Queens Theatre's New American Voices and The Apothetae present
The Life and Times of Stephen Hawking
Written by Magda Romanska
Directed by Jackson Gay
part of the Forward Festival of the Arts
May 21, 2022 at 5:00 PM
CAST
( * denotes member of Actors Equity Association)
STEPHEN HAWKING / Sommer Carbuccia *
MEPHISTOPHELES / Javon Q. Minter *
NARRATOR / Starr Kirkland
CHORUS 1 / Kelly McAndrew *
CHORUS 2 / Trevor Latez Hayes
American Sign Language Interpretation provided by Body Language Productions
Open Captioning provided by Sign Nexus
Who's Who
( * denotes member of Actors Equity Association)
PLAYWRIGHT Magda Romanska is a writer, playwright, and dramaturg. She is a Professor of Theatre at Emerson College, and Principal at metaLAB (at) Harvard. She is a recipient of a Mass Cultural Council 2021 Artist Fellowship for Dramatic Writing, and Apothetae Playwriting Fellowship from Time Warner Foundation. She has worked on over 30 theatre and opera productions, including at Yale Rep, Arts Emerson, Boston Lyric Opera, and with SITI Company. Her play, Opheliamachine, had its premiere in Los Angeles to a slew of positive reviews. The Life and Times of Stephen Hawking was developed at the Lark Theatre and adapted for zoom for the Roundabout Theatre Reverb Festival. Most recently, her play Life is Elsewhere, premiered at the Speakeasy Theatre Company in Boston. Her writing appeared in The Reed Magazine, The LA Review of Books, The Boston Globe, The Conversation, Salon, PBS, and The Cosmopolitan Review. She’s a graduate of Stanford, and of Cornell's doctoral program.
DIRECTOR Jackson Gay's directing work includes Karen Hartman's Goldie, Max, & Milk; Lucy Thurber’s Transfers for Audible, MCC, and New York Stage & Film; Lover Beloved with Suzanne Vega and Duncan Sheik (Alley Theater); God’s Ear and The Seagull (Juilliard); Kleptocracy by Kenneth Lin (Arena Stage); These Paper Bullets! by Rolin Jones with music by Billie Joe Armstrong (New Neighborhood, Atlantic, Geffen, Yale Rep – Critics Pick Time Out NY, Best Production and Adaptation LA Sage Awards, Time Out Los Angeles, Connecticut Critics Circle Award Best Production and Best Director). Jackson is a 2021 Guild Hall Artist-in-Residence and co-Producing Artistic Director of New Neighborhood https://www.newneighborhood.net.
Sommer Carbuccia * (Stephen Hawking) is glad to be joining Queens Theatre's Forward Festival readings. Dominican-American and raised in Miami, he is a graduate of NYU's Tisch School of the Arts and has played roles in TV shows such as NCIS: New Orleans, Grey’s Anatomy and others. He most recently portrayed Eric Jackson in Riverdale on The CW.
Javon Q. Minter * (Mephistopheles) (they/she/he) They are a queer Black gender fluid & resistant actor/director & educator, born & raised in pre-gentrified Bedstuy. They insist attending, teaching, and revering theater that is not honestly representative & interrogative of our global community is not interesting and no longer acceptable. Javon has taught theatre across NY and regionally. They are currently on faculty at Circle in the Square Theater School as well as a teaching artist with New York Theatre Workshop, LEAP, and Treasure Trunk Theater. Select acting credits include What to Send Up When it Goes Down at Playwrights Horizons, boys don’t look at boys at New York Stage & Film, and what will happen to all that beauty at Playwrights Realm.
Starr Kirkland (Narrator) is an actor and spoken word artist. Credits include the upcoming world premiere of Crying on Television (Everyman Theatre), Anthem Award Winner Black Feminist Video Game (59E59, Center Theatre Group, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and co-commissioner Williams Center for the Arts), New York Times Critics' Picks Zoetrope (Exquisite Corpse Company) and TJ Loves Sally 4 Ever (JACK), of the woman came the beginning of sin and through her we all die, HOTTENTOTTED (The Tank), ALICEGRACEANON (New Georges), Julius Caesar (Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival), and Hephaestus (Theatre in Asylum) www.starrkirkland.com
Kelly McAndrew * (Chorus 1) most recently starred as Martha in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf at the Denver Center Theatre. Broadway: Maggie in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof starring Ned Beatty and Margo Martindale Off-Broadway: The Thin Place by Lucas Hnath at Playwrights Horizons, Novenas for a Lost Hospital by Cusi Cram at Rattlestick Theatre, Men on Boats (Playwrights Horizons/Clubbed Thumb), Perfect Arrangement (Primary Stages), Abundance (TACT), Almost, Maine (Transport Group) and Good Television (Atlantic Theatre Company), Still Life (MCC), The Cataract (The Women’s Project), Book of Days (Signature Theatre). Regional theatre includes: The Humana Festival of New American Plays (2016, 2017 and 2019), Westport Playhouse, Yale Rep, ART, The Guthrie, The Old Globe, Arena Stage, City Theatre, Dorset Theatre Festival, Pittsburgh Public. TV: “Daredevil” (recurring), “The Sinner”, “New Amsterdam”, “The Good Fight”, "Orange is the New Black" (recurring), "House of Cards", "Elementary", "SVU", “Smash,” “Law & Order,” “Gossip Girl.” Film: Island Zero, Appropriate Behavior (Sundance 2014), In the Family (2011 SPIRIT nomination), Everybody’s Fine (with Robert DeNiro). Training: UMKC.
Trevor Latez Hayes (Chorus 2) is an afro-queer nyc-based writer and actor. He graduated from NYU Tisch School of the Arts with a BFA in Acting and a double major in Social and Cultural Analysis with a concentration in Africana Studies. He has a passion for telling intersectional stories about and for marginalized folx. Trevor has had the pleasure of developing new work with artists such as Young Jean Lee, C. Quintana (CQ), and Elizabeth Swados. Credits: Boukman in The Hunting Season, Emmett Till in Clover at La Mama, Howard in Young Jean Lee’s Safety Net and Phantom in Elizabeth Swados Golem: A Horror Opera. Residencies: Spring Movement at CPR, Producers Club at New Ohio, and more.
Queens Theatre
Staff
Taryn Sacramone, Executive Director
Connie Baker, Rentals and Events Manager
Charles Bennett, Building Attendant
Victor Catano, Production Manager
Jeanmarie Conley, Technical Director
Dominic D'Andrea, Director of Community Engagement
Richard Hinojosa, Director of Education
Tony Lackram, Operations Assistant
Vasilios Leon, Box Office Assistant
Willy Mosquera, Front of House Manager
Bernadette Ott, Development Manager
Angelica Rodriguez, Finance Manager
Gabriel Rodriguez, Box Office Supervisor
Jerry Rodriguez, Sound Associate
Jay Rogers, Director of Operations/GM
Jordi Toro, Box Office Assistant
Jorge Toro, Building Attendant
William A. Smith, Building Attendant
Rob Urbinati, Director of New Play Development
Steve Wolf, Assistant Production Manager/Lighting Supervisor
Marketing and PR: Anat Gerstein, Inc.
Board of Directors
Executive Committee
Gary Kesner, President
Tracy Capune, Vice President
Bruce Levine, Treasurer
Mark Misk, Secretary
Alfonso Quiroz
Members
Jennifer Bai
Georgiana Benatti
Salvatore DiMartino
Cameron R. Hernandez
Susan B. Lipsky
Irene Zoupaniotis
Ex-Officio
Eric Adams, New York City Mayor
Donovan Richards, Queens Borough President
Laurie Cumbo, Commissioner, NYC Department of Cultural Affairs
Jacqueline Langsam, Queens Borough Commissioner, NYC Department of Parks & Recreation
Board President Emeritus: Frances A. Resheske