2022 Dwight/Edgewood Project

JUNE 24 AND 25, 2022 Yale Repertory Theatre/David Geffen School of Drama at Yale James Bundy, Artistic Director/Elizabeth Parker Ware Dean Florie Seery, Managing Director/Associate Dean Chantal Rodriguez, Associate Dean

PRESENT

The Dwight/Edgewood Project Two evenings of original plays written by students from Barnard Environmental Science and Technology School in New Haven.

Jaelin Cherry Dennis Muñoz

Camryn Jade Hargreaves Levi Amani Johnson Jonathan Munoz Sanchez Omar Mushtaq

Support for the Dwight/Edgewood Project is provided by

Esme Usdan Community Youth Fund

Friday, June 24 | plays directed by Hollis Ngai

Melvin’s COW-tastrophe

by Omar Mushtaq, fifth grade

CAST: Melvin the Mistacow: Nomè SiDone* COW (Creator of Worlds): Kim Zhou

Planet of Eath; Slothworld

by Levi

Amani Johnson, sixth grade

CAST: Brooklyn the Sloth: David Mitsch* Gerald the Chipmunk: Sarah Lyddan

The Floating Leaf

by Camryn

Jade Hargreaves, fifth grade

CAST: Lola the Leaf: Danielle Stagger* Rain: Amelia Windom *Playwright’s Mentor

Hello my name is Omar Mushtaq.

I was born in CT, U.S.A. My parents were born in Pakistan. I wrote this play because I just wanted my imagination to go free. I learned that there is more to plays than I thought.

Like all the iterations that a play can go through and you might think you have a play but at the end it could be totally different.

My name is Levi Amani Johnson. I am from North Carolina and no I don’t know where in North Carolina but I am from there. The date of my birth is July 5, 2010. My favorite holidays are Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Years. My favorite foods are fried chicken, spaghetti, cereal, and pizza. I wrote this play because I wanted to write one because it’s something I haven’t done. Also I thought it would be very fun to do. What I learned at D/EP program is obviously how to write a play and all the details of a play. And when I say details I mean like the stage directions, lighting, background, setting, and time of when the play starts and before it starts. And what we’re going to see before the play starts. Which means telling us what we’re going to see when the play starts which is called “lights up.”

Hi my name is Camryn Jade Hargreaves. I was born in New

Haven, Connecticut. The reason why I wrote this play is because I did a Scribble Scrabble and it helped me choose my characters. A Scribble Scrabble is where you try to draw the room a certain amount of times and you cannot lift your pencil. Then after you draw the room you try to find like anything that jumps out at you. Something I learned in D/EP is how to write, direct, coordinate, and create a play.

Saturday, June 25 | plays directed by yao

Two Lost Creatures to New Friends

by Dennis

Muñoz, sixth grade

CAST: Berry the Red Raven: David Mitsch Lilly the Water Flower: Kim Zhou*

Berry and Pigena’s Unknown Adventure

by Jonathan grade

Munoz Sanchez, sixth

CAST: Berry the Bush: Danielle Stagger Pigena the Bird: Sarah Lyddan*

Enemies to Friends

by Jaelin

Cherry, sixth grade

CAST: King Disco: Nomè SiDone Flower Queen: Amelia Windom*

*Playwright’s Mentor

My name is Dennis Muñoz. I am from New Haven but my family is from Mexico, which most of my family is from. I did this play because I like living things. There are so many living things in nature and the environment is good. I hope people like this play for the environment. What I learned from D/EP is learning to write more pages and giving specific details in my writing. I use only four pages barely and finding good details. Now I wrote more and have good details.

So D/EP helped me accomplish one of my goals which is writing more than 7 pages. It helped me understand good details. I’d like to thank David and Kim for helping me. They were the best!

My name is Jonathan Munoz Sanchez. I was born in California.

I’m 12 years old and I wrote this play because I saw a bush and a bird and my mentor Sarah helped me write this and the thing D/EP taught was how to make a play be easy but it was hard but I had fun making it.

My name is Jaelin Cherry. I’m in 6th grade. I’m from New Haven, CT. I wrote my play because I have always wanted to see something that I made on stage! I also wrote it because a lot of my family encouraged me to do what I love. One thing I learned at D/EP is that not everything needs to be perfect. I got inspired to make these characters by seeing a light that looked like a “living thing” in the woods and by seeing someone picking flowers in the woods. I would like to thank the mentors and directors at D/EP for making this happen.

Staff Bios Lighting Designer:

David DeCarolis

Sound Designer:

Joe Krempetz is heading into his fourth year at David Geffen School of Drama, after completing the technical certificate program in 2019–2020, he is working towards an MFA in sound design. A passionate teacher and practitioner, Joe got his start working with youth as the director of the San Mateo County 4H Camp in his home state of California. There, he did everything from singing camp songs and leading fun activities to waking up campers with an airhorn and cheating in relay races.

At Dwight Edgewood, Joe is dedicated to helping the playwrights hear themselves onstage, offering interactive opportunities to be involved in the sound design process. Outside of D/EP, Joe enjoys playing piano, working festivals and concerts, and hiking in West Rock.

Mentor:

Sarah Lyddan is a recent graduate of David Geffen School of Drama at Yale. While in school, she performed in plays such as Love’s Labor’s Lost, YELL, and Constellations (Yale Cabaret), among others. She is the recipient of the Oliver Thorndike Award in Acting. Shout out to the playwrights for all their hard work, generosity and vision!

Costume Designer: Stephen Marks graduated from David Geffen School of Drama this spring, and is delighted to be helping bring the D/EP playwright’s characters to life. He is originally from Richmond, Virginia, and he worked for multiple summers as a camp counselor at a performing arts summer camp, where he taught students about the design aspects of theatre.

Before his time at Yale, Stephen was a shopper at a Broadway costume shop, where he worked on shows like Frozen, Cats, and Moana on Ice. Project Coordinator:

Emalie Mayo (she/her) has been

the Project Coordinator for Dwight/ Edgewood Project since 2014.

Emalie has also been a Senior Administrative Assistant at Yale School of Drama/Yale Repertory Theatre since 2009. Emalie holds a teaching certification in English/Language Arts, and earned her BS in Psychology Research with a minor in English from Southern Connecticut State University. Emalie is a resin art hobbyist, web designer, lazy video gamer, nonfiction enthusiast, lifelong learner, and is creating ANOTHER youth program that focuses on racial healing though creative expression (details TBD)! She is BEYOND thrilled to welcome everyone back to experience Dwight/Edgewood Project after a two-year hiatus!

Mentor:

David Mitsch grew up in Fort Wayne, Indiana where at the ripe old age of 12 he got the lead role in Horatio Alger’s Ragged Dick. He continued to be very involved with theater and singing throughout his formative years, which lead him to graduate from Ball State University with a BFA in Musical Theater, and went on to earn his MFA in Acting from the Moscow Art Theatre School/ American Repertory Theatre Institute for Advanced Theatre Training at Harvard University. David

continues to sing and act, but his current professional pursuit is Costume Design, having recently graduated from David Geffen School of Drama with his MFA in Costume Design. When he’s not designing or working with D/EP, you can find him refinishing furniture, gardening, or hanging out with his 3 beautiful cat children: Xander, Louis, and Gus. Director:

Hollis Ngai is from Hong Kong!

He has been in New Haven for six months as an Arts Fellow with the School of Drama! Coming all the way from a different country, Hollis wants to learn so much about American culture as well as share his experience and insights in arts with everyone. He is also involved with the International Festival of Arts and Ideas as a participating artist as well as having produced an outdoor immersive performance with Faultline Ensemble and the local community last month! He is super stoked about being a director and feels privileged to work with talented playwrights, mentors, designers and organisers for the project.

Stage Manager:

Grace O’Brien is excited to

support D/EP for the first time this year after having enjoyed so many terrific plays as an audience member. She has worked at David Geffen School of Drama at Yale/Yale Repertory Theatre since 2011. She has stage-managed productions of Shakespeare to Cirque du Soleil, but this production is one with the most heart (and snakes).

Associate General Manager/ Technical Director: Kelly O’Loughlin is a long-time Dwight/Edgewood Project Superfan, working with the program for the last four years! She grew up not too far from here in Massachusetts, where she first discovered her love for theater-making and story-telling. Kelly has spent many years building scenery for plays, and just graduated this year from Yale with her Master’s

degree in all of the backstage stuff that happens in theatre. Kelly believes that there is something for everyone in the theatre, especially those who maybe aren’t as interested in performing in the spotlight, just like her. Kelly’s favorite things to do when she’s not at D/EP are snuggle with her pug Max, read a good book, and bake treats like cakes and cookies!

Teaching Artist:

Abigail C. Onwunali has been

teaching young artist since she was a freshman in high schoolers. She has trained many young national speech and debate champions and finds joy in helping young artist find their voice. She is an actor, poet and writer, currently in her fourth year at David Geffen School of Drama. Her acting credits include Charly Evon Simpson’s It’s Not a Trip It’s a Journey at the Chautauqua Theater Conservatory; Swimmers, love I awethu further, and Love’s Labor’s Lost at the School; Is God Is at Yale Cabaret, and Girls (understudy) at Yale Repertory Theatre. She was an acting fellow in Lena Waithe’s inaugural Hillman Grad Mentorship Program, Class of 2021, and she is coArtistic Director of the 2021–22 Yale Cabaret where, in addition to performing, she has directed projects and a number of plays she has written have been produced. Abigail’s play, Jewel, was one of the 2021 Red Bull Theater’s Short New Play Festival winners, and her slam poems have been viewed worldwide.

Mentor:

Nomè SiDone is a fourth-year

M.F.A. candidate at David Geffen School of Drama. His credits include Edgar in King Lear (Shakespeare and Company); John Harker in Dracula (Berkshire Theatre Group); Joseph Asagai in A Raisin in The Sun (Yale Repertory Theatre, canceled due to COVID); Richard II, The Heart of Robin, The Sea Maid, The Taming of the Shrew (Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival); The Unspoken 200 (Theatre at St. Clements); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Mended Wing Theater Company); Airline Highway, Antony and Cleopatra, Six Degrees of Separation, Where We’re Born, A Movie Star is Born… (UNC School of

Staff Bios the Arts); Take One Step, The Servant of Two Masters (Peppercorn Theater Company). Film: Supernova and Rota. B.F.A., UNC School of the Arts.

Program Associate:

Sophie Siegel-Warren (she/her)

is a DFA candidate at David Geffen School of and longtime fan of D/ EP! Her love for making theater with young people has taken her from Rhode Island to Minnesota to London to New York, where she currently teaches theater at Queens College. She was a mentor with D/EP in 2017 and the Teaching Artist in 2018 & 2019 and she is SO THRILLED to be back with this beautiful team!

Scenic Designer: Sam Skynner is a projection designer, lighting designer, video editor, and animator. She is currently based in Toronto and New Haven.

Sam is an MFA Design candidate at David Geffen School of Drama. She has worked with theater and dance companies across Canada and the United States including Dancemakers, Baltimore Center Stage, Tarragon Theater, Against the Grain Theater, Two Spirit Productions, and more.

Mentor:

Danielle Stagger has worked with

a lot of young people and done a lot of theater, but she’s beyond grateful for the chance to do both of those things simultaneously at D/EP! Before landing in New Haven, Danielle was a camp counselor in South Lake Tahoe, where she lead a new group of teens through community building challenges, selfreflective exercises, and conscious environmental practices each week. She was also lucky enough to explore the other side of the age spectrum and teach pre-school Math through East Palo Alto’s “PreSchool Counts” program. When not collaborating

and being inspired by the amazing minds around her, Danielle can be found taking multiple naps a day and teaching herself to play bass guitar.

General Manager:

Isuri Wijesundara is thrilled to be

the General Manager for D/EP 2022.

Isuri is a Sri Lankan artist. Some of her areas of interest include acting, directing, producing, and casting.

Isuri has worked extensively with young adults in both Sri Lanka and the United States, from producing work on stages to writing work together on the Zoomverse. One of her fondest memories is getting to play a spicy meatball at PS103 in the Bronx. Isuri’s hunger for working with the younger generation is rooted in the need for immersion of unfiltered thoughts and views of the world we all live in. There’s so much we can learn about empathy and existence through children. After a hiatus, Isuri is so excited to have gotten the chance to work with her colleagues to revive D/EP and get messy playing Twister with ice creams in hand with the incredible playwrights!

Mentor:

Amelia Windom (she/her) is

going into her third year as an M.F.A. acting candidate at David Geffen School of Drama. She has had the pleasure of working in New Orleans at Broadmoor Community Church’s Summer Camp Program prior to 2020 as the Camp Assistant Director and Teaching Artist where she taught 1st-8th graders acting, arts and crafts, and geography among other things. Fun fact: In a past life, Amelia was also a high school cheerleading coach! Select acting credits: A Christmas Carol (Actors Theatre of Louisville),The Piano Teacher (Kitchen Theatre Company).

Television: Law and Order: SVU, The Sinner, High Fidelity, The Flight Attendant.

Director: yao is grateful to be of service. He would like to dedicate this space to his elders, the artists and teachers who brought the world of art to him and others at 5, 6, 7, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, and say thank you for taking the imaginations and dreams of the next generation seriously. Slowly by slowly with the fire inside and your guidance, we become elders, and we support the journey for someone else. yao is David Geffen School of Drama MFA Acting ‘23.

The best pizza in the 06511 is New Haven’s best kept secret on Howe St (if you know you know..sshhh).

About the Dwight/Edgewood Project Created in 1995, the Dwight/Edgewood Project (D/EP) pairs middle school students from Barnard Environmental Science and Technology School with David Geffen School of Drama students who serve as their dedicated writing mentors, production team, and managers in this intensive four-week after-school playwriting program

2022 The first week of the program took place on Zoom for folks to ease into the process. This week focused on building trust and joy in the company, playing theater games, learning what designers and directors do, and developing our senses to fuel our imaginations. We met the playwrights in person at the end of the week with their families to answer questions and share snacks!

The second week focused on Playmaking*: what are the tools needed to write a play?

Once we created our playwright toolboxes, the writing mentors worked one on one with the playwrights to write a short practice play! This

Mentor: Kim Zhou (she/her) is a scenic

designer with a background in environmental design and photography. She enjoys exploring and working in various roles in the process of theater-making and is constantly discovering excitement in cross-discipline collaborations. She lives mainly driven by the heart and chance encounters. She finds joy in long walks, free writing, and philosophical works. She loves poetry, letters, and to know stories of others in everyday life.

process culminated at our writing camp, a twoday retreat where the final plays were written.

Weeks three and four were devoted to rehearsing, designing, and putting all the technical elements together.

At the end of week four, the project culminates with the presentation of the playwrights’ six original plays, designed and performed by the David Geffen School of Drama student production team and writing mentors. The D/ EP Company presents three different one-act plays each night, to honor their words and imaginations!

Playmaking—How to write a play PLAYMAKING is a course developed by Daniel Sklar and taught at the NYC-based 52nd Street Project. Playmaking teaches children to express creative impulses in writing and to work cooperatively with others. In the process of writing their plays, the students build not only literacy skills, but they also begin to trust their own impulses. Their plays say, “This is what I feel, what I think—who I am”!

Thank you!

Heather Wachter, Dan Croteau, Sarah Levine, Madelyn Ardito and staff of Eli Whitney Museum, Nahuel Telleria, Dani Barlow, Zachry Bailey, Tara Davila, Sebastián Eddowes-Vargas, and Evan Pavuk