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

2016 mini update: Dal Segno and Detainee

Well, friends

We've had a busy and successful year, but with only 2 blog posts so far, you may have not been updated on it. Our goal is get our news out more effectively in the future and we even may have a new Between Us Family member joining us soon to support us with that.

First of all, Detainee happened and it was a wonderful success. I've changed our facebook cover photo to be this iconic image from Sam Graber's piece.

Roxy Reynolds as the Detainee

I am still going to hold off on sharing a picture from each of our Take Ten plays in April, but I swear you will see that before the next Take Ten (which we are in the midst of planning right now). More photos from both events are available on our facebook page. I will be making a dedicated post sooner than not, however, just honoring all the artists we worked with this year with pictures and accolades.

I'll give you a sneak peak for one our Take Ten photos, however. Alisha Espinosa's Friable won Best Play at Take Ten and was directed by Nilan Jonson. Here's one image from that electric piece.

Alisha Espinosa & Brandon Garegnani get into it

WELL. This weekend we are hosting a workshop of Alisha's newest work. It's the story of two souls connecting (or not) in a time of extreme violence...our own. Check out the facebook event for more information, but the main details are that it's 8pm at the Director's Studio on November 12th. 

Hope to see many of there and can't wait to share more news and pictures soon!

ElliEli Happy Dance!

Just a quick update to let you guys know how ElliEli went. Pretty much...awesomely! The direction, acting and script of the workshop was really top tier. We're really thrilled to have been able to facilitate this. We're hoping to continue to work with these artists in the future and foster the new connections we made with the audience members who came out to see it. Stay tuned to hear more about ElliEli and more from Arlene. Not just with us...but hopefully with us too! And stay tuned to hear about all the things we're gearing up to do. We've got some new plays we're sifting through for the next seasons, Take Ten, some awesome new staff and a more focused mission. It's gonna be a blast!

Here's a little picture of the artists' getting ready for ElliEli. Thanks for coming if you were there, and if you weren't...we really hope to see you next time!

An Exciting Summer and Spring for Between Us!

Hi, all! Between Us had a wonderful time at our third annual Take Ten festival. Here are pictures from all sixteen of the wonderful plays.

The Devil's Advocate written and directed by Shari Umansky
Pictured: Ed Heuether, Micheal Newman

Table for Two by Edward Precht
Directed by Dunya J. Karam
Pictured: Lauren Fischetti, Rebecca Sanborn, Alexander Lukham, Timothy McHale

The Oracle by Steven Young (finalist for Best Play)
Directed by Montgomery Sutton (finalist for Best Director)
Pictured: Raphael Corkill (finalist for Best Actor), Nathaniel Kent (Winner for Best Actor)

Toward the Heart of the Forest by Eric Marlin (Semi-Finalist for Best Play)
Directed by Clara Rotter-Laitman
Pictured: Mari Vial-Golden, Noah Berman, Keaton Morris-Stan, Colin Hinckley, Josephine Wheelwright (Winner for Best Actress)

Confession written and directed by Kara K. Shelton
Pictured: Kara K. Shelton and Cedrick Massey

Don't Call Us (We'll Call You) by Abigail Taylor Sansom
Pictured:Caroline Snape and Noam Shapiro

The Lives We Lead written and directed by Jessica Lehman (Semi-Finalist for Best Play)
Pictured: Dakota Dutcher and Victoria M. Fragnito (Finalist for Best Actress)

Thursday, Five Years From Now by Matt Kleckner (Finalist for Best Play)
Directed by Ryan Yandersits
Pictured: Matt Kleckner and Jo Twist (appearing courtesy of Actor's Equity)

A Talk Amongst Criminals by Zach Stein
Directed by Patrick Morley
Pictured: Roz Rosario

Rita Shalimar by Arlene Jaffe (Winner for Best Play)
Directed by Mark Richardson (Finalist for Best Director)
Pictured: Greg Carter, Margot Steinberg and Sage Buchalter (Finalist for Best Actress)

The First Vacation in Five Years written and directed by Christina Klessig
Pictured: Valerie Saturno, Jon McCormick

Yankee Stadium, June 1960 written and directed by Irwin Hahn (Finalist for Best Play and Best Director)
 Pictured: Irwin Hahn (Finalist for Best Actor)

Restoration by Mark Rosati
Directed by Jake King
Pictured: Guy Wellman and Chelsea Clark

Think, What Have You Done by Carrie Boehm (Semi-Finalist for Best Play)
Directed by Jacob Henkoff
Pictured: Amanda Jungquist (Finalist for Best Actress)

www.surveyhoney.com by Seth Freeman (Semi-Finalist for Best Play)
Directed by Virginia Hastings (Winner for Best Director)
Pictured: Marie Lenzi and Ray Bergen (Finalist for Best Play)

Feline High-Rise Syndrome by Rex McGregor
Directed by Emily Naylor
Pictured: Christopher Herr, Clare Rea, Stephen Humes, Hannah Richter

Please check out our facebook for more pictures from all the shows. And here are some from our awards ceremony.

Best Play Awards
Pictured: Co-Artistic Directors Jasmine Brown (myself) and Samantha Lee Manas
with Irwin Hahn, Liz Blake (Stage Manager for the Oracle) Nathaniel Kent, Matt Kleckner and Arlene Jaffe

Best Actor Awards
Pictured: Nathaniel Kent, Montgomery Sutton, Irwin Hahn, Ray Bergen, Jasmine Brown and Samantha Lee Manas

Best Actress Awards
Pictured: Victoria M. Fragnito, Sage  Buchalter, Samantha Lee Manas and Jasmine Brown

Best Director Awards
Pictured: Mark Richardson, Irwin Hahn, Virginia Hastings, Montgomery Sutton, Jasmine Brown and Samantha Lee Manas

Additionally, we had some new staff for the festival. Although Tierney Nolen helped us coming up to the festival, she recently got an opportunity to work overseas and had to leave the company. We did hire a stage manager for the festival, Paulina Ruiz, however, who was truly spectacular and we hope to work with her in the future.

Coming up, we are going to be producing a workshop of an new original play by our Take Ten 2015 winner, Arlene Jaffe. More information on that soon, but let us just say, we are very excited about her voice. We are also going to be doing a full production from our Take Ten 2014 winner, Sander Gusinow, just because we liked working with him so much. You remember Sander's work, don't you?

Yeah. That's him. The play is called The Fairer Sex and it's about the feminist revolution. Look for it this summer!

That's all for now! More soon!

Updates and reminders (only one day left on our indiegogo!)

Just another update. Last Saturday we had our workshop production of Hell-Bent, written by Sander Gunisow and directed by Lourdes Uno. We were really proud of the work they did and can't wait to see another production of this some time in the future. Unfortunately we were able to get any pictures to put up of it. Well...they were on a mobile device that had to be reset. Yeah. Things that only happen with up and coming theatre company, huh? But anyway, we're really proud of the show, the artists who we got to showcase and the audience members we got to share it with!

My other reason for the update is to remind you about our fundraising campaign which ends in just a little over twenty-four hours. We really need your support to make this show everything it deserves to be. It is our most experimental and ambitious show to date and we're so excited about it. Check out our campaign and be a part of it while there's still time. Right here, guys!

That's all for now

A new friend, a demonic workshop and a heartfelt plea...

A lot's going on right now with Between Us and I wanted to update you all about it. First of all, Tierney Nolen, an actor we have worked with on three straight full productions and truly love do to her attitude and talent, has become an official member of the company as our Social Media Director! Please welcome Tierney and please remember that this was our first introduction to her!:

Long live the Sheep!

In addition, we are having a workshop this Saturday, July 26th, at our old spot, the Director's Studio (311 West 43rd St, 4th floor) of Hell-Bent, a new horror-comedy one act by Sander Gusinow, the winning playwright from this year's Take Ten festival. Here's a reminder of his incredible work:

The play will be directed by Lourdes Uno, another artist we've been pleased to work with during the last few years, who wrote and directed another play in this year's festival. They were the only two horror authors to qualify for the festival and we really feel like their voices are a natural match. Here's a look at her work from the festival:

So join us while we celebrate these two unique voices. The whole thing will only be ten dollars, there will be refreshments for sale and you will be supporting a company doing new, diverse work! Plus, it will be scary!
Here's the facebook event.

And speaking of new work...I've been hinting for some time about the labor play we are producing in September. Well, in case I haven't put all this up here, or you forgot, Samantha and I collaborated on a historical fiction/multimedia event called Uprising and it will be playing September 2-8 at Shetler Studios. You will be hearing a lot more from me about this as it gets closer, but for right now, we are doing an indiegogo campaign and we really need the support in order to provide our cast with the sets and costumes they deserve to make their work look professional. Please donate and share! We only have twelve days left!