New Genesis Productions
The Women's Work Festival 2024
"Ladies' Briefs"
Readings of New Works
November 16 & 17 @ 4PM
The Phoenicia Playhouse
Saturday, November 16
THE TEN MINUTE PLAY COLLECTION:
Tricia Anderson's A MAN, A BEAR, and the BABA JAGA- In a forest clearing, four things encounter each other: A woman, a man, a bear, and the Baba Yaga. As they share their stories, each discovers something about themself.
Cast includes: Phil Levine, Maggie Whalen, Maclain Maier
Alison Blakeslee's ALL MY GIRLFRIENDS - All My Girlfriends follows three friends bouncing between the ages of fourteen, eighteen and twenty-two. In a timeline where it is possible to be a girl at one moment and a young woman at the next, All My Girlfriends is a theatrical cacophony that explores the humorous minefield of sapphic friendships and coming of age in the modern world. Characters Claire, Ruby, and Lexie evoke the watchers' adolescent friends and ask us how we intend to sustain our friendships of yore when all that binds us together is love. Cast includes: Alison Blakeslee, Georgia Dedolph, Azalea Rusillion, and Corin Carpenter
Joanne Rendell's WORDSWORTH'S SISTER - Behind every great Romantic poet, there’s a talented, tireless, and overlooked sister. “Wordsworth’s Sister" brings Dorothy Wordsworth into the light, drawing on her real journals to show how her famous brother William rarely ‘wandered lonely as a cloud.” Cast includes: Benny Rendell, Azalea Rusillion, Brad Lewis, and Caroline Roland-Levy
Georgia Dedolph's I HATE MY JOB - this excerpt of I HATE MY JOB is a piece of a larger play. Four unruly young artists are so anti-establishment that they refuse to get jobs. Because rent still needs to get paid, they begin robbing houses. When they steal a strange and mysterious object, they start having dreams and visions telling them to return it to its rightful owner. I HATE MY JOB contains messages about climate change, colonization, and what it is like to be a person, both young and old, in relation with other people and the world around us. The play’s magical elements are based on real Hudson Valley folklore, the stories of Washington Irving, and personal experiences. Cast includes: Corin Carpenter, Alison Blakeslee, Bee Kelsey, and Georgia Dedolph
Suzanna Cramer's EXPECT INCREASING DISCOMFORT- An offbeat and autobiographical account of when having a family doesn’t go as planned. Cast includes: Suzanna Cramer
THE ONE ACT:
Liz Burdick's THE MRS DEWINTERS - On the eve of the funeral of her last remaining friend, 95 year old Helen enters the mid century world of Daphne DuMarier's Rebecca. Aided and abetted by her daughter in law, they take a jaunty romp through twisty time. A play about the triumph of imagination over dementia, anxiety, and mortality. Based on an actual recorded conversation. Cast includes: Lesley A. Sawhill, Liz Burdick, and Caroline Roland-Levy.
Sunday, November 17
THE TEN MINUTE PLAY COLLECTION:
Suzanna Cramer's EXPECT INCREASING DISCOMFORT- An offbeat and autobiographical account of when having a family doesn’t go as planned. Cast includes: Suzanna Cramer
Georgia Dedolph's I HATE MY JOB - this excerpt of I HATE MY JOB is a piece of a larger play. Four unruly young artists are so anti-establishment that they refuse to get jobs. Because rent still needs to get paid, they begin robbing houses. When they steal a strange and mysterious object, they start having dreams and visions telling them to return it to its rightful owner. I HATE MY JOB contains messages about climate change, colonization, and what it is like to be a person, both young and old, in relation with other people and the world around us. The play’s magical elements are based on real Hudson Valley folklore, the stories of Washington Irving, and personal experiences. Cast includes: Corin Carpenter, Alison Blakeslee, Bee Kelsey, and Georgia Dedolph
Miranda Haydn's A REPAIR CAFÉ - An unexpected meeting unveils a story of hope and possibility. Cast includes: Maria Elena Maurin, David Rose, and Miranda Haydn
THE ONE ACT:
Mindy Pfeffer's FINDING ELVIS - Two long-time friends address issues of friendship, relationships, and loyalty while on a roadtrip to Graceland. They find a mysterious Elvis bust on the side of a country road; the discovery – and the wacky chain of events that follow - tests, and ultimately strengthens, their friendship. Cast includes: Lesley A. Sawhill, Mindy Pfeffer, George Tsontakis, and Liz Burdick
The Playwrights
Playwright and Actor Bios
THE PLAYWRIGHTS
Tricia Anderson, a Marbletown native, creates theatre and performance experiences in the Hudson Valley, where she is a member of Siren Theatre, and New Orleans, LA, where she is a member of Intramural Theater as well as the Solar Observance Team, with which she produces guerilla immersive performances on the solstices and equinoxes. She also works with New Genesis Productions during summers to bring Shakespeare to life for young thespians.
Alison Blakeslee (she/they) is an actor, playwright, and poet. Some of her favorite past roles include Hope in Urinetown, Leopold in Tango Palace, and Ophelia in Hamlet. Blakeslee has been published in the literary publications Spires and 2-West Magazine.
Liz Burdick is an actor and playwright working in film, television, and theater in the metro NY and Hudson Valley New York area. She is a member of SAG/AFTRA.
Suzanna Cramer has had several works produced in and around New York City. Her play The Elephant Serenade won the VagaBOND Theatre’s Ten-Minute Play Festival. The Bar Trilogy earned Honorable Mention in the McLaren Comedy Playwriting Contest. She was also a semi-finalist for the Princess Grace Award for playwriting. From 2006 until 2009, Suzanna was an active member of the Art Society of Kingston’s (ASK) Playwrights’ Lab where she had staged readings of several of her plays. The ASK Summer Playwriting Festival selected two of her short plays. Her plays have been selected for production several times for the annual Tri-State Theatre Festival by the South Street Players. Suzanna has an MFA in Theatre (playwriting) from Sarah Lawrence College.
Georgia Dedolph (they/them) is an actor, director, writer, and teaching artist. They recently directed Tango Palace and Dr. Kheal by Maria Irene Fornés, and served as the keynote speaker for the MCLA Fornés Festival with the Fornés Institute, after receiving a grant to conduct a playwriting workshop based on Fornés’ work. They adapted, co-directed, and performed in Ursula K. Le Guin’s novel, Left Hand of Darkness. Their other acting credits include Hamlet, Macbeth, and Elizabeth in The Summer in Gossensass.
Miranda Haydn (Writer, Director) taught and managed Catskill Mountain Music Together from 2006-2022. She was musical director for Peter Pan with the Woodstock Youth Theater, and for Twelfth Night and Into the Woods with New Genesis Productions. This is Miranda’s first play and first time directing.
Mindy Pfeffer is an award-winning playwright/solo performer. Selected playwriting credits: How To Live at 14Y Theater/LABA Second Stage in NYC and the Jewish Culture Festival in Krakow, Poland; Dream Land on the Coney Island boardwalk; solo play There’s Iron in Your Future at the NYRR RunCenter, Omega Institute, and various fringe festivals. Mindy works as a teaching artist-puppeteer with NYC Kids Project, teaching about inclusion. She is a member of AEA and the Dramatists Guild.
Joanne Rendell is the author of six novels (published by Penguin and Simon & Schuster) and holds a PhD in English Literature. She teaches "Foundations of Fiction," a bestselling writing course featured on Udemy and LinkedIn. She lives in New Paltz, NY.
THE ACTORS
George Tsontakis (FINDING ELVIS) has appeared with the Coach House Players, Performing Arts of Woodstock and the STS Phoenicia Playhouse in productions of Diary of Anne Frank (Otto), As You Like It (Duke Senior), Little Murders (Judge Stern), Barefoot in the Park (Velasco), Stop Kiss (Detective Cole), David Ives The Blizzard (Salim) Reckless (Tim Timko), the Soldier in l'Histoire du Soldat” and in Frederic Collier’s film, Dinosaur Park. He narrates his symphonic works and ongoing projects include a work for actor, voices, chorus and orchestra, where he portrays Herman Melville. An esteemed composer, he has received two of the richest prizes in classical music; the International Grawemeyer Award, in 2005 and the American Academy of Arts & Letters Ives Living as well as two Classical Music Grammy Nominations. He has received his doctorate from Juilliard and is Distinguished Composer-in-Residence of Bard College.
Maria Elena Maurin (REPAIR CAFE)Maria’s recent theatre credits include On the Exhale with the Rhinebeck Theatre Society Arms and the Man, Still, Outside Mullingar, and Brilliant Traces with the Performing Arts of Woodstock. A Turn of the Screw with Kaaterskill Actors Theatre. She produced and performed in the web series Tabs & Clea. She has trained at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, NYC and at the Sande Shurin Acting Studio, NYC and Woodstock, NY.
David Rose (REPAIR CAFE) has appeared in local productions of All’s Well That Ends Well, A Christmas Carol, and Circle Mirror Transformation and is pleased to a part of this excellent collection of original works.
Benny Rendell (WORDSWORTH'S SISTER) is a filmmaker and actor who trained with New Genesis Productions, where he played many roles (Hamlet, Brutus, Benedick, Bottom). He has performed in several off-Broadway shows, including Firebird Theater’s recent production Boy My Greatness. He’s currently studying film at Tisch NYU.
Professor and author Brad Lewis (WORDSWORTH'S SISTER) writes and teaches at the interface of medicine, humanities, and cultural studies. He’s published several books including the recently released Experiencing Epiphanies, where he discusses Wordsworth and his poetry.
Corin Carpenter (he/him) is a writer and stage manager based in Attleboro, MA. Corin’s work focuses on the power of language and its ability to shape the way we see ourselves and the world. His recent work includes assistant stage managing Maria Irene Fornés’ The Summer in Gossensass and serving as a photographer for Fornés’ Tango Palace and Dr. Kheal.
Azalea Rusillon (WORDSWORTH'S SISTER & ALL MY GIRLFRIENDS) Azalea Rusillon has been acting with New Genesis Productions since she was thirteen. She specializes in Shakespearean acting and also has a strong passion for costume designing, creative writing and visual arts. She currently attends Bard College. Azalea is honored and excited to be taking part in the Ladies’ Briefs Festival, and would like to thank Lesley Sawhill for organizing it!
Lesley A. Sawhill (MRS DEWINTERS & FINDING ELVIS) has been running New Genesis Productions with her husband Ron Aja for 25 years beginning in the city with new works and continuing upstate with youth Shakespeare programs in local schools, libraries, and especially at their Little Globe Theatre. Lesley and Liz did the impossible in 2023 bringing THE MRS DEWINTERS to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Maggie Whalen (A MAN, A BEAR, AND THE BABA JAGA) has been performing onstage since the age of 7. A singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, actor, and choreographer, she lives for the thrill of performance and creative collaboration. Notable past roles include The Old Woman (Candide), Sgt. Sarah Brown (Guys n' Dolls), Maggie (Lady in the Dark), Emily Webb (Our Town), and Dinah (The Philadelphia Story).
Phillip Levine (A MAN, A BEAR, AND THE BABA JAGA) is an actor (SAG), poet, poetry editor for Chronogram Magazine, and president of the Woodstock Poetry Society. Favorite stage roles include Teach in American Buffalo, JB in JB, Charlie Baker in The Foreigner, Austin in True West, Edgar in King Lear, and Ebeneezer Scrooge.
Maclain Maier (A MAN, A BEAR, AND THE BABA JAGA) is a performer and writer based in Kingston, NY. He is a member of Siren Theatre, and musical director for Arm-of-the-Sea Theater. He runs Funny Kid Comedy Class in Kingston, teaching kiddos all things improv and sketch comedy.