Ira Brind School of Theater Arts 2022–2023

Equinox New Play Festival 2023
Produced by Matthew Bock, Teayra Bowden, Bella Capelli, Alex Dembner, Hayden Eric

Esther's Play About Esther's Play
Written by Amy Chen
Directed by Aidan Schultz
Thursday, February 9, 2023 at 7:30 PM
Sunday, February 12, 2023 at 11:00 AM 

Family Undone
Written by E. Quinn
Directed by Sara Mascelli
Friday, February 10, 2023 at 7:30 PM
Sunday, February 12, 2023 at 12:30 PM

Delivery Boy
Written by Jaden Gines
Directed by Joe Britt-Simpson
Saturday, February 11, 2023 at 7:30 PM 
Sunday, February 12, 2023 at 2:00 PM

CAPLAN STUDIO THEATER

Fit for a Queen
By Betty Shamieh 
Directed by Zaina Yasmin Dana

About

Inspired by the life of Hatshepsut, a woman who ruled as a pharaoh in ancient Egypt, Fit for a Queen follows the story of her rise to power. Under the guidance of Senenmut, her servant turned lover, Queen Hatshepsut must make the tough decisions that will lead her to the throne– but can anyone’s influence be trusted? Full of intrigue, farce, and sexual politics, Fit for a Queen is a tragicomedy of epic proportions.

ARTS BANK THEATER

Thursday, February 23, 2023 at 7:30 PM
Friday, February 24, 2023 at 7:30 PM
Saturday, February 25, 2023 at 2 PM (Masks are required for all audience members at this performance.)
Saturday, February 25, 2023 at 7:30 PM
Sunday, February 26, 2023 at 2 PM

FIT FOR A QUEEN was first produced by the Classical Theatre of Harlem (Ty Jones, Artistic Director; David Roberts, Managing Director) opening on 7 October 2016

FIT FOR A QUEEN is produced by special arrangement with Broadway Play Publishing Inc, NYC www.broadwayplaypub.com

Polyphone

A Festival of New and Emerging Musicals

Presented by the Ira Brind School of Theater Arts at University of the Arts

David Yager, President and CEO, University of the Arts
Kikau Alvaro, Interim Dean, Ira Brind School of Theater Arts
Maggie-Kate Coleman, Artistic Director Polyphone Festival 

NORTON I  

By Giacomo Fizzano

Co-Directed by Maggie-Kate Coleman and Kikau Alvaro

Music Directed by Tom Fosnocht

FringeArts:

Wednesday, April 5, 2023 at 8PM

Friday, April 7, 2023 at 8PM (Masks are required for all audience members at this performance.)

Saturday, April 8, 2023 at 11AM

THE SWEET HEREAFTER

By Daniel Maté

Directed by Kent Nicholson

Music Directed by Kennedy McAlister

FringeArts:

Tuesday, April 4, 2023 at 8PM

Thursday, April 6, 2023 at 8PM (Masks are required for all audience members at this performance.)

Saturday, April 8, 2023 at 5PM

UNTITLED CHERRY ORCHARD MUSICAL 

By Emily Gardner Xu Hall

Directed by Priyanka Shetty

Music Directed by Luke McGinnis

Arts Bank Theater: 

Wednesday, April 5, 2023 at 8PM 

Friday, April 7, 2023 at 8PM (Masks are required for all audience members at this performance.)

Saturday, April 8, 2023 at 2PM

WITS

Book, Music, and Lyrics by C & C Inniss

Directed by Steven Wright

Music Directed by elle.morris

Choreographed by Melanie Cotton

Arts Bank Theater: 

Tuesday, April 4, 2023 at 8PM

Thursday, April 6, 2023 at 8PM (Masks are required for all audience members at this performance.)

Saturday, April 8, 2023 at 8PM

Alchemic Oddities
Curated by Robyn Honabach

Dates and Times: 

Thursday, December 8, 2022 at 7:30 PM

Saturday, December 10, 2022 at 5 PM (Sensory Friendly Performance)

Saturday, December 10, 2022 at 8 PM (Masks are required for all audience members at this performance.)

Act One: A First Year Exhibition

Co-Directed by Ben Dibble & Cory Walker

About:

Manifesting Destinies is a sharing of works developed over the course of the semester by the first year students across majors of the Ira Brind School of Theater Arts.

Dates and Times: 
Friday, December 9, 2022 at 7:30 PM
Saturday, December 10, 2022 at 2 PM (Masks are required for all audience members at this performance.)

Head Over Heels

Songs by The Go-Go's

Based on 'The Arcadia' by Sir Philip Sidney

Conceived and Original Book by Jeff Whitty

Adapted by James Magruder

Directed by Jacob Brent

Produced by special arrangement with Broadway Licensing. (www.broadwaylicensing.com)

Original Broadway Production produced by Christine Russell, Louise Gund, Donovan Leitch, Rick Ferrari, Gwyneth Paltrow, Scott Sigman, Hunter Arnold, Tom Kirdahy,  Jordan Roth

The World Premiere of 'Head Over Heels' took place at Oregon Shakespeare Festival Bill Rauch/Artistic Director; Cynthia Rider/Executive Director

Developed with the support of New York Stage and Film & Vassar's Powerhouse Theater, Summer 2016

About:

HEAD OVER HEELS is the bold new musical comedy from the visionaries that rocked Broadway with Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Avenue Q and Spring Awakening. This laugh-out-loud love story is set to the music of the iconic 1980’s all-female rock band The Go-Go’s, including the hit songs, “We Got the Beat,” “Our Lips Are Sealed,” “Vacation,” Belinda Carlisle’s “Heaven is a Place on Earth” and “Mad About You.”

A hilarious, exuberant celebration of love, HEAD OVER HEELS follows the escapades of a royal family on an outrageous journey to save their beloved kingdom from extinction—only to discover the key to their realm’s survival lies within each of their own hearts.

Dates and Times: 

Friday, November 11, 2022 at 7:30 P.M.

Saturday, November 12, 2022 at 2:00 P.M. (Masks are required for all audience members at this performance.)

Saturday, November 12, 2022 at 7:30 P.M.

Sunday, November 13, 2022 at 2:00 P.M.

Wednesday, November 16, 2022 at 7:30 P.M.

Thursday, November 17, 2022 at 7:30 P.M.

Friday, November 18, 2022 at 7:30 P.M.

Saturday, November 19, 2022 at 2:00 P.M.

Saturday, November 19, 2022 at 7:30 P.M.

Sunday, November 20, 2022 at 2:00 P.M.

Woyzeck (Bentley trans.)

by Georg Büchner

English Version by Eric Bentley

Directed by Roz Cramer

Woyzeck (Bentley trans.)” is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Samuel French, Inc. www.concordtheatricals.com

About: Coming Soon

Dates and Times: 

Friday, October 21, 2022 | 7:30 P.M.

Sunday, October 23, 2022 | 7:30 P.M.

Wednesday, October 26, 2022 | 7:30 P.M.

Saturday, October 29, 2022 | 2:00 P.M. (Masks are required for all audience members at this performance.) 

THE VIDEOTAPING OR MAKING OF ELECTRONIC OR OTHER AUDIO AND/OR VISUAL RECORDINGS OF THIS PRODUCTION AND DISTRIBUTING RECORDINGS OR STREAMS IN ANY MEDIUM, INCLUDING THE INTERNET, IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED, A VIOLATION OF THE AUTHOR(S)’S RIGHTS AND ACTIONABLE UNDER UNITED STATES COPYRIGHT LAW. FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE VISIT: https://concordtheatricals.com/resources/protecting-artists

In The Green

a new musical by Grace McLean

Music, Lyrics & Book by Grace McLean

Directed by Bryant Yamil Gipull Garcia

IN THE GREEN is presented by special arrangement with Broadway Licensing, LLC, servicing the Dramatists Play Service collection. (www.dramatists.com)

Produced by LCT3/Lincoln Center Theater, New York City, 2019

Developed in part at the Johnny Mercer Writers Colony at Goodspeed Musicals.

IN THE GREEN was developed, in part, at SPACE on Ryder Farm.

IN THE GREEN was developed, in part, with assistance from The Orchard Project (Ari Edelson, Artistic Director)

Dates and Times: 

Saturday, October 22, 2022 | 2:00 P.M.  (Masks are required for all audience members at this performance.)               

Tuesday, October 25, 2022 | 8:30 P.M.

Saturday, October 29, 2022 | 7:30 P.M.

Sunday, October 30, 2022 | 2:00 P.M.        

This Beautiful City

Created by The Civilians

Written by Steven Cosson and Jim Lewis

Music and Lyrics by Michael Friedman

Directed by Max Segarnick

THIS BEAUTIFUL CITY is presented by special arrangement with Broadway Licensing, LLC, servicing the Dramatists Play Service collection. (www.dramatists.com)

This Beautiful City was developed from interviews conducted by Emily Ackerman, Marsha Stephanie Blake, Brad Heberlee, Stephen Plunkett, Alison Weller, and the authors.

Commissioned and developed by The Civilians

(Steven Cosson, Artistic Director; Marion Friedman, Managing Director) with the assistance of the Sundance Institute, Colorado College, and Center Theatre Group.

Development supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts and Z-Space Studio, San Francisco, CA.

World Premiere co-produced by the 2008 Humana Festival of New American Plays at Actors Theatre of Louisville and by the Studio Theatre in Washington, DC as part of its 2008 Opening Our Doors Initiative.

This Beautiful City was co-produced by Center Theatre Group, LA, 2008 and Vineyard Theatre, NY, 2009.

About: This Beautiful City by Steve Cosson and Jim Lewis is a show about the city of Colorado Springs and the intersection of the secular and nonsecular. The show takes the audience through the peak of New Life Church’s impact on the city, and the intense aftershocks a devastating scandal has upon the town.

Dates and Times: 

Saturday, October 22, 2022 7:30 P.M.

Sunday, October 23, 2022 2:00 P.M. (Masks are required for all audience members at this performance.) 

Thursday, October 27, 2022 7:30 P.M.

Friday, October 28, 2022 7:30 P.M.      

Everybody

By Branden Jacobs-Jenkins

Directed By Allen Radway

EVERYBODY is presented by special arrangement with Broadway Licensing, LLC, servicing the Dramatists Play Service collection. (www.dramatists.com)

World Premiere produced by Signature Theatre, New York City

(Paige Evans, Artistic Director; Erika Mallin, Executive Director; James Houghton, Founder)

About: 

Spoiler alert: Everybody dies.

But are we ever really ready for Death? Let alone making an account of our lives before the final passage?

MacArthur recipient and Pulitzer Prize finalist Brandon Jacobs-Jenkins poses these questions to five actors – who are selected by lottery to play the title role – in this hilarious contemporary riff on the medieval morality play Everyman. The result is an anarchic and epic journey into the great unknown – every performance.

Everybody offers a metaphysical rhapsody on 21st Century life, which the Ira Brind School of Theater Arts delivers in a fantasia of light, sound, movement, and expression.

So, if we dyin, how we livin?

Content Disclosures: 

TBA

Equinox New Play Festival 2022

Produced By Bryant Yamil Gipull Garcia, Ian Farrell, Sophie Smyczek, Allison Freels

A Little Death By Hallie Malina & Directed by Ava Kepple
Nonmonogamy By Alex Werthauer & Directed by Raina Jackson

About: 

The Equinox New Play Festival's 2022 theme is Emotional Embrace, and to us that means exploring intimacy at a distance. How do we define when something is 'intimate', and how can that definition expand past skin touching skin? We currently live in a reality where we are forced to live with a required amount of distance, and this year the festival hopes to present 2 plays that explore the different ways distance can affect our relationships.

A Little Death by Hallie Malina explores what remains after a body rots, questioning love and lust and whether there is a difference between life and death.

Nonmonogamy by Alex Werthauer, After an attempt at consensual non-monogamy goes sour, Sam, Adrian, and Johanna find themselves in a unique, unexpected, and ever-unfolding love triangle. Together, they must navigate the complexities of queer relationships & early adulthood, and find societally unconventional solutions to interpersonal puzzles in this four year long snippet of their lives."

Content Disclosures: 

A Little Death: recurring themes and portrayals of death, including vague descriptions of drowning and suicidal ideation; existentialism; manipulative and predatory dialogue; coarse language

Nonmonogamy: drug & alcohol use, themes of sex & sexuality, swearing

Sometimes the Rain, Sometimes the Sea
By Julia Izumi

Directed By Francesca Montanile Lyons

About: 

Join Dolan, who bears a striking resemblance to the famous, genius author Hans Christian Andersen, as he tells his brand new story The Little Rain Cloud, a story about a young rain cloud who falls to earth and falls in love with a human. But, this proves to be very difficult as unexpected interruptions keep getting in the way. Sometimes the Rain, Sometimes the Sea tells a beautiful story that begs the question: What makes love a true love?

Content Disclosures: 

Loud Noises, Haze, Gunshots, and Flashing Lights

PRESENTED BY:

“Sometimes the Rain, Sometimes the Sea” is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Samuel French, Inc. www.concordtheatricals.com. 

THE VIDEOTAPING OR MAKING OF ELECTRONIC OR OTHER AUDIO AND/OR VISUAL RECORDINGS OF THIS PRODUCTION AND DISTRIBUTING RECORDINGS OR STREAMS IN ANY MEDIUM, INCLUDING THE INTERNET, IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED, A VIOLATION OF THE AUTHOR(S)’S RIGHTS AND ACTIONABLE UNDER UNITED STATES COPYRIGHT LAW. FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE VISIT: https://concordtheatricals.com/resources/protecting-artists.

A Rhapsody of Life’s Progress
Directed and Curated By Brennah Leone

About: 

Spring is here

and the thought of love lay like a flower,

drawing in other thoughts, like bees.

And as those honeyed bees hum and sing,

the worthiest poets remain uncrowned

In our Rhapsody of Life’s Progress.

Content Disclosures: 

frank talk of death, including parental death

religious commentary

mature language

All At Once 
(40th Anniversary Remaster)

Book By Jack McManus

Music and Lyrics By Claire Bosnack, Jack McManus, and Noah Slade

Directed By Amy Dugas Brown

About: 

In 1975, Danny Marino and Margaret Carter released their seminal album, “All at Once.” Forty years later, the two return to reflect on the album. “All at Once [40th Anniversary Remaster]” tells the story of how the classic album was made, and how it forever altered their lives and their relationship. 

Content Disclosures: 

Relationship Issues, Substance Abuse

POLYPHONE

A Festival of New and Emerging Musicals

Presented by the Ira Brind School of Theater Arts at University of the Arts

David Yager, President and CEO, University of the Arts

Kikau Alvaro, Interim Dean, Ira Brind School of Theater Arts

Maggie-Kate Coleman, The Suzanne and Doug Kreitzberg Artistic Director of Polyphone

Learn More and Purchase Tickets. 

2022 Festival Lineup

ARTS BANK THEATER 

DEAR MR. C

April 12 at 8 p.m., April 14 at 8 p.m., April 16 at 8 p.m.

Written and Composed by Tidtaya Sinutoke

Lyrics by Lily Ali-Oshatz, Naomi Matlow and Tidtaya Sinutoke

Directed by Marina Montesanti

CRIMSON LIT: SCARLET LETTER SETLIST

April 13 at 8 p.m., April 15 at 8 p.m., April 16 at 2 p.m.

Book and Lyrics by Krista Knight

Music and Lyrics by Jill Sobule

Directed by Rose Freeman

POLYPHONE READINGS

NORTON I

February 28 at 7:30 p.m.

Book, Music, and Lyrics by Giacomo Fizzano

Directed by Justin Jain

GHOST TOWN 

March 21 at 7:30 p.m.

Created by River von Waldron, Linc Millard, and Randy Louise

Directed by Emily Wanamaker

Cerebral

Created By Sophia Snyder

Directed By Alice Yorke

About:

 Briar is held captive in an empty room by a smiling creature claiming to help her. While dealing with both external torments and internal shortcomings, she must build up the strength to break herself out or be trapped forever. Cerebral is a twisted fairy tale about forgetfulness, bloodshed, and reclaiming one’s own mind.

Content Disclosures:

Gaslighting, Blood, Self-Injury, Memory Loss, Discussions of a Coma, Physical Altercations, and Abrupt Lighting Changes.

a psychic investigation 
into the death of someone i once knew

Written By Will Vence Jr.
Directed By Bayla Rubin 

About:

Following psychic detective August, a psychic investigation… is a modern-day noir comic book on stage. Set in the present day and memories from ten years ago, August must return to their hometown after a decade to investigate the murders of local gay men, including their former lover Talon. The play centers on estrangement, loneliness, returning, and uses the spectacular to analyze the realistic wounds left after you leave everything you ever knew behind.

Content Disclosures:

Talks and visual depictions of physical, emotional, sexual violence, and death/grief, and flashing lights. 

I Want A Country
By Andreas Flourakis
Translated by Eleni Drivas
Directed by Fadi Skeiker
 

I Want A Country

"I want a country that won’t depress me.

 To not desert me when the going gets tough.
 To be there for me.

And for my kids and for my parents. – And for me in my old age.
For all ages.
 We are the country.

 Together we form a country." -Andreas Flourakis

About the Play

Imagine yourself  living in a country that you used to love, but which you must now leave because you do not feel you belong to it any more.

I Want A Country is a play written by Greek playwright Andreas Fourakis and directed by UArts associate professor Fadi Skeiker. In the play, audience members hear from a variety of individuals, all of whom are in search of a new country, a new community, and a society that restores their humanity and offers new opportunities. While the themes of the play are applicable to citizens of any nation, the directorial vision of the performance focuses on Syrians caught within the Syrian conflict in particular. The performers represent small groups of refugees who are seeking a new country to find refuge.  The performance is presented in an immersive theatre format where the audience moves from one performance location to the next, embodying the dualistic structured/structureless mobility of the refugee journey.  

Content Disclosures:
Talk of war, talk of diaspora, talk of disease, talk of guns/gun violence, drug references/use, death, crude language and themes, audience participation, loud noises, bright lights, representations of large waves and drowning, cause for motion sickness, screaming, crying. 

Pippin
Book by Roger O’ Hirson
Music and Lyrics by Stephen Schwartz 
Originally produced on the Broadway stage by Stuart Ostrow
Originally directed on the Broadway stage by Bob Fosse
2013 Broadway revival directed by Diane Paulus
Theo Ending Originally Conceived In 1998 by Mitch Sebastian

Directed by Zi Alikhan
Choreographed by Mayte Natalio

About:

Join us as we transpoRt you to a world far more ~*extraordinary*~ than your own. PIPPIN folLows a young man in his search for purpose, And introduces our work to you as we help him stay on the right track (lol). We await yoU in our world of spectacle, glory, and most impoЯtantly, magic.

Content Disclosures: 

The Brind School’s production of Pippin contains several moments and themes that could be potentially triggering. Examples include: discussions related to religious groups, inferences of suicide and self harm, depiction of violence, war, and death, as well as topics of sex/sexuality. 

Presented By: 

PIPPIN is presented through special arrangement with Music Theatre International (MTI). 

All authorized performance materials are also supplied by MTI. 

www.mtishows.com

We’re Gonna Die
Written by Young Jean Lee
Directed by Emily Betts

About: 

We’re Gonna Die written by Young Jean Lee is an intimate and charmingly blunt stand-up, pop concert, play with music hybrid that serves as an exploration of grief through a collection of personal stories combined with peppy pop songs from Young Jean Lee’s band, Future Wife. Through this juxtaposition, this piece will highlight a sense of community, temporary relief, and comfort through musically coping and dancing about the one thing we all have in common no matter what, that we’re gonna die someday, and it’ll be okay.

Content Disclosures: 

Frank talk of Death, Aging, Loss, Depression, Illness, and Blood 

Ballyturk

By Enda Walsh 

Directed By Monti Cerabino

About: Ballyturk written by Enda Walsh is an absurd play about isolation, companionship, life and death. It follows two people trapped in a room, clinging to absurd daily rituals and to their imaginations of the happenings in the town of Ballyturk, they desperately try to avoid the reality of their situation and find meaning in the world given to them.

Content Disclosures: Corse language, physical violence, blood, talking of animal cruelty and death, explosions/sudden loud noises, depictions of seizures and panic attacks, mentions of cancer/illness, talk of abduction, mild/partial nudity, and depictions of stabbing.

Presented By: “Ballyturk” is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Samuel French, Inc. www.concordtheatricals.com

Getting by with a Little Help from My Friends

Created By Andrew Miqueli

About:

Getting By… is a sketch comedy variety show with pre-recorded sketches written by Andrew Miqueli intercut with live entertainment such as stand up and musical guests. It’s a showcase of wildly fun talent all featured in a night of levity and laughter.

Content Disclosures:

References to drug use and mentions of death.

Where and When:

Caplan Studio Theater
11/19 at 7:30 p.m.
11/20 at 2 p.m.
11/21 at 7:30 p.m.

Hot Spot

By Amir Gad 

Directed By Erin Renee Russo

About:

Four years after they finish high school, the Terrific Trio: Sid, Milo, and their leader Chevelle return to their stomping grounds. Weighed down by expectations, and the presence of Chevelle's new college friend Nyomi, the three jump-start a wild night of spirits, summonings, and the ghost of a very jilted Homecoming Queen.

Content Disclosures: 

Strobe lights, blood & gore, violence, mentions of death, mentions of animal cruelty and death.

When and Where:

Caplan Studio Theater
11/18 at 7:30 p.m.
11/20 at 7:30 p.m.
11/21 at 2 p.m.

Buried

Created By Hallie Malina

Directed By Amy Dugas Brown

About: 

Buried, a musical excavation by Hallie Malina, uncovers the stories and songs of the lost city of Pompeii - an exploration of death, sex, and the fight to make our bodies our own. Come walk with us in the shadow of a volcano.

Content Disclosures: 

themes of death, sex, violence, eating disorders; adult language used throughout