One Winged Dove

Play

This play revolves around the turbulent relationship between Sam, a talented yet troubled writer, and Valerie, his sharp and determined editor. Within the intricate web of relationships, the presence of Lydia, Sam's girlfriend and Larry, his older brother, adds layers of depth perception in the second act. Through a late-night conversations filled with introspection and uncertainty, Lydia and Larry provide glimpses into Sam's troubled past and his recurring patterns of self-destruction, as well as their own.

Writer and Director:

Matthew Gasda

Actors:

Alida Rose Delaney, Zach Hendrickson, Meg MacCary, Charlie Coursey

Stage Manager:

Anastasia Wolfe

All pictures by Matteo Cassina

4 Plays and a Dog

Sunset Breakup Reel

by David L. Caruso

with Carly Barron, Matt Grimaldi, Anzi DeBenedetto, John Murphy

The Uber Play

by Téa Wolk

with Georgia Miller, Mitchell Todd

Wipeout

written and performed by James La Bella

Gun Play

by Lilian Mottern

with Sarah McCluskey, Jacob Moskovitz

Bedtime Stories

Featuring writer-poets-teenage diarists Arvin, Jake, and Kathleen, “Bedtime Stories” was a night of nostalgic juvenalia, where we all sat down on blankets on the floor of the loft listening to ribald tales, goofy poems, and excerpts from soon to be published novels.

Writer-Performers:

Arvin Ahmadi

Jake Goldwasser

Kathleen Radigan

One Winged Dove

Play

This play revolves around the turbulent relationship between Sam, a talented yet troubled writer, and Valerie, his sharp and determined editor. Within the intricate web of relationships, the presence of Lydia, Sam's girlfriend and Larry, his older brother, adds layers of depth perception in the second act. Through a late-night conversations filled with introspection and uncertainty, Lydia and Larry provide glimpses into Sam's troubled past and his recurring patterns of self-destruction, as well as their own.

Writer and Director:

Matthew Gasda

Actors:

Alida Rose Delaney, Zach Hendrickson, Meg MacCary, Charlie Coursey

Stage Manager:

Anastasia Wolfe

All pictures by Matteo Cassina

Dimes Square

Play

Set in a loft in the microneighborhood of Dimes Square, a collection of actors, writers, filmmakers, artists, musicians, and agents come and go, argue, flirt, betray, snort, drink, and fuck (off-stage) - to the sounds of Bob Dylan and Oasis.

Writer and Director:

Matthew Gasda

Actors:

Nick Walther, Asli Mumtas, Sadie Parker, Malcolm Callender, Robert Laine, Colette Gsell, Dan Blick, Anastasia Wolfe, Cosima Gardey, Sean Lynch, Christian Lorentzen

January 6: A Celebration - A Bodega Princess Remembers Tradition, Not Insurrection

In the basement cafeteria of St. Nicholas School in Egg Harbor City, NJ, the Latiné community held a huge celebration every January 6th to celebrate the Feast of Los Reyes Magos. In the moments before the fiesta in 1998, eight-year-old Iraisa Ann Reilly prepares for her first ever solo. Granddaughter of the neighborhood-famous Pepe, a cultural and social cornerstone of the community, Reilly leads us through years of Reyes Magos celebrations, sharing her family and her hometown where she grew up divided between language and culture.  Will her performance that night change the course of her life forever?

Written and Performed by:

Iraisa Ann Reilly

Doomers

Play

DOOMERS follows the unraveling of a tech company as its leaders clash over ambition, ethics, and the dangerous pursuit of Artificial General Intelligence.

Writer:

Matthew Gasda

Actors:

Sam Hyrkin, Paul Weintrob, Rachel Lin, Veer Arya, Elisabeth Malanga, Agnes Enkhtamir, Paul Felten, Spencer Cramer, Zach Hendrickson, Alexandra Gambee

Producers:

Sophia Englesberg and co-produced by Crocker Coulson, Peter Gambee, and Jerome Kane

All good pictures by Geve

Comedy Night

Featuring NY comedy circuit veteran Amanda Gordon, musical comedy sensation Charlene Kaye, UCB grad Chine Ikoro, and Ryan Wentz of Two Tree Hill, our comedy night went perfectly well nothing bad happened. Hosted by JG Debray

Participants:

Amanda Gordon, Chine Ikoro, Charlene Kaye, Ryan Wentz

“Stacy” Reading

Writer:

Ruby Rae Spiegel

Actors:

Izabel Mar, Greg Keller

Short Film Spring

Screening

Our first short film festival featuring works by Sarah McCluskey, Jacob Eschborn, and Giorgi Popiashvili. We were joined by all three after the screenings for a fruitful and enjoyable Q&A.

Participants:

Giorgi Popiashvili - “Claptocracy”

Jacob Eschborn - “Crowbar”

Sarah McCluskey - “The Left Behind”

“Watch Me” Reading

Watch Me follows a community college dance troupe as they navigate the challenges of choreographing dances deemed appropriate for their clients while keeping the group afloat amidst financial and emotional issues.

Writer:

Justice Hehir

Actors:

Felix Teich, Nicole Rodenburg, Izabel Mar, Greg Keller, Sarina Freda, Molly Carden, Layla Khoshnoudi

“Rats!” Screening and Q&A

Rats! is a 2024 American independent black comedy film written and directed by Maxwell Nalevansky and Carl Fry. The film is set in the fictional town of Pfresno, Texas in the year 2007 and follows Raphael, who, after being arrested by an overzealous police officer, gets caught up in a chaotic world of drug kingpins, ecoterrorists, mallrats, and rappers. We were joined after the screening by Maxwell Nalevansky and cast members Luke Wilcox and Khali Sykes for an audience Q&A:

Written and Directed by:

Carl Fry and Maxwell Nalevansky

Produced by:

Maxwell Nalevansky, Carl Fry, Adam Levin, Alison Moses, Harrison Nalevansky, Danielle Evon Ploeger, Ariel Ash

Featuring:

Danielle Evon Ploeger, Luke Wilcox, Darius Autry, Khali Sykes, Ariel Ash, Jacob Wysocki, Pineapple Tangoroa

Solutions

Salon and Q&A

We brought together five scientists and doctors to discuss their latest works.

"Percutaneous Interventions in Heart Bypass Patients"

by Frans Beerkens, cardiology fellow at Mount Sinai

"Exit Strategy: the Ethics of Medical Aid in Dying"

by Margo Tanner, hospice and palliative medicine fellow at NY Presbyterian - Columbia Cornell bicampus

"Next Generation Drugs for Cancer"

by Elena Valdambrini, Ph.D. Weill Cornell Medicine

"Composting in NYC"

by Eliza Zygmuntowicz

"The Casanova Paradox in Biotech Investing"

by Haythem Laaribi, Associate at TCGX

Romantic Erotic Beach Reading Night

Reading

In our second installment of a bedtime reading night, we reunited with our friend Arvin and four other writers who took turns reading salacious, steamy, fantastical, and outrageous erotica. The night culminated in a raffle sponsored by the sex toy company Unbound.

Writer-Performers:

Arvin Ahmadi, Lauryn Chamberlain, Zoraida Córdova, Ryan La Sala, John Paul Brammer

The Wish

Play

"The Wish" is a defiant manual blending personal stories, political rants, and practical resources against abortion bans. Fueled by rage over Texas SB8 and the leaked Roe draft, the play shares clinical facts, emotional "spells," and hotlines, framing collective action and uncensored theater as the urgent path to resistance and survival.

Writers:

Justice Hehir & Dena Igusti & Phanésia Pharel & Nia Akilah Robinson & Julia Specht & dramaturgy by May Treuhaft-Ali

Actors:

Sonia Kukula, Naomi Orange, Valentine Marie, Lauren Brown, Thais Fernandes, Rickaya Sykes, Ivy Court, Yereni Valero, Anna Fox, Rokah Sejour, Daniela Cusi, Fabiola Vargas, Milena Cataño

Director:

Valentina C. Avila

Assistant Director:

Naomi Orange

Stage Manager:

Zeke Murphy

A Conversation with Marina Harss

Talk

Marina Harss is a writer, journalist, and critic based in New York City, writing on all aspects of dance and performance. Currently the dance critic of The Hudson Review, Marina's writing has appeared or is forthcoming in The New York Times, The New Yorker, The New York Review of Books, The Nation, The Guardian, The Boston Globe, Ballet Review, Dance Magazine, Pointe Magazine, Playbill, BAMBill, Dancetabs.com, the Fjord Review, and others.

Her book on the choreographer Alexei Ratmansky, The Boy from Kyiv: Alexei Ratmansky Life in Ballet, was published by FSG in October 2023 and was recognized by NPR and The New Yorker as a 2023 Book of The Year.

Interviewed by Eve Bromberg, co-editor of Culturebot, they discussed the field of dance criticism: how to approach documenting an ephemeral art form, the specifics of Marina’s career trajectory and her approach to her work, as well as the state of dance criticism and our hopes for the future of arts discourse and writing.

We finished with a Q&A with the audience!

Interviewer:

Eve Bromberg

Comedy Night Part 2

A year after our first comedy night, we brought back our friends Chine Ikoro and Charlene Kaye and welcomed new participants Claire Parker, Ailise Morales, and Ford Donovan (appearing with Charlene as medieval cover band No Gout)

Performers:

Charlene Kaye, Chine Ikoro, Claire Parker, Ailise Morales, Ford Donovan