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DIRECTORS’ WEEKEND: American Foreign Policy
Directors, Evan Cummings, Joseph Hendel, Ashley Marinaccio, Zoey Martinson, Elana McKelahan and Shana Solomon address American Foreign Policy through original 10-15 minute pieces.
Aug 24, 7:00pm & Aug 25, 7:00pm
Evan T. Cummings is a New York-based director and a founding member of WorldWideLab, a directors’ collective with participants from cities throughout the world. Our first collaborative international event – A Directors Feast – was presented earlier this month while in residence at the Irondale Center in Brooklyn.
In addition, Evan has worked at theaters throughout the northeast including Epiphany Theater in Saratoga Springs, Geva Theatre Center in Rochester, NY, the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera, and the Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia where he directed the recent World Premiere of Ken Kaissar’s The Man Stanley.
Evan is on the Literary Committee of The Private Theatre and a collaborator on their The Peer Gynt Project, a multi-city presentation currently being workshopped at the Nationaltheatret in Oslo. Other NYC associations include LAByrinth Theater Company, Dalliance Theater Company, and Ego Actus. Evan is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University and a member of the Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab.
Joseph Hendel is a director and performer living in Brooklyn, NY. He graduated from Yale College with a BA in Music. NY Directing credits include: The Learned Ladies (Moliere), All in the Timing (Ives), The Future Lies in Eggs (Ionesco), and Sicilian Limes (Pirandello). Assistant directing: The Dream of the Burning Boy (dir. Evan Cabnet, Roundabout Underground), The Seagull (2nd assistant, dir. Max Stafford-Clark, Culture Project). He performs comedy regularly on Tuesday nights at the Magnet Theater with the musical improv team Aquarius as part of the “Musical Megawatt” lineup. He is a member of the 2011 and 2012 Lincoln Center Directors Labs on Strindberg’s Dream Play and Comedy, respectively. He plays trombone and keyboards in the band Gods and Monsters led by Grammy-nominated guitarist Gary Lucas, a gig that took him to the Salzkammergut region of Austria and the Holland Festival. He is looking forward to further immersing himself in the world of performance and in the exchange of ideas.
Ashley Marinaccio is an activist and artist dedicated to creating theatre that challenges the status quo. She has traveled extensively throughout the world, most notably in the Middle East, where she lived in Beirut, Lebanon while studying Arabic and Middle Eastern theatre performance. Her interests include utilizing theatre for peace building, healing and empowerment in conflict zones and in marginalized communities both home and abroad. As a director, Ashley’s work has been seen at TEDxWomen, TEDxTeacher’s College, The White House, United Nations, regionally and on tour across the United States with United Nations Foundation’s Girl Up Campaign. She is the Artistic Director and Founder of Project Girl Performance Collective (www.projectgirlperformancecollective.org).
Ashley is also a founder and director of Co-Op Theatre East (www.cooptheatreeast.org). Favorite NY directing credits include: Trafficked (2012 Planet Connections Theatre Festivity Outstanding Director and Planet Activist Winner), GirlPower: Survival of the Fittest (FringeNYC), Decadent Acts (2010 PCTF Activist Award Winner), My Name is Rachel Corrie (Kraine Theater). Ashley’s recent TED Talk at Columbia University tells the story of Rush Limbaugh’s “feminazi” attack on her as student activist doing theatre work in Lebanon. For more information visit www.ashley-marinaccio.com.
Zoey Martinson is co Artistic Director of Smoke & Mirrors Collaborative (www.smokemirrors.org). She founded Bright Future Arts International at the National Theatre of Ghana West Africa. As a writer her play Ndebele Funeral has toured South Africa. Her play The Pitch recently appeared at The Fire This Time Festival, NYC. Skype Duet that she co-created/directed won the 100 Grand award at the HAU2 Theater in Berlin, Germany. As an actress she has performed at The Public Theater, Repertory Theater of St. Louis, the Guthrie, Shakespeare On The Sound, Purchase Repertory Theatre, Signature Theatre, Penobscot Theatre, The Flea Theatre, Broom Street Theatre, Theatre in the Muz, South Africa, the National Theatre of Ghana, and the Diorama theatre in London. Film/TV: “Are We There Yet”, “Restless City”, “Law & Order.” She is currently writing a Web Series called THE MINORITY REPORT. MFA NYU Grad, Acting.
Elana McKelahan is a director and playwright from California. After earning her BA in Theatre/Literature at Reed College, Elana was a resident artist at Crowded Fire Theater in San Francisco, where she served as assistant director to the world premieres of Sticky Time by Marilee Talkington and Wreckage by Caridad Svich. She is founding artistic director of the site-specific theatre company Highly Impractical Theatre, for which she has produced and directed three fully-immersive world premiere plays, including The Lysistrata Project, The Harvest Trilogy, and The Fenton Plays. She has served on a number of literary committees and specializes in new play development.
Shana Solomon: Among others, Shana has directed for New Jersey Repertory, Columbia University, North Shore Theatre Group, Ensemble Studio Theatre, and The New York Women on Film and Television. Shana is the Artistic Director of Odyssey Theatre Ensemble New York, an Associate Member of SDC, and a graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. www.shana-solomon.com
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