Ricochet Collective presents

Gordy Crashes
 

A new play by Laura Zlatos
Directed by Sherri Eden Barber

 

Happily After Ever strikes at the heart of today's charged debates around sexual roles and gender identity. Laura Zlatos entertains and enlightens with this hilarious, innovative, and ultimately wise new play.”

David Henry Hwang

Newlyweds Darren and Janet want nothing more than to build the perfect life together. But when Janet gives birth to a baby with both male and female genitalia, they find themselves in the unlikely position of having to choose a gender for their child—all while competing with the perfect couple next door and dealing with a misunderstood family dog—in this hilarious play on the categorization of gender.

SETTING: The right place, the right time.

 

Featuring

 
 

Molly-Ann Nordin*

Brandon.png

Brendan Sokler

Alex.png

Alex J.Gould

Marlon.png

Marlon Meikle

Sloan Bradford

 
 

2015 PERFORMANCES

 

59E59 Theaters

New York, NY - July 14-15, 2015
As part of the East to Edinburgh series

Paradise in Augustines

Edinburgh, Scotland - August 14–20, 2015
As part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe

 
 
 
 

PRODUCTION TEAM

Set Designer: Rebecca Lord-Surratt
Costume Designer: Lara de Bruijn
Lighting Designer/Associate Director: Gage Steenhagen
Based on original lighting design by: Scott Mancha
Composer & Sound Designer: Mark Van Hare
Fight Director: Alex J. Gould

Dramaturg: Stephen Christensen
Casting Director: Christine McKenna
Graphic Design: Julian Leon
Social Media Manager: Tessa Slovis
Stage Manager: Elizabeth Ann Goodman*
Producer/Production Manager: Brandon Pape

 

SPECIAL THANKS

59E59 Theaters, Columbia University, Thomas Gilmore and The New School for Drama, Liz Carlson (Naked Angels), Sari Caine & David Rigo (Slightly Altered States), Penny O’Brien, Jim Anderson, Fiona Murray, Alison Carroll, Zoey Russo, Eileen, Steve, Shawn, & Ingie Barber, Wally Figiel, Jackie Morris, Thomas Kail, Tommy Ryan

 
 
 

team bios

MOLLY-ANN NORDIN* (Janet) UNCSA grad and member of Oh Force Theatre Co., most recently in its production Telephone Play. Original shorts: Kiss Kaboom at South Oxford and The Last Supper with Ugly Rhino Productions. Worked with Theater Plastique in House of Emily at Materials for the Arts and Emily Dickinson Outer Space at the Bushwick Starr. Other theatre credits: Stalled (Unchained Theater), Remission (Signature), Family Furniture (The Flea), The Wizard of Odd (Lincoln Center Education). Readings and Concert Productions include: The Music Man, Once Upon a Mattress at Signature, and Women and Wallace at Second Stage.

BRENDAN SOKLER (Darren) is thrilled to be on board for Happily After Ever again after playing Darren in the previous run at the signature. Brendan graduated from the University of Miami, and has studied and/or performed at Upright Citizens Brigade, The Peoples Improv Theatre, The Barrow Group, The Pearl, The Signature Theatre, and now here. ENJOY THE SHOW!

MARLON MEIKLE (Dharma) Marlon Meikle/Indigo Dai is a Brooklyn based arts educator and performance artist and drag queen whose work has been featured at Le Poisson Rouge, Incubator Arts Project, California Institute of the Arts, The Bushwick Starr, and Joe's Pub. He is a graduate of Southern Methodist University’s Meadows School of the Arts and currently serves as head of BFA Admission at The New School for Drama.

ALEX J. GOULD (Jerry/Fight Director) is an actor/fight director in NYC.  Off Broadway: The Woodsman (59E59 Theaters.) He is a member of the Bats, the resident acting company at the Flea Theater and has appeared in The Mysteries, a cautionary tail, Thomas Bradshaw's JOB, and #serials@theflea. Readings/workshops with McCarter Theater, Rattlestick Theater Company, Epic Theater Company and Jewish Plays Project. Regional: Williamstown Theater Festival including Whaddabloodclot by Katori Hall. Edu. AMDA

SLOAN BRADFORD (Tommy) Actor and Aerialist.  Recent performances include Hamlet (Hamlet), The Seagull (Konstantin), Woyzeck (The Doctor), Much Ado About Nothing (Dogberry), Pompa Pompa! (Voiltaire), Spoon River Anthology (Searcy Foote), Flash Flash Bang Boom (Stevie), Titus Andronicus (Saturninus), Hearts of Gold (Ned Poins), and King Lear (Edmund). He is a graduate of Columbia University and the Moscow Art Theater and is a founding member of the Circle Theater of NY, which recently co-produced A Trail of Breadcrumbs with The National Theatre of Luxembourg.

LAURA ZLATOS (Playwright) is a Brooklyn-based playwright. Recent credits include: Things I Never Learned in Physics (Rattlestick Playwrights Theater), Happily After Ever (Signature Theatre), Three Hours (HERE Arts), Odd.A.See (Arts@Renaissance), The Light in the Refrigerator (Strawberry Theatre Festival) and Fault Line (American Avant-Garde Arts Festival).  Laura received her MFA in Playwriting from Columbia University and her BFA in Dramatic Writing and Gender and Sexuality Studies from NYU.  She is currently pursuing an MA in Performance Studies at NYU and is a resident playwright with the Exquisite Corpse Company.  Upcoming productions include Exposure (Gene Frankel Theatre), a devised play produced by Next in Line Productions, and Secession 2015 (Governors Island), produced by the ECC.

SHERRI EDEN BARBER (Director) is a New York-based theatre director and Artistic Associate at Rattlestick Theater. Recent credits: Mr. Landing Takes a Fall (The Flea), Herman Kline’s Midlife Crisis (The Beckett), 24 Hour Plays (American Airlines Theatre), Inadmissible (Canal Park Playhouse), Latrell: Live Tonight! (Joe’s Pub), Bent (New School for Drama), Remission and Happily After Ever (Signature Theatre/Columbia), Moonlight on the Bayou and Pump (Frederick Lowe Theatre/Hunter College), Carthaginians and Angels in America, Perestroika (Stella Adler Conservatory/NYU), Tapefaces (Ars Nova/ANTFest), Dance Lessons (Theatre Row, winner of the Samuel French Short Play Festival), Empire of the Trees (Abingdon Theatre), References To Salvador Dali Make Me Hot (Hangar Theatre), Only You Can Prevent Wildfires (Culture Project), How To Quit Smoking and Baptism (Atlantic). She has developed new work with Rattlestick, Orchard Project, New York Theatre Workshop, Harlem Stage, Classic Theatre of Harlem, Primary Stages, Flea Theater, Culture Project, 24 Hour Play Company, and Old Vic. Sherri is a Drama League Directing Fellow, recipient of the US/UK Exchange Award, and co-founder/Artistic Director of Ricochet Collective. MFA: The New School for Drama.

REBECCA LORD-SURRATT (Set Designer) Last seen at the fringe in 2007 with Bomber’s Row (78th Street Theater Lab). Recent projects include Summer Shorts (Throughline Artists), Pimm’s Mission, The Woodsman, and Drawer Boy (Oberon Theatre), Hand to God, (Ensemble Studio Theatre), Anon(ymous) (LAByrinth Theater), The Rub (New Orleans Fringe), Brainpeople (Jose Rivera). Art Director for Girl Code (MTV), and MTVU Woodie Awards (festival scenery), Assistant Art Director Red Nose Day USA. Associate Designer for The Long Schrift and Charles Ives Take Me Home (Rattlestick) Henry V, (Two River Theater). Assistant Designer for Brownsville Song (LCT3), and Food & Fadwa (NYTW). MFA, NYU Tisch.

LARA DE BRUIJN (Costume Designer) Recent and upcoming projects include: The Rake’s Progress, The Rape of Lucretia and Transformations (Boston Conservatory), Under My Skin (Little Shubert Theatre), The Two Character Play (New World Stages), Slow Dusk, Markheim, and Opportunity Makes the Thief (Little Opera Theatre of New York), Ndebele Funeral (59E59), Julian Po (Signature Theatre), Half ‘n Half ‘n Half (Merrimack Repertory Theatre), Black Dolphin (Project 44, DANSpace). MFA from NYU Tisch School of the Arts.

GAGE STEENHAGEN (Lighting Designer/Associate Director) Theatre artist. Technical credits include Second Stage, New World Stages, Rattlestick, The Flea, Theater Row, and West Side Theatre. Notable design credits: Oklahoma! (Story City, IA), The Fantasticks! (Clarke University), Eurydice (Clarke University, Regional Certificate of Merit from the Kennedy Center). Gage has worked as an actor, designer, artist, high school speech coach, and children’s theatre teacher and director (Missoula Children’s Theatre). He has assisted Sherri on multiple productions including Gordy Crashes (Ricochet Collective), Latrell: Live Tonight! (Joe’s Pub), and Mr. Landing Takes a Fall (The Flea). Gage is a member of Ricochet Collective.

SCOTT MANCHA (Original Lighting Designer) is a freelance scenic, lighting designer and theatrical technician. For the past 7 years, Scott has been the Technical Director at Queensborough Community College. During that time, Scott was also a Festival Technical Director for the New York International Fringe Festival from 2008- 2012. Scott has also served as a Stagehand and Carpenter at NYU Skirball, McCarter Theatre, Pixar and Disney Live events, HBO Baseball All-stars, and Second City Detroit. Scott recently received his MFA in Scenic and Lighting Design from Brooklyn College and is currently the Technical Director for the MFA program at Columbia University.

MARK VAN HARE (Composer and Sound Designer) Recent credits: Icarus (The Dramat, University Theatre), In Fields Where They Lay (New Ohio Theatre), Remission (Ford Studio, Signature Theatre), Daniel Fish’s Eternal (Incubator Arts Project), All God’s Chillun Got Wings (JACK), Look Upon Our Lowliness (Harlem School of the Arts Theatre), and Tar Baby (DR2 Theatre). Mark is a member of Ricochet Collective. markvanhare.com

STEPHEN CHRISTENSEN (Dramaturg) is a writer, dramaturg, critic, scenic carpenter, and hermit. Born and raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Worked across the Midwest and East Coast, mostly in Minneapolis, Chicago, and New York. Recent dramaturgy credits: Happily After Ever (Columbia Stages 2015: New Plays Now Festival presented at the Signature Theatre), Rum for Sale (Columbia Stages 2015: NPN), Scrapland (Columbia Stages 2015: NPN), WASPS (2014 Eugene O'Neill National Playwrights Conference Semifinalist). MFA Dramaturgy candidate at Columbia University. 2014 Eugene O'Neill National Critics Institute Criticism Fellow. BA Theater Arts and Drama and History, University of Wisconsin at Madison.

CHRISTINE MCKENNA (Casting Director) is currently Casting Associate at Harriet Bass Casting, where she works on union projects for regional theatres. Recent NYC projects: Gordy Crashes (Ricochet Collective), Happily After Ever (Columbia Stages), and Donkey Punch (Soho Playhouse). She loves working with new and emerging playwrights in NYC, and has been the Casting Director for the Hunter College MFA Playwright Festival for three years. She has an ongoing working relationship with La Mancha Films, and worked with Paladino Casting, a commercial and print casting office, before moving into theater and film. She is a graduate from The American Academy of Dramatic Arts, New York, and Queens University, Belfast.

JULIAN LEON (Graphic/Web Designer). A graduate from the Fashion Institute of Technology, Julian has worked both as a freelancer and within the in-house and design agency contexts. He now works independently to better focus on design problems/experiments, communication, symbolism, language, and culture; to reach different audiences through self-initiated and commissioned work. Julian recently worked on Gordy Crashes. www.themissive.info

TESSA SLOVIS (Social Media Manager) is a NYC based actor and social media consultant. Film/TV credits: “Law and Order: SVU,” “Breaking Bad,” Actor Seeks Role (2015 IFF Boston Selection). Select Theatre credits: A Class Act (Berkshire Theater Festival/Playwrights Horizons), Spears: The Gospel According To Britney (Foxwoods, NYC), Tommy (Berkshire Theater Festival), The Selfish Giant (Firebone Theatre Company), #Serials (The Flea). Recent social media clients: The Nalini Method fitness boutique, Slightly Altered States, IRT Theater, TheMavenMomma.com, Organic Magnetics. Tessa is a proud member of The Bats - the resident acting company at The Flea. tessahopeslovis.com @Tesslovis

ELIZABETH ANN GOODMAN* (Stage Manager) is thrilled to be working on Happily After Ever for the second time. Select past NY credits: PA for Romeo and Juliet and The Testament of Mary (Broadway); PA for Pippin (National Tour); ASM for A Midsummer Night's Dream (CSC Young Company); PSM for Tosca (Chelsea Opera) ASM for Thumbprint (Prototype Festival). Elizabeth has also worked extensively in Canada, Europe & China as the PSM for Caucasian Chalk Circle (Shanghai International Experimental Theatre Festival). Training: MFA Columbia University.

BRANDON PAPE (Producer/Production Manager) is a NYC-based producer, director, and designer originally from Dubuque, Iowa. Producing credits: Gordy Crashes (Ricochet Collective), Mr. Landing Takes a Fall (Slightly Altered States @ The Flea), Latrell: Live Tonight! (Ars Nova, Dixon Place, Joe’s Pub), Make Me Love You: an evolution of love, Look Back In Anger, and The Shape of Things (The Verge). Select directing credits: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, The Last Five Years, and Big Love. Brandon has worked regionally with Writers’ Theater, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Skylight Opera Theater, Hangar Theater, and Dubuque Art Theater. Brandon is a Drama League Directing Fellow and Executive Director of Ricochet Collective. @midwestrunaway

RICOCHET COLLECTIVE (Sherri Eden Barber, Artistic Director; Brandon Pape, Executive Director) is a newly formed collection of producers, directors, and designers whose goal is to explore and expand the potential of live art by producing visceral, arresting theater experiences that fully immerse the audience in each storytelling event. Their inaugural production, Sam Byron’s Gordy Crashes, recently concluded its run at IRT Theater in June 2015.

ACTORS’ EQUITY ASSOCIATION (AEA), founded in 1913, represents more than 50,000 actors and stage managers in the United States. Equity seeks to advance, promote and foster the art of live theatre as an essential component of our society. Equity negotiates wages and working conditions, providing a wide range of benefits, including health and pension plans. AEA is a member of the AFL-CIO, and is affiliated with FIA, an international organization of performing arts unions. The Equity emblem is our mark of excellence. www.actorsequity.org

* Appearing courtesy of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States, appearing under a Special Appearance Contract.