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People Who Make Theater: The Performing Arts Legacy Project

The Performing Arts Legacy Project at the Actors Fund 
A public talk with Joan Jeffri, Director of the Research Center for Arts and Culture

Monday, June 18, 2018
7:30PM, HB Playwrights Theatre
$5-10 suggested donation | RSVP

THE PERFORMING ARTS LEGACY PROJECT at The Actors Fund (PAL) is an inter-generational project to document and represent performers’ careers aged 62+. Trainers, students and volunteers work to create career timelines, oral histories, video and audio life reviews, capturing memorabilia and experiences, and saving our national legacy. The digital legacies will be housed at an open source archive online, as well as in related performers’ unions and libraries. PAL is being piloted with small cohorts of actors aged 62+ at The Actors Fund and several small theaters around New York City towards a public launch.

Join us to hear about the project from its creator, Joan Jeffri (Director of the Research Center for Arts and Culture) and to see a preview of the online platform.

Also featuring HB Studio’s Craig Dolezel, a PAL Fellow and participant in the project. More speakers TBA!

TRANSGRESSIONS: Six evenings, Six plays-in-process

TRANSGRESSIONS
Six evenings, six plays-in-process: staged readings of new works.

June 26 – July 1, 2018 | 7pm
HB Playwrights Theatre
124 Bank Street, NYC
RSVP

June 26 – LOVE, ROSE by Reneé Flemings
Set during the Age of Jazz, “Love,Rose” is one woman’s story of overcoming challenges of loving who you love and how the truth becomes malleable when race is at the heart of the matter.

June 27 – HARLEM NOCTURNAL EMISSIONS by Arthur W. French, III
Six people’s lives collide while looking at Art at a Museum in Harlem.

June 28 – NIGHT SHADOWS by Lynda Crawford
Russian poet Anna Akhmatova is keeping her promise to tell of the “true twentieth century”—of lives disrupted, her poetry banned, and so many loved ones lost under Stalin’s brutal regime.

June 29 – MR. WAHEEB by David Loughlin
A young black man has been picked-up by Federal agents and taken to an interrogation room in lower Manhattan. He is suspected of being connected to a massive terror strike against the United States. He is young, naive, and very possibly innocent.

June 30 – HOT AND HOLY by Susan Eve Haar
Sex in a coma, a love story.

July 1 – WHAT’S NEXT MAX? A LOVE STORY by William Shuman
For more than fifty years, Max and Maxine shared their lives and more often than not the stage; now comes the hard part.

All shows at 7PM

HB Playwrights Theatre
124 Bank Street, NYC

Featuring plays selected from the 2018 Rehearsal Space Residency Applicants.

CASTING CALL: 2Y20M (Two Years Twenty Minutes) by Catherine Castellani

Synopsis

In 1991 a crew of eight was sealed into Biosphere 2 to conduct the largest closed-system experiment ever devised or attempted. Two years and twenty minutes later they emerged: skinny, triumphant, controversial, celebrated, and maligned. This is one story of their before, during, and after and what it meant for conducting science on a grand scale.

Cast (5 women, 5 men, + stage directions)

  • JANE W, 27, British, sharp, humorous, the youngest crew member
  • ABIGAIL W, mid-30s, American, earnest, intense
  • LINDA W, 40s, American, conscientious, agreeable
  • SIERRA W, 50s, British, no-nonsense, sharp
  • MARGRET W, mid-30s, political, sharp, aggressive, off/on lover of John
  • TABER M, early 30s, man, American, easy-going, confident
  • LASER M, 40s, Belgian, emotional, volatile
  • MARK M, 50s, American, business-like, taciturn
  • ROY M, early 70s, American, affable, unflappable, an MD, the oldest crew member
  • JOHNNY M, 60s, American, the patriarch & founder of the Synergists
  • Stage Directions, any willing reader–aspiring directors welcome

2Y20M is a the recipient of an HB Rehearsal Space Residency, which starts on May 30 and runs through two public readings on July 21 and 22.

You do not need to be available throughout the residency to participate! It’s a large cast and the plan is to cycle through lots of actors in the first month, so come try it out.

If you are interested, please send your picture/bio to Catherine Castellani at cmcastellani @ gmail.com. Thank you!

People Who Make Theater – Tectonic Theater POSTPONED

POSTPONED: PEOPLE WHO MAKE THEATER 
Tectonic Theater (The Laramie Project)
A conversation with Jimmy Maize

Moderated by Pablo Andrade

This event has been postponed until further notice. 

RSVP at hbstudio.eventbrite.com

TECTONIC THEATER PROJECT is an award-winning company whose plays have been performed around the world.  The company is dedicated to developing innovative works that explore theatrical language and form, fostering an artistic dialogue with audiences on the social, political, and human issues that affect us all.  In service to this goal, Tectonic supports readings, workshops, and full theatrical productions, as well as training for students around the country in their play-making techniques.

Tectonic Theater Project was founded in 1991 by Moisés Kaufman and Jeffrey LaHoste. Tectonic refers to the art and science of structure and was chosen to emphasize the company’s interest in construction — how things are made, and how they might be made differently.

Its groundbreaking plays, The Laramie Project, Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde, and I Am My Own Wife among others have sparked national discourse and have inspired artists and audiences worldwide.

BEE – June 2018

Presented in partnership with The LES Shakespeare Company 
BEE
Created & Directed by Melody Erfani
Written by Sean Michael Welch

June 8-9, 15-16, 22-23 | 7pm
June 10, 17, 24 | 3pm
HB Playwrights Theatre
124 Bank Street, New York City

RSVP – Free!

BEE is the story of Izat, a young Iranian girl trapped in an abusive marriage in the 1940s. After years of suffering both physically and mentally at the hands of her spouse she knows the only way she will survive is if she is able to leave him. In an unprecedented move her father is able to use his influence to secure a divorce for her. Moving back and forth in time from 1940 to 2009, the story weaves together Izat’s struggles with her path to a happier life. Based on a true story and inspired by a collection of interviews from Middle Eastern immigrants and refugees.

www.lesshakespeareco.org

Join a Summer Class Today

Registration open until July 3.

Summer Term will run 10 weeks, June 13 – August 22, 2018. (No classes July 4)

BROWSE CLASSES

UNION DISCOUNT:* Industry union members receive 10% OFF Summer Term Classes. Present your membership card in the registration office or email a copy to registration@hbstudio.org.

INTAKE AUDITION / CONSULTATIONS: Interested in our upper level classes? Audition & consult with a panel of HB’s faculty on Friday, July 6 from 4:00 – 6:00 pm. For details and sign up info, visit Auditions & Prerequisites.

REEL SUBMISSIONS: Are you a working professional seeking a place to practice? Submit your reel for placement into our studio practice classes.

*Discounts valid for Studio Classes only; not valid for workshop offerings, full-time programs or merchandise. Discounts cannot be combined nor applied retroactively.

Race, Casting and Representation – A Panel Discussion & Live Podcast

PEOPLE WHO MAKE THEATER

Curated by Peter J. Kuo
Hosted by Peter J. Kuo, Melissa Slaughter, and Alex Chester.
Recorded live for the podcast We’re Not All Ninjas.
Featuring a panel of industry pros, including Annie Henk and Tonilyn Sideco.

Monday, April 30 | 3:30pm | FREE | RSVP
HB Studio, The Speech Room, 3rd Floor, 120 Bank Street

Join us for a panel discussion and live podcast recording about race, casting and representation in the theater, film and TV industry. This will be an intimate roundtable forum, with a Q&A with an invited audience.

Sound Engineering by Alexandra Chludzinska

About the participants: Continue reading →

PEOPLE WHO MAKE THEATER: The Immigrant Arts Coalition- May 7, 2018

A Conversation with Co-Chairs
Ayse Eldek Richardson & Christopher Massimine
Monday, May 7 | 7:30pm
HB Playwrights Theatre, 124 Bank Street
Suggested donation $5-$10
RSVP
The Immigrant Arts Coalition is a network of multi-disciplinary arts organizations and artists united to empower immigrant arts, advocate for diversity and fair representation of all cultures, and celebrate the immigrant arts contributions to American culture. Formed in July 2017, The Immigrant Arts Coalition recognizes the importance and ongoing contribution of artists and arts organizations, who represent America’s diverse cultural mosaic. Members – represented by artists and organizations – will serve as the united front for advocacy, audience development, and work to collaborate with ongoing and continuous shared programs.

Casting Call for GET MINES

“GET MINES” by Frank Delessio
A staged reading in HB Studio’s TRANSGRESSIONS Reading Series.

Schedule: Rehearsals May 1 & 2 with the performance on May 2, 2018.

A pregnant African-American woman is at odds with an envious client. With her livelihood threatened, and her character questioned, she can only hope that those around her see through the lie.

CHARACTER BREAKDOWN:

Kayla (29): African-American. Kayla is very sweet. Someone you can rely on. She’s six months pregnant. She’s a receptionist at a veterinarian clinic.

Niesha (24): African-American. Niesha is very feisty. She’s carefree and careless. She’s been in some trouble before. She is also a receptionist at a veterinarian clinic.

To schedule an audition, submit headshot and resume to Director Patricia Golden at: goldencasting@aol.com