Shanika Brown
Dance to Rise

Tell us what your play is about in 3 sentences or less:

What was the inspiration behind your piece?

Have you participated in Theaterworks! before and if so how many times?

Can you share a fun or interesting fact about yourself with us?

What are you most looking forward to at the final performances?

Brad Crownover
Happy Tails, A Dramedy in One Act

Tell us what your play is about in 3 sentences or less:
After 20 years waiting in the wings, understudy Charlene finally gets her chance to play Juliet. It’s anybody’s guess though whether she will be able to find her Romeo.

What was the inspiration behind your piece?
The piece was inspired by a family story about the day my horseback-riding grandparents and father inadvertently abandoned, along a desolate road, my horse-adverse mother. Mother was left on her own to manage the unruly horse and the unfortunate situation.

Have you participated in Theaterworks! before and if so how many times?
This is my first time participating in TheaterWorks!

Can you share a fun or interesting fact about yourself with us?
As a high schooler, I lip-synced the Cowardly Lion’s “If I was King of the Forest” from the Wizard of Oz in my small town’s variety show. It was going great until the song’s long instrumental musical break. Seeing as I had no Scarecrow, Tin Man, or Dorothy to adorn me with my crown and cape, I was unprepared for a solo performance. My impromptu dancing was so bad that the high school tech crew closed the curtains. When the Cowardly Lion started singing again, I found the break in the curtains and stuck my head out and finished the song.

What are you most looking forward to at the final performances?
I can’t wait to hear my fellow workshop participant’s plays and to experience my play being read by the great cast of actors Joe assembled!

Constance H. Gemson
LEANA’S NECKLACE

Tell us what your play is about in 3 sentences or less:
The play shows the conflict between a mother with dementia and a middle-aged daughter trying to provide help. The mother recently moved to New York City, and the daughter is trying to adjust to her new role and responsibilities.

What was the inspiration behind your piece?
This fictionalized story of a real mother and daughter and their conflict.

Have you participated in Theaterworks! before and if so how many times?
This is my fourth time enrolling in this program.

Can you share a fun or interesting fact about yourself with us?
I have enjoyed writing all my life. My first poem was published in my high school yearbook.

What are you most looking forward to at the final performances?
I am looking forward to sharing the day of the performance with friends and family.

John Dennis David Keane
In the Shadows of Port Morris

Tell us what your play is about in 3 sentences or less:
In the Shadows of Port Morris takes place on a rooftop in the South Bronx, where a grandfather and grandson navigate the changes around them. The play explores the bond between Raymond, an elderly Puerto Rican man, and his grandson Mateo as they share a morning together,
surrounded by a neighborhood in transition. With themes of memory, gentrification, family, and identity, it reflects on the challenge of holding onto the past while confronting an uncertain future.

What was the inspiration behind your piece?
The rapidly changing skyline of the South Bronx.

Have you participated in Theaterworks! before and if so how many times?
This is the seventh year I have taken the Theatherworks class.

Can you share a fun or interesting fact about yourself with us?
I own over 200 pairs of sneakers.

What are you most looking forward to at the final performances?
Hearing my play read before people other than my classmates.

Josephine Kelly
BORDERLINE

Tell us what your play is about in 3 sentences or less:
This play is about the inner despair of the human condition, when one has to make choices between inner dreams and outward commitments. The play is about love, family, loyalty, image, hope, despair, dysfunction, faith and above all hope. This play is the turmoil of the human condition.

What was the inspiration behind your piece?
The play was inspired by the stories of rural Ireland, the power of the land and family name. The power of faith despite everything, the contrasts of daily life but also Ireland’s dark history of mental illness, and bright history of music, dance, poetry and storytelling.

Have you participated in Theaterworks! before and if so how many times?
No.

Can you share a fun or interesting fact about yourself with us?
I will dance anywhere, anytime and throw in a split, headstand and loads of humor!

What are you most looking forward to at the final performances?
I hope I capture in this short play…the power of sibling love despite all the darkness, hopelessness, despair and disfunction.

Valerie Knight
Starvin

Tell us what your play is about in 3 sentences or less:
Starvin is the memory of a morbidly obese woman. It explores the universality of hunger and trauma.

What was the inspiration behind your piece?
The extremes of consumption and starvation in the world and the pain each creates. Those who over-consume can very often be starving.

Have you participated in Theaterworks! before and if so how many times?
Yes, I have been incredibly fortunate to participate in Theaterworks twice before and I have been the recipient of the Mark Plesant Commission award. I have received an extraordinary education as a developing playwright and Thanksgiving eve, I am truly grateful!

Can you share a fun or interesting fact about yourself with us?
I will be featured with the band Sierra Madre in a new book called “Rock in Oaxaca”, to be presented in January, 2025. I was the lead singer!

What are you most looking forward to at the final performances?
The audience and whether this play can provoke a deeper understanding of one’s own hunger and satisfaction.

K Nicolini
Antique Road Show – Philadelphia 2076

Tell us what your play is about in 3 sentences or less:
Antique Roadshow – Philadelphia 2076 is a spoof on a famous PBS TV program of a similar name, set in the distant future on the 300th anniversary of the nation’s first capital.

What was the inspiration behind your piece?
First, Joe White, our instructor. Joe’s reaction to my original script
forced me to go back to my chair, desk, and computer to write
something stronger. Without him, this current play would not have
been written. Thank you Joe!

Second, I’m a big fan of witty ensemble sitcoms such as Shrinking,
Frasier, The Office, Seinfeld, Cheers, and Abbott Elementary, where
the characters love each other, but are comically at odds with one
another. This play is my ode to shows like these that uplift while
keeping us in stitches laughing about the hilarity of this thing we
call life!

Have you participated in Theaterworks! before and if so how many times?
No. This is my first time taking a playwriting class, and my first
time completing a scene for the theatrical stage.

Can you share a fun or interesting fact about yourself with us?
In April 2024, I rode with 10,000+ Vespa riders who took over the
factory town of Pontedera, Italy for a great long weekend of scooter
riding in Tuscany.

What are you most looking forward to at the final performances?
I’m most looking forward to seeing how the actors transform my
characters, and I’m excited to see how the audience reacts. Please
laugh! 🙂

Shaun Ortiz
Last Day Of Shooting

Tell us what your play is about in 3 sentences or less:
It is about a film actor on a ten-minute break before he heads back on set.

What was the inspiration behind your piece?
Youthful stupidity.

Have you participated in Theaterworks! before and if so how many times?
This is my first time working with TheaterWorks! I would love to join their next class.

Can you share a fun or interesting fact about yourself with us?
In 2008, I flew to Puerto Rico from New York City. I bought a used car and lived out of it for five months.

What are you most looking forward to at the final performances?
I am excited for everyone who has worked hard on their plays to finally have them brought to life by the actors.

Regina Romero
OBSCURA

Tell us what your play is about in 3 sentences or less:
Julia and Ana deal with aftermath of their mom’s passing. In the midst of cleaning out their mother’s house, Julia tells Ana she’s been seeing a ghost.

What was the inspiration behind your piece?
Exploration of grief, not only of loved ones but relationships, past-selves, places and objects.

Have you participated in Theaterworks! before and if so how many times?
No.

Can you share a fun or interesting fact about yourself with us?
Fun fact about myself is I can lick my elbow

What are you most looking forward to at the final performances?
Seeing everybody’s works come to life. Everybody has such diverse inspirations and ideas that it’ll be amazing to see how they get interpreted.

José Terrero
The Men’s Bathroom Crochet Club

Tell us what your play is about in 3 sentences or less:
It’s a comedic play. It’s about a young man who’s very frustrated at work. In the men’s room he meets two older men who help him cope with the stress through crocheting.

What was the inspiration behind your piece?
On my first day of class Joe asked me if I had any ideas for a play. I did not. During a bathroom break, from the class, the idea came to me.

Have you participated in Theaterworks! before and if so how many times?
This is my first TheaterWorks! class ever.

Can you share a fun or interesting fact about yourself with us?
During lunch time, at work, I watch funny shows. I laugh really loud and the people in the cafeteria are sometimes startled.

What are you most looking forward to at the final performances?
This is something completely new for me. No one has ever performed something I’ve written.

Dee Beasnael: Award-winning actor, voice over, and teaching artist. 

Dee received a best actress award for her work in The Securely Conferred Vouchsafed Keepsakes of Maery S. with 7 Daughters of Eve Theater and Performance Company. Dee is also a best actress nominee for her work as Nina Simone in Le Silence et la Peur/Silence and Fear, which toured throughout France, Portugal, and Switzerland.

Dee has performed at various venues throughout her career including The Whitney Museum, The Metropolitan Opera House, The Théâtre de la Bastille (Paris, France), NYU Skirball, Teatro Nacional Donna Maria II (Lisbon, Portugal,) amongst many others. 

Dee has numerous voiceover credits, one of her favorites being Caillou (French distribution.) Her most recent film releases include “The Good Half” and “Before the World Set on Fire.”

Dee is also a member of Elevator Repair Service Theater company. 

Dawn Evans – Theatre selects: Classic Stage Company, Youngblood/EST, The 52nd Street Project, The Lion Theatre at Theatre Row, Gallery Players, Two Headed Rep., Berkshire Theatre Festival, Horton By The Stream, DHCO (Italy), Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (UK)

TV: The Sopranos, Law & Order: SVU (2X), Law & Order: CI, Third Watch, The Wonder Pets (animated series)

Film includes: Summer Animals (2021 SXSW Grand Jury Award: Winner – Texas Short) Toby, Two Days Out (48 Hour Film Project: Winner – Best Actress), Here’s What I Like: Fashion and Flowers …, Amoivada Eikonomahos, Bums

Thanks: Joe White and TheaterWorks!

www.dawnevansactor.com

Kit Flanagan: Broadway: Inherit the Wind, The Man Who Came To Dinner, and All My Sons.  TV & Film: Blue Bloods, Bull, Madame Secretary, House of Cards, The 40 Year Old Version, Rebel in the Rye, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.

Johnny Rivera is a Puerto Rican born actor from Ponce, Puerto Rico, living in Bushwick Brooklyn. It was in a High School drama class that he first came across “Mambo Mouth” by John Leguizamo which sparked his interest for acting. He attended SUNY College at Purchase. Since, Johnny has worked on shows; Law & Order, POWER, The White House Plumbers,Chicago Fire, Bull, FBI, Wu-Tang: An American Saga & Blue bloods.

IG: @officialjohnnyrivera

David Stott: Selected credits.  Off-Broadway/regional: Clark in Date with a Stranger (Theatre Row), God in Apocalypse Inc. (EST), Richard in Kate & Richard (Triad), Petruchio in Taming of the Shrew (Chamberlayne Actors Theatre).  Film/TV: A Troublesome Property (PBS), Confessions of a Matchmaker (A&E), Mystery Quest (History Channel), The Snowflake Crusade, No Retreat from Destiny, Growth.

David is Professor of Film & Television at the City University of New York – LaGuardia.  He has directed documentary films for the United Nations, Harvard University, the World Bank, AmeriCorps, and MIT.  His work showcases human rights initiatives in the US/UK and in Peru, Nigeria and the Philippines. His feature COACH OF THE YEAR was an official selection at the SoHo International Film Festival, Golden Door International Film Festival, the Washington West Film Festival, and was sold at the Cannes Marche du Film.