Conversations

WHAT IS THIS?

SCHEDULE OF CONVERSATIONS

[Thursday, October 8]

[Thursday, October 15]

[Thursday, October 22]

[Thursday, October 29]

[Thursday, November 5]

WHAT IS THIS?

One of the major goals of THE MAD ONES Lab is to share information. Conversations are an opportunity to talk about a topic with folks from inside and outside of the lab. All conversations take place on Thursdays, at 4pm EST on Zoom Webinar. These are not mandatory events.

Scroll down to see a list of all the conversations and guests.

In order to attend a conversation, you must register for it. There is only space for 500 attendees, so register early! If you are interested in sharing your expertise at one of these conversations, be sure to indicate that on the registration form.

After your register for the conversation, you will receive an email with a link to the conversation's Zoom room. Make sure to register with your email that is also associated with your Zoom account because your invitation link will only work with that email address.

SCHEDULE OF CONVERSATIONS

[Thursday, October 8]

4pm EDT

"What's Possible: A Look Into Current Digital Performance Trends"

MIRANDA PLA

MIRANDA (she/her) is an upcoming senior at Brown University, double-majoring in Literary Arts and Philosophy. She posted her first animatic to her Youtube channel “Miranda Pla” in 2018, where she continues to reinterpret musical theatre songs into the medium of film and animation. Since then, she’s amassed over 26,000 subscribers and her animatics for THE MAD ONES and HADESTOWN have been viewed 5 million times.

MICHAEL BRESLIN

Michael is a writer, performer, and producer who works in theater, film, and television. His plays have been presented by New York Theater Workshop, Ars Nova, Exponential Festival, Queer New York International Arts Festival, Dixon Place, and the Yale Cabaret. Outside of Fake Friends, some of his favorite collaborators include Em Weinstein (Arden, Candace), Jeremy O. Harris (…the feels, kms), and Amauta Marston-Firmino (YELL!).

Education: Yale School of Drama (MFA dramaturgy, DFA fellow), Hamilton College. He has trained with Carmen Morgan and artEquity, and through Hamilton’s Bristol Fellowship 2013-14 he traveled to Poland, Brazil, and Indonesia exploring how different people use gender in performance.

www.michaelstevenbreslin.com

DR. JAMIE A WARD

JAMIE is a lecturer in Computer Science at Goldsmiths. His background encompasses wearable computing, social neuroscience, and theatre. His work is broadly concerned with how we can best use wearables and machine learning as tools to help us capture, model, and understand real-world human activity and behaviour. As part of this effort, he draws on methods from theatre and performance as a way of obtaining close-to-real world data, developing the idea of using theatre as a laboratory. He obtained his PhD from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zürich, Switzerland in 2006, and a joint degree in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering from the University of Edinburgh in 2000. Prior to joining Goldsmiths, Jamie was a Post-doctoral researcher at University College London (UCL)’s Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, and at Lancaster University (where he was a Marie Curie Fellow). He is also a guest professor at Keio Media Design (KMD), Japan. Between academic positions he worked variously as a technology consultant, an analogue circuit designer, and as an actor in television, film, and theatre (see http://www.jamielaird.com for more on that). Currently, he co-leads two European research projects: Neurolive, a 5-year investigation on the neuroscience of live performance, and SocSense, a proof-of-concept on a tool for measuring social engagement in autistic children. He is a recent recipient of the Royal Society APEX award, ‘Exploring social interaction using theatre and wearable sensing’. For some updates on Jamie’s science work, have a look at www.jamieward.net.

PATRICK FOLEY

Patrick Foley is an actor and writer working in theater, film, and TV. He has performed at New York Theatre Workshop, Ars Nova, Incubator Arts, Judson Memorial Church, the Tank, the McKittrick, Chautauqua Theatre Company, Yale Repertory Theatre, Shakespeare Theatre Company and more. As a writer, his work has been produced at New York Theatre Workshop, Prelude 2019, The Exponential Festival, Little Theatre at Dixon Place, and Ars Nova where he is a Makers Lab resident artist. He received the 2019-2020 Davey Foundation grant for his short film Presence Work, to filmed in 2021. Patrick was awarded the Constance Welch Memorial Scholarship at Yale School of Drama where he received an MFA in Acting in 2018. He also holds a BFA from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. www.patrickmfoley.com

ADAORA UDOJI

ADAORA is an award winning storyteller and executive with an emerging technology and media. She helps corporations build products, creatives understand how this new tech works and produces media across platforms: digital, video, film, radio, podcasts, virtual reality and augmented reality (Imbd profile).

Currently, she is the Director of Corporate Innovation at New York City’s RLab, the first City-funded lab focused on spatial computing, future interfaces, and related technologies.

She is on the board of NEW INC, serves as an advisor for SXSW Pitch, Knight Foundation 360 Challenge, Op'Ed Project, an advisor to the Broadway Accelerator and a mentor at Tribeca Interactive, as well as a juror for the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival Storyscape Prize (Immersive).

Previously, she ran a media-tech startup, News Deeply. Before that as a journalist she covered some of the most compelling stories of our time from the Iraq war to Hurricane Katrina and the election of President Barack Obama for ABC News, CNN and public radio. She's won many awards including recognition by The National Academy of Television Arts, and Sciences and the Alfred I. duPont–Columbia University Award for reporting on the Afghan war and Hurricane Katrina respectively.

Adaora has produced a number of short films and documentaries including: "Girl Talk" and "Yemi's Wedding" (Imbd profile). Inc. Magazine named her among the most influential speakers in tech.

She is an adjunct professor at NYU's Interactive Telecommunications Program at the Tisch School of the Arts. and on the board of NEW Inc of the Inc. Magazine named her among the most influential speakers in tech.

Watch the Video

[Thursday, October 15]

4pm EDT

How to Make It: A Practical Conversation About Technical Tools

MARC BRUNI

MARC directed the Tony, Grammy, and Olivier Award winning Beautiful: The Carole King Musical on Broadway, in the West End, US and UK Tours, and in Australia where he won the 2018 Helpmann Award for Best Direction of a Musical. Bruni’s other directing credits include Hey, Look Me Over!, Paint Your Wagon, Pipe Dream and Fanny for City Center Encores!, The Explorers Club (Manhattan Theater Club), The Sound of Music (Chicago Lyric Opera), The Music Man and How to Succeed in Business... (Kennedy Center), A Killer Party (Web musical), Old Jews Telling Jokes (Westside Theatre and Royal George in Chicago- Jeff Award nom for Direction), Trevor (Writers Theatre), Roman Holiday (Golden Gate), Other People’s Money (Long Wharf), Presto Change-o (Barrington Stage) Ordinary Days (Roundabout Underground), and 8 shows for the St. Louis MUNY including Singin’ in the Rain, My Fair Lady, The Music Man and The Sound of Music (Two Kevin Kline Nominations for direction). He won the NYMF Award for Best Direction for his production of Such Good Friends. Graduate of Dartmouth College and proud member of SDC.

VIVIENNE MAREE MEDRANO

Vivienne, better known online as Vivziepop, is a Salvadoran-American animator who is known for being the creator of the comedy musical series Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss. She is also the founder of SpindleHorse Toons and the author and artist of Zoophobia. She was born and raised in Fredrick, MD. Vivienne studied at the School of Visual Arts in New York City and graduated in 2014.

PATRICK W LORD

Patrick is a DC-based projection and video designer, who has been creating theater across the country for the past 10 years. He has designed numerous world premieres at The Kennedy Center, including the musical Earthrise, with music by the Kerrigan-Lowdermilk team. He has also designed concerts for Grammy-award winning artists, and was an art director for events, designing custom shows for clients like the Chicago Bulls and Cleveland Cavaliers. He also recently worked on the video design team to adapt the Broadway show Mean Girls for its first national tour. His work has been nominated across the country, and he is a passionate advocate for Theatre for Young Audiences. He holds an MFA in Projection Design from The University of Texas at Austin and a BFA in Scenic Design from Emerson College. More about him and examples of his work can be found at www.patrickwlord.com.

CIARA RENÉE

Ciara most recently played "Elsa" in FROZEN (Broadway). Previously starred in Facebook’s STRANGERS, Netflix’s MASTER OF NONE, CBS’s BIG BANG THEORY, and as "Hawkgirl" in CW’s LEGENDS OF TOMORROW, ARROW, and FLASH. She played “Mariana" in MCC Theater’s production of THE WRONG MAN, originated "The Witch" in BIG FISH (Broadway), appeared as "The Leading Player" in PIPPIN (Broadway), and originated “Esmeralda" in THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME at the Papermill Playhouse. She also played "Peggy/Maria" in the final lab of HAMILTON. Ciara co-directed (with Michael Dallatorre) the short documentary, BEATING THE ODDS - CHILDREN’S DEFENSE FUND OF CALIFORNIA. She is the writer, EP, and co-director of the short film REDDY RECORDS.

Watch the Video

[Thursday, October 22]

4pm EDT

Collaboration: Theories, Approaches, Practices

ALYSSA KIM

ALYSSA (she/they) is a queer, Asian, gender non-conforming person named one of 25 immersive creators to watch in NYC by No Proscenium.

Kim has created numerous interactive and immersive experiences and directs for both stage and film. Work includes collaborations with various companies: Director/Interactive & Experience Design, Journey Lab & Wildrence; Associate Producer, Interactive PlayLab (Director: Jeff Wirth); Interactive Performance Specialist, Zamchick & Company; Featured Artist, Fatchix, Inc. Kim was the interactive performance consultant for The Bad Years, by Kerrigan/Lowdermilk, directed by Stephen Brackett. Kim has led numerous workshops in interactive performance technique and also helped craft interactive curriculum at The Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park for their education and community engagement department.

JEFF WIRTH

Jeff directs the Interactive PlayLab, a training and research lab for live interactive performance. Jeff has consulted for Cirque du Soleil, Blue Man Group, and Disney Imagineering, He wrote the book, Interactive Acting and has created over 100 interactive performances. Jeff's eclectic background also includes ballroom dancing, computer programming, and clowning for the Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus. Learn more at www.InteractivePlayLab.com.

KATHERINE WILKINSON

Katherine (she/they) has spent the last decade creating new ensemble-driven performance throughout the US and abroad. Katherine uses imagination, creative communication, intuition, and chest-pounding-jump-squatting-body based energy to build trusting communities and invigorating transformative experiences. Katherine is currently a member of the 2020-2022 Women's Project Lab. Katherine has developed work with Classical Theatre of Harlem, Juilliard, WP Theatre, Signature Theatre, Columbia Stages, The Magic Theatre, SITI Company, Suzuki Company of Toga, Zen Zen Zo, Deborah Hay, GenEnCo, Fusebox Festival, Movement Research, The Watermill Center, The VORTEX, The Oklahoma Contemporary, among others. Katherine has Associate/Assistant Directed for Anne Bogart, Sam Gold, Whitney White, Christopher Renshaw, and Robert Wilson. Over the last 2 years, Katherine worked with the leadership of SDC to build resources and literature for US Directors on the emerging and critical field of Intimacy Direction. This work included extended research, training, and interviews with leaders in the field. For more information, www.katherinewilkinson.com.

KAIT KERRIGAN

Kait is an award-winning lyricist, bookwriter, and playwright. Off-Broadway: THE MAD ONES (fka THE UNAUTHORIZED AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SAMANTHA BROWN), HENRY & MUDGE. She has written the book for A KILLER PARTY, a digital musical series; book and lyrics for THE BAD YEARS, REPUBLIC, UNBOUND, IRENA; and lyrics for ROSIE REVERE, ENGINEER & FRIENDS, JUSTICE, and EARTHRISE. Her plays include FATHER/DAUGHTER, DISASTER RELIEF, IMAGINARY LOVE, and TRANSIT. Her work has been developed by La Jolla, Kennedy Center, Theatreworks/Silicone Valley, Primary Stages, Goodspeed, Aurora Theatre Company, and others. Awards: Kleban, Larson, Theatre Hall of Fame Most Promising Lyricist. Alumna of Dramatists Guild Fellowship, Page 73's I-73, Barnard College, BMI Musical Theatre Writing Workshop.

LAUREN GUNDERSON

Lauren has been one of the most produced playwrights in America since 2015 topping the list twice including 2019/20. She is a two-time winner of the Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award for I and You and The Book of Will, the winner of the Lanford Wilson Award and the Otis Guernsey New Voices Award, a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and John Gassner Award for Playwriting, and a recipient of the Mellon Foundation’s Residency with Marin Theatre Company. She studied Southern Literature and Drama at Emory University, and Dramatic Writing at NYU’s Tisch School where she was a Reynolds Fellow in Social Entrepreneurship. She co-authored the Miss Bennet plays with Margot Melcon, and her play The Half-Life of Marie Curie is available on Audible.com. Her work is published at Playscripts (I and You; Exit Pursued By A Bear; The Taming and Toil And Trouble), Dramatists Play Service (The Revolutionists; The Book of Will; Silent Sky; Bauer, Natural Shocks, The Wickhams and Miss Bennet) and Samuel French (Emilie). Her picture book Dr Wonderful: Blast Off to the Moon is available from Two Lions/Amazon. She is currently developing musicals with Ari Afsar, Dave Stewart and Joss Stone. LaurenGunderson.com

BRIAN LOWDERMILK

Mx. Brian Lowdermilk (they/them or she/her) is a gender non-conforming songwriter, dramatist and YouTube creator with over 15 million views. In theater, they've gotten lots of awards for emerging artists (whatever that means) including the Larson Award, Alan Menken Award, Richard Rodgers Award, and a Dramatists Guild Fellowship, and have held residencies at McDowell, Johnny Mercer, Theatreworks/Palo Alto and others. Their work has been produced and developed at The Kennedy Center, The Kimmel Center, Lincoln Center, Off-Broadway: The Mad Ones and Henry and Mudge, which toured the country for over a decade. Upcoming projects include immersive house party The Bad Years and Republic directed by Michael Arden. Other musicals include Flash of Time, an immersive art / puppet installation-musical hybrid at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia, The Amazing Adventures of Dr. Wonderful and Her Dog and Earthrise at The Kennedy Center in DC, and Rosie Revere, Engineer & Friends, written with playwright Lauren Gunderson, which is currently touring the US. Their first album "Our First Mistake" charted at #1 on the iTunes Singer/Songwriter chart. Other albums include "Kerrigan-Lowdermilk Live" and “The Mad Ones” cast album. They are a founder of the start-up NewMusicalTheatre.com, and a member of the Dramatist Guild and ASCAP.

[Thursday, October 29]

4pm EDT

Putting It Out There: How To Tell The Story of Your Work To The Larger World

CARRA MARTINEZ

CARRA is a collaborative theatre artist, scholar, community engagement specialist, and educator. Based in Austin, Texas, Martinez is the Director of Live in America at Fusebox Festival, a new field study and festival focusing on communities in performance from across the U.S., its territories, and Mexico. She is the former Director of Community Engagement at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In Minneapolis, she also worked at Penumbra Theatre and The Playwrights' Center. She holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Texas at Austin and a doctorate from the University of Minnesota.

WINTER MILLER

WINTER Winter Miller is a Brooklyn-based playwright who wants someone to put her cat on a tv show. Her plays include No One Is Forgotten; Spare Rib; In Darfur; The Penetration Play and others. Bells and whistles found here: www.wintermiller.com

RANDI ZUCKERBERG

RANDI has a passion for producing and creating media content that celebrates strong, smart women and girls. Through her company, Zuckerberg Media, she is the best selling author of four books, producer of multiple television shows and theater productions, and hosts a weekly radio show, Randi Zuckerberg Means Business, on SiriusXM. Randi has been recognized with an Emmy nomination, two Tony awards, a Drama Desk Award, and a Kidscreen Award. Prior to founding her own company, Randi was an early employee at Facebook, where she is best known for creating Facebook Live.

When she's not Facebooking or actual written-word booking, and in non-2020 crazy times, she can be found at the theater, traveling the world to speak at conferences and meet entrepreneurs, or doing her best to unplug at home with her husband and three children

JEN BENDER

JEN is a producer, director, and consultant specializing in the creation and development of new musicals. She is the lead producer of Jeannette by Ari Afsar and Lauren M. Gunderson, and Ruby’s Poison, written by and starring Tony Award-winner Frances Ruffelle. On Broadway, Jen was the Resident Director of The Lion King and Avenue Q and toured internationally as the Assistant Artistic Director of Cirque du Soleil’s Ovo. Jen was recently named one of the Broadway Women’s Fund’s “50 Women to Watch.”

[Thursday, November 5]

4pm EDT

Where Do We Go From Here: Moving Beyond The Lab

Join us for a casual, final conversation to reflect on the lab, consider life and art after the lab, and discuss a Lab 2.0! Featuring members of THE MAD ONES Lab team including Brian Lowdermilk, Kait Kerrigan, Liz Fisher, Rachel Karp, and more.

JOIN HERE!

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