Winter New Play Intensive

Reading of Aunt Jo 

Written and directed by John Kolvenbach (playwright and director of Stand Up If You’re Here Tonight):

Tuesday December 10^th at 7pm, Deane Hall, Calderwood Pavilion (click here for directions)

Both of Jo’s brothers are a mess, her mother is losing it, and Jo’s charge, her eighteen year old nephew, has fallen dangerously in love. And it’s Christmas. Olivier-nominated playwright John Kolvenbach is back at The Huntington with a brand new play after the acclaimed 2023 production of Stand Up If You’re Here Tonight. Aunt Jo beautifully explores our desperate need for intimacy, the janky harmony of family, and our stumbling attempts to show up for one another. 

Reading of Draupadi  

Written and performed by Mahira Kakkar

Performer/Singer: Sara Haider

Dramaturgy by Amrita Ramanan

Directed by Danilo Gambini

Monday December 16^th at 7pm, Deane Hall, Calderwood Pavilion (click here for directions)

Performer and writer Mahira Kakkar reimagines a powerful thread of the Mahabharata, the ancient South Asian epic of feuding royal families. Draupadi — a woman born from fire and never asked what she wants — navigates a life where she is given to five husbands and gambled away in a game of dice. In this retelling, she takes control of her story, boldly claiming her own desires. In the first of a series exploring frequently overlooked Mahabharata characters, Kakkar creates a searing, sensuous, and funny portrait of what it means to be human in an often inhumane world. 

Open rehearsal with Lenelle Moïse (playwright of K-I-S-S-I-N-G)

Thursday December 19^th at 7pm, Maso Studio (click here for directions)

With loop machines and a laptop, playwright Lenelle Moïse composes a story and sound collage inspired by the femme saints of Haitian Vodou. How will the audience be a part of the action? You’re invited to an open rehearsal to join her choir and find out! Be ready to hum and tune in as Moïse creates new characters for a hybrid theatre piece celebrating the spirits of love, strength, pleasure, departure, and destiny. 

Danilo Gambini is the Associate Artistic Director at Studio Theatre in Washington, DC. Gambini is anative of São Paulo, Brazil, and received acclaim for directing the one-person show, Ni Mi Madre, at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater. The production was nominated for a Drama Desk Award, a Drama League Award, and an Outer Critics Award and was selected as a New York Times Critic’s Pick and a TheaterMania Editor’s Pick. Danilo has worked as both a director of opera and musical theatre, and as a casting director for film and television in Brazil before entering the directing program at the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale.

Karina Gutierrez is a Latinx director, scholar, and performing arts consultant in the Bay Area. An assistant professor at UC Berkeley, her work focuses on the intersection of politics and performance, with a concentration on how digital interventions, institutionalization efforts and historical narrative have affected the development and sustainability of social and politically engaged performance companies and collectives throughout the Americas. Gutierrez earned her doctorate in theatre and performance studies with a minor in feminist, gender, and sexuality studies from Stanford University in 2020, upon which she was awarded the Carl Webber Prize for integration of Creative Practice and Scholarly Research. Outside of academia, Gutiérrez works as an actor, director, and dramaturgist throughout the Bay Area, in addition to co-founding BALTAN, or the Bay Area Latino Theatre Alliance Network.

Sara Haider is a singer and actor from Pakistan. She has received numerous awards and accolades in her home country and across South Asia. She has been performing on stage and screen since 2012 for audiences in Pakistan, Australia, India, Mexico, United States, Thailand, Hungary, and Sri Lanka to name a few; in several different languages and vocal styles. Recent credits include Attorney Wendy Stratford (Law & Order, Season 23), Kate Rolling (Partnership at Theater Row), and Meg (Hood The Musical at 42nd St Playhouse). Coke Studio S6/7/8, SZABIST BA Econ, Juilliard MFA. Represented by Mark Armstrong, Steve Caserta, and Katie Britton at BuchwaldNY/PrincipalLA.

Mahira Kakkar is a New York City-based actor who has worked in film, television, and theatre. Born in Kolkata, India, she is a proud graduate of Jadavpur University (B.A. English Literature, gold medal) and The Juilliard School’s Drama Division. Since then, she has appeared in numerous plays both in New York and around the world, and in many television shows and films. She is drawn to wit, humor, and physical and language-driven pieces. She speaks Hindi and English and is happy to call both the United States and India home. Mahira is also a dialect coach (specifically for Indian accents) and a writer.

John Kolvenbach is a playwright. His latest play, Stand Up If You’re Here Tonight premiered in LA, played at American Blues in Chicago, then in Paris, and at The Huntington in February of 2024. On the West End: Love Song (Olivier nomination, Best New Comedy, directed by John Crowley) and On an Average Day (with Woody Harrelson and Kyle MacLachlan, also directed by Mr. Crowley.) Love Song premiered at Steppenwolf in 2006, directed by Austin Pendelton. It has been produced in New York, Zurich, Melbourne, Sydney, Wellington, Seoul, and Rome. There have been over fifty productions in the U.S. Average Day was produced in Los Angeles by VS. (with Johnny Clark and Stef Tovar) and in Chicago by VS. and Route 66. Average Day has been produced in Tel Aviv, Buenos Aires, and Lisbon. Goldfish premiered at South Coast Repertory and then at the Magic Theatre in San Francisco, directed by Loretta Greco. The play was done in repertory with Mrs. Whitney, which was directed by the author. Reel to Reel received its premiere at the Magic. Sister Play received its premiere at The Harbor Stage Company and at the Magic, both productions directed by the author. Stand Up If You’re Here Tonight opened in the summer of 2021 at The Harbor Stage and, simultaneously, in Los Angeles with VS. and Circle X. The LA production went on to American Blues in Chicago and then to Paris. Other plays include: Fabuloso (Premiered at WHAT, subsequent productions in San Juan and Zurich, in Spanish and Swiss German), Bank Job (Amphibian Stages), and Marriage Play or Half ‘n Half ‘n Half (Merrimack Rep). Film: Clear Winter Noon, an original screenplay, was selected for the Blacklist. Kolvenbach has a new play, recently completed or nearly completed. It will be a family play, with seven characters in three acts.

Lenelle Moïse is a poet, playwright, and screenwriter. She wrote the romantic comedy K-I-S-S-I-N-G (The Huntington), winner of the 2023 Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding New Script, a national finalist for the 2024 Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award, and an international finalist for the 2024 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. Moïse wrote, composed, and co-starred in the critically acclaimed show Expatriate (Off Broadway, Culture Project). Her full-length script Merit won The Ruby Prize. The New Black Fest, National Black Theatre, and Baltimore Center Stage produced her short play San Francisco Cab. An accomplished solo performer, Moïse has been a guest artist at dozens of colleges and arts venues such as Poets House, Lincoln Center, the Norton Museum, and the International Museum of Women. Her book of poems, Haiti Glass, won the PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Literary Award. Her writing appears in POETRY Magazine and many anthologies, including Word Warriors: 35 Women Leaders in the Spoken Word Revolution. lenellemoise.com

Amrita Ramanan is a multidisciplinary artistic leader who holds the values of anti-racism, anti- colonialism, equity, access, diversity, and inclusion at the core of her practice. She formerly was the Director of Literary Development and Dramaturgy at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and wholistically supported new play commissioning and development for the Festival. She served as the production dramaturg for OSF’s productions of Cambodian Rock Band, Snow in Midsummer, Oklahoma!, As You Like It, Macbeth, Alice in Wonderland, Henry V, and Henry IV Parts 1 & 2; produced and curated the Black Swan Lab for New Play Development; and created the first-ever OSF Writer’s Group. Prior to OSF, Amrita was the Literary Manager/Artistic Associate at Arena Stage and, for three years, she was the Associate Producer and Resident Dramaturg at Double Edge Theatre. As a project-based dramaturg, Amrita’s credits include Sitayana by Lavina Jadhwani (East West Players, EnActe Arts, and Hypokrit Theatre Company) and BULL: a love story by Nancy García Loza (Paramount Theatre). Amrita received a BFA in Dramaturgy and Theatre History from the University of Arizona. She is a board member for the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americans and the Network of Ensemble Theaters.