2011 Works-in-Development Series in here!!

Coyote REP is committed to nurturing the original work of the company's playwrights. The annual Works in Development Series is an intensive, ten-month program which provides a structured series of workshops culminating in a public presentation of readings in May. This year, Coyote REP is excited to present 4 wildly different and unique projects. Talk backs are featured after each reading. For more information please visit us at coyoterep.com Seating is extremely limited. RSVP at info@coyoterep.org. Include your name, name of the play and number of seats requested

The Dogwatcher
By Emily Bohannan

Monday, May 2nd 7pm
Ripley-Grier Studios
520 8th Avenue, 16th Floor Studio 16D
(Between 36th and 37th Streets)
New York, New York 10018
($5 suggested donation)
RSVP at info@coyoterep.org

The inmates of a Georgia prison tell their stories to an advocate to try and save the program that brings one hour of humanity to their week - but is their savior using his powers for good, or is he more like his subjects than they know?

SICK
By Greg Ayers
Directed by Paul Dobie
Monday, May 9th 7pm Ripley-Grier Studios 520 8th Avenue, 16th Floor Studio 16D (between 36th and 37th Streets) New York, NY 10018 ($5 suggested donation)
RSVP at info@coyoterep.org
with Chris Bert (the Green), Alex Brightman (Wicked, Spidermusical), Andrea Caban (Questions My Mother Can’t Answer), Jessica Disalvo, Ben Hollandsworth (A Little Journey), Brian Munn (Wicked), Tom Patterson, and Anita Sabherwal (Future Anxiety)

8 am: Get the kids off to school. 10 am: Get baked with you brother.
7 pm: Defend the house from zombies


They Were Ours
By Larry Manogue and William Walter White
Directed by Beth Gardiner
Monday, May 16th 7pm Ripley-Grier Studios 520 8th Avenue, 16th Floor Studio 16D (between 36th and 37th Streets) New York, NY 10018 ($5 suggested donation)
RSVP at info@coyoterep.org

with Rob Bradford, Le-Anne Garland (Genderf*ck), Jason Alan Griffin (Dancing Fools), Jeanne LaSala (Spoiled Bea), Joel Leffert (The Memorandum), Tim McKiernan, Teresa Meza, Tom Patterson, chandra thomas (Forgive to Forget)

Forty-three soldiers from one small county in Southern New Jersey go to war and die for their country. They were deployed over forty years ago, yet shipped out yesterday. One soldier returns and must tell their stories through those they left behind, because … “they were ours”. Forty three stories, eighty characters, ten actors …a theatrical adaptation of the book “They Were Ours: Gloucester County’s Loss in Vietnam”, by John Campbell


The Review (Or How to Eat Your Opposition)
By Donnetta Lavinia Grays
Directed by Isaac Byrne

Monday May 23rd 7pm
Ripley-Grier Studios
520 8th Avenue, 16th Floor Studio 16D
(Between 36th and 37th Streets)
New York, New York 10018
($5 suggested donation)
RSVP at info@coyoterep.org
with Jeanne LaSala (Spoiled Bea), Lea Robinson, Lusia Strus (Enron), Elizabeth Whitney (The West Street Gang),

Naomi is an artist whose career is taking off...finally. But at what cost? Enter a young critic (Dana) who challenges Naomi's artistic integrity and by doing so finds herself with a challenge of her own. Art or artifice? Depends on your point of view.


Directions to Ripley-Grier Studios:
Subway 1, 2, or 3 & A, C or E to 34th Stop, at Penn Station. Walk uptown to 520 Eighth Ave. Between 36th and 37th Street. 16th Floor.

Tickets on Sale NOW for THE NEW NORMAL by Donnetta Lavinia Grays

Coyote REP Theatre Company Presents
The World Premiere of

THE NEW NORMAL
by Donnetta Lavinia Grays
directed by Isaac Byrne
October 13th-23rd, 2010 (Limited Two Week Run)
Starring Nell Mooney*, Michael Mason, Andrea Caban* and Emily Rossell*

Dates and Times:
October 13th-15th 8pm (Previews)
October 16th 8pm (Opening Night)
October 17th 2pm and 8pm
*October 18th 8pm
October 20th-23rd 8pm

Tickets $18
Available online at Brown Paper Tickets (*Special Monday Night Performance)

About the Show:
Meet Anna, a 30 something funny and frank southern warrior living and thriving in Seattle with her rocker husband and 3 year old kid. As a mom, a wife and a survivor she's handled more than her fair share of drama, but nothing could have prepared her for this. The New Normal: Sometimes survivors need a survival guide.

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The New Normal is a groundbreaking original full-length play developed by Coyote REP Theatre Company and written by Donnetta Lavinia Grays. Inspired by the life of 2009 Puget Sound Survivor of the Year Anna Warren Schumacher, it is a hard hitting play that tells the unique story of how a young woman finds humor and grace in the unexpected challenges of survival.

Starring Nell Mooney*, Michael Mason, Andrea Caban* and Emily Rossell*

*Actors Appear Courtesy of Actors Equity Association



THIS PROGRAM IS SUPPORTED, IN PART, BY PUBLIC FUNDS FROM THE NEW YORK CITY DEPARTMENT OF CULTURAL AFFAIRS IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE CITY COUNCIL.




Sound SFX system provided by a generous donation from Stage Research

Coyote REP on CBS New York's Komen Special Sept 11th

Set your TiVo's, Kids!!

We are proud to announce that Coyote REP will be featured in CBS 2 New York's Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure Special airing Saturday Sept. 11th at 7pm.

Artistic Director and Playwright Donnetta Lavinia Grays sat down with CBS 2 News Reporter Cindy Hsu to talk about Coyote REP's upcoming production of THE NEW NORMAL which premieres October 13th-23rd at Wings Theatre.

Ms. Hsu also spoke to the woman who served as inspiration for the piece, 2009 Puget Sound Susan G. Komen Survivor of the Year Anna Warren Schumaucher, via satellite from Seattle.
Please tune in to meet Anna and hear tell her story in her own words.

The segment traces the friendship between the playwright and her muse and details what moved CR to develop and produce this groundbreaking new work about a young woman's unique story of survival.

Stay tuned this blog and our website for more information about THE NEW NORMAL!!

Questions my Mother Can't Answer: The FringeNYC Dates!

A FringeNYC Official Selection!













ABOUT THE SHOW:

Questions My Mother Can’t Answer, a moving and funny one woman show written by and starring Andrea Caban, recipient of the 2008 New York Innovative Theatre Award for Outstanding Solo Performance, will be part of the 14th annual New York International Fringe Festival – presented at New York Theatre Workshop's 4th Street Theater.

SCHEDULE!

SUN 8/15 @ 10:15pm

SUN 8/22 @ 1:45pm

TUE 8/24 @ 2:00pm

THUR 8/26 @ 6:45pm

FRI 8/27 @ 9:15pm


Andrea’s on a mission: she interviews eight “women-of-a-certain-age” including a sexy Moroccan ballroom dancer, a donations-only prostitute, and her Aunt Shirley, about getting pregnant, staying married and finding a flow. As she embarks on a healing journey after a personal tragic event, Andrea looks for guidance from a variety of female role models, only to find that there are no role models…that we are all flawed and that life isn't about avoiding accidents, or tragedy, but how we deal with it.


Produced by Coyote REP Theatre Company www.coyoterep.org, directed by Rachel Eckerling, co-director of this season’s acclaimed The Diary of a Teenage Girl at 3LD Arts & Technology Center and frequent collaborator of Francis Ford Coppola on both theatre and film projects. The creative team for Questions My Mother Can’t Answer will also include Grammy Award-winning sound designer Marcelo Añez and lighting designer Jason Teague.

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FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT:

Official Show Site:
www.questionsmymothercantanswer.com

FringeNYC (This get's you right to the show's Fringe link)



or visit us at
www.coyoterep.org

The New Normal

The New Normal
By Donnetta Lavinia Grays
Directed by Isaac Byrne

Monday May 24th 7pm
ART/NY Bruce Mitchell Room
520 8th Avenue, 3rd Floor
(between 36th and 37th Streets)
New York, NY 10018
($5 suggested donation)

So, back in 2007 I am on the receiving end of a mass email from my mentor Joy Vandervort-Cobb at The College of Charleston in South Carolina. She writes that a former student and friend, Anna Dorcas Warren (Schumacher), is participating in the Susan G. Komen 3 Day Walk for the Cure and that we should support her by sending in what we can. I see the words diagnosed in 2006, battle, fight, baby…and I don’t quite get what I am reading. I mean, Anna is around my age. So, even with those specific words on my computer screen I think to myself, “I wonder who Anna’s walking for?” Seriously, I could not make the connection from “diagnosed with breast cancer” to Anna herself. I think, instead “Dude, Anna got married?? Anna’s got a baby?? Hot dog! I really need to get in touch with that chick!" Then my mind wonders to a couple plays we did together while we were in school and…yeah, I think that was that.

For one thing, this says quite a bit about my attention to detail, but moreover, in my mind Breast Cancer had always been this sort of disease of age. I mean, I knew my neurosis would have me spending the better part of my 40^th birthday cooped up in some doctor’s office demanding another look-see at my mammogram results. There were commercials, morning talk shows and Oprah at 4pm all telling me that there was a threshold. I knew my facts. But, I also knew that Anna was maybe a couple seconds older than me (she was 32) so, there was no room whatsoever for her to fit into that medical community and media driven equation. No room. So, I couldn’t really see the words in that email as the truth. I guess I was shocked and shockingly ignorant.

And then there was Facebook.

I had lost touch with Anna for a while. And then, through the magic of Facebook in early 2008 we found each other again. We chatted. We exchanged inappropriate jokes as is our nature. We laughed “LOL” style. And then I clicked on a link attached to her profile page which led me to her personal blog.

Man…there were pictures. I saw my friend’s beautiful bald head. I saw my friend’s beautiful baby boy, Silas. Her husband, Kevin. I saw her being a Southern girl dealing with Seattle. Yeah. But, I also saw her…drinkin’, partyin’ and cussin’ with other beautiful bald ladies, putting ketchup on anything that moved, cracking jokes and being the firecracker I remembered from school. I saw Anna living. I saw Anna’s babyface making this incredible turn into adulthood and around that corner comes this disease to meet her full on. And I broke. I did. I broke out into tears. I broke into laughter reading about her son’s potty training stories and I broke open with so much love for her and a clearer understanding of why her diagnosis didn’t really sink in for me. The public dialogue about women under 40 being diagnosed with and treated for breast cancer had not reached me and so, it wasn't a part of a reality that I could digest in reference to her.

That dialogue hasn’t reached a lot of people. And that’s what both Anna and I want to change with this play.

The New Normal is based on Anna’s blog which she maintains to this day. It details not only her struggle with breast cancer, but also the joys and pains of being a mother, wife, daughter and a member of a community of young women facing there lives as survivors.

The characters’ development in the play (of Anna and of those in her family and community) have been dramatized and fictionalized, of course, in order to ground the argument that young survivors are invisible to a certain extent and that this specific illness affects relationships and families not only the women who are diagnosed. Their portrayals are amplified to reveal truths.

The New Normal received an initial workshop with Coyote REP in June 2009. Invited guest artists during that workshop were a collection of individuals who either knew Anna while she was a theater student at The College of Charleston, Coyote REP members or artists who where familiar with creating documentary theater: Emily Ackerman (The Civilians), Blaire Brooks, Safiya Fredericks, Chad Goodridge, Carla Musgrove, Laura Rikard and Jeanne LaSala. These artists were invaluable in helping to sculpt a time frame and context for over 300 pages of blog entries.

The first draft received a public reading and fundraiser in August 2009 by Coyote REP at New World Stages. The cast for the reading included Emily Ackerman, Blaire Brooks, Andrea Caban, Jennifer Ferrin, Chad Goodridge and David Lee Nelson. The event also included guest speakers from the Young Survival Coalition.

Ultimately, I want to illuminate a major point that I learned

from reading Anna’s blog and knowing her as a human

being. The humor in her blog is directed at the illness the majority of the time. This is not by coincidence. I think she says through her humor, “look, it’s the people in my life who are sacred NOT this disease. I have it, but I get to define it. Not the other way around.”I hope that this sentiment is reflected in the work Coyote REP has started to create.

Donnetta Lavinia Grays is the Artistic Director and is a Founding Member of Coyote REP Theatre Company. She worked with Director Bill Rauch as an Altvater Fellowship Recipient at Cornerstone Theatre Company and served as Stage Manager and assistant to Fredrick Bailey on the original production of Beth Henley’s Sister’s of the Winter Madrigal at Moving Arts Theatre in Los Angeles. Donnetta also served as an assistant to Woodie King Jr. on various projects for New Federal Theater including BLACK BEAUTIES: Celebrating 100 Years of African-American Women on Broadway. Donnetta has written the cowboy is dying, her first solo play effort, which she performed with Coyote REP in 2008. Her play THE B FACTOR received a reading at Henry Street Settlement’s Abrons Arts Center as a part of the 2002 Women of Color Arts and Film Festival and a reading with TOSOS Theater Company in 2009 as part of their Robert Chesley / Jane Chambers Playwrights Project. She has also presented her written work at Pride Goes East and with Kathleen Warnock’s Drunken Careening Writers series at KGB Bar. Other works-in-progress include ABSENCE OF FAITH, and THE REVIEW (working title). Poetry featured on shortpoem.org.

Acting Credits; with Coyote REP, the cowboy is dying, DECPETION, PATRIOT ACT (AN OCCURRENCE AT YANKEE STADIUM Broadway: IN THE NEXT ROOM OR THE VIBRATOR PLAY (Cover), WELL (Cover). Off- Broadway: SHIPWRECKED! AN ENTERTAINMENT (Primary Stages) Regional Theatre: NO CHILD…(2 Connecticut Critics Circle Awards) JOE TURNER’S COME AND GONE (Baltimore’s Center Stage) WELL (Huntington Theatre, Arena Stage), A RAISIN IN THE SUN, THE ROYAL FAMILY (Oregon Shakespeare Festival). TWELFTH NIGHT (Los Angeles Women’s Shakespeare Co.), MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING (Charleston Shakespeare Co.),Television: RUBICON, MERCY and LAW & ORDER: SVU (all recurring), THE SOPRANOS , LAW & ORDER and LAW & ORDER: CI. Film: THE WRESTLER (Darren Aronosfsky dir.) SHOOK and the Emmy Award winning documentary WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE? Proud member of AEA, SAG and AFTRA. Also a member of TOSOS Theater Company. BA: College of Charleston. MFA: University of California, Irvine. www.donnettagrays.com

The New Play Development Program is our commitment to nurturing the original work of our company's playwrights. This intensive, ten-month program provides a structured series of workshops culminating in our May Works-in-Development Series, a public presentation of readings.