THE CREW

 

MS. K.S. STEVENS (Playwright / Producer) Ms. K.S. Stevens is a member of the Dramatists Guild of America & The WOW Collective. Most recently she produced and directed a showcase of her Asian American One Act Plays called Yellow Lens. She has been featured in the showcases “Cause and Effect” and “Ulterior Motives,” at the LGBT Center and the Wings Theatre. 

 

MS. SHENELLE EATON FOSTER (Director / Light & Sound Design ) Ms. Eaton Foster is a performing artist and activist. As a director/choreographer, she has staged productions at UC Berkeley, Delancey Street Foundation (SF), and WOW Café Theater (NYC).  As a dance/theater artist she has worked with Lorraine Hansberry Theatre and SJDC in San Francisco, Winifred Harris' Between Lines in Los Angeles, and The Movement Theater Company in New York.  Ms. Foster studied dance at the Ailey School and holds a master's degree in social work from Fordham University.  She was a fellow with the New York Academy of Medicine and served as 2007 NGO representative to the UN for INPEA.  

 

MS. DARYA GERASIMENKO (Set Designer) Ms. Gerasimenko is interested in all things theatre. She is an NYU graduate with a B.A. in dramatic literature and has credits that span most theatrical disciplines. From acting to stage managing to designing to directing, she lives and breathes dramatic arts. She  teaches Art and French at the Montessori School of Manhattan working with two to five years olds. She then goes home to a rambunctious two year old of her own. She hopes to pursue her M.A. in Directing and Design.

 

MS. NICOLETTE DIXON (Stage Manager / Sound Tech) Ms. Dixon is a theatre artist who would like to sincerely thank Shenelle and K.S. for this opportunity to seriously foray into stage managing; it's been a wonderful experience. She holds a B.A. in Theatre Arts from UC Santa Cruz and in a past life called herself an actor. Then she discovered directing, writing, clowning, burlesque, costumes, and stage managing. Some favorite projects of old include directing One Night Stand (San Diego New Perspectives Theatre Festival) and Marisol (UCSC). She performed in Peer Pressure Sketch Comedy (NYC) and The Good Person of Sezuan (UCSC). She was also the costume designer for Faustus (UCSC.) Ms. Dixon can currently be seen clowning around with The Giddy Multitude Vaudeville Co. at The Broadway Comedy Club.   

 

MS. KELLIE MECLEARY (Light Tech) Ms. Mecleary holds an M.A. in Performance Studies from NYU and a B.A. in Theatre and English from Goucher College. She has answered to playwright, director, dramaturg, stage manager, and choreographer . . . among other things!

 

THE CAST 

 

MS. ASHLEY BROCKINGTON (COREY / DRINA) Ms. Brockington is a producer of small theater & hostess extraordinaire. She co-curates The Cabaret Cataplexy, a show that features performance art, costume design & music within a community of emerging and evolving artists. She is also the creator of Black Girl Ugly, a meditation on Black Girlness & self-esteem, an annual performance project. One can find her hosting these and other cabarets around NYC. Ms. Brockington is a playwright, dancer, and one of these days she’s gonna bust out as a chanteuse with a comedic twist! She is committed to local community theater and is a proud member of both the WOW Café Theatre Collective and  the Rivers of Honey performance team.  

 

MS. GAYLE ROBBINS  (TEAGAN) Ms. Robbins is very excited to be performing in Butch Mamas! She is a graduate of a two-year acting conservatory and most recently she starred in a Pilot for A&E entitled "Police Women: Life with a Badge." Other credits include, "Italian American Reconciliation," "The Lower East Side Project" and "Hope & Faith."  When not on the stage, she entertains people as a Singing Telegram Performer and/or Barbra Streisand Impersonator.

 

LEA ROBINSON (ALMA)  Robinson is thrilled to be part of this wonderful cast and production! Robinson is a real life administrator by day, and a small town lesbian cop in the lesbian serial Room For Cream. Other performance projects include The Femme Show (www.thefemmeshow.com) and The Miscegenations Project (www.miscegenations.org). She is currently writing a solo performance about being a butch dyke and growing up queer on her Grandmother’s front porch in Kentucky. She was also selected as one of GO Magazine's “100 Women We Love: Class of 2009.” In a former life, she coached women's basketball for twelve years and played in a Final Four.

 

MS. MICIA MOSELY (JASPER) Ms. Mosely loves to make people laugh, think, and transform their lives. She uses improvisation, puppets, video, drumming, drag, power point, flip charts, lesbian processing ~ essentially whatever won’t get her arrested. Most recently she joined forces with Nursha Project (www.nurshaproject.com) & director Ms. Tamilla Woodard on a national tour of her one-woman show, Where My Girls At?, which has been nominated for the Innovative Theater Award. As a nationally acclaimed comedian, she performs her standup comedy and poetry all over the planet. She holds a Ph.D. in Education from U.C. Berkeley and travels as an educational and comedic-speaker with The Lecture Bureau (www.thelecturebureau.com). 

 

MS. JIN-XIANG “JX” YU (CASSIE) Ms. Yu was born in China and raised in Japan. She speaks four languages and is a multitalented musician. As a graduate of the American Musical and Dramatic Academy, her recent credits include the Harmonia Opera Company’s “Benefit Concert for Young Talent,” WalMart Live Industrial Host (Sue Percenter) and The Pajama Game (Mae). This November, Ms. Yu will be performing at the Merkin Concert Hall as the lead in a Japanese Opera premier. She will also perform at the Kennedy Center in February ‘10. 

 

MS. MINNA TAYLOR (ROBIN) Ms. Taylor is honored and excited to perform in the premier production of "Butch Mamas!" Since graduating from NYU Tisch in 2006, Ms. Taylor has worked continuously in the NYC theater scene, and participated in numerous short and feature length films. She recently graduated with her M.F.A. from Brooklyn College and is invigorated by the challenge of this play as her first post-grad production. Her most recent productions include Piece of my Heart and The Tempest, in which she portrayed a truly original “Prospero.”

 

MR. MICHAEL ABOURIZK (SHAY) Mr. Abourizk comes directly from The WOW Café Theatre’s bilingual production of The Maids, in which he portrayed “Madame.” Other Off/Off-Off Broadway: The Eight: Reindeer Monologues, Funeral!, The First Cigarette, The Trojan Women, Automatic Superstar. Regional: Milo Award recipient for The Lion in Winter (John), The Winter’s Tale, Brighton Beach Memoirs, Animals, La femme en morceaux, Clue, No, No Nanette, Mame. Readings & Workshops: When You Die, You Go to Target, Performing Arthur. Mr. Abourizk holds a B.A. from New York University. 

 

MS. REBECCA ZARETZKY* (KELP) Ms. Zaretzky is thrilled to be back at the WOW Café Theatre after performing in the staged reading of Lesbian Love Octagon (Guitar Girl.) She has performed regionally with The Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, New Rep on Tour, College Light Opera Company, and Stoneham Theatre. Favorite roles include The Rue Garden (Agatha), Cyrano (Roxane), and Landscape of the Body (Betty). Ms. Zaretzky is a graduate of The Boston Conservatory with a B.F.A. in Musical Theatre.  

 

* These Actors and Stage Manager(s) are appeared courtesy of Actors’ Equity Association. Equity Approved Showcase.