Welcome to The Workshop Theater’s 8th Annual “Out of the Hat” Festival!
40 ACTORS and 20 PLAYWRIGHTS
matched by random draw
CREATED 20 short PLAYS
Loosely inspired by the prompt “New York City”
This year's festival will be performed IN PERSON for four unique evening slates from Dec 6-9, 2022 at the Playwrights Horizon Downtown Studios Black Box, 440 Lafayette St.
Choose the evenings you'd like to attend, or buy tickets to all 4!
TUESDAY
It's Been a While by Ashley Lauren Rogers w/ Sarah Spring* and Margo Hammond*
Left Unsaid by Vincent Marano w/ Letty Ferrer* and Emily Zacharias*
Blackout by Jennifer Fell Hayes w/ James Armstrong* and Lori Faiella*
The Fantasy by Riley Jones-Cohen w/ Ben Sumrall* and DeeDee Friedman*
The Pick-Me Boy by Michael Lazan w/ Charles E. Gerber* and Katie Braden
WEDNESDAY
The Building by Laurie Graff w/ Heather Massie* and Gerrianne Raphael*
Base by Marissa Joyce Stamps w/ Ethan Cadoff* and Cecily Lyn*
Silent Morning by Dana Leslie Goldstein w/ Jane Lincoln Taylor* and Wende O'Reilly
Two Blackouts and an Empty Room by Laura Hirschberg w/ Yasmin Pascall and Leslie Kincaid Burby*
Pranksy by Jay Strong w/ Tony Travostino and Jody Prusan*
THURSDAY
Unclaimed Baggage by Nathaniel Foster w/ CK Allen and Nate Shelton*
Lorelei by Paul Buzinski w/ Diánna Martin and Joe Burby*
The Last Night of Vaudeville by Jon Lonoff w/ Fred Velde* and Jeff Paul*
These Vagabond Shoes by Tracy Newirth w/ Jessica Carmona* and Joseph Franchini*
Onism by Amir Gad w/ Tyaela Nieves and Christian Dyvine
FRIDAY
Bonwit Teller's Revenge by Mildred Lewis w/ Kari Swenson Riely* and Lucy McMichael*
Heart Attack by J. Thalia Cunningham w/ Michael Gnat* and Natalie Mosco*
A Sight for Sore Eyes by Aaron Coleman w/ Cherrye Davis* and Maggie Horan*
I Know Things by Jason Howard w/ Jackie Jenkins* and Danté Jeanfelix*
An Extraordinary Day by Alex Dmitriev w/ Joanie Schumacher* and Robert Meksin*
*Equity Member appearing with permission of Actors’ Equity Association without benefit of an Equity contract in this Off-Off Broadway production.
Ashley Lauren Rogers is an award-winning writer, audio book narrator, and trans rights activist. Literary Director for Step1 Theatre Project, Oddity received an honorable mention on The Kilroys “The List,” 2020, Trans Theatre Lab fellow 2019, artist in residence at Middlesex County Vocational-Technical School. “Becky’s Xmas Wish,” Finalist for the City Theatre National Short Play Award, Miami. Creator and head writer of SCOWL.
Margo Hammond has performed in NYC at Circle Rep, EST, American Jewish Theatre @ 92nd St Y, NYU’s First Look, CAP 21, Theatre 54, Club 57, Symphony Space and The Duke Theatre. Regionally, she worked at Williamstown Th Fest, the Wilma Theatre (Philadelphia) and the Asolo Theatre (FL). She has a long association with The Workshop Theater, ARTC and AND. Member of AEA, SAG/AFTRA, Actors Studio PDU, LPTW and Dramatists Guild. www.margohammond.com
Vince Marano (Playwright, LEFT UNSAID) An active member of The Workshop Theater since 2011, his favorite project has been the Out Of The Ha series. 8 plays, from Familiar Places to Left Unsaid, have afforded him the opportunity to work with a wonderful cadre of actors and explore themes and stories he might not otherwise have done. Thanks to Mary C. Wilson for having started this wonderful program way back when, and to Liz, Thomas and Phil for keeping it going.
James M. Armstrong is thrilled to be a part of yet another iteration of OOTH with The Workshop Theater- and this one live and in person, no less! Thanks to all the people on stage and especially otherwise who've worked to make this happen and who've labored so hard to keep us going over these especially trying past few years.
Lori Faiella has appeared in many WorkShop productions including LOL, From the Top and American Thighs. Other New York productions include Stay Over, Life, Death & Baseball, and Priscilla's Neurosis, a Samuel French Festival Finalist. Currently she is working on her home studio and hopes to continue recording audiobooks and explore other voiceover avenues. Thanks WorkShop for the opportunity to be a part of a new play!
Ben Sumrall is a New York-based actor and media artist. A member of Actors’ Equity Association, he also recently served as Board Chair of the Workshop Theater. Ben has performed in theatres throughout New York City, on Comedy Central, and was a part of the Drama Desk- nominated Ryan Case 1873. He has appeared in the Sundance Film Festival, SXSW, and the Tribeca Festival.
Dee Dee Friedman – Stage: LOST IN YONKERS (National Tour), BEAU JEST (Off-Broadway), JEST A SECOND! (Coconut Grove Playhouse), HALF & HALF (Penguin Rep), DEUTERANOMALY (Bleecker St. Theater), PROTECTED (FringeNYC), SKIN DEEP (Foolish Theatre Co.), TARTUFFE (WorkShop Theater), MEPHISTO (Reverie Prods.), ORDER UP/WATCH TV (Harbor Theatre), THE AU PAIR-GIRL (Henry Street Settlement), CERTAIN SOULS (Algonquin), etc. Films: MARRIED TO THE MOB, ANOTHER WOMAN, SAFE MEN, SLEEPAWAY CAMP, MILLER’S CROSSING. Training: Lee Strasberg, Stella Adler, London’s Royal National Theatre.
Michael Lazan is a member of the Workshop Theater who has also had plays produced at or with Ensemble Theatre Studio, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, HERE, Manhattan Theater Source, the "A Train Plays," and many others.
Charles E. Gerber is enjoying his 51st year as an actor. He is also a director, teacher, writer, composer, and servant of two black kittens, Isabella and Claudio. He helped found The Workshop Theater along with his late wife, Carol Bennett Gerber in 1994 and with her established mounting classical plays, mostly Shakespeare, while collaborating with new playwrights,championing their voices. He created Will's Playshop and Will-A-Thon Festivali in 2004 with TW.S.T. www.charlesegerber.com
Katie Braden ACTING - Ivy Theatre Company (NYC) Co-Founder: A Real Boy (59E59), Reach, Mill Fire, Outside/Inside, The Perfect Wife, Like Poetry (LaMaMa), Incongruence, Black Ice. The Secret Theatre (NYC): The Taming of the Shrew, The Tempest, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Mrs. Warren's Profession, Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare Forum (NYC): The Scarlet Letter, Romeo and Juliet. Workshop Theater (NYC): Acting: Full Frontal. Directing: Turtles & Bulldogs, After, Vowed & Wowed, Food for Thought. FILM - Wherever You Go Pictures (NYC): Unpacking. EDUCATION- Gregory Abels Training Ensemble, NYC, Certificate. Simpson College, Iowa, BA Theatre Arts.
Laurie Graff is a published author known for the bestselling You Have to Kiss a Lot of Frogs, The Shiksa Syndrome and anthologies. A produced OOB playwright (Workshop), with work in Smith & Kraus: The Best Ten-Minute Plays (2013, 2016, 2022), At the Hotel Texas--Fifth Annual Women’s Playwright Festival Ivoryton Playhouse, and Better Than Steve & Eydie--Summit Playhouse Finalist. Currently writing the Book for a new musical, her favorite acting role was “Frenchy” in Broadway’s Grease. Visit lauriegraff.com.
Heather Massie is a NYC Actor/Writer/Producer who has performed extensively in NYC and throughout the US. She currently tours the world with her 24x Award-Winning, Internationally Acclaimed solo show "HEDY! The Life & Inventions of Hedy Lamarr" (showing NYC Dec 9-11 tinyurl.com/HEDYNYC ). She served as a Fulbright Specialist with the show throughout South Africa. This is the first in her planned trilogy of solo shows celebrating women in science, the next will be "Flying with Sally Ride! America’s First Woman in Space". HeatherMassie.com
Marissa Joyce Stamps is a Haitian-American NYC-based interdisciplinary artist who creates vortexes that center, celebrate and amplify Black folks through Afrosurrealism. Recent plays: Twisted Juniper (O'Neill 2022 NPC Finalist, Chautauqua‘s 2021 NPW, Workshop Theater Intensive 2020); Blue Fire (Exponential Festival 2022, Orchard Project 2021); deadbodydeadbodydeadbody (ANT Fest 2022); Being Up in Here… (BC NPL). She facilitates The Workshop Theater’s Intensives. Marissa teaches English at and is currently studying with Haruna Lee and Dennis A. Allen II in Brooklyn College’s MFA Playwriting Program. marissajoycestamps.com
Ethan Cadoff Workshop: Leontes (The Winter’s Tale); Grimaldi (Astonishing Times…); Semionov (Lightning from Heaven). NYC: Lawrence (National Pastime/Playwrights Horizons); Mustard (The Tales of Custard the Dragon/NYMF;DR2). Regional: Howie (Rabbit Hole); Jerry (Betrayal); Atticus (…Mockingbird); Larry (Burn This); Austin (True West).Eethan
Cecily Lyn - is an actor and writer holding degrees from UCLA and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. Film and television credits include Paul Schrader’s First Reformed, Random Acts of Flyness, Off-Off Kilter (web-series), One of the Boys and The Friends. Stage Credits include: Verbatim Verboten, with guest artist Olympia Dukakis, and NY Times Critic’s Pick Interchange. Also The Color of Justice, Tarragona, The Rubber Room and many many others.
Jane Lincoln Taylor studied acting at Yale University and the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre, and then with the late, great Edward Moor. She has performed in theaters in New York, the Midwest, and throughout New England, and has acted in several award-winning independent films. AEA, SAG-AFTRA.
Laura Hirschberg (Playwright, Two Blackouts and an Empty Room) is proud to be participating in her eighth Out of the Hat. Laura's plays have been developed/produced by several NYC-based companies, including The Workshop Theater, Everyday Inferno, and Rising Sun Performance Co. Her play Fire Thief will be premiering at the LAB Theater Project in Tampa this spring. Her play Heart of Oak will be making its New Zealand debut in July. Look her up on NPX!
Yasmin Pascall (they/she) is an NYC-based actor and creative from Chennai, India. They love to devise and physical storytelling through movement and dance. They are especially passionate about queer and immigrant stories, as well as exploring the political and provocative nature of art. Currently, a resident actor at the Mercury Store. Recent credits: Pair by Kate Pressman at the Lenfest Center and Once on Rumspringa by Ellis Stump at The Wild Project. UNCSA Drama ’21. @yasminpascall
Leslie Kincaid Burby is an Associate Artistic Director at The Workshop Theater and a performer with many off-Broadway, regional, and television credits. Among her directorial credits is the New York Innovative Theatre outstanding director award for her Drama Desk nominated production The Navigator by Eddie Antar at The Workshop Theater (New York Times Critic Pick). She also received the New York International Fringe Festival Overall Excellence Award for direction of Sean-Patrick O'Brien's Zamboni.
Jay Strong Native New Yorker, writer, director, photographer, and recovering stand-up comedian. Moderator of the Sarah Lawrence College Playwrights Workshop, Playwright member of the WorkShop Theater, writer/performer on the Curtains on Fire Podcast (available on Soundcloud). Please subscribe FREE to his Substack page: Strong Things (Strong Things | J Meredith Strong | Substack)
Tony Travostino is a New York actor and member of Workshop Theater. He is very happy to participating in this Out of the Hat with other people actually in the room. tonytravostino.com
Jody Prusan is delighted to be back and in person with OOTH! SAG/AFTRA and proud member of Actors Equity it's a joy to play with you all!
Nate James Shelton is a New York City based actor, writer and arts administrator from St. Louis MO. https://www.natejshelton.com/
Paul Buzinski (Playwright) Paul’s plays have had productions at various venues in and around NYC, including DINNER PARTY, MADRID and BLUEBERRY PANCAKES- all winners in Samuel French Festivals. His play SELECTION DAY was recently produced and featured the wonderful Jackie Jenkins. Associate Member of the Dramatist Guild.
Diánna Martin is a NYC-based actress, writer, director and acting coach who is thrilled to be working with her Workshop Theater family once again. www.DiannaMartin.com
Joe Burby Joe can be heard doing ADR on many exciting films including the highest grossing film of 2020, "The Eight Hundred” as well as Acoustiguide tours for museums around the world. Joe’s original musical for kids, “The Jumping-est Frog of Calaveras County” based on a Mark Twain story was produced at Pied Piper Theatre of NYC last spring. Writing and acting for OOTH is one of the highlights of his year! www.joeburby.com
Fred Velde (Last Night Of Vaudeville) is a native New Yorker and has been part of the New York theater scene for over 50 years He is a current member of the Workshop Theater. His theater credits include The Price of Genius on Broadway Sex by Mae west Off-Broadway and Traveling Souls in Moscow. As well as theater, he has appeared in film, soaps, Comedy Central and commercials. He is a member of AEA and SAG-AFTRA.
Jeff Paul (Tanner Walsh- The Last Night of Vaudeville) A former Managing Director of The Workshop Theater, Jeff is happy to be involved for another year with the OOTH festival, and to be working with this fantastic group of artists. A toast to all who love and appreciate the artistry of, and dedication to the creative process! “With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come.” AEA/SAG/AFTRA
Tracy Newirth (Playwright, These Vagabond Shoes) As an actor, Tracy’s New York stage credits include the Off-Broadway premiere of Kithless in Paradise (Polly Barrett), the Audelco Award-winning The Guest at Central Park West by Levy Lee Simon (Jennifer Engles), the critically-acclaimed Skin Deep by Jon Lonoff (Sheila Whiting) and the world premiere of the one-woman show DAPH! by Le Wilhelm at 59E59th Street Theaters. She is happy to be back as a writer in this fun annual festival!
Jessica Carmona is an Award Winning Actress, Playwright and Producer of Afro- Puerto Rican descent. She is a graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts where she received her B.F.A in Acting.
Amir Gad (they/he) is a playwright, visual artist, and final boy of a slasher movie from Central New Jersey. He unabashedly writes about mundanity and vagueness, collaging themes of joy, death, magic, concealment, and uncanny nostalgia. They recently were a part of the Workshop Writer's Intensive, and are currently a part of Art House Productions INKubator. Find him @mirmulmir on Instagram.
Tyaela Nieves (they/she) is a filmmaker and theater artist based in Brooklyn, NY. After graduating from NYU in 2019, Tyaela produced, wrote, and directed her short film Limon Agrio, which was awarded recognition from the Best Shorts Competition and selected for the 2021 Latino Film Market showcase. Tyaela is deeply inspired by their Afro-Latinx lineage and queer identity. They hope to bring the dynamic stories of underrepresented people to the stage and screen.
Lucy McMichael (Meredith in Bonwit Teller’s Revenge) is a NYC based stage and film actress. Theater credits include: Primary Stages. Ensemble Studio Theater, Urban Stages, Abingdon Theater, Theater for the New City, 600 Highwaymen. Film credits include: “Dare” (Sundance), “Knife Point” (Sundance), “Hard-Boiled Eggs,” “The Christening of William Trumbull,” “The Daughter,” and most recently, “Overdue,” “What If I Were You?” and “The Choice.” Podcasts: “Uncanny County” and “What Happened in Skinner.” (AEA, SAG-AFTRA)
Kari Swenson Riely is delighted to again be a part of The Workshop Theater’s Out of The Hat Festival. Theatre: The McCarter Theatre, Hudson Stage, The Depot Theatre, The 52nd Street Project, Extant Arts Company, Artistic New Directions and others. Film: Never Forever, Life in Flight, The Vibrator, The Bicycle. TV: Law and Order: SVU, New Amsterdam, Cupid.
J. Thalia Cunningham is a playwright, travel writer, and photographer. Plays have been commissioned, produced, and developed in the United States and internationally. Published by Smith & Kraus and Applause. Member: Actors Studio Playwrights/Directors Unit; League of Professional Theatre Women; The WorkShop Theater Company. Education: BA, The Johns Hopkins University.
Cunningham has traveled to 130 countries. Her experiences include trekking with mujahedeen in Tora Bora after sneaking over the Khyber Pass disguised as an Afghan woman; participating in West African voodoo rituals; and talking her way out of an arrest (erroneous) for prostitution, while Pakistani soldiers aimed the nostrils of their AK-47s at her own.
Michael Gnat (Pig Valve) toured Europe in Sam Graber’s Shooter (2019; dir. Katrin Hilbe). February 2020 brought three wonderful shorts in Dark Planet (Planet Connections)—just in time. He’s since Zoomed numerous new works, including Scott Sickles’s full-length Marianas Trench (Portland Stage; dir. Kevin R. Free), and this August was live onstage in Blurring Boundaries. Features: Off Jackson Avenue; Bobby G. Can’t Swim. Web: ONN’s News from the Year 2137. AEA, SAG–AFTRA. (Thxoxox, Linda!)
Natalie Mosco has appeared in leading roles on Broadway, regional theater, throughout Australia, on London's West End and in Paris. Her writing includes a Harold Arlen tribute, Get Happy! which had two successful seasons In Sydney, Australia, A Brush With Georgia O'Keeffe (WorkShop, Off-Broadway and Smithsonian Institute, portraying Georgia O'Keeffe), Joe Butler: The Lovin' Sponoful and All My Other Lives (ready for production), and That Wallis Woman (debut reading December at AMT with Natalie as Wallis Simpson). Directing includes Robert I. Rubinsky's Bobby: The Middle-Aged Celebrity. She has also choreographed in Toronto, Boston, Paris, Sydney and Melbourne.
Aaron Coleman is a New York City-based playwright and lyricist. He is currently a Dramatists Guild Foundation Playwriting Fellow. He is honored to be on the 2022 Short List for the Yale Drama Series Prize for his play TELL ME I’M GORGEOUS AT THE END OF THE WORLD, developed with The Workshop Theater. Lots more great news coming up if you want to follow him on Instagram. @merrilyman AaronColemanWrites.com.
Cherrye J. Davis is a multi-disciplinary performance artist and filmmaker. AEA. Education: NYU-Tisch UG. Cherrye has performed with The Public Theater, Little Island NYC, LaMaMa, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, National Black Theater, and Classical Theater of Harlem. Her films have screened internationally, and is in pre-production for narrative series How to Mourn an American. She can be found rocking onstage with glam rock band Tony and the Kiki. Follow her moves at www.CherryeJDavis.com.
Maggie Horan is a NY based actor and a proud company artist with The Workshop Theater as well as a company member with Brave New World Repertory Theatre. She holds a BFA in Theater Performance from VCU and currently resides in Brooklyn, NY. You may catch a glimpse of her in the new Hulu/FX series Fleishman is in Trouble. www.maggiehoranactor.com
Jackie Jenkins has crisscrossed the country performing theatre in multiple states before landing in NYC some 30 years ago. Having performed on stages both Off and further Off Broadway. She is a member of the Workshop Theater and Love Creek Productions. Roles have included Anna in “Mesquite NV” by Leegred Stevens, Catherine in “Miss Reardon Drinks A Little”, Beverly in Michael Cristofer’s, “Shadow Box” and Somerset Maugham’s, “Our Betters” . Jackie would be remiss in not mentioning her adoration for the work of Paul Buzinski, having performed in “Selection Day”, “Church Music”, “Dinner Party”, “Carefree Drive”, and “Fiddlin’ and Burnin”. SAG-AFTRA/AEA
Alex Dmitriev – Writer - works primarily as a director, having directed Believers for The Workshop Theater, over seven shows for the York Theatre Company, including the Drama Desk nominated Lost in the Stars and critically acclaimed productions of Alan Ayckbourn's Taking Steps and How The Other Half Loves. Most recently he directed a workshop of The House of Atreus, which he wrote, for the Brave New World Repertory Company, where he is also a member.
Joanie Schumacher has been a member of The Workshop Theater since 2003, working as an actor and occasionally, a costume designer. She also served as a board member for 6 years. She is happy to participate again in Out Of The Hat for 2022. AEA
Robert Meksin will appear in Pan Asian Repertory’s upcoming production of Memorial. Other Off-Broadway: The Canterville Ghost (title role); Ripple Effect Artists (solo performance); Regional credits: Great Lakes Theater Festival, Cleveland Play House, Virginia Shakespeare Festival, Gretna Theatre, Greenbrier Valley Theatre. Workshops: Playwrights Horizons, Ensemble Studio Theatre. Festivals: NYC Fringe, Strindberg NY, FringeArts (Phila). Off-Off Broadway roles include: Polonius (Hamlet); Vanya (Uncle Vanya): Member: The WorkShop Theater, Ripple Effect Artists. Artist-in-Residence: Titan Theatre Company. AEA, SAG-AFTRA.