 Mission to (dit)Mars, a theatre arts collective serving Queens artists, is thrilled to present the first Launch Pad reading of 2020 with FAITH BASED, FUTURE FOCUSED, a new play by Tim Errickson and directed by Antonio Miniño. This free reading will be performed on Monday, February 10th at 7pm at The Broom Tree Theatre located at 23-35 Broadway in Astoria, NY.
In FAITH BASED, FUTURE FOCUSED, Mal and Dennis both return to their Catholic High School alma mater on the day it closes for good. Did they ever become the people the school tried to make them into, and do they like who each other are today? Playwright Tim Errickson explains “I was inspired to write the play because I wanted to examine people who seemed to come from the same upbringing and set of values, but have now in their adult lives diverged wildly from each other politically, culturally and religiously.“ Tim offers “I hope that people will think about the places that are sacred to them...theaters, churches, gymnasiums where you made the shot, the bridge where you proposed or broke up...and investigate the universality of those spaces.” The evening is presented by Mission to (dit)Mars co-founders Kari Bentley-Quinn, Don Nguyen, Meredith Packer, and Laura Pestronk. To attend the reading, please make a reservation on our website: http://missiontoditmars.com/reservations/ The Broom Tree Theater at Astoria First Presbyterian 23-35 Broadway, Astoria, NY 11106 Directions: Take the N/W to Broadway. About the Launch Pad Reading Series The Launch Pad is a free reading series of new plays by Queens playwrights. The mission objective of The Launch Pad is to serve as a testing ground for Queens based playwrights who need to hear their plays out loud. Because Mission to (dit)Mars was co-founded by playwrights and directors, we understand implicitly how to answer those needs. Through this program, the utmost care is taken to foster a safe and productive environment in order to propel the play forward.  In 2037 a visit to a former migrant detention center forces a woman to confront the phantoms of her past and the secrets she has kept from her daughter.
Memorial is a powerful new ten-minute play in the Latino Program of the Short+Sweet Hollywood festival, and is part of the Montalban Group, playing October 11th through the 13th, 2019 at the Marilyn Monroe Theatre at 7936 Santa Monica Blvd. Written by Antonio Miniño Directed by Elena Campbell-Martinez Starring Raquel Salinas, Jennifer Jones Rodriguez, Manny Correa, and Yazaira Correa. For tickets visit https://ci.ovationtix.com/35239/production/1017597?fbclid=IwAR1QpQP9UJPYlSHA5x6xrNk4ZGuCQegKEXTxL8CfiLgSYwrTPTuU8xRt74w  Following successful productions in Dublin and New York City, the Heartefact Fund and Different Translation, are pleased to announce The Baby Monitor, a crucial play exploring same-sex parenting and family values, will be presented in Belgrade, Serbia, as part of the inaugural Belgrade Pride Theater Festival.
The Baby Monitor by award-winning husband-and-husband team playwright David Stallings (Oscar Wilde Award for Best New Writing nominee for The Baby Monitor - IDGTF Gala Awards; NY IT Awards for Outstanding Original Full-Length Script for Dark Water) and director Antonio Miniño (MTC ‘19-’20 Directing Fellow; Assistant Director to Mark Brokaw on Jesus Hopped the ‘A’ Train - Signature Theatre) will play one performance on Sat, September 14th at 8:00pm at the Raša Plaović Stage at the National Theatre in Belgrade (Francuska 3, Beograd 11000, Serbia). ★★★★★ - Opplaud NY "Unafraid to navigate into previously uncharted territory, particularly when it comes to tackling the issue of the deeply ingrained prejudices still faced by LGBTQ people." -Lavender After Dark (New York City) "David Stallings has delivered something far richer than an issues play." -The Unforgettable Line (New York City) "A fascinating examination of how quickly intimates can resort to self-serving, backstabbing deception just when their loyalty is most needed." -Theater Scene (New York City) "Some in the LGBT+ community who have suffered discrimination from loved ones still love who have discriminated against them. We try to give people second chances, but it puts our safety at risk – and The Baby Monitor shows that, when we ask ourselves whether we should stop trying, there’s sometimes no easy answer." -Gay City News (Dublin) When Claire’s concerns over the welfare of her two-year-old cousin are dangerously validated, she begins to question the family's principles and ability to parent. A crucial new play exploring same-sex parenting and family values in today’s America. A finalist for the 2014 National New Play Network, The Baby Monitor was presented as part of the International Dublin Gay Theatre Festival in Ireland, where it received four IDGTF Gala Award nominations, including the Doric Wilson Award for Intercultural Dialogue; in New York it received a workshop production at the Theater at the 14th Street Y as part of their season of War & Peace. Developmental readings at New York's Duo Multicultural Arts Center's Pride Week Festival and in Hollywood at The Blank Theatre's Living Room Series. Originally a short play, it received presentations at Planet Connections Theatre Festivity's Playwrights for A Cause and at Original Binding Productions' Naked Theater Festival. With Leo Goodman (Micheál Mac Liammóir Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male nominee for The Baby Monitor - IDGTF Gala Awards) as Josh, Mel House as Shelly, Amanda Jones (Eva Gore Booth Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female nominee for The Baby Monitor - IDGTF Gala Awards) as Claire, Greta Quispe as Soledad, Antonio Miniño as Phillip and David Stallings as Damon. Featuring lighting design by Kia Rogers, and sound design by Jacob Subotnick. The production stage manager is Rachel Denise April. The associate producer is Ann Marie Yali. Tickets are €9.00 and are currently available to purchase by visiting www.tickets.rs/program/the-baby-monitor-1225 Running Time: 75 Minutes with no intermission. Presented in English and Spanish with Serbian supertitles. This show contains partial nudity. Suitable for ages 16+ For more information visit www.differenttranslation.com  I am honored to be assistant director to trailblazer Lorca Peress and her production of Desi Moreno-Penson's exhilarating play OMINOUS MEN, presented by MultiStages in association with The Theater at the 14th Street Y. The play will run October 19th through November 3rd, 2020; and tickets are currently on sale.
It was the wrong night and the wrong place for these OMINOUS MEN to be playing a game of “Bones” when the 1977 NYC Blackout hits the Bronx! Overtaken by their demons, they descend into a supernatural night of the soul. Told through a magic realism lens, “Ominous Men” is a gothic horror tale about race, poverty, drugs, misogyny and violence in America. Casting and the rest of the creative team will be announced very soon.  Happy to announce Eclipse Theatre Company has earned a total of 6 DORA award nominations for its presentation of Kiss of the Spider Woman if which I had the honor of being the dramaturg.
Outstanding Production, Outstanding Direction Evan Tsitsias Outstanding Musical Direction Chris Barillaro Outstanding Original Choreography Sara-Jeanne Hosie Outstanding Performance in a Leading Role Kawa Ada and Tracy Michailidis The awards will take place Tuesday, June 25 at the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts.  New York Classical Theatre in association with Voza Rivers/New Heritage Theatre Group and David Heron's Sure Thing Productions will present a staged reading production of David Stallings' new play Leonora at the Williams Institutional CME Church in Harlem on Monday June 3 at 7pm.
Leonora is inspired by Henrik Ibsen's 1879 classic drama A Doll's House and is based on a concept by Antonio Miniño, who also directs the reading. Full casting for the production will be announced shortly. Leonora is set in the Caribbean island of Jamaica in late 1951. Four months after catastrophic Hurricane Charlie all but destroys the island, Leonora Hartell, a Jamaican woman of color is heedlessly celebrating Christmas with her aristocratic British husband Tristan and their children. Groomed from a young age to marry into a white family, she has become accustomed to living a sheltered life. However, the unexpected arrival of several figures from her past, including her childhood friend Kalisa, sets in motion a series of events that will force her to confront her present and her future. The staged reading of Leonora is another program in New York Classical Theatre's 'Diversifying The Classics' series, which aims to focus attention on little known classic plays or plays with classical roots that expand the canon from a cultural immigrant perspective. The last reading in the series was The Widow of Valencia by Lope de Vega in December 2018. According to Artistic Director Stephen Burdman, "Our 'Diversifying the Classics' series has become central to our mission at New York Classical. The plays we explore in this series are an essential part of expanding the theatrical experience for existing patrons and creating new and diverse audiences for the classics as well. We are very happy to be working with Voza Rivers and The New Heritage Theatre Group and our guest Producer David Heron of Sure Thing Productions to bring Leonora to Harlem." The staged reading production of Leonora is sponsored by New York City Council Member Bill Perkins and the NYC Council Cultural Immigrant Initiative. The Williams Institutional CME Church is located at 2239 Adam Clayton Powell Jr Boulevard at 132nd Street, New York, NY, 10027. Admission to the reading is free. Reservations can be made at nyclassical.org/Leonora  After the honor of participating at the 2019 International Dublin Gay Theatre Festival, and receiving great feedback from audiences and press, it was invigorating to find out our production of The Baby Monitor was nominated in 4 categories at the IDGTF Gala Awards.
It's a wonderful appreciation of the hard work of everyone involved and of the themes and activism we set out to share with an Irish audience. Congratulations to all the winners and nominees. The Baby Monitor was nominated in the following: Doric Wilson Award for Intercultural Dialogue. Micheal Mac Liammoir Award for Outstanding performance by a male: Leo Goodman Eva Gore Booth Award for Outstanding performance by a female: Amanda Jones Oscar Wile Award for Best Writing: David Stallings |
