Liza Birkenmeier / Playwright

LIZA BIRKENMEIER is the Tow Playwright-in-Residence at Ars Nova, where her play Dr. Ride’s American Beach House premiered this past fall, 2019, directed by Katie Brook. Her work has been developed at Lincoln Center Directors Lab, Rattlestick, The Playwrights Realm, New Georges, Invisible Dog, the Catch Series, Prelude NYC, City Theater in Pittsburgh, University Settlement, and elsewhere. She is a recent member of the Emerging Writers Group at The Public Theater. Her play radio island was on the 2016 Kilroys list and was a finalist for the inaugural Relentless Award; workshop production at NYSAF Powerhouse. She is the writer of the upcoming Jill Sobule musical, to premiere at City Theater in Pittsburgh, Spring, 2020. She is a Macdowell Colony and Yaddo fellow and received her MFA in playwriting from Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Drama.

Liza Birkenmeier and Islander director Katie Brook – most recently worked on Ars Nova’s premiere of Dr. Ride’s American Beach House in November of 2019. Previously, they have developed work together at CATCH, Prelude, Dixon Place, The Public, Playwrights Realm, and The University Settlement Artist-in-Residency program. Their collaborative efforts are always experimental—using text and their roles as director/writer differently almost every time.

Katie Brook / Director

KATIE BROOK is a director of new experimental plays and performance and makes original work collaboratively with her theatre company, Televiolet. Her work has been presented at various venues in New York City and beyond, including The Public Theater’s Under the Radar Festival, where she was a member of the Devised Theater Working Group, The Provincetown Tennessee Williams Theatre Festival, Roulette, Incubator Arts Project, Ars Nova, Prelude NYC, and more. Brook has also worked as a creative producer at The Foundry Theatre, The Builders Association, and New York City Players, and is the Director of Production at StoryCorps. She received her BFA from NYU’s Experimental Theater Wing and her MFA from Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Drama.

Katie Brook and Islander playwright Liza Birkenmeier – most recently worked on Ars Nova’s premiere of Dr. Ride’s American Beach House in November of 2019. Previously, they have developed work together at CATCH, Prelude, Dixon Place, The Public, Playwrights Realm, and The University Settlement Artist-in-Residency program. Their collaborative efforts are always experimental—using text and their roles as director/writer differently almost every time.

Televiolet / Producer

TELEVIOLET is a theater and performance ensemble led by director Katie Brook that uses dramatic texts and real-world content to experiment with acting and dramatic form. Televiolet works created in collaboration with Liza Birkenmeier include Tragedy in Spades (developed at University Settlement Performance Project) and American Realism (Invisible Dog and The San Diego Museum of Art). Televiolet has also been featured at Prelude, Little Theater, Catch, Under the Radar, and at Abrons Arts Center, where their most recent production, The Power of Emotion: The Apartment, premiered.