VIRTUAL PROGRAM | River's Edge Theatre

SHORT+SWEET

(TINY PLAYS TO BENEFIT RIVER'S EDGE THEATRE CO.)

APRIL 30TH, 2022

7PM

FIRST REFORMED CHURCH,

HASTINGS ON HUDSON, NEW YORK

The Tiny Plays:

I See You by Serena Norr

After by Glenn Alterman

Shackled by Don Creedon

Playing With Dolls by John Mabey

Mrs. Petricone by Melanie Hoopes

Listening by Jennifer O'Grady

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Creative Team

Produced by...................................Meghan Covington

Lighting Design.................................Andrew Irons
Sound Design.................................Heather Campanelli

Box Office Manager....................Sophie Vaughan-Johnson

Voluneers ...................................Emma Sarnacki, Candice Cross,

Analise Chen, Norah Yaman

I See You by Serena Norr

Directed by Meghan Covington

Mae..................................Kathryn Rae

Billo...........................................Matt MacDonald

Shackled by Don Creedon

Directed by Marie-Louise Miller

Delia..................................Julia Schonberg

Bridie...........................................Lauren Orkus

Gerorge...........................................Alex Fletcher

After by Glenn Alterman

Directed by Jessica Irons

Tom..................................David Covington

Terry.....................................Meredith Siegel

Playing with Dolls by John Mabey

Directed by Don Creedon

Carl..................................Chris Moore

Gregory...........................................Bryant Lewis

Mrs. Petricone by Melanie Hoopes

Directed by Sara Wolkowitz

Mrs Petricone..................................Sioux Madden

Mrs. Wilson..................Sweta Keswani

Mrs. Ferotti...........................................Molly Canu

Listening by Jennifer O'Grady

Directed by Mark Cajigao

Hailey..................................Emily Dziak

Dad..........................................Don Creedon

Sandra...........................................Traci Redmond

Meet the Playwrights

Serena Noor (I See You) Serena is a writer, editor and playwright. Her plays have been performed at the Omaha Fringe Festival, White Plains Performing Arts Center, the New Deal Creative Arts Center, NYC at the Players Theater with the Rogue Theater Festival, the Tank, the Short Play Festival, and University of Alabama as well as 15 Zoom productions during COVID. Her plays, "OTHER" was published in Theatre Unbound's "Bittersweet" Monologue Collection and "Zoom Like No One is Watching" will be published in the "UNTITLED COVID SHORT PLAY ANTHOLOGY" by Flower Song Press (2022). She is also a member of the Dramatists Guild, Westchester Collaborative Theater, Cut Edge Collective, and participant in the 2021 Kennedy Center Playwriting Intensive and Women’s Theatre Festival (WTF) Directing Program. She is thrilled to have "I See You" performed as a part of River's Edge Theatre Co's Tiny Plays!

Don Creedon (Shackled) Acting: The Tunnel (written by Terry George, directed by Jim Sheridan), Away Alone, Down the Flats, The Plough and The Stars, Juno and The Paycock, The Risen People, Guy Walks Into a Bar, Divine Intervention. Directing: Tuesday’s Child, The Lobby, Rinty, Moonshine, The Famine Diaries, Guy Walks Into a Bar, The Beauty Queen of Leenane, You’ll be Happy When I’m Dead, The Holy Ground (Best Director Nomination, 1st Irish Theatre Festival), Pillow on the Stairs, Boys Swam Before Me, The Blood Flow Thing, Python, Divine Intervention, Wakefield. Playwriting: The Lobby, Celtic Tiger Me Arse, Shackled, Celtic Tiger Wake, Anger Management, Divine Intervention, The Ledge, Guy Walks Into a Bar (Winner Best Play Audience Award, 1st Irish Theatre Festival). Don is a founding member of Poor Mouth Theatre Company, a Fellow of the Blue Mountain Center and the MacDowell Colony, and also a member of the Dramatist Guild of America.

Glenn Alterman (After) Glenn is a professional career consultant, monologue/audition coach, college lecturer, published writer, award winning playwright, and actor.His plays have been performed or received honors and awards at The Actors Theater Of Louisville, Circle In The Square (Downtown), Primary Stages, Playwrights Horizons, LaMama, Beverly Hills Rep, Pittsburgh New Works Festival, Circle Rep., Bloomington National Playwrights Project, The Three Genres Playwrights Competition, HERE Theater, The Turnip Festival, Weissberger Competition (New Dramatists), Deep South Writers Conference, George R. Kernodle Contest, Showtime's Act One Playwrights Contest, The Samuel French One-Act Playwrights Competition, The Worshop Theater Company, Emerging Artists Theater Company, The West Bank Café Downstairs Theater, on Theater Row in New York, and at many other theaters all over the country and throughout Europe.

John Mabey (Playing With Dolls) John (he/they) is a writer and storyteller whose plays have been produced on stage in 7 countries and throughout the United States. John lived internationally for a decade in London and Amsterdam before residing in Atlanta and continues to work with theatre companies around the globe both virtually and in-person. They are also a certified Mental Health Counselor and published author on the topics of sexual identity and spirituality in academic books and journals. Recent awards for full-length plays include the ‘2021 Panowski Playwriting Award’ and the ‘2022 Getchell New Play Award.’ In 2021 and 2022 they also had plays published in Smith & Kraus 'Best 10-Minute Plays,' 'Best Women’s Monologues,' and 'Best Men’s Monologues.' When not writing, they enjoy teaching and performing improvised comedy and true storytelling around the world.

Melanie Hoopes (Mrs. Perticone) Melanie is a writer whose credits include Kindness Committee (RiverArts) Six Feet: A Play About What’s Between Us (RiverArts), Lethal Lit (IHeartRadio, EEP), One Giant Leap: The Apollo Moon Landing 50 Years On (New York Times) and Bloodline (Netflix). She is the creator and writer of the long-running New York-based episodic stage show, Laurie Stanton’s Sound Diet, a dark, modern twist on Prairie Home Companion. She is a producer and host of Yesteryear: Stories from Home, a podcast about the history of living in a small village on the Hudson River. She lives in Hastings with her family.

Jennifer O'Grady (Listening) Jennifer's plays are produced across the U.S. and internationally and have won the Rising Artist Playwriting Award, the Henley Rose Award, audience-choice awards and many other honors. Her plays are published in multiple editions of the annual Best Ten-Minute Plays, Best New Ten-Minute Plays and Best Women’s Stage Monologues, as well as Best Contemporary Monologues for Women 18-35, some scripts literary magazine, Feels Blind Literary and elsewhere. She is also an award-winning poet and the author of two poetry books, White (Midlist First Series Award for Poetry) and Exclusions & Limitations (Plume Editions/MadHat Press). Her poems appear in numerous places including Harper’s, The New Republic, Poetry, The Kenyon Review, The Writer’s Almanac, Plume and Poetry Daily. Born and raised in New York City, she earned an MFA in poetry from Columbia University and a BA from Vassar. She and her family live in Pelham, NY. (www.jenniferogrady.net)

Meet the Directors

Meghan Covington (Director, I see you) Meghan is the Artistic Director, Co-Founder, and President of River's Edge Theatre Co) started working professionally as an actor 20 years ago. Her most notable stage work took place regionally on the stages of The Kennedy Center for the Preforming Arts, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Co, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Round House Theatre, Olney Theatre in Washington DC, and Firehouse Theatre, Richmond Shakespeare Festival, and TheatreIV's Theatre Lab in Richmond, VA. Meghan was also a company member for Synetic Theatre, where she spent 4+ years developing skills in classical pantomime technique, physical theatre, and dance. She also holds a BFA in Performance from Virginia Commonwealth University. In recent years she has been writing, producing, and performing in plays for River's Edge Theatre Company. She is also the business owner of Mind Body Fitness NYC and mom to 3 amazing daughters.

Marie-Louise Miller (Director, Shackled) A world traveler, stage director, teacher, sometime dramaturge and currently arts events producer, Marie-Louise is loving directing Shackled by Don Creedon for River’s Edge Theater Co. Ms. Miller has had the honor of working with artists from all walks and disciplines over many decades from Berlin, Germany to New York. Marie-Louise studied directing at the Ernst Busch Academy of Dramatic Arts, British American Drama Academy, the Royal Court, and Northwestern University where she earned her MFA with a new production of The Good Person of Szechwan by Bertolt Brecht. Closer to home, Ms. Miller served on the Board of RiverArts and in September 2018, directed the original interdisciplinary art performance project, Braiding with music direction by Doug Coe and produced by RiverArts with a grant from the NEA. Her RiverArts producing credits include the recent new play, Kindness Committee by Melanie Hoopes and a myriad of Artist Conversations spanning music, dance, fine arts and theater.As a teacher, Ms. Miller originated an annual story telling workshop grounded in characters from Brazilian, Ghanian and Western European fairy/folk tales in collaboration with master drummer Kofi Donkor and singer/songwriter Anne Bocato. As a community organizer, Marie-Louise founded The LAB, a new space dedicated to the amplification, support and leadership of teens across the river towns.

Jessica Irons (Director, After) Jessica, an Ossining resident, and sits on the boards of the Ossining Arts Project (The Village Art Committee) and Bethany Arts Community. She sat on the Board of Ossining MATTERS for 6 years and was president for 2. For 10 years she was the Artistic Director of the award winning , NYC based Andhow ! Theater Company where she fostered new plays from a seed of an idea through to full productions. She directed Off & Off Off Broadway at the Flea, The Ohio, HERE Arts Center, 78th Street Theater Lab, Dixon Place, The Blue Heron Arts Center, The Ontological at St. Mark's Church in the Bowery New Georges and adobe theatre company. She was the Associate Artistic Director of adobe theatre company and the Artistic Associate at Adirondack Theater Festival. As an educator she has directed/taught in Newark NJ, Redhook, Brooklyn, for the 52nd Street Project in Manhattan, Allan Stevenson, Fordham University, the Boys & Girls Club of Northern Westchester and elsewhere throughout the tri-state area . Locally, she has directed adults professionally for Rivers Edge Theatre Co. She was the original therapeutic arts director at Children of Promise, NYC in Bedford Stuyvesant, where she developed and implemented therapeutic art & theater curricula for children of incarcerated parents. Jessica studied theater at Skidmore College (BA) and Creative Arts Therapy at the New School.

Don Creedon (See Playwrights section!)

Sara Wolkowitz (Director, Mrs. Petricone) Sara Wolkowitz is an independent filmmaker and theater director. New York theater credits include Shut UP, Emily Dickinson! (upcoming at the Abrons Art Center in July 2020), The Ultimate Stimulus (FringeNYC 2014, Dixon Place, Under St Marks), Really Rosie (The Mint Theater), Eleanor Is Sibling Challenged (The Magnet Theater), War Crimes (Planet Connections Festivity), and Brooklyn Labyrinth (the BoCoCa Arts Festival). Her film/TV credits include Still On The Road (PBS, Lincoln Center), Lightning Bugs in a Jar (Short Corner at Cannes Film Festival), Never After (starring Gillian Anderson). She also recently directed River's Edge Theatre Co's reading of Silent Sky at The Hudson River Museum, Sara has BA in Film from Vassar College and lives in Hastings-on-Hudson with his wife and very dramatic 5 year old son

Mark Cajigao (Director, Listening) Mark is thrilled to be working with Meghan and everyone at River's Edge Theatre Company. He is a performer, director and producer who has worked on stage and in film in NYC, regionally and as far abroad as Cairo, Egypt. Mark lives with his family in Hastings on Hudson, and holds degrees from Wagner College and The New School for Drama. He is a proud member of the Actors Equity Association and the Screen Actors Guild.

Meet the Actors

Kati Rae (Mae, I See You) KATHRYN RAE (Mae) is thrilled to work with River’s Edge Theatre Co. and to share the stage with her husband, Matt. Education: MFA in Acting, The New School for Drama. Credits include TV: Celebrity Ghost Stories, Homicide for the Holidays, The Haunting Of, School Spirits. FILM: The Charms, Off Record, Cake, Gerr Berr. THEATRE: The Beeping, The Golden Ticket.

Matt McDonald (Billo, I See You) Matt is thrilled to be working with River’s Edge Theatre Co. and to be sharing the stage with his wife, Kathryn. Education: MFA in Acting, The New School for Drama. Credits include TV: The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Amazon), Boardwalk Empire (HBO) FILM: TheClown, Cake, Gerr Berr THEATRE: WTC View (59E59 Theaters), Valhalla (Project Rushmore Theatre Co).

Lauren Orkus (Bridie, Shackled) Lauren is thrilled to be involved with River's Edge Theatre Company! She has performed in New York and regionally including: It's A Wonderful Life and The Snow Queen (Portland Stage); Metamorphoses (Lookingglass Theatre and Arena Stage); My Sweet Charlie (Abingdon, NYC); Comedy of Errors and Two Noble Kinsmen (Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival); Doubt (Weston Playhouse); Night of the Iguana (Berkshire Theatre Festival); A Christmas Carol (German Tour). Lauren is a proud board member of the non-profit RiverArts and also works as a business operations consultant. MFA - FSU/Asolo Theatre Conservatory.

Julia Shonberg (Delia, Shackled) Julia is an actor, theatre maker, and applied theatre practitioner living in Tarrytown, NY. Julia received her BFA in Theatre Arts from Boston University and her MA in Applied Theatre from CUNY's School of Professional Studies. Julia has worked both on and offstage with NY based companies: The Barrow Group, Houses on the Moon, Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, SPACE on Ryder Farm, Superhero Clubhouse, The Bushwick Starr, Brave New World Rep, Writopia Lab, Columbia Stages, and River's Edge Theatre Co. In 2016, Julia founded The Neighborhood Theatre Project, a theatre company that creates original, verbatim theatre from interviews and conversations. juliaschonberg.com, theneighborhoodtheatreproject.org.

Alex Fletcher (George, Shackled) Alex Fletcher is a long time theater educator and practitioner. NY Credits- Titus, Love’s Labour’s Lost, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Hamlet (The Shakespeare Forum) A Hard Wall at High Speed (Astoria Performing Arts Center) and Death Boogie (Brick Theater’s Comic Book Theater Festival). He was recently selected as one of 25 teachers nationwide to take part in the National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institute for Educators at the TFANA in NYC. He is currently teaching chemistry and theater at Eastchester High School and is the director for the Eastchester Middle School Players Club.

David Covington (Tom, After) David began his performance career tap dancing his way across the globe with the internationally acclaimed company of TAP DOGS. Other tap dance credits include Lincoln Center with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra and the Kennedy Center's 13th Annual Gala: A Salute to the 1940’s Broadway Musical with the National Symphony Orchestra In Washington D.C., David founded his own tap company, MetroTAP, and youth company, Metropolitan Youth Tap Ensemble. David has appeared in numerous stage performances Off-Broadway and regionally, including performances at the Kennedy Center, Signature Theater, Arena Stage, Theater Row, and the historic Ford's Theatre in Washington D.C.

Meredith Seigel (Terry, After) Meredith is a graduate of Brandeis University. She has studied with Earle Hyman, Sabra Jones and Manuel Duque.Off and Off Off Broadway credits include work with Mirror Rep and Rolling Rep, teaching 2nd grade and children's art and theater. She also served on the Irvington Education Foundation board as co-president, and she currently serves on the Board of Trustees of Temple Beth Abraham in Tarrytown. Meredith has appeared in numourous River's Edge Theatre Company productions, and she is so happy to have the opportunity to work with theatre artists who are not only talented, intelligent and kind, but who are also so dedicated to social justice. She is the proud mother of Ruby and Gabe, owner of Mermadebrooklyn custom embroidery.

Chris Moore (Carl, Playing with Dolls) Chris spent much of his life acting onstage and off. His first year out of college he was part of the acting company at Actors Theatre of Louisville (Dracula, A Christmas Carol, Humana Festival). Chris ultimately decided to transition to the business world. He currently works at Google, but continues to enjoy theater as an audience member and performer. He recently played Peter in River's Edge Theatre Co's reading of Silent Sky at The Hudson River Museum. Chris lives in Hastings-on-Hudson with his wife and very dramatic 5 year old son.

Bryant Lewis (Gerogry, After) Born and raised in the Bronx,NY, Actor/Producer Bryant L. Lewis made name for himself with his thrilling, and thought provoking performance of Nathan Strange in the one man show Strange Fruit Redux written and directed by Afrika Brown at the Manhattan rep theatre, and the Rugby Fringe Festival in North Carolina. Bryant has the dazzling, and vivid ability to transform into every character that he plays. From Orlando in Shakespeare’s As You Like It to a homeless war vet in Heat of the moment. Bryant got his solid acting foundation learning the creating process with The Possibility Project, then becoming a theatre minor at Manhattanville College.

Sioux Madden (Mrs. Petricone, Mrs. Petricone) Off-Broadway includes: The Voysey Inheritance (New York Premiere), The Flattering Word, and August Snow & Night Dance (New York Premieres) at the Mint Theater. Regional theatre and off-off Broadway includes: Proof (Claire) at Charlotte Rep, Taming of the Shrew (Kate) at Lost Nation Theatre, The Philanderer (Grace) at Peterborough Players, Rutherford and Son (Mary) at the Mint Theater, Dream Girl (Georgina) with MJT Productions, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Titania) at the Mint, and others. Founding company member of the Mint Theater. Film/TV includes: One Moment with Danny Aiello, The American Masters Series (“Typical American,” PBS), and Third Watch, plus many student films. Thrilled to be making live theatre with this wonderful company!

Sweta Keswani (Mrs. Wilson, Mrs. Petricone) After starring in some critically acclaimed and hugely popular prime time television series in India Sweta Keswani moved to New York from Mumbai in 2010. She was last seen recurring on New Amsterdam with Ryan Eggold, AMC’s Super-natural thriller Nos4a2 and on The Blacklist with James Spader. She was seen this spring on Apple TV Plus’s New Dark Anthology Series called Roar and Mayim Bialik’s first directorial feature As Sick As They Made Us with Dustin Hoffman and Candice Bergen. She’s eagerly awaiting the film “The Beanie Baby Bubble” releasing this fall which stars Elizabeth Banks, Zach Galifianakis and others. She Co-produced and Co-wrote a short form web series called Struggle City which won Best Web-series at the Vegas Movie awards 2020. She loves working with Rivers Edge Theater Co. Productions and has been in several productions since the pandemic.

Molly Canu (Mrs. Ferotti, Mrs. Petricone) Molly Canu holds a BA in Theatre Arts from Nazareth College in Rochester, NY. Recent credits include Circle Mirror Transformation, Cold Reads, and 2 Truths and a Lie for River’s Edge Theatre Company. She has also performed stand up comedy in Manhattan and is a proud graduate of Upright Citizens Brigade. In addition to her life on stage she is also Tarrytown resident and owner of The Fit Inn.

Emily Dziak (Hailey, Listening) Emily is attending SUNY Purchase College in New York, majoring in both Theatre, with a concentration in Acting, and Arts Management. She has a passion for visual art, the electric guitar, and advocating for social change, especially when theatre is a tool in achieving it. Her past credits include The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds (Beatrice), and Kodachrome (Suzanne/Photographer). Emily is thrilled to have the opportunity of working with River’s Edge Theatre Co., and thanks her family, friends, and educators for their continuous support.

Don Creedon (Dad, Listening) Acting: The Tunnel (written by Terry George, directed by Jim Sheridan), Away Alone, Down the Flats, The Plough and The Stars, Juno and The Paycock, The Risen People, Guy Walks Into a Bar, Divine Intervention. Directing: Tuesday’s Child, The Lobby, Rinty, Moonshine, The Famine Diaries, Guy Walks Into a Bar, The Beauty Queen of Leenane, You’ll be Happy When I’m Dead, The Holy Ground (Best Director Nomination, 1st Irish Theatre Festival), Pillow on the Stairs, Boys Swam Before Me, The Blood Flow Thing, Python, Divine Intervention, Wakefield. Playwriting: The Lobby, Celtic Tiger Me Arse, Shackled, Celtic Tiger Wake, Anger Management, Divine Intervention, The Ledge, Guy Walks Into a Bar (Winner Best Play Audience Award, 1st Irish Theatre Festival). Don is a founding member of Poor Mouth Theatre Company, a Fellow of the Blue Mountain Center and the MacDowell Colony, and also a member of the Dramatist Guild of America.

Traci Redmond (Sandra, Listening) Most recently: River's Edge Theatre Company’s production of Riverside Haunts, Stories to Tell in the Dark and SM for River Arts’ production of Kindness Committee by Melanie Hoopes. Select NYC stages: Manhattan Theater Club, Dixon Place, fi:af/PS122, Primary Stages, bluemouth inc, The Tank Theater, Queens Players, The Creek Theater, & National Comedy Theater. Thank you to Meghan and David for creating such a wonderful company. www.traciredmond.com

About River's Edge Theatre Company

River's Edge Theatre Company is a NY State non-profit organization with the mission to reflect the human experience. spark conversation, and inspire social change through performance. RETCo invites theatergoers to step to the outer limits of their comfort zone as they shed light on some of society's most pressing issues. In addition to producing quality, thought provoking performances in Westchester, NY, RETCo also offers classes and workshops that place emphasis on the social emotional benefits of theatre education, allowing students to collaborate and create in a fun and nurturing environment. For more info on our 2022 classes and performances please visit www.riversedgetheatre.com.

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River's Edge Theatre Company is a NY not-for-profit 501(c)3 corporation and donations qualify as a deductible charitable contribution to the extent the law provides.

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