NEW GROUP NOW is a series of public forums which locate New Group shows within the larger context of American and/or global society. Bringing together artists and thinkers across disciplines, the series asks vital questions at the center of New Group shows and of our present culture.
New Group Now Panel: Climate Arts Activision
This panel is part of Facing the Rising Tide, a festival of plays in partnership with NRDC.
Thursday, July 23 at 6pm EST.
Click here to watch on YouTube.
We’re living through a time of immense disruption as we wake up en masse to the suffering and wreckage of our petro-industrial society. Questions like: “what have we done?” and “can we fix this before it’s too late?” are on the minds of many, especially the truth-tellers and meaning-makers of our culture – the artists. Art, theater, film and storytelling offer clear reflections of where we are, how we got here, and a range of possible visions for where we might go. Choosing a better future is something we all have to do together, and engaged artist-activists like the women on this panel are showing the way.
Please join us on Thursday, July 23 at 6pm EST for an inspiring conversation on how art and storytelling can help save the world with Chantal Bilodeau (playwright; Artistic Director, The Arctic Cycle), Lydia Fort (theater director, educator; Emory University), Lanxing Fu (co-director, Superhero Clubhouse eco-theater), Mary Kathryn Nagle (playwright; Founding Director, Yale Indigenous Performing Arts) and Cheryl Slean (playwright; Creative Director, Rewrite the Future climate storytelling initiative at NRDC). The panel will be moderated by Nancy Giles (Actor and Commentator).
ABOUT THE MODERATOR
Nancy Giles is an Emmy-winning contributor to “CBS News Sunday Morning,” and tries to be witty on various political panels on MSNBC. She’s acted in films and on TV and was recently Off-Broadway in The New Group’s Good For Otto by David Rabe. She’s also written and performed solo shows and is working on a collection of essays and true stories. Her podcast “The Giles Files” is on the Apple Podcast app, Google Play, and Stitcher. Be cool and subscribe!
ABOUT THE PANELISTS
Chantal Bilodeau is a playwright and the Artistic Director of The Arctic Cycle, an organization that uses theatre to foster conversation about our global climate crisis, create an empowering vision of the future and encourage people to take action. She is writing a series of plays that look at the social and environmental changes taking place in the eight Arctic states and was recently named one of “8 Trailblazers Who Are Changing the Climate Conversation” by Audubon Magazine.
Lydia Fort is a theatre director and educator and has directed over thirty productions across the US. An assistant professor at Emory University, Lydia teaches courses in directing, acting, African American drama and Eco-theatre; and also serves as the director of the Playwriting Center of Theater Emory. Ms. Fort currently serves on the Executive Board of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Union (SDC), and is the Southeast Region Rep. She was a Drama League Fellow and a Theatre Communications Group (TCG) New Generations Future Leader grantee. Ms. Fort holds a BA from New York University and received both a Certificate in Arts Management for the Performing Arts and a MFA in Directing from the University of Washington.
Lanxing Fu is a Chinese-American theatre artist and co-director of Superhero Clubhouse, an interdisciplinary community engaged in theatremaking to shift culture towards climate and environmental justice. With SHC: playwright and co-creator of Mammelephant (the New Ohio / HERE Arts Center), program director of the Living Stage NYC (University Settlement / Meltzer Senior Center), and co-creator of PLUTO (no longer a play), (the Brick) and JUPITER (a play about power), (La MaMa). She is lead teaching artist with Big Green Theater (Bushwick Starr/SHC). Workshop facilitator and speaker on eco-theatre: the New School, Asian American Arts Alliance, Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory, CESTEMER, and more. BA Theatre Arts & BA Humanities, Science, Environment from Virginia Tech.
Mary Kathryn Nagle is an enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation. She is also a partner at Pipestem Law, P.C., where she works to protect tribal sovereignty and the inherent right of Indian Nations to protect their women and children from domestic violence and sexual assault. From 2015 to 2019, she served as the first Executive Director of the Yale Indigenous Performing Arts Program. Nagle is an alum of the 2013 Public Theater Emerging Writers Program. She studied environmental law at Tulane Law School, and has worked on several cases involving the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, and other environmental law statutes.
Cheryl Slean is a playwright, filmmaker and climate activist with a diverse academic background in physics, literature and sustainability. She’s taught creative writing and filmmaking at several universities and started a video production company specializing in narrative strategies for educational media. She co-founded the grassroots collective Vision LA Climate Action Arts to produce a multidisciplinary arts festival concurrent with the U.N. Paris Accords. She currently works with the NRDC as Creative Director of Rewrite the Future, a climate storytelling in entertainment initiative.
Pulling from themes from The New Group’s current musical Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, New Group Now’s Evolving Love: Dissecting the Modern Relationship will be a deep dive into the ways in which the intimate relationship has begun to transform. Although the original film Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice was groundbreaking for 1969, our society has endured drastic changes. We have moved past the days of the nuclear family and our traditional understanding of relationships, but to what end? Who makes the rules of love nowadays? Has the progression of humanity affected how we choose to love or have we been blind to the way things have always been? Nancy Giles will be moderating this stimulating conversation encompassing the aspects of all intimate relationships that have developed and changed over time. We will explore polyamory, new age monogamy, self-liberation within a relationship and so much more.
NANCY GILES (moderator) is an Emmy-winning contributor to “CBS News Sunday Morning,” and tries to be witty on various political panels on MSNBC. She’s acted in films and on TV and was recently Off-Broadway in The New Group’s Good For Otto by David Rabe. She’s also written and performed solo shows and is working on a collection of essays and true stories. Her podcast “The Giles Files” is on the Apple Podcast app, Google Play, and Stitcher. Be cool and subscribe!
DANIEL JONES has edited the Modern Love column in The New York Times since its inception in 2004. His books include “Modern Love: True Stories of Love, Loss, and Redemption,” “Love Illuminated: Exploring Life’s Most Mystifying Subject (with the Help of 50,000 Strangers),” “The Bastard on the Couch,” and the novel “After Lucy,” which was a finalist for the Barnes & Noble Discover Award. Jones appears weekly on the Modern Love podcast and is a consulting producer for Amazon Studios’ show “Modern Love.” He lives in Northampton, Massachusetts and in New York City.
MIYA MATSUMOTO LEE began interning for the Modern Love column in 2014 as a submission reader for the column’s third college essay contest. Previously, Miya interned at Farrar, Straus and Giroux and The Delacorte Review (when it was still The Big Roundtable). After graduating magna cum laude from Columbia University, Miya joined the The New York Times as the Modern Love projects assistant. In that role, Miya evaluates submissions to the Modern Love inbox, selects and edits Tiny Love Stories, and helps keep Modern Love afloat as it expands into the world of television.
ANA NOGUEIRA – Off-Broadway: Engagements, Mala Hierba (Second Stage); I’m Pretty F*cked Up (Clubbed Thumb); Bump (Ensemble Studio Theater); Knives and Other Sharp Objects (The Public, Labyrinth). TV: “The Michael J. Fox Show,” “Blue Bloods,” “The Blacklist” and the upcoming Starz series “Hightown.” Writing: Empathitrax (Colt Couer), Mask Only (2019 Kilroys List, MCC and South Coast Rep workshops). Ana co-wrote and starred in the short film We Win, which premiered at the 2018 SXSW Film Festival. She is a proud member of Colt Coeur as well as an alumna of The Boston Conservatory of Music and Youngblood at Ensemble Studio Theater.
DR. VERNON SMITH is a psychologist practicing and teaching in New York City. His private practice is located near Bryant Park in Midtown Manhattan, where he sees clients from diverse backgrounds. Primarily, his practice involves working with adolescent boys, adults, and couples. Dr. Smith was trained at the City College of New York, completed an internship and postdoctoral fellowship in clinical psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, and was granted his doctoral degree from the CUNY Graduate Center.Dr. Smith holds the position of Assistant Professor of Psychology at the Borough of Manhattan Community College. He is an active member and Distinguished Fellow of the New York State Psychological Association where he is Past-President of the Division of Culture, Race, and Ethnicity and current member of their Council of Representatives. He lives in Harlem with his wife, a marriage and family therapist, and their 5-year-old daughter.
Sunday, December 8, 2019 at 3:30pm
The Pershing Square Signature Center
480 West 42nd Street
New York, NY 10036
“But art and ideas come out of the passion and torment of experience: it is impossible to have a real relationship to the first if one’s aim is to be protected by the second.” — James Baldwin (1959)
Inspired by Donja R. Love’s one in two, the panel, moderated by Nancy Giles, will discuss the ways that people, primarily people of color, use their traumatic experiences to bring forth beautiful and meaningful work. The panel will dive into creative processes, the struggle for black expression and the sacrifice required for sharing personal work publicly. We will also explore the vulnerability that comes with being an artist who wants to not only move emotionally, but to inform the audience socially as well. The panel will take a deep dive into black selfless expression and dissect its benefits and relevance.
MODERATOR
Nancy Giles is an Emmy-winning contributor to “CBS News Sunday Morning,” and tries to be witty on various political panels on MSNBC. She’s acted in films and on TV and was recently Off-Broadway in The New Group’s Good For Otto by David Rabe. She’s also written and performed solo shows and is working on a collection of essays and true stories. Her podcast “The Giles Files” is on the Apple Podcast app, Google Play, and Stitcher. Be cool and subscribe!
PANELISTS
Timothy DuWhite is a Black, queer, poz-writer/artist based out of Brooklyn, NY. A majority of his work circles around the intersections of state & body, state & love, and state & mind. All Timothy desires is a different/newer world and believes the written word is one tool that could be used towards achieving that goal.
John-Martin Green, Ed.D is Founder of The Gatekeeper’s Collective (TGC), (thegatekeeperscollective.com), a resiliency enhancement network of same-gender-loving (SGL) African descended men which works to facilitate identity reformation, empowerment, health promotion, and wellness.
As Co-Founder and Co-Artistic Director of Blackberry Productions Documentary Theatre Company, John-Martin develops and produces theater that sheds light on issues impacting our communities, and creates forums for a multiplicity of voices and perspectives in solutions-focused reflection.
Currently, Dr. Green teaches community health and interpersonal relations at Hostos College, of the City University of New York, and has taught theatre at New School University, Brooklyn College, and SUNY campuses at Old Westbury and Nassau Community College.
Britton Williams, MA, RDT, LCAT, holds a master’s degree in Drama Therapy (NYU), and is a registered drama therapist and Licensed Creative Arts Therapist. She has experience working with children, adolescents, and adults in a variety of settings including: schools, residential treatment facilities, domestic violence shelters, day treatment programs, and acute care. She is an adjunct professor in the Program in Drama Therapy at NYU and works in private practice with adults and adolescents.
Britton’s work extends to non-clinical settings. In this capacity, she uses creative and embodied techniques with organizations, companies, schools, and universities to help guide and facilitate discussions on: cultural humility and awareness; implementing creativity in the workday for increased employee engagement, team-building, and productivity; and self-care. She recently directed turbulence, a therapeutic theatre piece, through the Program in Drama Therapy (NYU) as part of the Theatre and Health Lab’s As Performance series. turbulence was co-created and developed by Black, People of Color (BPOC) clinicians, students, and creatives and explored BPOC experiences in clinical settings and the larger world.
Britton has published and presented on: the impact of assumptions, biases, and stereotypes on individuals, relationships and communities; creative and embodied approaches to clinicians’ self- assessment; and developing a relational-role theory framework and protocol. Britton is pursuing her doctoral degree in the PhD Program in Social Welfare at the Graduate Center (CUNY) where she will be a member of the inaugural Mellon Humanities Public Fellows cohort.
Monday, November 11 at 7pm
Daryl Roth Theatre
101 E 15th St, New York, NY 10003
Inspired by Erica Schmidt’s adaptation of Cyrano, the panel, moderated by Nancy Giles, will discuss how those who live outside of what society deems as “normal” beauty standards can love themselves despite outward oppression. We will explore the origins of defined “normal” beauty standards and ways in which these notions are being challenged today. The panel will unpack who actually decides what is considered ‘unlovable’, ways to find inner acceptance and the process towards transitioning to a more inclusive acceptance of what is beautiful.
MODERATOR
Nancy Giles is an Emmy-winning contributor to “CBS News Sunday Morning,” and tries to be witty on various political panels on MSNBC. She’s acted in films and on TV and was recently Off-Broadway in The New Group’s Good For Otto by David Rabe. She’s also written and performed solo shows and is working on a collection of essays and true stories. Her podcast “The Giles Files” is on the Apple Podcast app, Google Play, and Stitcher. Be cool and subscribe!
PANELISTS
Rebecca Brown is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in Midtown, Manhattan specializing in life transitions, relationships, disordered eating, body image, stress management, and anxiety including generalized anxiety, social anxiety, or anxiety related to an upcoming life transition. Her practice is social justice oriented with a feminist lens and holistic in its approach.
Offering sessions both in person and virtually (via video or telephone) Rebecca integrates mindfulness practices and the creative expressive arts techniques to assist the needs of clients. With her understanding that talking may not always be comfortable for some, Rebecca uses other forms of expression such as drawing, writing or movement to communicate and explore feelings and concepts. This can look and feel different for each person.
Traditional talk therapies generally tend to focus on the mind or our thoughts. The holistic approach that Rebecca takes brings attention to the body as well, allowing for an understanding of the mind-body connection. Through the development of body awareness, Rebecca educates her clients on how their emotions may sometimes be reflected through physical symptoms, often called psychosomatic symptoms.
Rebecca guides clients in reconnecting with their bodies, often using the process of “embodiment,” a multilayered awareness of your body and how you connect to or relate to the world around you. This framework, as well as the creative expressive arts can especially be useful for clients working through issues related to trauma, body image and disordered eating.
A healthy relationship with food and our bodies is important. Rebecca provides guidance on eating intuitively and what body positivity can look like. She works from the Health at Every Size (HAES) perspective and educates clients on the roles society can play in disordered eating and self-esteem. Rebecca provides a safe, welcoming and nonjudgmental environment where clients are free to express themselves.
Marz Lovejoy was born and summer raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota, like the late, great Purple Rain legend, Prince; educated in San Diego and the City of the Angels, CA, around an eclectic mix of races, cultures, neighborhoods and opinions, Marz Lovejoy is no stranger to diversity. She is a dynamic, multi-media artist living in New York City. Marz began in-front-of-the camera work as a model at age 5. By 21, Marz was a recording artist, songwriter, and performer, who starred in her own music videos while perusing acting. Throughout her life, she landed major ad campaigns (Hood By Air, Nike, GAP) and was featured at Sundance with the film L.U.V. Before her daughter Nomi was born, she was the first pregnant model for SavageX, Rihanna’s lingerie brand and since giving birth Marz was interview by Vogue Magazine to talk about postpartum and motherhood. With a television and film production degree from New York Film Academy, Marz has a knack for filmmaking, producing, and editing. Marz, with an A average, is determined to continue her scholastic career; currently obtaining a duel individualized B.A. and Master’s in Liberal Arts. Marz is a public speaker focusing on happiness & wellness, inclusion, creativity, and actualizing personal dreams. She was invited to teach a workshop at MogulX’s conference, has worked with homeless shelters, LGBTQ youth, as well as women of color empowerment groups. Marz is an award winning, published author working at Office Magazine as their Culture Editor. She has recently self published a children’s book and is working on a narrated photo book with her husband, Simon Rasmussen.
As Marz thrives, she never forgets from whence she comes as she volunteers and donates time and money to social service organizations, namely those focused on homelessness and marginalized groups. She uses her social media platform to voice important issues and chronicle personal goals such as motherhood, healthy living, and sobriety.
Zach Miko draws eyes when he enters a room, and the rule of thumb did not fail when he became IMG’s first-ever Brawn model boldly ushering in a forward look into the evolution of fashion
Raised in Stratford, Connecticut, Miko’s first love has always been acting. After graduating from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, Miko moved to New York City to pursue his passion. Since then, he has appeared in guest-starring roles on CBS’ “Limitless” and NBC’s “Shades of Blue” and is currently a member of the highly lauded T. Schreiber Studio. He is also one-half of the acclaimed musical comedy duo, The Dreamstalks.
Now, Miko’s career has turned toward the camera under a different lens. His big break into modeling was as internet-rattling as it was millennially on-brand. IMG’s President, Ivan Bart, discovered the former bartender after stumbling upon his Instagram account. Though Miko had already landed his first gig with Target’s Big and Tall campaign, his down-to-Earth social presence, charming humor and bearded good looks secured him a spot with IMG, casually launching the New England native into fashion history.
A burgeoning modeling career has also provided Miko a platform to promote body positivity for all. Fans can regularly find body-acceptance posts and support for other Curve and Brawn models throughout his Instagram.
In addition to serving as Target’s first and only plus-size male model, Miko helped UNIQLO introduce extended sizes for men to the brand, modeled for Nordstrom and Levi’s as well as various brands catering to Big and Tall customers. He’s appeared in Cosmopolitan magazine and in press for Good Morning America, Entertainment Tonight, and People among others. If ever there was a consensus throughout the media, it’s that Zach Miko is spearheading the brawn movement.
Hannah Stoudemire is the CEO and Co-founder of Fashion For All Foundation (@fashionforallfoundation). Fashion For All Foundation (FFA) is a non profit organization that promotes diversity and equality in the fashion industry through education and empowerment. As a fashion and social justice activist, Hannah’s mission is to bring forth diversity, inclusion and equality in the fashion industry; advocating for increased representation of people of color in senior creative positions. Implementing diversity and inclusion among these decision makers is her vision for impactful change within the community.
Zarielle Washington, artistically known as Z, is a celebrated make-up artist, recognized most for her ability to recreate beauty. Always intrigued by aesthetics, in 2009, Zarielle began focusing on her passion and formulating a career as a professional make-up artist. She excels creatively in her artistry through her innate ability to communicate, interpret and replicate the desired image sought after by each individual client. Drawing upon a keen sense of style and attention to detail, Z’s artistry enhances the natural beauty or adds a creative flair to each image constructed. Zarielle is a New York based, licensed cosmetologist, available to disperse her multifaceted talents both in hair and makeup. Zarielle has also spoken candidly about the disparities darker skinned women of color face in comparison to their white counterparts within the beauty industry.
Monday, May 20 at 7pm
The Alice Griffin Jewel Box Theater
at The Pershing Square Signature Center
480 West 42nd Street
Inspired by Jesse Eisenberg’s new play Happy Talk, a panel will come together to unpack the cyclical nature of oppression and the role it plays in our treatment of immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers. We will discuss how power imbalances can lead to the misrepresentation and exploitation of people with diminished agency and what we can do to break the cycle as these groups become increasingly vulnerable.
MODERATOR
Nancy Giles is an Emmy-winning contributor to “CBS News Sunday Morning,” and tries to be witty on various political panels on MSNBC. She’s acted in films and on TV and was recently Off-Broadway in The New Group’s Good For Otto by David Rabe. She’s also written and performed solo shows and is working on a collection of essays and true stories. Her podcast “The Giles Files” is on the Apple Podcast app, Google Play, and Stitcher. Be cool and subscribe!
PANELISTS
Alina Das is a Professor of Clinical Law at NYU School of Law, where she co-teaches and co-directs the Immigrant Rights Clinic. She and her clinic students represent immigrants and community organizations in litigation and advocacy to advance immigrant rights locally and across the country. In addition to her teaching, Das engages in scholarship on deportation and detention issues, particularly at the intersection of immigration and criminal law. Das also serves as faculty director of the NYU Latinx Rights Scholars Program. Prior to joining the Law School, Das was a Soros Justice Fellow and staff attorney with the Immigrant Defense Project, and clerked for Judge Kermit V. Lipez of the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. Das graduated magna cum laude with an AB in government from Harvard University, and graduated cum laude from NYU Law as a Root-Tilden-Kern Scholar with a joint MPA from NYU’s Wagner School of Public Service. Das is a recipient of the LexisNexis Matthew Bender Daniel Levy Memorial Award for Outstanding Achievement in Immigration Law, the NYU Law Podell Distinguished Teaching Award, the NYU Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Faculty Award, and the NYU Center for Multicultural Education & Programs Nia Faculty Award.
Tahir Carl Karmali (b. 1987) born and raised in Nairobi, Kenya – Brooklyn, NY based visual artist began his practice as a painter and sculptor. Karmali’s interest in photography started while traveling through East Africa and South East Asia – later received his Masters in Photography at SVA. His attention to material and process is integral to how he communicates narratives centered around global migration, political, and socioeconomic factors. Karmali has exhibited in Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao; Kunsthal, Rotterdam; High Museum of Art, Atlanta; Rachel Uffner Gallery, New York; Pioneer Works, Brooklyn; Brooklyn College Library, Brooklyn; United Photo Industries, Brooklyn; and Circle Art, Nairobi.
Dr. Kevin Leo Yabut Nadal is a Professor of Psychology at both John Jay College of Criminal Justice and Graduate Center at the City University of New York. He received his doctorate in counseling psychology from Columbia University in New York City and is one of the leading researchers in understanding the impacts of microaggressions , or subtle forms of discrimination, on the mental and physical health of people of color; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people; and other marginalized groups. A California-bred New Yorker, he has been featured in the New York Times, Buzzfeed, Huffington Post, CBS, NBC, ABC, PBS, the Weather Channel, the History Channel, HGTV, Philippine News, and The Filipino Channel. In addition to being an award winner, author, educator, lecturer; Kevin was the first openly gay President of the Asian American Psychological Association and the first person of color to serve as the Executive Director of the Center for LGBTQ Studies. He is a National Trustee of the Filipino American National Historical Society (FANHS) and a co-founder of the LGBTQ Scholars of Color National Network.
Monday, February 25 at 6:30pm
The Romulus Linney Courtyard Theatre
at The Pershing Square Signature Center
480 West 42nd Street
Inspired by Jeremy O. Harris’ “Daddy,” a panel will come together to dissect Black representation in today’s culture and its impact on the development of Black identities, as well as the implications of accessing, engaging and maintaining ownership over the Black narrative and identity.
MODERATOR
Nancy Giles is an Emmy-winning contributor to “CBS News Sunday Morning,” and tries to be witty on various political panels on MSNBC. She’s acted in films and on TV and was recently Off-Broadway in The New Group’s Good For Otto by David Rabe. She’s also written and performed solo shows and is working on a collection of essays and true stories. Her podcast “The Giles Files” is on the Apple Podcast app, Google Play, and Stitcher. Be cool and subscribe!
PANELISTS
Jeremy O. Harris (Playwright) Plays: Slave Play (New York Theatre Workshop, NYT Critics’ Pick, Winner of the 2018 Kennedy Center Rosa Parks Playwriting Award, the Lorraine Hansberry Playwriting Award, and The Lotos Foundation Prize), Xander Xyst, Dragon: 1, and WATER SPORTS; or insignificant white boys (2019, 53rd State Press). In 2018, Jeremy co-wrote A24’s upcoming film “Zola” with director Janicza Bravo. He is the 11th recipient of the Vineyard Theatre’s Paula Vogel Playwrighting Award, a 2016 MacDowell Colony Fellow, and is under commission from Lincoln Center Theater, Playwrights Horizons, and Scott Rudin Productions. Jeremy’s in his 3rd year at the Yale School of Drama.
D’Weston Haywood is an historian, whose research and teaching center on Black protest, Black masculinity, Black Power, and the intersections of Black culture, Black politics, and Black public spheres. His first book, Let Us Make Men: The Twentieth-Century Black Press and a Manly Vision for Racial Advancement (UNC Press, 2018), examines the Black press as a powerful tool of Black men’s leadership, public vocalization, and gender and identity formation that shaped the 20th Century Black freedom struggle. The book reveals how W. E. B. DuBois, Marcus Garvey, and Malcolm X, among others, mobilized Black newspapers to wage a fight for racial justice and Black manhood. Haywood’s work also includes forays into an innovative scholarly and pedagogical praxis he calls “Sonic Scholarship.” His first project in this regard, “The [Ferguson] Files: A Sonic Study of Racial Violence in America,” deploys poetry, rap, and research to (re) examine racial violence involving police killings of unarmed Black people between 2014 and 2015.
Antwaun Sargent is a writer and critic living and working in New York City. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, The New Yorker, The Nation, W, Vice and various other publications. He has recently contributed essays and interviews to museum and gallery publications for artists Ed Clark, Mickalene Thomas, Arthur Jafa and Yinka Shonibare. Sargent has lectured and been in conversation with artists at Studio Museum in Harlem, Brooklyn Museum, Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver, Art Gallery of Toronto and various other institutions. His first book “The New Black Vanguard: Photography between Art and Fashion” is out this fall from Aperture.
Monday, December 3 at 7pm
The Alice Griffin Jewel Box Theatre
at The Pershing Square Signature Center
480 West 42nd Street
Inspired by Amy Heckerling’s Clueless, The Musical, a panel of artists, fashion bloggers and social media influencers will come together to discuss and explore society’s interest in wealth, and how social media is changing the way we interact with and experience the lives of one another and the stories we tell. The panel will also explore how fashion and social media are utilized to create our own carefully curated narratives for the public eye.
MODERATOR
Kevin Sessums was the Executive Editor of Andy Warhol’s Interview as well as the Fanfair Editor of Vanity Fair where he was also a contributing editor and wrote 24 cover stories, among other articles. He has written for ELLE, Allure, Marie Claire, Travel+Leisure, Playboy, San Francisco and OUT magazines, as well as contributed to TheDailyBeast.com. Sessums was the founding Editor in Chief of FourTwoNine magazine and the Editor-at-Large at San Francisco’s Curran Theatre. He has written two New York Times bestselling memoirs, Mississippi Sissy and I Left It on the Mountain. He is currently Editor in Chief of sessumsmagazine.com.
PANELISTS
Carrie Berk is a bestselling author, fashion & lifestyle blogger, social media influencer and anti-bullying activist. She has a life’s worth of accomplishments under her belt…all at the tender young age of 15! Driven by a love of writing and a taste for sweet treats, Carrie created her first book series, The Cupcake Club, when she was only in second grade. Co-written with her mom, NY Times Bestselling author Sheryl Berk, the series has published 12 books to date, sold 400,000+ copies worldwide, and has gone on to become an award-winning Off-Broadway show and featured selection in 2017’s New York Musical Festival. Her second series, Fashion Academy, stems from her passion for fashion. The six-book series also became an Off-Broadway production at Vital Theatre. Her latest series, Ask Emma (Bonnier Publishing), springs not just from her boundless imagination, but from her personal experience as a teen lifestyle blogger and someone who has experienced cyberbullying firsthand.
In addition to publishing 21 books to date, Carrie launched her website, “Carrie’s Chronicles” in December 2017. The weekly “Style Empowerment” blog is her take on all things “fun, fab and fashionable” in NYC and features “Carrie’s Q & A” with several celebrities and beauty/fashion movers and shakers. Carrie is also an influencer in her own right, showcasing her personal style with the city as her canvas and working with top fashion, beauty & lifestyle brands, including FOREO, REVOLVE, Alice + Olivia, Madewell, and Daniel Wellington. When Carrie isn’t writing, she can be found singing, dancing or modeling, with numerous theater credits to her name. She also proudly serves as a teen ambassador for No Bully and has made it her mission to encourage tweens and teens to practice empathy and respect among their peers, both in everyday life and on social media.
Amy Heckerling attended the High School of Art and Design and NYU’s School of the Arts. Her short films received prizes at the NYU Film Festival, the Venice Film Festival, the prestigious Bronx Film Festival, and secured her place at the American Film Institute. Her AFI short got her into Universal, where she directed Fast Times at Ridgemont High, followed by Johnny Dangerously and European Vacation. Amy wrote and directed Look Who’s Talking, Look Who’s Talking Too, Clueless, I Could Never Be Your Woman and Vamps, and produced A Night at the Roxbury, Executive Produced, wrote and directed episodes of the TV series of “Clueless” and “Fast Times,” and directed episodes of “The Office,” “Gossip Girl,” “The Carrie Diaries” and “Red Oaks.”
Clint Ramos. Designs for the The New Group include The True, Downtown Race Riot, The Whirligig, Sweet Charity, Burning, One Arm. On Broadway: Violet, The Elephant Man (also West End), Eclipsed, In Transit, Sunday in the Park with George, Six Degrees of Separation, Once On This Island, Torch Song. His awards include: Tony Award, Obie Award for Sustained Excellence, three Lucille Lortel Awards, two ATW Henry Hewes Awards and the TDF Irene Sharraf Award. His work includes over 200 Off-Broadway, national and international credits including Here Lies Love, Bootycandy, Appropriate. He is one of the principal designer for Encores! Off-Center. Current: Wild Goose Dreams, Slave Play. He is the Head of Design at Fordham University’s School of Theatre. @clintramos
Monday, October 22 at 7pm
The Alice Griffin Jewel Box Theatre
at The Pershing Square Signature Center
480 West 42nd Street
Framed by Sharr White’s The True, a panel of artists, advocates, educators, community organizers and political activists will come together to discuss the importance of the female voice in today’s political arena and how to continue to cultivate and support the future of women in politics.
MODERATOR
Nancy Giles is an Emmy-winning contributor to “CBS News Sunday Morning,” and tries to be witty on various political panels on MSNBC. She’s acted in films and on TV and was recently Off-Broadway in The New Group’s Good For Otto by David Rabe. She’s also written and performed solo shows and is working on a collection of essays and true stories. Her podcast “The Giles Files” is on the Apple Podcast app, Google Play and Stitcher. Be cool and subscribe!
PANELISTS
Christabel Cruz is the Director of National Education for Women’s (NEW) Leadership™, a national program that engages college women in public leadership, at the Center for American Women and Politics, a unit of the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University-New Brunswick. Christabel is also a current Ph.D. candidate in the department of political science at Rutgers, majoring in Women & Politics and minoring in American Politics and Race & Ethnicity Politics. Her graduate research explores Latina candidate emergence and political ambition in local ethnic politics. Christabel has previously worked in New York City politics as well as in multicultural student affairs and as a part-time lecturer at Rutgers-New Brunswick, teaching undergraduate political science courses. She graduated with a B.A. in Political Science and Art History from Rutgers in 2011 and received a Graduate Certificate in Women’s and Gender Studies from Rutgers in 2013. In her free time, Christabel is a visual artist and writer and has coordinated community workshops for young people on political expression through the arts.
Meghan Finn (director) is the Co-Artistic Director of The Tank on 36th Street in Manhattan. RECENT DIRECTING: When We Went Electronic (The Tank October 25 – November 11, 2018), Manufacturing Mischief (The Tank, NYC; Serpentine Galleries London, Museo Jumex Mexico City, Canadian Stage; Carneigie Mellon; MIT), Charleses by Carl Holder (The Tank), DOOMOCRACY by Pedro Reyes (Creative Time); Sam’s Tea Shack by Ben Gassman and Sam Soghor (The Tank/Barker Room Rep), The Offending Gesture by Mac Wellman (The Tank/3LD at the Connelly Theater); American Powerby Mitch Epstein and Erik Friedlander (V&A London and The Wexner Center); The Downtown Loop by Ben Gassman (3LD/3D+ Productions/Teeth of Tooth Atelier); Take Me Home by Alexandra Collier set in a taxi cab (Incubator Arts Project/LPR), The Service Road by Erin Courtney (Adhesive Theater Project), Motel Cherry by Peggy Stafford (Summerworks Clubbed Thumb/New Georges) and 3 2’s; or AFAR by Mac Wellman (Dixon Place).
Bella Pori is a law student and former government employee living in Brooklyn, New York. She worked for elected officials in Brooklyn, Queens and Long Island as a community representative and legislative director. She was the co-founder of Call Them In, an email reminder service that encouraged people to call their senators and make their voices heard on a wide variety of progressive issues. Her writing can be found at westwingbestwing.com, where she breaks down political concepts in an easy to understand way. Follow her on Twitter, @BellaPori.
Born and raised in the South Bronx, Amanda Septimo has a long, rich history of service to the community that began with community activism in her teens. Over the years Amanda has worked with local community organizations to advance an agenda of inclusive, sustainable, and responsible growth in vulnerable communities, like The Bronx. Most recently, Amanda Septimo worked with the Council of School Supervisors and Administrators (CSA) to ensure that school leaders and students have the resources they need to transform every school into a thriving learning environment. Prior to joining CSA, Amanda Septimo spent four years working with Congressman Jose E. Serrano in The Bronx. In 2014, Amanda became one of the youngest serving senior staffers in Congress when she was promoted to District Director for the 15th Congressional District. In September 2018, Amanda Septimo was a candidate in the Democratic primary election for New York State Assembly in The Bronx’s 84thDistrict.
Monday, June 4 at 7pm
The Alice Griffin Jewel Box Theatre
at The Pershing Square Signature Center
480 West 42nd Street
Framed by Lily Thorne’s Peace for Mary Frances, this panel will examine the very real phenomenon of Americans living longer, and the challenges and opportunities that presents. This will involve looking at the diversity of experiences, which may diverge depending on factors like class, race and place, and movements and strategies that are trying to respond to the changing times.
MODERATOR
Over the last 15 years, Nancy Giles’ work as a contributor to the Peabody Award-winning CBS News Sunday Morning earned her 3 Emmy Awards for a unique blend of common sense wisdom, laugh-out-loud humor, and social and political commentary. A graduate of Chicago’s esteemed Second City improv troupe and a Theatre World Award winner, Giles appeared for three seasons on the acclaimed TV drama China Beach. Her one-woman shows include The Further Adventures of the Accidental Pundette, Notes of a Negro Neurotic, and Black Comedy: The Wacky Side of Racism, which the Village Voice called “smart and unforgiving.” She’s offered her perspectives as a frequent guest on MSNBC’s The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell, The Beat with Ari Melber, and AM Joy. An accomplished voiceover and radio artist, Giles won back-to-back Gracies from the Alliance for Women in Media for Giles & Moriarty (with CBS News correspondent Erin Moriarty) on WPHT-AM in Philadelphia. Her podcast, The Giles Files, takes a lively spin on trending topics with interviews, commentaries, song parodies and more. For more than 25 years she’s been a proud volunteer with The 52nd Street Project, helping at-risk kids take part in acting, playwriting, and arts workshops, classes, and performances.
PANELISTS
In his 30-plus years in journalism, John Leland has gone from chronicling youth culture to writing about the “oldest old.” It’s a fitting journey. Given the demographic trends, he writes, “Your elderly parents are the vanguard that your kids think they are.”
A graduate of Columbia College, he worked as a senior editor at Newsweek and editor-in-chief of Details magazine before joining The New York Times, where he has written for almost every desk at the paper. In 2015, he wrote a year-long series following six people age 85 and up, which became the basis for his new book, “Happiness Is a Choice You Make: Lessons from a Year among the Oldest Old,” a New York Times bestseller. As he wrote in the Times about the series and the book, “No work I have ever done has brought me as much joy and hope, or changed my outlook on life as profoundly.”
He is the author of two previous books: “Hip: The History” and “Why Kerouac Matters.”
In her capacity as Director of Organizing at Jews for Racial & Economic Justice (JFREJ), Rachel McCullough has built numerous campaigns and coalitions focused dignity for care work & caregiving. She was a leader in the historic campaign for the New York Domestic Workers Bill of Rights and has been thrilled to help develop the field strategy for Caring Across Generations since its launch in 2011. She serves on the steering committee of Hand in Hand: The Domestic Employers Network and is an author of the 2014 report The Eldercare Dialogues: A Grassroots to Transform Long-term Care. She is the Campaign Director of the New York Caring Majority, an unprecedented coalition of seniors, family caregivers, people with disabilities, and home care workers fighting for a more caring economy in New York State.
After a career that included almost 20 years on the Kings County Family Court bench Betty E. Staton returned to the Bedford Stuyvesant Community Legal Services Corporation (BSCLS) where she began her legal career as a staff attorney in 1979. She is currently President of The Brooklyn Legal Services which provides free civil legal services for poor and low income residents of Brooklyn.
In 1973, Judge Staton returned to Brooklyn College after an 18 year absence. After graduating in 1976, she entered New York University School of Law at the age of 42 on a full scholarship. She worked as a staff attorney at Bedford Stuyvesant Community Legal Services for eight years, including several years as Deputy Director and Director of Community Outreach and Education.
In March, 1987, she left BSCLS to become a founding partner in the law firm of Boyd Staton & Cave, the first African American female law partnership in the country. She worked at the law firm until 1991 when she was appointed to a ten year term on the New York State Family Court, In 2001, she was re-appointed her to a second ten year term and served until her mandatory retirement in 2004.
Judge Staton served as an adjunct lecturer at several colleges including CCNY, Medgar Evers, College of New Rochelle and New York City College of Technology where she taught Business Law for more than 15 years. Judge Staton is a member of several professional and community organizations. She is a member of Emmanuel Baptist Church where she is active in the Prime Time and Chosen ministries. Judge Betty loves to travel and dance. She is the 2013 winner of Stars of New York Dance a program that provides scholarships to aspiring young dancers. Her bucket list is to visit every state in the United States and every Continent throughout the world. Fourteen states and one continent (Antarctica) remain on her list.
Judge Staton is often asked why she has not retired. She feels blessed that God’s Grace enabled her to begin her legal career at the age of 45 and she has been able to give meaningful services to people in the community. She believes that there is still much that she can do and she is thankful every day for all God has given her: abundant Grace, talents, spiritual gifts of teaching and encouragement and the blessing of a sound mind and body.
Peace for Mary Frances marks Lily Thorne’s professional playwrighting debut. A graduate of Brooklyn College’s MFA playwriting program, Thorne was a documentary film producer for many years, working with filmmakers Ric Burns (New York: A Documentary Film, Eugene O’Neill: A Documentary Film), Alexandra Shiva (Bombay Eunuch, Stagedoor) and Bennett Miller. She also co-directed a music video for Bright Eyes (“Easy/Lucky/Free”) and collaborated with the people’s historian Howard Zinn.
Monday, April 2 at 7pm
The Alice Griffin Jewel Box Theatre
at The Pershing Square Signature Center
480 West 42nd Street
Using the framing of David Rabe’s Good for Otto, the NEW GROUP NOW discussion series continues this season with a panel on Building Community Around Mental Health. The panel consists of artists, cultural workers, mental health advocates and policy makers who will discuss how we destigmatize the conversations around mental health in ways that build avenues for understanding, community and support.
Mental illness affects many people within our society, yet many stigmas still exist that hinder open conversation on the issue. Using the themes and events of David Rabe’s Good for Otto and the work presented in Dr. Richard O’Connor’s Undoing Depression, this discussion asks what does the conversation look like when we break down barriers and openly collaborate to become advocates for mental wellness? This discussion will explore what it looks like when we, as activists, artists, and policy-makers, intentionally join together to form a community around mental health.
MODERATOR
Over the last 15 years, Nancy Giles’ work as a contributor to the Peabody Award-winning CBS News Sunday Morning earned her 3 Emmy Awards for a unique blend of common sense wisdom, laugh-out-loud humor, and social and political commentary. A graduate of Chicago’s esteemed Second City improv troupe and a Theatre World Award winner, Giles appeared for three seasons on the acclaimed TV drama China Beach. Her one-woman shows include The Further Adventures of the Accidental Pundette, Notes of a Negro Neurotic, and Black Comedy: The Wacky Side of Racism, which the Village Voice called “smart and unforgiving.” She’s offered her perspectives as a frequent guest on MSNBC’s The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell, The Beat with Ari Melber, and AM Joy. An accomplished voiceover and radio artist, Giles won back-to-back Gracies from the Alliance for Women in Media for Giles & Moriarty (with CBS News correspondent Erin Moriarty) on WPHT-AM in Philadelphia. Her podcast, The Giles Files, takes a lively spin on trending topics with interviews, commentaries, song parodies and more. For more than 25 years she’s been a proud volunteer with The 52nd Street Project, helping at-risk kids take part in acting, playwriting, and arts workshops, classes, and performances.
PANELISTS
Ahmad Abojaradeh is the Founder and Executive Director of Life in My Days, a Global Non-Profit paving the way for starting difficult conversations around Mental Health and Disabilities, Abuse and Trauma, and Social Justice worldwide. Life in My Days connects individuals from over 150 countries and has operations in the United States, Turkey, Malaysia, and Jordan. Life in My Days specializes in starting these difficult conversations, empowering community members, and creating spaces of Belonging.
He is also a Social Justice and Mental Health advocate, sharing his personal experiences about Mental Illness and Oppression worldwide, and supporting organizations in creating more accessible and safe spaces. He has worked with dozens of communities worldwide, working on the individual, community, organizational, and policy levels. His work has been featured on Healthline, The Mighty, This is My Brave, Communications Rebel, Muslimgirl, and many local publications in the communities he works in.
He is also a Peer Support Specialist, supporting individuals from around the world, specializing in working with individuals displaced by war, torture and complex childhood trauma, living with Mental Illness and/or Disability, and individuals living with Suicidality.
In his free time, Ahmad is also a novelist writing YA Fantasy, and the occasional Non-fiction. Currently, he’s writing a memoir about his own complex childhood trauma. He has a Bachelors in Engineering from WPI, and a Graduate Certificate in Traumatic Stress. When he’s not on the road he lives in Northfield, NH.
T-Kea Blackman is a mental health advocate, speaker and writer who lives by the Toni Payne quote, “I rather be living my truth happily than living a lie miserably.” She is the creator and host of the Fireflies Unite Podcast, a weekly podcast dedicated to bringing light into darkness (just like the fireflies) by sharing the stories of individuals thriving with mental illness within communities of color despite the disadvantages and racism that negatively impact their mental health. T-Kea’s articles have been published on The Mighty, Urban Faith, Blavity, and 21 Ninety. Making a digital footprint, her articles have garnered over 45,000 views and encouraged individuals to seek treatment.
Described as an inspiration, her heartfelt and powerful story is a testament that you can thrive despite having a mental illness. T-Kea was diagnosed with major depression and generalized anxiety disorders and is a suicide survivor. She previously worked in the television industry as a publicist and production/talent coordinator. Within her career, she provided support to TV One’s signature award-winning shows Unsung and Unsung Hollywood, BET’s Black Girls Rock!, The Soul Train Awards and BET X Youth Experience. Her diagnosis led her to use her entertainment background and communications skills to raise awareness for mental illness within communities of color.
She earned a master’s degree in public relations and corporate communications from Georgetown University, and a bachelor’s degree in radio, television and film production from Howard University.
Richard O’Connor, MSW, Ph.D., is a psychotherapist with offices in Lakeville, CT, and Manhattan. For 15 years he was director of the Northwest Center for Family Services and Mental Health. He received his MSW and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago, and extended his education through the Chicago Institute for Psychoanalysis and the Family Institute.
Dr. O’Connor is the author of five books: Undoing Depression has been a perennial best-seller among self-help books; it earned high praise from professionals as well as from William Styron, Andrew Solomon, and Larry McMurtry. Active Treatment of Depression was hailed as “one of the decade’s great psychotherapy texts on depression.” Undoing Perpetual Stress received the Books for a Better Life Award as the best wellness book of 2005. Happy at Last is the “thinking person’s guide to joy.” His most recent book, Rewire: Change Your Brain to Break Bad Habits, Overcome Addictions, and Conquer Self-Destructive Behavior, was published in August 2014 by Hudson Street Press/Penguin.
Dior Vargas is a Latina Feminist Mental Health Activist. She lives with depression and anxiety and is a suicide attempt survivor. Dior is the creator of the People of Color and Mental Illness Photo Project, a response to the invisibility of people of color in the media representation of mental illness. She goes around the country giving keynotes, hosting workshops, and speaking on panels. Her work and insight have been covered in media outlets such as Forbes, Newsweek, NBC News Latino, and The Guardian. Dior is the recipient of numerous awards including, The White House Champion of Change for Disability Advocacy Across Generations, 2015 Alternatives Conference Cookie Gant and Bill Compton LGBTQI Leadership Award and a Susan M. Daniels Disability Mentoring Hall of Fame Inductee. She has a B.A. in the Study of Women and Gender from Smith College and an M.S. in Publishing from Pace University. She is working towards a Master of Public Health at NYU’s College of Global Public Health. She is a native New Yorker and currently lives in New York City.
Monday, March 5 at 7pm
Lucille Lortel Theatre
21 Christopher Street
Using the framing of Stewart Lee and Richard Thomas’ Jerry Springer – The Opera, the NEW GROUP NOW discussion series continues this season with a panel on The Cultural DNA of “The Jerry Springer Show.” A panel of artists, media personalities and culture writers will gather to discuss the implications and consequences of sharing ones’ unfiltered life through reality television and social media. As well as explore how this sharing has become a staple in our popular cultural landscape.
After being on the air for more than 25 years, no one can deny that Jerry Springer and his show has had an impact on our culture. In many ways, “The Jerry Springer Show” is a precursor to the reality show and in this digital age, the internet’s confessional, the vlog. It opened a pathway that allows people to completely share all aspects of their lives. In conjunction with the New York premiere of Jerry Springer – The Opera, this conversation will discuss how sharing everyday life became mainstream and how we shift through all the stories afforded us and connect.
MODERATOR
Jeremy O. Harris is an actor and playwright currently residing in New Haven, CT by way of Los Angeles, CA. His full-length plays include Xander Xyst, Dragon: 1, “Daddy,” WATER SPORTS; or insignificant white boys and Slave Play. Short plays include: I TRIED TO WRITE A POEM & THIS CAME OUT, Untitled, Merchant of Venice Adaptation (collaboration with conceptual artist David Birkin), N*Words In Paris, IDK (a cute race-based pyschosis), and NORF. His work has been presented or developed by Pieterspace, JACK, Ars Nova, The New Group, NYTW, and Playwrights Horizons. He is a 2016 MacDowell Colony Fellow, 2016 Chesley/Bumbalo Playwriting Award Finalist, 2016 Princess Grace Award Semi-Finalist, resident playwright with Colt Coeur, and is under commission from Lincoln Center Theater and Playwrights Horizons. Jeremy is currently in his second year at the Yale School of Drama for Playwriting.
PANELISTS
Nick D’Agostino is a Creative Producer at the Emmy Award Winning studio The Skin Deep. From numerous viral hits and live theatrical experiences, to VR films and apps, The Skin Deep is a thought leader exploring human connection in the digital age. With millions of views and a large global audience, Nick has played a central role in creating, editing and facilitating many of The Skin Deep’s experiences and growth. From shooting and editing to directing and even participating in the Emmy award winning project {THE AND}, Nick’s been on both sides of the camera and spent the past 3 years focused on fostering vulnerability and honesty in their studio setting. Sharing conversations from around the world, Nick and The Skin Deep have their sights set on building experiences that foster valuable connection and examine how we, as humans beings, are interacting with one another as technology plays an increasingly larger role in our everyday lives.
Tiffany Mann Television: “Orange Is The New Black,” “RISE.” Off-Broadway: Invisible Thread, Cabin in the Sky. Other theater: Effie (Dreamgirls) Celie (The Color Purple), Dynamite (Hairspray). Ms. Mann has performed with the Fort Worth Opera Chorus in numerous productions and studied opera at Oklahoma City University. @iamtiffanymann
Daria McCall As AFROPUNK’s Marketing Manager, Daria McCall manages visual storytelling and content creation that celebrates the fullness of black identity. The New Jersey native is a Rutger University and School of Visual Arts alum. She has previously worked in marketing, event management, and content production for cultural powerhouses including Def Jam Recordings, Tribeca Film Festival, and The Met.
Patrick L. Riley is best known for his work as a freelance, senior field producer at “The Oprah Winfrey Show” for over 13 years – including ABC network credits on “Oprah’s Legends Ball” and “Building a Dream: The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy”. That opportunity provided moments for Patrick to interview Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton as well as many of his own idols – including Diana Ross, Mary Tyler Moore, Janet Jackson, Beyonce, Dr. Maya Angelou, and many more. Since OPRAH wrapped in 2011, other brands call on Patrick to consult as a producer – including The Oprah Winfrey Network, The Wendy Williams Show, Pickler & Ben, BET Creative Services, and NBCBLK. Patrick Executive Produced the 2015-16 “The More You Know” campaign for NBC Universal. Other on-camera clients include (or have included) TV-ONE’s “Life After”; COZI-TV; BET; The Advocate; Wells Fargo; and ARISE ENTERTAINMENT 360. Riley books a number of speaking and hosting engagements – including return business with Prudential, Optum, Disney, and the Boys & Girls Clubs of America. Patrick sings as well. When in season, his popular open mic karaoke experience, All Star Karaoke, attracts an enthusiastic crowd. AirBnB named it the best way to experience karaoke in New York City. It includes giveaways from event sponsor, Miss Jessie’s, for which Patrick is a Brand Ambassador. He has received a number of industry nods for his work, including the 2014 Momentum Education’s “Pillar of Empowerment” Award at Momentum Honors in New York City as well as several awards from the National, Atlanta, and New York Associations of Black Journalists, and others. In a rare turn, Patrick portrays “Rudy” in the independent film STEPS, his movie acting debut – Executive Produced by Shaquille O’Neal. STEPS has screened to extensive praise on the film festival circuit – including the Peachtree Village International, the Newark International, and the Urban World Film Festivals. Patrick’s hardcover book, “That’s What Friends Are For: On the Women Who Inspired Me,” is being published by Dorpie Books. It will be out in March 2018. Here’s a link to purchase: dorpiebooks.com/products/patrick-l-riley
Monday, December 11 at 7pm
National Black Theatre
2031-33 National Black Theatre Way
Using the framing of Seth Zvi Rosenfeld’s world premiere play Downtown Race Riot, the NEW GROUP NOW discussion series continues this season with a panel on “Confronting Racial Bias in Our Communities.” Bringing together artists and prominent thought leaders across disciplines and backgrounds, this panel discussion asks vital questions at the center of New Group productions and our present culture.
Watch the full panel discussion here.
MODERATOR
Over the last 15 years, Nancy Giles’ work as a contributor to the Peabody Award winning CBS News Sunday Morning earned her 3 Emmy Awards for a unique blend of common sense wisdom, laugh-out-loud humor, and social and political commentary. A graduate of Chicago’s esteemed Second City improv troupe and a Theatre World Award winner, Giles appeared for three seasons on the acclaimed TV drama China Beach. Her one-woman shows include The Further Adventures of the Accidental Pundette, Notes of a Negro Neurotic, and Black Comedy: The Wacky Side of Racism, which the Village Voice called “smart and unforgiving.” She’s offered her perspectives as a frequent guest on MSNBC’s The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell, The Beat with Ari Melber, and AM Joy. An accomplished voiceover and radio artist, Giles won back-to-back Gracies from the Alliance for Women in Media for Giles & Moriarty (with CBS News correspondent Erin Moriarty) on WPHT-AM in Philadelphia. Her podcast, The Giles Files, takes a lively spin on trending topics with interviews, commentaries, song parodies and more. For more than 25 years she’s been a proud volunteer with The 52nd Street Project, helping at-risk kids take part in acting, playwriting, and arts workshops, classes, and performances.
PANELISTS
Anurag Gupta is the Founder & CEO of BE MORE, a social enterprise that employs proven in-person and online training programs to eradicate bias in key industries to save lives, improve top line performance and reduce billions of dollars of wasted costs. He is also a licensed attorney, an academic researcher, and a mindfulness expert. Prior to founding BE MORE, Anu worked with various social enterprises and research institutes globally on improving health and social outcomes for neglected populations. He was awarded the Echoing Green Fellowship and the Nathan Cummings Foundation Fellowships to grow BE MORE. He recently gave a TED Talk on breaking bias and his work has been profiled on the Huffington Post, NPR, and New York Post. He has trained over 4,000 professionals in hacking bias. You can follow him on social media @anuragnyc.
When she was eight years old, Jacqui Lewis hid under her bed as bullets flew in her Chicago neighborhood following the assassination of The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In that moment, she felt called to work for racial equality in the United States.
Her 1,000-member congregation, Middle Collegiate Church in New York City, has diversity that looks like the subway, but its legendary love feels like home. Jews, Buddhists, atheists, and Christians pack its sanctuary. Millennials and boomers, trans and gay, singles and families all call Middle their own. Middle Church is celebrated in Robert P. Jones’ book, The End of White Christian America, as an example of what revolutionary love can do to combat racism and xenophobia.
Believing faith communities can lead the way to racial reconciliation, Dr. Lewis co-founded The Middle Project with her spouse, The Rev. John Janka, which trains leaders to create a more just society. More than 300 faith leaders attended its 11th annual conference, “Revolutionary Love – Disruptive Ethics to Dismantle Racism” in 2017, featuring speakers such as Van Jones, Valarie Kaur, William J. Barber II, Zainab Salbi, and Bill Moyers. “Revolutionary Love—Complete the Dream” is April 6–8, 2018.
Dr. Lewis is the first African American and first woman to serve as senior minister in the Collegiate Church of New York, founded in 1628. She hosted “Just Faith,” an on-demand program on MSNBC.com and is a frequent media commentator. Her books include The Power of Stories: A Guide for Leaders in Multi-racial, Multi-cultural Congregations, The Pentecost Paradigm: Ten Strategies for Becoming a Multiracial Congregation (April 2018), and the children’s book, You Are So Wonderful! She is currently at work on a book about a path to revolutionary love.
Moise Morancy is a 22 year old American actor, director, hip-hop recording artist, poet, writer and activist from Brooklyn, New York. Moise is best known for his acting roles and his hard core, thought provoking, uncensored rap music. Though Morancy has a tough exterior, he often times expresses that it derives from pain and hardship. “Without change, one cannot grow,” and the ability to do both are some of Moise’s greatest attributes. Moise is currently appearing Off-Broadway in The New Group’s Downtown Race Riot. You can follow him on social media @moisemorancy.
James Braxton Peterson is the Director of Africana Studies and Professor of English at Lehigh University. He is the author of several books, The Hip Hop Underground and African American Culture, Prison Industrial Complex for Beginners and Hip Hop Headphones: A Scholar’s Critical Playlist. Peterson hosts “The Remix” on Philadelphia’s NPR affiliate, WHYY. “The Remix” is a podcast that engages issues at the intersection of race, politics, and popular culture. He is a Senior Fellow in the Governance Studies Program at the Brookings Institute. Peterson has written for Newsweek.com, The Guardian, The LA Times, Reuters, and The Daily Beast and The Grio. He is a media commentator and has appeared on MSNBC, Al-Jazeera, CNN, HLN, Fox News, and other networks as an expert on race, politics, and popular culture.
Monday, June 5 at 7pm
The Alice Griffin Jewel Box Theatre
at The Pershing Square Signature Center
480 West 42nd Street
Using the framing of Hamish Linklater’s world premiere play The Whirligig, a panel of artists, activists, and mental health professionals will discuss how mental health and substance abuse intersect within families in New York City and beyond.
MODERATOR
Kai Wright is editor and host of WNYC’s narrative unit, and a columnist for The Nation. His reporting and writing is focused on racial justice, economic inequity, healthcare, and sexuality. Formerly features editor of The Nation, he was the host of the podcast “The United States of Anxiety,” a partnership of The Nation and WNYC Studios. The podcast explored America’s debate over its national identity against the backdrop of the 2016 election, profiling supporters of Donald Trump and their immigrant neighbors in the suburbs of Long Island. Kai was also host of the podcast “There Goes the Neighborhood,” which explored gentrification in Brooklyn. He is the former editorial director of Colorlines and a longtime fellow of the Investigative Fund at the Nation Institute.
PANELISTS
Scott Elliott is an award-winning stage director, filmmaker and the founding Artistic Director of The New Group, where he most recently directed the U.S. premiere of Wallace Shawn’s Evening at the Talk House, as well as Buried Child by Sam Shepard and The Spoils by Jesse Eisenberg, both of which transferred to Trafalgar Studios on London’s West End. Also at The New Group, he has directed works by Thomas Bradshaw, Ayub Khan Din, Francine Volpe, Erika Sheffer, Tommy Nohilly, Joe Orton, Mike Leigh, and David Rabe.
Alex Hurt plays Greg in The Whirligig. Broadway: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Off-Broadway: Love, Love, Love (Roundabout Theatre Company); Dada Woof Papa Hot (Lincoln Center Theatre); Placebo (Playwrights Horizons); Scenes from a Marriage(NYTW); Caucasian Chalk Circle (CSC). Regional: Other Desert Cities (Alley Theatre); A Behanding in Spokane (SF Playhouse); No Man’s Land, Who am I This Time (A.R.T.); The Lion in Winter, Othello (Hedgerow). Film/TV: The River Why, “Bull”, “Law & Order: SVU”, “Grimm.” MFA: NYU Tisch Graduate Acting.
Maia Szalavitz is a neuroscience journalist obsessed with addiction, love, inequality and empathy. Her New York Times bestseller, Unbroken Brain: A Revolutionary New Way of Understanding Addiction, explores why addiction is best viewed as a developmental disorder and what this means for treatment and policy. She is author or co-author of six other books, including Help at Any Cost: How the Troubled-Teen Industry Cons Parents and Hurts Kids and with Dr. Bruce Perry, The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog and Born for Love: Why Empathy Is Essential— And Endangered. She currently writes regular columns for The Guardian, VICE and the San Francisco Chronicle and is frequently published by other publications including the New York Times, TIME, the Washington Post, Scientific American, STAT and New York Magazine. She lives in New York City with her husband and a Siamese shelter cat.
Liz Evans is a trained as a nurse and has worked with people experiencing homelessness and drug use for over 25 years. She is currently the Executive Director of Washington Heights Corner Project and New York Harm Reduction Educators. Over a decade ago she founded North America’s first legally permitted Supervised Injection Site… (a place where it is legal to inject drugs under the supervision of a nurse).
Leslie Daly, PhD is a clinical psychologist at the Center for Motivation and Change (CMC), a private group practice specializing in the treatment of substance use disorders in New York City. Dedicated to practicing compassionate, evidenced-based treatment approaches, CMC works with individuals, their families and partners in both individual and group contexts. Leslie worked as a creative arts therapist at Bellevue Hospital Center and New York Presbyterian Weill Cornell for 8 years before pursing her doctorate at LIU Brooklyn. A yoga and meditation teacher for over 17 years, Leslie utilizes mindfulness- and body-based therapies to address trauma, mood and substance use disorders.