The Workshop Theater presents a special one-night concert reading to benefit Invisible Hands, with plays by Daria Polatin, Christina Ham, Aditi Brennan Kapil, and Franky Gonzalez. Invisible Hands is a volunteer-based non-profit delivering food, medicine, and other essentials to those most in-need and at-risk. All proceeds will support Invisible Hands.
Thursday May 20, 2021 at 7pm EST
Donors will receive a link to view the performances on YouTube.
THE PLAYS
THE SEVENTEENTH CHAPEL by Aditi Brennan Kapil, featuring Nikki James and Quincy Tyler Bernstine
OLD FURNITURE by Christina Ham, featuring Victor Williams and Keith Eric Chappelle
SURFACE by Daria Polatin, featuring Matt Dellapina and MacKenzie Meehan
WHEN THE SUN TOUCHES YOU THE MONSTERS DIE by Franky Gonzalez, featuring Paola Lazaro and Christian Navarro
THE WRITERS
Daria Polatin is a TV Co-Executive Producer on Stephen King’s CASTLE ROCK TV series, and previously wrote and produced two seasons of Amazon’s JACK RYAN, starring John Krasinski, and Hulu’s SHUT EYE.
Daria is an award-winning playwright, a founding member of The Kilroys (the advocacy group for gender equality in the American Theater), and holds an MFA from Columbia University. Her plays have been produced at the Kennedy Center, in London, Los Angeles and Hong Kong, and her play PALMYRA was presented with Primary Stages at The Cherry Lane Theater.
Daria’s debut novel Devil in Ohio is published by Macmillan/Feiwel & Friends, and she is currently developing it into a TV series for Netflix.
Daria is of Egyptian heritage, grew up traveling on five continents, loves hiking and inventing recipes, and lives in Los Angeles.
Christina Ham’s plays have been developed and produced both nationally and internationally with the Kennedy Center, Arena Stage, Center Theater Group, The Guthrie Theater, Ensemble Studio Theatre, The Goodman Theater, Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, and the Tokyo International Arts Festival, among many others. Her theater for young audiences play Four Little Girls: Birmingham: 1963 was directed by Tony Award winning actress Phylicia Rashad and performed in front of a sold-out audience at the Kennedy Center to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing. It was simultaneously presented in 47 states across the country and streamed worldwide to commemorate the bombing with former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and former Attorney General Eric Holder conducting the post-show discussion in Birmingham.
Christina is a two-time recipient of a McKnight Fellowship in Playwriting and a Jerome Fellowship from the Playwrights’ Center in Minneapolis, the Marianne Murphy Women & Philanthropy Award in Playwriting, and a MacDowell Colony Artist Residency. She is currently a Supervising Producer for the Emmy Award winning series Westworld starring Evan Rachel Wood, Thandie Newton, Jeffrey Wright, and Tessa Thompson for HBO.
Aditi Brennan Kapil is a television and theater writer, actress, and director. She is of Bulgarian and Indian descent, and was raised in Sweden prior to moving to Minneapolis, and more recently Los Angeles. Recent TV projects include Away on Netflix, and American Gods on Starz. Recent theater projects include a new American history play titled Pax Americana for Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Orange for SouthCoast Repertory Theatre, and Imogen Says Nothing for Yale Repertory Theatre. She is a Resident Playwright at New Dramatists.
Aditi’s first play Love Person, a four-part love story in Sanskrit, ASL and English, was developed during a Many Voices residency at the Playwrights' Center, work-shopped at the Lark Play Development Center, and selected for the National New Play Network (NNPN) conference 2006. Love Person was produced in a NNPN rolling world premiere at Mixed Blood Theatre (MN), Marin Theater (CA), and Phoenix Theatre (IN), in the 2007/08 season.
Her play Agnes Under The Big Top, a tall tale was selected as a 2009 Distinguished New Play Development Project by the NEA New Play Development Program hosted by Arena Stage, and was developed by the Lark Play Development Center (NYC), Mixed Blood Theatre (MN), InterAct Theatre (PA), the Playwrights' Center (MN), and the Rhodope International Theater Laboratory (Bulgaria). Agnes Under the Big Top premiered at Mixed Blood Theatre and Long Wharf Theatre (CT) in 2011, and Borderlands Theater (AZ) in 2012 in a NNPN rolling world premiere.
Her Displaced Hindu Gods Trilogy (Brahman/i, a one-hijra stand-up comedy show; The Chronicles of Kalki; and Shiv), based loosely on the Hindu trinity of Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva, premiered in repertory at Mixed Blood Theatre in October 2013.
Franky D. Gonzalez is a playwright and TV writer of Colombian descent splitting time between Dallas and Los Angeles. He holds a BA in Theatre from the University of North Texas and has had his work featured throughout the Dallas-Ft. Worth metroplex where he served proudly as the Dramatists Guild Regional Representative in 2018. Nationally, his work has appeared with The Lark, the Sundance Institute, the Ojai Playwrights Conference, the Great Plains Theatre Conference, the Goodman Theatre (Live @ Five Series), The New Harmony Project, Repertorio Español, LAByrinth Theater Company, Dallas Theater Center, the HBMG Foundation National Winter Playwrights Retreat, the Antaeus Playwrights Lab, The Mid-America Theatre Conference, and the One-Minute Play Festival. Franky was a recipient of the 2020 Charles Rowan Beye New Play Commission, co-recipient for the 2018 MetLife Nuestras Voces Latino Playwriting Award, won the 2020 Crossroads Project Diverse Voices Playwriting Initiative Award, the Short+Sweet Theatre Festival Manila Best Overall Production Prize, was selected for a MacDowell Fellowship (2019), and was a staff writer for the fourth season of 13 Reasons Why. He has also been a finalist for the New Dramatists residency, the 2020 NNPN National Showcase of New Plays, San Diego REP Latinx New Play Festival, the Civilians R&D Group, The DVRF Playwriting Program, the Ashland New Play Festival, the Playwrights Realm Scratchpad Series, BETC Generations, the ScreenCraft Stage Play Competition, and a semi-finalist for the Bay Area Playwrights Festival, the Seven Devils Playwrights Conference, the Eugene O’Neill National Playwrights Conference, and the Dubai Short+Sweet Theatre Festival.
THE ACTORS
Quincy Tyler Bernstine: NY Theater (selected credits): Marys Seacole (Lucille Lortel Award, Outstanding Lead Actress in a Play); Our Lady of 121st Street; The Amateurs; As You Like It; Small Mouth Sounds; Peer Gynt; Grand Concourse; 10 out of 12; The Nether; Mr. Burns; Neva; We Are Proud to Present a Presentation…; born bad; Red-Handed Otter; Family Week; Ruined (2009 OBIE for Performance, Clarence Derwent, Audelco Awards); In the Next Room (or The Vibrator Play); The Misanthrope; A Small, Melodramatic Story; Matt & Ben, ‘nami; (I am) Nobody’s Lunch; The Ladies. Film (selected credits): The Tender Bar, Manchester By The Sea, Easy Living, Still Alice, Ned Rifle, Red Hook Summer, While We’re Young, Hungry Hearts, Rachel Getting Married. TV (selected credits): “Power Book II: GHOST”, “Ray Donovan”, “The Code”, “Modern Love”, “Power,” “High Maintenance,” “The Good Wife,” “The Blacklist,” “Elementary,” “Blue Bloods,” “Madame Secretary,” “The Leftovers,” “The Strain,” “Chappelle’s Show,” “Law & Order: SVU,” “Law & Order: Criminal Intent.” Education: Brown (BA), UCSD (MFA). 2019 OBIE for Sustained Excellence in Performance, Cullman 3rd Award for Extraordinary Creativity (Lincoln Center, 2019); 2015 Lilly Award, Charles Bowden Award from New Dramatists.
Keith Eric Chappelle is an actor working and performing in NYC and Copenhagen Denmark and has been seen at The Public Theatre as Banquo in Macbeth and previously as Balthasar in The Comedy of Errors, and as Hastings in Richard III and Lord Longaville in their production of Love’s Labor’s Lost. His Broadway credits include Moving Man in the recent production of A Raisin in the Sun at the Barrymore Theater and Poet/Soldier in Cyrano DeBergerac at the Richard Rogers Theater. His Regional Theater credits include Ion in The Shakespeare Theatre in Washington D.C.’s production of Ion, and the role of Elegba in The Abbey Theatre’s production of The Brothers Size, and as Oshoosi in The McCarter Theatre’s production of The Brothers Size. He has appeared on the television series Billions, Madame Secretary, Blue Bloods, Law and Order, Person of Interest and The Good Wife.
Matt Dellapina Film: Dirty 30, Ruin Me, These Hopeless Savages, Fits And Starts, True Story, Safe, The Quitter. TV: ”For Life" (ABC), “Just Add Magic: Mystery City” (Amazon), “Bull” (CBS), "The Iliza Shlesinger Sketch Show" (Netlfix), “Tommy” (CBS), “Person Of Interest” (CBS), "The Blacklist", "NCIS: New Orleans" (CBS), “Homeland” (Showtime), "Blue Bloods" (CBS), “Do No Harm” (NBC), “Onion SportsDome” (Comedy Central), and an upcoming role on the new AMC comedy, "Kevin Can F Himself". NY Theatre: Outside People(Vineyard), A Delicate Ship (Playwrights Realm), Too Much Sun (Vineyard), The Tutors (Second Stage), The Dream Of The Burning Boy(Roundabout); Telephone (Foundry), The Steadfast (Slant Theatre Project), AliceGraceAnon (New Georges); In The Footprint (Civilians), underneathmybed (Rattlestick), Tender (SPF), #9 (Waterwell), and Gone Missing (Barrow Street). Associate Artist of The Civilians.
Tony Award winning actress Nikki M. James was a series regular in the FOX series PROVEN INNOCENT, from producer Danny Strong. James was also seen guest starring on the CBS series INSTINCT, the hit CBS series BULL, and reprising her role of Monica from THE GOOD WIFE on the CBS All Access series THE GOOD FIGHT. She also starred in CBS’ quirky series BRAINDEAD. On stage, Nikki was last seen in The Public Theatre’s revival of Tony Kushner's A BRIGHT ROOM CALLED DAY as “Agnes Eggling.” She starred as “Countess Peggy” in a limited run of I MARRIED AN ANGEL at Encores! Previously, James received rave reviews for her starring role as “Viveca” in Kirsten Child’s musical THE BUBBLY BLACK GIRL SHEDS HER CHAMELEON SKIN also at Encores! Off-Center production at City Center. The musical review was an ambitious follow up to Nikki’s portrayal of “Portia,” Brutus’ proud wife, in The Public Theatre’s extremely press worthy and politically prescient version of JULIUS CAESAR at Shakespeare in the Park. James most notably originated the role of Nabalungi in the Broadway hit musical, BOOK OF MORMON, for which she won the Tony for Best Featured Actress in a Musical. After her award winning performance, Nikki went on to star as Éponine in the 2014 Broadway revival of LES MISERABLES. She has also performed several sold out one-woman cabaret shows at popular New York City venues such as 54 Below and Joe’s Pub. No stranger to Broadway, Nikki has starred in productions of ALL SHOOK UP and THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER. Other memorable theater productions include; ROMEO AND JULIET, CAESAR AND CLEOPATRA alongside Christopher Plummer, THE WIZ, TWELFTH NIGHT, BERNARDA ALBA, HOUSE OF FLOWERS, AND PRELUDES. Nikki’s theater workshops include; LIZZIE IN BABY (Papermill/NJPAC) and BEEHIVE on Broadway. Nikki’s film credits include: LUCKY STIFF Lucky Stiff and THE DISAPPEARANCE OF ELENOR RIGBY. She resides in New York City and holds a BFA in Drama from NYU.
Paola Lázaro is an actress and playwright from San Juan, Puerto Rico. TV Acting: (Currently) The Walking Dead, Lethal Weapon, SMILF, Wu Tang: An American Saga, Patty’s Auto, Shelter. FILM: Pimp, Black Bear. In 2015 she was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play for her role in To the Bone by Lisa Ramirez. Her play Tell Hector I Miss Him at Atlantic Theater was nominated for a Drama League Award for Best Production of a Broadway or Off-Broadway Play and for an Outer Critics Circle Award for the John Gassner Playwriting Award. In 2017 she was selected as a Sundance Theatre Lab writer with her play There’s Always the Hudson (2017 Relentless Award finalist) and as a Sundance Institute Time Warner Storytelling Fellow. Paola is Atlantic Theater Company’s 2016-2017 Tow Playwright-in-Residence. She was the Van Lier Playwright Resident at the Public Theater 2018-2020.
MacKenzie Meehan has performed on Broadway and in the national tour of War Horse at the Lincoln Center Theater. Off-Broadway, she appeared in Where We're Born (The Rattlestick), Double Falsehood (CSC), Pass the Blutwurst, Bitte (La Mama), The Sacrifices (The Public - SPF) and Point of Departure (Theater for a New City). Her regional credits include The Second Girl (The Huntington Theatre) Period of Adjustment (SF Playhouse), Circle Mirror Transformation (The Studio Theatre), Out Of Orbit (Sundance Theatre Lab), Caviar on Credit (Guthrie Theater), and Jester's Dead (The Peoples Improv Theater). Meehan is currently a series regular on the hit CBS legal drama, “Bull.” Other television credits include a recurring role in “Vinyl” (HBO) in addition to roles on “Mildred Pierce (HBO),” “White Collar (USA)” and “Adult Ed (Digital Series).” Her theatrical credits include The Wolf of Wall Street, My All American, A Standup Guy, These Hopeless Savages, and the short film Candlesticks. A Denver, CO native, Meehan received her BA from California State University, Long Beach, and her MFA in acting from NYU. Instagram @mackenziemeehanactor.
Christian Navarro is well known internationally for his role as ‘Tony’ on the critically acclaimed Netflix series 13 REASONS WHY. The fourth and final season dropped last summer on Netflix. Christian was also seen in the Melissa McCarthy/Fox Searchlight comedy CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME? which premiered at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival. The film earned 3 academy award nominations. His other film work includes a role in Jonathan Milott and Cary Murnion’s (XYZ Films) BUSHWICK, which screened at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival and in the Director’s Fortnight section at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival. His many television credits include a memorable recurring role of Jorgé, a young and savvy record producer on Martin Scorsese’s HBO series VINYL, opposite Bobby Cannavale. He has also guest starred on several major shows including Showtime’s THE AFFAIR, Amazon’s THE TICK and Fox’s ROSEWOOD, all which he landed right out of graduating from Rutgers University. Christian recently wrapped the Lionsgate feature THE DEVILS LIGHT for director Daniel Stamm.
Victor Williams is best known for his nine seasons of work on the television series, "The King of Queens". He has most recently appeared in such shows as ”The Good Lord Bird” (Showtime), “Hunters" (Amazon) “Bull “ (CBS) and "The Sinner" (USA). On stage, Victor’s credits include Cost of Living at The Manhattan Theater Club, Luck of the Irish at LCT3, Hapgood at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, A Small Fire at Playwrights Horizons and Tough Titty at the Paradise Factory Theater. Mr. Williams currently resides in his hometown of Brooklyn, New York. He’s married with two kids. Instagram: @bigvicwilliams