| ENSEMBLE STUDIO THEATRE CASTING FOR HAVE YOU MET JANE GOODALL AND HER MOTHER? MARCH 5-30 | |
| Posted by: Official_Press_Release 05:10 pm EST 01/27/25 | |
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| ENSEMBLE STUDIO THEATRE AND ALFRED P. SLOAN FOUNDATION ANNOUNCE CASTING FOR HAVE YOU MET JANE GOODALL AND HER MOTHER? MARCH 5-30 NEW COMEDY COMMISSIONED AND DEVELOPED THROUGH THE EST/SLOAN PROJECT CELEBRATING 25th ANNIVERSARY THIS YEAR (New York, NY – January 27, 2025) Ensemble Studio Theatre (Estefanía Fadul and Graeme Gillis, Co-Artistic Directors) and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation (Doron Weber, Vice President and Program Director) will continue the 56th season at EST with a world premiere new comedy HAVE YOU MET JANE GOODALL AND HER MOTHER? by Michael Walek, an alumni of the theatre’s Youngblood playwrights program. The play is commissioned and developed through the EST/Sloan Project, which is celebrating the 25th Anniversary of the partnership between EST and The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation this season. HAVE YOU MET JANE GOODALL AND HER MOTHER? will run March 5 to March 30, with an official press opening on Thursday, March 13 at EST’s long-time home at 545 West 52nd Street. Directed by the Program Director of the EST/Sloan Project and EST Member Artist Linsay Firman, the cast will feature Brittany K. Allen, Jordan Donaldson, Kristin Griffith, Tommy Heleringer, and Rami Margron. The Tanzanian government allowed Jane Goodall to study chimpanzees in the wild under one condition - she must bring a chaperone. So, Jane invited her mother. HAVE YOU MET JANE GOODALL AND HER MOTHER? received an EST/Sloan Project new play commission in 2018 and has been developed, workshopped, and presented in the First Light festival on its journey toward getting a full production. The world premiere will feature scenic design by Tanya Orellana; costume design by Suzanne Chesney; lighting design by Reza Behjat; sound design by Kathy Ruvuna; props design by Thomas Jenkeleit, and puppet design by Lake Simons. Pamela Salling will be Production Stage Manager and Clarissa Mota will be Assistant Stage Manager. Casting was handled by Calleri Jensen Davis. "Since I joined Youngblood, Ensemble Studio Theatre has been my artistic home in New York City, and the Sloan Foundation has provided amazing support for this play. I am incredibly honored to have my New York City playwriting debut on the EST stage. If only I could go back and tell my very nervous 20-year-old self as he walked up the stairs for the first time to interview with RJ and Graeme,” said Playwright Michael Walek. "We are delighted to continue this landmark partnership with Ensemble Studio Theatre, which has helped make the science play an integral part of the theater canon,” said Doron Weber, Vice President and Program Director at the Sloan Foundation. "This pioneering collaboration has resulted in the commissioning, development and production of over 300 plays, including the brilliant and witty new play Have You Met Jane Goodall and Her Mother? about the renowned primatologist Jane Goodall, the world’s foremost expert on chimpanzees. We are grateful to EST’s tremendous pool of talent, its resourcefulness and indefatigable energy, and its willingness to experiment and take risks as one of America’s leading developmental theater companies.” HAVE YOU MET JANE GOODALL AND HER MOTHER? runs March 5-30 with performances Wednesday through Monday. Tickets are $30 for general admission, $40 for reserved seating, and $25 for students and seniors. $20 early bird pricing for all performances is available through March 4. Ensemble Studio Theatre (EST) is located at 545 West 52nd Street. For more information, visit www.estnyc.org. ARTISTIC BIOS: MICHAEL WALEK (Playwright) is a playwright based in New York City. He is a proud alumnus of Youngblood, EST’s emerging playwrights collective. His first play, The Bookstore, recently received its world premiere at New Jersey Repertory Company. Have You Met Jane Goodall and Her Mother? was commissioned by the EST/Sloan Project. It is his second play. LINSAY FIRMAN (Director) is Director of Play Development at EST, and Program Director of the EST/Sloan Project. At EST, she has directed the world premiere of plays by Lucas Hnath and Anna Ziegler, as well as EST Marathon plays by Rachel Bonds, Garrett M. Brown, Darcy Fowler, and José Rivera. Other productions at Cleveland Playhouse, The Hangar Theatre, Ma-Yi Theatre, Chester Theatre, Keen Company, and chashama. Linsay began working on new play development as the Associate Director of Soho Rep, where she was a founder and chair of Soho Rep’s Writer/Director Lab. Alumna of the Women’s Project Director’s Lab, the New Dramatists’ Resident Director Program, and multiple programs at The Lark. M.F.A. from CalArts. BRITTANY K. ALLEN is an actor, writer, and proud Youngblood alumna. Recent New York credits include A Woman Among Women (Bushwick Starr/New Georges), Deep Blue Sound (Clubbed Thumb), and The Good John Proctor (Bedlam Theatre). Last season at EST, she starred in the New York premiere of her own play, Redwood (Kilroys List, Audelco Nominee) in a role she originated at Portland Center Stage. She's a company member of Colt Coeur, and has developed new plays with EST, Manhattan Theatre Club, Atlantic Theater, NYSAF, The Civilians, Clubbed Thumb, and The Playwrights Realm, among other places. JORDAN DONALDSON is an African-American actor, filmmaker, and illustrator with a passion for finding new mediums to tell stories. Originally from Tennessee, Donaldson moved to New York where he studied acting in Pace University’s BFA Acting program. Post grad he was fortunate enough to work on new works and workshops like This Stretch of Montpelier, The Last Slave in America, and The Bridge. Donalson wishes to thank his family and friends for their continued support and is grateful to be a part of the cast of Have You Met Jane Goodall and Her Mother? KRISTIN GRIFFITH Her New York theatre credits include: Lewiston/Clarkston (Rattlestick); Animal, Jody’s Mother, Perry Street, Bottom of the World (Atlantic Theatre); The Fatal Weakness (Drama Desk nomination for Best Actress), Mary Broome, The Charity that Begins at Home, Mr. Pim Passes By (The Mint); Da, The Master Builder, It’s a Wonderful Life, Ernest in Love (Irish Rep); Bethany, The Most Deserving (The Women’s Project); & Stretch: A Fantasia (New Georges). TV: "The Girl from Plainville”, "Full Circle”, "East New York”, "The Good Fight”, "Succession”, "Archive 81”, "Law & Order” (all franchises), & "Blue Bloods”. Film: The Reckoning XI, The Devil All the Time, & Things Heard & Seen. TOMMY HELERINGER is an actor and writer. Acting credits include Which Way to the Stage (Short North), I Wanna Fucking Tear You Apart (Studio Theatre), This Space Between Us (Keen Company), The Rafa Play (The Pool), Minor Character (New Saloon), O, Earth (The Foundry), Losing Tom Pecinka (Morgan Gould & Friends), Silver Men (EST), Warhol’s Son (Wythe Hotel), Vieux Carré (P-town Tennessee Williams Festival), Last Gas (Opera House Arts), and Thursday (Williamstown). Film/TV: Throuple, Tu Me Manques, Gayby, "The Outs," "Whatever this is." RAMI MARGRON was raised at circus camp and steeped in dance of the African diaspora. Off-B'way: Angry Young Man (Urban Stages); Shake and Bake: Love’s Labour's Lost. Regional: Actor’s Theater of Louisville, The Old Globe, Berkeley Rep, Huntington Theater, People’s Light, Two River, Pittsburgh Public Theatre, Cal Shakes, La Jolla Playhouse, Magic Theatre, Shotgun Players, Crowded Fire, Marin Theatre Co. TV: "Manifest,” "New Amsterdam,” "For Life,” "FBI,” "Bull," "High Maintenance," "Ray Donovan," "That Damn Michael Che,” "Extrapolations,” "Law and Order,” "Wedding Season,” & "Bedlam the Series.” BIOS: The EST/Sloan Project (Linsay Firman, Program Director), a pioneering collaboration between the Ensemble Studio Theatre and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, is designed to stimulate artists to create credible and compelling new theatrical works that explore the worlds of science, technology, and economics and to challenge existing stereotypes of scientists and engineers in popular culture. Since its inception in 1998, the EST/Sloan Project has commissioned, developed, and produced over 300 staged plays involving over 1,000 playwrights, actors, choreographers, composers, and theatre companies nationwide. Recent notable plays include Las Borinqueñas by Nelson Diaz-Marcano, Smart by Mary Elizabeth Hamilton, what you are now by Sam Chanse, Behind the Sheet by Charly Evon Simpson, Isaac's Eye by Lucas Hnath, Fast Company by Carla Ching, and Photograph 51 by Anna Ziegler. Ensemble Studio Theatre (Estefanía Fadul and Graeme Gillis, Co-Artistic Directors) is a Hell’s Kitchen-based, Off-Broadway theatre focused on the development of new work and voices since its founding by Curt Dempster in 1968. For over 55 years, EST has developed thousands of new American plays and has grown into a company of over 600 actors, directors, playwrights, designers, and stage managers. EST's mission is to develop and produce original, provocative, and authentic new work. A dynamic community committed to a collaborative process, EST is dedicated to inclusion across all aspects of identity and perspective, including but not limited to race, ethnicity, gender, age, religion, sexuality, physical or mental ability, physical or mental health, and recovery, while acknowledging and working to end systemic marginalization and oppression at all levels of its organization. EST discovers and nurtures new voices and supports artists throughout their creative lives. This extraordinary support and commitment to inclusivity are essential to yield extraordinary work. The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation is a New York–based, philanthropic, not-for-profit institution that makes grants research in science, technology, and economics; quality and diversity of scientific institutions; and public engagement with science. Sloan’s program in Public Understanding of Science and Technology, directed by Doron Weber, supports books, radio, film, television, theater and new media to reach a wide, non-specialized audience and to bridge the two cultures of science and the humanities. The Foundation has an active theater program and commissions about 20 science plays each year from the Ensemble Studio Theatre, Manhattan Theatre Club, and the National Theatre in London, while supporting select productions across the country and abroad. The Foundation’s pioneering theater program began with a 1997 grant to Ensemble Studio Theatre for Arthur Giron’s play about the Wright Brothers, Flight, and has helped usher in the science play as a regular part of the theater canon, making Sloan a coveted commission for any playwright engaging with a science and technology theme or character. Beginning with such renowned science plays as David Auburn’s Proof, Michael Frayn’s Copenhagen, and Alan Alda’s QED, recent grants from Sloan’s Theater Program have supported Nelson Diaz-Marcano’s Las Borinqueñas, Mary Elizabeth Hamilton's Smart, Mark Rylance’s Dr. Semmelweis, Anchuli Felicia King’s Golden Shield, Sam Chanse’s what you are now, Charly Evon Simpson’s Behind the Sheet, Lucy Kirkwood’s Mosquitoes, Chiara Atik’s Bump, Nick Payne’s Constellations, Lucas Hnath’s Isaac’s Eye, Anna Ziegler’s Photograph 51, Leigh Fondakowski’s Spill, and Bess Wohl’s Continuity. The Foundation has also supported a 32-play radio series through L.A. Theatre Works. For more information about the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, please visit www.sloan.org or follow the Foundation at @SloanPublic on Twitter and Facebook. Ensemble Studio Theatre (EST) is located at 545 West 52nd Street. For more information, visit www.estnyc.org. |
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