Experiments 18: After School Special
Written by Kyle Therral Wilson
Directed by Illana Stein
After School Special is a tough-hearted comedy about the challenge of giving and receiving help across social, racial, and hierarchical divides. Stewart is finishing up the worst day of her terrible school year as a special ed teacher-in-training in central Los Angeles. It will all be over as soon as she gets through a detention period for her most defiant student, Frankie. Since she wouldn’t let Frankie get on the bus home, he wants her to track down his mother to come get him but she’s nowhere to be found. Meanwhile Stewart’s phone keeps ringing with unwelcome calls from a mysterious figure out of her past. Frankie’s anger and worry over his mother combine with Stewart’s distracted panic to create a volatile, dangerous classroom situation for both of them.
CAST
Stewart – Kim Gambino
Jenkins – Richarda Abrams
Frankie – Jarvis Tomdio
Cantero – Robby Ramos
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Kyle Therral Wilson‘s work has been developed or performed by Great Plains Theatre Conference (2013 and 2017 PlayLabs playwright), The Lark, Theatricum Botanicum, The Blank Theatre, Ensemble Studio Theatre/Los Angeles, Psychic Visions Theatre, Naked Angels Tuesdays@9 Los Angeles, and L.A.’s Homo-Centric. His play YUCCA CORRIDOR was a finalist for the 2018 National Playwrights Conference at the O’Neill Theatre Center. Kyle devised and produced two plays with his writing collective, Fell Swoop Playwrights. THE LAST TEMPTATION OF PAULA DEEN premiered at the 2014 Hollywood Fringe Festival, and THE MISS JULIE DREAM PROJECT premiered at the 2013 Hollywood Fringe and was remounted at Son of Semele Theater in Los Angeles in September of that year. His monologues were published in 2016’s LGBTQ MONOLOGUES THAT ARE ACTUALLY FUNNY, edited by Alisha Gaddis. MFA: Carnegie Mellon University. Member, Dramatists Guild.
Illana Stein is a NYC-based director. Credits include: Theatre for a New Audience: Associate Director on Tamburlaine the Great directed by Michael Boyd and Pericles directed by Trevor Nunn. She has assisted at Signature, Pearl Theatre, and directed for Samuel French OOB Festival, Youngblood-Bloodworks, NYU New Gallatin, New Dramatists, and won a FringeNYC’12 directing award for or what she will by Charly Evon Simpson. Regional assisting credits with ART, OSF, Yale Rep, Cincinnati Playhouse, and most recently directed the regional premiere of A Lost Leonardo by David Davalos at Amphibian Stage Productions. She is a recipient of a 2018 Drama League First Draft Residency, in the directing company of New York Madness, League of Professional Theatre Women and member of the LCT Directors Lab (’12). www.illanastein.com–
Experiments Play Reading Series
For the 23rd season of La MaMa Experiments we will focus on theatrical works in progress addressing mental health issues. No one is more familiar with the need to create greater access to mental healthcare than our New York audience, who come face to face with this crisis on a daily basis. After 3 years of a global pandemic, all of us are feeling the upsurge of anxiety and depression, but these trends have been on the rise long before Covid-19. The works this season shed light on important, personal stories and deal with this subject matter in many different and unique ways. From tongue in cheek comedies to absurdist tragedies, Experiments hopes to create a season that will destigmaify, enlighten and, yes, even entertain.