Theater for the New City, Crystal Field executive artistic director, presents Remembrance
written by Pat GoodSon and directed by Joan Kane
March 20, 2025 to April 6, Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 8:00 pm, Sundays at 3:00 pm
155 First Av, NYC 10003
description
Amy is in therapy to cope with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder brought on by the long years of dealing with her mom’s mental and physical deterioration due to Alzheimer’s. In flashbacks we watch her mom’s decline and Amy’s disjointed attempts to manage and cope with her mother losing her mind and her losing the person that was her mom. It is a tale that everyone can relate to, as we as humans all experience some kind of loss.
author’s note
I wrote this play to honor my mother, who had Alzheimer’s, and to acknowledge the countless family members and caregivers who get little recognition for all they do, as they fight the ravishes of chronic and fatal diseases. They are the warriors combating for the patient, while fending off for themselves, at times, overwhelming feelings of fatigue, loneliness, depression and survivor’s guilt. Via exposing just one caregiver’s story, I hope that this play will open up conversations of how illness and confronting our own mortality affects us. We need to talk about it. The present count is 6.5 million people who have Alzheimer’s, compound that with the number of us who are affected by those 6.5 million. And what about the others with chronic or fatal diseases. The numbers are staggering. We need to be talking about it. Thank you Crystal Field, for your continual support and guidance. A shout out to Robert Liebowitz. Thank you professor, your former student acknowledges your efforts for this production. Special thanks to Joan Kane to for spearheading this production such a late hour with creativeness, enthusiasm and professionalism.
FIrst table read of Remembrance. Clockwise from upper left, director Joan Kane, playwright Pat GoodSon, David Odukoya plays Dctor Blake, Bryn Eva O’Conner play Amy 2, Kkuumba Siegell plays Nadine, light designer Bruce A! Kraemer, costuem designer Billy Little, Beth Griffth plays Moma, Zane Julia plays Amy 1, set designer Jonas Harrison, and stage manager Dana VIncent-Robbins.
cast
David Odukoya (Doctor Blake) is an actor, singer, and musician based in New York City. He has performed in several New York theaters, including Off-Broadway. Some favorite performances include Sebastian in The Little Mermaid, Haman in The Book of Esther, Utterson in Jekyll & Hyde, and Franklin in Panama, as well as ensemble roles in A Tale of Two Cities and Footloose. David is an alumni of HB Studio and The Barrow Group, he has trained extensively in both acting and musical theater. He would like to dedicate this performance to everyone facing the impact of late-stage illness.
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Zane Julia (Amy 1) pronounced ZÁH-neh, it’s a Latvian name, is delighted to make her Theater for the New City debut and to be part of this important story. She performed both Nelly Windrod and Martha Truit in The Rimers of Eldritch in T. Schreiber Studio’s Conservatory production. Zane also played the wild bohemian Miss Victoria Van Roth in the Amateur Comedy Club’s production of Death by Design and she has film credits on IMDB. Zane is grateful to be part of the telling of such an important story. Her own Mamma passed away of Alzheimer’s Disease last summer. Zane dedicates these performances to all her mother’s caregivers at Glenpark Boynton, to Edda Mae Mangompit, to Geneva Blumenthal, and especially to her aunt Maija Caune, who was there the most and for the hardest parts. Please see ZaneJulia.com.
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Beth Griffith (Moma) has appeared in many shows including Freedom Summer and Meltdown both by Toby Armour and directed by Joan Kane for Ego Actus. Other New York credits include: The New Stage Theatre, HERE Art Center, La MaMa, NYTW, New Ohio Theatre, New York City Opera, The Kitchen, Roulette, International WOW, The Flea, Playwrights Horizon Soundstage, Clubbed Thumb, New Georges, Theater for the New City. Internationally Beth has guested with: Johannes Wieland Dance, Paris Philharmonic Orchestra, Cologne Philharmonic Orchestra, Alte Oper Frankfurt. She has recorded for: Largo, Sargasso, Tzadik, Winter&Winter, New World Records and Unseen Worlds. She is so happy to work with this wonderful cast under direction of Joan Kane on Pat GoodSon’s Remembrance!
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Bryn Eva O’Conner (Amy 2) is a writer, singer, and performance artist based in Brooklyn, New York. Her training includes workshops at Stella Adler, Upright Citizens Brigade, New York Film Academy, and going on many bad dates in her twenties. You can find her essays on WastingYouth.com. To see a live reading along with other new works, you can follow her on Instagram @Bryn_Eva for updates. She is thrilled to be joining the cast of Remembrance for its inaugural performance at Theater for the New City. Addendum: she is now in her thirties and still going on bad dates.
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Kkuumba Siegell (Nadine) She/Her, is a NYC-based Actor. Theater credits include: Gathering for ERMA, The Survival at PAC NYC and Criminal Queerness, Earth To Venus in 2023 and 2024. Film credits: We Meet Again as Maria Stokes, and Carte Fatou. She also appears in an independent film and two documentaries that are not yet released as well as three other films. Education: Neighborhood Playhouse School of The Theatre (two year conservatory), HB Studio, and The Acting Studio. Her BS is from Lehman College CUNY. Website: KkuumbaSiegell.com, Email: [email protected], FaceBook: Kkuumba Siegell, Instagram: @KkSiegell
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crew
Pat GoodSon (playwright) is a former retail manager at Macys, JFK Airport, and the Smithsonian Museum. She has been a writer and storyteller since grade school, which developed into a desire to be behind the scenes in theatre. For the past 4 years she has been a volunteer at Theater for the New City assisting Crystal Field. Her experiences there have led to her being a part of TNC ‘s Emerging Artists program. Pat had her first production, Aging Is Not A Fairy Tale, a comedy in November 2023 with rave reviews! Now a Dramatist Guild member, this year she flexes those creative muscles, with Remembrance, a powerful, heart breaking story about her mom’s battle with Alzheimer’s Disease.
Joan Kane (director) is the founding Artistic Director of Ego Actus Theater Company. Off Broadway, she directed Sycorax at HERE, Play Nice! at 59e59 theaters, and I Know What Boys Want at Theatre Row. She directed Six Characters in Search of an Author in Oslo, Norway and Kafka’s Belinda in Prague. Joan was awarded Best Director in the United Solo Festival where she has directed six pieces. She was named to the Indie Theatre Hall of Fame by nytheatre.com. She has also directed plays and readings at the Lark, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Urban Stages, Workshop Theater, Nylon Fusion, Abingdon Theatre, Oberon Theatre, the Samuel French Short Play Festival, T. Schreiber Studio and many others. Joan is an alumni of the LaMama directing and playwriting symposiums in Umbria, Italy and is a member of the Playwright/Director unit at Actor’s Studio, the League of Professional Theatre Women, the Dramatists Guild, and the Society of Stage Directors & Choreographers. JoanKane.us, Instagram: joankane9, KaneJoan, directorkane.bsky.social
Jonas Harrison (set designer) is an New York City based scenic designer. Recent credits include Touch at The Tank), Tova and Micromégas at Irma Freeman Center PGH, Lonely Planet, Constellations, and Charity Case at Carnegie Mellon. He was the scenic designer of six productions for the College Light Opera Company’s 54th season. Upcoming: The Brothers Karamazov for The New American Ensemble, Rock of Ages at Timber Lake Playhouse, Macbeth:1987 for Unusual Suspects Productions, and Best in Show at The Tank). Jonas has a BFA from Carnegie Mellon. Please see JonasHarrisonDesign.com
Billy Little (costume designer) has been done costumes for over 35 years. He is the Resident Costume Designer and Wardrobe Master for Theatre for the New City, NYC since 2022. Billy was born and raised in New York City. He graduated from the High School of Art & Design in 1977. Billy studied at the Fashion Institute of Technology, 1982-1984. He is the first black and a current member of The Imperial Court of (ICNY) for over 30 years. Billy has performances and creations on YouTube at BillyLittleStripsAsPrince channel. On FaceBook see Billy Little. His email is [email protected].
Bruce A! Kraemer (light designer) has done lighting design at Soho Rep, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Ensemble Studio Theatre, 59e59 Theaters, the NYC Fringe, Theatre Row, the Snarks and many others. Bruce also does TV and event lighting, audio, technical direction, stage management, production intercom and RF coordination. He has done one or another of those for the Summer and Winter Olympics, the Paralympics, the World Cup, two Papal visits, three Superbowls, six Tony Awards, ten Christmas Tree Lightings at Rockefeller Center, on Broadway, off Broadway, off off Broadway, for dance, fashion shows, art installations and hundreds of corporate events.
Joy Linscheid (sound designer) has been involved with productions at Theater for The New City since 1994. TNC provided Joy’s early training in a number of different disciplines. She learned sound design as she worked with the renowned sound designer, Paul Garrity, on several Street Theater productions. She eventually started to design for Street Theater and other productions on her own including Freedom Summer and Meltdown, both directed by Joan Kane. Joy thanks the entire TNC community for their ongoing support and commitment to emerging works and emerging artists.
Lytza Colon (prop designer) was born and raised in the South Bronx and is a passionate multi-talented visual artist, youth advocate, community leader and activist. She was introduced to the live theatre in 2008 and got hooked. In that same year she was invited by Crystal Field, Executive Director of Theater for the New City, to do their award winning Street Theater Summer Program as special props master. Lytza’s work has been featured in many theaters throughout New York City and the New York City Fringe Festival including the Ego Actus production of Meltdown by Toby Armour, directed by Joan Kane.
Dana Vincent-Robbins (stage manager) is excited to return to Ego Actus for whom she was stage manager for One Woman in the United Solo Theatre Festival and Time Stands Still at Theater for the New City. She has been a stage manager in NYC and Orlando for many years. Dana was also the house manager at the Davenport Theatre. Some of her favorite shows include Me The People, Cabaret, Bent, Into the Woods, Jesus Hopped The A Train, and The Samuel Beckett Festival. She would like to thank her parents for believing in her and Max for being there always and forever.
Zoe Poppenga (graphic designer) is a recent graduate from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts with a BFA in Film and Television, and is excited to explore the world of visual storytelling. She travels primarily between California and New York City, but her dream is to exist in a world that took hours to conceptualize and draw. Before her film studies in New York City, she dedicated much of her time to a California youth-led, non-profit theatre company, and is thrilled to return to her work in stage productions! Please see ZoePoppenga.com
Jonathan Slaff and Associates (press representatives) Jonathan has been an independent press agent since 1988. Clients have included Theater for the New City, La MaMa, Shakespeare in the Parking Lot, New Federal Theatre, Czechoslovak-American Marionette Theatre, Negro Ensemble Company, The Drilling Company, Workshop Theatre Company, Nuyorican Poets Cafe, The American Place Theatre, The Glines, Ubu Rep and various independent fim makers. His clients have received 17 Obies, three Bessies, Lucille Lortel, Theater World, and Outer Critics Circle Awards. Success stories include, while press agent of La MaMa, the launch of Blue Man Group. (www.jsnyc.com)
Bill Bradford and Viash Murari are our audition readers.
