Catching up and pimping Parables

Hi, all!

Well, we've had a lot going on since we last updated you. First of all, we had a Halloween Variety Show party. Unfortunately, I wasn't there. I know, I know, awful, right? But luckily, my Co-Artistic Director, Sam, was and she was decked out in a fabulous Anne Boleyn costume.

Samantha Lee Manas in a costume designed by Irina Fialko, pictured with the incomparable Anna Stefanic.

There was stand up, bellydance, music, drinks...the works! You know Between Us has a good time, so don't forget to drop by next time we're having an event. We'll make it worth your while. 

Besides that, we also had a belated welcome party for the new staff at Traffic Bar and Grill in Hell's Kitchen. It was there that we officially met our new graphic designer, Allie Trimboli, though we've already met her through her fabulous work. Unfortunately, the other new staff members that are still working with us (Brittany Remington, our Associate Producer and Abby Rose Leigh, our Artistic/Marketing Intern) were not able to attend, but we hope to see them at our new Traffic Bar and Grill party, which will be a holiday bash on December 20th...but more on that later!

The big thing that's going on right now is our Indiegoo campaign for our winter production, Parables for the One Percent. Parables is written by Karl Custer Jr., aka Uncle Yo, our Literary/Artistic Assistant and I personally feel it's some of his best work, outrageously funny and desperately real, it really hits home in some uncomfortable ways. It's directed by the above pictured Samantha Lee Manas and the actors are some of our favorite artists, whose talents have inspired us over the past few years.

Allie drew us a sample ad for the show and even though it's not the finished design, we wanted to give you a peak to get an idea of the direction we're going in.

Kind of political cartoon feel, ya know? And yes, that's an actual line from the show.

But here's the thing, we really need support to produce this play. We have a beautiful space booked and really want to give this work the attention it deserves. We only have 10 days left on our Indiegogo campaign and we're not even halfway to our financial goal. Every little bit helps, so please donate and share! Click the link and watch the video!

Okay, so that's all for now, but stay tuned. Next update should be more about our holiday party, first updates on Take Ten 2014 and Parables, Parables, Parables! And maaaybe you'll hear about some of our other upcoming projects, who knows?

Oh, and of course, happy Channukah and Thanksgiving to anyone celebrating!

Halloween Party

Hello, friends!

      We're having another Halloween party this year and you're invited. And in case you don't remember how seriously we take this holiday, here's a pictoral reminder from last year.

The staff and some audience participants at last year Zombie vs. Vampires party. Look at some of the costumes people came up with!

So what are the details for this year? Well, it's all going down at 8pm on Saturday, October 26th at the Director's Studio, 311 W. 43rd St, 4th fl.

It will be a spooktacular evening of singing, dancing, improv, comedy, and other fantastic performances.

Tickets $20 and come with 2 free beverages of your choice!

Wear a costume because the Costume Contest winner will win a gift certificate to a nearby bar to continue the festivities!

Yep, that's right. Two drinks and excellent performances for only $20.

All proceeds will go toward paying for the 2013-2014 season.

Performances by:
Naomi Ekperigin
Benjamin Freeman
Kevin Froeliks
Anna Stefanic
Cynthia Vasquez
Jay Welch
Sarah White
Sharon Zaslaw
And Maybe More!

Look at the lovely flyer Allie Trimboli designed for us.

 So, check out our facebook event and come on down!

Other than that, we've been in meeting about all kinds of events, so stayed tune for more!

Looking back and getting ready for an awesome week!

Since Behaving Badly is coming up this week (wed-sun!) I wanted to give you a chance to see how far we've come in the past few years leading up to this. We've really striven to be a resource for the upcoming community of artists and as such, you will see a lot of familiar names and faces throughout the years. 

Here's a shot from Sweet Prince, written by me, Jasmine Brown and directed by Samantha  Lee Manas. The night after this show ended, Sam and I decided that we we would start producing on our own and thus, Between Us Productions was born. Besides being Co-Artistic Directors of the company, Sam has written a play (Inalienable Rights) as well as directed one (St. Patrick Battles the Bearded Serpent) for Behaving Badly. I'm the writer and director for Three Bites from the Underworld.

Back in 2010, during one of our first readings, we read Three Bites from the Underworld. Note Karl Custer, writer for St. Patrick Battles the Bearded Serpent and Assistant Artistic Director, reading stage directions. Also note that it was the holiday season and we were trying to be festive. 

Here's a reading we did for Inalienable Rights. We can see Anna Stefanic , who stars in it now, but plays Kelly instead of the human, as well as Casey Bartolucci, who now stars in St. Patrick Battles the Bearded Serpent (as St. Patrick, of course). I think the mess of furniture behind them really adds to the zombie apocalypse ambiance. 

Here's a reading we did of St. Patrick Battles the Bearded Serpent, featuring Casey Bartolucci, the current star and Veronica Dang, the director of Inalienable Rights. Aren't the props and decorations fun?

Here we have a beautiful picture from Disappearing, Cathy Earnest's play in our Take Ten festival, which won Best Play and earned her a spot in Behaving Badly, with Millions & Millions & Millions.

Here is Cathy, receiving the award for best play, from Samantha and I. 

Speaking of the Take Ten Festival, here we see Molly Garbe, Stephanie in Three Bites from the Underworld, in Maturity, directed by Associate Producer, Graydon Gund, now director of Millions & Millions & Millions.

Here we see another peak from the Take Ten Festival,  Ari Vigoda, who now stars in St. Patrick Battles the Bearded Serpent as the Narrator, performing in Psycho Therapy, a semi-finalist for Best Play.

Another moment from our Take Ten festival, here's Scars, finalist for Best Play, directed by Veronica Dang.

Here we see Emile Lafond, currently starring as Harold in Three Bites from the Underworld, in a reading of The Sub, a play we received as a submission for Take Ten but that was unable to participate. Note me at the edge of frame there, reading stage directions and generally being amused.

Here we have Sharon Zaslaw, aka Sharqui and her Bellyjazz Dolls, at our fundraiser in Central Park last summer. Sharon is now starring as Celeste in Three Bites from the Underworld. 

Here we are with some friends and fans at our Improv-or Treat event this year. You can spot Alia Berezov, assistant/wardrobe for Three Bites from the Underworld, as well as me, Karl, Sam, Veronica and even Grady (first pic of him up here!) in the crowd. Note that our love of zombies was not a passing thing. 

So, come on! See what all the fuss is about and Behave Badly with us this week!

Wednesday, June 26 - 8pm
Thursday, June 27 - 8pm
Friday, June 28 - 8pm
Saturday June 29 - 2pm & 8pm
Sunday June 30 - 3pm

at Roy Arias Studios, Stage II
300 W 43rd St, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10036

Plays:
Inalienable Rights by Samantha Lee Manas
Millions & Millions & Millions by Cathy Earnest
Saint Patrick Battles the Bearded Serpent by Karl Custer
and
Three Bites from the Underworld by Jasmine Brown

Directed by: Jasmine Brown, Veronica Dang, Graydon Gund, and Samantha Lee Manas

Starring:
Casey Bartolucci
Emile Lafond
Tierney Nolan
Ari Vigoda
Sharon Zaslaw
Molly Garbe
Catherine LeClair
Alyssa Simon*
Cain Duminski
Evan Cory Zimmerman
Anna Stefanic
Jonathan Zipper
Alex Witherow
RG Lacandola
Wes Hager
David Weinheimer

Tickets $18 CASH ONLY AT THE DOOR

*Appearing Courtesy of Actors Equity


So, hey, Check out our facebook event or just buy tickets in advance!

Pics and a plea

How was everyone's thanksgiving? One thing we know that we're thankful for is the incredible community of artists and audience members and for those of you who read this blog! Let us know if there's more we can do to make it more interesting.

One thing we can share are some pictures from our last two events!

First of all, on October 20th, we had a Halloween themed improv night:

Elise Baker, Jeremy Rafal, Karl Custer, Samantha Lee Manas and Chris Barber

Chris Barber, Elise Baker and Veronica Dang

Elise Baker, Chris Barber, Veronica Dang and Jasmine Brown

Samantha Lee Manas and Jeremy Rafal

Elise Baker and Jeremy Rafal

Karl Custer, Jasmine Brown, Samantha Lee Manas, Veronica Dang, Jeremy Rafal, Elise Baker and Chris Barber

Elise Baker, Karl Custer (aka Uncle Yo) and Chris Barber

We also have pictures from our November Notes Between Us:

Alaska in the Summertime by Anna Fox.
Pictured: Anna Stefanic. 

Lily by Caity Shea Violette.
Pictured: Anna Stefanic, Scott Klavan, Lisette Espaillat and Amelia Huckle-Bauer

High Hard Ones by Charles O' Connor
Pictured: Ivan Perez, Elliot Crown and Emile Lafond.

High Hard Ones by Charles O' Connor
Pictured: John E. Simes.

The Sub by Vincent Gomez
Pictured: Ivan Perez, Emile Lafond and Jasmine Brown. 

Now, of course, this is all leading up to our festival and performances in the spring, but we need your support to make those things happen. We're getting there, but we need a lot more and the campaign is ending in 15 days!( link to the indiegogo campaign).  Please donate and/or promote! We really need you!

Stay tuned because we will have the official list of the 16 plays for our festival up shortly (we have 14 confirmed, but I wanted to give you the full list), plus what events we have going on this winter. We can tell you that the festival will be from March 18-24 at Roy Arias Stage II. It's all booked, baby!

Tricks, Treats and Indiegogo

Hey, Between Us Fans!

     First of all, we wanted to update you on our Halloween themed improv battle going on Saturday, October 20th. It will be at 8pm at the Directors Studio and will include costumes, makeup, music, candy, drinks, chances of audience involvement and of course, comedy!

So far the teams are:

The Vampires:
Elise Baker
Jeremy Rafal

and

The Zombies
Chris Barber
Veronica Dang

Improv-Or-Treat!

And of course, our indiegogo campaign is still going. Please donate as soon as possible to keep the momentum on indiegogo up! We're working really hard to get ready for the festival in March as well as the One-Acts in June and we want to be able to give this work the financial support it deserves.

Now things are getting serious!

All of our meetings, all of our readings, all of our hits and our (few) misses, everything we've been doing has been leading up to this:

Between Us Productions is going to have staged performances within the year! First, we're going to have a Ten-Minute Play festival on March 18-24th. We are just finalizing the 16 plays we're going to be using right now and I have to tell you, they're pretty terrific. Between Us Productions has a commitment to support compelling original work and we intend to live up to our own standards. 

We're also going to be having an Evening of One-Acts in June. This will include some of our most well received work, finally staged and given the attention they deserved.

St. Patrick Battles the Bearded Serpent, by Karl Custer, Inalienable Rights by Samantha Manas, Three Bites From the Underworld by Jasmine Brown (me) and a forth play written by the winner of our Ten-Minute Play Festival!

To fund all of these things, we have launched an awesome Indiegogo campaign. Please check it out! Donate, share and show some love! 

Awesome Indiegogo Campaign

We're also going to be having a really fun Halloween Themed Improv Battle on October 20th. There will be candy, drinks, costumes and more. But more info on that later. ;)