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BÊTE NOIR
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MICHELANGELO MILANO
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MAHIMA SAIGAL
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CLAIRE McCLAIN
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AMY MIYAKO
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MISHA BOUVION
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NILAN
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COVI LOVERIDGE BRANNAN
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and HEATHER SIMMS, our Narrator
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Creative Team
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ERICA MANN (Playwright) is a Queens-based playwright and screenwriter. She was a semi-finalist for a Lila Acheson Wallace Playwriting Fellowship, and her play DITMAS PARK received special consideration from the subcommittee of readers at the American Playwriting Foundation for the 2018 Relentless Award. Her play, PROCEED TO HIGHLIGHTED ROUTE, will receive a developmental production at the Acadiana Repertory Theatre in Lafayette, Louisiana in December 2019. She is a member of Pipeline Playlab's Class of 2020 and Gingold Theatrical's 2019-2020 Speakers' Corner Writers' Group. MFA in Playwriting from The New School, 2018.
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NICKY MAGGIO (Director) is a director, teaching artist, and intimacy choreographer currently based in Brooklyn, NY. He has directed, assisted, and workshopped productions at IRT Theatre, National Queer Theatre, The Wilma Theatre, The Public, The Lark, Boston’s Lyric Stage Company, Arts Emerson/Emerson Stage, Teatro LATEA, and ItalyTime. Most recently directed JHANJAR DI PAANWAN CHHANKAR at NQT's Criminal Queerness Festival partnered with World Pride 2019. Member of SDCF Observership Class, and 2018 NAMT directing fellowship. BFA Emerson College, MFA The New School. www.nmaggio.com @nickymaggio
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ALI SKYE BENNET (Producer) has been writing, performing, and creating theatre since childhood. She is the Artistic Line Producer at The Drama League, helping to provide a lifelong artistic home for Directors and a platform for dialogue with and between audiences. As the former Associate Producer of Vineyard Theatre, Ali had a hand in bringing to life critically acclaimed world-premieres by some of the most renowned artists in our field, including Paula Vogel (INDECENT), Branden Jacobs-Jenkins (GLORIA), Michael Mayer, John Kander, and Susan Stroman, to name a few. Other select producing projects include: Producing Coordinator for Transport Group Theatre Company; Associate Producer (and star) of the short film Sináptica, which garnered 6 awards and 37 selections in film festivals around the world; Artistic Producer of the multimedia theatrical adaptation, THE UNTITLED GINSBERG PROJECT; and Company Producer for PuppetCinema's PLANET EGG (Washington Post Editor's Pick, Capital Fringe 5-star "Best of the Fringe" selection). As a playwright, Ali has been awarded residency to the HBMG Foundation’s 2018 National Winter Playwrights Retreat, and her first full-length play, RAFETUS, was a Finalist for the National Playwrights Conference at The O’Neill (2017), the Woodward/Newman Drama Award (2019-2020), the Blue Ink Playwriting Award (2019), the New Light New Voices Award (2019-2020), and the Bonnie and Terry Burman New Play Award (Barrington Stage, 2019). Ali is also an award-winning photographer with international publication (Image International, Photolife Magazine), and has traveled all over the world documenting her adventures through her photos and journals. She is a proud member of TCG and graduate of the Commercial Theater Institute's 14-week program (2014). Upcoming: a documentary short currently in development with CompassNeedle. www.aliskyebennet.com
Cast
MISHA BOUVION (Queen Frostine, Veda Pierce) has also worked with Prague Shakespeare Company, The Ojai Playwrights Conference, A Noise Within, Theatricum Botanicum, Shakespeare Orange County, and Crown City Theatre, among others. Her one woman VENUS & ADONIS has been performed with The Independent Shakespeare Company, United Solo Festival, FringeNYC, and most recently, at the Off-Broadway theatre, Urban Stages. She has worked in independent film, TV, print, and national commercial campaigns. MFA in acting from The New School for Drama. mishabouvion.com
CLAIRE McCLAIN (Elsa Bannister) is delighted to be working with Erica Mann again after playing Annabelle in Mann’s previous work, PROCEED TO HIGHLIGHTED ROUTE. Other credits include CARNAL (Carla), directed by the wonderful Nicky Maggio, and the upcoming short film, Perfect As Cats (Anais). Claire has her MFA in acting from The New School for Drama. For more information visit: www.clairemcclain.com.
AMY MIYAKO (Lily Carver) is an actor, writer, and teaching artist based in New York City. Recent roles include: Alice in THE UNBRUNCH (Cinereal Productions), Portia in JULIUS CAESAR (Classic Stage Company), Private Enlo in INTO THE ZONE (The Signature Theater/Columbia University), SOMEONE DIES AT THE END (59E59 / Edinburgh Fringe Festival), and the lead in the short film Rabbit Hole. Amy has performed Off-Broadway, Off-Off Broadway, regionally, and internationally in Canada, The UK, and The Czech Republic. Her work as a performer spans across theater, television, film, music, and voiceover. Training: BA, Lewis & Clark College; MFA, Columbia University. www.amymiyako.com
NILAN (The Old Man, Lord Licorice, The Lug) is a Black gay performer, creator, activist, arts leader, and educator. He is the co-founder of the content generative artist collective, A Certain Something, who most recently wrapped an upcoming web series called "Extra Room" (extratroomtheshow.com). He is also the Associate Artistic Director of The Drama League where he advocates for directors, their craft, and connecting their work to audiences. Learn more about his work at www.nilan.me.
HEATHER ALICIA SIMMS (Narrator) Obie Award winning Heather Alicia Simms is an actor, writer, director and educator who has appeared in numerous productions on stage, television and film. Her most recent credit is in the world premiere and subsequent remount of the 2019 Pulitzer Prize winning play, FAIRVIEW, by Jackie Sibblies Drury. Ms. Simms recently appeared in both critically acclaimed productions of Lynn Nottage’s residency at Signature Theatre in New York (FABULATION and BY THE WAY, MEET VERA STARK), for which she was a 2019 Obie Award winner for not one but both plays. In addition to these credits, Ms. Simms recently appeared in such offerings as “The Last O.G.,” “Luke Cage,” “Seven Seconds,” and “Random Acts of Flyness.” She is also the recipient of the prestigious Fox Foundation Fellowship for early career artists.
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COVI LOVERIDGE BRANNAN (The Girl, Laura) is an actress, playwright, and creative producer based in New York City. Selected Acting Credits: RECIPE FOR A WITCH HUNT (NY Winterfest, Best Actress Nomination), HERE: AN EVENING OF PLAYS BY COVI LOVERIDGE BRANNAN (Italytime Cultural Center), HALLELUJAH (Dixon Place), MARISOL (The New School), OUR COUNTRY’S GOOD (The New School), SPRING’S AWAKENING (The New School). Selected Playwriting Credits: RECIPE FOR A WITCH HUNT (NY Winterfest 2019, Best Short Play Nomination), GHOST GIRL (IATI Theater, Los Angeles Collegiate Playwrights Festival 2018, HERE WE GO Spring 2019), HERE: AN EVENING OF PLAYS BY COVI LOVERIDGE BRANNAN (Italytime Cultural Center), LOOKING FOR SPACE (Waterwell/The New School). Covi received her BFA in Dramatic Arts from The New School for Drama and is currently pursuing her MA in Arts Management & Entrepreneurship at The New School College of Performing Arts. This fall, she will be working as the Artistic and Literary Intern at Primary Stages. www.coviloveridge.com
MICHELANGELO MILANO (Jake McKinney)
Michelangelo Milano is an actor and artist living in New York City. TV credits include: “Power,” “Gotham,” and “Law and Order: SVU.” NY theatre credits include: THE ROSE TATTOO (Broadway/Roundabout Theatre Company, understudy), EIGHT SECONDS (Samuel French Off-Off-Broadway Short Play Festival), PROVIDENCE, BALM IN GILEAD (Labyrinth Theatre Company’s NYNY Festival), NEW YORK (The Group Theatre Too), BLIPS! Short Play Festival ({Your Name Here}: A Queer Theater), PASSING THROUGH (Black Lodge Theater), THE UNTITLED GINSBERG PROJECT (developmental workshop), NIKOLAI AND THE OTHERS (staged reading, dir. David Cromer, Lincoln Center Theatre), and New York City Opera’s final production, Rufus Wainwright’s PRIMA DONNA (BAM). Regional credits include: THE LITTLE DOG LAUGHED (Unicorn Theatre, KCMO; Stage West, Iowa), A FLEA IN HER EAR (dir. Gary Griffin, Kansas City Rep), A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE (Metropolitan Ensemble Theatre, KCMO). Michelangelo stars in Gregory Kennedy’s short film, Three Seconds, and Serious Weasel Comedy’s video sketch, Official Movie Trailer. Michelangelo has studied with Labyrinth Theatre Company, The School at Steppenwolf, Columbia College Chicago, and The American Musical Dramatic Arts Academy. He is first-generation Sicilian-American, born in Chicago, IL, and raised in Kansas City, MO. 
MAHIMA SAIGAL (Cora Smith) Mahima is an actor, dancer, writer, and admirer of everything Books, Bollywood, and Beyoncé. Most recent stage credits include: Mrs. Sohail in JHAANJAR DI PAAWAAN CHANKAAR by Fatima Maan (featured in The New York Times “36 Hours of New York City Pride”); Sanam in the New York Premiere of QUEEN by Madhuri Shekar (NYIT Awards Nominee, Best Actress in a Lead Role); Exeter in MARY V (NY Int'l Fringe Festival); Anjali in HIDING KANYE (Winner, Best Featured Actor award). More info: www.mahimasaigal.com.
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