Author: HB Studio
OTHERS & US – Staged Readings of Six New Plays
Selected in honor of Uta Hagen in her Centennial year by HB Studio’s Artistic Council
June 25 – 30, 2019 | 7pm
HB Playwrights Theatre
124 Bank Street, NYC
AMITE by Elizabeth Nichols
Tuesday, June 25 – RSVP
Three old friends find themselves together after their thirty-fifth high school reunion is canceled due to Hurricane Katrina. As the storm terrorizes the dilapidated cottage where they take refuge, old wounds between them resurface and secrets are exposed.
THE EVEN MORE LAMENTABLE TRAGEDY OF LAVINIA by Laura Zlatos
Wednesday, June 26 – RSVP
A retelling of Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus from Lavinia’s perspective. Set in the present day, reminiscent of the late Roman Empire if the late Roman Empire had Twitter, this dark comedy reimagines Lavinia’s experience of womanhood in a neo-Swiftian society (Taylor, not Jonathan) as Lavinia becomes a bad-ass vigilante who avenges the crimes committed against her, all while attempting to take the perfect selfie.
ANNA KARENINA by Gwen Kingston
Thursday, June 27 – RSVP
Love, lust and Russian ennui abound in this female-driven, musical riff on the classic novel.
NATIVE TONGUE by Amanda Quaid
Friday, June 28 – RSVP
An immigrant visits an accent coach to help him sound more American. The line between insider and outsider shifts as he assimilates in unexpected ways.
WILL SACRIFICE by Julie McKee
Saturday, June 29 – RSVP
Bridget’s fraught marriage to Nigel, a cramped NYC apartment and her stagnant career convince her to search for a country escape in the post 9/11 real estate gold rush up in the Lower Catskill Mountains. Armed with a limited budget and plenty of nervous enthusiasm, she enlists the aid of Mr. Sunshine to help her realize her dream. A comedy.
7 SHITTY HOMBRES by Ellen DeLisle
Sunday, June 30 – RSVP
Unexpectedly single, sleep deprived marriage-party planner, Alexis, faces eviction from her hypochondriac ex, Randolph. She must battle 7 shitty hombres to find cheap rent and true love in NYC.
Click here for more information about the HB Playwrights Reading Series
Rehearsal Residency: MEMORY HOME, Created by Zoe Lasden-Lyman and Allison Plamondon
You enter from the street. A nurse in black gives you a name tag with an unfamiliar name. She says: “Don’t speak anymore.” She brings you to a room in Memory Home. She asks you to wait, says: “You are safe. You are home. You are loved,” and leaves you alone. There’s a door left ajar to an adjacent room. Unobserved, you watch the director speaking to an unseen audience: your family. She thanks them for entrusting Memory Home with you, their loved one with dementia. An immersive play.
Public showings: May 11 & 12, 2019 @ 7PM and 9PM | RSVP
Every fall HB Studio invites theater artists and playwrights to apply for The HB Rehearsal Space Residency, which provides access to free rehearsal space for the development of new work. Recipients are asked to offer a minimum of two public presentations of their work in process. These presentations may range from a seated reading, to a full dress rehearsal, and they are intended to provide the recipients the opportunity to interact with the HB community and receive valuable feedback on their work in process.
The Secret Life of Seaweed by Julie McKee
directed by Jean Randich 
February 2, 7, 8, 9, 11, 14, 15, 16 | 7:30 pm
Sunday matinees February 3 & 10 | 3 pm
HB Playwrights Theatre
124 Bank Street
New York, NY 10014
Free! | RSVP
New Zealand, 1941, under threat of a Japanese invasion Louise MacGregor, formidable scientist, and Mae Smith, untried youngster, are sent on a mission in search of Pterocladia Lucida, a simple seaweed to aid the war effort.
Inspired by Lucy B. Moore’s scouring of the New Zealand coast for seaweed beds, The Secret Life of Seaweed tells the story of two women who learn to feel deeply about nature and each other in a time when expressing feelings of deep emotional sadness were forbidden for the good of all.
Featuring James Hallett*, Maggie Lacey*, Rebecca Nelson*, and Aishling Pembroke
Design by Sue Rees (Set/Projection), Elizabeth Hope Clancy (Costume), Christina Watanabe (Lighting), and Robert Murphy (Sound).
Colton Robertson (Stage Manager), Michaela Brown (Assistant Director)
Funded in part by The Ensemble Studio Theatre
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Science & Technology Project
Co-producer: Collider Theater
*Member of AEA
HB REHEARSAL SPACE RESIDENCY – SOLID GROUND PROJECT
Difficult Conversations: 
On Race, Gender and Power
by Mass Transit Theater
directed by Lynn Fischer and Joseph Lymous
Saturday & Sunday, November 17 & 18 | 8 pm
First Floor Studio | 120 Bank Street, New York
FREE | RSVP
A powerful devised theater piece for young people and general audiences using drama, comedy, poetry and dance to render compelling stories based on life experiences exploring the trauma, and triumphs of young people of color as they come of age in today’s highly charged climate of racial inequity in Urban America.
Pat & Julie Project – Staged Reading Lab
A COLLABORATIVE STAGED READING OF SELECTED FIRST SCENES AND ONE ACTS FROM THE STUDENTS OF JULIE MCKEE, DIRECTED BY THE STUDENTS OF PAT GOLDEN.
November 10 & 11, 7 pm
HB Playwrights Theatre | 124 Bank Street
Free! First come, first served
Featuring**: Continue reading →
SOMETHING EXTRAORDINARY HAPPENS – A Staged Reading
by Vincent Parker 
directed by David Deblinger
December 1, 7pm & December 2, 3pm
HB Playwrights Theatre
124 Bank Street
New York, NY 10014
Free!
Middle-aged married couple, Bill and Christine, realize they have nothing left to say to each other until their childhood friend, Robert, shows up seeking shelter from a storm.
INFO SESSION: SUNY EMPIRE STATE COLLEGE & HB STUDIO PARTNERSHIP
Interested in pursuing a bachelors degree? 
HB Studio has partnered with State University of New York Empire State College to provide opportunities for HB students to work towards a bachelors or associates degree. This mutually beneficial partnership allows students at HB and SUNY Empire State College to receive discounts and other forms of support, as well as credit transfer for HB’s Hagen Core Training Program, and more. Join us for an info session about SUNY ESC, lead by SUNY’s Catherine Law, at HB Studio on Tuesday, October 23, at 4pm in the Speech Room.
RSVP
Tuesday, October 23 | 4pm
Speech Room – 3rd Floor
120 Bank Street
About SUNY ESC Undergraduate Degrees:
At SUNY ESC students self-design their Associate or Bachelor’s degree using an area of study guideline and the SUNY and ESC degree requirements. Students pursuing a degree at SUNY ESC through this partnership work with an assigned SUNY ESC faculty mentor to determine the most appropriate degree for their interests and goals to determine how best to apply their advanced standing credits and design their degree. (Advanced standing credits are the credits that can be transferred into SUNY ESC. Possible sources for advanced standing credits are the Individualized Prior Learning Assessment, credit from other accredited colleges/universities, credit from NCCRS evaluated programs such as the Hagen Core Program, etc.)
Documentary Premiere Screening: THE CAMPFIRE PROJECT with Jessica Hecht
with Jessica Hecht and Jenny Gersten
Join us at HB for the premiere of Jessica Hecht’s feature documentary THE CAMPFIRE PROJECT, documenting their experience staging an Arabic language adaptation of Shakespeare’s THE TEMPEST with the Ritsona Refugee camp in Athens, Greece.
Monday, November 12, 2018 | 7:30PM
HB Playwrights Theatre, 124 Bank St
Suggested Donation $5-10
This summer, The Campfire Project – conceived of by actress Jessica Hecht — brought 19 international theater artists to Camp Ritsona, a refugee camp on the outskirts of Athens, Greece, to deliver humanitarian aid and to stage an Arabic language, camp-wide adaptation of Shakespeare’s THE TEMPEST. The team included a psychiatrist specializing in PTSD, a NYC school teacher, 5 arabic speaking actors and a neuro-scientist/drummer. It was humbling and profound to engage with residents of this traumatized community. Their journey to use theater as a conduit for hope in a refugee camp will continue this year.
Please join us at HB on November 12 to watch the documentary on the Campfire Project, to be followed by a Q&A with creator Jessica Hecht and producer Jenny Gersten.
HB Public Conversation – OTISVILLE STATE PRISON THEATRE WORKSHOP
A conversation with Director Richard Hoehler
Moderated by Francesca Ferrara
With appearances by Joshua Gumora, Dice Livingston,
Jay Montanez, Jason Morales & Azusa SheShe Dance
Monday, December 10 | 7:30PM
HB Playwrights Theatre | 124 Bank Street
Suggested donation $5-$10
Suggested donation $5-$10
“In the worst troublemakers lie, logically enough, the most creative potential. The trick is knowing that it’s there, then having the courage to reach for it.” ––M. Nagler
In 2011, Richard Hoehler took the reins of the Otisville Theatre Workshop, teaching a weekly acting class and mounting productions every year or so with the men incarcerated in New York’s Otisville State Prison. In addition to professional actor training, writing workshops are conducted during the creation of an original piece. Over the past seven years the workshop has mounted four “inside” productions and brought in two outside plays.
Otisville Theatre Workshop’s most recent production, THIS IS THIS, is an evening of theater comprised of nine dramatic scenes, both original and published, connected by an original spoken word narrative. The issues of the play are family struggles, gun violence, drug addiction, bigotry, bureaucracy, and reconciliation.
Join us for an evening of discussion with Otisville Theatre Workshop’s director and participants, to learn about their process, experiences and more.
Featuring a live performance excerpted from their most recent piece, THIS IS THIS.