Performances & Events

Maricela de la Luz Lights the World

HB Studio presents Maricela de la Luz Lights the World

 

Maricela de la Luz Lights the World

by José Rivera

directed by David Deblinger

with this exciting Cast and Creative team:

Maricela: Vanessa Aspillaga

understudy for Maricela/Ensemble: Jennifer Hernandez

Riccardo: Johnny Rivera

understudy for Riccardo/Ensemble: Jorge Felipe Guevara

Ofelia, Orpheus, Frowning Face, Snow Wolf, Snow Person, Shopper: Sara Koviak

Xbalanque, Jason, Smiling Face, Huhnahpu, Snow Wolf: Satoshi Deleanu

Cyclops, Polar Bear, Snow Wolf, Shopper, Snow Person: Kevin Hobaichan

Dragon, Shopper, and more: Samantha Posyton

Voice of Fog, Loki, Voice of Hydra, Shopper, Snow Wolf, Snow Woman: Maria Fontanals

Hercules: Nya Yeanafehn

Ensemble: Quaz Degraft

Stage Directions/Narrator: Mike Faccioli

Assistant Director: Agnes Chrakowiecka

Technical Director: George Port

Maricela de la Luz Lights the World is a fanciful play by Academy-award nominated writer José Rivera. The story follows the adventures of Maricela and her brother Riccardo as they save the world from impending climate catastrophe, reminding audiences that the power to change the world lies within each of us. Directed by David Deblinger, co-founder of the iconic LAByrinth Theatre Company, and featuring an array of HB Alumni, we hope you can join us for this special holiday presentation! A FREE holiday cast party will take place on Friday night after the show, and FREE holiday cookies and cider will be served at the Saturday matinee.

Friday, December 6th at 7PM & Saturday, December 7th at 2PM
HB Playwrights Theatre | 124 Bank Street, New York

Free! | RSVP

AMERICAN SCOREBOARD: The Need for Leadership to Combat Climate Change and Protect National Security

American Scoreboard Staged Reading HB Playwrights Theatre

AMERICAN SCOREBOARD
Performance of Testimony from the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Reform Hearing on The Need for Leadership to Combat Climate Change and Protect National Security

Conceived and Produced by Fran Kirmser
Created and Produced by Christopher Burney

 

Wednesday, November 20th and Thursday, November 21st at 7pm
HB Playwrights Theatre | 124 Bank Street, New York

Free! | RSVP

HB Studio is pleased to welcome back AMERICAN SCOREBOARD for a series of presentations in the HB Playwrights Theatre. In November, we present a verbatim staged reading of transcripts from testimony given on April 9, 2019 before the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Reform on Combating Climate Change and Protecting National Security.

AMERICAN SCOREBOARD is an ongoing series which, through timely verbatim readings of U.S. Congressional hearing transcripts performed by stage and screen actors, reflects the issues that face the current administration, President Trump, and the American people today. The series is conceived and produced by Tony Award winning Broadway Producer Fran Kirmser and produced by Tony Nominee and Tony Nominating Committee member Christopher Burney. For questions regarding the program, please call 212-554-3431.

This new series marks the return of AMERICAN SCOREBOARD to HB STUDIO where it premiered in January 2017 with a hearing concerning corporate fraud and the Wells Fargo Bank.

Public Conversation: Theater as Ritual for Community with Cusi Cram and Daniella Topol

Cusi Cram and Daniella Topol in Conversation

Public Conversation: THEATER AS RITUAL FOR COMMUNITY
A Discussion with Playwright Cusi Cram and Rattlestick Playwrights Theater Artistic Director Daniella Topol about their current site-specific, interactive production, NOVENAS FOR A LOST HOSPITAL

Monday, November 4th at 7pm
HB Playwrights Theatre | 124 Bank Street, New York

Free! | RSVP

HB Studio explores the current critically-acclaimed production of Novenas for a Lost Hospital with playwright Cusi Cram and Rattlestick Theater Artistic Director Daniella Topol.

Novenas for a Lost Hospital is a communal experience to remember, honor, re-imagine and celebrate St Vincent’s Hospital. Inspired by the caretakers and patients of St. Vincent’s Hospital, and guided by Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, this unique event takes a 60-person audience on a journey from an enclosed garden to Rattlestick’s intimate West Village theater to the NYC AIDS Memorial Park.

Public Conversation: The Actor and the Truth with Jonathan Lynn and Austin Pendleton

 

Jonathan Lynn and Austin Pendleton in Conversation

Public Conversation: THE ACTOR AND THE TRUTH
A Discussion with Actor Austin Pendleton and Writer-Director Jonathan Lynn

Moderated by Marsha Mason

Thursday, October 24th at 7pm
HB Playwrights Theatre | 124 Bank Street, New York

Free! | RSVP

HB Studio kicks off its Public Conversations series with actor-director-writer and HB Studio faculty member Austin Pendleton and writer-director Jonathan Lynn (My Cousin Vinny and the Yes, Minister and Yes, Prime Minister TV series). We’ll look at the wide-ranging and illustrious careers of these two extraordinary artists, and explore what it means to seek the truth in the theater in the “post-truth” era.

AMERICAN SCOREBOARD: Protecting Dreamers and TPS Recipients

American Scoreboard Protecting Dreamers and TPS Recipients Staged Reading

A Staged Reading of Transcripts from the Hearing on Protecting Dreamers and TPS Recipients

A PERFORMANCE SERIES IN THE DEMOCRATIC PROCESS

Produced By: Fran Kirmser & Christopher Burney

Featuring students of HB Studio

HB Studio is honored to welcome back AMERICAN SCOREBOARD this season for a performance series in the democratic process! Because knowledge is power, we hope you will join us for these important and edifying presentations.

Kicking off the series on September 16 will be a verbatim staged reading of transcripts from testimony given on March 6, 2019 before the U.S. House Judiciary Committee on Protecting Dreamers and TPS (Temporary Protected Status) recipients.
Tickets are FREE. Please RSVP via Eventbrite.

Monday, September 16, 2019 | 7:00 pm 
HB Playwrights Theatre
124 Bank Street, New York City

Reservations are open! RSVP NOW

AMERICAN SCOREBOARD is an ongoing series that reflects the issues that face the current administration, President Trump and the American people today. Conceived and produced by two-time Tony Award winning Broadway Producer Fran Kirmser and produced by Tony Nominee and Tony Nominating Committee member Christopher Burney, AMERICAN SCOREBOARD are readings of timely verbatim Senate hearing transcripts presented in the theater performed by stage and screen actors. For questions regarding the program, please call 212-554-3431.

This new series marks the return of AMERICAN SCOREBOARD to HB STUDIO where it premiered in January 2017 with a hearing concerning corporate fraud and the Wells Fargo Bank. The subjects of the remaining readings in the series at HB Playwrights Theatre will be announced at a later date.

OTHERS & US – Staged Readings of Six New Plays

OTHERS & US play readings graphic
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

NYC Department of Cultural Affairs support statement and logo.

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.

New York State Council of the Arts

 

 

 

 

Playbill Announces Uta Hagen Centennial Celebration at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts

NYPL and HB acting studio nyc
Playbill Headline on Uta Hagen Celebration with HB Studio and New York Public Library for the Performing Arts

Uta Hagen at 100 will mark a season-long celebration of the centennial of the Tony Award-winning actor, activist, and HB Studio master teacher.

Beginning April 1, the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts will display materials from Hagen’s archives. The exhibit, Actress + Activist: Uta Hagen at 100, will be on display on the third floor of the Lincoln Center branch through July 31, where viewers can examine readings of her unpublished diaries and mementos from her many theatrical performances, as well as objects related to the period in the 1950s when she was blacklisted for suspicion of being a communist sympathizer. The records come from the Library’s Billy Rose Theatre Division, which houses three major collections related to Uta Hagen: the Uta Hagen/Herbert Berghof Papers, the HB Studio Records, and the HB Playwrights Foundation Records.

The centennial will also include events, beginning with classes and demonstrations during an HB Studio Residency April 8–11. Learn more about the NYPL for the Performing Arts events.

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.

New York State Council of the Arts