Pretty Pics and Rowdy Reading!

Ahoy thar, Between Us Fans (should I call you Betweenies? something about that sounds wrong...)! How is everything? Remember to reach out to us and let us know about your projects...and especially let us know if you would like us to advertise for you on our blog or facebook page.

Things have been going pretty great for us. We had a lovely afternoon in Washington Square Park a few weeks ago for our fundraising picnic (there were homemade brownies!), and I wanted share some pictures of the fabulous performances.

Cythia Vasquez belting out Whatever Happened to My Part

Our Artistic/Marketing Intern, Abby Leigh Rose, serenading us with I Wanna Hold your Hand

Shaqui and the Bellyjazz dolls leading a sample class after a performance (with some audience participants).
Recently featured actor, Sharon Zaslaw, is the instructor and I'm one of the Bellyjazz dolls (in green!)

The incomparable Anna Stefanic on keyboard, clearly getting a new, young admirer

Sad you missed all the fun? Well, guess what? We're having a reading this Saturday, October 5th, at 8pm! That's right!

Tickets are $10 per person and include one beverage of your choice.  Check it all out at The Directors Studio 311 W 43rd St, 4th Floor New York, NY 10036

The line up is as follows:

Though They May Be Parted
Written by: Patricia Milton
Directed by: Nick Saldivar

A Long Walk on the Beach
Written by: Matt Henderson
Directed by: Graydon Gund

Parables for the One Percent
Written by: Karl Custer
Directed by: Samantha Lee Manas

Starring:
Elise Baker
Casey Bartolucci
Claire Corddry
Kullan Edberg
Trent Fucci
Brooke Haney
Lesley Noyes
Anna Stefanic
Logan Sutton
Ari Vigoda
David Weinheimer
and
Samantha Jane Williams

This includes the Between Us directorial debut of our Directing Intern, Nick Saldivar, fabulous (as usual) directing efforts by Samantha Lee Manas, my Co-Artistic Director, and Graydon Gund, our Associate Artistic Director. It also includes some amazing acting from old and new faces as well as some wonderful new writing.

But the big thing is, this is including the first reading of Parables for the One Percent, by Karl Custer (aka Uncle Yo) our Literary/Artistic Assistant. This is leading up to our full production of it, this January. But more on that later. For now, just remember the insanity that is Karl's work with this picture from our last production of his.

Tierney Nolen, Casey Bartolucci and Ari Vigoda in St. Patrick Battles the Bearded Serpent

Again, this is all going on at 8pm, at the Director's Studio, October 5th. Check out the facebook event!

We even have a lovely graphic created for us by Allie Trimboli, just for the occasion!

So, come on down and join us! Hope to see you all soon!

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!

Moving on since Sandy

Hi there, Between Us fans! It's been awhile!

First things first, I want to let you know that the Between Us Family rode out Superstorm Sandy safely.  As I'm writing this, however, many people in New York and New Jersey still have no power, have lost their homes and have had a host of other problems from the storm. This is our home and we're proud of the efforts made to help one and other and committed to staying strong for one and other. Please let us know what's going on in your community and if there is anything we can do to help.

Before the storm, as I mentioned before, we had a Halloween themed Improv battle. It was a great success, with audience members as well as Sam (Samantha Manas), Karl Custer (Uncle Yo) and me (Jasmine Brown) getting in on the action. Pictures to come!

Missed that? Well, luckily, we have an event coming up! This Saturday, November 17th, we are having a reading! It will be featuring for original plays, three of which were originally submitted as part of our upcoming ten minute play festival, so that will be a fun sneak peek as to the caliber of plays you should be expecting. The plays will be directed by myself, Samantha Manas and Graydon Gund. This will be Grady's directorial debut with Between Us Productions. He's our newest member of the company, but this will be a great time to really get to know his work. We're pretty excited about that!

As for the plays themselves, you'll meet such interesting characters as a submissive substitute, a Jewish gangster, grieving parents and the north wind, all played by some of the best actors in New York. It should be a memorable night! That's at 8pm at the Director's Studio.

 Check it out on facebook.

We are also still running are indiegogo campaign for our festival and stage productions in the spring. We really need the support, so if you can give anything please do. And do it soon, because the campaign is ending soon! And if you can't...at least share the campaign somewhere! Let's get the word out!

indiegogo campaign link

Get ready, Between Us is taking New York by storm!

Hi, all! It's been awhile, but our summer is in full swing. Sadly, we had to postpone our writing class, but there's still a lot of excitement going around.

First off, there was our reading in June. Here's a few pictures from the event.

Almost Christmas by Arthur M. Jolly, directed by Samantha Lee Manas. 
Pictured: Eric Chase, Anna Stefanic and Chris Barber. 

Protocol by Ralph Greco Jr., directed by Samantha Lee Manas. 
Pictured: Charissa Bertels and Cheri Paige Fogelman. 

Melting by Eddie Zipperer, directed by Samantha Lee Manas.
Pictured: Casey Bartolucci, Charissa Bertels, Chris Barber and Cheri Paige Fogelman.

Inalienable Rights by Samantha Lee Manas, directed by Jasmine Brown.
Pictured: Anna Stefanic, Chris Barber, Casey Bartolucci, Eric Chase and Cheri Paige Fogelman.

There are, of course, more pictures on our facebook page.

But the big news is yet to come. Tomorrow, July 14th, we're going to be having a fundraising picnic in central park and we want to invite everyone down. It's all for suggested donations and will include yoga, belly dancing, Shakespeare, a reading of Samantha's zombie play (pictured above with different actors) Inalienable Rights, a reading of my tragic incest play Orion, improv and standup comedy. Oh, and did I mention there will be free food and drink? Yeah. Check out the event info here.

If you can't make that, just keep an eye out. We'll be having another fundraising party at a Manhattan bar in August, a Halloween themed improv night in October, lots of readings and an online fundraising campaign all leading up to...a play festival and full staged one acts coming next spring!

Look out for Between Us. We're moving up just like all our amazing artistic collaborators. Let us know what you think and what kind of events you'd like to see!

Kicking off the summer of Between Us!

Hello, Between Us fans! It's been awhile, hasn't it? With all the changes going on in our company, we decided to take a break from events in March, but don't worry...we're coming back with a vengeance!

First of all, we're having a reading on June 23rd back in our old stomping ground (the Director's Studio), which will be featuring new work from many talented writers and actors, but especially our Co-Artistic Director, Samantha Manas, who wrote a piece about zombie rights ( yes, you read that right). You wont want to miss this one!

Secondly, we'd like to formally announce our fundraising picnic on July 14th at the Turtle Pond in central park. We'll have food, dancing, improv and a whole lot more for just a suggested donation. So mark your calenders, folks. Come out and support the work we're doing and enjoy a summer day in New York City while doing so!

Finally, we want to take another chance to remind you about our Playwriting Workshop starting on July 12th. This is the time to start creating your own work! Come out of this summer with a ten minute play all your own, telling your stories, starring you! You may be able to get it featured in our first ever festival...but more on that later. ;)

Shiny pictures and shinier links! Check us out!

We finally have pictures from our amazing Saint Patrick's Day themed reading at Space on White. As you can see, we had a heck of a time!

Charissa Bertels and P.J. Tiberio in Something About Smoke and the Way it Rises by DJ Sylvis
Pictured with Zachary Tomlinson, Michael Schlapp and Co-Artistic Director Samantha Lee Manas

Charissa Bertels and P.J. Tiberio in Something About Smoke and the Way it Rises by DJ Sylvis

Charissa Bertels and P.J. Tiberio in Something About Smoke and the Way it Rises by DJ Sylvis

Charissa Bertels and P.J. Tiberio in Something About Smoke and the Way it Rises by DJ Sylvis

Jeremy Rafal, Stephanie Gail Ross, Samantha Jane Williams and  Casey Bartolucci in Excerpt from a Romantic Comedy by Co-Artistic Director Jasmine Brown

Jeremy Rafal, Stephanie Gail Ross, Samantha Jane Williams and  Casey Bartolucci in Excerpt from a Romantic Comedy by Co-Artistic Director Jasmine Brown

 Samantha Jane Williams, Casey Bartolucci, Elliot Crown and Zachary Tomlinson in Excerpt from a Romantic Comedy by Co-Artistic Director Jasmine Brown

Elliot Crown, Zachary Tomlinson and Michael Schlapp in Excerpt from a Romantic Comedy by Co-Artistic Director Jasmine Brown
Pictured with Charissa Bertels and P.J. Tiberio

Elliot Crown and Zachary Tomlinson in Stalemates by DJ Sylvis
Pictured with Stephanie Gail Ross

Elliot Crown and Zachary Tomlinson in Stalemates by DJ Sylvis
Pictured with Stephanie Gail Ross

Elliot Crown and Zachary Tomlinson in Stalemates by DJ Sylvis
Pictured with Stephanie Gail Ross

Elliot Crown and Zachary Tomlinson in Stalemates by DJ Sylvis
Pictured with Stephanie Gail Ross and Samantha Jane Williams

Samantha Jane Williams, Casey Barolucci, Thoa Dang and Michael Schlapp in St Patrick  Battles the Bearded Serpent by Assistant Artistic Director Karl Custer Jr aka Uncle Yo

Samantha Jane Williams, Casey Barolucci, Thoa Dang and Michael Schlapp in St Patrick  Battles the Bearded Serpent by Assistant Artistic Director Karl Custer Jr aka Uncle Yo

Samantha Jane Williams, Casey Barolucci, Thoa Dang and Michael Schlapp in St Patrick  Battles the Bearded Serpent by Assistant Artistic Director Karl Custer Jr aka Uncle Yo,
Pictured with Zachary Tomlinson

Samantha Jane Williams, Casey Barolucci, Thoa Dang in St Patrick  Battles the Bearded Serpent by Assistant Artistic Director Karl Custer Jr aka Uncle Yo

Co-Artistic Directors Samantha Lee Manas and Jasmine Brown get into the spirit of the event
Pictured with Casey Bartolucci

Want to see even more pictures from the amazing event? Check out our photo album at our facebook page.
Weren't able to catch this event? Good news! We have something even wilder going on Saturday, April 14th. It's an all out Improv Battle called The Ring at Nuyorican Poets Cafe, hosted by Samantha Jones. Here's the site all about it!