DIGITAL PROGRAM
12PM
among the coats
by Noma Mirny, directed by Kenny Castro
Lee: Isa DeLeón Garcia
Jane: Paige Schuyler Bakke
Director: Jeff Talbott
Stage Directions: Sophie McIntosh
4PM
I Am Malala Book Club Meeting on Sunday, November 12 2023
by Mehrnaz Tiv, directed by Sabina Sethi Unni
Jean: Saskia Naidoo
Adrienne: Alex Scelso
Paul: Spoorti Hegde
Caitlin: Utkarsh Rajawat
7:30PM
The Morbs
by Jen Diamond, directed by Britt Berke
Tatum: Ava Yaghmaie
Wendy: Izabel Mar*
Trish: Ema Zivkovic
Harriet: Heidi Armbruster*
Stage Directions: Sam Walsh
* designates a member of Actors’ Equity Association
artist bios
Noma Mirny (Playwright, Among the Coats, they/them) is a Brooklyn-based playwright, director, actor, comedian, and beautiful bastard hailing from Boston, Mass. Their writing has gone up at Playwrights Downtown, Broke People Play Festival, and Uproar Theatre Corps. In addition to playwriting, Noma has also written numerous scripts for Film & TV. Recent directing credits include The (Final) Hole (The Tank), Pinky Promise (Village Playwrights), LOWLANDS (Playwrights Downtown), & Among The Coats (Playwrights Downtown), among others. Noma received a multi-hyphenate theatrical training at NYU Tisch, Playwrights Horizons Theater School, where they studied playwriting & directing, while double-majoring in TV Writing in the Dramatic Writing department. Upcoming projects include a role in the New York City Children’s Theater workshop of The Pocket Park Kids, and their scripted adaptation of Tillie Walden’s Eisner-award winning graphic novel Are You Listening? which will be running October 31st - November 2nd, under the direction of Sil Rivera & Olivia Keville. They’re so excited that Among The Coats was selected for the Rootstock Reading Series, and they can’t wait to dive into this collaboration with the talented Kenny Castro & Good Apples Collective! Let’s bite this apple. You can check-out more of their work, or reach out, at @nomamirny (ig) // nomamirny@gmail.com!
Kenny Castro (Director, Among the Coats, they/them) is a Brooklyn based theatre director with Las Vegas sentiments. Originally from Sin City, you will see spectacle, grandeur, a little bit of silliness, and just the right amount of trashiness in all the art that they touch. Some of their recent directing credits include The Aliens (Majestic Repertory Theatre), The Tragedy of Macbeth (Playwrights Downtown), ASÍ (The Tank NYC), and Party in the SubOrbs (Associate Director), an immersive experience for the Life is Beautiful Music Festival in collaboration with arts production company, Meow Wolf. Kenny has a BFA in drama from NYU Tisch where they studied theatre directing at Playwrights Horizons. In addition to theatre, Kenny loves New York, gay people, cigarettes, diners, their friends, and everyone on earth. They are so excited to be working with Noma Mirny and Good Apples Collective, and hope you’ll say hello via Instagram or email :-) @kenny_cstro // kennycastro224@gmail.com
Isa DeLeón Garcia (Lee, Among the Coats, they/elle) is a born-and-bred Tejané playwright, actor, deviser, dramaturg, producer, and occasional filmmaker based in New York City. They graduated from NYU Tisch School of the Arts, with a BFA in Drama and a minor in Film Production. Isa is the Founder and Artistic Director of Dyke Theater Co. (DTC), a new theater collective committed exclusively to producing theater made by dykes and for dykes (and those who love them). DTC’s inaugural performances were both at the Tank, for their annual summer festival PrideFest: ASÍ (The Tank: PrideFest, 2024), written and performed by Garcia, and So Far Away (The Tank: PrideFest, 2024), written by Jaden Tyler Urso. They also starred in Jackie Heck's absurd full-length play, The Final Hole (The Tank: DarkFest, 2023). They were the Associate Producer for LimeFest 2024 at the Tank, producing over 50 shows, including their own full-length play, Sublimation. Isa Garcia brings a bold and unapologetic voice to the forefront of the artistic scene, as the emerging leader of the Dyke Theater Movement. Instagram: @isatheedyke, @dyketheaterco
Paige Schuyler Bakke (Jane, Among the Coats, she/her) is an actor and director from Colorado. She recently graduated from NYU Tisch where she studied at Playwrights Horizons Theatre School, Atlantic Acting School, and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Most recently, she acted in Eliana Coe and Gracie Alberti's dual readings of The Slate and What The Water Carries with the Tank's LimeFest. She also recently directed Jaden Tyler Urso’s So Far Away as a part of Dyke Theatre Company’s inaugural productions and the Tank’s Pridefest. She’s been so honored to be a part of this reading filled with such brilliant, creative minds!
Jeff Talbott (Director, Among the Coats) is a writer and actor who lives in New York City. He grew up in Kimball, Nebraska, a little town in the western part of the state situated right off I-80. He eventually moved east by way of Lincoln, NE (college), Chicago, IL (life, part 1), New Haven, CT (grad school), and finally NYC (life, part 2). He lives in Sunnyside, Queens near a very good place to get donuts. As a writer, Jeff wrote THE SUBMISSION, which won the inaugural Laurents/Hatcher Award for Best New American Play in 2011 and the NY Outer Critics Circle John Gassner Award for Outstanding New American Play in 2012. It premiered off-Broadway at MCC Theater and has since been performed all over the country. Jeff writes musicals with Will Van Dyke. As an actor, Jeff has appeared on Broadway, off-Broadway and in theatres across the country, as well as in film and television. He was trained at the Yale School of Drama (MFA) and the University of Nebraska/Lincoln (BFA), and has lived in NYC for almost 25 years. He has been in hundreds of plays and spent a fair amount of time being everything from a sad crime victim to a judge on many television shows.
Mehrnaz Tiv (Playwright, I Am Malala…) makes character-driven, liberationist, and theatrically bold comedies fueled by experimentation and collaboration centering queer people of color. Recently, her play Squishy Emotional Insides was a 2024 Eugene O'Neill Playwright's Conference finalist. Their work has been developed with City Theatre, Asia Society, Noor Theatre, the Tank, Breaking and Entering Theatre Collaborative, and more. She is currently amember of the SWANA Writer’s Co-op at New York Theatre Workshop and TAG at the Tank.
Sabina Sethi Unni (Director, I Am Malala…) is a public theater artist, community organizer, and urban planner who tells funny stories about our changing climate in public spaces. She is the co-founder of Fresh Lime Soda, a contemporary South Asian political theater ensemble. She’s proudest of performing and directing in open spaces in every corner of the city: Hunts Point Riverside Park, 34th Avenue Open Street, Queens Botanical Garden, Qawah House, Washington Square Park, Newkirk Open Street, La Plaza Cultural, Lt. Frank McConnell Park, Rockaway Beach, Gowanus Dredgers Community Boathouse, PYO Chai, Edgemere Farm, Rockaway Community Park, 31st Avenue Open Street, PS Family NYC, & more… www.sabinasethiunni.com
Saskia Naidoo (Jean, I Am Malala…, they/he) is a multidisciplinary artist and actor from New York. They are passionate about community building, teaching, and healing through theater. They attended NYU for theater and received a BFA. They have been in several plays for Columbia MFA students: Cleopatra, Nine Ways to Plead with a God, Jyoti’s Bridge; a few community play: A Fun Play About How Scary Climate Change Is; a few films including: Tinge, Player One, and an extra in King of Staten Island. They recently attended a program in India studying classical Indian dance and theater in Bangalore. They are currently working on their Masters in Theater Education.
Alex Scelso (Adrienne, I Am Malala…) is an actor, diva, poetry performer and author, entertainer, future of drag when Sitanya Face, chameleon on stage you should book, support and be obsessed with: @sitanyafacequeen on Instagram, www.alexandergscelso.com for bookings and book acquisition.
Spoorti Hegde (Paul, I Am Malala…, they/he) is a performer, designer, and makeup artist based in Brooklyn who is passionate about accessible, community centered and experimental theatre. They trained at the Atlantic Acting School, and have been seen in and behind the scenes of Flood Sensor Aunty, A Fun Play About How Scary Climate Change Is, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, and Black Snow. You can find them on the internet at spoortihegde.com.
Utkarsh Rajawat (Caitlin, I Am Malala…) is following the call of Rasha Abdulhadi, who they know of through “Notes on Craft” by Fargo Nissim Tbakhi, to use their bio to uplift resistance efforts against the US-sponsored, Israeli genocide of Palestinians. You can contribute to the movement by donating food baskets, e-Sims, endorsing PACBI, attending an action, engaging in BDS, calling your representatives. I hope more institutions are moved to full-throated support, with their words, their resources, their (divestment from Israeli) money, as Palestinian people like those of The Freedom Theatre have been asking for. You can contact PACBI@wawog.com if you have questions or concerns, including legal ones, about your cultural or academic organization’s commitment. From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.
Jen Diamond (Playwright, The Morbs) is a Brooklyn-based playwright, screenwriter, and very chill girl. She writes spooky, funny plays about friendship, girlhood, and the performance of self. Her work has been developed at the Woolly Mammoth Theatre, the Kennedy Center, Baltimore Center Stage, Dixon Place, American Lives Theatre, The Tank, and others. Jen was recently awarded a Fall 2024 Woodward Residency. She has been a Finalist for the National Playwrights Conference and SPACE on Ryder Farm’s Come to the Table Residency, as well as a semi-finalist for the Terrence McNally Fellowship. Her original TV pilot, co-written with Pam Hugi, won the Austin Film Festival’s Warner Bros. Entertainment Pilot Award. Jen holds a BA in Writing Seminars from Johns Hopkins University and a MFA in Playwriting from Hunter College. www.jen-diamond.com
Britt Berke (Director, The Morbs) is an NYC-based director whose work interrogates love, power, and how these entities are intertwined and revolutionized. Recent projects: the World Premiere of Betty Smith’s Becomes a Woman (Mint Theater Company - Outer Critics Circle Nomination for Outstanding Off-Broadway Play); watch me (NYTW Adelphi Residency); DOGS (Ground Floor at Berkeley Rep); Anne Carson’s Antigonick (Torn Out Theater); Springtime (Chautau-qua Theater Company); I Don’t Trust Adults (Joe’s Pub); Scenes with Girls (TheaterLab); and workshops with Mabou Mines, La MaMa, Cherry Lane, and November Theatre. Britt is an alumna of the Drama League Directors Project, Roundabout Directors Group, MTC Directing Fellowship, and Mercury Store Directing Intensive. BA, Barnard College of Columbia University. brittberke.com
Ava Yaghmaie (Tatum, The Morbs) is so thrilled to be reading Jennifer Diamond’s brilliance as part of the Rootstock Reading Series! Yaghmaie is a proud first-generation Iranian-American, who is a recent graduate of Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Drama. Ava recently completed shooting a limited series for FX on Hulu called Fleishman is in Trouble based on Taffy Brodesser-Akner’s best-selling novel of the same name. She is also passionate about vocal jazz singing, independent filmmaking, and getting involved with communities that recognize the healing power that the arts holds.
Izabel Mar (Wendy, The Morbs, she/they) Film: Untitled Kathryn Bigelow (Netflix), Babygirl, Showing Up (a24). Off-Broadway: Family by Celine Song (Hoi Polloi), MAC BETH (Red Bull), Clubbed Thumb, The Public Theatre. New York: Joan of Arc in a Supermarket in California, galatea 2.0, Audible, Improvised Buffy. Regional: Stacy by Ruby Rae Spegiel, MAC BETH (Seattle REP). Reps: Authentic, Daniel Hoff. She is a founding member of The Brooklyn Center for Theatre Research. @izzyetc, izabelmar.com
Ema Zivkovkic (Trish, The Morbs) is a Croatian actor, writer, and choreographer living in New York. They have worked with Ars Nova, Clubbed Thumb, Actors Theatre of Louisville, The TEAM, The 24 Hour Plays, The Hangar Theatre, Target Margin, National Theatre Institute, Williamstown Theatre Fest, Joe’s Pub/The Public, Perseverance Theatre of Alaska, Dramatist Guild Foundation, Drama League, National Queer Theatre, and more. Edu.: British American Drama Academy & Sarah Lawrence College. Ema is part of the Mercury Store Acting Company. If you want Ema to like you, go stream “swearing in english” at ARS NOVA Supra. Also, are you an agent? Get Ema an agent. www.emazivkovic.com
Heidi Armbruster (Harriet, The Morbs) has extensive New York and regional theater credits, including “Time Stands Still” on Broadway, Lincoln Center’s production of the Pulitzer Prize winning play “Disgraced,” the New York premieres of Sam Hunter’s “Lewiston/Clarkston” at Rattlestick, Anna Ziegler’s “Boy” at Keen Company, Tracy Letts’ “Man from Nebraska” at Second Stage, and Theresa Rebeck’s “Poor Behavior” at Primary Stages. Heidi was awarded a Drama League Nomination for her work in the Keen Company’s revival of “Tea and Sympathy.” Heidi’s Film and TV credits include Dead Ringers, Evil, Pose, Divorce, The Deuce, Tommy, Daredevil, Ray Donovan, The Blacklist, Blue Bloods, 30 Rock, House of Cards, Michael Clayton, Revolutionary Road, Come Find Me, Incurable, Poor Behavior, My Man Is A Loser, The Northern Kingdom, Michelle on Darren Star’sYounger, Karen on Netflix’s Partner Track, and Noelle on Manifest.Heidi received her Master of Fine Arts in Acting from American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco.
Sam Walsh (Stage Directions, The Morbs) is a playwright, performer, and multi-disciplinary artist who loves new play development. For more of their work: samwalshmultiverse.com
Nina Goodheart (Co-Founder of Good Apples Collective, she/her) is a director and producer based in New York. She is passionate about creating theater that builds community, centers people of marginalized genders, and demands an emotional response. She is the proud Co-Founder and Co-Artistic Director of Good Apples Collective with her frequent collaborator Sophie McIntosh. Recent directing credits include cunnicularii by Sophie McIntosh (recommended by New York Magazine), Wakeman by Jenn Grinels (developmental reading of a new musical for TBD Theatricals), cityscrape by Sophie McIntosh (world premiere, Arts on Site), before the flood by Emily Bice (world premiere, Chain Theatre), The Wolves, Fun Home, and Man of La Mancha. Recent associate credits include Gabriel Byrne’s Walking with Ghosts on Broadway (resident director) and Mindplay by Vinny DePonto and Josh Koenigsberg (associate director, Arena Stage). She has had the pleasure of working with directors such as Diane Paulus (Jagged Little Pill, Broadway), Lila Neugebauer (Mary Page Marlowe, Second Stage), Lonny Price (Scotland, PA, Roundabout Theatre Company, and Walking with Ghosts), and Andrew Neisler (Mindplay), as well as organizations including the American Repertory Theater, NYMF, New York Stage & Film, Virgin Voyages, The 24 Hour Plays, and Climan Producing. She currently serves as Creative Associate to director Whitney White. BA Yale. www.ninagoodheart.com
Sophie McIntosh (Co-Founder of Good Apples Collective, she/her) is a New York–based playwright and theatermaker. Her writing gives voice to women and queer folks, offers empathetic insight into living with mental illness, and explores how the ways we relate to animals and the natural world reflect on our own humanity. Sophie is also the co-founder of Good Apples Collective, a developmental orchard for new theatrical works that she co-leads with her frequent collaborator Nina Goodheart. Recent productions of Sophie’s work include the world premiere of MACBITCHES (New York Times Critic’s Pick), the premieres of CUNNICULARII (recommended by Sara Holdren in NY Magazine) and CITYSCRAPE at Good Apples Collective, and college productions of ELEVEN WEEKS OF NUCLEAR SUMMER at Notre Dame University and the University of Michigan. Sophie’s plays have also been developed by Pioneer Theatre Company, LaGuardia Performing Arts Center, the 24 Hour Plays: Nationals, the Bechdel Group, the Unicorn Theatre, Atlanta Shakespeare Company, and Breaking & Entering Theatre Collective. She is a proud recipient of a BA in drama from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point and is currently working toward an MFA in playwriting at Columbia University. www.sophiemcintoshwrites.com
Good Apples Collective is a developmental orchard for new theatrical works that expose abuses of power, challenge taboos around desire and sexuality, and uplift the voices of queer and gender marginalized communities. Co-led by director Nina Goodheart and playwright Sophie McIntosh, Good Apples Collective empowers emerging artists to create work with trusted creative peers and revolt against oppressive hierarchies that undercut and isolate new voices. Good Apples Collective is committed to theatrical practices that emphasize community care and accountability and give our audiences the opportunity to engage with perspectives that they would not otherwise encounter. Founded in response to the scarcity of opportunities for emerging theatermakers of marginalized genders to collaborate professionally, Good Apples Collective is continually seeking to expand its community of collaborators. In short: we’re always branching out. If you’re interested in connecting with us or supporting our upcoming projects, don’t hesitate to drop us a line. Come grow with us.
content warnings
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Sexual content, violence, homophobia, and domestic abuse.
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Islamophobia, racism, homophobia, fatphobia, and gun violence.
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Pandemics, violence, death, suicide, and sexual violence.