Smith Street early Stages
Beginning in 2016, Smith Street Stage expanded its season and inaugurated Smith Street Early Stages. Envisioned as a complement to our annual Shakespeare in Carroll Park, the Early Stages series allows the Company the opportunity to explore different texts and periods of work. Smith Street Stage also uses Early Stages to pursue more varied and experimental theatrical forms with an expanding number of theater artists who can challenge and expand our mission to find new ways to tell classic stories.
The Winter's tale
Directed by Erik Pearson
April 25th and 26th, 2017 at Carroll Place
Cast: Kate Abbruzzese, Joby Earle, Shaun Bennett Fauntleroy, Laura Gragtmans, Lenne Klingaman, Christopher McFarland, Elia Monte-Brown, and Katie Willmorth
Stage Managed by Casey Pratt
Director Erik Pearson developed a small-cast version of this late romance, staged in the cozy bar atmosphere upstairs at Carroll Place in New York City. We explored the modern day relevance of this story, in which a powerful man acts against his self interest when he betrays a woman who has always been a reliable ally.
Miss Julie
by August Strindberg
directed by Scott Ebersold
March 3rd, 2016
The Access Theater
Cast: Beth Ann Leone, Sevrin Anne Mason, Pete McElligott.
Scott Ebersold’s workshop staging of this Strindberg classic dealt deeply with the text’s treatment of class and power. Staged for one evening in Downtown Manhattan’s Access Theater.
The Rover
by Aphra Behn
Directed by Madeline Barasch
Assistant Directed by Matthew Sciarappa
August 15th, 2016; The Stella Adler Studio of Acting
Cast: Will Sarratt, Raquel Chavez, John Hardin, Chelsea Harrison, Stanley Mathabane, Shaun Bennett Fauntleroy, Matthew Sciarappa, Jan Isolina, Corey Whelihan, Ariella Segal, Jonathan Minton
Maddie Barasch presented curated prints of contemporaneous art that shared the odd blend of zest, adventure and sexual violence of The Rover, a 17th century play written by the first professional female playwright in the history of the English language, presented in a staged reading.
The Frankenstein Project
October 30th and 31st, 2016; The Producer’s Club
Created by Jessi Blue Gormezano, Charise Castro Smith, Joby Earle, Ben Horner, Joe Jung, Noel MacDuffie, Anita Stevens Rundles, Shelby Blezinger-McCay, Darin Hallinan
Curated by Beth Ann Leone and Hannah Sloat
Cast: Charise Castro Smith, Courtney Salvage, Alexandra Slater, Joby Earle, Jonathan Hopkins, D. Oscar Horner, Michael Irish
Artists were given the open ended prompt to create a short original theater piece inspired by Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Their creations were stitched together into an evening of provocative, varied and ill-fitting explorations of the horror of creation.
Christmas Carol: A Radio Play
Based on the novel by Charles Dickens
Adapted and Directed by Beth Ann Leone
Carroll Park, December 2012 & 2013
Before bringing the production Off Broadway at the Pearl Theater on 42nd Street, Smith Street Stage developed this original live radio play adaptation two successive Decembers in Carroll Park, Brooklyn.
Its casts included Susanna Baddiel, Jordan Coffey, Jonathan Hopkins, Charlie Kravits, Patrick McCarthy, Ron McClary, Eleanor McCormick, Pete McElligott, Vinnie Penna, Sam Rosenberg, Clara Strauch, Jessica Weiss, Corey Whelihan and Katie Willmorth.
Mary Cavett designed costumes; Susanna Baddiel coached accents; Ruark Downey provided music direction; and Jordan Coffey stage managed and assistant directed.