KEEP: The Reviews

"Besides having a flawless script, Keep also offers a high-quality performance by all four of the actors in the cast. Kim Krane’s performance as Naomi, whose pureness and sincerity in her acting drags the audience into her world from her first moments on stage; and Jenna D’Angelo who has a naturally likable vibe and a subtle but genius comedic timing." - quicktheatre

"Keep reminds theatergoers that the affinity shared between sisters can be powerful and ephemeral." - offoffonline

"Eye-opening, mysterious, and emotional, Keep brings one family’s deepest secrets to the surface...on a journey through a (literally) cluttered past." - theaterscene.net

"...a dynamic tour de force...On a profound level Pazniokas' work is about self-definition, identity and escape from pain." - Theater Pizzazz

"...it is hard to find a portrayal of hoarding that is nuanced, sensitive without being sensationalized.Keep explores hoarding from a larger, more complex emotional context, and, while it does not fail to address the physical mess of things, it does not simply stop there." - stagebuddy.com

Keep runs at The Barrow Group Theatre through April 30. Get your tickets here.

CALL FOR SCRIPTS: Season 4 of the Wide Eyed WINKS Staged Reading Series

Wide Eyed Productions is hosting our fourth installment of the WINKS Staged Reading Series. This year, we are focusing on roles for ladies, and on original plays written exclusively by local NYC playwrights! Wide Eyed Productions is excited to continue its work in developing new American plays like the award-winning Animals by Sam Byron and Dan Kitrosser's Dead Special Crabs. With the terrific response we’ve received to our previous seasons of the WINKS, we wanted the fun to continue. 

Presenting Season 4 of the Wide Eyed WINKS Staged Reading Series:

WHAT WOMEN WANT

New Theatrical Works Featuring

Great Roles for Female Actors

Each month will feature a 20-minute segment from three original works by three different writers which are related to, or inspired by, the theme for each month. The themes are as follows: September: MOTHER, October: MAIDEN, November: CRONE, December: MADONNA, January: WHORE. The only consistent element is that each play must feature a “great role” for a female actor.  At the end of each night the audience will be invited to select their favorite play of the evening by casting an anonymous ballot. The audience favorite decided upon by majority vote will be named a semifinalist and invited to submit a full text* to Wide Eyed Productions’ Artistic Board for consideration for our final round.

Two (or three) overall finalists will be chosen and given a full staged reading of their plays at the end of the WINKS series.  From the finalists, one winning text will be chosen based upon audience and board votes. This winning text will then be put into development with Wide Eyed in whatever capacity we believe would best support the text and playwright. 

What you need to know:
·  The play does not need to be a world premiere.
·  The play does not need to be a fully completed text when it is initially submitted.
·  Musicals will be considered as long as they are submitted with a music sample.
·  Directors and casts will be provided by Wide Eyed, but we love it when you have suggestions for people you love to work with!

·  Please submit selections of text, treatments, and other support material to submissions.wideeyed@gmail.com with the title of your play and the theme you think it best matches in the subject line.
·  The readings will be presented at The Drama League on the second Tuesday of each month.
· The full text of the submitted play is not to exceed a 90-minute estimated run time. Semifinalists will be given a deadline for submissions of full texts. 
·  Half of the proceeds from the readings will be donated to the women’s organization of our choice following the series.

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS IS MAY 30, 2016

Happy writing!

Kristin Skye Hoffmann
Artistic Director

Meet the Cast: Jenna D'Angelo (KEEP)

Jenna D'Angelo is an actor, producer and yoga instructor based in NYC. She is a co-founder of Mastodon Theatre Company as well as a guest artist with Wide Eyed Productions. She has appeared in many films, webseries, and plays around the city. She is currently starring, co-producing, and writing for the upcoming digital series Bar Crossed Lovers premiering in May! Credits include: How Alfo Learned to Love (59E59), Elemeno Pea (Mastodon), Animals (FringeNYC), Leah in Vegas (FringeNYC), The Wedding Guest (reading: Moisés Kaufman), The Perfect Murder (Discovery ID), Madeleine Zabel (Cambridge Film Festival), Silent Wave (Best Supporting Actress in a Short nomination), Vlogger (Take Two Festival), Bruiser (Intendance Film Festival), Kin (Nitehawk Film Festival). Jenna received her BA from Western Michigan University. www.jennadangelo.com

You’ll be performing in the world premiere production of Keep, which we are co-producing with Mastodon Theatre Company. How was the rehearsal process? Can you tell us a little bit about the character you’ll be playing, and your favorite thing about this role? (No spoilers!)

It was a really fascinating rehearsal process, in large part because the show takes place in a hoarders house (which in and of itself almost acts as a fifth character in the play), so the room is filled with all different kinds of things. In the rehearsal room, we didn't have the luxury of having a lot of stuff to interact with, so we had to experiment a lot with miming and working to build this world in large part with in our minds. I think I speak for everyone when I say we couldn't WAIT to load in and have a fully packed living room to play with!

I'm playing Kara, one of the sisters who come to help stage the intervention. I love playing Kara—on the outside she is really tough and sarcastic and always feels like she is in charge, but underneath it all she is really battling with a lot of her own issues and fears. I love that dichotomy between her interior and exterior life.

This is a play that deals with – among other things – hoarding belongings. What’s one thing that you really should release from your own personal stash of objects?

Hah! Ummm, ALL OF MY CLOTHES. I read The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up last summer, and as I read it I felt really inspired and I started to get rid of some things...but I have a LONG way to go. My closet is filled with clothing that I barely touch, but I always think, “but I COULD wear this!” or “it MIGHT come back into style!” I need to just bite the bullet and get rid of things.

When did you know that you wanted to be an actor? How did you get started?

I've wanted to be an actor ever since I was a little kid. I always loved to perform for people and make people laugh. I always watched a lot of movies and musicals—I had a phase where I came home from school every day and watched Annie and sang along to all the songs. I did school plays and musicals in elementary school and never stopped.

Who or what do you consider to have been your biggest creative influences to date?

Oh wow. That's a really hard question! I guess I would have to say the other artists around me. I find a lot of inspiration from the actors / writers / directors / producers who I work with or who I see work. Reading plays, seeing shows, watching movies and TV shows, going to museums—all of those inspire me to create more, do more, push myself more.

We’d love for our audience to get to know your work a little more. Could you tell us a little bit about your last project?

I just did my first Off-Broadway show at 59E59 over the holidays this past year - How Alfo Learned To Love - and had a really amazing time. The entire team across the board was phenomenal. The cast had a really incredible bond and I felt very blessed to be a part of the production. Plus I got to play a really sassy, loud-mouthed Brooklynite, so you can't beat that.

Are you working on any additional projects at the moment? Is it something you can tell us about?

A few things! Mastodon is producing a night of Pint Size Plays at The Barrow Group on April 25th which will be a great time.  I wrote a piece, will be acting, and may also be directing a piece. And Bar Crossed Lovers, the digital series that Wide Eyed Productions and StagNation Productions are co-producing, will premiere in May! I'm starring in it, working as a co-producer, and wrote a couple of episodes, as well. We are so proud of this series, and I think it is going to be a ton of fun.

Outside of the arts, I started teaching yoga this year after getting my certification this winter, and it is has been such a fun transition to make! If anybody reading this in NYC wants to try out yoga or just chat, please check out my website (www.jennadangeloyoga.com).

Keep begins previews at The Barrow Group Theatre on April 7 and runs through April 30. Get your tickets here. Bar Crossed Lovers Episode 1 premieres on May 11. Stay tuned!

Join us for the Wide Eyed WINKS Staged Reading Series Season 3 FINALS: April 18-24

April 18 - 24, 2016 

Wide Eyed WINKS Staged Reading Series 

Season Three Finals 

The Barrow Group Theatre 

312 W. 36th Street, 3rd floor, NYC 

$5 Suggested Donation 

Monday, April 18 at 7:30pm 
Callaway by Phillip Gerson 
Directed by Kristin Skye Hoffmann 
In this play, inspired by Raymond Carver's short story Chef's House, a recovering alcoholic finds himself at a picture-perfect beach house on the Florida Panhandle, striving to revitalize his marriage and earn back his wife's trust. However, it's when his fellow AA member, now landlord, decides to give the house to his recently widowed daughter, that this mending and hopefulness is put to the test.

Tuesday, April 19 at 7:30pm 
Modern Day Alchemy by Ashleigh Catsos Yager 
Directed by John Lampe 
Two young couples buy a house together. An old man prepares to end his life. Modern Day Alchemy is a play about growing up, or choosing not to, and the same elemental desire that fueled the early alchemists in their laboratories which now connects these characters: the search for truth, meaning and perhaps a little magic. 

Wednesday, April 20 at 7:30pm 
Electra Orleans by Joe Musso 
Directed by Lauren Miller 
Murder, lust, and vengeance! Set in modern-day New Orleans, this play is inspired by the Greek tragedy Electra. 

Sunday, April 24 at 3:00pm 
Swashbuckling Sam and the Tale of Blackbeard's Revenge by Leonora Bernstein 
Directed by Stephanie C. Cunningham 
Sam is seven years old and having a rough time at home and with school. To cope with everything she creates a pirate world with a wacky pirate crew that help give her the courage to adjust to all of the new changes in her life and her school tormentors.

Come celebrate new work and applaud our 

Season Three Finalists!

Meet the Cast: Madison Comerzan (KEEP)

Madison Comerzan is a co-founder of Mastodon Theatre Company. She hails from Detroit, Michigan, and has been living in New York for over four years where she works as an actor and a Pilates instructor. She received her B.A. in Theatre and Dance from Western Michigan University. She also completed the two year acting program at William Esper Studio studying under Bill Esper. Previous credits include: MICHAELA in Mastodon's Elemeno Pea, ADDISON in Nylon Fusion Collective's Miss Hope's, FELICE in After the Fall with Variations Theatre Group, KELLY in Love and the Small Print (2012 Cannes Film Festival), and appearances on ABC's What Would You Do. She also held the title of producer for Mastodon's production of Molly Smith Metzler's play Elemeno Pea. www.madisoncomerzan.com

You’ll be performing in the world premiere production of Keep, which we are co-producing with Mastodon Theatre Company. How are rehearsals going? Can you tell us a little bit about the character you’ll be playing, and your favorite thing about this role? (No spoilers!)

Rehearsals have been tough. The set is such a huge part of this play and we wont be able to play on the set until tech week. However, it has been so fun making up a hoader's space with rehearsal props every night. I feel like a little kid again. I will be playing Jane. She is a bit neurotic and a little confused about her own identity. She has a big heart though and loves loving others. My favorite part about becoming Jane has been mastering her physicality. I think Jane is an "emu" and I have been working on embodying an emu for this character. Weird, I know...I am an actor.

When did you know that you wanted to be an actor? How did you get started?

I honestly have no idea when I knew that I wanted to be an actor. I think I just always have. My mom says that when I was little, people would ask me what I wanted to me when I grew up and my answer was, "Well, do you want to know what my parents want me to be when I grow up or do you want to know what I want to be when I grow up?" My answer was always "Actor." My grandmother got me started in actual theatre classes when I was about 10 years old. My grandmother has always supported my creative endeavors. I am so thankful for her.

This is a play that deals with – among other things – hoarding belongings. What’s one thing that you really should release from your own personal stash of objects?

I am more of a purger than a hoarder so I don't hang on to much. However, I won't let my mom throw out any of my old stuffed animal from childhood. I am not sure why...I feel their little button eyes looking at me like, "Please don't throw us out Madison, we love you." I just can't bear to get rid of them even though they take up space.

Who or what do you consider to have been your biggest creative influences to date?

I grew up watching Lucille Ball on I Love Lucy. She is one of my biggest idols. Her physical work is amazing as well as her personal story. I also love everyone on SNL. My dream is to be on that show one day!

We’d love for our audience to get to know your work a little more. Could you tell us a little bit about your last project?

My work with Mastodon has forced me to delve into the world of writing and producing. I wrote a seven-page script for one of our Pint Size Plays back in the summer of 2015, and a short screenplay for StagNation / Wide Eyed Productions' upcoming web series Bar Crossed Lovers. Seeing something that I wrote performed was magical. I loved it and am really trying to make writing a bigger part of me life.

Are you working on any additional projects at the moment? Is it something you can tell us about?

I am currently choreographing a dance piece for Mastodon's Evening of Pint Size Plays on 4/25. This yet to be titled dance piece will be featuring Katy Copeland and Becca Shulman. Rehearsals are scheduled to start on 4/8. I am nervous but so excited to create feeling through movement with my dancers. Dance has always been a big part of my life and as I get older, I have realized that I communicate best through movement. It is so exciting to know that there is a whole other creative world out there for me to explore. If you're reading this and you're free the evening of 4/25, come see "Untitled" at Mastodon's Evening of Pint Size Plays at The Barrow Group Theatre at 7pm!

Keep begins previews at The Barrow Group Theatre on April 7 and runs through April 30. Get your tickets here. Bar Crossed Lovers Episode 1 premieres on May 11. Stay tuned!

Meet the Cast: Leslie Marseglia (KEEP)

Leslie Marseglia is proud to be a guest artist with Wide Eyed. She graduated with an MFA in Acting from The New School for Drama, where favorite roles include Rosalind in As You Like It and Beth in the old forever new things. Other roles include: Mrs. Baines, Major Barbara (Brave New World Rep); Brenda, Leah in Vegas (Fringe NYC); and Miss Jessel, Turn of the Screw (Everyday Inferno). Leslie also holds a BFA from NYU, Tisch School of the Arts. www.lesliemarseglia.com

You’ll be performing in the upcoming world-premiere production of Keep, which we are co-producing with Mastodon Theatre Company.  Can you tell us a little bit about the character you’ll be playing, and your favorite thing about this role? (No spoilers!)

I’m playing Margo, the third of four sisters. While I don’t have any sisters of my own, I think it is really interesting to explore the complexities of female relationships and the way loyalties shift by the minute. I also like that Margo is outwardly much more unapologetic than I am; I hope to push myself a little further down that path. 

This is a play that deals with – among other things – hoarding belongings. What’s one thing that you really should release from your own personal stash of objects? 

I probably hang on to clothes I don’t love, wearing them longer than I should...I’m always convinced my opinion might change...it usually doesn’t. :) 

When did you know that you wanted to be an actor? How did you get started? 

I’ve really wanted to act since I saw The Sound of Music in second grade; I really wanted to be Julie Andrews. Luckily, I learned that you don’t have to be able to sing well to be an actor (though it’s still a skill I wish I had!). 

Who or what do you consider to have been your biggest creative influences to date? 

I’ve been so, so lucky to have studied with so many wonderful teachers, during both my undergrad and graduate training, and I think I’ve really pulled a little something from all of them. I’ve also been blessed with opportunities to work with actors and directors, both in and out of school, who have created a safe environment to explore. I feel like an open, supportive room is key. Otherwise, I feel my biggest lesson always comes down to be specific and take the risk to really be myself. Wow, that sounds super cheesy...

We’d love for our audience to get to know your work a little more. Could you tell us a little bit about your last project? 

The last stage project I worked on was called The Basement Plays, co-produced by The Barrow Group and Anthropological Theatricals. In this piece I actually was part of an ensemble of clowns (we appeared on stage in nose). It was a really interesting experiment for me to combine the theatrical clown work I’d experienced in a class setting with the necessary recreation/repetition required in performance. 

Are you working on any additional projects at the moment? Is it something you can tell us about? 

I recently shot a small part in two different student films, which are both currently being edited. I’ll also be participating in Writopia Lab’s World Wide Plays festival in May, which showcases the work of playwrights from ages 8-18.

Keep begins previews at The Barrow Group Theatre on April 7 and runs through April 30. Get your tickets here.

Meet the Cast: Kim Krane (KEEP)

Kim Krane is a co-founder of Mastodon Theatre Company, a production company dedicated to fostering the work of emerging artists. With Mastodon, she recently produced Pint Size Plays, an evening that included nine new works with a company of 22 writers, directors and actors. NY credits include: Emily Weldon in Butcher (Harold Clurman Lab Theatre), Simone in Elemeno Pea (Access Theatre), The Lost Girl in The Mirror Show (NY Fringe) and Karin in Die Kleinen (Access Theatre). She works for New York Shakespeare Exchange with ShakesBEER as an actor, director and producer, and has performed such roles as Juliet, Ophelia, Beatrice, Helena and more during her time with them. She has performed with Amios’ Shotz at the Kraine Theatre and Off-Broadway on Theatre Row as part of Athena Writes with Athena Theatre. Favorite regional credits include: Virginia Galilei in The Life of Galileo (Cleveland Play House), Anna in A Bright New Boise (DOBAMA Theatre) and Alice in Closer (Knockabout Theatre). Kim is a graduate of the Case Western Reserve/Cleveland Play House MFA Acting program. www.kimkrane.com

You’ll be performing in the upcoming world-premiere production of Keep, which we are co-producing with Mastodon Theatre Company. How are rehearsals going? Can you tell us a little bit about the character you’ll be playing, and your favorite thing about this role? (No spoilers!)

Naomi is the youngest sister and she's a hoarder, though I don't think she would call herself that. She’s very different from me, so finding a way into understanding how she operates has been incredibly challenging. It's one of those roles that stretches your understanding of humanity. She's unique, smart and feels misunderstood.

Rehearsals have been great! To me, the set is the fifth character of the play and we've been only imagining it so far, so I cannot wait to get on the stage and really discover Naomi's space.

This is a play that deals with – among other things – hoarding belongings. What’s one thing that you really should release from your own personal stash of objects?

Clothes! I have too many. I'm always waiting for them to come back in style. Also, sentimental possessions like old programs, ticket stubs, things that remind me of people I love or a great time. I recently watched one of my best friends originate a role on Broadway and couldn't bring myself to throw away the ticket as I was cleaning my room, just today. And there's more where that comes from. Old scripts, sides...I have so many. Once this show closes, I'm going to do a major purge!

When did you know that you wanted to be an actor? How did you get started?

Kalamazoo has a large community theater scene that really fosters their young artists. I went through a stretch going into my senior year of consistently being in shows and when it came to an end and the next show wasn't on the horizon I was devastated. I realized then that if something fulfilled me that much, it was worth pursuing, against the odds.

Who or what do you consider to have been your biggest creative influences to date?

So many. Everyone I meet, what I read, what I see, my friends, my family. I have had so many amazing teachers along the way. Mark Liermann was my directing professor at Western Michigan University and his passion for story telling is so effusive. He has an ability to make you feel like what we are doing has the capacity to change the world. It was actually talking about his class that was the first time Jenna, Madison (the co-founders of Mastodon, also performing in Keep) and I talked about producing our own work.

Ross Williams is the artistic director and founder of New York Shakespeare Exchange and he was incredibly helpful when we started Mastodon and continues to be a huge support. Sarah Nedwek started a company called Partly Cloudy People, and early in my time living here I saw a production she had produced and starred in and the work was so high caliber. I couldn't believe what she had put up in New York City. It seemed impossible. These examples of people generating work (and their are many more) helped inspire the creation of Mastodon.

We’d love for our audience to get to know your work a little more. Could you tell us a little bit about your last project?

Recently I went to Bryan, Texas with New York Shakespeare Exchange to perform with ShakesBEER, NYC's original Shakespearean pub crawl. I have been producing and performing with ShakesBEER for the past two years, it's very close to my heart, so it was wonderful to share it with a different part of the country! I also recently filmed Sonnet 110 for The Sonnet Project, another facet of New York Shakespeare Exchange.

I also regularly perform with Amios' Shotz, which is a monthly pressure cooker that presents six new shorts plays the first Monday of every month at The Kraine Theater. Recently they expanded four of the short pieces from Shotz and a different one each Monday of March. I was lucky enough to be in "The Loneliest Number" by Lizzie Vieh under the direction of Maria Dizzia. It was one of those 'pinch me' moments. (I'm a huge, huge Sarah Ruhl fan.)

Are you working on any additional projects at the moment? Is it something you can tell us about?

Besides Shotz and ShakesBEER nothing is currently on the horizon, my focus has been on this role! Once we get Keep up and running, we will have to decide what Mastodon's next move is. We've got a couple ideas we're tossing around, but nothing is finalized. Once we know, we'll share it with you all. Stay tuned!

Keep begins previews at The Barrow Group Theatre on April 7 and runs through April 30. Get your tickets here.

Meet the Director: Stephanie C. Cunningham (KEEP)

Stephanie C. Cunningham received her MFA in Directing from The New School for Drama. As a director, her work focuses on text with heightened language, the re-imagining of classical texts, and the development of new work. As an educator and director of youth programs, she promotes theatre education that can extend beyond production to become an accessible art form and tool for change in a community. She is based in New York City. www.stephanieccunningham.com

You are directing the world-premiere production of Keep, which we are co-producing with Mastodon Theatre Company. What drew you to want to direct this particular play?

This play drew me in hard and fast for a few reasons. When I first read it, I was fascinated and could not imagine the challenges and emotional taxation on the victims and the families of someone with a hoarding disorder. Since researching the condition and interviewing hoarders, my empathy for people with this condition has exploded. The second thing that attracted me was the poetry of Francesca Pazniokas' text, especially toward the end. It is beautiful and so rhythmic. It actually got stuck in my head at one point, worse than a Spice Girl’s song. Third: the characters - these women - are just human. Their gender is not the reason for their existence in a work of art, and that always makes this feminist director a very happy camper. 

How are rehearsals going? Can you tell us a little bit about how you’ve chosen to approach the process? Has it been similar or different to other pieces you have recently worked upon?

Rehearsals for this piece have been quite a challenge in a great way. The space of Naomi’s home is such an important character, and so hard to get a sense of when in an almost blank rehearsal room. Trying to understand the space - and how all of the women interact with it differently - has been an act of imagination gymnastics for the cast and myself to this point, but it has been really fun. My instincts as a director tend towards simplifying action and streamlining storytelling. In this production, those things are not one and the same. The more interactions these characters have with the space, the clearer their stories become. For instance, we had our first rehearsal with pizza yesterday, and let me tell you…that was a wonderful mess that was clarifying for everyone, I think. 

In addition to being the director for this production, you are Wide Eyed’s Associate Artistic Director and recently received your MFA in Directing from The New School. When did you know that you wanted to be a director? How did you get started? 

I wanted to be an actor first but...I was real bad. I couldn’t keep my thoughts on one place or intention. I was thinking about everything; the lights, stage movement, the scene I had just left, what was coming up next. I did not have the skill to stay present and truthful in the moment. 

Luckily, I had some wonderful teachers who not only told me I was a bad actor, but that I might be a good director. When I got home from my classical actor training in London, I dove right into directing, starting with community theatre and teaching high school drama. From there, it was just moving to bigger places - Boston and New York - and finding people that I knew I wanted to make theatre with. 

Where are you drawing some of your creative energy currently? 

If you had asked me this yesterday, I probably would have given a different answer. Right now, I am totally obsessed with the Roman republic and how it mirrors the formation of our own government. My husband is an English teacher, and his students are currently working on Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. He and I have been talking a great deal about the Roman understanding of power and how that may or may not relate to the current hearts and minds of the American people. It’s hard not to sense the tension this year with elections and looking at what people perceive as “greatness.” Also, iced tea. I get a lot of energy from that stuff. 

We’d love for our audience to get to know your work a little more. Could you tell us a little bit about your last project? 

The last full production I directed was Sam Byron’s Butcher (coincidentally, a finalist year before last in our Wide Eyed WINKS staged reading series) at Stella Adler Studios. It was a beast. We had this giant Greek tragedy of a play in this tiny room. It was gory and raw and intense all the way through. It was a wonderful process, and was very fruitful for me in terms of working a naturalistic style that I had not been exercising recently. It also made it so I couldn’t eat meat for a little while... 

Are you working on any additional projects at the moment? Is it something you can tell us about? 

Once Keep is up and running, I’m set to direct a production of Buyer and Cellar in California with The Mendocino Theatre Company this summer, and will be working on a few development readings and workshops here in the city. It will also be finals time at The New School soon, which means you will most likely find me in my living room trying to shoo my cats off of assignments I need to grade. 

Keep begins previews at The Barrow Group Theatre on April 7 and runs through April 30. Get your tickets here.