Spring 2021 Virtual Reading Series
Rob Urbinati, Director of New Play Development
presents
GHOST STORY
By Lia Romeo
Directed by Kimille Howard
Premiering May 12, 2021 at 8:00 PM ET
Available until May 16, 2021
CAST
(* denotes member of Actors Equity Association)
Pascale Armand * Jon Edward Cook
Technical Production and Video Editing: Jay Rogers
Who's Who
Playwright: Lia Romeo
Lia Romeo Lia Romeo is a 2021/2022 fellow in the Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwrights Program at Juilliard. Her play The Forest was developed at the O’Neill Playwrights Conference, and was scheduled to receive a National New Play Network rolling world premiere in the upcoming season (cancelled due to the coronavirus). This and three of her other plays have been recognized by the Kilroys List. Her plays have been produced at 59E59, Unicorn Theatre, Project Y Theatre Company, Dreamcatcher Rep, HotCity Theatre, and many other companies. She was the winner of City Theatre’s 2019 National Short Playwriting Award, and was a 2018 Individual Artist Fellowship winner in playwriting from the New Jersey State Council for the Arts. Her plays are published by Broadway Play Publishing, Playscripts, Dramatists Play Service, and Smith & Kraus. She is the associate artistic director with Project Y Theatre Company, and she teaches playwriting at Primary Stages/ESPA and in the M.A. program in creative writing at Fairleigh Dickinson University. She earned her B.A. from Princeton and her M.F.A. in playwriting from Rutgers/MGSA.
Director: Kimille Howard
Kimille Howard Howard is a New York based director, deviser, writer and filmmaker. She is an Assistant Stage Director at the Metropolitan Opera and recently worked on the new James Robinson production of Porgy and Bess. She is the newly appointed Artistic Director of the Lucille Lortel Theatre’s NYC Public High School Playwriting Fellowship. Select directing credits: In The Open by Mona Monsour (Western Connecticut State University), Soil Beneath by Chesney Snow (Primary Stages/59E59), $#!thole Country Clapback by Pascale Armand (Loading Dock Theatre), The Fellowship Plays (Lucille Lortel Theatre Foundation), A Light Staggering by Jeesun Choi (Ensemble Studio Theatre), Tidwell: or the Plantation Play by Rodney Witherspoon II (Samuel French OOB Short Play Festival - winner), Low Power by Jon Kern (EST), BLACK GIRLS ARE FROM OUTER SPACE by Emana Rachelle (National Black Theatre), Skeleton Crew by Dominique Morisseau (TheatreSquared) and TRIGGERED by Gabriel Jason Dean (Cherry Lane Theatre). Her work has also been seen at The Circle in the Square Theatre Circle Series, The Flea, The Lark, JAGFest, NYU, Sea Dog Theater, and Atlantic Acting School among others. Broadway: Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations (Assistant Director). She has worked with Des McAnuff, Rebecca Frecknall, Ruben Santiago Hudson, Emily Mann, Stephen Wadsworth, Lorca Peress and more. Recent Fellowships: New York Theatre Workshop 2050 Fellowship and the Manhattan Theatre Club Jonathan Alper Directing Fellowship. She is a current member of The New Georges Directors Jam, a participant in New York Stage and Film’s inaugural NYSAF NEXUS project, and a former Resident Director at the Flea Theater. UPCOMING: Death By Life - A new opera with White Snake Projects www.kimillehoward.com
Lydia - Pascale Armand
Pascale Armand Ms. Armand is proud to be an award-winning actor. Within her body of work, she has had the pleasure of appearing on Broadway in the history-making production of Eclipsed by Danai Gurira (2016 Tony-nominee for Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play) and The Trip to Bountiful with the late Ms. Cicely Tyson, embodying Shakespearean characters and originating characters in premieres of contemporary pieces. Her film and television credits include Prodigal Son, The Blacklist, Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Law & Order: Criminal Intent. She is a core member of Quick Silver Theater and an alumna of NYU's Graduate Acting Program. As of 2018, she has expanded her artistry to writing. During the pandemic, her passion project, developing her one-woman show, $#!thole Country Clapback, resulted in a virtual reading available on YouTube per request.
Davis - Jon Edward Cook
Jon Edward Cook Jon has performed in dozens upon dozens of plays and workshops, from classical work, to new theatre, devised, and theatre for youth and families, both regionally and in NYC. While a student at UT Austin he had the thrill of studying and collaborating with incredible artists such as Kirk Lynn, Steven Dietz, Courtney Sale, Steve Moulds, Andrew Hinderaker, Gabriel Jason Dean and the list goes on and on. He was also artistic director of the student organization Ransack Repertory, where he produced and directed. While in Austin, Jon performed in a slew of plays, receiving critical praise, and even a couple of B. Iden Payne award nominations. In NYC Jon was a resident company member at the Flea Theater from 2017 to 2020. While there he acted in workshops and readings, dozens of #serials, and the world premiere of The Fre, by the incomparable Taylor Mac (which sadly halted performances one day before opening, due to Covid-19). In 2019 he was a part of the highly respected Conservatory Company cohort at Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, performing in 3 of 4 shows in their summer repertory season. He has also been a teaching artist with Hudson Valley Shakes for the last 3 seasons. Currently, Jon is working on his next EP release with music project Jonny Capri, streaming on most major platforms. www.thejoncook.com
Stage Directions - Dolores Avery Pereira
Dolores Avery Pereira Dolores Avery Pereira is a proud Afro LATINX actress who graduated from Syracuse University. She most recently accompanied her BFA in Acting by studying at the estimable Maggie Flanigan Studio 2 year conservatory program in New York City. She is excited to be working with Queens Theater! She was recently seen as a top 12 Acting Finalist in the Ya Tu Sabes Monologue Slam presented by Nosotros Org and NBC!
We wish to express our gratitude to the Performers’ Unions:
ACTORS’ EQUITY ASSOCIATION
AMERICAN GUILD OF MUSICAL ARTISTS
AMERICAN GUILD OF VARIETY ARTISTS
SAG-AFTRA
through Theatre Authority, Inc. for their cooperation in permitting the Artists to appear on this program.
Queens Theatre at Home is proud to continue to serve our community through online programming.
It's not possible without our generous partners.
Con Edison
Howard Gilman Foundation
Jerome Robbins Foundation
NYC Department of Cultural Affairs
New York State Council on the Arts
The Shubert Foundation
Queens Theatre
Staff
Taryn Sacramone, Executive Director
Connie Baker, Rentals and Events Manager
Victor Catano, Production Manager
Dominic D'Andrea, Director of Community Engagement
Richard Hinojosa, Director of Education
Alexis Lubin, Finance Manager
Willy Mosquera, Front of House Manager
Gregg Mozgala, Director of Inclusion
Bernadette Ott, Development Manager
Jay Rogers, General Manager
Rob Urbinati, Director of New Play Development
Sheila Xia-Ryan, Social Media Manager
Board of Directors
Executive Committee
Gary Kesner, President
Tracy Capune, Vice President
Bruce Levine, Treasurer
Mark Misk, Secretary
Members
Georgiana Benatti
Bob Blenderman
Steve Chen
Salvatore DiMartino
Susan B. Lipsky
Irene Zoupaniotis
Ex-Officio
Frances A. Resheske, Board President Emeritus
Bill DeBlasio, New York City Mayor
Gonzalo Casals, Commissioner, NYC Department of Cultural Affairs
Donovan Richards, Queens Borough President
Michael Dockett, Queens Borough Commissioner, NYC Department of Parks & Recreation