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.
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.
With Eliza Simpson & Lauren Nordvig Moderated by Julissa Roman
Monday, October 29 | 7:30pm
HB Playwrights Theatre | 124 Bank Street
$5-$10 suggested donation | RSVP
In 2015, The Mother Line Story Project began by building a collective – story by story. It started with an idea to lead women through writing workshops, encouraging them to create short monologues in the voices of their female ancestors. (Think – The Moth meets ancestry.com.) Before long, they had women of all ages & ethnicities performing for diverse audiences Off-Broadway – these previously untold stories were in turns hysterical, heartbreaking, poignant, & slice-of-life. The Mother Line Story Project collaborates with female-identifying performers, designers, directors, activists, students, businesses & communities, presenting these stories all over the world. Fostering connection & providing a safe artistic space for female expression are their proudest accomplishments.Join us for a conversation about The Mother Line Story Project with Founder/Executive Director Eliza Simpson and President/Director of Education and Development Lauren Nordvig. Also featuring the performance of a Mother Line story.
Mercedes Ruehl, far left, chatted with Francesca Ferrara, her acting student, and Jim Kempner, a gallery owner. Gabriella Angotti-Jones/The New York Times
“Do you want to ask me about acting?” Mercedes Ruehl said, holding her water bottle. “I also take questions on faith and morals.”
On a wet Wednesday afternoon, Ms. Ruehl, the Oscar– and Tony-winning actress who stars in the Broadway revival of Harvey Fierstein’s “Torch Song” (now in previews), had just exited her apartment on West 42nd Street and was marching toward the Hudson River.
Flanking her, with the full-body adoration usually reserved for pet dogs or cult members, were two of her longtime acting students: Francesca Ferrara and Nick Feitel…read more
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.)
UNION DISCOUNT:* Industry union members receive 10% OFF Fall Term Classes.Present your membership card in the registration office or email a copy to registration@hbstudio.org.
INTAKE AUDITION / CONSULTATIONS: Interested in our upper level classes?Audition & consult with a panel of HB’s faculty. For details and sign up info, visit Auditions & Prerequisites.
REEL SUBMISSIONS: Are you a working professional seeking a place to practice? Submit your reel for placement into our studio practice classes.
*Discounts valid for Studio Classes only; not valid for workshop offerings, full-time programs or merchandise. Discounts cannot be combined nor applied retroactively.
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.
This program is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and many generous supporters.
On Race, Gender and Power
