Westside Experiment

It Happened Because of the Avocado

July 20 2024

IN RESIDENCE: July 8 – 20, 2024

Our young artists at IRT Theater have devised an entirely new whopper of a show. This year, it’s a murder mystery comedy! A bunch of high-profile quirky celebrities, for all their unique talents, have gotten together at the Mat Gala because they were invited by the very important VIP Miss Host (yes, that’s her birth name) and they all rehearse their show, then boom, they’ve stumbled over a dead body that they all know….. who dun it this time??? Come and help them figure it out!

PERFORMANCE:Sat. July 20, 2024
TIME: 11am
PRICE: Pay-What-You-Can
At IRT: 154 Christopher st. NYC #3B (third floor)
ADA Accessible
VISIT/CONTACT US»

Featuring: Ami De Lowe, Beatrice Grimshane, Elghin Hebrado, Matilda Magaldi, Stella Magaldi, Kgola Makgabo, Tallulah Tamman, Gabriel Wotman, Kevin Yue

LEAD TEACHING ARTISTS:
Jules Dameron (he/him) is a deaf trans and gay film & theatre director, working with both deaf and hearing actors. Jules graduated from Gallaudet University with a B.A. in TV/Cinema and then obtained an MFA in Film Production/Directing at one of the leading film schools in the world, the University of Southern California. Shifting between both deaf and hearing cultures, Jules has a strong insight into how the deaf community has a different way of sharing information. Mediating between two cultures has helped Jules harness a direction style and vision that is unique and unparalleled.

Recently, Jules has worked on several videos with Sesame Street, helping provide the same experience and amusement to young viewers through a deaf lens. Jules is also currently the writer and director of the soon-to-be-made feature film, Deaf President Now, a film illustrating the events of the Deaf President Now protests at Gallaudet University in 1988. Jules is also co-writing / co-directing a play called, “What is Emily Drawing?” highlighting the effects of language deprivation in deaf children. When not in the director’s chair, Jules extends his talents to the stage playing various roles in notable shows like Romeo and Juliet, Rocky Horror Picture Show, and Lés Miserables. Jules aspires to work more with hearing creatives to pave the way for more authentic representation in the media.

Treshelle M. Edmond (she/her)TRESHELLE EDMOND was diagnosed with severe to profound hearing loss in both ears when she was around 18 months old. She made her Broadway debut in Deaf West Theater’s Spring Awakening Revival, Mark Medoff’s Children of a Lesser God Revival, and Ntozake Shange’s For Colored Girl Revival as an Understudy. ‘The Colored Museum,’ ‘Another Kind of Silence,’ and ‘What Came After’ have all premiered off-Broadway. Also ‘Say It Ain’t So,’ Nikki Brake-Silla, Treshelle created ‘Light Up Within,’ A One-Woman Show both in New York and Los Angeles. Television/film: House M.D., Glee, Master of None (Season 2); Jay and Silent Bob Reboot. @TreshelleEdmond

HONORARY GUEST TEACHERS:
Monique Holt (MoMo) (Playwright/Director/Performer) wears many theater hats. ACTOR: Aldonza/Dulcinea in Man of La Mancha (Harlequin Productions). Worker Chen in Snow in Midsummer and Lady Montague in Romeo & Juliet (Oregon Shakespeare Festival). DIRECTOR: Cloud 9, Urinetown, Caucasian Chalk Circle, Deafhood Monologues, TITUS and a short film – Always A Bridesmaid? CREATOR/WRITER: Night Was So Hungry That Ate The Moon, The Dark Room, and The “OR”bit. DASL (Director for Artistic Sign Language) Cymbeline, Movement of the Soul, peeling, and Grisha (film). LECTURER: “Translating Shakespearean Text into Sign Language” 2009 – present. MoMo also teaches for Theatre and Dance Program under School of Arts and Humanities at Gallaudet University in Washington, DC.CREDENTIALS: BFA in Acting – NYU & MFA in Theater – Towson University.

Annie Wiegand is one of the only Deaf professional lighting designers in the country. Her heightened sense of sight adds a unique layering to her designs. Her passion for the arts led her first to Gallaudet University in Washington, DC to begin her undergraduate education, and eventually to Appalachian State University in Boone, NC to earn a Bachelor of Arts in theatre with a concentration in design and technology. She was the lighting director for The Acting Company for three years, where she toured the country and translated designs for theatres on an almost daily basis. Since then, she has continued to design shows in Boston, NYC and DC. Annie had the opportunity to work as the Second Assistant Lighting Designer on the Tony Nominated Broadway revival of Spring Awakening in 2015. She designed her first Off-Broadway show at Playwrights Horizons, I Was Most Alive with You, in fall 2018.

Dickie Hearts is a Deaf, gay, multiracial actor. His TV credits include a recurring role on Netflix’s Tales of the City (2019), a supporting role on HBO’s High Maintenance (2020), and a guest-starring role on Netflix’s Grace & Frankie (2017). Stage credits include his Off-Broadway debut in Dark Disabled Stories (2023) at Public Theater, New York Deaf Theatre’s Maple & Vine, IRT’s Stepchild, Please Untranslate Me, and Trash. Dickie Hearts continues to push for more Deaf, LGBTQ+, and BIPOC visibility and representation onstage and onscreen. Hearts is a Disability Futures Fellowship ‘22 recipient and is repped by Nicolosi & Co. This is his first Lucille Lortel award nomination.

Jill and Amnon Damti They are a unique deaf and hearing dancer duo, representing Israel as Ambassadors of Culture and Acceptance. They offered their “Two World” interactive performance and some workshop.

Interpreters: Liz Carlin, Mark Weissglass, Kat Katona and Kelly Muskopf

Producing Artistic Director: Kori Rushton
Executive Assistant: Elghin Hebrado

IRT Theater is a grassroots laboratory for independent theater and performance in New York City, providing space and support to a new generation of artists. Tucked away in the old Archive Building in Greenwich Village, IRT’s mission is to build a community of emerging and established artists by creating a home for the development and presentation of new work.

This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts and the New York State Legislature; New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in Partnership with the City Council; National Endowment for the Arts; A.R.T./New York’s NYC Small Theatres Fund made possible with support from the Howard Gilman Foundation & support for ASL interpretation provided in part through funding from Access A.R.T./New York.

ACCESS: IRT is a fully wheelchair-accessible facility. Please reach out to Kori Rushton if you have any accessibility questions or concerns, krushton@irttheater.org

PLEASE NOTE: All sales final and there is no late seating at IRT Theater.