Coffeehouse Chronicles #177: Adrienne Kennedy

Curated by Michal Gamily

Eisa Davis is a writer, composer, and performer. A recipient of a USA Artists Fellowship, Creative Capital Award, an AUDELCO, an Obie for Sustained Excellence in Performance and the Herb Alpert Award in Theater, Eisa was also a Pulitzer Prize finalist for her play Bulrusher. Along with her thirteen full-length stageworks, she has written for television, recorded two albums of original music, Something Else and Tinctures, and directed a short film, Remembrance. Notable performance work includes Kindred, Mare of Easttown, The Wire, Kings,The Essentialisn’t, the musical of The Secret Life of Bees, and Passing Strange. An alumna of New Dramatists, Eisa has received residencies, awards and fellowships from Sundance Theater Lab, the Hermitage Artist Retreat, the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the Helen Merrill Foundation, the Van Lier and Mellon Foundations, and Cave Canem. Eisa co-created the WARRIORS concept album with Lin-Manuel Miranda. She lives in Brooklyn, NY.

Joan Harris is a classically trained actor, a graduate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, London and an early interpreter of Adrienne Kennedy's work. In 1969's "Cities in Bezique" (The Owl Answers and Beast Story), she created the role of She who is Clara Passmore, who is the Virgin Mary, who is the Bastard, who is the Owl.  "The Owl Answers" was directed by Gerald Freedman, with a set design by Ming Cho Lee, costumes by Theoni Aldrege, and.incidental music by John Morris. "Cities in Bezique" was only the second production of The NY Shakespeare Public Theatre. In the 1995 Signature Theatre Company's season honoring Adrienne Kennedy, Ms.Harris played the role of Mother in "A Movie Star Has to Star in Black and White", directed by Joseph Chaikin. In 2007, at the request of Adrienne Kennedy, Ms Harris and Mary Alice played the leading roles of the sisters, in the staged reading of "The Vanishing" (an as yet to be produced play), directed by Paul Carter Harrison on Theatre Row. Among other work: Malika, in Jean Genet's "The Screens", Jenny, in Pearl Cleague's "Hospice", Chrysothemis in Sophocles' "Electra", Reading of "The Poetry of Barbara Chase-Riboud," UNESCO, Paris," Hommage to Martin Luther King,Jr." Film: Interviewer, "The Killing Fields." Joan Harris is also a journalist with decades long experience in news and Public Affairs in the tri-state area, as well as reportage from Africa.

Charley Hayward has worked with choreographers José Limón, Anna Sokolow, Louis Falco, Jennifer Muller, Paul Sanasardo, Clyde Morgan, and Daniel Nagrin; with theater directors Joe Chaikin, Robbie McCauley, and Maria Irene Fornés; and with film directors Melvin Sokolsky, Vilmos Zsigmond, Jordan Cronenweth, John Simmons, Volker Schlöndorff, and Alexander Payne, among others. He sang and danced at Le Lido in Paris, and was first to perform live/solo between films on Chelsea’s old Elgin Cinema stage, which would subsequently become the Joyce. He was a soloist in Gian-Carlo Menotti’s operetta Three Sundays of a Poet in the Spoleto Festival (Italy). Hayward was in the original Great Jones Repertory Company’s Serban/Swados productions Fragments of a Trilogy (Medea, Electra, Trojan Women), As You Like It, and The Good Woman of Szechwan, all opening the new LaMama Annex space here on East 4th Street and toured with all internationally. At the Public Theater (NYSF) he was in Adrienne Kennedy’s A Movie Star Has to Star in Black and White, Andrei Serban’s productions of The Cherry Orchard and Agamemnon at the Lincoln Center Beaumont Theater, and Elizabeth Swados’ musical Runaways on Broadway. With the Czechoslovak-American Marionette Theater directed by Vit Hǒrejš, Hayward was “Hamlet” at the Jan Huss Church here in NYC and in Bursa (Turkey), was the “Potter/Narrator” in the Golem at St. Mark’s in-the-Bowery, and played the “River Spirit” in the musical Rusalka. Back at LaMama, he was “Faust” in Faust In Vitro directed by Michael DiAntonio, was the “Captain” in Paul Green’s Hymn to the Rising Sun directed by Barbara Montgomery, and was in the Wollman Company’s presentation of History/Our Story:The Tulsa Massacre directed by James Renyolds. Recently, Hayward has been working at MV Photo Labs, the International Center of Photography (ICP), and at the Maine Media Workshop apprenticing with Master Printer James Megargee, further refining his traditional hand-processing technique in black-and-white, fine silver printing.  

Laëtitia Hollard is a Franco-Caribbean actress who grew up in Wisconsin. She’s currently in her fourth year pursuing her BFA in drama at The Juilliard School. She will be playing Viola in the upcoming production of Twelfth Night in February at the Stephanie P. McClelland Drama Theater. Juilliard Drama credits include King Lear (Regan) and Abingdon Square (Mary). Regional credits include Macbeth with American Players Theatre, Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812 with Capital City Theatre, LINES with Theatre LILA, The Revolutionists with Coachella Valley Repertory.

Robert Elijah Kollman grew up in West Texas and is a recent graduate of The Juilliard School’s Drama Division, Group 53. Upon graduating, Robert went to work on Netflix’s upcoming show Black Rabbit. Juilliard credits include Jack Worthing in The Importance of Being Earnest, Lopakhin in The Cherry Orchard, and Silvius in As You Like It. He’s excited to be here to celebrate the beautiful work of Adrienne Kennedy and to work with Evan Yionoulis again.

Evangeline Morphos is a producer and educator who has worked in theatre, film, television, and new media. For twenty-five years she was a Professor in the Theater and Film Divisions of Columbia University, where she established the University’s first courses in television and in new media. She has produced over twenty-five off-Broadway productions, including new work by Sam Shepard, David Mamet, David Rabe, Frank Pugliese, and Bryan Goluboff, and the long-running comedies, Blown Sideways Through Life, The Food Chain and After-Play; and has headed up several not-for-profit companies that developed new plays and new writers, including The Civita Film Festival, The Ensemble Studio Theatre, The Cherry Lane Alternative Project, and the Blue Heron Festival. She was a  producer of  the short-lived The Bedford Diaries, a television series Executive produced by Tom Fontana and Barry Levinson and is currently developing two projects for television. She was development executive with Scott Rudin Productions. Most recently she was a producer on The Drowning, directed by Bette Gordon. Evangeline is a pioneer in narrative web content, and has consulted on several new media projects. She co-founded eguiders.com, a website making daily recommendations of the best on-line videos. on YouTube. Evangeline has consulted on numerous new media projects for Democratic political campaigns, and has been active in arts advocacy.  She writes frequently on the arts and politics for The Wall Street Journal, Politico, Reuters and NBC.com; and is the editor of Lee Strasberg’s “A Dream of Passion”. Evangeline has taught at Columbia University, was Chair of the Undergraduate Drama Department at the Tisch School of the Arts, NYU; and was Special Adviser to the Provost at The New School. She has taught at Harvard University, Oxford University and Cambridge University. She graduated from Wellesley College, and has a Ph.D. from Harvard University.

Lila Neugebauer is a stage and screen director based in Brooklyn, New York. On Broadway, she has directed Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ Appropriate, Kenneth Lonergan’s The Waverly Gallery, and Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya, in a new adaptation by Heidi Schreck. Recent off-broadway credits include Itamar Moses’ The Ally (The Public Theater); Simon Stephens’ Morning Sun (Manhattan Theatre Club); Tracy Letts’ Mary Page Marlow (Second Stage); Annie Baker’s The Antipodes, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ Everybody, Edward Albee’s At Home at the Zoo: Homelife / The Zoo Story and The Sandbox, Maria Irene Fornes' Drowning, and Adrienne Kennedy's Funnyhouse of a Negro (all at Signature Theatre); Sarah DeLappe’s The Wolves and Zoe Kazan’s After The Blast (Lincoln Center Theater). As co-Artistic Director of The Mad Ones, she co-authored and directed Mrs. Murray’s Menagerie (Ars Nova) and Miles for Mary (Playwrights Horizons), among other works. TV: “Maid” (Netflix), “The Last Thing He Told Me” (Apple TV+), “The Sex Lives of College Girls,” and “Room 104” (HBO Max). Her directorial feature debut Causeway, starring Jennifer Lawrence and Brian Tyree Henry (Oscar nomination) is available on AppleTV+. She is a recipient of the Obie, Drama Desk, and Princess Grace Statute awards, and was nominated for a Tony for her direction of Appropriate.‍

Ben Golder-Novick is versatile, engaging. Fun and funny. 20+ years in the biz, 10 years as a resident of New York City. Ben Golder-Novick AKA Ben The Sax Guy- a uniquely skilled multi-instrumentalist. Ben is involved in the following music projects- Ben & Friends, The Brooklyn Melody Makers, Hot Sardines, Drip 2.0, Speakeasy Streets. Check the calendar section for show dates. Since 2017, Ben has performed eight shows as a featured performer with Dave Matthews, including a recent two-show stint in November of 2021 at Madison Square Garden with The Dave Matthews Band.
Ben is an original member of the critically acclaimed Postmodern Jukebox, going all the way back to the initial inception of the group, as early as 2009. Some of many epic experiences Ben has had with PMJ include seven years of international tours, as well as performing on 20 videos, including "Creep," which has over 100 million views. Ben's jazz group, "Ben & Friends" can be seen on the nightclub circuit all over New York City, with a residency at the Wallace.. A former public school band director- Ben has been enjoying a "teaching renaissance" over the last five years. He teaches private and small group lessons on a wide range of ages and skill levels. On saxophone, clarinet, flute. Whether it's playing in front of 20,000 people, entertaining patrons at a jazz lounge, or teaching an enthusiast and informative music lesson- Ben adds an abundance of fun, enthusiasm, and music expertise in whatever setting he is in.

‍Abigail Ramsay is an actress, facilitator, co-caretaker, nascent writer, arts project manager. 2018-2020, she lived in her ancestral home, Jamaica, on Fulbright and Embassy grants. Recent roles: Andromache in the Theater Three / Persona Theatre (Greece) collaboration “Troy Too” (HERE); Cynthia Cooper’s “I was a Stranger too” (St. Paul, MN), Baby Cakes Studios “St. Marks” (Pilot). She works weekly with amazing young women at Flanbwayan Haitian Literacy Project through her organization TurningWheel Collective. Abigailramsay.comTraining: RADA 3-year Actor Training

Naima Randolph is a Howard University graduate, she is so excited to be working on this amazing opportunity to honor Adrienne Kennedy. Other credits include: Suddenly Last Summer at Tennessee Williams Festival St.Louis and Love’s Labours Lost at St. Louis Shakespeare Festival.‍

Marc Robinson is Dean of Humanities and Malcolm G. Chace ‘56 Professor of Theater, Dance, & Performance Studies and English at Yale University. He is also Professor in the Practice of Dramaturgy and Dramatic Criticism at the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale. His books include The American Play: 1787-2000 and The Other American Drama. In addition, he is the editor of four books: Adrienne Kennedy: Collected Plays and Other Writings (Library of America, 2023), The Myopia and Other Plays by David Greenspan, The Theater of Maria Irene Fornes, and Altogether Elsewhere: Writers on Exile. His new book, American Performance in 1976, is forthcoming from Cambridge University Press.‍

Leslie Silva: Recent TV/ film: Babygirl, Poker Face, Women of the Movement, Mike, So help me Todd… Recent theater: Master Builder, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Midsommers. In 1996, after graduating from Juilliard, Ms. Silva was in Ms. Kennedy’s SLEEP DEPRIVATION CHAMBER for the Signature Theater. She is also a ‘performance photographer’ whose one woman photography show was recently produced at Studio One. ‍

Alisa Solomon is a teacher, writer, and dramaturg. A professor at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, her reporting and cultural criticism have appeared in numerous publications. Her award-winning books include Re-Dressing the Canon: Essays on Theater and Gender and Wonder of Wonders: A Cultural History of Fiddler on the Roof. As dramaturg, she has most recently been working with Anna Deavere Smith.

Zishan Ugurlu is a resident actress and director at La MaMa Theater and a member of the Great Jones Repertory Company. She has worked extensively as a theater artist in New York and abroad. She has recently directed The Marriage by Witold Gombrowicz and received the "Best Director Award" at the International Gombrowicz Festival. Her directing credits include Medea with Great Jones Repertory Company, drawing attention to a very specific dimension that explored Medea as an immigrant, exiled, investigating parallels between the myth and the current refugee crisis by collaging real stories, ancient tongues, and hackable audiovisual systems. Fragments, Lists, and Lacunae, written by Alexandra Chasin, featuringphilosopher Judith Butler as a performer at New York Live Arts. The Franca Rame Project by Franca Rame & Dario Fo, Agamemnon by Aeschylus, and She Talks to Beethoven by Adrienne Kennedy. She graduated from Columbia University with an MFA degree and teaches at Eugene Lang College TheNew School University as a Professor of Theater. She is the recipient of the prestigious Fox Foundation Fellowship granted by Theater Communications Group. She has been teaching acting and directing courses in prisons since 2008 and received the 2020 Gramsci Award for Theater in Prison.

Evan Yionoulis, Richard Rodgers dean and director of Juilliard’s Drama Division, has directed new plays and classics in New York, across the country, and internationally, including Guillermo Calderon’s Kiss at Yale Repertory Theatre, where she was a resident director for twenty years, and Adrienne Kennedy’s He Brought Her Heart Back in a Box for Theatre for a New Audience, where she also directed Kennedy’s Ohio State Murders (Lortel Award, Best Revival). Other credits include Richard Greenberg’s The Violet Hour (Broadway), Three Days of Rain (Obie Award for direction, Manhattan Theatre Club), and Everett Beekin (Lincoln Center Theater). She is a Princess Grace Awards recipient and serves as president of the executive board of SDC, the labor union representing stage directors and choreographers. Her book, Listening and Talking: A Pathway to Acting, is published by Methuen Drama.