Announcements

First Floor Studio Performance Project

Written and Performed by Brian Kelly

Saturdays, May 3, 10, 17, & 24  |  7pm
Sundays, May 4, 11, 18, & 25  |  6pm
HB Studio, First Floor Studio  |  120 Bank Street
Free!

Stories from a dam with no water, behind the bar, offshore, on deck, across the table, from the side of the road, under the influence, with imaginary flashbulbs. I am. Nowhere. Full pitch full blast drifting open.

Editing, guidance, and direction: Christina LaPrease,
Therese Plummer and Eric Michael Gillett
Sound design: Jun Mizumachi

This program is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

A collaborative staged reading of selected new 10 minute plays from the students of Julie McKee directed by the students of Jack Hofsiss, with set design by Nikolay Sviridchik.
Show date is June 2nd.

AUDITIONS: MONDAY, APRIL 28^th  | 6:30pm – 9:30pm |  FIRST FLOOR STUDIO.
For consideration, please sendheadshot/resume to play’s director:

DINNER FOR TWO, by Peter Klein. Directed By Kenneth Thompson
Submit to Kthompson@hbstudio.org
Carol: (50) Attractive and attentive, likes to stay at home. Feels that her husband has grown distant and maybe is having an affair.
Henry: (50) Carol’s husband, a dental surgeon. Feels that life has passed him by. Tries to be polite but is irritable and prone to headaches.

THE GREATER GOOD, by Jane L. Watson. Directed By Jennifer Bond
Submit to jenniferbond383@gmail.com
Aimee: (20’s) A young, attractive college girl in trouble after a brief affair with her professor.
Betty: (50’s-60’s) A jaded nun who attempts to create her own “miracle”.

HOME, by Zoe Lasden-Lyman. Directed By Craig Perkins
Submit to cpengage@gmail.com
Woman: (60’s) In the late stages of Alzheimers
Nurse: (20’s) Worker Bee.

INTO THE FORREST, by Mayumi Lane. Directed By Stephan Schmidt
Submit to stephan@chatlag.net
Hans: (M, 30’s) A woodcutter.
Heidi: (F, 19) Hans’ second wife, a stay at home mom.

CAFFEINE ADDICTS ANONYMOUS, by Claire Torn. Directed by Vero Barr
Submit to a.veronica.barr@gmail.com
Stephan: (25-30) Coffee shop barista. Serious, attentive, expressive.
Olivia: (25-30) Coffee shop customer. Coffee addict; Eccentric, loud, obnoxious, charming.

JUST DESSERT, by John Mahoney. Directed By Laurent Wilson
Submit to laurentcw@gmail.com
Sofia: (mid/late 20’s) Italian American woman hailing from NJ. Attractive, feisty and determined to rise above her blue collar.
Marty: (late 40’s) Italian American man with a bad habit of dealing with the mob. A menacing guy from the streets with a great love of family and his daughter

COFFEE AND MURAKAMI, by Inna Tysyrlin. Directed By Alina Sokolova
Submit to alinka_malinka@ymail.com
Mandy: (early 30’s) She is excited and enthusiastic at the start, but cautious and skeptical as the play continues
Ben/Rick: (early/mid 30’s) He is attractive in a subtle way, and is very attracted to Mandy

April 21, 2014 | New York, NY— National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Acting Chairman Joan Shigekawa announced last week that HB Studio is one of 886 nonprofit organizations nationwide to receive an NEA Art Works grant. HB Studio is recommended for a grant to support professional development courses, workshops, labs, and residencies.

These programs offer artists opportunities to both strengthen core competencies in acting, playwriting, and directing, and to experiment with new skills that expand their repertoire. Theatre artists, like artists in all fields, require time and space away from audiences and critics to hone their craft. Each artist faces different hurdles as he or she progresses professionally. Some actors are pigeonholed into roles; some directors become the go-to person for a particular style; some playwrights take time away to raise families or seek work in other fields. These programs provide these artists a supportive and challenging environment to go out on a limb artistically and break creative habits; to build the needed versatility to become competitive in new areas of their business; and to test new ideas that are not yet ready for public evaluation.

NEA Acting Chairman Shigekawa said, “The NEA is pleased to announce that HB Studio is recommended for an NEA Art Works grant. These NEA-supported projects will not only have a positive impact on local economies, but will also provide opportunities for people of all ages to participate in the arts, help our communities to become more vibrant, and support our nation’s artists as they contribute to our cultural landscape.”

Art Works grants support the creation of art that meets the highest standards of excellence, public engagement with diverse and excellent art, lifelong learning in the arts, and enhancement of the livability of communities through the arts.  The NEA received 1,515 eligible applications under the Art Workscategory, requesting more than $76 million in funding. Of those applications, 886 are recommended for grants for a total of $25.8 million.

For a complete listing of projects recommended for Art Works grant support, please visit the NEA website at arts.gov.

Moderated talk with NYC leaders of Latin American, Spanish, and Hispanic American theatre

Moderated by HB alumni Ingrid Wheatley and Reza Salazar

Monday, May 5, 2014 | 7:30pm (doors at 7pm)
HB Playwrights Theatre, 124 Bank Street, NYC
All are welcome! Meet & Greet Reception to follow
$10 suggested donation | $5 HB students & staff

RSVP HERE

JOSÉ ZAYAS (Resident Director, Repertorio Español) began working with Repertorio in 2004 when he was selected as a fellow of the Van Lier Young Directors Project. Ever since, he has directed seven productions for the company and was named Resident Director in 2013. His production of Caridad Svich’s THE HOUSE OF THE SPIRITS, based on Isabel Allende’s novel, at Repertorio Español, won multiple ACE and HOLA awards, including best production and director. Other credits with Repertorio include MADRE, EL DRAMA PADRE ; LETTERS TO A MOTHER; NOWHERE ON THE BORDER;  NO BETTER FRIEND, NO WORSE ENEMY; IN THE TIME OF THE BUTTERFLIES; and LOVE IN THE TIME OF CHOLERA.

His production of THE HOUSE OF THE SPIRITS had its international debut at the Mori Theatre in Santiago, Chile. In addition, his production of the same play at the Denver Center has won numerous Ovation Awards including Best Production and Direction and was selected as Best Production of the Year by the Denver Post. Zayas was born in Puerto Rico and graduated from Harvard and Carnegie Mellon Universities. He is co-Founder of The Immediate Theater Company. He held a residency at the Ensemble Studio Theater and was selected as one of nytheater.com’s 2007 People of the Year. He is also a Drama League Fellow and an alumnus of Lincoln Center’s Director’s Lab and Soho Rep Writer/Director’s Lab and has received fellowships such as the Phil Killian, Kenneth Frankel, John Pasquin and Van Lier.

His theatre credits include FEEDER by JD Carter (TERRAnova Collective); THE STRANGEST by Betty Shamieh (HERE Arts Center); THE YELLOW BRICK ROAD by Mando Alvarado and Tommy Newman (TheaterworksUSA); MILKMILKLEMONADE by Joshua Conkel (APAC); SOUTHERN PROMISES by Thomas Bradshaw (PS122); OKAY by Taylor Mac (Ensemble Studio Theatre); VENGEANCE CAN WAIT by Yukiko Motoya (PS122); AGAIN AND AGAINST by Betty Shamieh (The Lark); THE PAST IS NOT A FOREIGN COUNTRY (VERY) PERSONAL MAPS OF SEATTLE by Mallery Avidon (Soho Rep); THE WASPS and TECMESSA by Ken Urban (Target Margin); STROM THURMOND IS NOT A RACIST by Thomas Bradshaw (Brick Theater, 4 New York Innovative Theater Award Nominations); DEVIL LAND by Desi Moreno-Penson (Summer Play Festival/Cherry Lane Theatre); CROWNS by Regina Taylor (Virginia Stage Company). Zayas co-produced INTAR’s 2006 New Works Theater Lab. His credits as Assistant Director include TALK RADIO directed by Robert Falls and starring Liev Schreiber; REGRETS ONLY directed by Christopher Ashley; COME BACK LITTLE SHEBA directed by Michael Pressman.

This program is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

Internationally renowned director, writer, and master teacher Jack Garfein visits us from Paris this June to teach THE ART OF ACTING, a two-week intensive seminar:

The Art of Acting
Monday – Friday, June 9 – 13 and 16 – 20
10am – 3pm, $720
Submission required: click here for details

“Imitation will never reveal the real. It is only the involuntary memory, the magician in ourselves, the work of the latent subconscious, that is able to grasp the experience of another…”
– Jack Garfein, LIFE AND ACTING

SAVE THE DATE!

Our annual fall benefit has been scheduled for Monday, November 3, 2014.

We are happy to announce that we will once again continue our festivities at Manhattan Penthouse, a stunning venue with panoramic views of the NYC skyline.

Ticket and honoree information will be available shortly. Click here for more details and to view photos from our previous celebrations.

Fred Timm’s Movement 1 class will have an open house where students will present original stories told through words and movement.

Friday, March 21 | 4pm
2nd Floor Studio, 120 Bank Street
All are welcomed. Free!