WORDS MATTER
Thursday, October 1, 2020
The Workshop Theater presents a special one-night concert reading to benefit New Sanctuary Coalition, an organization doing critical justice work with immigrants facing deportation or detention. Proceeds will support New Sanctuary's anti-detention fund.
Available now until 6:59pm EST on October 5th.
Donors will receive a link to view the performances on YouTube.
The writerS
Matthew Paul Olmos A three-time Sundance Institute Fellowship/Residency, Center Theatre Group Playwright, Oregon Shakespeare Festival Black Swan Playwright, Princess Grace Awardee, National Latino Playwright Awardee, Cherry Lane Mentor Project (selected by Taylor Mac), and La MaMa's Ellen Stewart Emerging Playwright (selected by Sam Shepard). Former Mabou Mines Resident Artist (mentored by Ruth Maleczech), New York Theatre Workshop Fellow, Baryshnikov Arts Center Resident, Ensemble Studio Theater lifetime member, and Kilroys nominator. Plays produced internationally and nationally; published by Samuel French and NoPassport Press. www.matthewpaulolmos.com.
Sylvia Khoury is a New York-born writer of French and Lebanese descent. Her plays include Selling Kabul (Playwrights Horizons, Williamstown Theater Festival), Power Strip (LCT3), Against the Hillside (Ensemble Studio Theater) and The Place Women Go. She is currently under commission from Lincoln Center and Williamstown Theater Festival. Awards include the L. Arnold Weissberger Award and Jay Harris Commission and a Citation of Excellence from the Laurents/Hatcher Awards. She is a member of EST/ Youngblood and a previous member of the 2018-2019 Rita Goldberg Playwrights’ Workshop at The Lark and the 2016-2018 WP Lab. Her plays have been developed at Playwrights Horizons, Williamstown Theater Festival, Eugene O’Neill Playwrights’ Conference, Roundabout Theater Underground, Lark Playwrights’ Week, EST/Youngblood, and WP Theater. She holds a BA from Columbia University and an MFA from the New School for Drama. She is a fourth-year student at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.
Lisa Ramirez EXIT CUCKOO (nanny in motherland), world premiere produced by Mark Plesent- Working Theater (Colman Domingo- director), toured in various theaters throughout the U.S. and Ireland. Other writing credits include, ART OF MEMORY, a dance theatre piece, commissioned by Company SoGoNo; presented at the Ontological-Hysteric Theater and the 3-Legged Dog in New York (Tanya Calamoneri- director). INVISIBLE WOMEN- RISE, Foundry Theatre & Domestic Workers United collaboration (Lisa Ramirez- director). Pas de Deux (lost my shoe), Cherry Lane Theatre- Mentor Project (Bryan Davidson Blue- director). TO THE BONE, originally a Working Theater commission; world premiere produced by Angelina Fiordellisi- Cherry Lane Theatre (Lisa Peterson-director). DOWN HERE BELOW, an adaptation of Maxim Gorky’s, THE LOWER DEPTHS; commission and world premiere by the Oakland Theater Project (Michael French- director). Currently working on a commission of, joan (of arc), an adaptation for the Oakland Theater Project, where she serves as Associate Artistic Director.
Charly Evon Simpson’s plays include Jump,* Behind the Sheet*, form of a girl unknown, it’s not a trip it’s a journey, and more. Her work has been seen and/or developed with The Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, Vineyard Theatre, Ensemble Studio Theatre, The Lark, Page 73, Ars Nova, Chautauqua Theater Company, PlayMakers Repertory Company, Salt Lake Acting Company, The Fire This Time Festival, National New Play Network through its NNPN/Kennedy Center MFA Playwrights Workshop and National Showcase of New Plays, and others. Charly was recently named the 2019-20 recipient of the Paula Vogel Playwriting Award from the Vineyard Theatre, co-recipient of the Dramatists Guild’s Lanford Wilson Award, was nominated for the Outer Critics Circle’s John Gassner Award, and had two of her plays on the 2019 Kilroys List. Her play Jump is the first recipient of the David Goldman Fund for New Plays. She has received commissions from Manhattan Theatre Club/Sloan, EST/Sloan, Cleveland Play House, South Coast Repertory, Barnard College, and more. She’s currently a core writer at The Playwrights’ Center, a member of The New Georges Jam and Primary Stages’ Dorothy Strelsin New American Writers Group, and will be a resident of New Dramatists in the fall of 2021. Charly is a former member of WP Theater’s 2018-2020 Theater Lab, SPACE on Ryder Farm’s The Working Farm, Clubbed Thumb’s 17/18 Early Career Writers’ Group, Ensemble Studio Theatre's Youngblood, The Amoralists’ Wright Club, and Pipeline Theatre Company’s PlayLab.
Charly is also a TV writer, working on shows for Showtime and HBO.
Charly loves to teach playwriting and storytelling to people of all ages. She has been an adjunct lecturer at SUNY Purchase and Hunter College and has taught with the 92Y, Engaging Educator, and National Theater Institute. In addition, she has worked in middle schools as a full-time tutor, a social worker, and playwriting teacher.
She received her BA from Brown University, a master’s in Women’s Studies from University of Oxford, New College, and her MFA in Playwriting from Hunter College, where she studied with Annie Baker, Brighde Mullins, and Branden Jacobs-Jenkins.
THE CASt
Jessica Pimentel The Brooklyn born and raised native New Yorker, daughter of immigrants from the Dominican Republic is best known as an actress in her role as Maria Ruiz on the Netflix original series Orange Is the New Black, and has received 3 Screen Actors Guild Award wins and 1 nomination. Featured on both stage and screen, Jessica is a graduate of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts where she holds a degree in Theater Arts, was awarded the Cleavon Little scholarship and was a member of the professional acting company. She also graduated from The High School of Performing Arts (aka “Fame”) in NYC where she studied music performance, composition, and theory as well acting. She began her musical career at a young age and has traveled around North America, Europe and Japan as both a classical violinist and Hardcore/ Heavy Metal musician. Currently the front woman for the extreme metal band Alekhine’s Gun and additional vocals for Brujeria and Black Heart Sutra and former bassist of Desolate and several New York Hardcore bands. Jessica was first introduced to meditation when she was a child by her mother, a psychologist, but began formal studies in Tibetan Buddhist philosophy, logic, debate and meditation in the Gelugpa Tradition in 1994. Her practice is infused in all things she does, and she uses her art to deepen her practice, to connect with her fellow human and teach about equanimity and compassion for all beings. Through proper motivation and dedication all things can become perfect.
Omid Abtahi started off his career working as a series regular on FX’s Over There. His list of television credits have grown to include regular and recurring roles on Showtime’s Emmy winning Homeland, A&E’s Damien, FOX’s 24, and Showtime’s Sleeper Cell. He is currently a series regular on Starz’s American Gods and is recurring on Disney+’s The Mandalorian.
Omid’s venture into the world of film has been equally impressive having worked on the fourth installment of The Hunger Games directed by Francis Lawrence and opposite Jennifer Lawrence. He has also made notable appearances in the 2012 Oscar Award winning film Argo directed by Ben Affleck, Brothers directed by Jim Sheridan opposite Tobey Maguire, and The Mysteries of Pittsburgh directed by Rawson M. Thurber opposite Sienna Miller.
Omid was last seen on stage in Sylvia Khoury’s Selling Kabul at the Williamstown Theater Festival. Other theater credits include Urge for Going by Mona Mansour at The Public Theater and Fraulein Else by Francesca Faridany at Berkeley Rep.
Laura Gómez is an actress and storyteller best known for her role as Blanca Flores on the Netflix hit series Orange Is the New Black. On television she has also been featured in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, HBO’s Show Me a Hero (created by David Simon) and the Dutch TV show Anne Plus. On the film front, Gómez has been seen in Exposed, America Adrift, and Sambá, which had its world premiere at Tribeca in 2017. She is currently a member of Dorset Theater Festival’s “Women Artists Writing,” a creative collective giving voices to female artists in the theater. Gómez is also an established voiceover actor and has lent her voice for the audiobooks Of How the García Girls Lost Their Accent by Julia Alvarez and The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, by Junot Díaz.
In 2011, she was a recipient of the IX Screenwriting Developing Grant from the Carolina Foundation in Spain. An aspiring filmmaker, Gómez has studied film courses at the prestigious New York University and screenwriting at the Jacob Krueger Studio, and has starred in several short films including To Kill a Roach -winner of the NYU Fall 2012 Technisphere Award for Outstanding Achievement- and Hallelujah, both of which she also wrote, directed and produced. She also directed and co-produced the short film The Iron Warehouse, written by playwright and Juilliard alumni, Hilary Bettis and is currently writing the script for her first feature film.
Gómez splits her time between New York City and Santo Domingo.
Jess Barbagallo is an actor, teacher and writer. His plays and texts have been presented at Dixon Place, LaMama ETC, the New Ohio Theater, Poetry Project, Performance Space New York, the Ontological-Hysteric Theater, the Experimental Theatre Wing at New York University, and The Brick. In addition to his work as a playwright, Jess is a contributing writer at Artforum and The Brooklyn Rail. He has toured the United States, Europe, Brazil and Japan with artists Half Straddle (founding member), Big Dance Theater, Builders Association, Theatre of a Two-Headed Calf, Hoi Polloi, Andrea Geyer, John Turturro and Tania Bruguera. He was also a member of the original Broadway cast of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child on Broadway. In 2020, Jess directed Becca Blackwell’s solo show Schmermie’s Choice, which was presented at Joe’s Pub and Mass MoCA. He is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor of Theatre at Franklin & Marshall College.
Teresa Yenque: Emigrant from Peru, she made her. Broadway debut in A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE with Natasha Richardson. Ms. Yenque just completed a successful run of “Como Agua para Chocolate” at the GALA Theater in Washington DC, and Zoe Kazan’s “After the Blast” at the Lincoln Center. We can see Teresa at Repertorio Español in “The House of Bernarda” as Alba and several recurring roles in TV shows and various films.
An actress working in film, television and theatre, Zabryna Guevara most recently played the starring role of 'Dr. Abby Fraser' on ABC’s EMERGENCE. Previously fans enjoyed her work as ‘Dora’ on Season 1 of NBC’s “New Amsterdam.” Other credits include “Tell Me a Story,” “Twilight Zone,” “Gotham,” “The Get Down” “The Handmaid’s Tale,” “Burn Notice,” “Elementary,” “X-Men: Days of Future Past,” “Irreplaceable You,” “The Incredible Jessica James,” and the recent Tribeca Film Festival premiere of “Swallow.”
Guevara’s roots lie in theatre, and she has originated roles and co-starred in many off-Broadway shows, including the Pulitzer Prize winning “Water by the Spoonful,” “Elliot, A Soldier’s Fugue,” “The Cook,” “Chimichangas and Zoloft,” “Sonia Flew,” “El Paso Blue,” “Santa Concepción,” “Tight Embrace,” “Now and Then” and “Bulrusher.”
A native of New York City, Guevara graduated with a BFA from Fordham University at Lincoln Center.
Keren Lugo: A graduate of NYU Tisch's MFA Program, Keren Lugo has been seen on the stage everywhere from Universidad de Puerto Rico, to The Public Theater, to Yale Rep. In recent years, she's been known on the silver screen in hits such as Orange is the New Black, The Americans, and New Amsterdam.
Amir Arison: TV: Arison currently stars as fan favorite “Aram Mojtabai”’on Sony/NBC's International hit series The Blacklist now heading into their 8th season. Other notable TV credits include recurring roles on Girls, Homeland, Law&Order: SVU, among others, as well as numerous guest appearances including Billions, Ramy, American Horror Story, Once Upon A Time in Wonderland, NCIS, Major Crimes, Gossip Girl, and more. Amir also starred in the Bryan Singer WB Digital series "H+" opposite Catroina Balfe.
NY THEATRE Highlights: Hamlet (Waterwell), The Muscles in our Toes (Labyrinth), Aftermath (NYTW, Drama League Nomination), Why Torture is Wrong... (The Public Theatre), Queens Boulevard (Signature), A Very Common Procedure (MCC), as well as Candy & Dorothy, Modern Orthodox, A First Class Man, & Omnium Gatherum.
REGIONAL theaters include: La Jolla, Huntington, Yale Rep, RSC, Shakespeare Theatre, Shakespeare fest St Louis, Lyric, Papermill, Dorset, New Harmony, JAW fest, and more.
FILM Highlights include: “20 Weeks,” "Jane Wants A Boyfriend,” "Big Words," Tom McCarthy’s "The Visitor,” Amy Heckerling's "Vamps," Nia Vardalos' "I Hate Valentines Day," and "Merry Friggin Christmas.” Currently, Arison is Directing/Producing a feature documentary about an 8-year-old’s creative process while undergoing treatment for a brain tumor, entitled, TATI.
Arison is also starring in a new hysterical commercial campaign for BUTTERFINGER.
Kaliswa Brewster has recurred on Showtime’s BILLIONS, ABC’s series TIME AFTER TIME, and Topic's RELEASE. She will next be seen in the feature film, PAINT, directed by Michael Walker, which recently won the grand prize at the Dances With Films independent film festival. Other film credits include PATERNO for HBO Films starring Al Pacino, and THE BIT PLAYER for PBS. Guest star and other television credits include CBS’ GOD FRIENDED ME, BLUE BLOODS, Netflix’s DAREDEVIL & CBS’ UNFORGETTABLE. She has worked onstage at The Signature Theatre, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Hartford Stage, The Williamstown Theater Festival, The Guthrie Theater, and others. She holds an MFA from American Conservatory Theater and a Certificate in Classical Theater from LAMDA in London. Kaliswa is the Creative Director & Producer for the podcast Black Voices Past and Present which can be found wherever you listen to podcasts.