Velocity Lab: A New Methodology and Technology to Develop 10 Projects
- A Second Life
- Between Us
- Big Sky
- The Feeling Part
- The Hummingbirds
- Posse
- Prozac & Other Miracles
- Run / Don't Run
- Sense of an Ending
- She Kills Monsters
A SECOND LIFE, a new play by Tan Suet Lee
After an accident leaves him paralyzed, Lawrence turns to the virtual world as an escape from his new life. But as he slips into a fantasy, his wife Mary takes desperate measures to bring him back to reality — by plunging further into Lawrence’s new world.
Director: Drayton Alexander Hiers. Featuring Featuring Chio Su-Ping (“Mary”), Ivan Choong (“Adam”), Lisa Louttit (“Louella”) and Timothy Nga (“Lawrence”).
SUET LEE (Playwright, A Second Life)
Suet Lee, a chartered accountant, began writing plays after a playwriting workshop in 2001. Since then she has written eight plays. Her most recent play Sperm was performed by Magdalena (Singapore) at the OCBC Singapore Theatre Festival in 2008. Another of her plays, Shopping with Ang, was performed by Yellow Earth Theatre as part of their Typhoon Festival, London, in 2004. She is a member of Singapore Repertory Theatre’s Writers Week.
BETWEEN US – THE UNTOLD STORIES BEHIND THE SISTERS ISLANDS, a new play by Jean Tay
The fates of two pairs of sisters are intertwined across time, in this juxtaposition of a mythic Singaporean fable and a real-life murder case. A lyrical, humorous and tragic exploration of the bonds that connect us to the ones we love.
Director: Drayton Alexander Hiers. Featuring Ann Summers Lek (“Eileen”), Zara Sophia (“Lina/Sunny/Yusef”), Amanda Tee (“Jenny/Orang Laut”), Rummana Yamanie (“Mina”).
JEAN TAY (Playwright, Between Us – The Untold Stories Behind the Sisters Islands)
Jean Tay graduated in 1997 with a double-degree in creative writing and economics from Brown University, USA. For her fiction, she was awarded the Weston Prize for Fiction from Brown, as well as the 1st and 3rd prizes for NAC’s Golden Point Short Story competition in 1995 and 2001 respectively. Her plays have been performed in Singapore, the US, the UK, and Italy. These include Water from the Well (1998), The Knot (1999), Plunge (2000), Everything but the Brain (2005, 2007) and Boom (2008). Jean has also written the books for the musicals “The Admiral’s Odyssey” (2005) and Man of Letters (2006), as well as the children’s musical Pinocchio (2010). In 2000, The Knot was awarded 1st prize for Action Theatre’s 10-minute Play Competition and selected as a finalist for the Actors Theatre of Louisville’s 10-minute Play Contest. She has been nominated three times for Best Original Script for the Straits Times’ Life! Theatre Awards, and won for the play Everything But the Brain in 2006. From 2006-2009, Jean was attached to the Singapore Repertory Theatre (SRT) as resident playwright. She participated in the month-long International Playwriting Residency organised by the Royal Court Theatre in London in 2007 and the LaMama International Playwriting Retreat in Umbria, Italy in 2010. Her playBoom is currently being used as an ‘O’ and ‘N’ Level literature text for high school students in Singapore.
BIG SKY, a new play by Alexandra Gersten-Vassilaros
A fable for our times, “Big Sky” focuses on Jen and Jack’s careening marriage set against the backdrop of entitlement, longing, and last-gasping in the 21st century.
Director: Matthew Dunster. Featuring Leslie Sharp (“Jen”), Nicholas Gleaves (“Jack”), Paul Meston (“Jonathan”), Emily Berrington (“Tessa”).
ALEXANDRA GERSTEN-VASSILAROS (Playwright, Big Sky)
Alexandra Gersten-Vassilaros is the author of Mean Time (Julliard and Vineyard Theatre workshops, dir. Daniel Aukin), Omnium Gatherum, (Humana Festival, Off-Broadway, BEST PLAYS of 2004, Pulitzer Prize for Drama Finalist 2004), The Argument (w/ Melissa Leo, Vineyard Theatre), Mother of Invention (Williamstown Theatre Festival, dir. Nicholas Martin and Steppenwolf Theatre Co. dir. Anna Shapiro), My Thing of Love (BROADWAY w/ Laurie Metcalf, Steppenwolf Theatre Co., Jefferson Award, dir. Terry Kinney), Supple in Combat (w/ JohnMahoney, Steppenwolf Theatre Co.). Her one-acts include: I Never told Anyone (McCarter Theatre commission, dir. BD Wong), The Airport Play (EST Marathon ‘05), and Two Jews in their Seventies and Open Arms, both to be featured on Playing for Air on NPR. She also developed a half hour comedy for HBO with co-writer Carl Capotorto and Executive Producers Will Scheffer and Mark Olsen. She is a graduate of NYU Tisch and member of PEN and Actors Studio. Her work is published by Samuel French and Smith and Kraus.
THE FEELING PART, a new play by Romy Nordlinger
Liv, an elementary school teacher, grapples with her mother’s death. Isolating from her husband and growing obsessed with a student, she is led on a Dantesque journey by the ghost of Sid Vicious and a heroin-riddled Nutcracker. By exploring the taboo of death, she awakens to the consequences of love and the celebration of life.
Director: Sue Hamilton. Dramaturg: Dylan Southard. Featuring Trace Turville (“Liv”), Noel D. Orput (“Zed”), Tish Hicks (“Mom”), Dave Buzzotta (“Sid Vicious”), Will Vought (“Nutcracker”). Produced by Michael Lopez. Broadcasting team: Justin Michael Wilcox, John Shartzer.
ROMY NORDLINGER (Playwright, The Feeling Part)
Romy Nordlinger has enjoyed an over 20 year career as an actor and playwright in NYC and regionally. Playwriting credits include “Lipshtick” (Fringe NYC 2012), “Sex & Sealing Wax” performed as part of the Estrogenious Festival as well as The Midtown International Theatre Festival, “The Feeling Part” (accepted into the 2010 Dream Up Festival at Theatre for the New City and Fringe NYC 2012), “Broadville” performed at the Source theatre as part of their Playground Development Series as well as numerous short plays. Some favorite acting credits include “Rose” in Resonance Ensemble’s “Shakespeare’s Slave” at The Clurman (Theatre Row), “Broadville” written by Romy and performed at Manhattan Theatre Source, and her original solo show “Sex & Sealing Wax”. Regional and New York theatre includes leading and supporting roles in such theatres as: Actor’s Theatre of Louisville, Kirk Theatre, Primary Stages, NY Fringe Festival, Circle Repertory, Fleetwood Stage, The Wilma Theatre, The Hudson Guild Theatre, and the Shubert Theatre among others. Film and TV: “Law & Order: C.I.” (Officer Talbor), “Real Life”, “All My Children”, “One Life to Live”, plus numerous indies, industrials and voice-overs. She is also a very busy Audiobook narrator with audible.com. As a theatre and literary teaching artist she has had a 15 year career and has taught underserved populations in schools, libraries and homeless shelters in every borough of NYC. Romy is a graduate of the University of Arts, B.F.A with honors. Member of LoNyLa, Resonance Theatre Ensemble, The Workshop Theatre Co. and the League of Professional Theatre Women.
THE HUMMINGBIRDS, a new play by Garret Jon Groenveld
The Hummingbirds is about two special unemployment counselors who assign you a job when you’ve been out of work too long. It may not be a job that you’re qualified to do. It may not be a job that’s safe for anyone to do. But you have to do it. The play concerns domestic terrorism, strippers, and weaponized hummingbirds. Winner of The Internationalists’ Global Playwrighting Contest 2012.
Director: Jake Witlen. Featuring Anita Anthonj and Daniel Unsold.
GARRET JON GROENVELD (Playwright, The Hummingbirds)
Garret Jon Groenveld is a poet and playwright living in San Francisco, CA with an MA in Poetry and an MFA in Playwrighting from San Francisco State University. He’s a founding writer of PlayGround and an inaugural member of the Writers in Residence program at the Playwrights Foundation. His plays have appeared in San Francisco, Amsterdam and New York. He teaches playwrighting at the New Conservatory Theatre Center.
POSSE, a new one hour drama pilot by Derek Olson
Lawmen enforce justice in a frontier town that has suddenly redefined itself after the Civil War.
Director: Wilson Milam. Featuring Matthew Barker (“Peter Hollis”), Francesca Bailey (“Emily”), Ed Hancock (“Sonny”), David Schall (“Gus”), Matthew Vere (“Hardigan”), Thomas Craig (“Sheriff Pugh”), Jacqueline King (“Mrs Pugh”), Susan Leigh (“Emily”), Nathan Clarke (“Henry Gardnhire”), Andy McKeane (Narrator 1), Alexis McDougall (Narrator 2), Leigh Quinn (Narrator 3).
DEREK OLSON (Screenwriter, Posse)
Derek Olson was born in San Mateo, CA. After graduating from Yale he moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in film and television. His TV writing credits include ABC’S THE UNUSUALS and NBC/DIRECTV’S FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS. He loves American history and racing triathlons.
PROZAC & OTHER MIRACLES, a new play by Sheri Graubert
What do you do when your bipolar next-door neighbor thinks he has the healing power of Jesus? Accidentally introduce him to your sexy, newly separated, ambitious cousin, of course, and wait for the excrement to hit the proverbial. But it’s ‘all good.’ Right?
Director: Anna G. Jones. Dramaturgy: Margaret Glover. Featuring Suanne Braun (“Betina”), Juliet Crawford (“Ellen”) and Peter Bramhill (“March”).
SHERI GRAUBERT (Playwright, Prozac & Other Miracles)
Sheri Graubert’s plays include: Military 4Play (Hangar Theatre); Johnny’s Girl (Festival of New Plays, Prop Thtr, Chicago); The Adelaide Chronicles (semi-finalist Mill Mountain Theatre); G.R.A.P.E.H.E.A.D.S (Last Frontier Theatre Conference, WBAI Radio; TDC); Love Dust (BCT, Australia; Sun Dog Theatre – also, in nest-of season); The Vestibule(Neighborhood Playhouse); St Croix (Clubbed Thumb); King of the World, (Alcoholic Fringe, Alaska); A Few Good Eggs(Words of Choice) Penny Black (Invited to Great Plains; finalist, Women at Plays(4); semi-finalist, Heartland Theatre);Parental Consent (Wild Card, Short + Sweet, Sydney; Semi-finalist, Short+Sweet, Singapore; Winner; Theatre Oxford; Winner, Northern Writes, Penobscott Theatre; Brief Acts Festival, NY; Winner, 6-Women Playwriting Festival, April 2010; Published: Smith & Kraus, Best American Ten-Minute plays, 2010); The Summer Display (Off Cut Festival, London; Joint Jury Winner, Short + Sweet, Sydney); The Hundred Years’ War (TDC); Gerry (TDC) Ms Santos’ Dream after Reading Medea (TDC); staged reading of Last Word (TDC); Carlotta, workshop (The Well-TDC) Penelope (Asphalt Jungle Shorts; Winner, Astor St Opry; Winner JAC Publishing Competition; Winner, Vagabond) Magnolia Day (Source Festival, DC; Spring Writes; Mind-the-Gap Productions; BCT 4ShortPlaysPlus; NYFA; published Best American Short Plays, 2011); A Few Good Eggs (Words of Choice) Ginto & May (Semi-finalist, Shorter & Sweeter Festival) The Millhouse Contract (semi-finalist, Lakeshore 5th Annual 10 Minute Play Contest) Dick Spacey and the Space Detectives (OMB Commission); The Troglodytes (Reverie Productions’ WetInk Festival; Finalist, Lark Playwrights’ Week) Sheri is also an actress. www.sherigraubert.com.
RUN / DON’T RUN, a new play by Gary Duggan
NYC 1999: A young man fleeing Dublin crash lands on the couch of his Irish American cousin, just as this older cousin’s relationship with his girlfriend is imploding. Over the summer the three cling to the last vestiges of the dying club scene and flirt with smalltime criminality as storm clouds gather on the horizon…
Director: Alyse Rothman. Featuring: Chris Harbur (“Gene Massey”), Chris Henry (“Eoin Massey”), Maria Christina-Oliveras (“Perdita Alvarez”), Lauren Fiorelli (Narrator/Stage Directions).
GARY DUGGAN (Playwright, Run/Don’t Run)
Gary Duggan is an Irish playwright and screenwriter. He won the Stewart Parker Trust Award for his first playMonged. Other plays include Dedalus Lounge and Trans-Euro Express, which have toured throughout Ireland and performed internationally. Gary’s most recent play Shibari is an Abbey Theatre Commission for the 2012 Dublin Theatre Festival. Gary has also co-written Amber, a major four-part TV drama for RTE (Ireland’s national networ
SENSE OF AN ENDING, a new play by Ken Urban
Charles, an African-American journalist, arrives in Rwanda to interview two Catholic nuns accused of crimes against humanity during the genocide that took the lives of over 800,000 Tutsis. The nuns profess ignorance to what was occurring at the church, but the massacre’s sole survivor contradicts their account. Charles must solve the mystery of the nuns’ guilt or innocence, but discovers he is part of the story.
Licensed by arrangement with The Agency, 24 Pottery Lane, Holland Park, London W11 4LZ info@theagency.co.uk
Director: Anna G. Jones. Featuring: Jamel Rodriguez (“Charles”), Fraser James (“Dusabi”), Alicia Kossoko (“Sister Justina”), Kiza Deen (“Sister Alice”), Babou Ceesay (“Paul”), Claire Cordier (Narrator/Stage Directions).
KEN URBAN (Playwright, Sense of an Ending)
Ken Urban’s plays have been produced and developed at Summer Play Festival @ The Public, Donmar Warehouse (London), The Flea, The Chocolate Factory (NYC), Williamstown Theatre Festival, Playwrights Horizons, Irish Rep, Primary Stages, Epic Theatre Ensemble, The Huntington, Moving Arts, Theatre of NOTE, and Soho Rep. His play The Correspondent opens Off-Broadway at Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre in March 2013. His other plays include I (HEART) KANT, Nibbler, The Happy Sad, The Awake and The Private Lives of Eskimos. Awards include the Weissberger Playwriting Award, Huntington Playwriting Fellowship, Epic Theatre Ensemble Spotlight: Human Rights Commission, Djerassi Artist Residency, Dramatist Guild Fellowship, Writers’ Room of Boston Emerging Writers Fellowship, MacDowell Colony Fellowships, SPF/Donmar Warehouse Residency and Lark Romania Exchange. His plays are featured atIndie Theatre Now, in the anthologies Plays and Playwrights 2002 and New York Theatre Review as well as numerous monologue collections. His feature film adaptation of The Happy Sad is in post-production, directed by Rodney Evans (Brother to Brother).
SHE KILLS MONSTERS, a screenplay based on a play, by Qui Nguyen
Following the death of her geeky little sister, Tilly, Agnes’ life is turned upside down when she stumbles upon her late sibling’s Dungeons & Dragons notebook. In an attempt to play Tilly’s final D&D quest, Agnes embarks on a reality-bending adventure to save her sister’s soul against an armada of Tilly’s worst demons, both of the magical and more formidable personal kind.
Director: John Gould Rubin. Dramaturg: Roweena Mackay. Featuring Megan Abell (“Agnes”), Alice Qin (“Tilly/Narrator”), David Rysdahl (“Chuck”), Mark Noonan (“Miles”), Solonje Burns (“Vera/Evil Gabby”), Alexa Erbach (“Lilith”), Veracity Butcher (“Kaliope”), Soriya Chum (“Steve”), Mick Daily (“Orcus”), Alison Reader (“Farrah/Evil Tina”), Luke Forbes (“Stage Directions”).
QUI NGUYEN (Playwright/Screenwriter, She Kills Monsters)
Qui Nguyen is a playwright, screenwriter, and Co-Artistic Director of the OBIE Award winning Vampire Cowboys Theatre Company of NYC. Recent scripts include the hip-hop musical KRUNK FU BATTLE BATTLE, children’s play ALIENS VERSUS CHEERLEADERS, and the Off-Broadway productions of SOUL SAMURAI, THE INEXPLICABLE REDEMPTION OF AGENT G, TRIAL BY WATER, and the stage version of SHE KILLS MONSTERS. He’s published by Samuel French, Broadway Play Publishing, and Playscipts Incorporated. He is a resident artist of New Dramatists, a core member of The Playwrights Center, an alumnus of Youngblood, and a member of Ensemble Studio Theatre and The Ma-Yi Writers Lab.
Goal: A More Effective & Efficient Development Process
Velocity Lab 2012 linked professional creative teams in different regions of the world to develop new material for stage, film and television.
By using broadcasting and telepresence / videoconferencing technology, this cross-border collaborative lab enabled artists to interact with other artists of various cultures as well as access remote audiences via the Internet.
Participating LoNyLa hubs: London, NYC, LA, Berlin and Singapore.
Velocity Lab developed 10 projects over a three-month period – September 30 to December 16, 2012. Rehearsed readings were scheduled between the five cities on a weekly rotation. The lab’s primary objectives were to:
- Encourage vigorous dialogue and exchange across cultures;
- Provide a safe, risk-taking environment and international creative community for writers with the support of professional directors, dramaturges, actors and other fellow writers;
- Develop new works that exhibit original voices and stories reflecting the author’s culture;
- Support material from diverse styles and in various stages of conception;
- Expose new work and talent to audiences across borders via digital technology; and,
- Build a bridge between development and production by exposing submission-ready material to artistic directors, producers and creative executives. As the fulcrum between East and West, London presented four projects. The other cities presented two projects each. Writers were matched with directors and casts from different regions to promote cultural exchange. For example, the London hub worked on a piece by a New York-based playwright; the Los Angeles hub presented a British TV pilot.
Velocity aimed to develop material in three mediums – stage, film and television – and did not discriminate between the mediums. From our perspective, strong dramatic narrative holds water irrespective of the medium. Playwrights can write screenplays; screenwriters can write plays. The overarching goal of LoNyLa was to empower artists to transit between mediums seamlessly as well as between geographic regions.
Each project (rehearsed reading) was broadcasted live over the Internet to the other cities. An interactive feedback session was conducted between the cities via video conferencing, which created an instantaneous feedback loop.
Velocity assigned a director and a dramaturg to each project. We scheduled the project for a rehearsed reading/broadcast in the hub that would lend the greatest benefit to the writer. For example, a British writer wanted to forge stronger ties to the New York theatre community. An American writer preferred to work with a British cast on a new play.
Velocity Lab Advisors
- Pun Bandhu
- John David Coles
- Angelina Fiordellissi
- Margaret Glover
- Michael Jung
- Jack Lechner
- Camillia Monet
- Steven Tabakin
Pun Bandhu is an award-winning actor and two time Tony Award-winning Broadway producer. He graduated with his MFA in Acting from the Yale School of Drama and has appeared on Broadway, Off Broadway and at regional theaters across the country. Pun has started his own theatre company, a shorts film festival, and as a partner in ZenDog Productions, has produced two Tony Award-winning projects on Broadway, GlenGarry Glen Ross (Best Play Revival 2005) and Spring Awakening (Best Musical, 2007). Spring Awakening also won the Drama Desk Award, Lucille Lortel Award, Outer Critics Circle Award and New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Musical, toured the US for two years and has been translated and seen in over 40 productions around the world. In addition to Broadway, ZenDog Productions has also been involved in productions in London, most recently with the first revival of Fiddler on the Roof. Pun was given the “Star of Asia” award by the Austin Asian American Chamber of Commerce and was honored at the New York Musical Theatre Festival Gala as one of “The Next Generation of Broadway Producers.”
John David Coles is an award-winning director and producer known for evocative material with compelling performances. He has enjoyed success in features, television and theater while his production company, Talking Wall Pictures, has focused on the development of cutting-edge feature and television projects. His extensive work as an Executive Producer and Director spans numerous American television formats, including Unforgettable, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Cra$h & Burn, New Amsterdam and 3 lbs.
Angelina Fiordellissi: Founder and Producing Artistic Director, Cherry Lane Theatre, New York City. Off-Broadway Productions: The American Dream and The Sandbox, written and directed by Edward Albee starring Judith Ivey and George Bartenieff, (filmed by The American Masters, PBS and Lincoln Center Library), Bhutan by Daisy Foote, directed by Evan Yionoulis, (Outer Critic’s Circle Award Nomination), Dutchman by Amiri Baraka (a/k/a LeRoi Jones) directed by Bill Duke, starring Dule Hill, Happy Days by Samuel Beckett, directed by Joseph Chaikin, Saint Lucy’s Eyes by Bridgette Wimberly, directed by Billie Allen, starring Ruby Dee (3 AUDELCO Awards),Women on Fire by Irene O’Garden, starring Judith Ivey, directed by Mary Robinson (Dramatist Guild Award, Lucille Lortell Award Nomination, Drama Desk Award Nomination), Havana Is Waiting by Eduardo Machado, directed by Michael John Garces (Humana Festival Finalist), Black Humor written and performed by Lewis Black, directed by Mark Linn-Baker (Drama Desk Award Nomination), Hoodoo Love, by Katori Hall, directed by Lucie Tiberghien (winner AUDELCO Award, three nominations including the August Wilson Award for best new playwright), Jailbait by Deirdre O’Connor,The Lady With All The Answers by David Rambo, starring Judith Ivey (Outer Critics Circle, Lucille Lortell and Drama League Award Nominations). Open Heart written by and starring Robbie Benson, directed by Matt Williams, slag heap by Anton Dudley, directed by Michael Morris, starring Vincent Kartheiser, Huck and Holden by Rajiv Joseph, directed by Giovanna Sardelli. Directing Credits: Aria Da Capo by Edna St. Vincent Millay with F. Murray Abraham, Mercedes Ruhl, Austin Pendleton and Jay O. Sanders, for the Edna St. Vincent Millay Society, The American Dream by Edward Albee with F. Murray Abraham, Judith Ivey and Elizabeth Wilson, Dutchman by Amiri Baraka with Dule Hill, Urgent Fury by Allison Moore with Halley Feiffer, 16 Wounded by Eliam Kraiem with Martin Rayner and Arian Moayed. Co-Productions: Lascivious Something by Sheila Callaghan with Womens’ Project, The Ladies by Anne Washburn with Dixon Place, Bhutan in association with New York Stage And Film, Gun Club by Hunt Holman with Hypothetical Theater Company, The View From Here by Margaret Dulaney with the Lamb’s Theater, The Gravity of Honey, by Bruce E. Rodgers with Dublin Theater Festival, 15 Minutes, by Bathsheba Doran with Edinburgh Fringe Festival . Off-Off-Broadway: developed and produced the work of over 60 dramatists including Pulitzer winners Suzan-Lori Parks, Ward Just, and Margo Jefferson, as well as Christopher Shinn, Julia Cho, Allison Moore, Sheila Callaghan, Bathsheba Doran, Deborah Zoe Laufer, Courtney Baron, Rogelio Martinez, Sam Forman, David Adjmi, Gary Winter and Cusi Cram. COMMISSIONED PROJECTS: American Story by Charles Fuller, The Cook by Eduardo Machado, String of Pearls by Michelle Lowe, untitled play by Daisy Foote and a new musical by Anton Dudley. THEATER AFFILIATIONS: 1996 acquired and revitalized 179-seat Cherry Lane Theatre; 1997 founded Cherry Lane Alternative non-profit theater company; 1998 acquired, renovated and named 99-seat Jose Quintero Theatre, 1998 created 60-seat black-box Cherry Lane Studio theater, 2005-6 renovated Cherry Lane Theatre, 2009 invited by Westbeth Community Center board and founded the cherry pit, (formerly known as the Bank Street Theater). PROGRAMS CREATED: 1998 Cherry Lane Mentor Project (2008 OBIE AWARD WINNER) developed and produced 40 playwrights to date, 1/3 of the plays have moved to Broadway, Off-Broadway, and Regional venues; 1999 Tongues Reading Series, 2000 Celebrating Black Playwrights Program; 2001 Celebrating Women Playwrights Program; 2002 Cherry Lane Heritage Series; 2005 Cherry Pit Late-Nite Series; 2009 Solofest! NEW PLAY DEVELOPMENT: 12 seasons of Cherry Lane Mentor Project, 8 seasons Advisory Board, New Harmony Project, 3 seasons Carnegie-Mellon Showcase of New Plays. PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS, TRAINING: AEA, AFTRA, SAG, League of Professional Theater Women, League of Off-Broadway Theater Owners and Producers, 2009 Honoree of the National Organization of Italian-American Women. BFA Acting Scholarship University of Detroit, MFA Acting Scholarship Asolo Conservatory of Theater. Teachers/Mentors: Jose Quintero, Joseph Chaikin, Sanford Meisner, Stella Adler, Graciela Daniele, Anthony Quinn, Michael Cacoyannis and Charles Nelson Reilly. ACTING EXPERIENCE: Broadway, National Tours, Off-Broadway, Dublin fringe, regional theater, children’s theater, film and television. Most valued credits: Wife by Matt Williams and Mother by Matisse and Fred.
Margaret Glover graduated from the Yale School of Drama, where she worked with both emerging and established writers and directors, including Athol Fugard and August Wilson. After leaving drama school she worked in production off-Broadway and in regional theatres in and around New York. Since moving to the UK, she has worked as script editor and producer in television on several award-winning serials and single dramas, for both children’s and prime-time audiences. She is currently Senior Lecturer in Producing at the London Film School, where she oversees the development and production of the graduation films. Margaret also continues to consult and read for Creative England and other publicly funded organisations, as well as several independents in the UK and Europe. Her screenwriting credits include Shadows in the Sun with director David Rocksavage and Kisna with director Subhash Ghai.
Michael Jung: As Vice President of Creative Development for Walt Disney Imagineering Creative Entertainment, Michael Jung is in charge of developing theatrical experiences for the Disney Theme Parks, Cruise Lines and Resorts around the world. Most recently, Michael launched the inaugural entertainment program for the Disney’s newest Cruise Ship, The Disney Fantasy. Jung spearheaded the creation of The American Idol Experience at Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Florida. Working closely with the creators of the hit television show, Michael and his team brought all of the energy and excitement of the show to theme park guests in the form of a live entertainment show. Michael was the principal Creative Director on “Finding Nemo – The Musical” at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, gathering together a stellar group of creative collaborators for a show that marked the first time a Pixar animated feature had been turned into a musical. He spearheaded the successful development and execution of the entertainment program for Hong Kong Disneyland and was the principal Creative Director on “The Lion King” and “Once Upon a Dream” parade, both for Disneyland Paris. He has been a key figure in driving the theatrical Blue Sky projects forward, integrating new artists into the Disney fold, crafting and shaping scripts, and spearheading the design concepts for Disney Parks’ theatrical productions. Michael has very successfully worked with the Parks’ entertainment teams on a wide variety of projects including “Playhouse Disney” in both Anaheim and Orlando. Michael trained at the Children’s Theatre Conservatory in Minneapolis. He was appointed resident associate director at the Guthrie Theatre under the artistic direction of Garland Wright. Michael earned his MFA from the California Institute of the Arts in directing and locally has produced and directed at The Mark Taper Forum, The Tiffany Theatre, The Matrix, Actor’s Gang, West Coast Ensemble, Long Beach Playhouse and the Taper New Work Festival. In 1994 he joined the artistic staff of the Mark Taper Forum, where he spent five years coordinating the new play development programs and acting as associate producer for the New Work Festival. Michael has also branched into producing, writing and directing television. He was the co-producer for the ACE award winning series Intimate Portrait on Lifetime Television. Michael was born in Detroit, Michigan and is an MFA graduate of California Institute of the Arts. Michael now resides in Los Angeles.
Jack Lechner has been involved in the production and development of dozens of movies, including The Crying Game, Good Will Hunting, and The Full Monty. He was most recently an executive producer on Girls Who Like Boys Who Like Boys for the Sundance Channel, and on the Oscar-nominated Blue Valentine. He was an executive producer on the Oscar-winning documentary The Fog Of War; the Emmy-nominated Left Of The Dial for HBO; Parking Lot for Trio; and a number of documentaries for Showtime. He co-produced the pilot of the Emmy-winning AMC drama series Mad Men. His book Can’t Take My Eyes Off You: One Man, Seven Days, Twelve Televisions was published in 2000, and his picture book Mary Had A Little Lamp in 2008. He also wrote the lyrics for the off-Broadway musical The Kid, which won the 2011 Outer Critics Circle Award and five Drama Desk nominations. B.A., Film Studies, Yale University.
Camillia Monet: Founder and CEO of Esperanza Productions, Camillia manages the daily operations of Esperanza, including production, business legal affairs, and finance, while collaborating with writers and directors to help achieve their vision. She has a number of films in various stages of development including the horror/thriller Dark Desert Highway, and the suspense thriller, The Vow, which will be directed by Nestor Miranda (Harlem Hostel, Destination Unknown). She is also working with famed producer/director, Walter Salles (City of God, The Motorcycle Diaries) on a film by Oscar nominated writer, Jose Rivera, entitled Celestina. Monet has several short films on the festival circuit. She is a graduate of the Yale School of Drama and continued studies in producing at UCLA film school.
Steven Tabakin is a New York-based producer with credits in independent feature film, television movies, documentaries, and live theater. He formed Tashtego Films with Margaret Whitton and Warren Spector, based on the the idea that great storytelling has the power to transform individuals and societies. He recently produced the film A Bird of the Air, which stars Rachel Nichols and Jackson Hurst and was directed by Margaret Whitton. Next up is the film, The Moment When, written and to be directed by James Lapine. He was George C. Wolfe’s Associate Producer at The Public Theater from 2003-2005, responsible for the development and production of many projects. In 2004 he produced Bob Balaban’s film adaptation of The Exonerated for Court TV, starring Brian Dennehy, Danny Glover, Delroy Lindo, Susan Sarandon, Aidan Quinn, and David Brown, Jr. From 1999-2003 he produced original drama programs for PBS, including A.R. Gurney’s Far East; Anna Deavere Smith’s Twilight: Los Angeles; Beckett on Film (2002 Peabody Award); and live broadcasts of The Man Who Came to Dinnerand The Women. Documentary credits include Tantalus: Behind the Mask; The Topdog Diaries; and Changing Stages, Richard Eyre’s six-part series on the theatre of the 20th Century. At The Public Theater from 1994-98 he worked on Bring in ‘Da Noise, Bring in ‘Da Funk; The Wild Party; Saturn Returns; On the Town and many other shows.
Locations of Broadcasts:
Velocity Lab Broadcasts and multiple-city feedback loops took place at the following spaces:
London: “Campus” – Google’s vibrant new complex for the digital startup community in Silicon Roundabout (Shoreditch). 4-5 Bonhill Street, London EC2A 4BX
New York: New York University Tisch School of the Arts, Graduate Acting. 721 Broadway, New York, NY 10003
Los Angeles: Esperanza Productions On The Paramount Studios Lot. 5555 Melrose Ave, Lucy 102, Los Angeles, CA 90038
Singapore: New York University Tisch School of the Arts Asia. 3 Kay Siang Road, Singapore 248923
Berlin: English Theatre Berlin. F40 Fidicinstrasse 40, 10965 Berlin