Untitled Landscape is an experiential theatrical work conceived by Melisa Tien that invites participants to engage with and be audiences for one another. An intimate look at what defines the landscape of each of our lives, it asks: What are the moments in your life that, taken together, make up who you are? Join Deceleration Lab artist Melisa Tien, her collaborator Tamilla Woodard, and members of The Assembly for an hour-long virtual event that encapsulates the process of constructing Untitled Landscape. 

RSVP at assemblytheater.org/tickets

We’re making theater in less than 24 hours! And raising money for Asian Americans Advancing Justice! Starting at 6:00 PM today my piece This Is Your Life, featuring the uber-talented Maureen Sebastian, is available via The 24 Hour Plays. Come check it out!

Happy Arbor Day!

Tickets go on sale today for Community Forest, a project I created for Post Theatrical that brings together participants from all over the country in the rearing and care of live trees (both miniature and life-sized), and simultaneously connects participants through a living document whose growth they will also be gently contributing to.

With your ticket, you will receive one tree in the mail, and an invitation to Community Forest’s online welcome and orientation. For each ticket and tree that you purchase, someone who cannot afford to participate but wishes to, will also receive a tree and an invitation.

Community Forest is an ongoing project that lasts the life of your tree. Your participation includes the care and nurturing of your tree, and periodic contributions (~four times a year) to a shared online document that tells us how everyone’s tree is doing and how everyone’s year is going.

For tickets and more info, click here.

Super excited for this reading and Q&A with Mirrorbox Theatre!

BEST LIFE is an absurd and unsettling comedy about a woman who can rewind time, but only within the last five minutes. She's a person of color, navigating a world in which she's not sure she belongs, as she ponders her relationship, literally and figuratively, to the white woman beside her--in other words, a world not unlike ours.

directed by Lisa Kelly

Featuring
Jordan Arnold: Sheryl
Jo Jordan: Lourdes
Cavan Hallman: Stage Directions

1/15 at 8:00 PM CST

Registration is limited. Click here to reserve your spot.

Composer Joe Rubinstein and I are premiering a new art song commission! Cheah Chan Duo celebrates its landmark tenth anniversary with a program of 10 works by 10 composers, featuring world premieres of pieces by Jonathan David, Frank J. Oteri, Joe Rubinstein, and Karen Siegel, the US première of a piece by Stephen Hough, and a reprise of pieces by Chris Cresswell, Steve Holtje, René Silva, Martha Sullivan, and Trevor Weston that received their premières with the Duo.

Church of St. Luke in the Fields 487 Hudson St. Tue, 3/26 at 8:00 PM

Tickets $20 ($15 in advance)

I’ll be working with director Jessi D. Hill on a workshop of a new play. Super excited to be playing with live feed and projection!

Frequent collaborator/director Tamilla Woodard and I are holding a three-hour workshop called How to Keep Creating Despite Everything. Participants will explore approaches to sustaining creative resilience during challenging times, waking the imagination, and locating what is unique, inspiring, and beautiful in one's direct proximity. Dress comfortably and come ready to move and to write.

New Dramatists 424 West 44th St. Sat, 1/5 at 12:00 PM

$40, cash only
RSVP: ndworkshops@yahoo.com

*This is an Emergency Fund project, a program run independently by New Dramatists playwrights to share knowledge and at the same time raise funds to support one another in life emergencies -- a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon at New Dramatists!*

I’m contributing to GUST: Ghazals for the Ghost Ship, a remembrance of the victims of the Ghost Ship fire in Oakland, CA. It’ll be an afternoon of poetry, song, sound, deep listening, and a long stretch of silence. A reflective witness, involving the work of ~50 artists. Show up and be a part of it, if you're moved to.

The MilkBar 241A South 1st Street Richmond, CA 94801 Sun, 12/2 at 2:00 PM

Free. Potluck, snacks, and conversation after.

Excited to be among the fabulous artists presenting new work at the latest "Inside the Underground," a showcase of new music spanning theater, art song, and opera. Featuring performances by Joanna Burns, Jessica Fishenfeld, Terrell Foster-James, Shanna Lesniak, Trevor Martin, and Anthony P. McGlaun singing the music of composers and writers Lindsay Anderson, Julia Barry, Jonathan Bauerfeld, Neena Beber, Matt Frey, Jason Kim, Dan Nagler, Joe Rubinstein, Jeff Tang, Melisa Tien, Paulo K Tiról, Bálint Varga, and Jason Weisinger; with Jon Bauerfeld and Danny Zelibor, piano.

Cornelia Street Underground 29 Cornelia St. Mon, 10/22 at 8:30 PM

Reservations recommended; this series has so far been packed!

I’m participating in an evening of short theatrical works inspired by Pina Bausch, John Cage, and Merce Cunningham.  Five playwrights (Mashuq Mushtaq Deen, Ken Prestininzi, Lynn Rosen, Aurin Squire, and Melisa Tien) are given the same soundscape—created by sound artist Brendan Connelly—and tasked with writing a ten-minute piece for it.  The result—five different works reflecting/jumping off of/engaging with/pushing against a singular soundscape.  

New Dramatists 424 West 44th St. Thur, 6/21 at 7:30 PM

Free. Click here for reservations.

I’m working with director Tamilla Woodard and marvelous group of performers on a developmental workshop of a new play.

Presented as part of the Starr Reading Series
dir. Elena Araoz
w/ Erin Anderson & Kara Young

An unsettling comedy about a woman who can rewind time, but only within the last five minutes.  She's a person of color, navigating a world in which she's not sure where she belongs, as she ponders her relationship, literally and figuratively, to the white woman beside her--in other words, a world not unlike ours.

The Bushwick Starr 207 Starr St. Sun, 2/25 at 8:00 PM  

Free of Charge