Photo Flash: ESPA/Primary Stages' Site-Specific Directing

This spring, Site-Specific Directing returns to the curriculum along with a new class, Advanced Scene Study: Sarah Ruhl/Sarah Kane at Primary Stages Einhorn School of Performing Arts (ESPA). The two worked together this week to present scenes from Sarah Kane in the East Village.

This eight-week course, instructed by Daniel Talbott (Artistic Director, Rising Phoenix Rep), challenges directing students with a hands-on exploration of the theatricality in any environment, indoors, outdoors, or somewhere in between the two. Students have the opportunity to collaborate with ESPA acting students and other actors on short pieces and scenes, using material from the classical and contemporary cannons including plays by Shakespeare, Strindberg, and Sarah Kane, and bring them to life in unexpected locales. Previous sites have included the High Line, Lincoln Center, the Staten Island Ferry, and the Seventh Street Small Stage at East Village restaurant Jimmy's No. 43.

This semester's student directors include Aria Alpert, Ben Mac Brown, Philip Gates, Carly Hoogendyk, Alex Mallory, Ashley Brooke Monroe, Chinasa Ogbuagu, and Chris Tyler. The course will culminate in a site-specific staging of 10-minute plays before an audience at a to-be-announced public space.

This week's class featured actors from the Sarah Ruhl/Sarah Kane acting class presenting scenes in innovative locales in the East Village including a roof, a library, and a churchyard. Scenes included:
BLASTED, directed by Chinasa Ogbuagu with actors Patrice Bell and Walker Hare
PHAEDRA'S LOVE, directed by Ashley Monroe with actors Lenore Wolf and Sarah Matteucci
BLASTED, directed by Phil Gates with actors Sara Bues and Maria Peyramaure
PHAEDRA'S LOVE, directed by Chris Tyler with actors Jen Taher and Sara Gozalo
PHAEDRA'S LOVE, directed by Ben Mac Brown with actors Chet Siegel and Maria Peyramaure
4:48 PSYCHOSIS, directed by Aria Alpert with actor Jen Taher
CLEANSED, directed by Alex Mallory with actors Chet Siegel, Katherine Chaney Long, and Alex Mallory

Daniel Talbott (Instructor) most recent work as an actor includes the Theatre for One project in Times Square and around NYC, The Merry Wives of Windsor (Shakespeare Festival of St. Louis), Master Builder (Irish Rep), Rocket City (Alabama Shakespeare Festival), Tartuffe (McCarter Theatre/Yale Rep), Marat/Sade (Classical Theatre of Harlem) and the feature film Pretty Bird and The Big C on Showtime. Recent directing work includes Footprint by Mac Rogers (part of +30NYC for Red Fern Theatre), Afterclap by Daniel Reitz, Birthday and Nobody, both by Crystal Skillman (Rising Phoenix Rep at the Seventh Street Small Stage at Jimmy's No. 43), The Umbrella Plays (the teacup company/FringeNYC - Overall Excellence Award: Outstanding Play), Fall Forward (Sitelines/River to River Festival produced by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council), and The Reaching (Rising Phoenix Rep). His play Slipping was produced at Rattlestick last summer with Piece by Piece Productions (named one of the top ten plays of 2009 by The Advocate), premiered in Chicago at The Side Project in Chicago , was part of the International Dublin Gay Theatre Festival, and will be published this year by Dramatists Play Service. His play What Happened When was produced at HERE Arts Center and The Side Project and was published as part of the Plays and Playwrights 2008 anthology. He received a 2007 New York Innovative Theatre Award for directing, a Drama-Logue Award, two Dean Goodman Choice Awards and a Judy Award for acting, and was also named one of the 15 People of the Year 2006 by nytheatre.com. He is a member of this year's 24Seven Lab, a graduate of Juilliard and of Solano College Theatre's ATP, and a teacher at the Primary Stages Einhorn School of Performing Arts (ESPA). He is one of the literary managers of Rattlestick Playwrights Theater and is the artistic director of Rising Phoenix Rep (recipient of the 2007 NYIT Caffe Cino Fellowship Award).

Primary Stages Einhorn School of Performing Arts (ESPA) is a multidisciplinary educational institution with departments in acting, writing, and directing. Since its 2007 inception, ESPA has become a leader in performing arts education through its excellence in training, unique collaboration & networking opportunities, and its community-based approach to a life in the arts. ESPA is open to all artists, in all stages of their careers. www.primarystages.org/ESPA

Photo Credit: Daniel Talbott