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Head of Playwriting - Columbia Stages

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new Plays now<br />

2012<br />

<strong>Columbia</strong> university sChool <strong>of</strong> the arts<br />

theatre arts


Allow me to introduce eleven bold, brave playwrights<br />

challenging what it is to make theatre in this new century<br />

both in terms <strong>of</strong> who and what they write about and<br />

the form they choose to write it in.<br />

Don’t look for one kind <strong>of</strong> play, but a collection <strong>of</strong> plays as<br />

diverse as New York itself. And don’t look for one kind<br />

<strong>of</strong> playwright. Think <strong>of</strong> them as an international collective<br />

that’s been meeting up at <strong>Columbia</strong> these past few<br />

years bashing out work driven by passion rather than seeking<br />

to conform to easy definition. They are as diverse as<br />

this list <strong>of</strong> their mentors, chosen by this year’s playwrights<br />

individually, including: David Auburn, Leslie Ayvazian,<br />

Lee Breuer, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, David Grimm, Tina Howe,<br />

Lisa Kron, David Lindsay-Abaire, and Craig Lucas.<br />

We hope you’ll see the work <strong>of</strong> these artists premiering<br />

this spring at the Annex at New York Theatre Workshop<br />

(East 4th Street Theatre).<br />

Chuck Mee, <strong>Head</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Playwriting</strong><br />

<strong>Columbia</strong> University School <strong>of</strong> the Arts<br />

ii


CONTENTS<br />

2 simone marie martelle, Damaged (april 4–7)<br />

3 Kyoung h. Park, Tala (april 8–10)<br />

4 marine sialelli, Looking for Beethoven (april 11–15)<br />

5 tatiana rivera, Finding Damascus (april 12–15)<br />

6 Danny mitarotondo, Orchestra (april 13–17)<br />

7 David rosar stearns, Conversations in the Mermaid Café (april 18–22)<br />

8 Julia may Jonas, Lake Coordination (april 19–22)<br />

9 samantha Chanse, Marian Jean (april 20–24)<br />

10 Caroline Prugh, Betwixt Them Made (april 25–28)<br />

11 lila feinberg, Vertebrae (april 26–28)<br />

12 naïma Kristel Phillips, Birthday Triage (march 7–10)<br />

13 festival Calendar<br />

<strong>Columbia</strong> University School <strong>of</strong> the Arts presents an<br />

annual festival <strong>of</strong> new plays by emerging artists from<br />

the MFA Theatre Arts Program. Taught by a faculty<br />

<strong>of</strong> internationally renowned creators, practitioners,<br />

producers, and scholars, the program provides students<br />

with the foundation for a career in pr<strong>of</strong>essional<br />

theatre, with programs in acting, directing, playwriting,<br />

dramaturgy, stage management, and theatre manage-<br />

ment and producing. Presented annually, these<br />

productions are a laboratory for students’ dramatic<br />

experimentation and a glimpse—for theatre-goers—<br />

<strong>of</strong> what’s next.<br />

New Plays Now is made possible with the generous<br />

donations <strong>of</strong>:<br />

The Howard Stein New Play Fund<br />

The Edward John Noble Foundation<br />

The Katherine and Gilbert Miller Fund<br />

<strong>Columbia</strong> <strong>Stages</strong> is the producing arm <strong>of</strong> the<br />

Oscar Hammerstein II Center for Theatre Studies at<br />

<strong>Columbia</strong> University School <strong>of</strong> the Arts.<br />

Unless otherwise noted, performances are held at<br />

4th Street Theatre<br />

83 East 4th Street<br />

New York, NY 10003<br />

All performances are free and open to the public.<br />

You may make reservations for all events at<br />

www.columbiastages.org.<br />

All photos by Jörg Meyer<br />

1


Fine wine, finger foods, and silly<br />

affairs: this is what occupies the lives<br />

<strong>of</strong> Richard and Kathy as they entertain<br />

friends for their own self-interests.<br />

Meanwhile upstairs, a secret will<br />

fester and grow, threatening to leave<br />

nothing left but stale appetizers.<br />

Wednesday, April 4 at 2:30pm<br />

Thursday, April 5 at 7:30pm<br />

Saturday, April 7 at 7:30pm<br />

2<br />

Damaged<br />

New Plays Now<br />

SimONE mariE marTEllE<br />

Simone loves animals, reading about international<br />

affairs, learning to cook and daydreaming about<br />

traveling. She loves to write plays, movies, books and<br />

articles about the world. As a challenge, she tries<br />

to find a way to incorporate animals, food and her<br />

hometowns in every play she writes.<br />

by simone marie martelle — mentored by DaviD linDsay-abaire<br />

Writer, director, and journalist, Simone Marie Martelle<br />

grew up in Toulouse, France, received her BSc. in<br />

International Relations from the London School <strong>of</strong><br />

Economics. Other work: The Three Bears (SF Fringe<br />

Fest; Kitchen Dog Finalist; Manhattan Rep),<br />

Pro Patria Mori (Manhattan Rep), Adieu My Sunshine<br />

(Outstanding Play Award - Curan Rep; Hovey<br />

Players Summer Shorts), Runs in the Family (Finalist-<br />

Minnesota Short Play Fest 2010), Fugue for the<br />

Condemned (<strong>Columbia</strong> Schapiro), Kill (Kennedy<br />

Center Nominee 2009), Not Figs (13th Street Rep),<br />

The Big Carrot, Café Americain and Leaving Wadena.<br />

Memberships: Dramatist Guild (Student), The<br />

Playwright Center & TCG (Individual Member).<br />

Simone has interned at The New Group, TCG, WOR<br />

710 NewsTalk Radio, Condé Nast Traveler magazine<br />

and Bon Appétit. She currently works as a Staff Writer<br />

& Theatre Columnist at Inside New York and writes<br />

the blog, The Outside Observer (www.the-outsideobserver.com).<br />

After finishing her MFA at <strong>Columbia</strong>,<br />

Simone will spend the upcoming year getting her<br />

second masters in Journalism. For more info about her,<br />

visit www.simonemartelle.com.


KyOuNg H. ParK<br />

Kyoung was born and raised in Santiago, Chile and<br />

moved to New York in 2000. The War on Terror and<br />

9/11 led him to write political plays; he is currently<br />

expanding his artistic discipline to include writing<br />

multi-cultural dialogue and directing interdisciplinary<br />

collaborations for the theatre.<br />

Tala<br />

Written and Directed by Kyoung h. ParK — mentored by lee breuer<br />

Rafael, Natalia, and Daniel are three<br />

actors rehearsing Tala, a play about<br />

Kyoung, a playwright struggling<br />

to direct his play about Pepe and Lupe,<br />

two Chilean lovers who are out on a<br />

date, in the middle <strong>of</strong> a desert in<br />

the island <strong>of</strong> Chiloé. Tala is an absurd<br />

tragicomedy—a surreal collage<br />

<strong>of</strong> satirical sketches based on Samuel<br />

Beckett’s works and letters; poems<br />

written by Chilean poets Pablo Neruda<br />

and Gabriela Mistral; and autobiographical<br />

monologues.<br />

Sunday, April 8 at 7:30 pm<br />

Monday, April 9 at 2:30 pm<br />

Tuesday, April 10 at 7:30 pm<br />

The Mabou Mines Studio at PS 122<br />

150 First Avenue at East 9th Street<br />

Reservations: amanda@pacificbeatcollective.org<br />

Kyoung H. Park is author <strong>of</strong> Sex and Hunger (Access<br />

Theater), disOriented (Theatre C, Princess Grace<br />

Special Projects Grant), Walkabout Yeolha (<strong>Columbia</strong><br />

<strong>Stages</strong>), Heartbreak/India (Soho Theatre attachment),<br />

The Diamond Trade (La MaMa Moves!), and many<br />

short plays including Mina (upcoming publication<br />

in Seven Contemporary Korean Plays from the Korean<br />

Diaspora in the Americas, Duke Univ. Press). His plays<br />

have been presented Off/Off-Broadway by EST, Vital<br />

Theatre, Ma-Yi Theatre, Diverse City, 2G, and the<br />

Royal Court Theatre in London. A UNESCO-Aschberg<br />

Laureate, Kyoung has received the Edward Albee,<br />

Global Arts Village, and Theater <strong>of</strong> the Oppressed<br />

fellowships as well as grants from the Arvon, GK foundation,<br />

and Vermont Studio Center, and he is currently<br />

a Dean’s Fellow at <strong>Columbia</strong> University School <strong>of</strong><br />

the Arts. He is a member <strong>of</strong> the Ma-Yi Writer’s Lab,<br />

EST’s Youngblood, and Soho Theater’s Hub, and<br />

he holds a BFA in dramatic writing from NYU and an<br />

MA in peace and global governance from Kyung Hee<br />

University in Korea. Visit www.kyounghpark.com for<br />

more information.<br />

www.columbiastages.org 3


Hi there. People, I presume?<br />

You’re people, right? Hi.<br />

So. What’s going on in this play?<br />

Excellent question.<br />

This is the center <strong>of</strong> the labyrinth.<br />

Ergo, the center <strong>of</strong> all things.<br />

You know, where God is supposed<br />

to be. But, unfortunately for us,<br />

God’s not here. So we’re going after<br />

the next best thing.<br />

Wednesday April 11 at 2:30pm<br />

Thursday April 12 at 7:30pm<br />

Sunday April 15 at 7:30pm<br />

4<br />

looking for Beethoven<br />

New Plays Now<br />

mariNE SialElli<br />

Size shoe is 8.5. Hates cheese. Recently discovered<br />

the work <strong>of</strong> Haruki Murakami and wonders<br />

how she could ever live without it. Thinks Jiri Kylian<br />

is a genius. Thinks Black Swan is abominable.<br />

Misses the creativity <strong>of</strong> the Ballet Russes very, very<br />

much. Really is the worst person to talk about herself.<br />

by marine sialelli — mentored by leslie ayvazian<br />

Coming from one <strong>of</strong> those small French villages nobody<br />

has ever heard <strong>of</strong>, Marine Sialelli is a playwright, dancer<br />

and choreographer who cannot seem to be able to do<br />

just one thing at a time. Recent credits include Ease on<br />

Down with Hinton Battle at Manhattan Movement &<br />

Arts Center in New York City, and Night Robbery with<br />

RebelYard Theatre Collective in Philadelphia.


TaTiaNa rivEra<br />

If I’m not lost in my art, then I’ll never find my way.<br />

An attempt to figure out when the<br />

hell I broke up with Jesus and<br />

whether or not that decision was<br />

for the best.<br />

The single greatest cause <strong>of</strong> atheism<br />

in the world today is Christians,<br />

who acknowledge Jesus with their lips,<br />

then walk out the door, and deny<br />

Him by their lifestyle. That is what an<br />

unbelieving world simply finds<br />

unbelievable.<br />

—Brennan Manning<br />

Thursday, April 12 at 2:30pm<br />

Saturday, April 14 at 7:30pm<br />

Sunday, April 15 at 2:30pm<br />

Finding Damascus<br />

by tatiana rivera — mentored by Craig luCas<br />

Tatiana Rivera is a sculptor, painter, singer, crafter,<br />

actor, and playwright. Plays include: Both. Sides. Now, or<br />

buttermilk pancakes (Schapiro Studio 2010); But What<br />

Are You Really Saying?, or The Boob Play (13th Street<br />

Rep); Mother Nature (Schapiro Studio); Current Events<br />

B*tch: The Musical! (Schapiro Theater) with David<br />

Rosar Stearns; and The Brain Plays: a series <strong>of</strong> five highly<br />

important topics. Acting credits include: Cabaret, Once<br />

Upon a Mattress; Urinetown; Underground Broadway;<br />

Soldado Razo; Plaza Suite. Artist credits include: puppet<br />

construction for Eleven (Schapiro Theater); and paper<br />

and mosaic work for Birthday Triage (Horace Mann<br />

Theater). She holds a BA in theatre from the University<br />

<strong>of</strong> California, San Diego.<br />

www.columbiastages.org 5


Orchestra is the story <strong>of</strong> the birth,<br />

death, and afterbirth <strong>of</strong> an orchestra <strong>of</strong><br />

musicians and their conductor. Part<br />

Two, performed this April, is the play’s<br />

haunting conclusion: the final live<br />

interview with the broken-down conductor<br />

at the end <strong>of</strong> life, reconstructing<br />

hope. The entirety <strong>of</strong> Orchestra will<br />

be performed this June.<br />

Friday, April 13 at 7:30pm<br />

Saturday, April 14 at 2:30pm<br />

Tuesday April 17 at 2:30pm<br />

6<br />

Orchestra<br />

New Plays Now<br />

DaNNy miTarOTONDO<br />

Danny was born in a crummy New Jersey town.<br />

As a kid, the American Dream was a real thing, not a<br />

concept. He wanted to be like Teddy Roosevelt.<br />

As soon as he could, he ran to New York to manifest<br />

destiny - like Teddy.<br />

Nine years strong, Danny is a New Yorker. He still<br />

believes in the American Dream. It’s just becoming a<br />

different America with a different dream. He hopes.<br />

by Danny mitarotonDo — mentored by DaviD Wiener<br />

Danny Mitarotondo is the founder and former artistic<br />

director <strong>of</strong> The Common Tongue, Inc. (TCT). Together<br />

with Edward Albee he produced and directed a re-<br />

analysis <strong>of</strong> Albee’s All Over at the Linda Gross Theater<br />

starring Marian Seldes and Kathleen Butler. Danny has<br />

also produced world-premiere plays by Lucy Thurber<br />

and Wendy Macleod at the Ars Nova Building, a<br />

play by award-winning writer Tom Cudworth at the<br />

Elephant in Los Angeles, as well as his own play What<br />

The Sparrow Said (dir. Jenna Worsham) in the New York<br />

International Fringe Festival. The original one-act <strong>of</strong><br />

Sparrow was produced in Hanoi last summer and will<br />

be produced again in Romania this spring (dir. Shannon<br />

Fillion). Danny’s plays have been produced and developed<br />

at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, the Ars<br />

Nova Building, Theater for the New City, and Teatro<br />

Circulo. Danny is an Associate Teacher <strong>of</strong> Fitzmaurice<br />

Voicework®, an Edward F. Albee Writing Fellow, a<br />

Byrdcliffe artist in residence, and a graduate <strong>of</strong> the<br />

Atlantic Acting School and New York University. He is<br />

grateful to everyone who has believed in, supported,<br />

and collaborated with him—especially, mom.


DaviD rOSar STEarNS<br />

I am inspired by music, finding the stories inside the<br />

lyrics. I love all forms <strong>of</strong> theatre, but don’t always<br />

attend; I believe you have to be truly self oriented to be<br />

a writer. In my life I have had to write to survive and I<br />

survived because I write.<br />

Conversations in the mermaid Café<br />

by DaviD rosar stearns — mentored by DaviD grimm<br />

Ben returns to his late mother’s café<br />

to settle her modest estate, but things<br />

aren’t as simple as he thought they’d<br />

be. He comes to learn that the past<br />

is not always what we saw it as and<br />

the future path we think is the right<br />

one is not always the best for us.<br />

Wednesday, April 18 at 2:30pm<br />

Thursday, April 19 at 7:30pm<br />

Sunday April 22 at 7:30pm<br />

David Rosar Stearns, originally from Buffalo, received<br />

his Bachelors in theatre from the University <strong>of</strong> Buffalo<br />

after which he moved to New York City. He worked for<br />

several years in all forms <strong>of</strong> theatre from directing<br />

to acting. Some <strong>of</strong> the companies he had the privilege<br />

<strong>of</strong> working with include Theater Breaking through<br />

Barriers, The Living Theater, The Bull, New Georges and<br />

the 13th Street Repertory Company. After graduation<br />

his plans include starting a nonpr<strong>of</strong>it theatre company<br />

for physically and financially challenged children.<br />

www.columbiastages.org 7


When Linda <strong>of</strong>fers shelter to homeless,<br />

hideous Annabelle, she fails to realize<br />

how the act will disrupt her retirement,<br />

her family, and her conceptions<br />

<strong>of</strong> herself as a kind, giving person. A<br />

play about the effects <strong>of</strong> the economy,<br />

the search for authenticity, strip clubs,<br />

book clubs, push-ups, and burqas,<br />

Lake Coordination examines the limits<br />

<strong>of</strong> compassion and asks, what is it<br />

we need from those whom we help?<br />

Thursday, April 19 at 2:30pm<br />

Saturday, April 21 at 7:30pm<br />

Sunday, April 22 at 2:30pm<br />

8<br />

lake Coordination<br />

New Plays Now<br />

Julia may JONaS<br />

I am interested in creating a unique idiom <strong>of</strong> theatre<br />

that is insightful and enthralling.<br />

I am interested in how one comes to impose order<br />

on her personal universe now that faith is not a<br />

mandate, but a choice.<br />

I try to make the work I want to see.<br />

by Julia may Jonas — mentored by tina hoWe<br />

Julia May Jonas has shown plays at venues throughout<br />

New York including the Ontological-Hysteric Incubator,<br />

PS 122, La MaMa, HERE Arts Center, Galapagos,<br />

BRIC, The Bushwick Starr, and University Settlement.<br />

Her solo show, Take Heart, the tragic tale <strong>of</strong> a child liar<br />

and her downfall, premiered at PS 122 in 2008. Her play<br />

For Artists Only premiered at the Ontological Hysteric<br />

Theater in 2009; it was called “Highbrow/Brilliant”<br />

by New York magazine and was a Backstage “Critics<br />

Pick.” Other full-length plays include No One is Excused<br />

from the Trouble <strong>of</strong> Living, The Penitent Hours, and<br />

Ugly Thing. Her short play Empire Today was published<br />

in The Brooklyn Review in 2009, and The Hanoi<br />

International Theater Society in Vietnam recently<br />

performed her one-act Somewhere in the Middle with<br />

Reciprocal Interest. Her 2007 play, School Days, was a<br />

semi-finalist for the Princess Grace Award and she was<br />

recently named a finalist for the 2011-12 Clubbed Thumb<br />

Biennial Commission. She is the artistic director <strong>of</strong> the<br />

company Nellie Tinder, which she founded<br />

in 2005 (www.nellietinder.org). With Nellie Tinder,<br />

her deconstructed musical, Evelyn, premiered at the<br />

Bushwick Starr in February <strong>of</strong> 2012. At <strong>Columbia</strong>,<br />

she is a recipient <strong>of</strong> the Liberace Scholarship and the<br />

Theatre Arts Fellowship.


SamaNTHa CHaNSE<br />

I’m drawn to the gray areas, contradictions, and<br />

under-esteemed spaces and people. I make theatre<br />

to explore, question, and connect with these underrepresented<br />

worlds.<br />

marian Jean<br />

by samantha Chanse — mentored by lisa Kron<br />

Benji Zhang is seeking refuge from<br />

her pr<strong>of</strong>essional and personal failures<br />

on the green pastures <strong>of</strong> her grandmother’s<br />

retired dairy farm. But can<br />

she find any peace when mysterious<br />

events arrive around the anniversary<br />

<strong>of</strong> a childhood friend’s suicide?<br />

And why does it seem like the cows<br />

keep staring at her? Marian Jean is<br />

a play that questions what we believe,<br />

and how or why we continue.<br />

Friday, April 20 at 7:30pm<br />

Saturday, April 21 at 2:30pm<br />

Tuesday, April 24 at 2:30pm<br />

Samantha Chanse’s plays and performances have been<br />

presented with Ars Nova’s ANT Fest, Ma-Yi Theatre<br />

Company, Second Generation, FringeNYC, The Marsh,<br />

PlayGround in Residence at Berkeley Repertory<br />

Theater, Bowery Poetry Club, Kearny Street Workshop,<br />

Bindlestiff Studio, and other nonpr<strong>of</strong>it art spaces &<br />

dimly-lit bars. A member playwright <strong>of</strong> the Ma-Yi<br />

Writers Lab, she is the recipient <strong>of</strong> an Individual Artist<br />

Commission from the San Francisco Arts Commission,<br />

an Artist In Motion residency from Footloose/Shotwell<br />

Studio, and an Emerging Artists Residency from<br />

T<strong>of</strong>te Lake Center. She wrote and performed in two<br />

short films, Terra Cotta and Asian American Jesus, which<br />

have screened at film festivals nationally and internationally.<br />

Sam also teaches undergraduate writing at<br />

<strong>Columbia</strong> University, co-runs a bicoastal multidisciplinary<br />

artist salon called Laundry Party, and hosts an<br />

irregular podcast on WHFR.org. She served for a number<br />

<strong>of</strong> years as the artistic director <strong>of</strong> San Franciscobased<br />

arts nonpr<strong>of</strong>it Kearny Street Workshop, and as<br />

co-director <strong>of</strong> Locus Arts. Her first solo play, Lydia’s<br />

Funeral Video, is forthcoming from Kaya Press. For more<br />

information, please visit www.samanthachanse.com.<br />

www.columbiastages.org 9


Summer 2011. Harrison Towers,<br />

Prospect Heights, Brooklyn.<br />

Two couples; one straight, one lesbian;<br />

early-mid thirties, no kids…yet. Driven<br />

by the desire to cook the perfect<br />

dinner and figure out life’s next chapter,<br />

Betwixt Them Made is a play<br />

about marriage and the boundaries <strong>of</strong><br />

friendships, both new and old.<br />

Wednesday, April 25 at 2:30pm<br />

Thursday, April 26 at 7:30pm<br />

Saturday, April 28 at 7:30pm<br />

10<br />

Betwixt Them made<br />

New Plays Now<br />

CarOliNE PrugH<br />

Caroline’s tastes are eclectic, from Broadway to BAM.<br />

To her a successful collaboration is one where<br />

everyone (including the playwright) strives to keep the<br />

interests <strong>of</strong> the play above all else. And remembers<br />

the audience.<br />

by Caroline Prugh — mentored by DaviD auburn<br />

Caroline Prugh is a playwright and songwriter. Plays<br />

include The Story About Penelope and Steven that<br />

Veronica Told, estate, At Daybreak, Highway Blue, Clear<br />

Cold Place, Night at the Big Chief Motel as well as<br />

the one acts Go Back, Terminal, Wonder Full, Motel<br />

Blue and Western Blue; and the dance/theatre pieces<br />

FAuLT LiNES and Evyproo’s Barbie-Q. Her short play<br />

Good Christian Wife was adapted for film by director<br />

Min Ding (<strong>Columbia</strong> University). Her work has been<br />

produced and/or developed in New York by Rattlestick<br />

Playwrights Theater, Royal Family Productions,<br />

Babel Theater Company, La MaMa Etc., Vital Theater,<br />

Captiva Arts, Random Access Theater, and Manhattan<br />

Shakespeare Project; regionally by Theater Offensive<br />

(Boston); and internationally by Nous Theater<br />

Productions (The Netherlands). Highway Blue was<br />

commissioned by Manhattan Shakespeare Project<br />

after a one-act version won their 2010 Emerging<br />

Female Playwrights Festival. Her play Night at the Big<br />

Chief Motel was a semi-finalist for both the 2010<br />

O’Neill Theater Conference and the Lark Playwrights’<br />

Week. A graduate <strong>of</strong> Amherst College, before<br />

attending <strong>Columbia</strong>, she worked eleven years at Stuart<br />

Thompson Productions.


lila FEiNBErg<br />

It is the rocky topography <strong>of</strong> human relationships that<br />

intrigues Lila Feinberg. Many <strong>of</strong> her dark comedies<br />

are inspired by her changing address: an all-girl’s dorm;<br />

the room <strong>of</strong> a deceased teen; and presently, hospital<br />

housing for surgical residents. Her plays are like maps,<br />

finding the point where love, language, and locality<br />

intersect.<br />

When a group <strong>of</strong> former medical<br />

school friends reunite during Hurricane<br />

Irene weekend, the premature death<br />

<strong>of</strong> one <strong>of</strong> their classmates is brought<br />

into question. The search for answers<br />

forces each <strong>of</strong> them to examine the<br />

choices they’ve made, in the operating<br />

room and in the bedroom. Vertebrae<br />

takes a darkly comic look at commitment—in<br />

the face <strong>of</strong> engagement<br />

rings and Rx pads—when one mistake<br />

can have catastrophic results.<br />

Thursday April 26 at 2:30pm<br />

Friday April 27 at 7:30pm<br />

Saturday, April 28 at 2:30pm<br />

vertebrae<br />

by lila feinberg — mentored by Craig luCas<br />

Lila Feinberg is a playwright, screenwriter, and actress.<br />

Last summer, her commissioned play Night Float<br />

premiered at Playwrights Horizon’s Peter J. Sharp<br />

Theater, a process that was featured in the Wall Street<br />

Journal and the documentary Medicine As a Relational<br />

Act. Recent readings include: Monkey Bowl (Manhattan<br />

Theater Club studio); Heirloom (“Audience Award”<br />

at the Emerging Female Playwrights Voices Fest); Burnt<br />

Orange (Miller Theatre); The Stone Fidelity (mentored<br />

by Joe Kraemer and Julia Jordan); and an upcoming<br />

piece in The Flea’s Serials. An excerpt from her<br />

play Perched (Cherry Lane Studio) was published in<br />

the anthology What We Brought Back. She is last year’s<br />

recipient <strong>of</strong> the Gatsby Charitable Fund Grant and<br />

the Interdisciplinary Arts Council Grant. Currently,<br />

she is developing an adaptation for a film production<br />

company in LA, and a TV pilot. As an actress, she<br />

studied with the Moscow Art Theater, and performed<br />

new work at Primary <strong>Stages</strong>, Cherry Lane, 92nd St Y,<br />

and Symphony Space. She graduated summa cum<br />

laude from Barnard College.<br />

www.columbiastages.org 11


Presented in March as part <strong>of</strong> this<br />

year’s festival <strong>of</strong> directing theses,<br />

Birthday Triage is an interactive, multimedia<br />

performance in which the<br />

audience accompanies four characters<br />

on their personal journeys as their<br />

birthday worlds collapse and unveil<br />

their mythological dna. Four plays<br />

weave in and out <strong>of</strong> each other like dna<br />

strands as audience members<br />

glimpse into the shattered pieces <strong>of</strong><br />

the characters’ lives.<br />

March 7–10, 2012<br />

Horace Mann Theatre<br />

Broadway between 120th and 121st streets<br />

12<br />

Birthday Triage<br />

New Plays Now<br />

Naïma KriSTEl PHilliPS<br />

To Naïma, theatre is about shaking the ground, making<br />

vibrations and being awed. It’s about portraying human<br />

existence, with equality among cultures, ethnicities<br />

and faiths. It’s about our sufferings and rejoicings,<br />

fantasies and fears. It’s about our need to be together…<br />

brief moments that last forever.<br />

by naïma Kristel PhilliPs — Directed by simón aDinia hanuKai<br />

Born and raised in Montreal, Canada, Naïma Kristel<br />

Phillips studied classical ballet before training as a<br />

performance artist at the Centre International des Arts<br />

de la Scène. She then moved to Paris for two years<br />

to practice voice performance and choreographic<br />

theatre with Enrique Pardo, Linda Wise, and the late<br />

Elizabeth Mayer at Pantheatre ACTS and the Roy Hart<br />

International Centre (Cévennes, France). Her playwriting<br />

credits include a main-stage production <strong>of</strong> her<br />

full-length Night Spell (Nextfest, Edmonton, Alberta)<br />

and My Artichoke Heart, a devised play (Dream Up<br />

Festival, Theater for the New City). Projects at<br />

<strong>Columbia</strong> include an anti-reading, installation <strong>of</strong> Time<br />

Suites: Camille and Rodin, and workshop presentations<br />

<strong>of</strong> 6 Variations in a Single Flutter, Murder <strong>of</strong> the Oak/<br />

Reed and a reading <strong>of</strong> There Hangs the Knife. Naïma is<br />

currently writing a play for young audiences commissioned<br />

by the Black Theatre Workshop (Montreal,<br />

Quebec). She is a recipient <strong>of</strong> the 2010 Gloria Mitchell-<br />

Aleong Award and the Shubert Presidential Fellowship.<br />

Naïma is grateful to all those who made it possible for<br />

her to be here and feels honored to have been<br />

surrounded by such a thriving community <strong>of</strong> artists.


1 Sunday<br />

3 Tuesday<br />

WEEK 1 WEEK 2<br />

2 Monday<br />

Kick-Off Celebration<br />

Information at<br />

arts.columbia.edu/theatre<br />

4 Wednesday<br />

2:30pm<br />

Damaged, Martelle, p.2<br />

5 Thursday<br />

7:30pm<br />

Damaged, Martelle, p.2<br />

6 Friday<br />

7 Saturday<br />

7:30pm<br />

Damaged, Martelle, p.2<br />

8 Sunday<br />

7:30pm<br />

Tala*, Park, p.3<br />

9 Monday<br />

2:30pm<br />

Tala*, Park, p.3<br />

10 Tuesday<br />

2:30pm<br />

Tala*, Park, p.3<br />

11 Wednesday<br />

2:30pm<br />

Looking for Beethoven,<br />

Sialelli, p.4<br />

Unless otherwise noted, performances are held at 4th Street<br />

Theatre, 83 East 4th Street, New York, NY 10003.<br />

*Please note that performances <strong>of</strong> Tala are held at<br />

PS 122; see page 3 for details.<br />

Festival Calendar<br />

12 Thursday<br />

2:30pm<br />

Finding Damascus, Rivera, p.5<br />

7:30pm<br />

Looking for Beethoven,<br />

Sialelli, p.4<br />

13 Friday<br />

7:30pm<br />

Orchestra, Mitarotondo, p.6<br />

14 Saturday<br />

2:30pm<br />

Orchestra, Mitarotondo p.6<br />

7:30pm<br />

Finding Damascus, Rivera p.5<br />

WEEK 3 WEEK 4<br />

15 Sunday<br />

2:30pm<br />

Finding Damascus, Rivera, p.5<br />

7:30pm<br />

Looking for Beethoven,<br />

Sialelli, p.4<br />

16 Monday<br />

17 Tuesday<br />

2:30pm<br />

Orchestra, Mitarotondo, p.6<br />

18 Wednesday<br />

2:30pm<br />

Conversations in the Mermaid<br />

Café, Stearns, p.7<br />

19 Thursday<br />

2:30pm<br />

Lake Coordination, Jonas, p.8<br />

7:30pm<br />

Conversations in the Mermaid<br />

Café, Stearns, p.7<br />

20 Friday<br />

7:30pm<br />

Marian Jean, Chanse, p.9<br />

21 Saturday<br />

2:30pm<br />

Marian Jean, Chanse, p.9<br />

7:30pm<br />

Lake Coordination, Jonas, p.8<br />

23 Monday<br />

25 Wednesday<br />

2:30pm<br />

Betwixt Them Made,<br />

Prugh, p.10<br />

All performances are free and open to the public.<br />

You may make reservations for all events at<br />

www.columbiastages.org.<br />

22 Sunday<br />

2:30pm<br />

Lake Coordination, Jonas, p.8<br />

7:30pm<br />

Conversations in the Mermaid<br />

Café, Stearns, p.7<br />

24 Tuesday<br />

2:30pm<br />

Marian Jean, Chanse, p.9<br />

26 Thursday<br />

2:30pm<br />

Vertebrae, Feinberg, p.11<br />

7:30pm<br />

Betwixt Them Made,<br />

Prugh, p.10<br />

27 Friday<br />

7:30pm<br />

Vertebrae, Feinberg, p.11<br />

28 Saturday<br />

2:30pm<br />

Vertebrae, Feinberg, p.11<br />

7:30pm<br />

Betwixt Them Made,<br />

Prugh, p.10<br />

13


<strong>Columbia</strong> University<br />

School <strong>of</strong> the Arts Theatre Arts Program<br />

2960 Broadway, MC 1807<br />

New York, New York 10027<br />

14<br />

theatre@columbia.edu<br />

arts.columbia.edu/theatre<br />

columbiastages.org<br />

Return Service Requested<br />

NON-PROFIT ORG.<br />

U.S. POSTAGE<br />

PAID<br />

NEW YORK, NY<br />

PERMIT NO. 3593<br />

for tiCKets anD information, Please visit <strong>Columbia</strong>stages.org<br />

follow us on twitter at @custages.<br />

like us on facebook at facebook.com/<strong>Columbia</strong>stages.

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