New York City Players | Incoming Theater Division
MENTRE TU DORMIVI
2023 - in progress
Ten women, activists, living in Terzigno near Mount Vesuvius. The town’s name derives from the Latin “ter-ignis”—“ignited three times”—in memory of the recursive eruptions its inhabitants witnessed over centuries, the latest dating 1939 and 1944. Situated on the slopes of a dormant volcano in what is considered a “red zone” of volcanic risk by the Italian state, this region bears the traces of several overlapping environmental histories of fire, which comprise many volcanic eruptions and, more recently, massive toxic waste burials. In 2010, the area became known as southern Italy’s “Land of Fires” (terra dei fuochi): volcanic rock quarries and caves were illegally used by the mafia as landfills for toxic waste, which often were left burning, which prompted strong forms of resistance, including activists lowering themselves into the Vesuvius volcano.
The performance piece is structured around a prone figure—the sleeping or dead body of a man—around which the stories of ten women both gravitate and depart. This enigmatic figure echoes the dormant volcano which, even while asleep, bears witness to the events of history. It holds within it the memories of ancient eruptions, of recent environmental struggles, and it anticipates catastrophes to come. The sleeping body intermittently dissolves into a series of vignettes pertaining to biographical aspects of the women. Each life-history departs from the structuring figure, to show how people in Terzigno sever from, or reckon with, social expectations about family, fraternity, and faith in their everyday lives.
This performance project is part document and part personal exploration into natural history, and the latent stratification of events as it relates to people’s lives and their homes. Driven by the poetic possibilities within haunted landscapes, While You Were Asleep explores ways to tell the story of catastrophic events that grapple with the “unseen”—the continuous underground tremors of the earth, environmental disasters experienced in ancient times, more recent eruptions undergone during WWII, and the contemporary effects of invisible toxicity left by decades of waste burials. Developed in collaboration with NYC playwright Richard Maxwell, the project will bring together ethnographic research, theater, and ancient storytelling practices in performance.
GRACELAND | 2022
Conceived and directed by Katiana Gonçales Rangel
Dramaturgy: Jasmine Pisapia
Performances May 17-18th, 2022, Snug Harbor Cultural Center, Staten Island, NY.
Graceland is a theater project that touches upon one of New York City’s most sensitive nerves: housing. Drawing from the life-histories of a cast of collaborators, we’ve pondered on what it means or feels like to live with strangers, to be evicted or displaced, not have a room of one’s own. How is our experience of space modulated by shifts in the economy? What is the everyday texture of our sense of home—our imaginary shelters, refuges, dwellings, burrows, rooms? Graceland builds on my ongoing dramaturgical work with the NYC-based company New York City Players, and features stories written with the artistic collaboration of Rossana Appleton, Lakpa Bhutia Brandon Davis, Nicholas Elliott Jim Fletcher, Fatim Kamara Linda Mancini, Richard Maxwell Brian Mendes, Enoch Ntunga Michael Odom, Charles Reina Yasmin Sanchez, Bréhima Sangaré Kai Stokes, Gillian Walsh, and Richard Walsh.
Graceland was developed as part of Lower Manhattan Cultural Council’s Residency Program on Governors Island. lmcc.net
<— Click on poster for more photos & more info.
THE VESSEL | 2021
Conceived by Jasmine Pisapia and Katiana Gonçales Rangel
Directed by Richard Maxwell
Katiana Gonçales Rangel, Lakpa Bhutia, and Enoch Ntunga performing in NYCP’s The Vessel (2021) on a boat in New York City’s harbor.
Read a review here.
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Incoming Theater Division (ITD) is a NYC Players program that grew out of Tory Vazquez’ work with students at Liberty High School Academy for newcomers in Manhattan. In this context I have been bringing together ethnography, pedagogy, and dramaturgy, in collaboration with playwrights and directors Richard Maxwell, Tory Vazquez, and Katiana Gonçales Rangel.
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A series of eulogies written and performed by new and old members of the Incoming Theater Division ensemble. Performed on the deck of a boat in New York harbor, The Vessel is an opportunity to come back together and honor those who are absent.
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Directed by Richard Maxwell
Conceived by Jasmine Pisapia and Katiana Rangel
With artistic collaboration of Rossana Appleton, Lakpa Bhutia, Brandon Davis, Nicholas Elliott, Jim Fletcher, Linda Mancini, Brian Mendes, Enoch Ntunga, Michael Odom, Charles Reina, Yasmin Sanchez, Bréhima Sangaré, Amara Sidibe, Kai Stokes, Minla Stokes, Gillian Walsh, and Eyerusalem Girma Zewdie.
Stage Manager: Nicholas Elliott
House Manager: Eric Magnus
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Performed aboard the Harbor Lights Yacht
23rd St. Skyport Marina, NYC
June 1-3, 2021 & September 22, 2021
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In 2020, Incoming Theater Division's scheduled performance was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. What This Stillness Brought Us takes the shape of one-to-one recorded interview conversations between participants about their lives post COVID-19 and amid the social unrest following George Floyd’s killing.
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A wedding comes with a price, as two families gather to witness Yasmin marry Jeff in The City of the World.”
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A play with music by Rosana Appleton, Lakpa Bhutia, Sarah Camara, Michael Hernandez, Leury Polanco, Katiana Rangel, Bréhima Sangaré, Yasmin Sanchez and Amara Sidibe.
Directed by Tory Vazquez
Music by Enoch Ntunga
Cast: Rosana Appleton, Lakpa Bhutia, Modesto Flako Jimenez, Linda Mancini, Philip Moore, Leury Polanco, Katiana Rangel, Bréhima Sangaré, Yasmin Sanchez, Amara Sidibe
Dramaturgy: Richard Maxwell & Jim Fletcher
Assistant Director: Jasmine Pisapia
Producer: Regina Vorria
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July 1 at 8pm & July 2 2017 at 5pm
The Performing Garage, 33 Wooster St. New York
[more soon! page under construction]