Only You Can Prevent Wildfires by Harrison David Rivers. Conceived and directed by Sherri Eden Barber
 

The 2002 Hayman Fire is the largest wildfire in Colorado’s history. It burned over 138,000 acres, destroyed 133 homes, and forced the evacuation of over 5,000 people. Six people were killed. The cause of the wildfire was found to be arson.

In Ricochet Collective's first commissioned piece, playwright Harrison David Rivers explores the true story of Terry Lynn Barton, a former U.S. Forest Service employee, who started the blaze when—acting in anger—she burned a letter from her estranged husband.

 
 
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PRESS

“This story is compelling and a tremendously satisfying research endeavor. Ricochet Collective is stacked with talent and if these ideas are any indication, the company is an enormous creative force… I look forward to more of their work.”

Keith Paul Medelis, Theatre is Easy

“[Wildfires] is a compelling story; a fascinating showcase for several enormously talented actors; and a credit to the Ricochet Collective, which commissioned it.”

Edward Karam, OffOffOnline

 

“The excellent actors Meryl Jones Williams and Drae Campbell...offer fiercely emotional characterizations. Mikaela Izquierdo is pleasantly understated as Kai and has some fine moments when erupting in anger. With his soothing voice and graceful physicality, the masked Adam A. Keller makes a warm impression as Smokey The Bear. The highly personable John J. Concado’s low-key naturalism as John Barton is the most enjoyable highlight of the show."

Darryl Reilly, TheaterScene

Fascinating...nothing short of brilliant... one of the best off-off Broadway shows I have seen to date... the actors are phenomenal... knows exactly how to not only stir (more like unravel) the emotions within each of us, but also makes audiences question what is hidden beneath the hard truth of the matter, and whether reality is open to interpretation.”

Kristen Morale, BroadwayWorld

 

OCTOBER 2017
 

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8PM: Thurs, Fri, Sat
7PM: Sun, Mon, Tues, Wed

TEATRO CÍRCULO

Teatro Círculo is located on 64 East 4th Street,
between the Bowery and Second Avenue in Manhattan

 
 

PRODUCTION PHOTOS

Images by: Jody Christopherson

 

FEATURING

Drae Campbell⸊
John J. Concado⸊
Mikaela Izquierdo⸊
Adam A. Keller
Meryl Jones Williams⸊

Equity Approved Showcase.
These actors are appearing courtesy of Actor’s Equity Association.

Production Team

Producer: Ricochet Collective (Sherri Eden Barber, Artistic Director; Brandon Pape, Executive Director) 
Playwright: Harrison David Williams
Director: Sherri Eden Barber
Choreographers: Caitlin Bailey and Ali Perkins
Scenic Designer: Clifton Chadick
Costume Designer: Stephanie Levin+ 
Lighting Designer: Serena Wong
Composer & Sound Designer: Mark Van Hare

Projection Designer: Joey Moro
Production Stage Manager: Elizabeth Ann Goodman* 
Assistant Stage Manager: Shalyn Clark
Assistant Lighting Designer: Valerie Insardi
Dramaturg: Stephen Christensen
Technical Director: Walter Dean Pigford
Publicist: Emily Owens
Website & Graphic Design: Julian Leon
Social Media Manager: Laura Zlatos
Assistant Director: Ella Steinlauf

+Member of United Scenic Artists, Local USA 829

 

TEAM BIOS

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Drae Campbell* received a BFA in Theater from the University of The Arts in Philadelphia. She’s been spotted on IFC.Com, Conan, Refinery29 and in numerous indie films. Some theater credits include: Non-Consensual Relationships With Ghosts (La Mama), My Old Man (Dixon Place), Oph3lia (HERE). She appeared as a ‘radical lesbian’ in Taylor Mac’s 24 Decade History Of Popular Music at St. Ann’s Warehouse. Drae hosts and curates a live monthly storytelling show called TELL at BGSQD. Drae is grateful and proud to have been chosen to be a part of Wildfires!

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John J. Concado* is a bilingual actor, the son of Argentinian immigrants, a proud lifelong New Yorker, a photographer, and a tortured Mets fan. He considers INTAR Theatre Co. and Inviolet Theater his artistic homes. Selected credits: The Flama’s “Argentinian Intervention,” commercials for Dunkin’ Donuts and Verizon, Fox Deportes’ soccer promos, Gatorade’s “No te caigas” (Don’t Go Down), Dr. Serrano in EA’s Dead Space 3. Upcoming: Orgami. Recent Theater: Bamboo in Bushwick (The Working Theater); Locusts Have No King (INTAR); Romeo y Julieta (The Public Theater). John would like to thank Sherri, Harrison, Brandon and the entire Wildfires team that makes this theater magic happen. He is grateful for all the support from you, the audience, and for the love of his family and friends, especially his mamá, María Teresa. This one’s for Sidiki Fofana. SAG-AFTRA, AEA. Instagram: @concado. www.johnconcado.com

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Mikaela Izquierdo* (Kai) Broadway: Cyrano de Bergerac (Roundabout Theatre Company) Off- Broadway/Other: Perfect Arrangement (Primary Stages), Stay (Rattlestick), 10x25, The New York Idea (Atlantic Theater Company), Yours Unfaithfully (The Mint), Lone Star Spirits (Crowded Outlet), The Cloud (Slant/HERE Arts), L(y)re (ArsNova ANTfest), West Lethargy (59E59, Edinburgh Fringe, FringeNYC), Unrequited (Public Theater Shakespeare Lab) Training B.F.A NYU Tisch, Public Theater Shakespeare Lab Alum.

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Adam A. Keller is delighted to be making his debut with Ricochet Collective. Recent Theatre credits include Cupid’s, a one-act he wrote and starred in, as well as Super! A New Musical. Film/Television credits include Tragic and Broke! A Web Series. He is a graduate of the William Esper Studio. 2017 Orchard Project Core Company and Drama League SPTI alumnus. www.adamakeller.com

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Meryl Jones Williams* is an actor and filmmaker residing in Brooklyn. Theater: Only You Can Prevent Wildfires (Lynn Redgrave Theater), References to Salvador Dali Make Me HotOrigin Story (Hangar Theater). TV: "Bull" (CBS), "Forever" (ABC). Film: Confetti, Sno Babies, Roxanne, Roxanne (Spike Lee Presents - Sundance 2017), Rob Reiner's And So It Goes alongside Michael Douglas and Diane Keaton, Thanksgiving (PBS), Girl Night Stand, and Biophilia which she co-produced with creative partner Marina Michelson (writer/director). The warmest thank you to Harrison, Sherri, and Brandon for the gift it is to be in this play. Thank you to each and every member of the cast and creative team! Thank you Michal Zecher for being the best manager a girl could have. And thank you to my family for your constant love and support. And James, for everything.

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Harrison David Rivers (Playwright) Off B’way And She Would Stand Like This (Movement Theatre Company). New York: Sweet (National Black Theatre), Look Upon Our Lowliness (Movement Theatre Company), When Last We Flew (GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding New York Theater: Off Off Broadway, New York International Fringe Festival). Regional: Where Storms Are Born (Edgerton Foundation New Play Award, Williamstown), This Bitter Earth (New Conservatory Theatre Center, Penumbra), A Crack in the Sky (History Theatre), Five Points (Theatre Latte Da), When Last We Flew (TheatreLaB, Diversionary Theatre). Awards: Emerging Artist of Color Fellowship (New York Theatre Workshop), Van Lier Fellowship (New Dramatists), Jerome Many Voices Fellowship, McKnight Fellowship for Playwrights, Core Writer (Playwrights’ Center), Founder’s Award (New York Stage & Film). M.F.A, Columbia School of the Arts; B.A., Kenyon College.

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Sherri Eden Barber (Director, Artistic Director – Ricochet Collective) is a New York based theatre director and Artistic Director of Ricochet Collective. Recent: Happily After Ever (Ricochet Collective – 59E59, Edinburgh Fringe), Gordy Crashes (Ricochet Collective), Mr. Landing Takes A Fall (The Flea), Esperanza Spalding’s Emily’s D+Evolution (Development on European Tour), Herman Kline’s Midlife Crisis (The Beckett), Monstrosity, Polaroid Stories, BENT (The New School for Drama), The Lightning Thief (Theatreworks USA), 24 Hour Plays on Broadway (American Airlines Theatre), Latrell Live Tonight! (Joe’s Pub), Dance Lessons (winner of the Samuel French Short Play Festival). She has developed new work with Rattlestick, Orchard Project, The Flea, Culture Project, Chautauqua, and Old Vic. Sherri is a recipient of The Eugene O’Neill Theater Center’s National Directors Fellowship, the Core Company Director for The Orchard Project, a Drama League Directing Fellow and recipient of the US/UK Exchange Award. MFA: New School for Drama. www.SherriEdenBarber.com

Brandon Pape (Producer, Executive Director – Ricochet Collective) is a producer, director, and designer living in New York City who is originally from Dubuque, Iowa. Producing credits include: Happily After Ever, Gordy Crashes, Jagged Little Pill: In Concert, Tragic Kingdom: In Concert (Ricochet Collective), Latrell Live Tonight! (Ars Nova, Dixon Place, Joe’s Pub), Look Back In Anger, Make Me Love You: an evolution of love, The Shape of Things (The Verge). Brandon also works regularly with The Drama League and is the General Manager for The Orchard Project, an artist residency program and accelerator of new work. 

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Caitlin Bailey (Choreographer) is a dancer, choreographer and certified personal trainer who studied dance at Marymount Manhattan College before receiving her BA in Dance from Hunter College where she studied under Alberto del Saz and Jana Fienman. Bailey has recently performed at Bryant Park, The Tank, The Sheen Center, Dixon Place, and Arte Studio Ginestrelle in Italy with Amirov Dance Theatre; the Vision of Sound tour with Matthew Frazier-Smith; and Green Space with Danielle Nicolosi. As a choreographer and performing artist for Eden Productions and Love Creek Productions, Bailey’s work has been showcased at Culture Project’s Women Center Stage Festival, in IHI Therapy Center’s LOVE, YOURSELF Gala, The New School’s BFA production of Polaroid Stories, and the Producers Club. Currently Bailey works as a Physical Education Instructor and Varsity Track Coach at Trinity School while dancing for The Moving Architects and Amirov Dance Theatre.

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Ali Perkins (Choreographer) is a choreographer and theatre maker. Her original work includes Addendum (The Hollows, Williamsburg), Does the Clam Have a Heart (Triskelion Arts’ Split Bill), Watch the Video, Michael (Triskelion Arts), Still Life With Apples (Dixon Place, FringeNYC), …Deep Sea Diving (Dixon Place), and Every Night and Sometimes Twice (BAX’s Upstart Festival). Ali graduated from NYU’s Experimental Theatre Wing and studied internationally at the Moscow Art Theatre School and International Theatre Workshop in Amsterdam. www.aliperkins.me

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Clifton Chadick (Scenic Designer) is an interdisciplinary artist who has designed scenery, costumes, props, and special effects for theater, film, educational institutions and event companies in NYC and beyond. Selected design credits: Popesical The Musical (FringeNYC); The 20th Century Way (Rattlestick); In Fields Where They Lay (New Ohio); Mr. Landing Takes A Fall (The Flea); Jesus Hopped the A Train (Atlantic Stage 2); Polaroid Stories, Othello (New School); BEDBUGS! The Musical (Chernuchin); Grace McLean Live In Concert (Ars Nova); Spidermusical (Mint Theatre).

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Stephanie Levin (Costume Designer) (Costume Designer) is a NYC-based costume designer. Selected Recent: Happily After Ever (59E59), Going to See the Kid (Merrimack Rep), Dust Can’t Kill Me (NYMF), Student Body (Flea), Red Flamboyant (Firebone), Mother Jones and the Children’s Crusade (NYMF), Deepest Man (3LD), Once Upon a Bride, Jane the Plain, Hearts Like Fists, DEINDE (Flux), Latrell Live Tonight (Joe’s Pub), White Hot (Flea). Select Assisted/Associate*: Frozen (Upcoming Bway); NBC’s "Maya & Marty" (NBC); Cabaret* (Bway & Nat’l Tour); It Shoulda Been You (Bway); Fully Committed (Sarah Laux, Bway).  www.designedbylevin.com

Serena Wong (Lighting Designer) is a Brooklyn-based freelance lighting designer for theater, opera, and dance. Her designs have been seen at New York Live Arts, Danspace, The Joyce, REDCAT, and Jacob’s Pillow. She is the lighting supervisor for Dorrance Dance and enjoys beekeeping and breadbaking.

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Mark Van Hare (Composer & Sound Designer) Recent credits: 3/Fifths (3LD Art & Technology), Oh My Sweet Land and Villa (The Play Company), Destiny of Desire (The Garden Theatre, Winter Garden, FL), Paris! and Nutcracker Rouge! (COMPANY XIV at Irondale Theatre), Anna Christie (The Wild Project), The Wild Party (The Dramatic Association at Yale University), and Lost Boy Found (Whole Foods at Portland Stage, Portland, ME). www.markvanhare.com

Joey Moro (Projection Designer) designs lighting, projection, and scenery. Recent projection work: Death of the War Poets (Sheen Center), Orange Julius (Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre), Long Gone Daddy (Mile Square Theater), Orlando (Set and Projection). Recent Lighting: Eurydice Project (Dublin), Detroit (Theatre Squared), Dracula (Mile Square Theater), Ice Princess (JACK), Awful Event! (Ars Nova, lighting and set). Joey is a founding member of SpaceWing Design, a collective that aims to set the new standard for design excellence and unbridled creativity in the performing arts. MFA, Yale School of Drama.

Elizabeth Ann Goodman* (Production Stage Manager) For Ricochet: Happily After Ever (Edinburgh, 59E59). Broadway: Misery, Romeo and Juliet, The Testament of Mary. Off-Broadway: Arcadia (PTP), The View UpStairs (Invisible Wall Productions), Martin Luther on Trial (FPA), The Total Bent (The Public Theater), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (CSC). National: tours Pippin. NYC/Regional: Camp Rolling Hills (NYMF) At The Table (Fault Line Theatre), Three Hours (HERE), Club Gelbe Stern (NYMF), Caucasian Chalk Circle (Shanghai). MFA: Columbia University 

Shalyn Clark (Assistant Stage Manager) Broadway: Holiday Inn (Roundabout, PA). Hawaii/Regional: Sweeney Todd (Hawaii Opera Theatre, ASM), Madam Butterfly (Hawaii Opera Theatre, ASM), Heaven Forbid! (Hawaii Theatre), Les Miserables (Paliku Theatre, ASM). Recent Credits: Hair (Columbia Stages, PSM), Undrowned (Columbia Stages, ASM), Optics of Dying Light (Columbia Stages, ASM). MFA Columbia University.

Valerie Insardi (Assistant Lighting Designer) is a New York based lighting designer. Select lighting design credits include Little Nemo in Slumberland, Great Falls, Blood Wedding and The Maids at Fordham University; The Refugee Plays at The Kraine Theater and OYE Avant Garde Night at JACK. Upcoming projects include: Trojan Women at The Balcony Theater.

Stephen Christensen (Dramaturg) Recent credits: Sunset Park (Upcoming, Theaterlab), Everyday Afroplay (JACK, The Bushwick Starr) Remains (Theaterlab), Scrapland (Wintercheck Factory, Columbia Stages) Happily After Ever (59E59, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Columbia Stages), Rum for Sale (Columbia Stages), WASPS (2014 Eugene O’Neill National Playwrights Conference Semifinalist, Columbia University). MFA Dramaturgy, Columbia University. Eugene O’Neill National Critics Institute Criticism Fellow. BA History and Theater Arts and Drama, University of Wisconsin at Madison.

Walter Dean Pigford (Technical Director) is very excited to be joining the team for Only You Can Prevent Wildfires! This is his first show in New York after recently moving from Atlanta, Georgia where he worked in film and stage. He is arriving fresh from a run of Million Dollar Quartet and Rock of Ages at the newly opened Surflight Theatre. Regional credits include: Anything Goes, Cabaret, First Date: The Musical, One Man Two Guvnors, and many more. Special thanks to the production team, his mentors, and his family for their support.

Emily Owens (Publicist) is a media relations expert specializing in New York and World Premiere productions off and off-off Broadway. Her clients include Horse Trade Theater Group, The Tank, New Georges, Gideon Productions, and The Kilroys. www.emilyowenspr.com

Julian Leon (Website & Graphic Design) www.themissive.info

Laura Zlatos (Social Media Manager) is a playwright and theater administrator. Plays include: Happily After Ever (Bloomington Playwrights Project, 59E59 Theaters, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Signature Theatre), Exposure (Gene Frankel Theatre), Things I Never Learned in Physics (TheatreJam V/Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre), September: Orange County (#serials@theFlea/The Flea Theater), The Weird Tree (New York International Fringe Festival), Three Hours (HERE Arts Center). Awards: Woodward/Newman Drama Award, Chameleon Theater Circle’s New Play Contest. As a theater administrator, Laura has worked for Columbia University’s Theatre Arts Department, Playing on Air, and Women’s Project Theater. MFA in Playwriting (Columbia University), MA in Performance Studies (NYU), BFA in Dramatic Writing and Gender and Sexuality Studies (NYU). www.laurazlatos.com

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Ella Steinlauf (Assistant Director) is a New York based theatre artist and director who is originally from Washington D.C. Some recent credits include: Monstrosity, Big Love, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (The New School for Drama, AD), Orestes (The New School for Drama, ASM), Titus Andronicus (The New School for Drama, Dir.), Agamemnon (Regents University, London), Cymbeline, Romeo and Juliet (Shakespeare Theatre Company).