brooklyn. This is my first show in New York. |
Elizabeth Burke is a 2000 graduate of the National Conservatory of Dramatic Arts, DC and since, has performed in TV, film and theatre in DC and New York City. The classics are a favorite genre of hers, and she has been fortunate to have performed leading roles in Macbeth, The Merchant of Venice, Electra. Luckily for her, the most interesting powerful female roles are for women over 30. Elizabeth recently won Best Actor, Manhattan Repertory Theater Spring 2011 One-Act Play Competition for her work in “Weekend Method.” She is thrilled to be working once again with The Rising Sun Performance Company after a 3 year hiatus to work on several political campaigns. Elizabeth also writes a monthly column on the national political scene, “Burke’s Law”, at The Clyde Fitch Report. www.clydefitchreport.com. Visit her website at:www.elizabethburke.com
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Sara Malinowski is an actress/singer/writer pleased to be working with this company for the first time. Currently working with Wynn Handman Studio, she has also studied with London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. For credits, as well as an acting/singing reel, please visitwww.saramalinowski.com. Enjoy the show!
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Heather Zoll is originally from upstate NY and moved to Brooklyn to pursue her career as an actress in 2011. Since then she has gotten her BFA in acting from Brooklyn College, where she was a part of many productions of all shapes and sizes including Miss Julie and The Trestle at Pope Lick Creek. She also spent her summers acting in Gi60, (the international 1 minute play festival) and designing and painting sets for children's theater. Recently she has had the pleasure of being a teaching assistant for the Stage Combat class at Brooklyn College. When not on stage, she works as a personal trainer.
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Joshua Marmer is a New York actor/director and proud of it.Recent Hunter graduate with a BA in Theatre. He has appeared multiple times off Broadway with companies such as Manhattan Theatre Club, Prospect Theater, Vital Theatre, Les Freres Corbusier, and more.
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Maria de Vries is excited to be Mashing Up with Rising Sun! She was last seen in the Aery Theatre Company’s 20/20 Playwright’s Festival. Maria performs regularly at the American Theatre of Actors and nurtures a decidedly non-lucrative love of Greek drama and its prescient theatrical devices. Other credits include Crimes of the Heart (Red Monkey), Bara Swain’s Fool Me Twice (Gallery Players) and the London tour of As You Like It (Oxford Shakespeare). She received an MFA from the University of North Carolina and serves on the board of the Off-Broadway Abingdon Theatre Company. Maria recently wrapped her first independent feature film (Hoboken International Film Festival). Her hair will appear in the upcoming HBO miniseries Show Me a Hero
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Ashleigh Herndon moved to New York to choreograph Cyclops: A Rock Opera for the New York Musical Festival, and subsequently decided to make New York her home. Originally from Myrtle Beach, SC, Ashleigh holds a degree in musical theatre from Catawba College. Performance credits include three national tours with Theatre IV children's theatre (Stone Soup, A Christmas Carol, Thumbelina); Regional: The Lost Colony, Jesus Christ Superstar, Funny Thing Happened...Forum, Cinderella, Where The Wild Things Are, Shakespeare & Love; NYC: Open Rehearsal(Theatre for the New City), NY Jazz Choreography Project. Ashleigh also works as a choreographer with a concentration in historical social dance, credits include: Cyclops (NYMF), Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-long Blog (stage premier Las Vegas), Cynthia (workshop), A Christmas Carol, and Drood.
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Christian Victoria moved to NYC in 2013 to pursue her graduate degree in Acting. She is currently in her 2nd year at the Actors Studio Drama School and will graduate in 2016.
www.christianvallen.com |
Douglas Rossi (John)- has played such major classical roles as Tartuffe, Macbeth, Orlando, Friar Lawrence, Caliban, Launce, Orsino, Brutus, Ford and Hamlet. He's appeared in 75+ NYC stage productions including FringeNYC, Planet Connections (Winner: Best Featured Actor 2011) and MITF (Nominated: Best Supporting Actor 2008) and has 50+ on-camera credits including the title role in the independent feature "Recruiter" (which premiered on both coasts and garnered several awards). Currently re-teaming with director David Toth to co-write/ star in the thriller "Blind Spot". MFA from Alabama Shakespeare Festival, graduate of Second City, longform at PIT and scene study with Austin Pendleton at HB Studio.
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McKenna Cox is a New York based actor who has had the privilege of performing at spaces such as Lincoln Center with Carner and Gregor, Joe's Pub, Abingdon Theatre Company, Urban Stages, and more since arriving in NYC. She studied acting at East Carolina University and her favorite roles include Carol Cutrere in Orpheus Descending, Jane Jones in The Lost Colony, and Judith Canfield in Stagedoor. She is ever so appreciative to her parents, friends and fellow comedians for inspiring and supporting her everyday.
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Danny Blanda is from the Atlanta area. He has been in the New York theatre scene for the past 7 months and has quickly found success. Danny has recently worked with the Heights Players, On Wheels Productions, and Llama Theatre. Danny can be found working at the Drama Book Shop.
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