Experiments: Whole K-Hole
Kim Katzberg
Series Director: Matt Nasser
Actor and writer Kim Katzberg embodies a plethora of darkly comedic characters, including her bipolar suburban Mom circa 1991, in this excerpted reading of her semi-autobiographical daring, new, solo play. Original songs (sung by a non-singer) zig zag through the world of a strip mall hair salon and the fictional public access TV show, V.C. Andrews’ Faerie Tale Theatre. The piece shines a light on intergenerational mental illness and the tangled pain hidden within a person who wrestles with a troubled mind. The play asks: what are the consequences when an individual’s mental illness is dismissed or denied?
Kim Katzberg is a Brooklyn-based queer actor and writer who has been creating genre-bending, darkly comedic works for theater since 2010. Katzberg has performed her solo shows at The Brick Theater, HERE, IRT Theater, Dixon Place, Ars Nova and Wild Project as well as excerpts of works-in-progress at The Bushwick Starr in Catch Performance Series, BAX as part of the Upstart Program and in Little Theatre at Dixon Place. She won the 2016 NYIT Award for “Outstanding Original Short Script” for her solo show for two actors Strays, which is published in The Best American Short Plays, 2015-2016. In addition she won the 2019 NYIT Award for “Outstanding Solo Performance” for her play Dad in a Box. In the fall 2020, Katzberg was a resident artist in the inaugural Downtown Brooklyn Rehearsal Residency Initiative. In September 2021, Katzberg played a lead role in the site-specific Off-Off-Broadway play Repulsing the Monkey. During her forthcoming residency at Wild Project in spring 2022, Katzberg will share work-in-progress performances of Whole K-Hole. She has an MFA in Acting from Columbia University and earned her Actors’ Equity card in 2021. Katzberg is represented by About Artists Agency. www.kimkatzberg.com
Raquel Cion (Director) Directorial credits include Different Stars: A Queer Song Cycle for Four Vocalists (News Travels Fast); Dad In a Box, winner of the 2019 New York Innovative Theatre Award (Dixon Place, HERE, The Wild Project); STRAYS (The Brick Theater, Ars Nova’s Ant Fest) 2016 New York Innovative Theatre Award “Outstanding Original Short Script”; SONS (Ars Nova’s Showgasm); Darkling (IRT Theater, Catch Series); HIP (IRT Theater.) Recent projects include Stuck On My Eyes: A Bowie Song Triptych (Pangea); 2015 Broadway World “Best Alt Cabaret” nominated Me & Mr. Jones (Philly Loves Bowie Week 2019 & 2020, Pangea, Provincetown’s Afterglow Festival); Gilding the Lonely (Joe’s Pub, Dixon Place.)
Videography, Editing: Roque Nonini is a filmmaker and photographer based in Brooklyn, NY. He studied film and television production at Savannah College of Art and Design.
Series Director: Matt Nasser
Experiments Play Reading Series in 2021-2022 is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor and the New York State Legislature with additional support from the Howard Gilman Foundation, The John Golden Fund, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and The Shubert Foundation.
Photo courtesy of the artist
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.