The Shelter Presents: Art - Program

United Stages April 19, 2012; vol. 972

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The Shelter Presents: Art Co-Artistic Directors: Meghan E. Jones and Michael Kingsbaker Executive Director: Dave Lankford Creative Director: Jonathan Ashley Associate Scenic Designer: Brandon Hardy Lighting Designer: Jake Fine Sound Designer: Andy Cohen Stage Manager: Andrew Slater*

Glyph

Playwright: Michael Sean McGuiness Director: Catya McMullen Assistant Director: Alexis Davis Fight Director: Teel James Glenn Costume Designer: Charlotte Lily Gaspard Ooma: Tania Verafield* Baloog: Andy Hassell Turukk: Chris Cardona* Moop: Alec A. Head

Mark Makes Art

Playwright: Meghan E. Jones Director: Paco Lozano Assistant Director: Emily Robin Fink Karen: Beth Jastroch Michael: Dave Lankford*

Robot Girl

Playwright: Michael Bernstein Director: Beth Jastroch Assistant Director: Morgan McGuire Robin: Olivia Killingsworth*

INTERMISSION

This Is a Play About Artists Playwright: Ginger Kearns Director: Nicole Rosner Assistant Director: Stephanie Ringstaff Choreographer: Dani Vialpando Narrator: Ginger Kearns Poet: Michael Kingsbaker* Artist: Ian Bell

Transitional pieces devised by and featuring Melinda Smart* * appearing courtesy of Actors’ Equity Association

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he Shelter is excited to present it’s sixth production, The Shelter Presents: Art. Each Shelter show has begun with a theme or prompt of some type. For this production we wanted to explore art. We asked our writers to search within their selves to discover what “art” means and why we need it.

What they found was that art is necessary. That humans need art to express what simple words cannot. That art and pain can often go hand in hand. That even if the world is taken over by robots, human beings will still make art. It is our pleasure to present these short plays to you and we hope they encourage you to go home and make some art!

Sincerely, Meghan E. Jones and Michael Kingsbaker Co-artistic Directors The Shelter

W h o’ s W h o Jonathan Ashley (creative director) moved from Arizona to the East Coast to pursue visual arts and filmmaking. The Shelter introduced him to writing and directing for the stage. Alongside his theatrical projects, he continues to work as an illustrator and animator. Sunday nights with The Shelter are the highlight of his week.

Ian Bell (Artist, This Is a Play About Artists) graduated with a B.F.A. in film from the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University and is very excited to be working for the first time with his friends at The Shelter. He recently played a supporting role in the independent feature The Talk Man and appeared on stage in The Last Days of Judas Iscariot at the Terry Schreiber Studio. When he isn’t acting, Ian can be found working professionally as a production designer and art director. He would like to thank his parents for their undying support and all his teachers everywhere. Check him out at www.ianandrewbell.com.

Chris Cardona* (Turukk, Glyph). Recent credits include featured roles in the films The Confession with Kiefer Sutherland and John Hurt, Henry’s Crime with Keanu Reeves and James Caan, The Bacherlorette with Kirsten Dunst and Isla Fisher, and lead roles in the films, Blindsided and The Sweet Life. Television credits include a guest-starring role on Blue Bloods, two guest-starring roles on Law & Order: Criminal Intent, a featured role on Law & Order, SVU. Theater credits include Bill in Lobby Hero, Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire, Mike in Match and Captain Wendel in The Shelter’s R.I.P. Captain Wendel. Chris is currently studying at the Barrow Group Acting School. He is thrilled to be working with The Shelter again.

Andy Cohen (sound designer) has previously contributed sound to The Shelter productions Night Windows and Fairy Tale. Andy has written music or designed sound for numerous productions in and around NYC, including work at The Public Theater, 59E59, Theatre Row and other venues. He was a NYIT Award nominee for his work on Balm in Gliead (T. Schreiber Studio) and received an Excellence Award from the NY International Fringe Festival. He can be reached at www.andycomusic.com.

Michael Bernstein (playwright, Robot Girl) is delighted to find an artistic home with The Shelter, which most recently featured his play Kate in Fairy Tale. On stage: Nevin Porter in Centralia, The Duke in Measure for Measure and the Boss in Grief. Watch out for the New York premiere of You Can’t Kill Stephen King, and check out his Jer- Alexis Davis (assistant director, Glyph). After emiah in the JPS Tanakh (Audible.com). More at a long hiatus, Alexis has returned to theater by joining The Shelter family. As a young adult, she www.michaelbernstein.biz.

W h o’ s W h o trained in Italy as an opera singer (lyric highsoprano) and spent time pursuing her passion for music by performing in the roles of Nancy in the musical production Oliver and Figaro in The Marriage of Figaro. For her undergraduate degree, she received a B.F.A. in film and photography from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Alexis is extremely excited to get her feet wet again with working as the assistant director on the production Glyph, her first project with The Shelter, with the plans of many more to come.

Jake Fine (lighting designer) is a New Yorkbased lighting designer. Previously with The Shelter: Night Windows and Fairy Tale. Other work includes A Raisin in the Sun for The Gallery Players, A Lie of the Mind and Top Girls at Stella Adler Studios, The Seagull and Hindsight for The Drilling Company, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot for Sanguine Theater Company, Peter and the Wolf for Marc Arthur, The Lost Light for the SharkMother Arts Collective, Mic (Fringe­N YC) and Unexpected Company (Strawberry OneAct Festival; winner, Best Play Award). Concert designs for groups such as Ben Folds, Reel Big Fish, Jack’s Mannequin, Augustana, Derek Trucks/Susan Tedeschi Band, Ludacris, Nicki Minaj and more.

Emily Robin Fink (assistant director, Mark Makes Art) is thrilled to be back working with The Shelter. Past projects include The Merchant of Venice (Portia) with York Shakespeare, The Playboy of the Western World (Widow Quin) with Hangar Theater and Ivanov (Anna) with Miscreant. Much love to The Shelter family.

Charlotte Lily Gaspard (costume designer, Glyph) is a costume designer, wardrobe mistress, seamstress and wearable art maker. She has worked at The Public Theater, Shakespeare in the Park, the Juilliard Costume Shop, the Westside

Theater. Costume design includes shows at the Players Theatre, P.S. 122, Circus Amok!, Lucid Impact performance group, Shanghai Mermaid.

Blog at cspotdesigns.blogspot.com.

Teel James Glenn (fight director, Glyph) has traveled the world for thirty years as a stunt man/ fight choreographer/swordmaster, jouster, book illustrator, storyteller and award-wining author of over twenty books. He has choreographed realistic violence for every Shakespeare play at least once, as well as The Three Musketeers at West Point, Native Son for the Classical Theatre of Harlem and literally hundreds of productions. He currently teaches stage combat at the New York Film Academy, Different Directions NY and privately. His greatest achievement however, is my awesome daughter Aislin Rose. His website is theurbanswashbuckler.com.

Brandon Hardy (associate scenic designer).

Recent productions: Ghost the Musical, The Peewee Herman Show, Enron, The Addams Family Musical (Broadway, national tour and in Brazil), Disney’s Beauty and the Beast national tour, Shakespeare in the Park’s The Winter’s Tale, Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, Arias with a Twist and A Streetcar Named Desire for The Comedie Francaise in Paris. Night Windows and Fairy Tale with The Shelter. www.BrandonHardy-Art.com.

Andy Hassell (Baloog, Glyph). This is Andy’s third production with The Shelter. He’s a graduate of AMDA and University of North Carolina School of the Arts. His various credits include everything from 30 Rock to getting naked in the lead role Jerry in The Full Monty.

Thank you to the cast, crew and his big support network. www.andyhassell.com.

Actors’ Equity Association (AEA) was founded in 1913 as the first of the American actor unions. Equity’s mission is to advance, promote and foster the art of live theatre as an essential component of our society. Today, Equity represents more than 40,000 actors, singers, dancers, and stage managers working in hundreds of theatres across the United States. Equity members are dedicated to working in the theatre as a profession, upholding the highest artistic standards. Equity negotiates wages and working conditions and provides a wide range of benefits including health and pension plans for its members. Through its agreement with Equity, this theatre has committed to the fair treatment of the actors and stage managers employed in this production. AEA is a member of the AFL-CIO and is affiliated with FIA, an international organization of performing arts unions. For more information, visit www.actorsequity.org.

W h o’ s W h o Alec A. Head (Moop, Glyph) is an actor and and a musician. A graduate of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, he went on to train with Terry Schreiber at T. Schreiber Studios, where he appeared in The Cherry Orchard (Yepikhodov). Other New York stage credits include The Shelter Presents: Fairy Tale (Ricky), A Winter’s Tale (Camillo) and Comedy of Errors (Dromio of Syracuse), among others. As a musician, he contributed music to The Shelter Presents: Night Windows.

He would like to dedicate tonight’s performance, with love and gratitude, to his father.

as a writer, director and performer in the company’s six productions. Recently, he was seen as Robert in On an Average Day at Curious Theatre Company and worked as a stunt performer in the upcoming film The Dark Knight Rises.

Olivia Killingsworth* (Robin, Robot Girl). Acting credits include Alien Child (T. Schreiber Studio), The Very Persistent Gappers of Frip (Kirk Douglas Theater) and Steve Martin’s Wasp (The MET Theater).

Her directing work has also been featured in The Shelter’s Night Windows and Fairy Tale. Training: T. Schreiber Studio, Larry Beth Jastroch (Karen, Moss Studio, Occidental College, British American Mark Makes Art; director, Drama Academy (London).

Robot Girl) is a graduate of NYU and Stella Adler. Meghan E. Jones (co-artistic director; playwright, She is proud to be return- Mark Makes Art). Mark Makes Art is the fourth ing to her acting roots short play she’s had presented in a Shelter show. In after several years behind addition to writing, Meghan is also a director and the scenes, writing and actor. She is very proud of The Shelter and would directing for The Shelter. like to thank the many company members that make the Shelter such a lovely and talented family.

Many thanks to her friends and Shelter family.

Ginger Kearns (playwright Dave Lankford* (execuand Narrator, This Is a Play tive director; Michael, About Artists). Born and Mark Makes Art) first hit raised in western Canada the stage as member of the Ginger Kearns is a New Washington, DC, NationYork-based actor, writer and al Poetry Slam Team and comedian. Credits include soon after with the nationThe Sopranos (HBO) and al tour of his one-man Chappelle’s Show (CC). show, 40 Cents a Minute.

Much thanks to The Shelter for their encouraging A founding member of The Shelter, Dave often words, feedback and for producing my first play! contributes as a writer, director and actor. Dave is a For more info www.gingerkearns.com. former student of the T. Schreiber Studio, alumnus of The American University and the director Michael Kingsbaker* (co- of product for Dr. Oz Digital (The Dr. Oz Show)— artistic director; Poet, This but everything he learned about storytelling he Is a Play About Artists) has learned from his daughters, Avery and Kelsey. been working professionally in film, television and Paco Lozano (director, Mark Makes Art). This theater for over twenty-five is Paco’s third Shelter production and first as a years. Co-founder and co- director. A big thanks to Mike and Meghan for artistic director of The this opportunity, and to Beth and Dave for giving Shelter, Michael oversees this script the breath of life it deserves. And lastly, the Shelter Sunday workshops and has contributed Emily, for keeping my head on straight.

W h o’ s W h o Michael Sean McGuinness (playwright, Glyph).

Acting credits include Dad Barton in Goosebumps (with Rupert Holmes), Malvolio in Twelfth Night (Pig Iron Theatre Company), Frasier, Terry Tate Office Linebacker and Law & Order. Other credits include Christmas O’Carol at the Celtic Arts Center in LA (writer/producer) and the short film The Question (writer/director). Education: B.F.A., acting, New York University.

Catya McMullen (director, Glyph) is a NYCbased director and playwright and recent graduate of UNC Chapel Hill. Special thanks to her family, Alexis, Meghan, Mike and The Shelter staff, and her terrific cast and playwright in all their bugeating, mammoth-slaying glory.

Andrew Slater* (stage manager). Off Broadway: Horsedreams and The Hallway Trilogy (Rattlestick Playwrights Theater) and The Triangle Factory Fire Project and The Memorandum (The Actors Company Theatre). Other recent NYC stage management credits include The Importance of Being Earnest and Letter from Algeria (GroundUP Productions); and The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, The Dining Room and A Catholic Story (T. Schreiber Studio).

Melinda Smart* (transitions). As a performance artist, Melinda Smart has written and performed nationally for festivals, special events and variety shows. Favorite productions include Blacklight’s electronica operetta Dance of the Spider (Apogaea festival, Exotica Erotica Ball, Boulder CO), The Pretty Dreams Tour (Burning Man, Apogaea FesStephanie Ringstaff (assistant director, This Is a tival, Boulder Fringe Festival), American Women Play About Artists). A native of California, Steph (Burning Man), Robot Romance (Global Dance graduated from Scripps College in 2009 with a Music Festival), Detour: Film Noir tribute (Galadual major in theater and psychology. Having pagos Art Space NY), Cabaret Cataplexy (the Slipspent the subsequent year traveling abroad, Steph- per Room NY). This is Melinda’s sixth production anie is happy to have settled down for a time in as a member of The Shelter, for which she is both Brooklyn, where she works as a children’s acting an actress and contributing writer. coach, substitute teacher and in Sleep No More.

Tania Verifield* (Ooma, Nicole Rosner (director, This Is a Play About ArtGlyph). Much gratitude to ists). Recent directing highlights include Harold The Shelter and her fellow Pinter’s Celebration; the premiere of David Kancavemen for including her a tounas’ Grief; and Centralia, an original interacsecond time. NY stage credtive play, for UglyRhino Productions where she its include The Little Dog is the artistic director and co-founder. She is an Laughed (The Gallery Playinternational director, programmer and producer ers) and Fairy Tale (The who has worked for the Royal Court Theatre, ArcShelter). Time flies, so be ola Theatre, Brooklyn Lyceum, The Public The- authentic, have some perspective, appreciate the ater and Assembly Rooms at Edinburgh Festival humor in life and tell whomever you love that you love Fringe. Nicole has absolutely loved collaborating them. Love to friends and family. Enjoy the show! A with The Shelter! besere un sheynere velt. www.taniaverafield.com.

W h o’ s W h o Dani Vialpando (choreographer, This Is a Play About Artists). A native of Denver, Colorado, Dani began performing with Blue Knight Drum & Bugle Corps and Thin Air Trapeze Company. She received her B.A. from The New School University, Eugene Lang College. As a modern and classically trained dancer/aerialist, Dani has had the pleasure of working with such artist as Robert Whiteman, Alessandro Pellicani, Giada Ferron, Shaair+Func, Chriselle Tidrick, Douglas Dunn & Dancers and Black Acrobats. She is currently a freelance dancer and working member of Vain Combat under the direction of Douglas Dunn & Dancers.

Heller Highwater (publicist) is a public and media relations, social media management and consulting company specializing in the performing arts and entertainment industries. Under the leadership of Dale Heller, our client list includes The Shelter; The Playwrights Realm; Less Than Rent Theatre; Making Books Sing; The Broadway Dreams Foundation; the Off-Broadway musical revue The Greenwich Village Follies; the NYMF productions of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, The Kid Who Would Be Pope and Time Between Us. For more information about Heller Highwater, please visit www.HellerHighwaterPR.com.

Donors Benefactor Stuart Kerr Emma, KC and Mike Olafsson Sponsor Anonymous (2) Donna Bohling Matthew Crosby Katharine Dunn Alan Fellows Thomas Helm Pat and Paul Donakowski Pam and Mark Jones Eliz Killingsworth Maureen Lankford Edwin Sean Patterson

Patron Anonymous Christopher Adornato Janet Jastroch Robbie Kaller William G. Kingsbaker Friend Josie Ashley Rebecca Bacon David Bernstein Amanda Boone Joshua Day Gwen A. Eagleton Mona Field Peter H. Judd

Jon Kaufman Margaret Haase Yolanda Gonzalez Leif Ulstrup James Lawler Kitty Lindsay Gregory Pawlik Nicole Rosner Richard Saunders Andrew Schecter Cynthia Shaw Roger Thoman Organizational Donors Pfizer

Thank You Sally Dunn, Terry Schreiber, Birch Coffee, Jude Law

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