Join seven playwrights and seven directors in a radically collaborative
virtual theatre experience inspired by Poe’s “The Masque of the Red Death.”
7 Rooms: The Masque of the Red Death The Party The Rooms The Team You Are Cordially Invited... Flat Earth Theatre presents a radically collaborative virtual theatre experience in 7 Rooms: The Masque of the Red Death. We’ve united seven local playwrights and seven local directors to construct seven new short plays to fill the unique rooms of the famous manor from Edgar Allan Poe’s deliciously macabre short story. Within Prospero’s manor where masked revellers escape the plague that devastates the world outside, these assembled works create an evening of theatre that explores isolation, connection, moral dilemmas, humor, and humanity during the time of plague. 7 Rooms: The Masque of the Red Death streamed on Zoom from July 28th through August 15th, 2021. While the masquerade has concluded for now, we invite you to peruse this site to learn about the many talented artists who made this unique project possible. Land Acknowledgement Since our activities are shared digitally to the internet, let's take a moment to consider the legacy of colonization embedded within the technology, structures, and ways of thinking we use every day. We are using equipment and high-speed internet, not available in many Indigenous communities. Even the technologies that are central to much of the art we make leave significant carbon footprints, contributing to changing climates that disproportionately affect Indigenous people worldwide. I invite you to join us in acknowledging all this, as well as our shared responsibility to make good of this time and for each of us to consider our roles in reconciliation, decolonization, and ally-ship. This digital land acknowledgement was created by artist and producer Adrienne Wong, Artistic Director of SpiderWebShowPerformance. Shared here with permission. This program is supported in part by a grant from the Watertown Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency. The Rooms “It was a voluptuous scene, that masquerade. But first let me tell of the rooms in which it was held. These were seven—an imperial suite." Edgar Allan Poe The Blue Room What’s the difference between appropriation and veneration? Elvira, the Ivory Explicator of the Blues, is about to find out when her performance is interrupted by an unexpected visitor. Cliff Odle Playwright Cliff Odle Playwright Cliff Odle Playwright Cliff Odle is a playwright, actor and director. He is a native of New Jersey and based in New England. He has been involved with theatre around the country. His plays have been performed in Boston, New York, San Diego and other areas. Currently, he is an Assistant Professor of Theater at Bates College. There he has debuted a work in progress called “Blood and Revolution”. This work is a multi-play cycle set in the years leading up to the American Revolution and centering on the lives of colonial African Americans. Among his other plays; Requiem for a Drink, Migraine, A Garnet in the Rough, and Motel Therapy were all successful entries in the annual Boston Theatre Marathon, The Petition had a successful run last summer at the Old State House Museum in Boston. Lost Tempo was produced by Boston Playwrights Theatre in 2017 and helped to inaugurate the theatre’s redesigned space. Our Girl in Trenton has been produced by the BU New Play Initiative Workshop. Running the Bulls was featured in the SlamBoston festival and has been produced by his company, New Urban Theatre Lab; The Ahern Fox was a finalist in the 2007 Kennedy Center Theatre Festival; The Delicate Art of Customer Service has been produced by New Urban Theatre Lab and was produced for the Jersey Voices Annual Theatre Festival. He has been a resident playwright for the educational theatre group Theatre Espresso where he co-wrote their play about the 1957 Little Rock desegregation case called The Nine: Crisis in Little Rock. Cliff has also written plays about cyber-bullying, The Lesson and Think Twice which are currently in rep with Deana’s Educational Theatre. In addition to Bates, he has also taught at the University of Massachusetts - Boston, Wheelock College, Emerson and at the Sondra Feinstein Gamm Theatre Studio in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. He has also worked extensively as an actor and director. He has directed the first UMASS Boston Playwright’s Festival and served as a mentor/dramaturg for the second. He was a co-founder of New Urban Theater Laboratory. He is also founder of Jersey Voices, a one act play festival which is now in its 29th year producing the work of New Jersey playwrights. Johnny Nichols, Jr. Director Johnny Nichols, Jr. Director Johnny Nichols, Jr. Director Johnny Nichols, Jr. is the Education Director for Revels. Johnny Nichols, Jr. is a performing arts educator for area public schools, after school organizations, as well as community and professional groups. Johnny has stage directed and music directed over 30 plays and musicals and is an active vocal coach, clinician, and adjudicator for theater programs in New England and the South. As a professional musician, Johnny is the artistic director for the Ipswich River Community Chorus and provides lectures on opera, spirituals, and other cultural music. Featuring Sydney Roslin Sydney Roslin Elvira Sydney Roslin is a performer and writer hailing from Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. She received her BFA in Vocal Performance and her BA in Creative Writing from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and is currently pursuing her MFA in Musical Theater at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee. Sydney specializes in both musical theater and operatic repertoire, with favorite roles including Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro, Martha in Heathers, Fidalma in Il Matrimonio Segreto, and Michael in Murder Ballad. She can be seen singing locally as a member of the Church on the Hill professional choir in Boston and as the High Holy Days Cantorial Soloist at the Falmouth Jewish Congregation. Sydney is also an active writer and director, with recent collaborations including directorial work for TC2's New Play Festival and Church on the Hill's presentation of the one-act opera A Hand of Bridge, as well as libretto work on the chamber opera On Our Street in partnership with composer Zachary James Ritter. Kira Sarai Helper Kira Sarai Helper Shirl Bio coming soon! The Purple Room A pair of hourly workers manage the avalanche of jackets that are coming into coat check, while comparing notes about some unusual behavior at the party. MJ Halberstadt Playwright MJ Halberstadt Playwright MJ Halberstadt Playwright MJ Halberstadt (he/him/his) is knitting his fourth Hue Shift Afghan (pattern by Kerin Dimeler-Laurence, KnitPicks.) He is the writer of the plays Deal Me Out (Boston Playwrights’ Theatre), The Launch Prize (Elliot Norton Award, Bridge Repertory Theater), The Usual Unusual (SpeakEasy Stage’s Boston Project Commission & Podcast adaptation), and additional immersive and stage works. He is an alumnus of the Huntington Playwriting Fellowship, Boston University (MFA Playwriting), and Emerson College (BA Theatre Education); and a member of the Dramatists Guild of America, Inc. Learn more at mjhalberstadt.com Lee Mikeska Gardner Director Lee Mikeska Gardner Director Lee Mikeska Gardner Director Lee Mikeska Gardner enters her 9th season as the Artistic Director for The Nora at Central Square Theater. Lee began her career as an actor and director working on plays in development, participating in over 40 world premiere plays and musicals. She has visited the world of Poe before, when she helmed the world premiere of Peter Coy’s musical Poe and All That Jazz for Charter Theater in Washington D.C. Her most recent work, directing the world premiere of Alexandra Petri’s Inherit the Windbag at Mosaic Theater in Washington, D.C., pivoted from the stage to the Zoom platform with the Covid shutdown. Also in the virtual world, she directed Amy Merrill’s new play Shoe Leather Epidemiology for CST’s Women & Science Theater Festival. Her last live production was the Elliot Norton Award–winning Cloud 9 (outstanding Direction and Production) at The Nora, where she also directed the world premieres of The Midvale High School Fiftieth Reunion (with Gordon Clapp) and Saving Kitty (with Jennifer Coolidge.) Lee was an Artistic Associate for ten years at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, and spent amazing time with Charter Theater, The Keegan Theater, Washington Shakespeare Company, Consenting Adults Theater Company and the Shenandoah Playwrights’ Retreat. Lee is an award-winning actor in two cities with an Elliot Norton and Helen Hayes nod and has developed roles in 11 plays and countless readings. As an educator, Lee has taught or served as a guest artist at colleges and universities across the nation including Emerson, University of Nevada – Las Vegas, UVA – Charlottesville, University of Maryland – College Park, and Middlebury College. Featuring Michael Lin Michael Lin Coats Michael Lin is a Boston-based actor and playwright, and occasional Foley artist. Previous work includes writing a radio play adaptation of J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan and voicing the titular character in E. Salazar's Dracula with the Post-Meridian Radio Players. Michael is a proud member of the Asian-American Playwright Collective. Kristen Heider Kristen Heider Refill A Boston-based theatrical Jill-of-all-trades and company member of Flat Earth Theatre, Kristen is glad to be dusting off her acting chops again. At Flat Earth, she is most often found house managing, but has also been seen on stage in Fat Pig (IRNE Award nomination, Best Supporting Actress–Play–Fringe), Radium Girls, Dead but Dreaming, and Fine-Tuned Universe. Other local credits include productions with WholeTone Opera, the Hub Theatre Company of Boston, and Boston Public Works. When she's not making theater, Kristen is a music librarian, singer, and gardener with a deep and abiding love for tea. The Green Room A visitor comes knocking at the airlock door of the spaceship Athena, asking to be let in contrary to quarantine protocols. Do the rescue crew aboard dare open the door to the unknown? Michael Lin Playwright Michael Lin Playwright Michael Lin Playwright Michael Lin is a Boston-based actor and playwright, and occasional Foley artist. Previous work includes writing a radio play adaptation of J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan and voicing the titular character in E. Salazar's Dracula with the Post-Meridian Radio Players. Michael is a proud member of the Asian-American Playwright Collective. David R. Gammons Director David R. Gammons Director David R. Gammons Director David R. Gammons is a director, designer, visual artist, and theatre educator. He has directed productions with SpeakEasy Stage Company, Actors’ Shakespeare Project, The New Rep, Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, Gloucester Stage, and has collaborated with students at Harvard University, MIT, The Boston Conservatory, Emerson College, Boston College, Suffolk University, and Concord Academy among others. David is an Associate Professor at The Boston Conservatory at Berklee and is on the Theatre Arts faculty of MIT. His work has garnered numerous awards, including the 2007 and 2017 Elliot Norton Awards for Outstanding Director and the 2012 and 2013 Elliot Norton Awards for Outstanding Production. David is a graduate of the Directing Program of the ART Institute at Harvard and of the Visual and Environmental Studies Department of Harvard University. For more information, please visit davidrgammons.com. Featuring Sharmarke Yusuf Sharmarke Yusuf Cam Sharmarke Yusuf is an actor and writer currently based and born & raised in Boston, Massachusetts. Sharmarke graduated from the Boston Conservatory at Berklee with a BFA in Contemporary Theater. He has appeared in several Boston-area theater productions including as Aaron in Titus Andronicus (Earthstone Theater Company), Buckingham/Ensemble in The Three Musketeers (Front Porch Arts Collective), Theseus in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Boston Conservatory at Berklee), and on television, most recently as Axmed in season two of Castle Rock on Hulu. He can be found on instagram @sharmarke_y. Shanelle C Villegas Shanelle C Villegas Lee Shanelle Chloe Villegas is a Boston-based actor, writer, deviser and teaching artist. Currently, she is a teaching artist with Company One Theatre Company working in ESL classrooms. When she is not teaching, Shanelle can be seen performing all around Boston. Her recent works include touring with New Repertory Theatre’s Classic Repertory Company for both their fall and spring tours, Fresh Inks’ Last Catastrophist, Yo Soy LOLAs’ Las Que Sueñan, and Speakeasy Stage Companys’ School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play. Currently, Shanelle is writing an autobiographical one-woman show about love and pain within her dysfunctional family of color. Shanelle is from the first graduating class of Boston Conservatory at Berklee’s Contemporary Theatre program. Kalee Burrows Kalee Burrows Finch Kalee Burrows (she/her/hers) is a theatre artist, writer, educator, and yoga teacher. She teaches and works with young people, adults, and older generations in schools, community centers, studios, and theatre spaces across the globe. These participating organizations and artists include The Boston Conservatory at Berklee, The Hanover Theatre & Conservatory, Actors’ Shakespeare Project, Arlekin Players Theatre, Voices Boston, We are London at Ovalhouse, and Shanti Bhavan's Children's Project. Kalee is officially recognized as a Certified Artist by the City of Boston, and she holds a MA in Applied Theatre: Drama in Educational, Community and Social Contexts from Goldsmiths, University of London, as well as a BA in Theatre Arts and Performance Studies from Stonehill College. www.kaleeburrows.com The Orange Room A trio of guests at Prospero’s posh party steal away from the crowd to sit around a campfire trying to re-create an annual ritual to celebrate their friendship after an extended period apart. But memories of what occurred at the previous “Toasting Man” reveal a dark secret they share and which they agree to finally lay to rest. Hortense Gerardo Playwright Hortense Gerardo Playwright Hortense Gerardo Playwright Dr. Hortense Gerardo is a playwright, filmmaker, and anthropologist, and serves as the Director of the Anthropology, Performance, and Technology (APT) Program at the University of California, San Diego. Her works have been performed nationally and internationally, including: LaMama Experimental Theatre, the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) in Boston, the International Performance Art Festival, the Venice Biennale, and the Nuit Blanche International Festival in Toronto. Hortense’s award-winning documentary film, Small Steps: Dances of Resilience, is a recent recipient of the award for Best Environmental Film at the 2021 Vancouver Independent Film Festival, and Best Dance Film at the 2021 Rome Film Awards. Dr. Gerardo received her B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. in Anthropology and Performing Arts from Boston University. For more information go to: www.hortensegerardo.com Jessica Ernst Director Jessica Ernst Director Jessica Ernst Director Jessica Ernst is a freelance director/producer in the greater Boston area. Her directing credits include Romeo and Juliet (Eastern Nazarene College), Henry IV (Praxis Stage), The Women Who Mapped The Stars (The Nora Theatre Company, world premiere), Daughter of Venus (Artists’ Theatre of Boston), The Love of the Nightingale (Open Theatre Project), The Weaver of Raveloe (Oberon, world premiere), Hedda Gabler (The Longwood Players), and various short plays and staged readings. She is currently developing a 3-actor adaptation of The Tempest that incorporates Shakespeare’s text in both its original form and translated into sign language, performed by both hearing and Deaf actors. She is the managing director of Sleeping Weazel, a Boston fringe theatre company focused on creating experimental and multimedia new theatrical works with a social justice focus. For Sleeping Weazel, she is producing and orchestrating a short film entitled Living Landscapes: a compilation of four personal meditations on the relationship between Black, Indigenous, and Latinx performing artists and specific locations in the greater Boston area. It will be released in late May. Jessica is currently pursuing a Master’s Degree in Arts Administration at Boston University and is a graduate of Gettysburg College. Featuring Olivia Dumaine Olivia Dumaine Shad Olivia Dumaine (she/her) is a graduate of the BFA Theatre Performance program at Salem State University, with minors in both Psychology and Dramatic Literature. Some of her recent acting credits include: Collective Rage: A Play in 5 Betties (Zoom Theatre), The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time (Apollinaire Theatre Company), Macbeth (Underlings Theatre Company), Henry IV (Praxis Stage), and Three Sisters (Apollinaire Theatre Company). She is a resident actor at Playwrights' Platform. Outside of acting, Olivia is passionate about consent education, communication, and the future of intimacy direction. She has toured with Speak About It, Inc., educating college students across the country. She is also committed to studying intimacy direction, and has participated in several workshops with Intimacy Directors and Coordinators. Olivia is also the Managing Director for Acropolis Stage Company. Naomi Ibasitas Naomi Ibasitas Misha Naomi Ibasitas is an actor, stage manager and director within the Boston fringe theatre community. Recent acting credits include the Mrs. Hawking Series (Madam Malaika/Rosaline) with Breaklight Productions, Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (Momar) with the Post Meridian Radio Players, and Incantation (Angel) with The Umbrella Arts Center. She is excited to be a part of her first production with Flat Earth Theatre! Aside from acting, she is also an artistic director of Fort Point Theatre Channel. She graduated from Emerson College in 2015 with a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre Studies. Evan Turissini Evan Turissini Abe Evan Turissini (Abe) is super excited to make his virtual debut with Flat Earth Theatre, having been a long-time fan of their live productions. Acting credits include Vanity Fair (Central Square Theater); Every Brilliant Thing [u/s, performed], The View UpStairs [u/s, performed] (SpeakEasy Stage Company); Romeo and Juliet, Much Ado About Nothing (Shit-Faced Shakespeare/Magnificent Bastard Productions); Twelfth Night, Shipwrecked! An Entertainment (Moonbox Productions); Three Sisters (Apollinaire Theatre Company); Julius Caesar, Incident at Vichy (Praxis Stage Company); Trapped (Strange News Theatre); and more. Evan Turissini is the artistic director of Acropolis Stage Company, and directed their inaugural production of Cherry Docs. By day, Evan serves as the Creative Services & Social Media Manager for SpeakEasy Stage Company. The Violet Room Adrift in the Violet Room, two partygoers must choose between returning to the world they know or diving into the unknown. Sari Boren Playwright Sari Boren Playwright Sari Boren Playwright Sari Boren is playwright, essayist, and museum exhibit developer. In 2019 she premiered her touring solo play Exhibiting at the Newton Theatre Company and her short play To Rest at the Somerville Theater Festival. Sari was also a member of Company One Theatre’s 2019 PlayLab Unit. Her essays have been published in numerous journals, and “The Slurry Wall” was a Notable Essay in The Best American Essays 2019. Sari’s writing has been supported with grants from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, St. Botolph Club Foundation, and the Vermont Studio Center. She teaches writing at Grub Street and, as an exhibit developer, has worked on over 50 museum exhibits across the country. Shira Helena Gitlin Director Shira Helena Gitlin Director Shira Helena Gitlin Director Shira Helena Gitlin (they/them/theirs) is a director, d… truncated (15,251 more characters in archive)