The Elephant in Every Room I Enter
Created by Gardiner Comfort & Kel Haney
Featuring Gardiner Comfort
Directed by Kel Haney
Using an erratic and energetic performance style, and evocative details of his week attending the Tourette Syndrome Association National Conference in Washington, DC, Gardiner Comfort shares his life as an actor with this neurological disorder and discovers, for the first time in his life, how he can be himself.
Gardiner Comfort is an actor and writer who was diagnosed with Tourette Syndrome when he was 7. He grew up in a loft in Tribeca amidst the theatre and art scenes of the 80s and 90s. The Elephant in Every Room I Enter was developed with Kel Haney in Mabou Mines’ Resident Artist Project. Acting and writing credits: Original solo show You’re Not Tough, (HERE Arts Center, Dixon Place – directed by Kel Haney), Julius Caesar (ART, multiple world tours), Cardenio (ART, u/s), The Zero Hour (13P), REENTRY (American Records), A Parsifal (PS122), Red Beads (Mabou Mines), Henry IV Part 1 (BAM, Hebbel Theatre – Berlin), Funeral Games (The Public – workshop), Be The Death Of Me (The Civilians – workshop). MFA from ART. For more info about Gardiner visit: www.gardinercomfort.com
Comfort works closely with the Tourette Syndrome Association’s local chapter, mentoring children and speaking at schools. Check them out here.
Kel Haney: Also with Gardiner Comfort: YOU’RE NOT TOUGH (HERE, Dixon Place). Recent directing credits include: Vickie Ramirez’s GLENBURN 12WP (Summer Shorts, 59E59), Kate Cortesi’s GREAT KILLS; James Christy’s AT LIBERTY HALL (both for Premiere Stages), Jonathan Caren’s THE RECOMMENDATION (The Flea), Melisa Annis’ UNITED FRONT (Primary Stages/Fordham), and David Auburn’s FIFTH PLANET (Lincoln Center Education. She has also directed and developed new work at Ars Nova, Atlantic Theater Company, Directors Company, Cherry Lane, Keen Company, Labyrinth Theater Company, The Lark, Ma-Yi, Naked Angels, New Dramatists, New Georges, NY Fringe Festival, Partial Comfort Productions, Rattlestick, Rising Phoenix Rep, Studio 42, Vampire Cowboys, Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater, Westport Country Playhouse, Williamstown & the 52nd Street Project. Also: Mabou Mines Residency, Manhattan Theatre Club Directing Fellow, Lincoln Center Directors Lab, Old Vic/New Voices Exchange Program and a member of Ensemble Studio Theatre. I AM THEM, a series of short films directed by Ms. Haney, releases later this year. For more info about Kel visit: www.kelhaney.com
“Comfort is a charming, versatile performer: He can dance, shift personas, inhabit multiple characters with dialects and physicality, and somehow exude a vulnerability wrapped in confidence…. a talented performer with TS sharing honest, touching stories.”
– New York Theatre Review
Gardiner Comfort & Kel Haney both sat down with La MaMa to talk about working together on The Elephant in Every Room I Enter! Read their six questions!
Special Event
Post-Show Panel
Thursday, October 22 (immediately following the 7:30 pm performance)
Three of the top medical doctors who specialize in the diagnosis and treatment of Tourette syndrome will join Gardiner Comfort and Kel Haney for an informative and eye-opening discussion.
Panelists:
DR. BARBARA BUDMAN, M.D., DR. BARBARA COFFEY, M.D., AND DR. JOHN T. WALKUP
lead an insightful and informative discussion about tourette syndrome from a medical perspective.