Laura Ekstrand is the Producing Artistic Director of Dreamcatcher Rep. She is anactor, director, teacher, playwright and a freelance acting and career coach. She has been a film-casting associate for Hopkins/Barden/Smith and was managing director for the Innisfree Festival of New Plays. As a playwright, her works have been produced in NY and NJ theatres. As an actor her credits include stage, film and television, appearing in “Hack”, “Sex & the City”, “High Art”, “I Shot Andy Warhol,” “Law & Order,” and “Late Night with Conan O’Brien.”
THE ACTORS
Farasha Baylock (Civic Virtue) is a New York native with a B.F.A in Acting from Syracuse University. At the LaGuardia High School of Visual and Performing Arts. She received the Drama Desk Scholar Award.
Keldrick Crowder (Civic Virtue) is a classically trained actor with a B.F.A from SUNY Purchase Theater Arts and Film department. An AUDELCO AWARD WINNER. Keldrick works on the NY stage.
Dorcas Evelene Davis (Civic Virtue) is an award-winning actor, playwright, and applied theatre practitioner. She uses theatre to affect change in communities and organizations. Her commitment is strengthened by her loving family and friends.
Dan Domingues (Elephants) has worked in theaters in NJ, Off-Broadway and around the country. His film/TV work includes the feature “Run All Night” with Liam Neeson and NBC’s “The Blacklist”
Noreen Farley (View) is a member of Dreamcatcher’s Theater acting ensemble. When not appearing there, she has been seen at Alliance Rep, The Theater Project, and other regional theaters.
David Jacobs (Civic Virtue) is from San Francisco, CA. He holds an MFA from the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco. He is a writer, improviser, freestyler and clown.
Ashley Kowzun (View) was last seen in Off Balance at Luna Stage’s Lab. She has appeared at Tristate Theater, East Lynne Theater and the Women’s Theatre Company. www.ashleykowzan.com.
Mary Leggio (Elephants) has been a part of the development of Elephants on the Vanishing Point since before it had its title, and is thrilled to be sharing it with an audience! Thanks to Ben and John!
Lori McNally (Elephants) is thrilled to be joining the talented cast of Elephants on the Vanishing Point. She’s worked Off Broadway, Off-Off Broadway and regionally. Education: LAMDA, B.A. Cornell University.
Jason Szamreta (View) is a member of Dreamcatcher Repertory Theatre. NY/NJ credits include Proctor in The Crucible, Barnette in Crimes of the Heart and Buff in Suburbia. www.jasonszamreta.com
Ashley C. Turner (Civic Virtue) is member of SAG-AFTRA. A native of New Orleans, he made his NY debut last year in the New Federal Theatre Off-Broadway production of The Fabulous Miss Marie.
JUDY WUKITSCH, President of The Lennie Pierro Memorial Arts Foundation In presenting various public art projects, The Pierro Foundation has experienced public scrutiny, controversy and critical attack, which has piqued our interest in exploring questions of public perception of art and responsibility, and “ownership” of public spaces. With Art in the Public Eye we address these questions in a series of three public programs. A panel discussion at the Montclair Art Museum examined the historical, cultural and social perspective. In What’s All the Fuss, the current exhibition on view at the Pierro Gallery of South Orange, visual artists respond to today’s hot social and political topics. In 3 One Acts, playwrights offer points of view that delve further into these issues. The commissioned works presented today were the result of an outreach to playwrights on the topic “public art and controversy.” The chosen plays give us three distinct, compelling scenarios, sparking our imaginations to join them in responding to: What’s all the fuss? Why does art — especially public art — often incite critical backlash? Do we need to defend it? Do we need it at all?
A heartfelt thanks to Emily Zacharias and Jim Peskin, for their enthusiastic response to the play project and for their generous and tenacious hard work to nurture and imbue this production with their high professional standards. Thank you also to Laura Ekstrand at Dreamcatcher Repertory Theatre, Cheryl Katz at Luna Stage, and John Pietrowski of Playwrights Theatre of New Jersey for working with us on this project. Please support these wonderful professional New Jersey theaters! For more information, go to: www.lunastage.org, www.dreamcatcherrep.org, and www.ptnj.org. Lastly, we thank SOPAC for welcoming the opportunity to coproduce this professional presentation with us in their true gem of a venue.
THE PRODUCERS
LPMAF Founded in 2002, the Lennie Pierro Memorial Arts Foundation continues to nurture public engagement of art through a wide variety of annual programming. Based in Essex County, New Jersey our mission is to provide easily accessible exposure to art for the health and vitality of the individual as well as the community. www.pierrofoundation.org Emily Zacharias has thoroughly enjoyed bridging the worlds of theater and fine art for today’s event. As an actor, Emily has been featured on Broadway in 3 musicals and 3 plays. She has appeared in new works Off-Broadway, Off-Off, on National Tours, and in regional theaters. She has been a teaching artist in the Narrative Medicine program at St. Barnabas Medical Center, and is a performance coach
to writers, clergy, and fearful speakers. Emily directed Women, Wisdom, and You, a publishing event at the New York Times Center, and directs Celebrity Readings for The Adult School. She is a founding member of The Workshop Theater in New York, where she works on new American plays. Jim Peskin is a director, arts administrator and educator. He was the Executive Director of the Montclair Arts Council, and Interim Director of the Greater Vancouver Professional Theatre Alliance. He taught at Drew University, Northview High School PaperMill Playhouse and NJPAC. As a theatre professional he was a resident director for What Exit? and Playwrights Theatre of NJ and has directed in regional and small professional theatres. He is grateful for the opportunity to work with Judy and Emily on this project for the Pierro Foundation. As resident of South Orange, having witnessed first-hand the local Tony Smith sculpture controversy, he is delighted to help explore this issue with this group of wonderful artists.
THE PLAYWRIGHTS
Eddie Antar was a member of The Workshop Theatre, NYC. His play The Navigator received 2 Drama Desk nominations, 8 New York Innovative Theater Award nominations and was a New York Times and Backstage Critic’s Pick. It is also included in the Smith and Kraus Best Plays anthology. His bilingual play Papi/Flaco won for best play and best actress at Thespis Theater Festival, NYC.
Mark Loewenstern is a three-time finalist for the Heideman Award, a nominee for a NY Innovative Theater Award, and a winner of The Samuel French One-Act Festival, Scriptapalooza’s Sitcom Writing Contest, and The Anna Zornio Children’s Playwriting Award, among others. He’s published through Samuel French, Smith and Kraus, and Indie Theater Now! Mark wishes to thank the EMG Playwriting Workshop and the Workshop Theater Company for helping develop this play! Email him at: goodyarn@hotmail.com.
Benjamin V. Marshall’s plays have earned recognition from HBO New Writers, New York’s Theatre for a New City, Chicago’s public radio station WBEZ and in play festivals from Alaska to Australia and awards from: NJ Council on the Arts, VCCA, NEH, and Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild, the Association of L.A. Playwrights, Playwrights Center and the 9th Floor.
THE DIRECTORS
Artem Yatsunov is a Ukrainian-born, Jersey-raised, Brooklyn-based theatre director and storyteller. Since graduating MSU in 2008, Artem has been directing non-stop, working on both non-conventional and regional theater stages around the country. In NJ he’s had the pleasure to work with such theatre-vets as John Pietrowski, Cheryl Katz, John Wooten, and Jane Mandel, among many others. Artem is the Cofounder of StrangeDog Theatre. John Pietrowski has been at Playwrights Theatre since its inception thirty yearsago. As an actor, he has performed as Professor Schrag in David Wiltse’s Sedition, and Zeblyan in Seth Rozin’s Two Jews Walk into a War at Playwrights Theatre, NJRep in Long Branch and Shadowland Theatre in Ellenville, NY. He has directed over 30 world premiere productions at Playwrights Theatre and won a NJSCA Playwriting Fellowship for his play Dura Mater, which was produced at Johns Hopkins in November 2014.
Sunday, November 8, 2015, at 3pm
ELEPHANTS ON THE VANISHING POINT
By B.V. Marshall
Directed by John Pietrowski
THE SLIGHTLY EXAGGERATED TRUE STORY OF CIVIC VIRTUE
By Mark Loewenstern
Directed by Artem Yatsunov
THE VIEW FROM HERE
By Eddie Antar
Directed by Laura Ekstrand
Produced by LPMAF – Emily Zacharias and Jim Peskin
The LPMAF commissioned play readings, and SOPAC programs are made possiblein part by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.