World Premiere
One Night Only Wednesday, February 5, 2020 | 8:00 P.M.
Manhattan Theatre Club Studios
Floor 8 | Studio 2 311 West 43rd St. New York, NY 10036
BackwardPeople.com | Joshua-Kaufman.com Recent: Unchilding.com
Backward People is a sponsored project of
Fractured Atlas
a non-profit arts service organization
Rehearsed at Manhattan Theatre Club's Creative Center Using the Artist Engagement Services of the University Resident Theatre Association
TEAM CREATIVE
Production M
Director
KAUFMAN JOSHUA
Sound Design
RUNG DIWAS GU
litator, Associate Faci tant ul ns Co Creative
ROTTA ALLIE MA
Directorial Co
nsultant
VANGELIN
Movement Co
E
nsultant
OLDSTON G R EGG G
ce Music Live Performan NGI A T IS L EW Wardrobe, ultant Creative Cons
JAMES DAKOTA NS E V E ST
anagement
EINING AARON W
Creative Cons
ER
ultant
CHARS KY L E KU
Creative Cons
KI
ultant
EO N JULIAN L
Carpentry
CRISTIAN
SC H M A L L
ER
Make Up
UNA AH FORT AVIVA LE
Audition Assis
tants
T KY L E BE S ORAN C R O C N QUIN LAS VICKY SA
Poster Illustr
ation
CALLE JOEY M A
n Program Desig
IVE THE MISS
PERF ORME RS
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ar t I I The Mo ther R EINA Beloved DE BE Son N ER ICK T U R T Son K URRO A
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CREATIVE TEAM
a Joshua Kaufman (Director) is
New York-based multidisciplinary artist, interested in creating work that explores tragedy, characterization, the grotesque and embodiment. joshua-kaufman.com a DIWAS GURUNG (Sound Design) is multi-instrumentalist, music producer, singer and sound editor from Kathamndu, Nepal currently living in Brooklyn, NY. He has scored music for the documentaries Circle of Poison and Mel Milap and currently works as an editor for Rolling Stone Music Now, a weekly podcast by Rolling Stone magazine. He is also widely renowned for his work in the field of Nepalese independent folk music as both a producer and a performer. ator, ALLIE MAROTTA (Associate Facilit Creative Consultant) is a collaborative theatre-maker based in Brooklyn, NY. Allie is a staff correspondent for No Proscenium. She has presented work in venues like Teatro SEA, Theater for the New City, Dixon Place, HERE Arts Center, Theatre Row, and FringeNYC, as well as internationally in Ecuador, England, Argentina, and Greece. Allie currently teaches with Wingspan Arts, Treasure Trunk Theatre, and Falconworks Theater Company. Education: MA Contemporary Performance Practices (RHUL), BA Acting, BA Directing (Pace University). allie-marotta.com VANGELINE (Directorial Consultant) is a teacher, dancer, and choreographer specializing in the Japanese postwar avant-garde movement form Butoh. She is the Artistic Director of the Vangeline Theater (New York), a dance company firmly rooted in the tradition of Japanese Butoh while carrying it into the 21st century, and the founder of the New York Butoh Institute. Gregg Goldston (Movement Consultant) Theatre credits include: Touring “Louder Than Words” (a oneman show) internationally for 40+ years. Performer with Compagnie de Mime Marcel Marceau. Television credits: Sesame Street: Alphabet Pictures presents Letter V & Letter K. Coaching Credits: Anne Hathaway, Julie Harris. Recipient of two Choreography Fellowships from the NEA.
LEWIS TANGI (Live Performance
Music) is an emerging experimental instrumentalist and recording artist, with interest in collaborative and interdisciplinary devising processes, as well as sound therapy. Backward People is Lewis’ first theater credit. soundcloud.com/lewis-tangi DAKOTA JAMES STEVENS
(Wardrobe, Creative Consultant) has created a name for himself planning and executing over a dozen fashion shows in New York, Denver and Seattle. He is currently working for IMG on New York Mens Day and New York Fashion Week. He will be debuting his first full womenswear runway collection in Houston this summer. dakotajamesstevens.com AARON WEININGER (Production Management) is a multihyphenate creative professional excited to bring his diverse management, theater and recording experience to Backward People. Select credits include: Host of the Yes I Am podcast, House Manager for Unchilding (2019), Theatrical Electrician for Bard Summerscape (2014, 2015), and Carpenter for Boston Lyric Opera (2014). ltant) KYLE KUCHARSKI (Creative Consu is a New York-based writer and visual journalist covering the arts, culture and travel. His work has appeared in New Noise Magazine, Narratively, and Indagare. is a JULIAN LEON (Creative Consultant) visual artist, art director and analyst based out of New York. He’s currently building brand and digital experiences as principal of The Missive, a studio focused on design, visual arts, and process-oriented research. themissive.com is CRISTIAN SCHMALLER (Carpentry) a motivated, ambitious person with great energy. Raised in Romania, Cristian came to the US nine years ago. He fell in love with the diversity and pulse of New York. Working as an individual contractor he has learned to anticipate his client’s needs. is Aviva Leah Fortuna (Make Up) a freelance make up artist. She has been working in the industry for a decade, since she started out designing makeup for theater, opera, Gilbert and Sullivan, and student films while attending Brown University. Documentary credits include works still in production with Kate Novack and George Lois. Film credits include Rome Travelogue. Assistant work in theater includes The Lady in the Dark. Additional areas of work include fashion, commercial and corporate.
PERFORMERS Reina dE Beer
(The Mother) is from NYC and has been acting since childhood. Off Broadway: Christmastime In The City, Yakkity Yak , Mother Courage (Mothe r Courage), Joffery’s The Nutcracke r (NY City Center), The Little Princess (Becky ), Carol. Film: In The Synago A Christmas Rudin), For The Love Of gue (Emily Bet “Third Watch”, “The Cha ty. Television: ppelle Show”. She can sometimes be found performing as her alter ego, Reina Terror, at various venues throughout NY C. EDMOND LARYEA
(Teardown Man) is an actor, model, director and executive producer. Film and television credits include “Pa “The Deuce” and Stephe terno”, “FBI”, n Story”. He’s a former Rut King’s “Lisey’s gers football player, CBS Sports bro adc and radio and TV sports ast associate, ana Edmond was the 2011 rec lyst. ipient of the Paul Robeson Award, rec ognizing the senior whose performa nce dedication on and off the , leadership and varsity career, had the field, during his greatest impact on Rutgers Football. BRIAN LINDEN
(The Officer) has collaborated on experimental theatre and performance art with Liliana Porter & Ana Tiscornia at the Kitche n, Pablo Helguera at BAM and the Guggen hei Sharp at Axis Company. m, and Randy He with Shakespeare festiva has performed ls Pennsylvania, San Franci in Nebraska, sco, Idaho, and El Barrio. He is a memb er of Burning Coal Theatre Company and performed with them in David Edgar’s Iron Curtain Trilogy in London. He has also appeared on “Law & Order: SVU”.
Karan Maini
(Son) started his acting career in the UK, performing in new plays and Shakespeare. Movin g to Los Ang acting as well as writing eles, he studied and producing. He starred in an upcom ing are the Mafia” before mo TV Pilot “We ving to New York. Maini has appeared in a the HoneyDo production of Indian Ink by Tom Stoppard. He also appeared in an upcoming Uber commercial, and is a member of the Sauce Comedy group. Nick Turturro
(Beloved Son) is a recent graduate of Syracuse University’s BFA Acting program and lives in New York City. in May, he accepted a spo After graduating company, The Flea The t in The Bats atr of actors, where he wa e’s company s cast in the world premiere production of The Wellman. He was the rec Fez by Mac ipient of the Arthur Storch Award for 2019. He thanks you for com ing! instagram.com/nicktur turro01 ' WOOD VONNA AR
D
(The Woman) has enjoye d sharing her gift alongs ide Clifton Powell, Megan Goode, and Rockmond Dunbar. The include A Piece of My Hea atre credits of Horrors, and, By Strous rt, Little Shop television credits consist e. Her film and For Richer or Poorer, The of BET’s Perfect Gift, Babylon Fields and she als in CBS’s movie, Gimme o appeared Shelter, starring Sissy Spacek.
Thank you
Ali at MTC Studios Andrea Branch Andy Snyder Bill Bowers Brown Paper Tickets Flora Collins
Fractured Atlas Gavin Kane Jeremy Bohmstein John Coyne Julianna Valle Vallez Olivia Vessel
Rebecca Leone Ryan Burke Vicky Salas Zac McQuade Very Fine Signs by Kurt McRobert
The Company of Backward People graciously acknowledges additional supporters online at backwardpeople.com/support