2016 photodump er...retrospective

Happy New Year, Betweenies! I'm taking this chance to post a photo retrospective of all the work we've shared with you in 2016. This year saw us having to say goodbye to members of the company as permanent fixtures in the Between Us story, but also had us continue work in a larger way with some artists we'd only briefly interacted with and meet new ones. It is always challenging trying to run a theatre company in New York, stick to your values and keep a day job, but this year Samantha, Grady, Paulina and I (Jasmine) were still up to the task and 2017 looks even brighter. Now, onto the pictures! As always, check out our facebook for more pictures and information about the events honored here.


First, at long last I will share here the pictures from our forth annual Take Ten Festival way back in April. One from each play, as per tradition.

Good Corporate Citizen by Sam Graber

The Authoress by Seth Freeman
Semi-Finalist for Best Play

Sunset by Gary Jaffe

Finalist for Best Play

Finalist for Best Director: Noelle Franco

Finalist for Best Actor: Brian Bradley

Grieving with Gary by Laura Townsend

Finalist for Best Play

Captain Samaritan: The Battle of Negrophobia by Jeremy Holloway

Mama I don't want to be mediocre by Monica Mikell

Division of Assets by Krysten Louchen

You Are Could I by Steve McMahon
Finalist for Best Actress: Helen McMillian

Friable by Alisha Espinosa

Winner Best Play and Best Actress: Alisha Espinosa

You and Me (and Ruby) by Alexandra Ley

Finalist for Best Actress: Jo Chiang

Semi-Finalist for Best Play

The Procrustes Pitch by Vishesh Abeyratne

Swept by Gina Doherty

Finalist for Best Director Florence La Bas

Finalist for Best Actor Harrison Wilkie

Finalist for Best Actress Tess Howsman

Semi-Finalist for Best Play

Edward's Closet by Jenn Dlugos & Charlie Hatton

Threatened Panda Fights Back by Rex McGregor

Finalist for Best Director: Susane Lee

Semi-Finalist for Best Play

I Never Heard Such Silence by Marlin Thomas

Hangman by Gregory Fletcher

Winner Best Actor: Dino Petrera

Winner Best Director: Marshall Mays

Finalist for Best Play

Finalist for Best Actor: David Spadora

I'm so pleased, as always to be able to share a little moment from each of the 16 plays with you, though I wish I had gotten to it earlier this year. Everyone involved in those productions has hard work and talent to be celebrated, so please look for them in the future.

Next we have some gorgeous pictures from Detainee, the full length play we produced in July.

Detainee

Written by Sam Graber
Directed by Samantha Lee Manas

Starring:
Francesca Ferrara*
Niceto Darcey Festin
Galway McCullough*
Roxy Reynolds
Angie Tennant*
Stage Manager: Paulina Ruiz
*appearing courtesy of Actor's Equity Association

This production was an incredible source of pride for everyone involved, especially playwright Sam Graber who we met in person for the first time that weekend. We hope to keep up this caliber of work and collaboration.

We'd also like to share some beautiful pictures from Dal Segno, the workshop production in November for the winner of Take Ten 2016.

Dal Segno

Written by Alisha Espinosa
Directed by Nilan Johnson

Starring:

Juliana Aiden
Tony Curtis
Brent Schultz
Kristi Stout

Dal Segno was a thrilling and emotional piece of theatre, staged so the audience was part of the actor and accompanied by an illuminating discussion afterwards. We hope to see more from and continue to work with the artists involved.


As 2016 rapidly draws to a close (yikes, I have to get dressed for NYE!) know that we are in the stages of finalizing our lineup for Take Ten 2017 (April 3-9! You heard it here first) and that there will be more challenging theatre, stimulating workshops and anything else we can sink our teeth into in the upcoming year. Hope to see you all in the audience, or maybe on stage with us!

Lots of love,
Jasmine

Detainee and other news

Hello, Between Us fans

      It's been a while since I've updated you. I didn't get a chance to do my yearly pictures and recap from Take Ten, but I haven't forgotten. I will do that at a later time. We are very proud of all the artists we had this year and I want a blog post primarily focusing on them. The winner of Take Ten, Alisha Espinosa, will be having a workshop with us in the fall (it's a pretty gripping play, I've already read it) and we will focus more on her and all the other participants that graced our stage (a great new venue too!) later on.

For now, I want to focus on Detainee, the full length production going up in just a few weeks. Detainee is a smart political thriller, written by Sam Graber, a writer who has participated in every one of our one act festivals even though he's from across the country. We were thrilled to be able to produce something longer of his. It's directed by our very own Samantha Manas and it's going to be a heck of a show. Here's the info

Detainee
Written by Sam Graber
Directed by Samantha Lee Manas
Produced by Jasmine Brown & Graydon Gund

July 20th-22nd at 7:30pm
July 23rd at 2:30pm and 7:30pm
July 24th at 2:30pm

The Fourth Street Theater
83 E 4th Street (between Cooper Square and 2nd Ave)
New York, NY

Starring:
Francesca Ferrara*
Niceto Darcey Festin
Galway McCullough*
Roxy Reynolds
Angie Tennant*

Stage Manager: Paulina Ruiz

*appearing courtesy of Actor's Equity Association

Tickets: $18 at the door and on Brown Paper Tickets!

I'm particularly excited by this play, not just because of the quality of writing, acting and directing and by the issues it is raising but types of female characters this story is showcasing. It's truly an important piece and I hope you all join us there.

AND it's not too late to support the play! Please donate to our indiegogo and help us fund this thing so YOU can continue to enjoy the quality work we put out by the amazing up and coming artists. There's only a few days left, so please click the link and donate!

Show us your support!

Finally, as a little taste, I thought I'd give you a teaser about the story.

Detainee is a political thriller about one woman balancing devotion to family against devotion to country.

Lindsey is a middle-aged college professor who drives a middle-aged van and lives in a middle-aged house. She's a middle-aged Mom with a middle-aged husband. She also has middle-aged problems, mostly stemming from her wayward teenage daughter, with whom she has a strained relationship.
Outside of home, Lindsey has another problem. The United States is reeling from a string of domestic bomb threats. But when the threats turn real, and the first bomb explodes, Lindsey is asked to return to her former identity. And ultimately Lindsey must choose between allegiance to country and the sanctity of her home.

At the core of Detainee is a family story which focuses on an individual torn between allegiance to country and regard for family. Isn’t the individual working on behalf of the state also an individual? What is that life like? What is impact on someone shuttling between a terrorist detainment center and home? When does the allegiance end?

Detainee is a play about a decision -- whether or not to torture a U.S. citizen.

Hope you enjoy!

Jasmine

Don't Stop Us Now!

Hi, all!

     Things are heating up with Between Us this summer! First of all, from July 29th-August 2nd, we will be showing a brand new dark comedy, The Fairer Sex, by Sander Gusinow who we previous worked with on Hansen and Greta (Winner of Best Play, Take Ten 2014) and the workshop of Hell-Bent. It will be directed by our very own Samantha Lee Manas and starring  Erica Becker, Michelle Liu Coughlin*, Billy Giacci, Chauncey Johnson, Micheal Markham* and Josephine Wheelwright.

*appearing courtesy of Actor's Equity Association

Recognize any of those names from past projects? As part of our mission to foster new artists, we love to give continued opportunities to actors we meet that want the space to show their gifts. 
And as part of our mission for relevant, socially challenging work, we're particularly excited about The Fairer Sex. In this original one-act, the feminist revolution is over. We won. Now what? The battle of the sexes is now an all out war that is at times hilarious, shocking and very violent. 

Plus check out our shiny new graphic!

Amazing right? Thanks MLN Designs!

So come check this play out!

July 29th - July 31st at 8pm
August 1st at 2pm & 8pm
August 2nd at 3pm

The Studio Theatre at Theatre Row
410 W 42nd Street 
New York, NY 10036

Tickets $18 on Telecharge

Come on! Buy a ticket! Look how much fun they're having in rehearsal!

Check the event out on on facebook as well as our company page and our website while you're at it for more information. And big props to Samantha for the great work she's been doing on the latter lately!

Switching gears now, we're also excited about our next venture after Fairer Sex. We're going to have workshop of a new original play by our Take Ten 2015 Best Play winner, Arlene Jaffe and directed by Montgomery Sutton (nominee for Best Director, Take Ten 2015). The play is called Elli Eli and it's a funny, modern look at chronic pain. Tickets will be sold on brownpapertickets starting on August 1st and it is already listed so get to buying before we sell out! One night only on September 12th, 8pm  at the Director's Studio.