Ensemble Studio Theatre presents
a new play by Brittany K. Allen, directed by Mikhaela Mahony*,
& choreographed by Sasha Hutchings
featuring Brittany K. Allen, Denny Dale Bess*, Bryn Carter, Tyrone Mitchell Henderson, Drew Lewis*, Portia, Kate Siahaan-Rigg, & Eric R. Williams
When Steve Durbin goes down the rabbit hole of charting his family's genealogy, he makes an unwelcome discovery that throws the entire Durbin clan into turmoil. Chiefly: his niece, Meg, who's forced to reconsider her relationship with Drew, a white physicist. With acid wit, love, and dance, REDWOOD ponders the project of interracial family-making in a haunted country.
Now extended through November 18!
Set Design: Ao Li | Costume Design: Mika Eubanks | Lighting Designers: Betsy Chester and Stacey Derosier | Sound Design: Kathy Ruvuna | Prop Design: Caitlyn Murphy | Choreographer/Assistant Director: Sasha Hutchings | Production Stage Manager: Fran Acuña-Almiron | Assistant Stage Manager: Ingrid Pierson
About the Playwright & Director
Brittany K. Allen (Playwright) is a Brooklyn-based actor/writer. Recent acting credits include Deep Blue Sound (Clubbed Thumb, Summerworks), The Good John Proctor (Bedlam), and the world premiere of Redwood at Portland Center Stage. Her plays have been staged and developed at Manhattan Theater Club, Jungle Theater, Primary Stages, Clubbed Thumb, Studio Theatre, and KC Rep, among other places, and she currently holds commissions from Playwrights Horizons, Portland Center Stage, and Clubbed Thumb. She's an alumna of the Emerging Writers Group at The Public, and EST/Youngblood. Recognitions include the Daryl Roth Creative Spirit Award, the Dramatists Guild Foundation Comedic Playwriting Prize, and a Van Lier New Voices Playwriting Fellowship. Her writing has been supported by a MacDowell residency, and scholarships to Bread Loaf and the Sewanee Writers Conference, where she now teaches on faculty.
Mikhaela Mahony (Director) is a Brooklyn-based director of theatre, opera, and film. She has developed work with New York City Opera, the Ensemble Studio Theatre, Boston Lyric Opera, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, The Syndicate, City Lyric Opera, The Lobbyists, The Juilliard School, the Chautauqua Institution, Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University, Bard College, and Columbia University. She is a frequent collaborator with the Obie-Award-winning EST/Youngblood, directing Abby Rosebrock’s Dido of Idaho and the upcoming production of Brittany Allen’s Redwood. Summer, Mikhaela’s debut as a film director, was an official selection at the Buffalo International Film Festival, Flathead Lake International Cinemafest, and FilmColumbia in Chatham, NY. Selected theatre and opera directing credits include: Anne Carson’s translation of Hippolytos by Euripides (Bard College), Chekhov’s Three Sisters (Mason Gross School of the Arts), Miss Mitchell by The Lobbyists (Little Island), Dear Erich by Ted Rosenthal (New York City Opera), Menotti’s The Medium (City Lyric Opera), Tiny Errors at the End of the Millennium by Alanna Coby (The Syndicate), Verdi’s Rigoletto (Chautauqua Institution), and a multilingual version of The Beggar’s Opera by John Gay (Manhattan School of Music). Recent Assistant/Associate Director credits include: Oklahoma! (dir. Daniel Fish, Off-Broadway, Broadway, West-End, US National Tour), Le Roi Arthus (dir. Louisa Proske, Bard Summerscape), Bluebeard’s Castle (dir. Anne Bogart, Boston Lyric Opera), Faust (dir. Lileana Blain-Cruz, Detroit Opera). Mikhaela is the newly appointed Director of Opera at Rutgers University Mason Gross School of the Arts, and serves on the faculty of Mannes School of Music at The New School. Mikhaela is a member of the Ensemble Studio Theatre and volunteer artist with The 52nd Street Project.