Category: theatre

theatre

Inspired: Meet the Cast of the New Play, Sing After Storms

Christa Avampato

Without further ado, I present to you the wildly talented and jaw-droppingly stunning cast of Sing After Storms. They’re also featured on our website at http://singafterstorms.com/our-cast/. Tickets for friends, family, and fans are now available for $10 by visiting http://www.eventbrite.com/e/sing-after-storms-friends-family-and-fans-discount-tickets-11129220799. Show dates are June 18, 21, and 22.

**In order of appearance**

Joe Laureiro – Jack Young

Joe Laureiro Joe is a native of Yonkers, NY, and has been working in film and theater in the New York metropolitan area for the last ten years. He received his formal training at the Lee Strasberg Theater Institute, and the many stages he’s been fortunate enough to grace over the last decade.

Favorite recent credits include: Greg in Neil LaBute’s ‘Reasons to be pretty’, and Andrey in Chekov’s “Three Sisters”, but with The Red Monkey Theater Group.

Jaclynn Baynes – Joyce Titus

 JaclynJaclynn Baynes is a graduate of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in NYC. Her theater credits include: Grace- One night stands(Avery Shriber), writer/director/multiple acting roles-gift of a grip top sock(Ensemble Studio Theatre), Ann- Ann Frank(AADA), Courtesan- The Comedy of Errors,  Stephanida- The Russian Samovar(AADA),  Cicila- Fefu and her Friends (AADA), Jenny- The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (AADA), Martha- Maybe Tuesday (AADA), Muriel Boggs- Holy Ghosts (AADA). FILM:Jennifer/Lead w/Tiny Lister-The Distracted, Jane/lead- Scalp, In love couple- Date Night(Shawn Levy), a love story. T.V credits include: young mom-On the case with Paula Zahn, Self- Life of an actress, etc. Commercials include: UL security systems, Oral Flow.

Jaclynn has a strong improv comedy background as well as sketch writing. Contact her at JaclynnBaynes@gmail.com and/or follow her on Twitter @JaclynnDoucette

Kate Flynn – Catherine Young

KateA recent graduate of the William Esper Studio in New York, Kate has been an admirer of actors ever since she was a child. As sports became an important role in her life, it wasn’t until after graduating college that she was able to delve into the craft fully.

After receiving her BA in Studio Arts with a concentration in photography from the University of Colorado and (unsuccessfully) trying to move to Italy, she finally found what she had been missing–work that was meaningful. She is thrilled to set out on this journey with the cast and crew of Sing After Storms.

Please visit her website at www.katecflynn.com

Elliot Coy (Oheri) – Police Detective Jason Dennehey

OheriOheri is an writer/actor pursuing a voice over career in New York City. With a great sense of being on stage and in front of the camera, Oheri knows what it takes to be in front of a microphone as well as.  Graduating with a Bachelors of Science in Advertising, Oheri is also familiar with writing copy. This unique attribute has helped him understand which copies require personality types. It also makes Oheri easy to work with and always ready to learn.

Although Oheri’s background suggests a deep root in the world of advertising, his real passion lies in the world of gaming; where he expects to have a hand, or in this case, a voice in several games during the course of his career.

Mia Fraboni – Pearl Young

MiaMia Fraboni was born and raised in Queens. She is a recent graduate of the Mason Gross School of the Arts BFA Acting program at Rutgers University. There she played Celia in As You Like it, Sister James in Doubt: A Parable, Christina in Dancing at Lughnasa, as well as many other roles. Her most recent credits include Maria in Twelfth Night with Allentown Shakespeare in the Park, and Donna in the independent filmCreedmoria. 

She will be playing the part of Michelle in the upcoming webseries Yo Taxi!. Many thanks to family, QCCBU, and friends for all the love and support.

Brianne Higgins  – Grace Doyle

BrianneBrianne Higgins has appeared in numerous stage productions around Florida, New York and New Jersey. Her most notable roles include Rose in Dancing at Lughnasa at Antrim Playhouse, NY, Sister Amnesia in Nunsenceat The Daytona Theater Center, FL and Mrs. San Bernardino in Mrs. California at Centenary Stage Company, NJ. She is the Co-Founder of Ship of Fools Productions and Co-Creator of the acclaimed Antics Roadshow- All Original Sketch Comedy which recently premiered at the Triad Theater in NYC.

As a Stand-Up Comedienne, she has taken the stage at Caroline’s Comedy Club, New York Comedy Club, Comic Strip Live and most recently at Levity Live in West Nyack.

She has several films to her credit; currently in production:  Anthony Puglia’s film, Spit Boys, Michael Kelberg’s, The Lavatory and Jim Ormond’s Documentary, Rip Van Winkle which will be aired on The Local History Channel. Vist her website at www.briannehiggins.net

Amelia Huckel-Bauer – Susan James

AmeliaAmelia moved to New York to attend NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, attaining a B.F.A. in Acting and she just graduated with a Master’s in Educational Theatre, also from NYU.  The Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute was Amelia’s primary studio at NYU, and she also spent a semester studying in Dublin, Ireland and a year at Stonestreet Studios, a film and screen acting conservatory. When asked, she will say there is nothing like performing on stage, yet something special about the intimacy of film.

Amelia is truly an actress who can rise to the heights of a huge house, as well as draw an audience closer from in front of the lens. She is thrilled to be joining a wonderful team of talented artists for this production!  Visit her website at www.ameliahuckel-bauer.com

Brittany McDonald – Carol Titus

BrittanyBrittany McDonald has been in New York for a whopping year now and she is pumped to play the role of Carol. She graduated with a BFA in Acting at UW-Milwaukee and is currently taking classes at ESPA-Primary Stages.

Some of her favorite parts so far are Fabiana Aziza Cunningham in Last Days of Judas Iscariot (Main Stage Theatre), Speed in Two Gentleman of Verona (Milwaukee Parks), and Rudolph in Who Killed Santa (Carte Blanche theatre/Underground Collaborative theatre). She cannot thank her family enough for their support.

art, creativity, theatre

Inspired: A Book’s Cover Is Only Half the Story – Another Lesson from Sing After Storms

Christa Avampato
SingAfterStorms.com
SingAfterStorms.com

We found our leading man for my play, Sing After Storms. I was originally thinking of him for a completely different role and then he walked into the room and knocked it out of the park to play Jack. His instincts, movements, and timing were brilliant. Just goes to show that while it’s good to have a plan, we need to be open to wonderful surprises and possibilities.

art, risk, theatre

Inspired: Taking a Shot on Goal By Directing Sing After Storms

Christa Avampato
From Pinterest
From Pinterest

To use a hockey analogy: there’s a time to pass the puck and a time to take a shot on goal. Though I initially intended to have someone else direct my play  Sing After Storms, a set of circumstances arose that presented me with the option to direct the show as well as write and produce it. In my gut, I immediately knew that this was my chance to live this show in a number of facets, to immerse myself in what I can only imagine will be the most fulfilling creative project of my life to-date. It’s scary and thrilling, and I’m going for it. Let’s see how far this amazing creative team can push the puck across the ice.

art, change, community, theatre

Inspired: Casting Sing After Storms and the Impact of Community-Created Art

Christa Avampato
From Pinterest
From Pinterest

Yesterday we had our first round of casting for my play Sing After Storms. I continue to be astonished by the immense talent in this city. I feel like so much of it is locked up, waiting for its turn to be seen and heard. I want to find a way to free it, to give it the space and opportunity to let it unfurl, experiment, and take risks in the pursuit of creating something that affects hearts, minds, and souls on a massive scale. It is such a privilege to see this raw truth up close and personal, to have a hand in crafting its path. We’ll find a way to scale this effort, to bring more people into the fold and give them a way to make significant contributions through the work they love to do. Sing After Storms is just the first step in a much longer journey.

action, change, creative process, creativity, theatre

Inspired: Hello, Chaos!

Christa Avampato
From Pinterest
From Pinterest

My friend, Blair, sent this saying to me because she thought I could appreciate it: “All great changes are preceded by chaos. ~ Deepak Chopra.” I live by it. In the theater, you get used to the chaos and since all of my early career training happened in that industry, I thrive in the madness of activity. I know what goodness comes of it if we just delve in and enjoy the ride. When life feels jumbled, chaotic, and hectic, I have to remind myself to be thankful for that energy. So much beauty will be revealed when the dust settles. When we create something, craft it with our hands and hearts, there is bound to be a lot of movement, internal and external shifts. Just enjoy it. It won’t last forever, and when it’s over you’ll miss it and look for your next great creation opportunity. Take it as it comes.

art, theatre

Inspired: Making My Way as a Theater Producer and How You Can Join Me

Christa Avampato
From Pinterest
From Pinterest

A long time ago, I had a dream of being an artistic director of a theatre company. I was the chair of a theatre group while I was an undergrad at Penn and it was one of the best experiences of my life. My first theater job in New York was at the Roundabout Theatre Company and I greatly admired Todd Haimes, the Artistic Director at RTC. Like me, he came from a business background and traditional education outside of the arts. (He’s also a Penn alum.) He applied those skills effectively and built RTC into a powerhouse in the theater world. I wanted to be just like him.

After six years in the Broadway world, I lost my way. I couldn’t see my way past the ugly underside of entertainment. The egos, greed, broken dreams, and flat-out cruelty. I was hurt by it and I saw a lot of other people get hurt, too. I went running from it as fast as I could. I wrote off theater as something that didn’t deserve my attention and effort. I was young. I didn’t understand that I could change a system I didn’t like. I didn’t know that there was another way, that I didn’t have to accept an industry as it was. I didn’t believe I could make something different. It took me a long time to realize that you could be part of a system and not be defined by it.

That dream of being an artistic director never really died. It was placed on a burner so far to the back that it almost disappeared but somehow it kept fanning its own flame so that I could eventually follow the light and find my way back to it. That’s what I’m trying to do now, and my play, Sing After Storms, is the first step in that direction for a branch of my content development company, Chasing Down the Muse.

I want to bring a more human approach, dare I be so bold as to say an approach with more kindness and a sense of justice, to an industry that is defined by anything but kindness and justice. I’d like to give people a way in based on their passion for and commitment to producing work that inspires people, a kind of haven that celebrates them and their work, and lifts them up rather than taking them down. This summer I’ll work on two new plays that I’ve started to create, and I hope Sing After Storms has a long, healthy, spherical life after the New York City production in June that leads the charge to build this new way of creating theater.

That’s the goal. That’s where I’m going, and I hope you’ll hop on board. Interested? Drop me a line at christa@chasingdownthemuse.com.

art, creativity, failure, Second Step, success, theatre, writer, writing

Inspired: How We Almost Lost Arthur Miller to Failure

Christa Avampato
Arthur Miller
Arthur Miller

Arthur Miller gave up the theater after his play, The Man Who Had All the Luck, flopped horribly on Broadway. It ran for only 4 performances in 1944. He attempted to write novels after that, and they flopped too. So he went back to the theater and several years later finished the Tony Award-winning play All My Sons, one of the most beloved, heart-wrenching, and successful in theater history. It took him 5 years to write it and was his first successful production. At the time of its debut, it was panned critically save for Brooks Atkinson’s review in the New York Times. Mr. Atkinson is often credited with rescuing the piece from failure. 2 years later, Miller wrote Death of a Salesman in 6 weeks and it won the Pulitzer.

Miller said this about watching All My Sons for the first time with an audience:

“The success of a play, especially one’s first success, is somewhat like pushing against a door which is suddenly opened from the other side. One may fall on one’s face or not, but certainly a new room is opened that was always securely shut until then. For myself, the experience was invigorating. It made it possible to dream of daring more and risking more. The audience sat in silence before the unwinding of All My Sons and gasped when they should have, and I tasted that power which is reserved, I imagine, for playwrights, which is to know that by one’s invention a mass of strangers has been publicly transfixed.”

It would have been very easy for Mr. Miller to give up writing after his early string of failures. At that point, there was no reason to believe he would ever be successful. And yet, he kept going. He kept trying as he worked menial jobs to make ends meet while remaining passionate about his craft. All he had was raw determination.

Maybe you’ve tried to do something and it wasn’t as successful as you wanted it to be even though you gave it everything you had. Maybe you’re thinking about throwing in the towel and getting a new dream. You’re in good company. At many points, Miller considered giving up. How could he not? But he didn’t. He started again. He took the second step, and it’s that step that made all the difference, for him, for us, and for the American theater. Follow that lead.

To sign up for updates on my new book, Your Second Step: What to Do After Your Leap, by clicking here.

art, creativity, theatre

Inspired: I’m Looking for Team Members for My Play, Sing After Storms

Christa Avampato

unnamedLooking to stretch your creative wings in 2014? I’d love to have you join the on-stage or behind-the-scenes team for my play, Sing After Storms. Most roles don’t require any experience, though if you have experience we will gladly find a way to put it to use. I’ve done all of these roles at some point in my career and I can help as much as needed. So if something below looks interesting, don’t be shy. Hop on board – I’d be glad to have you join us. I’m also glad to take referrals of friends whom you think would be interested. Please feel free to forward, share these details, and ask questions.

Business / Promotion
Photographer, Videographer, PR, Marketing, Fundraising, Event planner (opening night party and talk-back event with actors), Investors / in-kind sponsors, someone interested in crowdfunding (Kickstarter, etc.)

Production (I would love to have these people involved in the casting decisions)
Stage Manager, Assistant Stage Manager, Assistant Director (we have an incredibly talented director on-board!), Production Assistants

Design
Costumes, Props, Set

Performance team
Light and sound board operator (very simple system)

Cast
We will be holding auditions in March / April for the remaining roles that have not yet been cast. If you’re interested in auditioning, or you know someone who would be interested, please let me know!

Additional info:
– Rehearsals will be held in the evening in mid-town Manhattan from mid-May to mid-June, Monday nights through Thursday nights.
– Performances will be held as part of New York City’s Thespis Theater Festival on June 18th @ 8:45pm, June 21st @ 9:00pm, June 22nd @ 9:30pm at Cabrini Repertory Theater, 701 Fort Washington Avenue in Washington Heights (northern Manhattan.) All actors, the stage manager, assistant stage manager, assistant director, and the light and sound board operator will need to attend the tech rehearsal in the theater on June 18th from 2:30pm – 8:30pm.
– Many people are cast in roles of other productions and hired for off-stage roles as a result of Thespis Theater Festival performances.
– All roles are volunteer-based (mine included!) You will receive comp tickets to give to anyone you’d like and you’ll have your headshot and bio listed in the play’s program and on the website. I will also be forever happy to provide you with references and loads of good karma for the rest of your life. My goal is to make this a fun, close-knit community that will continue to work together on future productions of this show and others.
– It’s my hope that Sing After Storms will have a long and healthy life long after the theater festival is over. As original team members, I would love to have everyone from this production continue on with us wherever this path leads.

Have an idea for a role that’s not on here? Please let me know!

art, creative, creative process, creativity, theatre, writer, writing

Inspired: Shakespeare Didn’t Write for a Living

Christa Avampato
From Pinterest
From Pinterest

“This above all: To thine own self be true.” ~ Shakespeare’s Hamlet

Maybe your creative projects have taken a backseat to other parts of your life. Maybe you aren’t making the progress you want to make in the time you’d like to make it. Don’t beat yourself. And please don’t give up. People whom you will never meet and never know could gain so much benefit from your creativity. If you love the work, then keep at it. Bit by glorious bit. Here’s why:

When I say Shakespeare, what do you say? Theater. Hamlet. Romeo and Juliet. Playwright. Old Globe. All of these are probable, wonderful answers. Shakespeare made a life in the theater and he made a living in real estate. He wrote plays because he loved to write them. I was shocked to recently learn this and I want to share it with you for a very specific reason: your career does not have to define your legacy. What you do to make money and pay the bills doesn’t need to consume you. You can choose, independent of your paycheck, how the world will remember you. Your title does not determine your passion, nor does it dictate where you place your heart, loyalty, and energy. Those are choices, and only you can make them.

Shakespeare could have easily thrown himself into his real estate work and abandoned his writing altogether. He could have relegated himself to be a laborer who didn’t have time for creative pursuits. And we would all be worse off for that choice. It took a long time for him to stabilize his finances so that he could spend the majority of his time writing in his later years. Creative pursuits are like that – we do as much as we can when we can out of our sheer desire to make something that matters. If that sounds like you, don’t despair. You’re in good company; the Bard felt your pain. He kept going. So should you.

choices, inspiration, theatre, writing

Inspired: I Spent My Summer Doing What I Loved Most. It Paid Off.

Christa Avampato
Birds sing after a storm; why shouldn't people feel as free to delight in whatever sunlight remains to them? ~ Rose Kennedy
Birds sing after a storm; why shouldn’t people feel as free to delight in whatever sunlight remains to them? ~ Rose Kennedy

The most exciting (and terrifying) project I have planned for 2014 is the production of my first play, Sing After Storms. It will be staged as part of the Thespis Theater Festival in New York City on June 18th at 8:45pm, June 21st at 9:00pm, and June 22nd at 9:30pm at the Cabrini Repertory Theater, 701 Fort Washington Avenue in Washington Heights. What led me to write the play and ultimately submit it for production can be summed up in one word: priorities. On the surface, it’s not such a sexy word, but it made all the difference for me.

I wrote the play while I was in California this summer on a creative sabbatical from my work. I went there with about a dozen personal projects I wanted to complete and quickly realized that even if I worked 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for the entire 8 weeks I couldn’t get them all done. They were so massive I couldn’t even get 2 of them done. (I live by the philosophy of “make no small plans.”) I quickly realized I had to choose. I tried to wiggle out of choosing and tried to select a few. It didn’t work. I had to sit down and decide what mattered most. And though it was the least lucrative and least likely to generate anything other than happiness, I spent my last 4 weeks writing my play. With much coaching and encouragement from my dear friend, Trevin, I finished the first draft. It felt amazing to do what I loved simply because I wanted to. That experience also helped me make up my mind to focus on writing and content development full-time.

When I returned to New York, I completed the second draft and submitted it to Thespis. That was the first time I ever submitted the full play to anyone for review and I expected to be rejected about 100 times before anyone even gave it a second look. I’m proud of the work, though I worked in professional theater management for a number of years. After managing Broadway shows and national tours, I know how difficult the industry is. I know how much work doesn’t make it, how many artists never get any shot. I wanted to be passionate and realistic. I wrote that play simply because I loved the story. I never expected anything else to come of it even though I knew I would keep trying to get it produced.

When I got the acceptance from Thespis five days later, I was shocked. And nervous. And excited. And overwhelmed. I spoke with Trevin immediately, and then with my dear theater friend, Amy, who also read the script and encouraged me to give it a shot. Should I do this? Both emphatically said, “Yes!” So I reviewed the contract and accepted the next day.

Now there are many months of hard work and long hours ahead. Trevin is going to direct the piece and I’ve started to look for other people who want to play a part in this new project – actors, a stage manager, designers, technicians, stage crew members, marketing and publicity, investors. (If any of these opportunities sound interesting to you, please email me at christa.avampato@gmail.com.) While I will now be consumed by this next phase of the process, I remind myself that this all happened because I put the wheels in motion by following my gut this summer, by doing what made me happiest. I made a choice. One single choice. And that was enough to get started.