News & Events

Independent Study Project Lab – Spring 2025

An evening of bold new works-in-progress, where emerging artists bring their creative visions to life, led by instructor Snezhana Chernova

Independent Study Project Lab – Spring 2025
Tuesday, June 3 at 7PM
HB Playwrights Theatre | 124 Bank Street
Pay-What-You-Wish, $30 Recommended

Join us for an evening of original works-in-progress developed in the Independent Study Project Lab under the guidance of educator Snezhana Chernova. This showcase highlights emerging artists as they experiment, refine, and present their independent projects—offering a glimpse into their creative processes.

Featuring performances by Anna Delova, Natsumi Hashimoto, Gracia Imboden, Tatiana Korinfsky, Hana Roh, Juanita Santafe Sabogal, Sara Velasco, and Luise von Finckh, the evening promises a dynamic range of theatrical explorations.

Be part of this inspiring night of artistry, discovery, and innovation. Reserve your seat and support these artists as they bring their visions to life!

Snezhana Chernova will also be teaching a Summer Term Independent Study Project Lab (6/4 – 8/25) – apply here

Storyweaving Workshop Performance with Spiderwoman Theater

HB presents Storyweaving Workshop Performance with Spiderwoman Theater at HB Playwrights Theatre Friday, May 16 & Saturday, May 17!

Storyweaving Workshop Performance with Spiderwoman Theater
In Association with Aanmitaagzi
Friday, May 16 at 7pm
Saturday, May 17 at 7pm
HB Playwrights Theatre, 124 Bank Street
Pay-What-You-Wish, $30 Recommended

Us / Kistonoon / Maatapiiks / Newe / Hono’ut / Ashkoota / Diné / Ké / Iga^bi / Wicha^sta’bi

The NYC-based Spiderwoman Theater is the oldest continually running Indigenous feminist theater company in the Americas. Activism, self determination and storytelling are at the core of Spiderwoman’s programming, which stands continuously rooted in an urban Indigenous sensibility. Over the past forty-five years, their body of work has addressed critical, cultural, social and political issues through live theater performance and traditional and contemporary storytelling, bridging ancestral cultural practice and Western theater methodology. They call this creative practice “storyweaving,” where personal and traditional stories of the ensemble are intertwined with movement, text, sound, music and visual images. This creative framework serves as a blueprint for all Spiderwoman’s productions, training, and outreach activities.

This storyweaving workshop performance carries many names as it keys into disparate words for “collective” sourced from the Indigenous language of the company’s students. As such, its English title is Us, but it is also properly known as Kistonoon and Maatapiiks (“us” and “people” in Blackfoot), Newe (“the people” in Shoshone), Hono’ut (“all the people” in Arapaho), Ashkoota (“tribe” in Crow), Diné and Ké (“the people” and “us” in Navajo), and Iga^bi and Wicha^sta’bi (“us” and “people” in Stoney Nakoda).

The Spiderwoman creative team includes Muriel Miguel (director), Penny Couchie (choreographer), Imelda Villalon (vocal choreographer), and Louis Mofsie (Indigenous song and dance direction). The performing ensemble includes Eva Brander Blackhawk, Ian King, Darylina Powderface, Gavin Scott, Isaiah Welker, Penny Couchie, and Imelda Villalon. The design team includes Sherry Guppy (scenic design and installation), Sam Biondolillo (lighting designer), and Carter S. King (costume design). The production and administrative team includes Deborah Ratelle (production manager), Melisa Kucevic (stage manager), and Ananya Garg (production assistant). This performance is in association with Aanmitaagzi.

This workshop is made possible by the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs’ Cultural Development Fund, Materials for the Arts, New England Foundation for the Arts

American Scoreboard Workshop Reading – Spring 2025 Showcase

Tonight in the HB Basement Studio, we are excited to host a showcase with the students from American Scoreboard, a Spring Term workshop that explores how the language of our past continues to shape the present, led by instructors Fran Kirmser and Chris Burney

American Scoreboard Workshop Reading – Spring 2025 Showcase
Wednesday, May 14 at 7:30pm
Basement Studio at HB Studio, 120 Bank Street
Pay-What-You-Wish, $30 Recommended

HB Studio is excited to host an open rehearsal and reading with students from American Scoreboard, a Spring Term workshop that explores how the language of our past continues to shape the present. In this special presentation, students will share selected readings from historical Congressional transcripts that resonate with today’s issues, followed by a discussion about process and performance. Conceived and produced by Fran Kirmser and created and produced by Chris Burney, American Scoreboard invites citizens of all backgrounds to engage with the words of our elected officials—and the ongoing impact of their decisions.

Fran Kirmser is a two-time Tony Award-winning producer who began with creating and producing theater in the West Village and recently produced Bob Fosse’s Dancin’ on Broadway. Kirmser co-produced the award-winning August Wilson play Radio Golf, the last play and final chapter in an epic ten-play cycle by Wilson. Kirmser also produced Glengarry Glen Ross starring Al Pacino, and she has earned two Tony Awards for the Broadway revivals of Hair (2008-09) and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf (2013-14). She also served as Executive Producer for the film Lombardi. Kirmser has taught master classes at The New School, New York University, Columbia, Fordham, The Field, and Commercial Theater Institute. Having started out her performing arts career as a young professional dancer and self- produced choreographer, her passion is teaching self-producing and fundraising to emerging artists of all disciplines and helping them to realize their projects to the stage.

Christopher Burney is the Artistic Director of New York Stage and Film. Previously, he was the Tony-nominated Artistic Producer of New York’s Second Stage Theatre. Highlights of the over 100 productions he has shepherded include the 2015 Pulitzer Prize winner Between Riverside and Crazy, 2012 Pulitzer Prize winner Water by the Spoonful, 2010 Pulitzer Prize winner Next to Normal, Dear Evan Hansen, The Last Five Years, and many more. As a champion of emerging artists, he has launched the careers of Rajiv Joseph, Leslye Headland, Michael Golamco, Chisa, Hutchison, Kenneth Lin, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, Brooke Berman, and Adam Bock, among many others. An advocate for the importance of fostering future generations of theater artists and practitioners, he is on faculty at Columbia University where he teaches creative producing. He has lectured at Barnard College, The Einhorn School for the Performing Arts at Primary Stages, The Juilliard School, Bard College, and more.

The performance takes place in the Basement Studio at 120 Bank Street on Wednesday, May 14 at 7:30pm, and tickets are pay-what-you-wish. Come watch a staged reading from Kirmser and Burney’s students – friends, family, and fellow artists are invited to support them as they demonstrate their hard work in a welcoming, educational setting.

This workshop is made possible with the generous support of the Noël Coward Foundation.

Playwriting with José Rivera – Spring 2025 Showcase

On May 10, HB Studio presents our first Spring Showcase event of the term as students from Playwriting with José Rivera share their coursework.

Playwriting with José Rivera – Spring 2025 Showcase
Saturday, May 10 at 7pm
Helen Gallagher Studio Theatre at HB Studio, 120 Bank Street
Pay-What-You-Wish, $30 Recommended

The class, taught by award-winning playwright José Rivera, focuses on the practicality of writing for the theater, leading students through a variety of exercises – crafting monologues, exploring archetypes and dreams, analyzing the building blocks of stories, and more – to build their fundamental knowledge of playwriting. Now, those students will present 10-minute pieces formed during the workshop, featuring work by Yoko Akashi, Tracy Daza, James Edwards, Joey Florez, Kevin Lynch, Juan Jose Mojica, Janet Noh, Mateu Parellada, Fareeda Pasha, Luis Perez, Colin Prato, Devin Shacket, Madison Stranahan, Valerie Trapp, Luise von Finckh, and Melvin Yen at Helen Gallagher Studio Theatre at HB Studio, 120 Bank Street.

HB teacher José Rivera’s 26 full-length plays, including his Obie Award-winning plays Marisol and References to Salvador Dalí Make Me Hot, have been seen nationally and internationally and translated into a dozen languages, while his famous essay “36 Assumptions About Playwriting” is used in playwriting classes nationwide. His screenplay The Motorcycle Diaries was nominated for a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar (making him the first Puerto Rican writer so honored), as well as a BAFTA and WGA Award. Rivera also co-created and produced the TV series Eerie, Indiana and was a staff writer on Penny Dreadful: City of Angles. During the pandemic Rivera wrote all 16 episodes of the TV adaptation of the beloved novel One Hundred Years of Solitude on Netflix.

Under the guidance of Rivera, these students have built a strong foundation for their playwriting journeys. Friends, family, and fellow artists are invited to support them as they demonstrate their hard work in a welcoming, educational setting.

Implicit Memory Systems: A Jungian Farce

On April 26, HB Studio will present a staged reading of David Deblinger’s play Implicit Memory Systems: A Jungian Farce (a LAByrinth Theater Barn Series 2025 selection), directed by Dina Janis, with Francesca Ferrara, Mark Nelson, Marlon Quijije, and Deblinger reading.

David Deblinger‘s Implicit Memory Systems: A Jungian Farce
Saturday, April 26 at 7:00 PM
HB Playwrights Theatre | 124 Bank Street
Pay-What-You-Wish, $30 Recommended

From the mind of David Deblinger, HB Studio instructor and co-founder of LAByrinth Theater Company, comes a story of facing our future by re-embracing our childlike beginnings.

HB Studio is excited to present a staged reading of Deblinger’s Implicit Memory Systems: A Jungian Farce. This continues the work’s development after being chosen for LAByrinth’s 25th Annual Barn Series. This staged reading will be directed by Dina Janis (Artistic Director of the Dorset Theatre Festival, 2010-2023) and Neil Tyrone Pritchard (LAByrinth’s Associate Artistic Director). The evening features performances by Deblinger (Power, Sex and the City), HB faculty member Francesca Ferrara (Mad Men, Grey’s Anatomy, Ugly Betty), Obie Award-winner Mark Nelson (Law and Order, Spin City), and Marlon Quijije (Blue Bloods, Law and Order).

Morris is a family man, but it’s not going so well. He can’t control the triggers that set off his moments of rage. This conflict has ruined his marriage, set a bad example to his son of what a man should be, and left him with a life he no longer thinks is worth living. Marooned and unstable, Morris sets off on a spiritual journey into the ocean of his unconscious, accompanied by two guides who appear in the semblance of his dead parents. Morris wants to let go of his ego and live more in the moment, to better own what he is becoming. His parents, traumatized by their own loss, offer an answer from the beyond: play.

Can pain turn into joy through the simple magic of spontaneous, free, creative playtime? Can fear fuel a way of playing that encourages us to connect, love, and live more fully? Desperate and frightened, Morris prepares to take the biggest risk of his life by simply letting go.

This one-night-only staged reading of a new work from a major American performance company premieres at HB Playwrights Theater with a pay-what-you-wish ticket price. Don’t miss Implicit Memory Systems: A Jungian Farce, live and in-person, on Saturday, April 26 at 7:00pm.

Testimony: Theater as Witness to Our Times

On April 22 at HB Playwrights Theatre, watch actors explore great plays that put American justice on trial, with support from the Noël Coward Foundation.

Tuesday, April 22 at 7:00 PM
HB Playwrights Theatre | 124 Bank Street
Pay-What-You-Wish, $30 Recommended

In observance of HB’s 80th Anniversary, this culminating workshop presentation features plays that fascinated our founder, Herbert Berghof, and in which he appeared.

Excerpts will be presented from Heinar Kipphardt’s In the Matter of J. Robert Oppenheimer, Saul Levitt’s The Andersonville Trial, and Tina Satter’s Is This a Room: Reality Winner Verbatim Transcription. Each student was asked to reflect on what justice means to them—personally or legally—and to find resonance between their perspectives and the anchoring texts. Together, the group examined how testimony can serve as both artistic expression and political inquiry, revealing the structures and systems that shape our times.

This presentation highlights how Kipphardt’s work, in particular, uses testimony as an artistic tool—probing the rhetoric of authority as it collides with independent moral voices and creative minds.

The workshop is led by Tony Award-winning actor and HB Studio Instructor, Frank Wood. Performers include Emily Adler, Rachael Attanasio, Kathleen Files, Moshe Henderson, Justin Masters, and Juan Jose Mojica.

Reserve your seat here!

This project is also made possible by the leadership support of the Noël Coward Foundation. HB Studio and its founders enjoy a special relationship with Noël Coward and the Noël Coward Foundation. This performance is presented in tandem with Christopher Burney and Fran Kirmser’s American Scoreboard: How Did We Get Here? as part of Witness to History: The Testimony Project, a public program initiative examining justice, truth, and the role of testimony in theater.

HB Residency: Pyrrha, The Poet, and Planet Earth

Director/choreographer Mary John Frank presents our first HB Residency Project of Spring Term on April 5 & 6 at 7pm!

About the Project

A live movement-based theater work that explores identity, the traits we inherit, and how we choose to inhabit and care for ourselves and the planet. In Greek mythology, Pyrrha (Pandora’s daughter) survives the flood, unleashed by Zeus and is tasked with repopulating the planet, but in the sci-fi manner of throwing bones and rocks over her shoulder to create new humans. ‘The Poet’ refers to the Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa, who had over 70 heteronyms, each with distinct astrological charts, genders, and writing styles. This project is part of the 2025 HB Rehearsal Space Residency.

Pyrrha, The Poet, and Planet Earth
Saturday, April 5 at 7PM
HB Playwrights Theatre
Pay-What-You-Wish, $30 Recommended

Sunday, April 6 at 7PM
HB Playwrights Theatre
Pay-What-You-Wish, $30 Recommended

About the Artists

Mary John Frank (Director): Mary John Frank is a New York-based director and choreographer whose work combines contemporary dance, digital filmmaking, rhythmic storytelling, and new technologies to inform and uplift audiences. Her projects address injustices with an educational, action-focused approach, encouraging viewers to envision a world where they and their communities can thrive. Her work has been featured at Lincoln Center, the Hammer Museum, Pioneer Works, and the Madrid International Film Festival. She has directed works for New York City Ballet, Disney, and Google, and partnered with organizations like Fós Feminista and Oceanic Global. Frank holds an MFA in Dance from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and has been recognized by Tribeca Film Festival, Google, Panavision among others, for her innovative work in the movement arts, VR and film.

Carlos Johns-Davila (Isadora & Production Support): Carlos Johns Davila is a Peruvian-American composer, electro-acoustic musician and immersive media maker. Inspired by the writings of Antonin Artaud and Wallace Stevens he creates 360º videos to combine dream-like hallucinations at play with reality. He adopted the Moog Theremini as his main instrument to cue visuals and sound by gesture. He began his artistic career at Interlochen Arts Academy and studied composition at Temple University in Philadelphia.

Also featuring the work of Celia Krefter (Lighting Designer), Delon Charlton (Costumer), and dancers Thaleia Dasberg, Payton Johnson, Caitlin Taylor, and Amira Williams.

Behind the Studio Doors: An HB Open House March 15

Curious about HB Studio? Step inside the room where artists train, grow, and connect. Join us for a free-to-attend special event featuring conversations with HB Studio’s distinguished faculty and current students.

Get an inside look at the classes, teaching philosophy, and dynamic artistic community that make HB a home for actors, playwrights, and directors from around the world. Faculty members Snezhana Chernova (The Americans), David Deblinger (co-founder of the Labyrinth Theater Company), Craig Marcarthur Dolezel and Ilse Pfeifer (both certified Fitzmaurice Voicework instructors), and Julissa Roman (We Speak NYC), will share their perspectives on the HB training experience. For those joining internationally via Zoom, Snezhana Chernova will provide insights into resources for international students. Ilse Pfeifer and Julissa Roman will speak on The Uta Hagen Institute and its approach to immersive actor training in the Hagen Core Training and Hagen Summer Intensive programs. Whether you’re considering enrolling in classes or want to better understand the HB philosophy, this is an easy, no-cost opportunity to engage with faculty, hear from students, and ask questions about training at HB Studio.

Join us in person or online and discover what makes HB Studio a space for passionate, disciplined artists.

Behind the Studio Doors: An HB Open House
Saturday, March 15 at 12 pm
HB Playwrights Theatre
Free

Stage Combat Showcase March 18

Join us to observe an Open Class presentation as the students of Stage Combat with Christian Kelly-Sordelet share the techniques they have developed throughout the term. Through collaboration, precision, and practice, these performers have explored the fundamentals of safe and effective stage combat, learning to tell stories through movement while maintaining trust and control. Featuring performances by Angelo Aon, Alice DeCapua, Anna Delova, Mandy Evans, Anna Kaliuzhnaia, Melody Khamphannoulith, Werrdan Khoury, Mio Nakanishi, Sheikh Niloy, Alex Payraud, David Rodriguez, Scott Rogers, and Juanita Santafe Sabogal, this session offers a glimpse into their ongoing training. Under the guidance of Christian Kelly-Sordelet, these students have built a strong foundation in stage combat. Friends, family, and fellow artists are invited to support them as they demonstrate their hard work in a welcoming, educational setting.

Stage Combat Showcase
Tuesday, March 18 at 5 pm
HB Playwrights Theatre
Pay-What-You-Wish, $30 Recommended

Singing Voice 1 with John Bowen – Winter 2025

Singing Voice 1 Showcase
Sunday, March 16 at 2:00 PM
HB Playwrights Theatre
Pay-What-You-Wish, $30 Recommended

Join us for an afternoon of song as the students of Singing Voice 1 with John Bowen take the stage to share their work. Through dedicated study of vocal technique, interpretation, and performance, these emerging artists have explored the fundamentals of singing—connecting breath, tone, and emotional expression to bring songs to life. Featuring performances by Ebenezer Ackon, Sarah Al Yasiri, Kristen Brown, Valentine d’Hauteville, Claire Donnelly, Mia Feng, Jack Haverty, Carolyn McIntyre, Laura Meltzer, Janielle Moye, Toby Nguyen, Fiorella Sandoval, Kamilla Shamsudinova, Michael White, and Claire Wu, this showcase highlights their growth and artistry in vocal performance. Under the expert guidance of John Bowen, these performers have worked to develop confidence, clarity, and authenticity in their singing. Whether you’re a friend, family member, or a lover of musical performance, come support these artists as they step into the spotlight. Reserve your seat now and celebrate an afternoon of music and artistry!