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

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. ;)

Picnic Pics and Drinky Drinks

It's been awhile, Between Us fans! How has summer been treating you? We've been having a somewhat relaxed summer, but we're really focusing reaching our goals for our festival and productions next year. We're just looking for ways that fundraising can be *gasp* actually fun!

Speaking of which, did any of you get to stop by our fundraising picnic in Central Park this July? We had a blast and got to enjoy the creative talents from many members of the Between Us family, including dancers, yogis, writers, actors and comedians. I've included a few pictures for you to get a taste of the day we had but feel free to check out the whole album on our facebook page.

 Calixta Star

Shakespeare's Players (with Jeremy Rafal)

The Bellyjazz Dolls

What's next? Well, this Thursday, August 23rd, we'll be hosting a fundraising party at Keats Bar in Manhattan. There will be karaoke, drink specials and a 50/50 raffle, all supporting our effort to support fresh voices in the theatrical community! Check it out!

Finally, I'd officially like to welcome Grady Grund, our new Associate Producer! You'll be hearing more from him, and all the rest of us, very soon!

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. ;)