PULP VÉRITÉ
by Crystal Skillman
directed by Kareem Fahmy
project dramaturg - Megan Sandberg-Zakian
Joy is an active member of the filmmaking collective Pulp Vérité when she is captured and held overseas for three years. After being released from captivity, she returns to the United States to reunite with her friends and restart her life. But when the group realizes Joy has gathered them together for the impossible - to bring her sister who is still a captive with ISIS home - their strength as a collective, youthful ideology, and commitment to the cause are shaken to the core.
Cast:
Latoya Edwards*
Peter Mark Kendall*
Andrea Abello*
Maggie Metnick*
Julia Valen
Nikki Massoud*
Stage Directions: Hannah Sikora
Stage Manager: Lisa R. Stafford*
*Member, Actors’ Equity Association
CRYSTAL SKILLMAN is an award-winning dramatist. Plays include: NYTimes Critics Picks OPEN (The Tank/AFO), GEEK (Vampire Cowboys), CUT (Theatre Under St. Marks) as well as PULP VÉRITÉ (Kilroys List), and RAIN AND ZOE SAVE THE WORLD (EMOS Prize). Her new play with music, THIS SHOW IS MONEY (Music/Lyrics Gaby Alter), is currently being developed in The Civilians R & D Group. Crystal is the Bookwriter of the musical MARY AND MAX (Composer/Lyricist Bobby Cronin), which just had its European premiere. TV/Comic Books include: ADVENTURE TIME (Boom! Studios), EAT FIGHTER (WebToon), and OVERNIGHT SUCCESS (Kampfire Films).
Kareem Fahmy is a Canadian-born director of Egyptian descent. Kareem has worked with MCC, New York Theatre Workshop, Atlantic Theatre Company, Ensemble Studio Theatre, New Dramatists, The Civilians, Working Theater, Geva Theatre, Pioneer Theatre, Silk Road Rising, Berkeley Rep, and many others. Kareem is the co-founder of the Middle Eastern American Writers Lab at The Lark and of Maia Directors, a consulting group for organizations and artists engaging with stories from the Middle East. MFA: Columbia University. www.KareemFahmy.com
Megan Sandberg-Zakian is a freelance theater director with a passion for the development of diverse new American plays & playwrights. She is a co-founder of Maia Directors, a consulting group for artists and organizations engaging with stories from the Middle East and beyond, a graduate of Brown University, and holds an MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts from Goddard College. Megan lives in Jamaica Plain, MA, with her wife Candice. megansz.com
Latoya Edwards (Joy) was recently seen as Wummie in the American premiere of The Rolling Stone at Lincoln Center. Previously, she was seen as Ama in the remount of School Girls; or, the African Mean Girls Play at MCC in NY & Center Theatre Group in LA. Her other credits include Pearl in Miss You Like Hell at The Public Theater, appointment with gOD at Playwrights Realm, HAIR at Berkshire Theatre Group, Polkadots: The Cool Kids Musical at Atlantic Theater Co, Nikola Tesla Drops the Beat at Adirondack Theatre Festival and Carefully Taught at Astoria PAC. Her TV/Film credits include "The Get Down", "Law & Order: SVU", the short film "Want a Cookie?" and the music video “religion (u can lay your hands on me”. www.latoyaedwards.nyc
Peter Mark Kendall / Broadway: Six Degrees of Separation (Tony Nom for “Best Revival”), The Rose Tattoo (The Acting Company: with Patti LuPone & Bobby Cannavale). Off-Broadway: Blue Ridge (The Atlantic), The Harvest (LCT3), Mercury Fur (The New Group), Joe’s Pub, Judson. Regional: Lake Lucille Chekhov, Bay Street, Baltimore Center Stage, Trinity Rep., Chautauqua, Gloucester Stage, Baltimore Shakespeare, Studio Theatre (DC), Rep Stage, Kennedy Center. Film: Entangled, Time Out of Mind, Louder Than Bombs, The Ticket (TriBeCa), The Rest of Us, Seven Lovers. Television: “Strange Angel”, "Outpost” (series regular); “Girls,” “The Americans,” “Chicago Med,” “Eye Candy” (recurring); “Awkwafina...from Queens;” “The Good Fight;” “Gotham;” “Law and Order: SVU;” “The Leftovers;” “Blue Bloods;” “Public Morals.” Upcoming films: The Scottish Play, Top Gun: Maverick. Education: M.F.A., Brown/Trinity Rep.
Andrea Abello is a Colombian American actor, poet, and teaching artist. Off-Broadway: Passage (Soho Rep.) Last Night in Inwood (Signature). Regional: A Doll's House, Part II (St. Louis Rep.) Little Bunny Foo Foo (Actors Theatre of Louisville), You Across From Me (2018 Humana Festival) Proud alum of the Professional Training Company at Actors Theatre of Louisville. Television: “Faces” (Apple TV+/Warner Bros.) written by Stephen King and produced by J.J. Abrams. Upcoming: La Paloma Prisoner (NYTW) BFA: NYU Tisch.
Maggie Metnick is so grateful to be a part of this amazing piece. She performs stand up and improv all around the city. Currently she is the host of “Man Up,” a satirical news show at The PIT. She also hosts and produces “Glow Worm,” a variety show at Dixon Place. Film; The Meditater. Theatre; Diaspora (Gym at Judson), A Roller Rink Temptation (WOW Café), I Want To Be Your Friend, Please (Dixon Place).
Julia Valen is a Minnesota born actor, dancer and writer. A graduate of NYU’s Grad Acting Program (Henry V, Beauty of the Father, Thyestes), she has performed at the Guthrie Theater (My Fair Lady), Living Room Theatre (Lucy’s Wedding), GreenHouse Theatre Project (Hedda Gabler) and the Jungle Theater (You Can’t Take It With You). Julia is a member of SecondBody, an experimental company that uses actors as human avatars to allow people to connect in new ways. SecondBody.co
Nikki Massoud (Pike): Nikki's New York stage credits include Bianca in Othello at New York Theater Workshop opposite Daniel Craig and David Oyelowo. She has appeared regionally in As You Like It (Old Globe), A Doll’s House Part Two (Huntington Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Company), Pericles Prince of Tyre (Two River Theater), Our Town (Portland Center Stage), Zealot (Theresa Rebeck World Premiere, South Coast Rep), and The Grapes of Wrath (Trinity Repertory Company.) Her onscreen credits include “Emergence,” “Mozart in the Jungle,” “Homeland,” “Madam Secretary,” and “Succession.” She is a graduate of Georgetown University, BADA (Midsummer in Oxford Program) and the Brown University/Trinity Rep MFA Program.
Hannah Sikora is a theatre actor/director/creator originally from Northern Virginia and a graduate from Pace University's BFA Acting Program. While there, she was first introduced to Crystal Skillman and Pulp Verite. Thank you to Crystal for taking her along the journey of this beautiful work. Past acting credits include Molly Aster in Peter and the Starcatcher (A.R.T. New York’s Gural Theatre), Lysistrata (3LD Downtown), Medusa: Heart of Stone (Winterfest), and Funny as a Crutch (59E59/ Edinburgh Fringe).
Lisa R. Stafford (Stage Manager)is thrilled to be back with The Workshop where she stage managed The Astonishing Times of Timothy Crachit, Through the Darkness, Composure and Mesquite, NV. Her most recent show, A Peregrine Falls, was a joint Workshop production with the Loading Dock Theatre. Some of her favorite work includes The Chekhov Dreams (Theatre Row), Maverick (Connelly Theater), and Vanya & Sonia & Masha & Spike (Gretna Theatre). Lisa also works as a production assistant for the Broadway Stage Management Symposium. Lisa received her BA in Theatre from Catawba College and her M.Ed from UNC-Greensboro. Proud member of Actor’s Equity.