WEEK A - JUNE 6-9
Caned
by Jennie Law
Directed by Rachel Anissa
with: Adam Fitzgerald, Molly Hawkey
Red meets White in this surrealistic reinvention of the boy meets girl story. Two universal characters struggle to make pink light the most intense form of love. Steeped in symbolism, the play resonates with the real-life drama of romantic love.
Exit or Transfer Here
by Cassie Farrelly
Directed by Emily Boland
with: Christa Savery, Fred Urfer, Lindsay Torrey, Philip Opere
Annie and David have been broken up for four years when their paths cross again- on a New York City subway. They engage in awkward conversation, but they are not alone. Their "Egos" are along to express what each really wants to say.
Breakfast in the Hamptons
by Barbara Hammond
Directed by Alicia House
with Thea McCartan & Joshua Gibson
It's six o'clock on a warm summer morning in East Hampton. Two strangers, one half-dressed and the other half-suicidal, meet and request the impossible from each other.
Bumping Umbrellas
by Kymberly Harris Riggs
Directed by Kate Marks
with: Leah Pike, Bat Parnass, Dan Kastoriano
When Evie enters a junk shop she is caught in a conflict between marriage and passion. Charmed by the flamboyant Nadja and seduced by the irresistible Lou; Evie must chose between doing what is right and doing what feels good.
WEEK B - JUNE 13-16
Random Acts #2
by Suzanne Wesley
Directed by Valentina Benrexi
with: Krie Alden, Ben Scaccia, Patrick C. Tansor
Two aspiring actors rehearse for a showcase that may just be their big break. Enter a playwright who doesn't take kindly to rewrites and those wacky hijinks they will ensue!
Life on a Diet
by Franca Miraglia
Directed by Danielle Soames
with: Allison Lamb, Nicole Cooney, Janinne Johnsen,
Eric Anderson, Slade Decker
June is convinced that her body has a mind of its own - and her fantasies aren't just a figment of her imagination! Haunted by memories of the past, she struggles to separate food from love in this comedy-drama about girlfriends, sisters, sex and chocolate.
WEEK C - JUNE 20-23
by Abla Farhoud translated by Jill MacDougall
The Girls from the Five and Ten
Directed by Shari Johnson
with Puja Lalmalani, Beth Ann Leone,
Brandon Kalbaugh, Cassie Farrelly
Two emigrant sisters from Lebanon work in their father's store in French Canada. They dance, fight, and play in this coming-of-age story of deciding when take a stand.
Game of Patience
Directed by Amantha May
with Anna Eline, Eva Shabkie, Cherie Hannouche
A middle eastern writer raised in the west reconnects with a cousin raised in their war-ravaged country. From their conflict arises a challenge to the privileged to comprehend suffering, and to those who suffer to endeavor to heal.
WEEK D - JUNE 27-30
Surfing Blue
by Leslie Hamson
Directed by Rebecca A. Katzman
with Mark J. Cirnigliaro and Jessica Dunton
The line blurs between the past and the present as two people explore how the dynamics of a marriage change when your dreams and desires lead you down a path you had not expected to follow.
The First Doorman's Play
by Anne Phelan
Directed by ML Kinney
with: Jeff Broitman, Siho Ellsmore, David Reinhart,
Jacob Grigolia-Rosenbaum, Gill-Kirsten Walsh
In a post-apocalyptic world three unemployed doormen walk the dogs of the rich, until one of the dogs is stolen. Adapted from "The Second Shepherd's Play", this modern adventure culminates in the birth of a baby sent to save the world a baby girl!
Head
by Karin Diann Williams
Directed by Kathryn Moroney
with Shelley McPherson, Maria Helan Checa, Heidi Fortune
Three women pull a bait-and-switch on a businessman bargaining for sexual favors.
RACHEL ANISSA
Experience- Director (Winter Forum 2002), Director (Forum Spring 2002: "Caned"), Assistant Director/Stage Manager (Forum Winter 2002: BLOOD SKY).
Rachel Anissa is so glad to be back at work with the Looking Glass Theatre. Her previous directing credits include Vanities, Overtones, and The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds. She holds a BFA in Theatre Arts from Stephens College for women and few gay men. THANK YOU always Peter Beiger, Rob Roznowski, and all my friends and family. BACK TO TOP
EMILY BOLAND
Experience- Director (Spring Forum 2003), Director (Spring Forum 2002- "Exit or Transfer Here"), Director (Winter Forum 2000- "Prelude to Gracenotes"), Assistant Director/Stage Manager (Imagination).
Emily Boland graduated from Columbia University with a BA in Latin American Studies. As an undergrad, she worked with Columbia's King's Crown Shakespeare Troupe. KCST credits include "Much Ado About Nothing" (Ursula), "Hamlet" (Gravedigger and Ensemble director), "Troilus and Cressida" (Producer) and "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (Director). BACK TO TOP
REBECCA A. KATZMAN
Experience- Director (Spring Forum 2003), Director (Spring Forum 2002: "Surfing Blue"), Assistant Director/Stage Manager (Forum Winter 2002: FOUR BY RANA).
Rebecca A. Katzman is pleased to return to The Looking Glass Theatre. Her previous directing credits include: The Good Doctor (Ridgewood, NJ), 140 from Love's Fire (Ann Arbor, MI), The Vagina Monologues (Ann Arbor, MI) and Love Letters (Ann Arbor, MI). She received her B.A. in Drama and English from the University of Michigan. BACK TO TOP
SHARI JOHNSON
Experience- Director (Spring Forum 2003), Director (Winter Forum 2002 - "Muncie and Mayhem"), Director (Spring Forum 2002 - "The Girls of the Five and Ten"), Director (Winter Forum 2002 - "M"), Assistant Director (Man with Bags).
Shari Johnson holds a B.A. in Theatre and English from Hope College in Michigan. Shari has also worked in stage management for the Pearl Theatre, Gallery Players, HERE, NC Shakespeare Fesitval, and Notes in Motion dance company. Many thanks. Col. 3:17
KATE MARKS
Experience- Director (Spring Forum 2003), Director (Winter Forum 2002- "Lola and the Planets of Glorious Diversity"), Director (Spring Forum 2002- "Bumping Umbrellas"), Director (Winter Forum 2002 - "Decent"), Assistant Director (Man with Bags).
Most recently, Kate Marks directed Nothing of Origins produced by Studio 42 and One Year Leases at Urban Stages. Kate has directed Reproduction at The Riant Theatre; Faith at The Broadway Institute; Lola and the Planet of Glorious Diversity, Decent, and Bumping Umbrellas at The Looking Glass Forum where she also teaches a movement class. Bumping Umbrellas went on to be produced at Surf Reality, The Riant Theatre, and Don't Tell Mama. Other favorite directing credits include The Lesson, Aladdin, Peter Pan, I-95 South, and Alice in Wonderland. She has choreographed for Two Sides of A Coin Productions and Cabaret at The Baracke, in East Germany. Upcoming projects include The Odyssey at the Baracke in East Germany. She is a graduate of Brown University.
VALENTINA BENREXI
Experience- Forum Director (Winter 2002), Forum Director (Spring 2002- "Random Acts"), Forum Director (Winter 2002 - "Returning"), Actress: (Forum Spring 2001 in "Cleopatra's Needle", The Tempest), Publicity: (Forum Spring 2002, Winter 2002- Man with Batgs), Acting Intern: Winter/Spring 2001
A graduate of the University of Pittsburgh, Valentina has been pursuing acting in New York for the last three years. She enjoys directing as well, as it offers her the opportunity to grow as an artist and also to chew gum during rehearsal and boss people around. As always, she thanks Justine, Kenny, Myria, and most especially Justin -- See you in September! BACK TO TOP
AMANTHA MAY
Experience- Member of The Looking Glass Laboratory, Director- Spring Forum 2002 "Game of Patience", Lab: "The Good Deed"
New York directing credits include Autopsy and Monique the Mosquito for Screaming Venus, and Tea & Cake for Solen Productions. She has assistant directed for the multi-media group The Builder's Association, and at The Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, where she also worked as a literary intern. Amantha received her MFA at California Institute of the arts. At CalArts she curated, directed, and contributed text to s/w/itches, an ensemble generated piece about women and things, and Friday's Child, a juxtaposition of Euripides' Medea, the Friday the 13th movies, and the Susan Smith case. She directed a live adaptation of Caryl Churchill's teleplay The After-Dinner Joke using interactive video
technology. Amantha's thesis production was What of the Night? by Obie-award winning playwright Maria Irene Fornes, with whom Amantha had the pleasure of studying playwriting. Amantha is the author of the plays The Lab, and inner, city, both of which were presented in the CalArts New Works Festival, and The Mermaid, which was produced in Los Angeles and in the New York International Fringe Festival 2000. Amantha is a member of Girls Write Now, a group which mentors teenage female writers. BACK TO TOP
MARY LISA KINNEY
Experience- Director (Spring Forum 2002), Member of The Looking Glass Laboratory
ML Kinney (Director / Playwright) ML has spent close to sixteen years working in the New York theatre as director, playwright, lyrist, producer, stage manager and actor. She has worked with Mabou Mines, Duo Theatre, Off Broadway Queens, WOW, Spirit Productions, Chekhov Theatre Ensemble, NYSF Latino Festival, the Riant, Theatre for the New City, Artists In Motion, and Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, to name a few. As a director she has made her mark in developing and directing many new advant garde musicals and has worked closely with the new music scene. She is a member of the Dramatists Guild. Recent commissions have included the musical children's plays The Spider and the Dokannoos and The Adventures of the Stone Monkey King. Other New York productions of her work have included Islands, Embracing the Executioner, and a staged reading of her new musical A Bridge of Time. BACK TO TOP
DANIELLE SOAMES
Experience- Forum Director Spring 2002, Member Looking Glass Lab, Forum Director Winter 2002 - "The Monkeys Paw", Forum Director Spring 2001 - "The Mack Truck Theory",
Forum Director Winter 2001 - "Grace Notes section", Assistant Director - Spring Forum 2000, Assistant Stage Manager - "Laodamia: Queen of Epirus"
Danielle is thrilled to be a part of the Looking Glass Theater Director/Writer's Forum. Some other NY credits include: Coffee With Pearl in The Looking Glass Lab and at The Estrogenius Fundraiser and Transition 22 (wrote & directed) at The Knitting Factory. A graduate of Northeastern University; she would like to thank her family, Kim, & Justine
