New Ohio Theatre | Producers Club 2020

WHAT IS PRODUCERS CLUB?

Producers Club is our free-floating, ad hoc, instant-gratification, impulse-driven pop-up program.

We invite familiar and new-to-our-orbit companies into the New Ohio for a couple of days to flex their muscles, share their current thinking, and test their next great idea. This season Producers Club will feature four companies over two weeks.

The stakes are low, but the bar is high!

DENNIS YUEH-YEH LI

CALIGULA

(formerly SCORN)

by Albert Camus, adapted by Justin O'Brien, re-envisioned by Dennis Yueh-Yeh Li

"The only mistake one makes in life is to cause others suffering..."

Caligula is determined to reach the absolute freedom by depopulating the world through murder, lechery, and contempt. His realization of "one cannot destroy without destroying oneself" annotates his death and pernicious manner. How did Caligula get here? How did he reach such nihilist, destructive determination? Caligula examines how our way of living and our surroundings invoke our conscience to the world and reconstruct ourselves.

With Ilayda Akin, Leah Bachar, Toney Brown, Riccardo Carcangiu, Chun Cho, Shan Y Chuang, and Yael Haskal

Dramaturge: Tom Walker
Lighting Designer: Yi-Chung Chen
Scenic Designer: Alexander Grover
Costume Designer: Dominus Sowell

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APRIL RANGER

NOW LIE IN IT

Written by April Ranger, Directed by Éamon Boylan

Friendship. Minimum wage. A dying planet. In a near-future Earth, a tight-knit group of hospital janitors make beds after each patient leaves, alive or dead. When two janitors fall in love, they find themselves fighting to survive. How do we protect one another inside a system designed for profit?

With: Drae Campbell, karen Eilbacher, Geany Masai, TL Thompson, Rosemary Quinn, and Rava Raab

Stage Manager: Jennifer Leary
Designer: Victoria Bain

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DOWNTOWN NEGRO

bloodymessysurprised

Conceived by Nia Farrell, Created in collaboration with Trevor Latez Hayes and the ensemble

In the fight to feel in a world of distraction, remember the following: 1) Soul doesn’t go down without a song, 2) Death might be the only freedom, 3) Grief is a worthwhile use of your time. bloodymessysurprised is a celebration cycle of the moments we choose freedom, and the aunties, best friends, clients, godparents, particles, lovers, acquaintances, ancestors, strangers, and mothers in our lives who lead us there.

With Nia Farrell, Trevor Latez Hayes, Mariyea Jackson, TroyElan Richardson, and Maya Riley

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HALEVY/GELB

UNTITLED '54: A Title Has to Have A Meaning

co-created by Sharone Halevy and Joshua William Gelb

In an art-scene dominated by ultra-masculine personalities — the Pollocks, Rothkos, De Koonings — Helen Frankenthaler was an irresistible force among abstract expressionists. Her revolutionary technique comes to the stage in this experimental drama with live painting.

A landscape of canvas. A pouring of acrylic. The stench of turpentine. This painstaking process is brought to life by performer/painter Sharone Halevy in this portrayal of young Helen Frankenthaler, whose revolutionary work in color-field painting greatly influenced male-dominant post-war American abstract expressionism. Paint will be spilled in this lyrical new drama set against the backdrop of Frankenthaler's crumbling relationship with critic Clem Greenberg.

With: Sharone Halevy, Joshua William Gelb and Serena Ebony Miller

Music: Serena Ebony Miller
Choreography: Katie Rose McLaughlin
Design: Marika Kent
Additional Text: Matthew Minnicino
Stage Manager: Alexis Lapp

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