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WCT 2017 Play Reading Series - Summer:
Featuring the Ensemble of WCT actors:
Rick Apicella, Zack Barela, Missy Flower, Miguel Angel Garcia, Julie Griffin, Kurt Lauer, James Leeper, Roberta Robinson & Jane Valentine. |
This production has been made possible in part by the generosity of
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The WCT Play Reading Series is part of our commitment to develop new plays. These plays have been workshopped at WCT labs and have participated in our collaborative dramaturg process. Audience feedback during our talk-back performances is essential and will facilitate further development of the work.
The Plays:
The Park by Susan Courtney: It’s a dog eat dog world and Joan has had it. Years working in the cut-throat world of executive recruiting in NYC has left its mark on her.
Got No Claim by Carol Mark: You don’t go to the funeral. Not when you’re the mistress. And especially not when you’re the other mistress.
Missouri Pals by Joe McDonald: Two battle bruised soldiers from opposite sides of the Civil War come to realize that they were old pals as youngsters.
The Erythrosine Ballad by Pat O’Neill: A chance meeting at a bus stop sends two would-be passengers on a ride down the blurred lines of reality.
The Plays:
The Park by Susan Courtney: It’s a dog eat dog world and Joan has had it. Years working in the cut-throat world of executive recruiting in NYC has left its mark on her.
Got No Claim by Carol Mark: You don’t go to the funeral. Not when you’re the mistress. And especially not when you’re the other mistress.
Missouri Pals by Joe McDonald: Two battle bruised soldiers from opposite sides of the Civil War come to realize that they were old pals as youngsters.
The Erythrosine Ballad by Pat O’Neill: A chance meeting at a bus stop sends two would-be passengers on a ride down the blurred lines of reality.
The Director:
Nathan Flower
Nathan has been a director, actor and choreographer OffBroadway, nationally and internationally. NY Performance credits include BAM, Judson Church, Classic Stage Company, the Culture Project. Nathan is an Associate Arts Professor in the Department of Drama at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts where he teaches Meisner Acting technique and advanced movement training. He was Head of Movement Training at the Maggie Flanigan Studio (maggieflaniganstudio.com) from 20042015 and is currently Head of the Movement Program at the Terry Knickerbocker Studio (terryknickerbockerstudio.com). Recent directing credits include the Crucible, A Few Good Men, Big Love, the Love of the Nightingale, Top Girls, the Three Sisters, Crimes of the Heart, Angels in America. His last project with WCT was the Staged Reading of Sydney Blake’s Lardo in December 2016. He has lived in Ossining for 6 years with his wife and three typically well behaved children.
Nathan has been a director, actor and choreographer OffBroadway, nationally and internationally. NY Performance credits include BAM, Judson Church, Classic Stage Company, the Culture Project. Nathan is an Associate Arts Professor in the Department of Drama at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts where he teaches Meisner Acting technique and advanced movement training. He was Head of Movement Training at the Maggie Flanigan Studio (maggieflaniganstudio.com) from 20042015 and is currently Head of the Movement Program at the Terry Knickerbocker Studio (terryknickerbockerstudio.com). Recent directing credits include the Crucible, A Few Good Men, Big Love, the Love of the Nightingale, Top Girls, the Three Sisters, Crimes of the Heart, Angels in America. His last project with WCT was the Staged Reading of Sydney Blake’s Lardo in December 2016. He has lived in Ossining for 6 years with his wife and three typically well behaved children.
The Playwrights:
Susan Courtney
The Park is Susan Courtney's 2nd play in WCT's One-Act Play Reading Festivals. Last year, WCT presented her Irish play, You'll Be Back. With an MA in Theater from NYU, she is Theater Prof. at WCC and teaches Acting classes there & at Nassau Community College, New Castle Community Ctr.. Clinton St. Ctr. & Harvey Camp. As a member of the Actors Studio Playwright/Directors Workshop, Susan developed her play, Girl In Blue Armchair, about the Impressionist painter, Mary Cassatt. Through a grant from NYFA, it was produced in 2011. In addition, Susan presents a lecture, Mary Cassatt in France, as well as a guided tour of Cassatt's work at the MET. . 
Joseph P. McDonald
Joseph P. McDonald has written over 30 plays, many of which have been produced in NYC. The Irish people hold a special interest for him and many of his works are related to the Irish and Irish-American ethic, such as Women of Armagh, Pieces of Lightning, Seventy Years in Irish Mist and A Reed in the Wind. McDonald has just finished the screenplay version of A Reed in the Wind, and has a play in progress dealing with the euthanasia in pre-war Germany. Currently, he has finished a full length stage adaptation of Liam O'Flaherty's classic novel, The Informer. |
Carol Mark
Carol Mark (playwright, Got No Claim). Carol has developed a number of plays at the Westchester Collaborative Theater including Bent Wings, Road Kill, A Different Kind of Beauty and Shadows & Light which was a finalist last summer in the 2016 Aery 20/20 Festival. 
Pat O'Neill
Pat O'Neill is that guy scribbling away on a napkin in the corner of a crowded room, only looking up occasionally to make a remark about not having enough light before going back to scribbling. Sometimes these sessions of madness yield success and someone decides to produce his drool & caffeine stained script. This is one of those occasions. He would like to thank Nathan & the cast for doing an amazing job, the crew for all their hard work, and his family and friends for their support. He has more scribbling here: https://goo.gl/82nADe |
The Stage Manager:
Rebecca Werner
Rebecca Werner is grateful to Alan and Karina for welcoming her to the WCT family. She graduated NYU Tisch where she studied acting with Nate at the Meisner Studio. Rebecca has performed with The American Mime Theater and at Arc Stages. In addition to acting, Rebecca has worked as an assistant producer, director, stage manager, sound designer, and lighting operator. She is currently a teaching artist at Arc Stages in Pleasantville and with Zara Aina in Madagascar and NYC. Rebecca grew up in Ossining and is thankful for the opportunity to give back to her community.
Rebecca Werner is grateful to Alan and Karina for welcoming her to the WCT family. She graduated NYU Tisch where she studied acting with Nate at the Meisner Studio. Rebecca has performed with The American Mime Theater and at Arc Stages. In addition to acting, Rebecca has worked as an assistant producer, director, stage manager, sound designer, and lighting operator. She is currently a teaching artist at Arc Stages in Pleasantville and with Zara Aina in Madagascar and NYC. Rebecca grew up in Ossining and is thankful for the opportunity to give back to her community.
The Cast:
Rick Apicella
Rick Apicella is an award winning New York based actor with extensive theater and television credits including four seasons on the Emmy award winning show A Crime to Remember. His one man show The Prodigy is currently being performed in theaters in and around New York City and will be featured at the largest one man show festival in the world, The United Solo Festival, this fall on Theater Row, NYC. Visit www.rickapicella.com for more information. |
Zach Barela
Zach Barela has been training at NYU Tisch for the past three years in the Meisner studio and is thankful for the opportunity. |
Missy Flower
Missy Flower is returning to the theater after an extended absence. Favorite roles include Kate in Taming of the Shrew, C in Three Tall Women, Julie in Miss Julie and five turns at playing Rosalind in as You Like It. Missy is a graduate of the intern program at the Actor's Theater of Louisville. She sits on the Board of Directors of The Aquila Theater Company in NYC. Missy holds a Bachelors Degree in Theater from the University of Texas at Austin. |
Miguel Angel Garcia
Miguel is a young actor currently attending the University of Southern California for a BFA in Acting. During his years in Ossining he played various roles for the OHS Drama Club and WCT. His credits on camera include Ensemble: A Comedy, Nickelodeon: Summer Hacks, Good Thing Bad Thing and Blanco. |
Julie Griffin
Julie Griffin is a graduate of the Goodman School of Drama at DePaul University in Chicago. She has been a proud member of WCT from it's beginning and is thrilled to be a part of this amazing production. She has been performing Improv for the past 27 years and now teaches it at Theater O in Ossining, where her students make her laugh everyday! She is also having a ball doing Voice Over work. She loves the color green and takes pride in her animal noises (particularly the chicken). |
Kurt Lauer
KURT LAUER has appeared in Tri-State area productions of Grapes of Wrath, The Lion in Winter, Midsummer Night's Dream, Amadeus, The Crucible, Rumors, Scapin, Beyond Therapy, The Boy Who Fell Into A Book, Angels In America, Room Service, On The Twentieth Century, Man of La Mancha; and in award winning original one acts by playwrights Albi Gorn, Ric Siler, James Whalen, Karen Quinn-Panzer, and Ed Friedman among others. |
James Leeper
Jim Leeper is currently a retired prosecutor from the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office after 27 years at that office. He joined WCT in 2016, and since then he has has played roles in the 2016 “Living Art Event” , in the Play Reading of “Lardo” and in various play readings at WCT’s labs. Leeper has also done several dramatic readings for the Main Street Playwrights’ group in Tarrytown. Over the years, Leeper has performed many times in fellow WCT member Howard Lipson’s “Chancel Dramas” which are performed at Christ Church Tarrytown. |
Roberta Robinson
Roberta is delighted to return to the stage after a 36-year hiatus and rekindle a love that has been dormant for a long time. This is her first production with WCT and she is so happy to be a part of this amazing company. It has been such a pleasure to meet new people, make new friends and support local theater! |
Jane Ann Valentine
Jane Ann Valentine is an award-winning actor, playwright, screenwriter and essayist. Her work has been showcased by the Vermont Actors' Repertory Theatre at the Brick Box at the Paramount Theatre, by the Daisy Collective at The Cherry Lane Studio Theatre, the TheaterLab and Actors Theater of America. Her screenplay Portrait (writer/director/actor) won the AAFilmLab's Best Short Scriptwriting Contest. Other stage credits include Hanjo at the Bank Street Theater and The Last Night of Ballyhoo at The Historic dock Theater. She studied theater and writing at Smith College, the Sorbonne and in New York. This is her debut at WCT. |