| A MOTHER, a new play written by Neena Beber and co-conceived by Beber and Jessica Hecht, at Baryshnikov Arts | |
| Posted by: Official_Press_Release 01:36 pm EST 01/28/25 | |
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| BARYSHNIKOV ARTS ANNOUNCES 20th ANNIVERSARY SPRING SEASON A MOTHER WRITTEN BY NEENA BEBER CO-CONCEIVED BY BEBER & JESSICA HECHT FEATURING JESSICA HECHT DIRECTED BY MARIA MILEAF WITH MUSIC DIRECTION AND PERFORMANCE BY MUSTAPHA KHAN, KENNY VAUGHAN, NORMAN BURNS MARCH 29–APRIL 13 SISSY WRITTEN, CHOREOGRAPHED, DIRECTED BY CELIA ROWLSON-HALL FEATURING CHRISTOPHER ABBOTT, IDA SAKI, ALIA SHAWKAT, MARISA TOMEI APRIL 24–26 VIVALDI'S THE FOUR SEASONS WITH THE ORCHESTRA OF ST. LUKE'S CELEBRATING 20 YEARS OF BARYSHNIKOV ARTS AND 50 YEARS OF OSL MAY 8 (January 28, 2025 – New York, NY)—Baryshnikov Arts, founded in 2005 by Artistic Director Mikhail Baryshnikov, will kick off its 20th Anniversary Spring Season with A MOTHER, a new play written by Neena Beber and co-conceived by Beber and Jessica Hecht, at Baryshnikov Arts, 450 W. 37th Street. Directed by Maria Mileaf with choreography by Shura Baryshnikov and musical direction by Mustapha Khan, A MOTHER will begin performances Saturday, March 29 and run through Sunday, April 13, with an official press opening on Monday, April 7. The cast features Jessica Hecht, Zane Pais, Portia Johnson, Delilah Napier, and others to be announced. A MOTHER is a groundbreaking theatrical event that not only pays homage to Bertolt Brecht's powerful, seldom-performed play, but also breathes new life into it through a contemporary lens. Part documentary, part autobiography, part disco, this production is an evocative and personal journey conceived by long-time collaborators Hecht and Beber. Through a multilayered approach, combining heartfelt storytelling and a soaring blend of disco, gospel, reggae, and Jewish music, led by music director Mustapha Khan, the play creates a visceral experience of loss, resilience, and transformation. A Mother is set against the vibrant backdrop of 1970s/80s Miami and places the protagonist Jess' story of first love in the broader historical context of the race riots following Arthur Lee McDuffie's murder by police officers. (Run time will be approx. 100 minutes with no intermission.) A MOTHER will feature music by Composers Mustapha Khan, William Kenneth Vaughan, and Norman (Skip) Burns with Music Direction by Khan. Set design will be by Neil Patel; costume design by Katherine Roth; and lighting design by Matthew Richards. The show is produced in partnership with producers Lana Russell and Susan Kaplan in association with The Orchard Project, which supported A MOTHER in its labs in 2020. In April, Baryshnikov Arts will present SISSY, a modern-day reimagining of Sisyphus written, choreographed, and directed by Celia Rowlson-Hall. For three performances only, SISSY will play April 24–26 at 7:00 PM. The cast features Christopher Abbott, Ida Saki, Alia Shawkat and Marisa Tomei with dancers Jesse Kovarsky, Nando Morland, Aliza Russell, and Jacob Thoman. SISSY is a modern-day reimagining of Sisyphus, expressed through dance and explored from a female perspective, taking place between the worlds of a theater and a miles-long rock quarry. But this isn't just any woman, and this isn't just any rock—it is a rock by day, the moon by night, and a disco ball for special occasions. And each day Sissy must push it up the giant quarry which becomes deeper and more vast every time we extract more of the earth away. Not to mention, she's pregnant. As Sissy's belly grows, so does the story, and the dance weaves the imaginary world of SISSY into the real-life world of the theaters' performers and its director, a new mother grappling with caring for her ill father and her baby boy. This piece beautifully and creatively explores the Sisyphean tasks and challenges of motherhood, being an artist, a performer, a daughter—and how our approach to them is the only thing within our control. With overlapping worlds where the imaginary and the real struggle for attention—SISSY is part dance, part theater, and part personal essay with elements of film—it is a beautiful beast of its own making and expression. (Run time: approx. 70 minutes, no intermission.) The final show of the spring Anniversary Season will be an evening-length immersive co-production celebrating two milestone anniversaries of Baryshnikov Arts and the Orchestra of St. Luke's—20 and 50 years, respectively—on Thursday, May 8 at 7:00 PM. This unique world premiere, a co-production with Baryshnikov Arts and the Orchestra of St. Luke's, will feature Vivaldi's iconic THE FOUR SEASONS interspersed with recorded sounds of nature, Angélica Negrón's Marejada, and Anna Clyne's Woman Holding a Balance, with lighting design by Jennifer Tipton, a MacArthur fellow and one of the most renowned designers for dance, opera, and theater. "We are excited to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Baryshnikov Arts supporting the visions of multidisciplinary artists. For two decades, we have championed creative freedom and presented innovative new works, welcoming a passionate community of artists and art enthusiasts. Please join us this season as we honor our past and move into the future," said Mikhail Baryshnikov, Founder and Artistic Director of Baryshnikov Arts. SELECT BIOS: CHRISTOPHER ABBOTT (Actor, SISSY) is currently in production on the highly anticipated limited series adaptation of John Steinbeck's novel EAST OF EDEN for Netflix. He will star opposite Florence Pugh and Mike Faist for director Garth Davis and writer/showrunner Zoe Kazan. Up next, audiences will see Abbott transform into Universal's iconic horror monster WOLF MAN directed by Leigh Whannell, produced by Blumhouse and also featuring Julia Garner. He most recently starred in Yorgos Lanthimos' Oscar-nominated feature POOR THINGS with Emma Stone, Willem Dafoe and Mark Ruffalo, Justin Anderson's film adaptation of Deborah Levy's Man Booker Prize-nominated novel SWIMMING HOME alongside Ariane Labed, Mackenzie Davis and Nadine Labaki, and Christopher Andrews' BRING THEM DOWN opposite Barry Keoghan, which just premiered at TIFF and sold to MUBI. Other feature credits include Zachary Wigon's SANCTUARY opposite Margaret Qualley (premiered at Toronto International Film Festival in 2022, where it sold to NEON), Jerrod Carmichael's directorial debut ON THE COUNT OF THREE (premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2021, where it sold to Annapurna), John Michael McDonagh's THE FORGIVEN opposite Ralph Fiennes (premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2021), and Mona Fastvold's THE WORLD TO COME with Katherine Waterston, Casey Affleck, and Vanessa Kirby (premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2020), among others. In 2015, he was named by Variety as one of the "10 Actors to Watch" following his portrayal of the title role in Josh Mond's award-winning film JAMES WHITE. His performance garnered Abbott "Best Actor" nominations from both the Independent Spirit and Gotham Awards. In 2023, Christopher starred in an Off-Broadway revival of John Patrick Shanley's play DANNY AND THE DEEP BLUE SEA with Aubrey Plaza at the Lucille Lortel Theatre. He made his Broadway debut in John Guare's THE HOUSE OF BLUE LEAVES. Abbott was also nominated for a Golden Globe Award in the "Best Actor" category for his lead role in Hulu's limited series adaptation of Joseph Heller's classic novel CATCH-22 directed by George Clooney. SHURA BARYSHNIKOV (Choreographer for A Mother) is a New England–based artist who works broadly across dance, theater, and opera. Recent credits include projects at Hartford Stage Company, Trinity Repertory Company, Boston Lyric Opera, FirstWorks, Emmanuel Music, Motion State Arts, The Gamm Theatre, Odyssey Opera, and the Contemporary American Theater Festival, among others. Baryshnikov directed Svadba, a cinematic opera for Boston Lyric Opera, which received the award for Artistic Creation at the 2nd Annual OPERA America Awards for Digital Excellence in Opera in 2023. Baryshnikov is an Associate Professor of the Practice at Brown University in the Department of Theatre Arts and Performance Studies where she has held a full-time appointment since 2017 and has also instructed at Dean College, Connecticut College, and MIT. Both a performer and a designer, Baryshnikov is a member of Actors' Equity Association, the American Guild of Musical Artists, and the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society. NEENA BEBER (Writer/Co-Conceiver for A Mother). Her plays include Jump/Cut, A Foreign Body, The Dew Point, Hard Feelings, Tomorrowland, A Common Vision, The Brief but Exemplary Life of the Living Goddess (as told by herself) and the short plays Specter and Misreadings. Most recent: Kate Suspended (National Playwrights Conference at The O'Neill Center; libretto for Rutka (Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park) and Iphigenia (operetta, composer Anthony Brandt). Recipient of an Obie grant, a Lilly Award, the L. Arnold Weissberger New Play Award, a Sloan Commission and a MacDowell Fellowship. A two-time Emmy nominee, she has written extensively for film and television (most recently, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel). Neena was born and raised in Miami, Florida and holds a B.A. magna cum laude from Harvard University where she specialized in Latin American literature and an M.F.A from N.Y.U.'s Tisch School of the Arts, where she was a Paulette Goddard Fellow. A member of the BMI Lehman Engel Advanced Musical Theatre Workshop, her lyrics are featured in work by frequent collaborator Jaime Lozano. An alumna of New Dramatists, Neena has taught at Columbia University, mentored at Reel Works, and sits on the Advisory Board of The Orchard Project. JESSICA HECHT (Actor/Co-Conceiver for A Mother). Her Broadway credits include Eureka Day and Summer, 1976 (Tony Nomination) The Price, Fiddler on the Roof, The Assembled Parties, Harvey, After the Fall, The Last Night of Ballyhoo, Brighton Beach Memoirs, Julius Caesar, and A View from the Bridge (Tony Nomination). Off-Broadway, she has appeared in King Lear, Stage Kiss, Three Sisters, The Orchard, Letters from Max, and Admissions (Obie Award & Outer Critics Circle Award Nomination). Her recent television appearances include the Netflix series Special, for which she received an Emmy Award nomination, and her roles on Tokyo Vice, Super Pumped, The Sinner, The Loudest Voice, Dickinson, The Boys, and Succession. She is also recognizable to television audiences from her roles in the beloved series Friends and Breaking Bad. She recently completed the film Eleanor the Great directed by Scarlett Johansson. Jessica teaches acting at both Williams College and the HB Playwright's Studio. She founded the Campfire Project in 2017 and has worked with refugee communities in camps worldwide. She maintains programming in both NYC and at the Palorinya Settlement in Moyo Town, Uganda. MUSTAPHA KHAN (Musical Director and Composer for A Mother) is an Emmy Award–winning songwriter, producer and filmmaker. He has penned and produced dozens of original songs for Sesame Street and other childrens' television shows, as well as for commercials. His original music and collaborative creative process is featured in the documentary Song For Our People, streaming now on Amazon Prime. His directing credits include the films: Rocksteady, Life and Breath, House on Fire, Step to the Future and the aforementioned Song For Our People. Khan is a graduate of Harvard University and a Film Professor at Brooklyn College. MARIA MILEAF (Director for A Mother) is a NY-based director whose directing credits include Neena Beber's Tomorrowland at New Georges and her Hard Feelings for WP Theatre/New Georges;, Kira Obolensky's Lobster Alice at Playwrights Horizons (with Jessica Hecht), Jessica Dickey's The Rembrandt at TheaterWorks Hartford; Kwame Kwei Armah's Let There Be Love at Penguin Rep; Lee Blessings' Body of Water and Sharon Washington's Feeding the Dragon at Primary Stages; Dawn Saito's HA at DTW, Vijay Tendulkar's Sakharam Binder for the Play Company; Oren Safdie's Gratitude at Urban Stages; Courtney Baron's Here I Lie for Summer Shorts @ 59E59 and Alexandra Gersten-Vasillaros' The Argument at The Vineyard. Regionally, Mileaf's directing work has been seen at New York Stage and Film, The Old Globe, Philadelphia Theatre Company where she won a Barrymore Award for Outstanding Direction, Williamstown Theatre Festival and The Geffen. On the West End, Maria directed Glen Berger's Underneath the Lintel. CELIA ROWLSON-HALL (Writer, Choreographer, Director for SISSY) is a multidisciplinary artist who blends narrative storytelling, modern dance, and film – creating a genre all her own. Her most recent work, the film installation First Snow, was selected by Times Square Arts for their December 2022 Midnight Moment, the largest digital art installation in the world. Celia can also currently be seen playing opposite Paul Mescal as Adult Sophie in award-season favorite Aftersun (A24), in which she also choreographed the final scene. A Bessie Award Winning performer, Celia began her career as a professional dancer but quickly transitioned to choreographing for film and television. After an early collaboration with Gaspar Noé, and three seasons of "GIRLS" with Lena Dunham, Vogue Magazine dubbed Celia "choreographer of the moment." When not creating her own films, Celia is a prolific and widely sought after choreographer, Smile 2 (Paramount), Merv (Amazon), The Drama (A24), After Yang (A24), X (A24), Birds of Paradise (Amazon), Chapter One of Vox Lux (Neon), and The Fits (Oscilloscope). Her recent TV work includes HBO's "The Staircase," two seasons of Ziwe (Showtime), John Mulaney's Sack Lunch Bunch (Netflix), and The Other Two (HBO Max). She has also choreographed music videos for artists Alicia Keys, Coldplay, Bleachers, MGMT, Romy, and many others. Celia's debut feature, MA, which she wrote, directed, choreographed, and starred in, premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2015. It went on to play at over 40 festivals worldwide, winning numerous awards, including the Breakthrough Audience Award at AFI Film Festival. Celia's vast body of short form work has garnered a variety of awards, including an Emmy nomination, and have screened at festivals such as Sundance, Venice, SXSW, SFIFF, Dance on Camera at Lincoln Center, and art fairs such as the Armory Show, Performa, and the New Museum. In 2017, Celia was selected to create the latest installment of the Miu Miu Women's Tales series, going on to premiere at the Venice Film Festival. And in 2020, her short film, Swamp Lake, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival as part of the omnibus feature Omniboat: A Fast Boat Fantasia. IDA SAKI (Dancer, SISSY)—Originally from Dallas, Texas, Ida Saki trained at Dance Industry Performing Arts Center and Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing & Visual Arts. She furthered her studies at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts and soon after, became a closing member of Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet after dancing with them from 2011-2015. She has performed in the shows Ars Nova's The Lucky Ones, Andy Blankenbuehler's Only Gold, Sonya Tayeh's You'll Still Call Me By Name, and played Lady Macbeth as well as was a Rehearsal Director in Punchdrunk's Sleep No More. She was named one of Dance Magazine's Top 25 to Watch and awarded Modern Dance Winner by NFAA YoungArts where she was also named a Presidential Scholar of the Arts. Saki is the Assistant Choreographer and played Electra in the film, CATS. She is a featured dancer in Coldplay's music video Cry, Cry, Cry, Warner Brother's In The Heights, Netflix's Halston, and Hulu's upcoming Up Here, as well as was the Associate Choreographer on Amazon Studio's Birds of Paradise and A24's ZIWE. Saki is a co-founder of Dancer's Give Back Dallas, a non-profit raising funds for cancer research and patient support. She can be seen in Cabaret on Broadway. ALIA SHAWKAT (Actor, SISSY) is an actress, producer, writer, and artist. She is well known for her role of "Maeby Funke" on FOX's Emmy Award–winning cult comedy series "Arrested Development." For five seasons Shawkat starred in and produced the HBO Max critical acclaimed genre-bending mystery comedy "Search Party," and recently starred opposite Jeff Bridges and John Lithgow in the FX series, "The Old Man." She began her career at the age of 11 with her feature film debut as a young Iraqi child in David O. Russell's Three Kings opposite George Clooney. Shawkat can currently be seen in Zoe Kravitz's directorial debut for Amazon MGM Studio's Blink Twice. Her film credits include Drift, Aaron Sorkin's Being the Ricardos, the Academy Award–nominated short The Letter Room, Blaze directed by Ethan Hawke, Animals, Pee Wee's Big Holiday, Green Room, Mike Mill's 20th Century Women, The Intervention, Adam Green's Aladdin, The Final Girl Girls, Sebastian Silva's Nasty Baby (which she also co-produced), The Oranges, Cedar Rapids, Drew Barrymore's directorial debut Whip It and Amreeka. Shawkat also starred in the independent film Duck Butter, which she co-wrote with Miguel Arteta and executive produced alongside Arteta and the Duplass Brothers. The film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2018 where she was awarded Best Actress in a U.S. Narrative Feature Film. She was most recently seen in Atropia writer/director Haley Gales incisive satire premiering in the U.S. Dramatic competition at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. The film follows an aspiring actress (Shawkat) in a military role-playing facility who falls in love with a soldier (Callum Turner) cast as an insurgent, their unsimulated emotions threaten to derail the performance. MARISA TOMEI (Actor, SISSY)—The Rose Tattoo, The Realistic Joneses, Top Girls, Salome. Off-Broadway includes How to Transcend a Happy Marriage (Lincoln Center Theater). Marie and Bruce (The New Group); Oh, the Humanity and other Good Intentions (The Flea); Slavs! (NYTW). Demonology (Playwrights Horizon) and Dark Rapture (Second Stage). Regional includes We Won't Pay! We Won't Pay! (A.R.T.); Design for Living, Rocket to the Moon (WTF). Film includes Rebecca Miller's She Came To Me, My Cousin Vinny (Academy Award), The Wrestler (Academy Award nomination), In the Bedroom (Academy Award nomination), Love is Strange, The Big Short, & Spider-Man: Far From Home. Founding Member of the Naked Angels Theater Company. BARYSHNIKOV ARTS, founded in 2005 by Artistic Director Mikhail Baryshnikov, is rooted in the belief that artists hold irreplaceable roles in our world by shaping perspectives, offering new approaches, and initiating crucial conversations in complex social, political, and cultural environments. Their mission supports artistic freedom, providing multidisciplinary artists with opportunities for creative exploration and unique artistic expression, and allowing audiences to view the world in new ways. The organization is dedicated to inspiring, incubating, nurturing, and supporting courageous artists and adventurous audiences through residencies, community engagement, commissions, performances, production, and economic development. TICKETS: Tickets for the 20th Anniversary Season are on sale now at baryshnikovarts.org. Baryshnikov Arts is located at 450 W. 37th Street. All details subject to change. |
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