Festival Line Up

(as of 7/15)

Featured Lobby Artist: Whitney St. Ours

Interactive Pieces by The Garret Theatre Co

FRIDAY 8PM-11PM

Stretching Out, a short play by reid tang

Artist Bio:

reid tang writes plays and things shaped like plays. Their work includes Isabel (NAATCO), DEBT (co-written w/ Adrian Einspanier, developed with Pride Plays, New York Stage and Film & Breaking the Binary Theatre), WORK HARD HAVE FUN MAKE HISTORY (Clubbed Thumb Summerworks), FUTURE WIFE (Relentless Award Honorable Mention, Goethe-Institut Beijing, Theatertreffen Stückemarkt), and Party in a Google Sheet (New Georges). They’re under commission with Breaking the Binary Theatre and New York Theatre Workshop, and a past recipient of the Sundance Institute Interdisciplinary Program Grant. Currently, they’re a resident playwright at New Dramatists, and have been part of Ars Nova’s Play Group, the New Georges Jam, Clubbed Thumb’s Early Career Writers’ Group, and NYTW’s 2050 Fellowship. They grew up in Singapore and presently live in Brooklyn, NY. MFA: New School of Drama.

Mythweaving with Ingrid Norton and Joy Hanson

Artist Bio:

Ingrid Norton is a writer, scholar, and storyteller based in Brooklyn. Her leadership and curation of The Myth Lab is inspired by her dual work as a creative writer and a scholar of human stories over time. She holds a PhD in American literature from Princeton and a master’s of theology from Harvard Divinity School. Norton leads seminars and workshops on imaginative storytelling and creative and cultural change. She is at work on a novel that imagines a god and goddess who make a bet on two human lovers in a fictional version of the contemporary U.S. ingridnorton.com

Comedy by Louie Visone 

Artist Bio:

Louie Visone is a filmmaker and stand up comedian known for projects like Kite Man: Soarin’ High and People Give a Shit: A Self Help Story. Be on the lookout for his next projects like O1: An Alien of Extraordinary Ability and Here But for the Grace of God. @louie_tries_his_best

https://www.slpentertainmentllc.com/

CV, a performance by Robert David Carey with Anna Witiuk

“I’ll be reading from a hybrid essay/poem that incorporates video, music, reportage, and memory to describe a disappearing place. It’s a violent place, founded on the legacy of violence, but it’s where I grew up.”

Artist Bio:

Robert David Carey is a writer, teacher, and organizer currently based in Philadelphia, though he has lived many places and worked many jobs. To receive his spoken-word collaboration with Living Mind on cassette, reach out to @bogscary on Instagram or speak to him in-person.

Examples of God Personally Killing People, a one-act play by Jerrod Jordahl.

“It’s a play about death, the weight of capitalism, and failure. The stuff of life, in other words. It looks at how we are fragile, vulnerable beings. How loss is a central human condition. But it offers, I think, that we have the desire for hope and acceptance and stillness.”

Artist Bio:

Jerrod Jordahl is a Brooklyn-based playwright. Recent works include Monologues For Nobody (mind dream theater), Taking Care of Animals (21Ten), and death as repetition (The Brick, ?!:New Works 2023). jerrodjordahl.com | @jerrod.jordahl

SATURDAY 3PM-6PM

TransVolution – Folk Punk Playlist performed by Déa Thatcher directed by Pauli Pontrelli

Déa sings about coming-of-age, euphoria and angst while self accompanying on a Fender Telecaster. Songs lead to poetry mixed with pain mixed with pleasure. Dedicated to a trans girl’s inner child. Directed by Pauli Pontrelli.

Artist Bio:

Déa Thatcher composes music and songs for Theater, Film, TV, Orchestra, and Other Mixed Media. They write Musicals, Short Stories, Poems, and other Musings on a modern world, and got a start in community choir and theater in North Western, NJ. Now Déa lives in Brooklyn, NY. Select project titles include: Martin and Meelo, The Most Incredible Thing, The Only Way Out, Lost Letters, Untitled Queer Fantasy, Gender Circus, Hunt of the Unicorn, a collection of Tone Poems, a book of poetry, and a debut folk-punk album called TransVolution.

Her work has been developed at multiple stages including living room shares, table workshops, residencies, readings, concerts, commissions and productions. Member of The Dramatists Guild, Maestra, ASCAP, Untitled Musical Group and AFM Local 802. Training: Berklee College of Music. Performance venues include Pete’s Candy Store, Powerhouse Arena, The Duplex, 54 Below, Green Room 42, The Laurie Beechman, Symphony Space, and The Cutting Room. Currently: Déa plays accordion full time at Cabaret on Broadway.

Synth Poetry by William Hazard

From the artist:

“I perform by speaking and accompanying myself with a software synthesizer of my own design. The latter is controlled by typing words. I project the text I’m typing, which provides some productive tension with the spoken material.”

Artist Bio:
William Hazard makes poems with computers. Recent work can be found in the Moonstone Arts 2024 Featured Poets Anthology, At What Cost Catalog, Voicemail Poems, Bring a Blanket Zine, Ghost Proposal, and elsewhere. He teaches at Temple University. He hangs out at llllllll.co.

Music by Marc Sloan

Artist Bio:

Sloan grew up in Cincinnati, home of King Records and Big Red milling machines, close to Chicago, Blues, Nashville, the Kentucky and West Virginia coal mines, Hillbilly Highways and the Chitlin circuits. Marc’s father, Glenn Milburn Sloan, was bass trombonist for CCM, Tanglewood, St. Louis and Indianapolis Symphonies and The Glenn Sloan Jazz Orchestra. Marc is a musician and composer of very eccentric and eclectic world diverse musics traditional to electronic. Sloan records and tours internationally, studied at City College NYC with Ron Carter and with Hilly Crystal at the infamous rock music club CBGBs. Hilly released Ritual Tension’s ‘Blood Of The Kid’ on Celluloid Records. Sloan recorded a lot at Martin Bisi’s studio… etc

Marc still works with Elliott Sharp after 1990-96 w/ CARBON. and a few solo stints in europe w/ his rock band. Oh yes, once w/ Rhys Chatham for the ‘Crimson Grail’ @ Lincoln Center. Marc collaborates with artist Maggie Ens and is considering recording his next album “Trees Of Nerve Endings / Pillows of Fire” in vortex red rock Sedona, Arizona

Eye to Eye, a dance piece by Jasmine Canziani

Artist Bio

Jasmine Canziani is an artist who was born and raised in New York City. Over the last decade in the arts industry Jasmine has worn many hats. She has worked as an actor at regional theatres in New York as well as spending two years on an international tour. She has been an Assistant Director for various theater education programs from New York to California and has worked as a Choreographer for competitive dance teams, dance concerts and musical productions. Jasmine completed her MFA in Choreography from the University of Roehampton in London in the Spring of 2024. While in London, Jasmine choreographed on an independent film titled “The Fools Who Dream” at Ealing Studios and participated in workshops with artists such as Annie Hanauer and Serafine1369. Most recently, Jasmine performed her new work “Stacks” at Mark Morris Dance Center with Re/Venue NYC and choreographed a contemporary-jazz piece for Interim Dance Collective’s Spring Concert 2025. She also choreographed a production of City of Angels at Wagner College and is the Artistic Director of the Free Mind Dance Collective in Brooklyn, NY. Jasmine enjoys creating new and exciting work for all levels of passionate dance artists. Jasmine has a BA in Musical Theatre with a Minor in Dance from Wagner College and currently lives with her partner and cat in Astoria, Queens.

Comedy Songs by Stephen Webber

“I combine music and humor in a unique way, to get everyone laughing, thinking and tapping their feet. Just me and a ukulele, some funny songs, jokes and stories.”

Comic Bio:

Musician and multi-instrumentalist Stephen Webber recently had a life-changing epiphany.

“What if I show up with just a ukulele?”

An Emmy-winning composer and Grammy-nominated producer, Webber spent years as a professor and dean at Berklee College of Music; founding campuses in Spain and New York, and authoring popular online courses. But he never veered from his love of playing and composing.

For most performances, Webber brought multiple guitars, keyboards, other stringed instruments (banjo, bass, mandolin, ukulele), and even a pair of turntables (He wrote Turntable Technique: the Art of the DJ in the 90s, and composed the Stylus Symphony in 2007). While he’s always enjoyed playing music, Webber began to dread all of the set-up, tuning, sound-checking and inevitable complications that came with deploying such an arsenal of gear.

Thus, his epiphany. “I’m always urging my students to simplify. This new creative career change is my attempt at taking my own advice.”

“What if I show up with just a ukulele?”

It would be a major challenge. Such an about-face would mean a total re-thinking of his musical identity.

Stephen composed dozens of songs for the uke over the next year, and quickly realized his dream of vastly simplified gigs in New York.

“I now have soundchecks that last between 30 and 60 seconds,” marvels Webber. “Mission accomplished!”

Comedy by Truman M Cazales

In the comics words:

“Just your average guy who always thinks he can do standup and signed up for a class one time and now he’s doing this just as passionately as he is failing at life. And I’m doing that as spectacularly as I can.”

Astoria All-Stars Improv Mash-Up! 

Get ready for unpredictable, hilarious, and never-before-seen improv comedy! The Astoria All-Stars Improv Comedy Mash-up brings together the best improvisers from across Astoria’s vibrant comedy community for one unforgettable show. We’ve plucked talent from legendary theaters like Brooklyn Comedy Collective, Upright Citizens Brigade, The PIT, The Armory, and more! Don’t miss this mash-up of styles, schools, and comedic minds – anything can happen! 

Featuring: Chelsea Bunn, Ryan Chittaphong, Seth Finkelstein, Jessica Coyle, James Fernandez, Sean Morin, Brad Stuart, Michael Deegan, Rocky Powell, Zivon Toplin, Dahlia Haddad, Sunny (Sandeep) Atwal 

Curator Bio:

Chelsea Bunn is an accomplished improviser whose training includes ColdTowne Theater and UCB’s core curriculum, with performances at Austin’s premier improv theaters and Boom Chicago in Amsterdam. She is the producer of Missed Connections NYC, an improv show previously praised in Austin, now making its NYC premiere.

Being Baby by The Devising Jam

“During collaboration in May and June, we created some joyous pieces with audience participation that we want to share with the public and this is one of them. Being Baby is seeing the world through a baby’s eyes, feeling the total, unconditional love of being wanted, wondered at, and praised for just being.”

The Devising Jam gives the participants the space to warm the muscles of creative group brainstorming, trial and error, throwing spaghetti at a wall, etc. with a chance to throw it all away at the end of the night and start fresh the following week or to revisit something that sparked excitement from the previous week. This philosophy comes from Becca Canziani’s work in devising at the Accademia dell’Arte in Arezzo, Italy and Aran’s years of study at the Raykin school in Moscow, Russia.

SATURDAY 8PM-11PM

Psalms of Planetary Devotion by Alexandra Neuman with Valeria Itriago and Val Domingo

Psalms of Planetary Devotion is an interactive performance that invites individuals to gather together and worship the earth. Through absurd songs and queer eco-amorous rituals, the performance summons a matriarchal paradigm based on sensory pleasure, mutual flourishing, and unconditional love for the planet. This circle of earth worship churns up the ecstatic group energy that is required to create new worlds. 

Artist bio:

Alexandra Neuman is an interdisciplinary artist and non-denominational chaplain based in Brooklyn, NY. Drawing on ideas from postcolonial theory and multi-species feminism, her work focuses on reframing human ‘being’ as an ecological process rather than as an individual body or self. She received a BFA in Visual Arts and Anthropology from Sam Fox School of Art at Washington University in St. Louis and an MFA in Visual Arts and Speculative Design at University of California, San Diego. She is a past participant of the Arteles Residency in Haukijarvi, Finland, PRAKSIS Residency in Oslo, Norway, The Live-Art Ireland Residency, and the Saas-Fee Summer Institute of Art in Berlin. Her films have shown at Anthology Film Archives, Nitehawk Cinema, Miriam Gallery, Museum of the Moving Image, Performance Space, and Museum of Sex. Her works have been featured in Hyperallergic, I-D Italy, Sajetta Magazine, Sex & Psychedelics Magazine, Precog Magazine, and Cyberfeminism Index (Inventory Press). She is a Webby Award Honoree as well as a recipient of the Initiative for Digital Exploration of Arts and Sciences (IDEAS) grant at The California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology. Neuman published a book and tarot deck with Onomatopee Projects in Eindhoven, Netherlands. She is currently working as an associate chaplain at NYU Langone Hospital.

“exit strategy”, an experimental theatre piece 

In a near future, graham tries to remember where he saw this photo before. a meditation on nuclear semiotics happens. someone sneezes. blue can’t believe we are singing this song again.

Artist Bios:

MaryKate Glenn (she/her) is a New York-based artist and performer. Her practice pursues expressions of unconscious material through the body, voice, and visual image. Her current research blends the performer’s full somatic, psychic, and vocal instrument through physically rigorous training and performance. Previous collaborations: Transport Group, November Theatre, fullscreen blackbox, Great River Shakespeare, the Useless Room (LA), and Teatr ZAR of the Grotowski Institute (Wrocław, Poland), Triplets Amsterdam. MFA Acting, California Institute of the Arts. marykateglenn.com

Rupert Krüger (he/him) is an actor and movement director based in Brooklyn, NY. He comes to his work from a background in dance, martial arts and theater. His work explores the meeting point between the narrative of performance and the structure of martial arts, with a focus on mythic storytelling and durational performance. His next piece, Sailors, premiered this past January at Physfest NYC as a work-in-progress. Rupert holds Nidan (2nd Degree Black Belt) in Goju Ryu Karate, and is a practicing Aikidoka (5th kyu) under Sensei Ryūgan (6th dan). BFA Acting Syracuse Univ. rupertkruger.com

Jane Skapek (they/them) is a filmmaker, director and installation artist who creates surreal and elegiac pieces to interrogate the space between physical and digitally imagined reality. Using archived and historical images, live camera, performance and dance, their work centers queer bodies and themes of constructed space. They have developed work in New York City at BRIC, the Tank, Ars Nova Antfest, and Target Margin, among others. Selected Associate and Assistant director credits include two national tours of The Lightning Thief, Jasper (off-Broadway, Signature Theatre), and Angels in America (Broadway, 2018). In 2024, Skapek won best director at the LA International Horror Short Film Festival for their film directorial debut “Close to Home.” Most recently, their performance piece, sema debuted internationally at the Broedplaats Bouw Arts Center, in Amsterdam. https://www.janeskapek.com/

Comedy by Sally Ann Hall

Comic bio:

Sally Ann is an award-winning Brooklyn-based standup comedian, writer, actress, and singer from Alaska. She is the reigning champion of NYC’s One Liner March Madness 2025 and will not give up her crown easily. When she isn’t touring on cruise ships around the world, she’s performing at New York City clubs, concert halls, and dive bars. Comedy credits include: HBO Women in Comedy Fest, New York Comedy Festival’s ‘Comic to Watch’, Caroline’s ‘Breakout Artist’, and first place winner of both the Laughing Devil and She-Devil Comedy Festivals. Her live shows have been recommended by the New York Times, TimeOut, and VICE.

Music by EJ Garlands

Artist Bio:

EJ Garlands (he/him) is a New York City-based singer-songwriter & producer. Known for his powerful voice (influenced by legends ranging from Ella Fitzgerald to Judy Garland to Jazmine Sullivan), EJ’s covers span jazz, rock, and blues, while his original music embodies soul-pop with a passionate, belting style. A true showman, he inspires audiences to embrace their voices, find courage in the face of hardship, and leave every performance empowered.

Upcoming exciting events for EJ include his monthly (every first Monday @8pm) solo show “Songs on 6” at Club Cumming, producing and starring in an epic event for Akron, Ohio Pride this summer, featuring LGBTQ+ fashion designers, runway models, and his oringial music…which will be on his debut album “Say Something,” being released later this year with tracks that encourage listeners to speak their mind, stand tall, and break free from anything that holds them back.

The Tea, a solo performance by Herbert Benjamin

Solo piece that examines how the residue of my deceased parents shaped me. From losing my virginity, drug culture, New Orleans in the 90s, Bounce Music, Grief, and a loss of identity,  this autobiographical piece is my “tea” and  nothing but the “ tea”. 

Artist Bio:

Being the offspring of a DJ and the Diva of Education, Herbert Benjamin is passionate, quirky” cousin “ to the city of New Orleans. From his admiration of Shakespeare, August Wilson, Groove, and being the nosy kid in grown folks business , Herbert approaches storytelling with heart, wit, and authenticity that savors the creative flavor.

Some of his recent performances have been Capulet ( Romeo and Juliet) Boyet/ Dull ( Love’s Labour’s Lost) , and Marc Antony (Julius Caesar). Also, Herbert’s a member of NYC’s improv troupe Entirely From Memory. Behind the scenes, he’s directed a film ( Euripides’ Medea), and Jesus Hopped The A Train for the stage.

Herbert’s mission is to write A Neaux Play Cycle chronicling the sometimes chaotic , sometimes conquering , sometimes comedic but always cool people of New Orleans from the last 50 years to now. Training : Stella Adler Conservatory and the people who raised me.

Insta: _herbertbenjamin_

SUNDAY 3PM-6PM

Julie Drexler Johnson, storytelling

Artist Bio:

I am Julie Drexler Johnson, co-founder and ED of Rock Rising (we actually founded RR at 26-30 30th Street in Apartment 4G!). We are producers of theater and we are opening a theater in Astoria at Crescent/Broadway. I am a mom and a musician.

EnvElopE by Maren Westgard

EnvElopE is a physical theater movement piece inspired by the brain’s cognitive relationship with the written word, utilizing projection, micro-choreography, and multimedia layers. The piece is a celebration of humanity’s gorgeous distortions.

Artist Bio:

Maren Westgard is an actor and choreographer based in New York City. She holds a BA in Dance from Wesleyan University, and now studies at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting in the 3-year Professional Conservatory.

Maren’s work is poised at the intersection between acting and dance, towing the line of abstraction and story, expression and choreography. Her approach highlights a combination of abstract and pedestrian movements, utilizing micro-choreography, expression, and a theatrical relationship to movement. Her physical theater work has been showcased at Stag and Lion Theater, the Gene Frankel Theater, PhysFest NYC, Frigid Under St. Marks, and the Stella Adler Poetry Project showcase.

neu jork polize dipartment, a physical theatre piece by Elio Staub with Amira Demirkiran

“This act is inspired by the vibrant energy of New York City. Walking through the streets of NY I gathered shreds of dialogs. These are used as inspiration to create a bizarre storyline and will be replicated and transformed by me on stage.”

Artist Bio:

Elio Staub is a freelance artist merging the fields of acting, writing and dance on stage. He graduated with a Bachelor degree in Physical Theatre back in Switzerland. He continued his artisitc journey as a performer in the Abramović Retrospective in Zurich.

His first international contract takes him to Italy – creating and performing with the theatre company TeatroDistinto. With their show “K.O” they will be touring in Germany, China and Italy in 2026. Simultaneously, he performed as the Prince of Persia in the Theater Basel.

At the moment he his broadening his horizon at the Stella Adler Studio in NY and will be staying in the city for other artistic endeavors. His own work always contains a high level of physicality mixed with self written texts and improvised material on stage. He values an experimental approach to the craft and constantly researches presence in a human body through ecstatic states induced with movement and motionless stillness.

a thing/ about my body is by Anna J Witiuk

A work in progress/ collection of writings/ poetry on mine and others’ body/ dis-abled experience including a dramatic reading of parts of a real transcript from a “Medical Trauma & Resilience” workshop I attended which went very awry.

Artist Bio:

Anna is a writer, storyteller, performer and disability advocate living in her hometown of NYC. As a disabled artist Anna has a special fascination in the othered–the “Freak!–stories of our bodies, exploring themes of grief, rage, fear and the reclaiming of illness narratives. Her most recent work has been with PussyPaws Puppetry, writing music and performing in shows which explore the love and fantasy lives of disabled artists through puppetry.

Anna has performed all over NYC including in Romantic Songs of the Patriarchy at the Guggenheim museum, Brooklyn Folk Fest at St. Ann’s church and The Mile Long Opera on the Highland. She is a founding member of Ukrainian Village Voices, a NYC-based vocal group which preserves, teaches and performs Ukrainian folk polyphonic traditional songs; and she also led a country and roots band called Anna j & the Somethin Else.

Anna continues to lead support groups and workshops on medical trauma and illness writing. Her life now involves collecting and putting together the pieces of her own body’s story within a timeframe which only makes sense to her.

St. Marinos, a new play by Ania Upstill and Lynn Hodeib, featuring Becca Canziani and Brooke Ferris 

An early Christian saint, Marinos was a transgender monk, a beloved son, and a father that lived in or near modern day Lebanon sometime around 500 – 700 AD (sources vary). Fast forward to 1455. His story is used by the French in the re-trial of St Joan of Arc to argue that being gender non-conforming was the act of a saint, not a heretic like the English had claimed before the executed Joan. By theatrically examining Marinos’ life through the frame story of the court proceedings of Joan of Arc’s re-trial, we hope to illuminate Marinos’ life and provide a precedent for the celebration of transgender people in the church and in society. Forms: Clown, puppetry and physical theater.

Artist Bio:
I am a queer and transgender theater maker, educator, and clown. I am a graduate of the Dell’Arte International School of Physical Theatre, and I hold a Masters in Applied Theater from the City University of New York. I am keenly interested in creating theater that both informs and entertains. Past projects have combined drag and botany (twice); clowning and non-binary gender experiences; Shakespeare and historical research into queer pirates; and more. Much of my work is transdisciplinary, including the forms of theater, clown, circus and music, and I love taking theater out of traditional theater structures. As the artistic director of Butch Mermaid Productions, my mission is to make queer joy irresistible and contagious, envisioning a world where all queer people experience joy and belonging. My work with Butch Mermaid includes Antonio!, a new punk pirate musical about Shakespeare’s queerest character; Too Much Hair, a musical cabaret about gender euphoria; Into the Bush, a queer circus-theatre project; and Transhumance, my solo clown show about the experience of being transgender, which was performed at the Kennedy Center in June 2024 for Pride Month (now removed from the Kennedy Center website). 

Drawing from the skills learned through my studies at CUNY and at Dell’Arte, I am deeply interested in how to use theater forms and techniques to help people engage their curiosity, develop deeper understanding, and make meaning of the world around them. This is true across my work as an artist, as a Joker for Theater of the Oppressed NYC, as a professional teaching artist, and an Applied Theater maker. I am also a gender diversity educator with GenderWise, a company I run with my colleague Rachael Feldman, and I teach in the Gender Studies department of John Jay College of Criminal Justice (CUNY). I am a current PLAYA Arts and Science Resident Artist; a New Georges Affiliated Artist; a regular contributor to The Nature of Cities; and a 2024 – 2025 Folger Shakespeare Library Artistic Fellow. I love collaborative projects and processes, and I had the pleasure of being a part of both The Orchard Project’s Greenhouse Lab 2023-24 and The Urban Field Station Collaborative Arts Residency 2022-23. Across all of my work, I strive to educate, inspire curiosity about the world, and incite meaningful change.

Poetry Workshop with Professor Geoffrey Nutter

Geoffrey Nutter is the author of four books of poems: The Rose of January, Christopher Sunset, Water’s Leaves & Other Poems, and Summer Evening. His poems have appeared in journals and anthologies such as Carnet de Route, Verse, Denver Quarterly, Chicago Review, Fence, Xantippe, Best American Poetry 1997, and Iowa Anthology of New American Poetry. He is the recipient of an Academy of American Poets prize.

Capoeira Demo with Sam Ita

Capoeira (pronounced ka-poo-ey-da) is an Afro-Brazilian martial art form that incorporates acrobatics, dance, percussion, and songs in a rhythmic dialogue of body, mind, and spirit. Two opponents play each other inside a circle formed by the other players, who create rhythm for the game by clapping, singing, and playing traditional instruments.

In a capoeira game, players camouflage self-defense movements such as kicks with playful acrobatics and dance-like moves, spontaneously creating strategy to fool their opponent and catch them off guard.