ALMA BAYA, on demand
Available now until February 15
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In light of the new dangers caused by Omicron, we would like to resume some of our virtual programming. Join us by watching Alma Baya, if you haven't already. Or book an appointment for Performance for One. Or listen to one of our podcasts (available free). Stay safe, and Happy Holidays.
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An original absurdist sic-fi drama
Written and directed by Edward Einhorn
Tickets $25.
Watch Cast A or Cast B, or both!
(you will get a discount code for the other show when you order).
Alma and Baya live on a hostile planet in a pod designed to sustain just them. When a refugee arrives from another pod, they have to balance survival versus compassion.
Running time: 75 minutes
Cast A: Sheleah Harris, Rivera Reese, Ann Marie Yoo
Cast B: Maggie Cino, JaneAnne Halter, Nina Mann
NOTE: There is nudity in the show.
"[Both casts] held me in the grip of their roller-coaster emotions throughout. Each, alternately, tugged at my heart as I entered their world and rooted for their survival. Both clearly portrayed the play’s topical message in a thought-provoking, poignant, at times humorous, and always entertaining way." - Around Town
" 'Waiting for Godot' meets 'The Twilight Zone' in this masterpiece of absurdist theatre...Maggie Cino (Alma) and JaneAnne Halter (Baya) treat the play's comic moments with ease and spontaneity...Nina Mann's Stranger is a wild card in the play: bold, questioning, almost seductive without trying to be...Refreshingly original theatre flawlessly performed" - StageBuddy
"Worthy, well-written and resonant...Scenic designer Mike Mroch’s multi-level configuration of geometric white pieces adorned with gadgets is awesome. ...The charismatic Rivera Reese is a feral and poignant Stranger. Girlish and sunny Sheleah Harris is comical and touching as Baya. Anne Marie Yoo’s Alma is appealingly emphatic and stalwart. Together, this trio has a dynamic and moving chemistry." - TheatreScene
"[A] bleak, humor-flecked tale...set in a world plagued by human problems that eternally replicate — because survival is a brutal business, and selfishness is one of our dominant traits." - The New York Times
"A claustrophobic, vastly entertaining sci-fi parable for this moment in time, an absurdist look at what comes next." - This Week in New York
Mr. Einhorn (who also directs) manages to conjure a fully-realized world and scenario, all the while retaining the vague menace of a Pinter play. Aside from being an astute psychological thriller, the play also functions as a sort of microcosmic metaphor for the world we currently live in and where we’re headed as a civilization. At my performance, the trio of JaneAnne Halter, Nina Mann, and Maggie Cino...were excellent and fully invested in the world Mr. Einhorn has meticulously created." Interludes
"Maggie Cino is a silently explosive portrait of self-imprisoned feeling as Alma; JaneAnne Halter s heartbreakingly trusting and surreptitiously principled as Baya; and Nina Mann is an astonishing presence as the Stranger, her performance a feral ballet of protective crouches, striding confidence and abject collapse; the natural, ungoverned world the other pod-dwellers fear, personified." - HiLoBrow
"Einhorn directs his sharp script with a skillful touch, truly making the evening and eerie experience. ALMA BAYA marks a triumphant return to live performance, one that takes patience and focus and rewards you with an exhilarating evening out at the theatre. A must-see." Artswire Weekly
"A strong and heady blend of sci-fi and absurdist theater at its best" - Recursor
"The fascinating new play finds its hold on our emotional sensibilities... [an] intricate set designed with a clarity of vision by Mike Mroch enhanced with lighting by Federico Restrepo and perfectly formatted costumes by Ramona Ponce...a strongly crafted dilemma, with stances easily taken, but never held firmly for very long" - Times Square Chronicles
The shifting, modulating dynamics of the bids for power, sympathy, and alliance among the self-assuredly inflexible Alma, wide-eyed but headstrong Baya, and shrewd but vulnerable Stranger are rendered by Cino, Halter, and Mann with humor, conviction, and subtlety. Even when things get dark, Alma Baya lights up the stage. - Thinking Theater
"Ann Marie Yoo was able to straddle that line where you hate her bossiness and greediness by allocating more food for herself than others, but then she is very smart. She grasps the situations and can reason the best outcomes with the help of their instruction manuals. She is the brains and Sheleah Harris as Baya is all heart. Baya tries but is incapable of standing up for herself in the plight and confidence of others. Ms. Harris is vulnerable and kind and a great contrast to the others." Hi Drama
"Smartly tailor-made for the specific moment in which we are living...Both casts did a fine job in bringing out the humor in the script." - New York Theatre
"Tight, realistic and clear.... nicely directed by the author. Frederico Restrepo and Hao Bai’s lighting design adds the appropriate mystery and menace to the proceedings." Theater Reviews From my Seat
Set Designer: Mike Mroch
Costume Designer: Ramona Ponce
Lighting Designer: Federico Restrepo
Sound Designer: Mark Bruckner
Stage Manager: Karen Oughtred
Assistant Director/ASM: Becca Silbert
Box Office Manager: Berit Johnson
Production Assistants: Caleb Barron, Sarah Grant, Glafira May, and Sarah Morse.
Publicity: Emily Owens PR
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Our online online programming continues, including:
Podcasts
The first modern dystopian novel, written as a socialist propaganda piece in 1908. Jack London envisions a world in which the oligarchs form a fascist regime in America, told from the perspective of two young socialist lovers. Antonia Meredith, a historian from a utopia in the far future, provides dubious historical context. A mixture of romance, rhetoric, and revolution, accompanied by the folk music of the IWW Songbook. Adapted as a three-part audio drama from our earlier stage adaptation.
The true story of a 1920's con man who made a fortune selling his impotence cure: surgically implanted goat testicles. He then became a radio star and a successful politician. A Brechtian parable about American Greatness, told with country music.
Skype on demand
This 25-minute one-on-one meta-memoir, examining memory, connection, and loss. Performance by Yvonne Roen.
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215 W. 95th St. Suite 11G
New York, NY 10025
212-866-1073
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