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HERE Arts Center and Bethany Arts Community Presents The Story Box

HERE Arts Center and Bethany Arts Community Presents The Story Box

THREE PERFORMANCES TO CHOOSE FROM.
In an effort to make this program accessible to all, we ask that you pay what you can per person for each ticket.

SEPT 23 @ 6:30pm

at Bethany Arts Community

SEPT 24 @ 4:00pm

at Ossining Waterfront Park

SEPT 24 @ 7:00pm

at Ossining Waterfront Park

Written and performed by Suzi Takahashi and directed by Kristin Marting, The Story Box explores the importance of safeguarding our civil rights through the lens of Japanese-American identity, using traditional Japanese storytelling elements, like kamishibai, along with Takahashi’s own family history. Representing the relocation of Japanese Americans during WWII, the audience will receive a suitcase and a tag, inside of which is a wireless headset and a family photo album. Each unique family photo album documents an account of the problematic history of Asian people in the U.S., and more recently, the rise in anti-Asian violence during the pandemic. Inspired by the events of writer/performer Suzi Takahashi’s own life and delivered through her own words performed live & transmitted via the headset, The Story Box asks audience members to reflect together on the stories in each suitcase, and they are invited to leave a story of their own behind for future audiences.

Written, created, and Performed by Suzi Takahashi
Developed with and Directed by Kristin Marting
Composed by Michaela Gomez
Production Manager Ayumu “Poe” Saegusa
Set and Costume Design by Jian Jung
Sound Design by Drew Weinstein
Stage Manager Sarah Grant
Assistant Director Elyse Durand

About the artists:
Suzi Takahashi (Writer/Performer)
Suzi Takahashi is a biracial, Japanese/American theater creator, director, actor, and educator. She holds a BA in Theatre from Barnard College, an MA in Performance Studies from NYU-Tisch, and an MFA in Directing from Stony Brook Southampton. Suzi trained with the SITI Company. Suzi is part of the faculty at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting where she teaches Movement and directs. Recently, she was named Director of the Stella Adler Studio’s AAPI Artist’s Initiative. Suzi also teaches Asian Theater at NYU-Tisch. Previously, she has taught theater at: The Actor’s Studio, Pace University (IPE,) Swarthmore College, The City College of New York, and Hunter College. As an actor, she has performed for artists like: Taylor Mac, Richard Foreman, Richard Schechner, Kristin Marting, and Phil Soltanoff. Suzi was a three-year member of the Williamstown Theater Festival’s “Non-Eq” company, and has toured nationally and internationally. As a theater maker, Suzi has collaboratively created fifteen original works. She was a two-time HARP Artist-in-Residence at HERE with the international women’s performance ensemble she co-founded, Ex.Pgirl (2002-10.) Also, she was an Emerging Artist Directing Fellow at the New York Theater Workshop. Suzi has won numerous grants for her original works, which mostly explore Asian American women’s identity. She was the recipient of the 2009 Innovative Theater Award for Best Director. www.suzitakahashi.com

Kristin Marting (Director)
Kristin Marting (Director) is a director of hybrid work based in NYC. She has constructed 30 works for the stage (9 original hybrid works, 7 opera-theatre and music-theatre works, 9 adaptations of novels & short stories and 5 classic plays), most recently Looking at You with Kamala Sankaram and Rob Handel. Other recent projects include Silent Voices at BAM, IDIOT with Robert Lyons; Bombay Rickey, an opera cabaret also in Prototype; Trade Practices, an immersive theatrical experience where the audience determines value. She also directed Sounding and Dead Tech (collaborative works adapted from Ibsen), both of which received prestigious MAP Fund awards. She was recently named a nytheatre.com Person of the Decade for outstanding contribution, a Leader to Watch by Art Table and honored with a BAX10 Award. As Founding Artistic Director of HERE, she cultivates artists and programs all events for two performance spaces for an annual audience of 30,000. She co-created and co-curates HARP, HERE’s Artist Residency Program. Kristin is also co-director of PROTOTYPE: opera theatre now, an annual festival of contemporary opera-theatre and music theatre works, which she co-founded with Beth Morrison and Kim Whitener.

Michaela Gomez (Composer/Performer)
Michaela Gomez (Composer/Performer) is a New York City based musician who has toured extensively with the band Hazmat Modine.  She has been featured on the albums Leave Your Sleep (Natalie Merchant,) American Music for Gypsy Souls (Bill Barrett,) and Bahamut (Hazmat Modine), as well as on the soundtrack for the Academy Award nominated documentary, Pina.  Michaela is a graduate of The School of The Art Institute of Chicago and The New York Studio School where she studied visual art. Michaela was a student of music with Michael Longo.

WITH THANKS AND APPRECIATION

The Story Box is produced by HERE and has been developed with support from Alfred University, Bethany Arts Community, Bristol Valley Theatre and National Park of Women’s Rights. It is co-presented with Japan Society, Bronx Academy of Art and Dance, and NYC Economic Development Corporation and through partnerships with Asian American Arts Alliance, Chocolate Factory, Flushing Town Hall, National Lighthouse Museum, Snug Harbor Cultural Center, Staten Island Arts, and Target Margin Theater. Additional support provided by The Venturous Theatre Fund of theTides Foundation; and GREEN / ARTS LIVE NYC. GREEN / ARTS LIVE NYC is made possible with support from New York Community Trust and Con Edison’s Arts Al Fresco Series, administered by City Parks Foundation in collaboration with the Horticultural Society of New York, New Yorkers for Culture & Arts, NYC Department of Transportation, OpenCultureWORKS, and Street Lab.

Theater O artist residency at BAC

Theater O artist residency at BAC

First published by Jane Ozer via PATCH on 01/03/2018

THEATER O to start 2018 with a residency at the Bethany Arts Community

Theater O is delighted to announce that January 12-14 they will be in residency at the new Bethany Arts Community in Ossining, NY. Theater O will present 4 performances of Eric Coble’s adaptations of Lois’ Lowry’s Newbery Award Winning Novels The Giver and Gathering Blue. The plays are presented in tandem as two acts. Act I is The Giver and Act II is Gathering Blue.

Artistic Director Jessica Irons says, “I could not be more excited to present these plays at Bethany. Bethany is such an important addition to the artistic community in Ossining, Westchester, and well beyond. David Lyons, the founder of Bethany, has a unique and inspiring vision for what collaboration, community and art-making can be. Being able to participate in that collaboration from the outset is exhilarating not only for me personally, but also (and most importantly) for our Theater O participants.”

THE GIVER and GATHERING BLUE are companion pieces, both set in dystopian futures with different sets of rules and similar conflicts within their communities. Both stories center around young teens who are saddled with the responsibility of holding the history of their communities.

Theater O at Bethany Arts Community

Theater O at Bethany Arts Community

The cast for the performances includes: Eoin Carr, Asher Cort, Daniel Hannan, Henry Hoffman, Zachary Hoyer, Jacob Irons, Charlotte Kane, Leah Mione, Elena Prisament, Derek Rudley, Julian Salcedo, Audrey Schnecker, Claire Schnecker, Orry Shackney and Kate Ubriaco. Jessica Irons directs. Andrew Irons designs. Teddy Dengler is the assistant designer and Eli Hersh is the stage manager.

Performances are Friday January 12 at 7pm, Saturday January 13 at 3pm and 7pm and Sunday January 14 at 3pm at Bethany Arts Community, 40 Somerstown Road, Ossining, NY 10562. Tickets are $10 available for purchase beginning January 1 at www.theatero.org. For more information about Theater O please visit www.theatero.org. For more information on event visit www.bethanyarts.org/events

Theater O returns to BAC with The Sting

Theater O returns to BAC with The Sting

Theater O returns to Bethany Arts community with screen classic, THE STING

Theater O is delighted to announce that June 21 – 23 they will again be in residency at the new Bethany Arts Community in Ossining, NY. Theater O will present three performances of the Paul Newman/Robert Redford screen triumph, The Sting.

Artistic Director Jessica Irons says, “We are delighted to return to Bethany with our production of The Sting. With gender-blind casting (Audrey Schnecker plays Johnny Hooker, the Robert Redford role), this show encapsulates the slick and sassy world of the 1930s con. Working with unique staging (audience on two sides) and fun choreography and music, the play will delight audiences of all ages.”

The excitement, maneuvers and comedy of the Paul Newman/Robert Redford screen triumph have been brilliantly adapted for stage production by one of the finest professional playwrights writing today. This show takes place in Chicago many years ago in a world of small-time hustlers and their girls—their money nonexistent but their ingenuity abundant. Johnny Hooker (a small-time grifter played by Redford in the film) joins a friend in a successful con of a “runner.” Unfortunately for them, the runner works for a powerful, vindictive rackets boss, Doyle Lonnegan, who is infuriated and arranges the killing of Johnny’s friend. Hoping to avenge this senseless murder, Johnny enlists the aid of the master con man Henry Gondorf (originally played by Newman). Together they decide to try the big con called “The Wire.” Structured in classic style, their first move is “The Set Up.” From there they proceed to “The Tale.” The tension mounts as they succeed and, with the powerful Lonnegan half-hooked, go on to “The Shut Out.” The excitement becomes explosive and a final scene, with switch upon switch upon switch, has your audience guessing and gasping as it builds to the final con movement, “The Sting!” This is a wonderfully theatrical and yet authentic exploration of a very special world.

The cast for the performances includes: Dylan Alter, Madison Bisnauth, Kiera Bisnauth, Cole Bodoff, Max Bodoff, Cavan Brouder, Eoin Carr, Gabriella DiMicelli, Kenzie Dono, Lila Fenimore, Henry Hoffman, Jacob Irons, AJ Jeffrey, Leah Mione, Elena Prisament, Lilah Prosperino, Eamon Ragan, Kiran Roye, Derek Rudley, June Salo, Orry Schackney, Audrey Schnecker, Ella Schnecker, Veronika Volczjak, Sarah Wiedenheft. Jessica Irons directs. Andrew Irons designs and Anna Prestopino is the stage manager. Theater O students Teddy Dengler and Daniel Hannan are the assistant designer and assistant director, respectively.

Performances are Thursday, Friday and Saturday June 21 through 23 at 7pm at Bethany Arts Community, 40 Somerstown Road, Ossining, NY 10562. Tickets are $10 and are available for purchase starting June 1st at www.theatero.org. For more information about Theater O please visit www.theatero.org. For more information on Bethany Arts Community, please visit bethanyarts.org/events

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