#Alexis Roblan

[thenerdsofcolor]

'The Enabler Monologues’, A One Night Only Theatrical Protest Event

[megzeppelinn]

Last weekend I got to see not one, but TWO horror play readings - both written by two of the most riveting, boundary-pushing Los Angeles theatre artists I know - Alexis Roblan and Chelsea Sutton. Ali’s exponentially brutal, actively nightmarish play “Javelina” - about how when an indie horror movie’s writer visits its disquieting Texas set she must confront the wild external and internal violence that moral culpability ignites - was Echo Theatre Company’s inaugural New Play Competition winner. Chelsea’s “I’ll Be Your Villain” - a darkly beautifully gothic type of ghost story about a woman who loses control over her true self as it wrestles with the warping nature of grief, betrayal and exploitation - was a part of Road Theatre’s New Play SlamFest. Women writing horror is not new, but something about the freshly unsettling spiritual provocations of these plays and the dark psychological/sociological screws they’re boldly twisting with their female protagonists’ uncompromisingly, almost terrifyingly authentic self-actualizations is thrilling to me as an audience member and playwright stoked for spooky storytelling and restless for groundbreaking genre vocabularies. While I’ve always loved ghost and gothic stories, it’s only been a year or so that I’ve become obsessed with the cultural impact and resonance of horror movies and specifically the way women are utilized within them. I’m still watching and learning, but in the ones I’ve seen so far the majority of the female characters (if they’re not victims killed off early on) are singularly intuitive in sensing a malignant supernatural entity, and have a hell of a time convincing others (especially their husbands/partners) that their child or loved one is in danger. Their rally cries to stop the ensuing threatening forces are silenced or ignored, so they must confront evil on their own, leading to either a gloriously badass obliteration of this evil, or a somber “I told you so, but no one listened” succumbing to it.

While the plays are uniquely themselves - Ali’s is viscerally unsettling, a masterful construction of a psychological unraveling, Chelsea’s a powerfully haunting, hilariously ominous reflection-myth on what makes a woman “bad,” they are both so compelling/refreshing in that they radically subvert the limiting binary character resolution for women in horror as outright hero or victim by not only dirtily spelunking through its meaning’s mines to unveil monsters of unpalatable moral truths never before made visible through a female lens, but outright upend it by challenging me as a viewer and woman to wrestle with my connection to these monsters and my complicity in their societal dubiousness - disturbing me into wondering what complex horrors I am capable of, but not so pointedly judging me for recognizing those terrible possibilities within me that I poisonously repress them.

I so appreciated that I didn’t feel asked to simply root for or pity the female protagonist, but to see her as someone complex with horrors - the monsters, ghosts and duendes thrashing inside her soul in the human attempt to know itself. That this revelatory storytelling of reenvisioning women in horror is happening in the L.A. theatre space makes me quiver with excitement. Shoutout to the Echo for recognizing/honoring Ali’s brilliant play, and to theatre genius/masterful conjurer of the dark and divine Carly DW Bones’ tender, playful and fearless direction of Chelsea’s play - her brilliance of uplifting the mythic voice is unmatched. Keep an eye out for more Ali and Chelsea radness, and sláinte to more women in horror!

[moviesandmania]

PASTURE (2020) Preview of mad doctor horror

PASTURE (2020) Preview of mad doctor horror

Pasture is a 2020 American horror film about a young woman seeking treatment for her schizophrenia who is taken captive by a deranged doctor. Subjected to illegal experimentation, her attempts to escape are blocked by those around her, as she loses touch with her already loose grip on reality. Directed by Sean Hardaway from a screenplay written by Alexis Roblan, the Rook Productions movie stars…

[writemarcus]

APAC Presents The Insiders: Musicals from the Quarantine

POSTED MAY 11, 2020 BY JONAH

[From Astoria Performing Arts Center]

Astoria Performing Arts Center in association with Teresa Lotz presents The Insiders Musicals from the Quarantine Six original musicals responding to the COVID-19 crisis.

Astoria Performing Arts Center (Dev Bondarin, Artistic Director), in association with Teresa Lotz, presents six new musical shorts written in response to the COVID-19 crisis. Featuring the work of fifteen writers, five directors, and sixteen actors, the contributing artists joined the project in the early days of the crisis in the spirit of developing new work without being in the same room to do so.

Quarantine. Crisis. Connection. Hope. There are many stories to tell right now and with The Insiders, these writers have created six in response to the current situation. From the expressionistic to the satirical, to the reality of family members trying to communicate, each film tells a story based in the here and now while we experience this unprecedented moment of pain in the world together.

The six short musicals will launch online starting May 22nd. Viewing will be free of charge, but there is a suggested donation of $10 which will benefit Astoria Performing Arts Center and Indie Theater Fund (www.indietheaterfund.org/donate). More info can be found at www.apacny.org. The Insiders is written by Krista Knight, Derek Hassler & Ryan Kerr, Rachel Kunstadt, Briana Harris & Teresa Lotz, Charles Inniss & Christopher Inniss, Marcus Scott, Blake Allen & Marc Chan, Annette Storckman, Naomi Matlow & Andi Lee Carter, Claire Tran & Blake Allen. The Insiders is directed by Dev Bondarin, Emily Brown, Daniella Caggiano, Kristin Rose Kelly, Justin Schwartz. The Artistic Producer is Teresa Lotz and the cast includes Dana Aber, Bailey Carlson, Ariel Leigh Cohen, Leana Rae Concepcion, Kristina Dizon, Ellis Gage, Staci Jo Johnson, Bee Michael, Michael Orlandi, Jason Pintar, Erin Solér, William Spinnato, Sara States, Tais Szilagi, Jeff Williams, Ariel Seidman-Wright.

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Astoria Performing Arts Center, Inc. (APAC), is a not-for-profit organization that was founded in 2001 to bring high quality theater to Astoria, Queens and New York City, and to support local youth and senior citizens. On its mainstage, APAC produces revivals and premieres of plays and musicals, and also develops new works through readings and workshops. To date, APAC has received 67 New York Innovative Theatre Award nominations and 17 wins (including Outstanding Musical Production for Merrily We Roll Along, Allegro, Children of Eden, and Raisin), as well as an Off-Off Broadway Theatre Review Award for Outstanding Production of a Musical (Is There Life After High School?) and two AUDELCO “Viv” Awards (including one for Outstanding Revival of a Musical for Caroline, or Change.) APAC was also the recipient of the 2012 Caffe Cino Fellowship Award from the New York Innovative Theater Award Foundation. APAC offers free annual community programs, including a summer performance camp for children ages 8-13, an afterschool playwriting program, and performance programs for Queens residents ages 60 and over. These programs deepen ties with the community, and develop new audiences for theater. Diverse programming and consistent quality attracts a loyal and growing audience that reflects the diversity of Western Queens and draws from the other boroughs and beyond. www.apacny.org / @APACNY / @apacgram

Teresa Lotz (she/they) is an award-winning playwright and composer-lyricist. Her work includes She Calls Me Firefly (2019 New York Innovative Theater Award Winner), Akira & The Merpeople with Claire Tran (Polyphone Festival), Red Emma & the Mad Monk (NY Times Critic’s Pick, 6 NYIT Nominations, Ars Nova ANT Fest) created by Alexis Roblan and Katie Lindsay, ThreeTimesFast with Naomi Matlow (Florida Festival of New Musicals, O’Neill Theater Festival Semi-Finalist, New York Film Academy), The Awakening with Sarah Rebell (O’Neill Theater Festival Semi-Finalist, MTF Developmental Series at Playwright’s Horizons). Teresa was a 2020 Jonathan Larson Grant finalist and is an alumni of New Perspectives Theater Company’s Women’s Work Lab. Dramatist’s Guild. ASCAP. Music Composition, BM, Bowling Green State University. Musical Theatre Writing, MFA, New York University. TeresaLotz.com

[writemarcus]

The Tank Announces Inaugural Writers For LIT Council

by BWW News Desk Nov. 2, 2018  

The Tank announces the talented playwrights selected for LIT Council, an 8-month development intensive for male playwrights of color. During their time with the Council (October 2018 through April 2019), writers will be in an affinity space with one another, developing a project and having in-depth conversations around their identity as men of color working in the theatre field as playwrights. In order to further promote collaboration and communication between genders, each play will be attached to a female director of color, chosen from a group of professionals and mentors, who will be active presences throughout the process. The program will culminate in a public presentation of this work, hosted at The Tank (312 West 36th Street between 8th and 9th Avenue).

"Sometimes you have to create the thing you want to be a part of," explains LIT Council Founder/Creator, Akin Salawu. "In the theater world, men of color are really still the junkyard dogs chained to the side of the house to bark at strangers. And rarely admitted inside. I wanted to create a space where we no longer have to justify our presence in the room. The planets aligned with a simple Facebook message to Meghan Finn (Co-Artistic Director of The Tank) telling her I had this pipe dream." Finn's immediate reply was "I can say without a doubt The Tank would love to support!"

No stranger to the hustle, Beto O'Byrne (LIT Council Co-Creator/ Facilitator) was up for the challenge: "My career as a theatre-maker and writer has been largely defined by me looking for a space for my work, not finding it, and making my own. It's been a lot of work to manifest this particular opportunity with Akin, but I am so very excited to be in fellowship with such an amazing pool of writers and can't wait to see what work we create."

O'Byrne and Salawu have agreed to push the playwrights to create works where female characters are given equal weight to their male counterparts and also supported to stretch their voice in writing for, and collaborating with, women.

According to Salawu, "It is important to foster artists who are aware of and responsive to gender inequity in the theater as well as racial inequity. So, we're creating opportunities for men of color who are willing and invested in creating opportunities for women of color as well."

The 50 applicants were evaluated by an exceptional panel of female theater makers of color which included playwright Alex Beech, actor/playwright Yadira de la Riva, playwright Guadalís Del Carmen, producer/creative strategist J.J. El-Far, playwright Monet Hurst-Mendoza, actor/director Tia James, playwright/director Young Jean Lee, director/theater maker Rebecca Martinez, actress/theater maker Nina Mehta, producer/theater maker Meropi Peponides, director Taylor Reynolds, playwright Melissa Tien, and playwright/dramaturg Jillian Walker.

Given that the playwrights applied to an affinity group built around men of color, the panelists were asked to recognize that these artists inevitably come to this project with certain biases and privileges at play. Keeping in mind the common goal of working to eradicate white supremacy and toxic masculinity from our field, and by consequence, our society, the panelists selected ten finalists: Benjamin Colón, Brandon Bogle, Francisco Mendoza, Ja'Michael Darnell, Marcus A. Scott, Mel Nieves, Nikhil Mahapatra, Travis Tate, and Tylie Shider.

Along with facilitating the development of 7 new works, LIT Council will also help the playwrights foster the necessary professional relationships that are historically challenging for members of underrepresented communities. LIT Council's Inaugural members gathered at The Tank on October 20th for their first meeting. The seven playwrights pitched their projects to each other and began an ongoing discussion on power, privilege, and race. Before leaving the theater, the 7 playwrights agreed to help each other become better writers and committed to helping each other become better men.

The Tank is a non-profit arts presenter serving emerging artists engaged in the pursuit of new ideas and forms of expression. We serve over 2,000 artists every year in over 400 performances, and work across all disciplines, including theater, comedy, dance, film, music, public affairs, and storytelling. Our goal is to foster an environment of inclusiveness and remove the burden of cost from the creation of new work for artists launching their careers and experimenting within their art form. The heart of our services is providing free performance space in our 98-seat proscenium and 56-seat blackbox that we operate in Manhattan, and we also offer a suite of other services such as free rehearsal space, promotional support, artist fees, and much more. We keep ticket prices affordable and view our work as democratic, opening up both the creation and attendance of the arts to all.

Past Tank produced-work includes Drama Desk-nominated productions Ada/Ava (2016), youarenowhere (2016), The Paper Hat Game (2017), the ephemera trilogy (2017), and The Hunger Artist (2018), as well as New York Times Critics' Pick's The Offending Gesture by Mac Wellman, directed by Meghan Finn (2016) and Red Emma & The Mad Monk by Alexis Roblan, directed by Katie Lindsay (2018). Since its founding in 2003, artists who have come through The Tank include Alex Timbers, Amy Herzog, Lucy Alibar, Reggie Watts, Kyle Abraham, Andrew Bujalski, We Are Scientists, and tens of thousands of others. www.thetanknyc.org