News
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JUNE 2022
alex getting better will have its U.K. Premiere at the Bread and Roses Theatre, produced by Theatre Zima! The production will be directed by Cameron Moreton and will star Erin Maria Walther as Alex, along with Sophie Bahari as Hallie, Alice Gold as Jordan, Maria Karélina as Jennie, and Rebecca Weiss as Ruthie. Tickets for performances June 14-18, 2022, are now available on the Bread and Roses Theatre's website.
APRIL - MAY 2022
I was thrilled to rejoin my friends on the national tour of Jersey Boys as a temporary 2nd Assistant Stage Manager - my first Equity contract! I checked several new states off my list and had a wonderful experience playing Denver, CO, West Lafayette, IN, Flint, MI, Bloomington, IN, Owensboro, KY, Lima, OH, Durham, NC, and Chicago, IL.
MARCH - JUNE 2022
My play Lily Ineffable, after making it to the semifinalist round last year, is a finalist in the Jewish Plays Project's 2022 Jewish Playwriting Contest! Lily Ineffable is being performed at regional contests in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Hartford, Connecticut. In addition, a ten-minute excerpt of Lily Ineffable was recorded as part of the JPP's Jewish Playwriting Contest Podcast Series. Directed by Sara Rodriguez, the excerpt features Maeve Press as Lily, Erika Wasko as Lilith, Celia Mei Rubin as Chelsea, Laura Helm as Jordan, Elsa Dees as Shea, and Molly Richardson as Jess. Listen to the podcast series now and vote in the online contest!
MARCH - APRIL 2022
I have joined the tour of CoComelon Live! JJ's Journey as the Covid Safety Officer, cover for the Stage Management tracks, and have even been working with the wardrobe team as a dresser. I am having a great time traveling and sharing theatre and music with kids across the U.S.! See what cities the tour is coming to on the CoComelon Live! website.
JANUARY - MARCH 2022
I'm making my Off-Broadway debut as a Production Assistant for Soho Rep's production of Wolf Play by Hansol Jung! The production is scheduled to run through March 20th; get tickets HERE!
JANUARY 2022
My essay "Clapping on Cue" was published in Issue No. 12 of Lesbians are Miracles: Spirituality & Magic! The online magazine is available to download and read now. Check it out HERE!
NOVEMBER - DECEMBER 2021
I made my national tour debut as a Production Assistant for the re-launch of the national tour of Jersey Boys! I was with the production for rehearsals in New York City as well as one week of their tech process at Music Hall Center for the Performing Arts in Detroit, Michigan.
NOVEMBER 2021
The Smith & Kraus annual anthologies are out now! The Best Ten-Minute Plays 2021 features my short play who's mom and who's mama, and The Best Women's Stage Monologues 2021 features one of Rachael's monologues from You Have To Promise. To purchase copies of both anthologies, contact me or visit SmithAndKraus.com/Annuals.
JULY - OCTOBER 2021
I had the amazing opportunity to spend the summer and part of the fall as the Assistant Stage Manager for the Mac-Haydn Theatre's 2021 season. (Check out my bio here!) The Mac was my earliest introduction to stage management when I was an apprentice in high school and one of my earliest exposures to theatre when I was even younger, so it was a dream come true to work there again!
I had a wonderful time working on the mainstage productions of Pippin, She Loves Me, Man of La Mancha, Beehive: The 60s Musical, and The World Goes Round, as well as concerts and special events like Laura's at the Helm and ToUch Performance Art's Major Arcana.
JUNE 2021
I was so excited to write a brand-new Viral Monologue with The 24 Hour Plays! Graphing Calculator, performed by David Rosenberg, is still available to watch on their social media, as well as my YouTube Channel and my IGTV.
JUNE 2021
My monologue The Well of Miriam was presented virtually by Imaginarium Theatre Company's Sun's Out, Selves Out event in honor of Pride Month! The monologue was performed by Cassie Colvin and directed by Emma Mueller.
JUNE 2021
My ten-minute play For This Panic Attack was presented virtually in Rainy Day Artistic Collective's Queer Voices Festival, directed by Padra Crisafulli!
JUNE 2021
After six months of workshopping and revising with Original Idiots' The Generator, I'm thrilled to share a virtual reading of the latest draft of Birdie and Cait and the Book of Life on Sunday, June 6th at 2pm EDT / 7pm BST, directed by Juliana Sass and featuring actors Emma Bentley, Sydney Greenfield, Lexie McDougall, Melissa Weisz, Eliya Smith, and singer Emily Lang. Get tickets HERE!
MAY 2021
I am thrilled to be back in a theater for the first time since March 2020, stage managing in person for Rising Sun Performance Company! I am stage managing workshops of two new plays in one pod of of the 14th Street Y residency: Proud by Judd Lear Silverman and Untitled Calamity Jane Play by Kati Frazier, both directed by Rising Sun's artistic director, Akia Squitieri.
MAY 2021
My essay "Practicing Motherhood" was published in Issue No. 5 of Lesbians are Miracles: Mother/Nature! The online magazine is available to download and read now. Check it out HERE!
MAY 2021
My play Birdie and Cait and the Book of Life was named a semi-finalist for the 44th Annual Bay Area Playwrights Festival, produced by the Playwrights Foundation. See the full list at BroadwayWorld.com.
APRIL 2021
Heights High School in Wichita, KS, is performing my play alex getting better!
APRIL 2021
My play alex getting better was recorded as an audio production for The Garden of Voices: a Podcast Theatre Troupe, produced by Rebecca Klein and directed by Agustina Cedraschi. After a live premiere on Zoom, the podcast episode is now available to stream on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and many other podcast platforms!
MARCH 2021
I performed in Operation #23: Steal the Mona Lisa, a new play written by Gena Treyvus, directed by Jenna Worsham, as part of MCC Theater's FreshPlay Fridays, playing a number of characters including Driver, Tour Guide, and more. The virtual performance is still available to watch HERE!
MARCH 2021
Hannah Clarke Levine performed my stand-alone monologue The Well of Miriam in KeyFest, a Zoom showcase of new work written by Ring of Keys members!
FEBRUARY 2021
Back in September, Ithaca College sophomore Kyle Friedman told me he was the recipient of the BICEP Fellowship through IC Hillel, and said he wanted to produce a virtual reading of my play Rye Bread. Five months later, we did that virtual reading as a fundraiser for the Anti-Defamation League! Rye Bread was directed by Britt Berke and stage managed by Rafidi, and featured cast members Emily Chester, Stacey Harris, Liz Samuel, Lauren Pisano, Daniel Bailin, and Shawn K. Jain. To date, we have raised $290 for the ADL! Find out more in our BroadwayWorld feature.
FEBRUARY 2021
I spoke to dramaturg Rachael Powles about being a multi-hyphenate theatre artist for her podcast "The Rehearsal Report" - listen to my episode and all the others on Spotify!
JANUARY 2021
I found out that my work will be published in two of Smith & Kraus's 2021 anthologies: who's mom and who's mama will be included in the Best Ten-Minute Plays, and one of Rachael's monologues from You Have To Promise will be included in the Best Women's Monologues. They are due out in August of this year - more details to come!
JANUARY 2021
My play Lily Ineffable was named a finalist for the 2021 Downtown Urban Arts Festival! Get more information on BroadwayWorld.com.
JANUARY 2021
I took part in Be An #ArtsHero and the Dramatists Guild's letter-writing initiative, calling on President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to bolster support for the arts in their first 100 days in office. Read all the letters at BeAnArtsHero.com, and see my letter quoted on Playbill.com.
JANUARY 2021
MD Virtual Ensemble produced the first licensed production of alex getting better! (There had been one scheduled for last spring at Iowa State University, but was canceled due to COVID-19.) The production was directed by Amanda Marino. I had the opportunity to talk with the cast in rehearsals, and to watch the final performance, and it was great! Check out interviews with the cast and director on MD Virtual Ensemble's Instagram account, and stay tuned for more news about future licensed productions of alex getting better.
DECEMBER 2020
In the last few days of 2020, I was thrilled to hear that my play Lily Ineffable was named a semi-finalist for the Jewish Plays Project's 10th Annual Jewish Playwriting Contest - making it among the top 20 plays! More info on JewishPlaysProject.org, and read Lily Ineffable on the New Play Exchange.
DECEMBER 2020
My brand-new play Balancé was workshopped virtually as part of The 12 Days of Holidays Festival, produced by Possibilities Theatre Company and directed by Sophronia Vowels. The cast featured Erin Lockett, Luz Lopez, Jessica Sabat, Olivia Tennison, Madeleine Maret, and Elena Toppo, and was stage managed by Rachel Baumann and Kat Brown. You can read the latest draft of Balancé on the the New Play Exchange.
DECEMBER 2020
I recorded the role of Kimberley in Jonny Brace's short play What's Going On Behind Your Eyes for a segment in "The Beginners Call Theatre Podcast"! Listen now on Spotify!
NOVEMBER 2020
I was selected as a member of Original Idiots' inaugural cohort of The Generator, a writers' group where I will be workshopping Birdie and Cait and the Book of Life throughout the rest of 2020 and the spring of 2021, leading up to a reading of the play. Find out more on OriginalIdiots.org!
NOVEMBER 2020
My play You Have To Promise was selected for Women's Theatre Festival's Occupy The Stage 2020! A virtual reading directed by C McCabe and assistant directed by Padra Crisafulli will perform on Friday, November 6th, and will then be available on demand from November 9-13. The reading will feature actors Taylor K. Porter, Alana Garcia, Mona Ricks, and Ginger Dreicer. Get tickets at a range of levels (single show, full festival, etc.) at WomensTheatreFestival.com!
OCTOBER 2020
I was thrilled to be named a semi-finalist for The Civilians' 2020-21 R&D Group! More info at TheCivilians.org.
OCTOBER 2020
I will be attending the Alliance for Jewish Theatre's 2020 Virtual Conference as one of the 2020 Theatremachers!
OCTOBER 2020
As a finalist in the 2020 Ithaca College New Play Incubator, my ten-minute play who's mom and who's mama received a Zoom workshop and reading with Ithaca College students. Following the presentation of all the finalist plays, guest judge Caridad Svich selected who's mom and who's mama as the winner of this year's Golden Egg Award! The workshop of my play was directed by Marley Schwarz, dramaturged by Nellie Speers, and stage managed by Julia O'Keeffe, and featured actors Alaysia Renay Duncan and Noa Webner.
SEPTEMBER 2020
I was selected for The Workshop Theater's Fall 2020 Intensive, to work on my play Birdie and Cait and the Book of Life in one of several cohorts alongside three other wonderful playwrights! Find out more on WorkshopTheater.org and read the most recent draft of the play on New Play Exchange.
AUGUST 2020
In July and August, I had the opportunity to teach a brand-new Playwriting Workshop course as part of BxSciU, a free online summer enrichment program for students from my high school, Bronx Science! I designed the course myself and guided two sections of students through writing scenes toward new plays, which received micro-workshops in the fourth and final week of class with professional actors and directors.
JULY 2020
You can now stream Summer on ChaiFlicks! Summer premiered in 2018 at the Big Apple Film Festival and the New York Jewish Film Festival (at Lincoln Center), and I play Devorah. It's available now on ChaiFlicks.com and can also still be streamed on Film Movement Plus.
JUNE 2020
Along with most of the other Pride Plays writers, I was invited to create a new piece for The 24 Hour Plays' Viral Monologues series! My new monologue, The Well of Miriam, performed by Jordan Kisner, streamed from June 30th through July 4th on The 24 Hour Plays' social media. You can still view it on my YouTube channel or IGTV.
JUNE 2020
My full-length play You Have To Promise was selected for Pride Plays 2020, produced by Doug Nevin and Michael Urie with festival direction by Nick Mayo! Due to COVID-19, it had an online invited reading, directed by Jenna Worsham. The cast included Taylor Richardson, Rebecca Jimenez, Cassie Beck, Quinn Copeland, and Johnathan Dougan, with stage manager Seth Betzler. Read more on Playbill.com!
MAY 2020
I graduated from Ithaca College with a B.A. in Theatre Studies and a minor in Web Programming, Magna Cum Laude and with Distinction for Exemplary Service to the Department of Theatre Arts!
APRIL 2020
My full-length play Rye Bread was named a Semi-Finalist for Play-Makers Spokane's 2020 Women Are Funny Prize!
While the in-person, physical production of Rye Bread produced by Theatrists Theatrics at Ithaca College was cancelled due to coronavirus, you can see a Zoom reading of the play with the cast from that production on Thursday, April 2nd at 8pm EST! Click here to access the digital program.
MARCH 2020
I performed "Unruly Heart" from The Prom in KOTA Productions' Lyrics for Life Virtual Concert! You can watch the full cabaret now on YouTube; I appear in Act 3 (the Rising Talent section) at about 37 minutes in.
MARCH 2020
I was the stage manager for Ithaca College's BFA Performance Class of 2020 show at 54 Below, March 7 at 11:30 PM.
Check out videos from the performance!
FEBRUARY 2020
Excerpts from my full-length play You Have To Promise were performed at Actors' Rep's New Works Nite in West Palm Beach, FL, February 29.
JANUARY 2020
Back in November 2019, my ten-minute play who's mom and who's mama was performed at New Wimbledon Theatre's Write About Now: WOMXN event. As part of their Write About Now events, the theatre records a podcast of the evening, which is now available on Stitcher! who's mom and who's mama is the first play in the recording.
