by Crystal Skillman
Directed by Jessi D. Hill
Featuring: Mary E. Hodges,* Taylor Shurte,* Angel Moore,* and Eric Wiegand
Production Stage Manager is Sarah Machiko Haber
Playwright Assistant is Erica Magrin
CRYSTAL SKILLMAN is an award-winning playwright. She is the author of the plays Geek, Cut, and King Kirby (co-written with Fred Van Lente), all NYTimes Critics picks. Her new plays include: Rain and Zoe Save the World (2017 Blue Ink Award Finalist, 2017 O’Neill Semi-Finalist, 2016 New Harmony Project, 2016 Oregon Performance Lab), Pulp Vérité (2017 Judson’s Magic Time Series, 2016 BAPF Finalist, 2015 Clifford Odets Ensemble Play Commission), and Another Kind of Love, a punk rock play (Chopin Theater with InFusion Theatre Co., 2015, Chicago). She is the musical theater book writer of Mary and Max, based on the claymation film, and The Cover, written for Glee’s Ali Stroker, both with award winning ASCAP Composer/Lyricist Bobby Cronin. Mary and Max, following a successful intimate industry presentation earlier this year, will be directed by Stafford Arima in a workshop with Broadway Dreams Foundation in Atlanta this June. Wild was just published by Chicago Dramaworks, following sold out runs in Chicago (Kid Brooklyn), New York (IRT Theater/Sanguine), and Off Broadway in MCC Theater’s Playlabs at the Lucille Lortel. She is also the author of The Vigil or The Guided Cradle, winner of the 2010 New York Innovative Theatre Award for Outstanding Full-Length Script. Crystal is represented by Amy Wagner and Ron Gwiazda at Abrams Artists Agency in NY, and James Beresford with Shepard Management in the UK. She is a proud member of EST, where she started her career as a playwright in Youngblood. EST Productions/Commissions include: Tooth (Youngblood), Flow, and The Ballad of Phineas P. Gage (EST/Sloan Commission, HERE/Drama of Works Production). Other memberships include: Women’s Project Lab and the Soho Rep Writer/Director Lab. Her work can be found at her publisher Samuel French, as well as Chicago Dramaworks. She just finished the original TV pilot for her series Paper Heroes, co-created and written with Fred Van Lente. http://www.crystalskillman.com/
JESSI D. HILL is a theatre director based in New York City. New York credits include new work at New York Theatre Workshop, The Public Theater/Joe’s Pub, The Playwrights’ Center, Primary Stages, Labyrinth, The Women’s Project, 59E59, The New Group, Ensemble Studio Theatre, terraNOVA Collective, Culture Project, The Acting Company, The Barrow Group, PS122, Abingdon, Baruch Performing Arts Center, New Dramatists, The Lark, The Playwrights Realm, New Georges, Naked Angels, The Wild Project, and others. She has been a director and teacher in professional training programs at Yale School of Drama, Juilliard, The Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center/NTI, Fordham University, Long Island University, Powerhouse/NY Stage & Film, NYU/Tisch, Strasberg, CAP21, The Atlantic School, Playwrights Horizons Theatre School, Hunter College, Marymount Manhattan, American Academy of Dramatic Arts, and others. Jessi is a recipient of the Denham Fellowship from the Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation, an Alum of the Women’s Project Lab, and an Affiliated Artist at New Georges. She served as Associate Artistic Director of terraNOVA Collective from 2009-2015 where she co-created the Groundbreakers Playwrights Group and Groundworks new works program.
She is currently the Artistic Associate at Flying Carpet Theatre Co and the Literary Team Director at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater. Her work has been seen internationally in Edinburgh, London, New Zealand, Berlin and Hamburg. MFA: Yale. Member SDC. Current projects: www.jessidhill.com
MARY E. HODGES Mary recently read Cheryl Davis’s new play “Swimming Uptown” both at The Lark Roundtable and at South Oxford Space (A.R.T./NY) Other NYC productions: “Macbeth 3”-Here Art Center featuring Lisa Wolpe; “The Blue Print Project” -Gideon Productions; “The Step-Mother” written by Ruby Dee performed at EST and New Federal Theatre. Judith Shakespeare Company: “Henry IV, pt2”; “Richard III”; “Double Falsehood”. Harlem Shakespeare Festival: “Othello”; “King Lear”; “Hamlet”; “Medea”. Regional: Florida Repertory Theatre, Berkeley Rep, Long Wharf Theatre, Connecticut Rep, The Berkshire Theatre Group, National Black Theatre Festival. TV: “Law & Order: SVU” (Judge Wright) seasons 17 and 18. Mary also teaches and directs. She has a MFA in Acting from The University of Connecticut. Special thank you to Crystal, Jessi, Project Y, and this generous, kind cast.
TAYLOR SHURTE: Three Sisters, Our Town, Dram of Drummhicit (La Jolla Playhouse); Theatre Masters MFA Take Ten Festival (Theatre for a New City); #Liberated (IRT); Helps to Hate You a Little: A Lovestory (Cloud City); Not Afraid (Under St Marks); Astronaut (Ars Nova AntFest); MFA UC San Diego, BS Univ. Evansville.
ANGEL MOORE is from Cincinnati, Ohio. Off-Broadway: Emperor Jones (The Irish Repertory), Regional: The Mountaintop (The Kitchen Theatre and Cleveland Playhouse), And I And Silence (The Magic Theatre), Repairing a Nation (Crossroads Theatre), Vanya, Sonja, Masha and Spike (Shakespeare and Company). She proudly earned her B.A from Alabama State University and M.F.A from Mason Gross School of the Arts under Deborah Hedwall. Angel adores her family and enjoys double-dutch and singing.
ERIC WIEGAND is a musical theatre/acting student at Carnegie Mellon University. He’s extremely excited to be in his first New York production. Carnegie Mellon productions include: Boom (Jules), Oil and Watercolor (Deek), and selections from Big River (Huckleberry Finn). Other productions: West Side Story (Tony), Grease (Kenickie), The Crucible (Parris), Dial M for Murder (Tony Wendice). On TV, he appeared in WGN America’s “Outsiders.”