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About CAST/ CREATIVE

Next Door at NYTW provides a home for companies and artists who are producing their own work. This initiative provides each project with subsidized resources and space for development and performance in the Fourth Street Theatre. As part of an ongoing effort to expand support for artists at every stage of their careers, this series served over 300 artists in the first two years alone.

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Good Neighbor Program Directions Accessibility Calendar

By Sarah Einspanier
Directed by Jaki Bradley
Produced by Madeleine Foster Bersin

NEXT DOOR at NYTW

February 5, 2020—February 22, 2020

Approximately 90 minutes, with no intermission
Read Synopsis

!? WELL THEN WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR
!? LET’S POP THAT SUCKER IN

When his girlfriend moves on, her best friend moves in. Rivals turned roommates unearth common ground in rejection, rootlessness, and retreat. A play about making do, making rent, and making “Art”—while climbing an (imaginary?) mountain.

CAST / CREATIVE

  • Molly Bernard

    Chloe

    An actress across film, television and theater, Molly Bernard is most recognizable for her role as feisty publicist/social media guru Lauren Heller on TV Land’s “Younger.” The comedy series, created by Darren Star, will return for its seventh season in 2020. Additionally, Bernard co-stars as medical student Elsa Curry in NBC’s “Chicago Med” and as the flashback version of Shelly Pfefferman (Judith Light) in the Emmy-winning Amazon series “Transparent.”

    Bernard recently completed production as the lead in the indie film “Milkwater,” which depicts the complexities and vulnerabilities of having children in a gay relationship. This summer, she co-starred opposite Patricia Arquette in Netflix’s comedy film “Otherhood,” directed by Cindy Chupak. Her diverse film credits include “Sully” opposite Tom Hanks and directed by Clint Eastwood, “Pay it Forward,” directed by Mimi Leder, and “The Intern,” directed by Nancy Meyers. On television, Bernard co-starred opposite John Goodman in Amazon’s comedy series “Alpha House” and has appeared in HBO’s “High Maintenance” and NBC’s “Blindspot.”

    In 2016, she made her off-Broadway debut in the Soho Rep’s “Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again” with critical acclaim. Bernard received her Bachelor’s degree from Skidmore College and her MFA from the prestigious Yale School of Drama. She has also studied at the Moscow Art Theater and trained extensively and performed with SITI Company. In 2014, Bernard received the Leonore Annenberg Performing Arts Fellowship from the Lincoln Center Theater. Bernard credits her love of acting from her grandfather, Joseph Bernard, whom she began studying with at the age of six. She currently resides in New York City.

  • Ugo Chukwu

    Max

    Recent credits: What To Send Up When It Goes Down (Movement Theater), Do You Feel Anger? (Vineyard), and Lunch Bunch (Clubbed Thumb), also written by Sarah Einspanier. Other credits: [PORTO] (WP Theater/Bushwick Starr), Today is my Birthday (P73), and The Danger: an Homage to Strange Fruit (JACK). Regional: Ripcord (Huntington), and Adventure Quest (Edinburgh Fringe). TV: The Path (Hulu), and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (Netflix). Training: Brooklyn College. www.ugochukwuactor.com and #ugolessinstagram for more.

  • Deepali Gupta

    Agnes

    DEEPALI GUPTA is a writer and performer who makes music-driven theater. Her work explores themes of mania and insanity, and their relationship to the feminine body. She makes work in an attempt to unravel the warped weave of narratives surrounding mood disorder and neurodivergence. Her work has been presented at venues such as Ars Nova, Lincoln Center Theater, The Public Theater, Joe’s Pub, HERE Arts Center, New York City Center, The Bushwick Starr, The New Ohio, JACK, and Judson Memorial Church. She is a Makers Lab Resident with Ars Nova and a member of the New Georges Jam, as well as an Affiliated Artist of Target Margin Theater and The Civilians. M.F.A. Tisch; B.A. Brown University (Weston Award in Playwriting)

  • Emma Ramos

    June

    EMMA RAMOS is a bi-lingual Mexican actress, comedian, and sketch comedy writer, who has been called “A revelation, linguistically acrobatic, and piercingly funny” by NY Magazine. Her sketch series B.U.T.S. won Best Comedy at NBCUniversal Short Film Festival, was nominated twice for the Imagen Awards; the Spanish Class episode alone has millions of views on YouTube and Facebook. Co-creator of anthology series Dichos, a NALIP Official Selection. Emma’s TV credits include Law & Order: SVU for NBC, Unforgettable for CBS, Valentina for HBO, Marisol for HBO (nominated for “Best Actress” next to Olivia Thirlby and Jennifer Morrison) and New Amsterdam for NBC. Semi-Finalist for Sundance’s New Voices. Acting Company for Sundance Institute 2017. Official selection for the 2018 HBO New York Latino Film Festival with Exeunt and this year with Seneca. Recipient of the UCB Diversity Fellowship. Writer and Performer for FLAMA (Latinx Funny or Die) and Broadway Video’s Mas Mejor. Recipient of the Ruth and Harold Newman Scholarship for excellence in acting. Member of The Actors Center. Emma is in the development of a half-hour comedy series called Hangry XVñera.

Jaki Bradley / Director

JAKI BRADLEY is a Brooklyn-based director. Recent projects: White Noise (Berkeley Rep), Radio Island, Good Men Wanted (New York Stage and Film), Playing Hot (Ars Nova/Pipeline), and 1969: The Second Man (NYTW Next Door). She has developed and presented work with The Public, Williamstown, Denver Center, Clubbed Thumb, Goodspeed, Arena Stage, and the O’Neill. She has been a member of the Civilians R&D Group, an Artist-in-Residence at Ars Nova, a Drama League Artist-in-Residence and TV Directing Fellow, a member of the Soho Rep Writer/Director Lab, Williamstown Directing Corps, Lincoln Center Director’s Lab, and U.S. Fulbright Scholar. Her screenplay Detox was on the 2019 Bloodlist and is currently in development with XYZ Films. jakibradley.com

Sarah Einspanier / Playwright

SARAH EINSPANIER‘s plays include Lunch Bunch (Clubbed Thumb’s Winterworks and Summerworks, upcoming with The Play Company and Clubbed Thumb in March/April 2020), I LOVE SEAN (Playwrights Realm Writing Fellow), The Convent of Pleasure (Cherry Lane’s Mentor Project with Sheila Callaghan), and MADONNA col BAMBINO created with composer Deepali Gupta and director Caitlin Sullivan (Ars Nova’s ANT Fest and the New Ohio’s Ice Factory, curated by New Georges). Her work has also been developed and presented by Ars Nova’s Play Group, Clubbed Thumb’s Early Career Writers’ Group, the New Georges Jam, a New Georges Special Residency, and Williamstown Theatre Festival’s Directing Studio. She has been a resident at the Millay Colony, SPACE on Ryder Farm, Cape Cod Theatre Project (Noel Coward Foundation Writer in Residence), the National Theater Institute, and Sewanee Writers’ Conference (Horton Foote Scholar with Naomi Iizuka), and has participated in Erik Ehn’s annual Texas Silent Writing Retreat.

Deepali Gupta / Composer

DEEPALI GUPTA is a writer and performer who makes music-driven theater. Her work explores themes of mania and insanity, and their relationship to the feminine body. She makes work in an attempt to unravel the warped weave of narratives surrounding mood disorder and neurodivergence. Her work has been presented at venues such as Ars Nova, Lincoln Center Theater, The Public Theater, Joe’s Pub, HERE Arts Center, New York City Center, The Bushwick Starr, The New Ohio, JACK, and Judson Memorial Church. She is a Makers Lab Resident with Ars Nova and a member of the New Georges Jam, as well as an Affiliated Artist of Target Margin Theater and The Civilians. M.F.A. Tisch; B.A. Brown University (Weston Award in Playwriting)

John Gasper / Sound Designer

JOHN GASPER is a sound designer, performer, musician, and theatermaker. He has performed and made sounds with Royal Osiris Karaoke Ensemble, Advanced Beginner Group, 7 Daughters of Eve Thtr. and Perf. Co., Saint Fortune, and many beloved others. He plays bass, sax and synths in The Witch Ones and The Tender Band. MFA: PIMA – Brooklyn College www.realjohndwayne.bandcamp.com

Meredith Ries / Scenic Designer

Recent Work: Love In Hate Nation (Two River Theater Company), Little Gem (Irish Repertory Theater), No One Is Forgotten (Rattlestick Playwrights Theater), A Hard Time (Pig Iron Theater Company), Bonnie’s Last Flight (NYTW Next Door), Sweeney Todd (Curtis School of Music), Cute Activist (The Bushwick Starr), Lost Laughs (Merrimack Repertory Theater), Peer Gynt and the Norwegian Hapa Band (ARTNY, Ma-Yi Theater Company), Heartland (Geva Theater Company), Heartbreak (The Bushwick Starr), The Temple Bombing (Alliance Theater Company), The Wong Kids in the Secret of the Space Chupacabra, Go! (Ma-Yi Theater Company) Associate Designer: Hadestown (des: Rachel Hauck), The Spongebob Musical (des: David Zinn), The Waverly Gallery (des: David Zinn), Amelie, the Musical (des: David Zinn). Check out my work at www.meredithries.com

Cha See / Lighting Designer

CHA SEE is from Manila, Philippines. Off-Broadway credits: one in two (Signature Theatre); What To Send Up When It Goes Down (ART/NY, NE Region Tour: Woolly Mammoth, a.r.t. Boston) Regional: On The Grounds of Belonging (Long Wharf Theatre); America V2.1 (Barrington Stage); Marisol (Trinity Rep). Other shows include The Maturation of an Inconvenient Negro (Cherry Lane); Mondo Tragic (National Black Theatre); Cute Activist (Bushwick Starr); The Triumphant (Target Margin Theatre); Nora (The Juilliard School); Anna May Wong (Mabou Mines); SKINNAMARINK (NYTW Next Door); Then They Forgot About The Rest (Intar); In The Penal Colony (NYTW Next Door); Yasmina’s Necklace (Premiere Stages); Still Asking For It (Joe’s Pub) Upcoming: Exception To The Rule (Roundabout); Legacy Land (Kansas City Rep); Antelope Party (Wild Project). Cha has exhibited her works at the Prague Quadrennial 2019. Training: MFA NYU Tisch. For more seelightingdesign.com @seethruuu

Haydee Zelideth / Costume Designer

HAYDEE ZELIDETH is a New York City based costume designer. New York: Monsoon Season (AFO, Edinburgh Fringe Festival), (Still) Asking For It (Joe’s Pub at The Public), Mojada (The Public Theater), Playing Hot (Pipeline Theatre), This Tree (HERE Arts Center), Afloat and Two Mile Hollow (Women’s Project), This is Modern Art (NYTW Next Door), Accidentdal Death of an Anarchist and Medea (Atlantic School Acting Company). Regional: Pride & Prejudice (Dorset Theatre Festival, Actor’s Shakespeare Project), Imogen Says Nothing (Yale Rep), She Kills Monsters, How We Got On (Brown / Trinity), Skin of Our Teeth, The Merchant of Venice (YSD), Cunning Little Vixen (Opera Theater of Yale College), The Silent Lyre (Elm City Consortium) and several productions at the Yale Cabaret. Film credits: As Shadows (Hamptons Film Festival) and Pear (SENE Film & Music Festival). MFA Yale School of Drama. @haydeezelideth

Aoife Hough / Production Stage Manager

AOIFE HOUGH is a stage manager and theatre-maker, hailing originally from the Pacific Northwest but now residing in Brooklyn. She is passionate about queer theatre and the creation of new musicals, and has recently worked on productions with HERE Arts Center, Joe’s Pub @ The Public, Generator Theatre Company and Ping Chong + Company. She received her B.A. in Neuroscience from Reed College.

Madeleine Foster Bersin / Producer

MADELEINE FOSTER BERSIN is a producer and dramaturg. She was nominated for a 2019 TONY Award for her Broadway producing debut, Heidi Schreck’s What the Constitution Means to Me, which began a national tour in January 2020. She is also a producer of Matthew Lopez’s play The Inheritance, dir. Stephen Daldry, now playing on Broadway. Other credits include What the Constitution Means to Me (NYTW at Greenwich House), Adrienne Truscott’s (Still) Asking for It (Joe’s Pub at the Public Theater), a roving run of James & Jerome’s Piano Tales in found spaces throughout New York City, 1969: The Second Man (Next Door @ NYTW), A$AP Rocky’s Lab Rat (AWGE/Sotheby’s), Matthew Aucoin’s Crossing, dir. Diane Paulus (A.R.T./2017 Next Wave Festival at BAM), and the TEAM’s Primer for a Failed Superpower at Roulette Intermedium. Maddy has held staff positions at New York Theatre Workshop, the TEAM, the American Repertory Theater, Soho Rep., and the Gate Theatre in London, and holds an A.B. in History & Literature from Harvard University, where she studied 20th century American culture. She lives in Brooklyn.

Zack Lobel / Assistant Lighting Designer / Master Electrician

ZACK LOBEL is a video and lighting designer based in NYC. Recent design credits include: the immersive nightclub musical Oscar at the Crown (3 Dollar Bill), Orchid Receipt Service starring Asia Kate Dillon, and Dutchman (Access Theater). He works regularly at The McKittrick (Sleep No More) and Gotham Dance Theater. He has worked at venues such as Ars Nova, The Tank, Joe’s Pub, New Ohio Theatre, NYTW Next Door, La MaMa, 59E59, and others. Recent graduate of Wesleyan University (Middletown, CT). zacklobel.com @zacklobel

Charlotte Murray / Associate Director

CHARLOTTE MURRAY is a New York director, deviser, and theater maker. Credits include: Noirtown (Witness Immersive), Our House is Haunted (Dixon Place, Corkscrew Theater Festival), Fat Faggot (Judson Memorial Church, Dixon Place), Sahi Vaqt Pe or The One with the Biological Clock (Tamasha Nights, Hypokrit), Political Subversities (The PIT), and Eurydice (PHTS). She has worked with creators Elena Heyman, Jaki Bradley, Andrew Neisler, Sam Pinkleton, Annie Tippe, Jennifer Morris, and Tea Alagić. Fresh Ground Pepper, Playground PlayGoup 2019 – 2020. NYU Tisch School of the Arts, Playwrights Horizons Theater School.

Megumi Lee / Associate Producer

MEGUMI LEE is a producer and theatremaker. Megumi produced the sold-out run of Paulo K Tiról’s On This Side of the World (Access Theater) and the East Coast tour of up your aesthetic. With Foster Bersin Projects: Still Asking For It (Joe’s Pub), 1969: The Second Man (Next Door @ New York Theater Workshop), and James & Jerome’s Piano Tales. Megumi has also worked with Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre, The TEAM, and New Century Theatre. She is a graduate of Smith College, where she studied directing and theatre design. www.megumilee.com

Ruby Berlin / Assistant Stage Manager

RUBY BERLIN is a stage manager, originally from the D.C. area and now working in NYC. She has recently worked on productions at The Public Theater (For Colored Girls…) and Amas Musical Theatre. She received her B.A. in Theater from Oberlin College.

Patricia Marjorie / Props Master

Patrícia Marjorie is a Brazilian multi-craft based in NYC with experience on different types and scopes of projects in theater. An actor, director and craft master, Patrícia moved to NYC after 19 years of extensive work on theater productions in Brasília, Brazil’s capital, where she got her Bachelor’s Degree in Performing Arts from Universidade de Brasília (UnB). She is experienced in executing measurable creative solutions in arts, design and interactive marketing. Patrícia’s theatrical craft credits have included design props for classical plays like Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing (Brasilia 2014), modern adaptations such as Heiner Muller’s Hamlet- Machine (Brasilia 2001); TV shows as Rainha da Cocada by Dulce Delight (NYC 2018) and interactive performances like The Other’s Shadow by Rodrigo Fisher at Dixon Place (NYC 2018). Patricia’s NYC works include Props: DOOMOCRACY by Pedro Reyes and directed by Meghan Finn (2016); Mac Welman’s Sincerity Forever, Sandalwood Box and The Fez at The Flea Theatre (2019); Black Exhibition by Jeremy O. Harris at the Bushwick Starr, among others. Patricia Marjorie is also Creative Associate Producer at The Tank.

The Misfits / Consulting Producer

The Misfits creates bold theatrical events that push the boundaries of what audiences have come to expect from traditional theater—experiences that invite social connection and provoke deeper conversation. NYC-based. Nonprofit. Reimagining the audience experience. Past development work: Bro Lyfe by Justin Kuritzkes (2016, reading), House Plant by Sarah Einspanier (2018, workshop). www.themisfitstheatre.org

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