Exiled Tongues Theatre Seeking Stage Manager and Participants

EXILED TONGUES is producing its second show for the 2020/2021 Season. This project “CON DOUGH: Stories of 1 in 5 Gentrified” is commissioned by the Center at West Park with performances on February 26-28, 2021. This production will rehearse and be performed in the Sanctuary Space at Center at West Park Feb 15-28. All actors will not be required to be on site as all interviews will take place on Zoom.

CON DOUGH: STORIES OF 1 in 5 Gentrified is a documentary theater pieces that captures the violence gentrification has done to low income communities and communities of color across NYC. We are looking to interview residents from NYC who were born and raised in the five boroughs to talk about their experiences in NYC and the ways in which gentrification has affected them. Interview participants will be recorded by video or audio and portions will be used in the documentary theater piece.

Additionally, we are looking for a Stage Manager (who will mostly be board operator during tech and performances). The Stage Manager will join us for some portion of the residency at the Sanctuary Space at Center at West Park between Feb 15-28. SM is required to be on site from Feb 24 - Feb 28.

If you have any questions or would like to be involved in the project, please email artistic@exiledtongues.com

Find out more about the project here: https://www.exiledtongues.com/con-dough

Fiscal Donations to this project are tax deductible. Donate here: https://www.thefield.org/sa/628457

Ray Jordan Achan is a sponsored artist with Performance Zone Inc (dba The Field), a not-for-profit, tax-exempt, 501©(3) organization serving the performing arts community. Contributions to The Field earmarked for Ray Jordan Achan are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.

More about the artists:

DENA IGUSTI (they/he) is a queer Indonesian Muslim poet, playwright, and producer born and raised in Queens, New York. They are the author of CUT WOMAN (Game Over Books). They are the Managing Director and Executive Producer of EXILED TONGUES, the co-founder of Asian multidisciplinary arts collective UNCOMMON;YOU and literary press Short Line Review. He is a 2018 NYC Youth Poet Laureate Ambassador and 2017 Urban Word Federal Hall Fellow. He is a 2019 Player’s Theatre Resident Playwright for their co-written Off-Broadway production SHARUM. Their choreopoem, CUT WOMAN was featured at Prelude Festival 2020. He is a 2020 Seventh Wave Editorial Resident, 2020 Ars Nova Emerging Leaders Fellow and part of Spotify Sound Up’s 2020 cohort. His work has been featured in BOAAT Press, Peregrine Journal, and several other publications. He has performed at The Brooklyn Museum, The Apollo Theater, the 2018 Teen Vogue Summit, and several venues across the nation.

Ray Jordan Achan (he/him/his) is a Guyanese American, Brooklyn based actor, director, writer and producer. Ray is the Founding Artistic Director of EXILED TONGUES, a performance collective that provides financial, artistic and collaborative support to BIPOC artists who center diasporic consciousness. Ray is an Artist-in-Residence, as part of the pilot A4 Virtual Residency hosted by Asian American Arts Alliance. He currently is developing his documentary theater piece, “CON DOUGH: Stories of 1 in 5 Gentrified” at the sanctuary space at the Center at West Park set to premiere virtually in February 2021. Ray is an Associate Member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation. He is the recipient of the Pet Project Grant sponsored by Jeremy O’Harris and the Bushwick Starr for his play, Free Fallin’. He recently was the Artistic Fellow at Ars Nova as part of the Emerging Leaders Group. He has worked at the Park Avenue Armory as a Production Assistant and has helped advance shows such as Antigone and Judgment Day as well as events such as The Black Artists Retreat and Armory Iridescent and Culture in a Changing America: 100 Years/100 Women. He also worked as a Producing Intern at the Public Theater. Ray directed the World Premiere Off-Broadway production of SHARUM written by Mohammad Murtaza and Dena Igusti at the Player’s Theater. Recently, Ray directed CUT WOMAN, written by Dena Igusti which premiered at the Prelude NYC 2020 Festival. Future projects: Ray is directing his original play Free Fallin’ which is set to premiere at the Hudson Guild Theater in June 2021. Additionally, Ray is directing La Violecion of My PapiYon, an original play written by Arline Pierre- Louis.

EXILED TONGUES IS A NYC BASED THEATER COLLECTIVE THAT PROVIDES FINANCIAL, ARTISTIC AND COLLABORATIVE SUPPORT TO ARTISTS OF COLOR WHO CENTER DIASPORIC CONSCIOUSNESS. WE REALIZE THAT MAINSTREAM AMERICAN THEATER SUFFERS FROM A SEVERE LACK OF REPRESENTATION AND DESERVES SERIOUS DISCUSSION ON COLONIZATION AND THE LEGACY OF POST-COLONIALISM ESPECIALLY WITHIN THE AMERICAN CONTEXT. OUR PRODUCTIONS SHOWCASE THE COMPLEX STORIES OF BIPOC AND ACKNOWLEDGE INTERSECTIONAL IDENTITIES. WE USE OUR INTERSECTIONAL IDENTITIES AS A FORM OF THEATRICAL EMPOWERMENT AND SEEK TO MAKE CHANGE BEYOND THEATER AND INTO OUR COMMUNITIES.

Requirements

Must be a long term resident born and raised in NYC to be interviewed. Stage Managers will be required to come on site for rehearsal at a time agreed upon with others artists.