INSPIRED BY...
SAT JUL 27, 2019 at 5PM
The Newman Mills Theater at the
THE ROBERT W. WILSON MCC THEATER SPACE
511 W 52 ST
“Do you see that tree? It is dead but it still sways in the wind with the others. I think it would be like that with me. That if I died I would still be part of life in one way or another.”
–Anton Chekhov, Three Sisters
Who knew in the late 19th century that the last few years would bring a second chapter for Nora in A DOLL’S HOUSE PART TWO, or a radical examination of Jo’s gender identity in LITTLE WOMEN? Or that over thirty years after the Public’s COLORED MUSEUM, we’d be at the same theater watching the spectacular journey that is AIN’T NO MO’? The NYC theater scene is rife with adaptations, re-imaginings, and spin-offs of the classics, so join us in a deep dive into the what motivates playwrights to pay homage to their predecessors. Moderated by playwright/director ROBERT O’HARA, with playwrights JORDAN E. COOPER, HALLEY FEIFFER, KATE HAMILL & LUCAS HNATH in conversation with MCC’s MOSCOW MOSCOW MOSCOW MOSCOW MOSCOW MOSCOW.
ABOUT our PANELS
Our monthly panel discussions bring together guest experts, community leaders, and peers to explore important issues relevant to our times or raised in our work. Panels are free and open to the public, even if you haven’t seen our work.
MODERATED BY
ROBERT O'HARA
ROBERT O'HARA
Robert O’Hara has received the NAACP Best Director Award, the Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding New Play, two Obies and the Oppenheimer Award. He directed the world premieres of Nikkole Salter and Dania Guiria’s In the Continuum, Tarell McCraney’s The Brother/ Sister Plays (Part 2), Colman Domingo’s Wild with Happy, Kirsten Childs’ Bella: An American Tall Tale, as well as his own plays, Mankind, Bootycandy and Insurrection: Holding History. His recent plays Zombie: The American andBarbecue world premiered at Woolly Mammoth Theater and New York Shakespeare Festival, respectively. His recent directing projects include, Kirsten Child’s BubblyBlack Girl at City Center/Encores Off Center, the Universes’ Uni/Son, inspired by the poetry of August Wilson at Oregon Shakespeare Festival and Shakespeare’s Macbeth at Denver Center for the Performing Arts. He holds a Directing MFA from Columbia University.
THE PANELISTS
JORDAN E. COOPER
JORDAN E. COOPER
Jordan E. Cooper is a playwright and performer who resides in Brooklyn, New York by way of Hurst, TX. Jordan was most recently nominated for a Drama League Award for his performance in his play Ain’t No Mo’, which just completed a sold-out world premiere run at The Public Theater. He is currently developing a television project with HULU and his other works have been seen at New York Theatre Workshop’s Summer Residency at Dartmouth, 48 Hours In Harlem, and The Fire This Time Festival. Jordan has also been featured in issues of The New York Times, The Hollywood Reporter, and V Magazine. He received his BFA from The New School For Drama.
HALLEY FEIFFER
HALLEY FEIFFER
Halley Feiffer is a writer and actor. Her plays include I’m Gonna Pray For You So Hard (Atlantic, OCC Nom.), A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Gynecologic Oncology Unit at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center of New York City (MCC), How To Make Friends and Then Kill Them (Rattlestick), this play (originally produced at Williamstown Theater Festival) and The Pain of My Belligerence, which she recently starred in at Playwrights Horizons. Other acting credits include A Funny Thing Happened… at the Geffen, the Broadway revivals of The Front Page and The House of Blue Leaves (Theater World Award), off-Broadway shows like Tigers Be Still (Roundabout, Drama League Nom.) and film / TV projects like The Squid and the Whale and He’s Way More Famous Than You, which she co-wrote with Ryan Spahn. TV writing includes Mozart in the Jungle (Amazon), Kidding, SMILF (Showtime) and original pilots for FX and TNT.
KATE HAMILL
KATE HAMILL
LUCAS HNATH
LUCAS HNATH
Lucas Hnath received a 2017 Tony Award nomination for Best Play with A Doll’s House, Part 2. Hnath’s other plays include Hillary and Clinton, The Thin Place, Red Speedo, The Christians, A Public Reading of an Unproduced Screenplay About the Death of Walt Disney, Isaac’s Eye, and Death Tax. He has been produced on Broadway at the John Golden Theatre, Off-Broadway at New York Theatre Workshop, Playwrights Horizons, Soho Rep, and Ensemble Studio Theatre. His plays have also been premiered at the Humana Festival of New Plays, Victory Gardens, and South Coast Repertory. He is a New York Theatre Workshop Usual Suspect, a member of Ensemble Studio Theatre, and an alumnus of New Dramatists. Awards: Whiting Award, Guggenheim Fellowship, Kesselring Prize, Outer Critics Circle Award for Best New Play, Obie Award for Playwriting, Steinberg Playwright Award, and the Windham-Campbell Literary Prize.
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