What to Send Up When It Goes Down

A.R.T.: What to Send Up When It Goes Down. Aleshea Harris’ play Is God Is (Soho Rep) won the 2016 Relentless Award, an OBIEAward for playwriting, the Helen Merrill Playwriting Award, was a finalist for theSusan Smith Blackburn Prize, and made The Kilroys’ List of “the most recommended un- and underproduced plays by trans and female authors of color” for 2017. It will be produced at the Royal Court in London in the summer of 2020 and has beenpublished by 3Hole Press and Samuel French. What to Send Up When It Goes Down, a play-pageant-ritual response to anti-blackness, had its critically-acclaimed NYC premiere in 2018, was featured in the April 2019 issue of American Theatre Magazine and was nominated for a Drama Desk award. Harris is under commission with Center Theatre Group and Playwrights Horizons.

A.R.T.: What to Send Up When It Goes Down. Yu-Hsuan Chen is a New York City-based set and production designer working among theater, film, event, and exhibition. Born and raised in Taipei, Taiwan, she received her MFA in Design for Stage and Film at Tisch School of the Arts, NYU. Selected theater credits include: Our Dear Dead Drug Lord, WP Theater; The Homecoming Queen, Nomad Motel, Atlantic; What to Send Up When It Goes Down, The Movement Theatre Company; Paradise Blue, Long Wharf; Locked Up Bitches, Inanimate, The Flea Theater; Dancing at Lughnasa, M. Butterfly, Great Expectations Everyman Theatre.

Qween Jean founded Black Trans Liberation, an organization that aims to provide access and employment resources for the TGNC community. She organizes community events, protests, and weekly mutual aid drives. In 2022 Qween wrote Revolution Is Love. In 2023 she joined the Board of TCG and received an Obie Award for Excellence in Costume Design. This year Qween was a finalist for The David Prize, which awards $200,000 to transform the city of New York. She has an MFA degree from NYU Tisch.

A.R.T.: What to Send Up When It Goes Down. Off-Broadway: You Will Get Sick, Roundabout Theatre Company; The Seagull/Woodstock, NY, one in two, The New Group; Wet Brain, Playwrights Horizons; The Fever and Lucy at Audible Theater; Exception to the Rule, Roundabout Underground; What to Send Up When It Goes Down, Playwrights Horizons/Brooklyn Academy of Music; soft, MCC; As You Like It, Babbitt, La Jolla Playhouse. Education: MFA, NYU Tisch. Awards: Drama Desk and Lucille Lortel Award nominee, Obie Award winner. Seelightingdesign.com.

A.R.T.: What to Send Up When It Goes Down. Sinan Refik Zafar is a New York-based sound designer and composer. Broadway: What the Constitution Means to Me. Off-Broadway: What the Constitution Means to Me, NYTW, Clubbed Thumb; Novenas for a Lost Hospital, Rattlestick; What to Send Up When It Goes Down, And She Would Stand Like This, The Movement Theatre Co; Hamlet, Waterwell; Intelligence, Next Door @ NYTW; Richard in 9 Poses, Clubbed Thumb. Regional: A Human Being of a Sort, Williamstown Theatre Festival; What the Constitution Means to Me, Kennedy Center, Berkeley Rep; The Language Archive, TheatreWorks Silicon Valley; Jump, Playmakers Rep; peerless, Yale Rep; Slow Food, Cry It Out, Dorset Theatre Festival; Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Two Trains Running, Weston Playhouse; The Legend of Georgia McBride, The Wolves, Detroit, Intimate Apparel, TheatreSquared; We are Proud to Present, Yale Dramat; Midsummer, Tiltyard; Macbeth(directed by Will Frears), Wingspace. Education/​Training: MFA, Yale School of Drama; BA, UC Irvine.

A.R.T.: What to Send Up When It Goes Down. Recent credits include Public Works’ Hercules, The Public Theater; Lockdown, Rattlestick Theater; Recent Alien Abductions, The Play Company; What to Send Up When It Goes Down, The Movement Theatre Company; The Revolving Cycles Truly and Steadfastly Roll’d, The Playwrights Realm; Is God Is, Soho Rep; The Christians, Baltimore Center Stage. New York credits include: Seven Spots on the Sun,  Rattlestick/​The Sol Project; Alligator, New Georges/​The Sol Project; The Block, The Working Theater; Pretty Hunger, The Public Theater; The Sun Shines East, The Marjorie S. Deane Little Theater; The Golden Year, WorkShop Theater Company; The Winter’s Tale, Actors Shakespeare Company at NJCU; Oleanna (starring Austin Pendleton), The Players Club; Ghost Dancer, Mint Theater; additional New York credits include: Songs of Love: A Mixtape, NY Fringe Festival 2012; This One Girl’s Story, NYMTF; Morgan Street (directed by Anika Noni Rose), BRIC Arts New Black Fest.

A.R.T.: What to Send Up When It Goes Down. Tyler Thomas is an NYC-based theater director and choreographer who is honored to be a part of the What to Send Up… family. Her most recent credits include The Sandalwood Box, The Flea Theater; Blanks, Signature Theatre; The Clark Doll, New Ohio Theatre; If Sand Were Stone, New York Musical Festival. As an assistant and associate, she has worked with Lear deBessonet, Taibi Magar, Jo Bonney, Niegel Smith, Lee Sunday Evans, Katie Brook, and as Associate Dramaturg for The Builders Association. She is a former SDCF Observer, member of the Lincoln Center Directors’ Lab, Visiting Artist at the Athens Conservatoire in Greece, and current Resident Director at The Flea Theater. Tyler holds a BFA in Drama and an MA in Arts Politics from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. She is a proud native of Louisiana.

The Movement Theatre Company creates an artistic social movement by developing and producing new works by artists of color. Under the leadership of David Mendizábal, Deadria Harrington, Eric Lockley, and Taylor Reynolds, our work engages a multicultural audience in a rich theatrical dialogue, enlightens communities to the important issues affecting our world, and empowers artists to celebrate the many sides of their unique voice. Founded in 2007, The Movement has established itself as an artistic staple in Harlem by partnering with many local businesses and social justice organizations to create community for our uptown artists and audiences. Past production successes include: And She Would Stand Like This by Harrison David Rivers, directed by David Mendizábal, choreographed by Kia LaBeija, produced by Deadria Harrington; Look Upon Our Lowliness by Harrison David Rivers, directed by David Mendizábal; and their breakout New York Times-lauded production of Bintou by Koffi Kwahulé, translated by Chantal Bilodeau, directed by David Mendizábal. Past programming successes include: the Ladder Series touring production of Hope Speaks directed by Jonathan McCrory; Last Laugh by Eric Lockley; Think Before You Holla created by Taylor Reynolds; the workshop production of Black Boy & The War by Antoinette Nwandu, directed by Jesca Prudencio; as well as numerous Harlem Nights events. Our 2018 production of What to Send Up When It Goes Down by Aleshea Harris, directed by Whitney White, received critical praise and recognition (Drama Desk Award nominee), increased the visibility of those affected by racially-motivated violence, and challenged the limitations of a theatrical experience. As a recent OBIE-award recipient, we are passionate about using our platform to shift the status quo of “American Theater” both on-stage and behind the scenes. We are producers of color committed to highlighting artists of color that are exploding traditional theatrical forms, telling stories for us, by us! We’re truly honored and excited to partner with Hibernian and the A.R.T. to bring our production of What to Send Up When It Goes Down to Boston and Cambridge!

Since 1966, Madison Park Development Corporation (MPDC) has been an essential leader in the revitalization of Roxbury and Dudley Square. As one of the first resident-led organizations to develop affordable housing, it has a well-respected track record of producing high-quality housing that is affordable to low and moderate-income families. It has designed 1,252 homes that house over 3,000 residents. MPDC is a proven leader in community-driven housing and economic development and provides a wide array of community and arts programs that seek to support a vibrant, healthy Roxbury neighborhood.

Alana Raquel Bowers is excited to be making her A.R.T. debut with What To Send Up…! Originally from Baltimore, MD, where she trained at the Baltimore School for the Arts, Alana is honored to be able to do this work “at home” for her DMV family and friends. She holds a BFA in Drama from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. Theater credits include: Scraps, The Flea Theater; What To Send Up When It Goes Down, A.R.T./​New York Theater, New York Times Critic’s Pick of 2018; and cullud wattah, Public Studio. TV/​Film credits include: “FBI: Most Wanted” (January 2020). Alana is represented by Robyn Bluestone Management.

A.R.T.: What to Send Up When It Goes Down. Nemuna Ceesay is so honored to be a part of What to Send Up When It Goes Down. Originally from Sacramento, California, Nemuna holds a BA in Drama from UC Irvine and an MFA in Acting from American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco. Regional Credits include: The Cake, Barrington Stage Company; The Christians, Tartuffe, PlayMakers Rep; Henry IV Parts 1 and 2, Roe, Great Expectations, Oregon Shakespeare Festival; A Christmas Carol, American Conservatory Theater; A Raisin in the Sun, The Comedy of Errors, Cal Shakes. Nemuna has also performed internationally in Major Barbara, Theatre Calgary; and The House of Bernarda Alba, Moscow Art Theatre. TV: “Prodigal Son,” “FBI,” “Younger,” “Instinct,” “An Enemy Within,” “Madame Secretary,” “Broad City,” “Forever.” Check out Nemuna’s website for all acting credits as well as grad school coaching information.

A.R.T.: What to Send Up When It Goes Down. New York: JoAnne Akalaitis: Bad News!, NYU Skirball; King Phillip, Clubbed Thumb;What to Send Up When It Goes Down, The Movement Theatre Company; Minor Character, UTR-Public Theater; Sonic Life of a Giant Tortoise, The Play Company; At the Table, Fault Line Theatre. TV/​Film: Girl on the Train, The Upside, “Billions,” “Madame Secretary,” “Blindspot,” “Instinct,” “Elementary.” Regional: An Iliad (The Poet), Long Wharf Theatre; Intimate Apparel (Mayme), Shakespeare and Company; The Winter’s Tale (Paulina), Shakespeare Festival St. Louis; Detroit ’67 (Chelle), PlayMakers Repertory Company; A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Helena), Shakespeare Festival St. Louis; Disgraced (Jory), Rep. Theatre St. Louis; All’s Well That Ends Well (Helena), Bread Loaf; The Heidi Chronicles (Susan Johnston), Crime and Punishment (Sonia), Yellowman (Alma), Trinity Rep; Zero Cost House, Pig Iron; House of Home, Williamstown Theatre Festival; Western Country, Williamstown Theatre Festival. Education/​Training: MFA, Acting, Brown University/​Trinity Rep.

A.R.T.: What to Send Up When It Goes Down. Ugo Chukwu is an NYC-based actor and teaching artist from the Bronx. Recent credits include: Lunch Bunch, Clubbed Thumb; Do You Feel Anger, Vineyard; and the New York premiere of What to Send Up When It Goes Down. Other credits include [PORTO], WP Theater/​Bushwick Starr; Today is My Birthday, P73; Reread Another, Target Margin; and The Danger, JACK. Regional Credits include Ripcord, Huntington Theatre Company; andAdventure Quest, Edinburgh Fringe. TV credits: “The Path,” “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt,” and a commercial spot with Spectrum Mobile. Education/​Training: BFA, Brooklyn College.

A.R.T.: What to Send Up When It Goes Down. Born in Nairobi, Kenya and raised both there, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and suburban Washington D.C., Kambi Gatheshais a Brooklyn-based actor and choreographer. His credits include What to Send Up When it Goes Down, Movement Theatre Company; Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Classical Theatre of Harlem; and Our Lady of Kibeho, Signature Theatre Company. He recurs on the forthcoming pilot “Big Dogs,” Choice Films. As a dancer he has worked with David Parker’s the Bang Group, Reggie Wilson’s Fist and Heel, and Darcy Naganuma’s Naganuma Dance. As a choreographer he has presented his work at City Center, Alvin Ailey Studios, Battery Park Downtown Dance Festival, Merce Cunningham, and Arts on Site. He is the recipient of the Jerome Robbins Foundation’s 2019 Project Springboard fellowship, an initiative to develop dance-driven musical theater. There he developed his musical A Nation Grooves: A People’s History of Hip-Hop. He thanks his team at HCKR, his family, his partner Julia, and he dedicates this show to his father, Patrick Ali Gathesha.

A.R.T.: What to Send Up When It Goes Down. Denise Manning is an Actor-vist, Comic, and Musician from Austin, Texas. Her recent credits include Rosie Written by Lily Houghton at EST’s 2019 Marathon of One-Act Plays, the world premiere of Daddy by Jeremy O. Harris and directed by Danya Taymor (Drama Desk-nominee, New York Times Critics’ Pick), What to Send Up When It Goes Down, The Movement Theatre Co.; The Chronicles of Cardigan and Khente, Soho Rep; White Girl in Danger!, Vineyard; and Whitney White’s Three Sisters, DramaLeague/​Directorfest. She is the future author of her memoir Booked, Blessed, and in Debt! She is honored to honor the ancestors and the ones who paved the way! #BlackLivesMatter

Human. Black. Queer. Jesus Lover. Baldwin Pupil. Brooklynite. Teacher. Student. Grateful to be sending it up again. A.R.T.: What to Send Up When It Goes Down. Fave credz: Julio Down By the Schoolyard, INTAR & The Lark; What to Send Up When It Goes Down, The Movement Theater Company; Platonov, Blessed Unrest; Two Gentlemen of Verona, The Tempest, Alabama Shakespeare Festival; Much Ado About Nothing, This Is Our Youth, Brooklyn Center for Performing Arts; Untitled Julio Rivera Project, Little Shop of Horrors, LaGuardia Performing Arts Center. Fave Food: Ice cream. For all the black boys, grown & not, dying to be soft. Galatians 6:9

On July 22, 2018, Nia Wilson was stabbed to death in Oakland, California. The same BART platform where she bled led me to school most mornings. Many days wasted, I wondered, on countless curriculums hoping theater could somehow honor the black bodies hurried and buried away too abruptly. I felt an undying, heavy, and relentless responsibility as a Black Artist to tell these stories. Grateful to be making my A.R.T. debut with a piece of such importance. Ashè to Aleshea, the Creatives, and the Spirits in the margins for making this possible.

A.R.T.: What to Send Up When It Goes Down. David Mendizábal is a director, designer, and one of the Producing Artistic Leaders of The Movement Theatre Company. He is also the Associate Artistic Director of The Sol Project. Select directing credits include: On the Grounds of Belonging, Long Wharf/​Public Studio; the bandaged place, NYSAF; Then They Forgot About The Rest, Locusts Have No King, INTAR; The Maturation of an Inconvenient Negro (or iNegro), Cherry Lane Mentor Project; Last Stop on Market Street, Atlantic for Kids; And She Would Stand Like This (with choreographer Kia LaBeija), Look Upon Our Lowliness, Bintou, The Movement; Tell Hector I Miss Him (Drama League Nomination for Outstanding Production), Atlantic. David was a participant in the Leadership U: One-on-One program, funded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and administered by Theatre Communications Group, where he served as the Artistic Associate at Atlantic Theater Company (2016 – 2018). He is a member of Latinx Theatre Commons. Alumnus of The Drama League, Lincoln Center Director’s Lab, LAByrinth Intensive Ensemble, NALAC Leadership Institute, and artEquity. Education/​Training: BFA, NYU/​Tisch.

A.R.T.: What to Send Up When It Goes Down. Deadria Harrington is a New York City-based creative producer, artist, and member of theProducing Artistic Leadership Team of The Movement Theatre Company. With The Movement, she has developed numerous new works by emerging artists of color, most recently What to Send Up When It Goes Down by Aleshea Harris, directed by Whitney White, and And She Would Stand Like This by Harrison David Rivers, directed by David Mendizábal, and choreography by Kia LaBeija. Select producing credits include: The Architecture of Becoming, WP Theater; At Buffalo, NYMF, UB Buffalo Creative Arts Initiative, CAP21, TED 2019Conference participant; Alligator, New Georges. Harrington was a Time Warner FoundationFellow of the 2012-2014 Producers Lab at Women’s Project Theater, a Next Generation Leader of Color at the 2014 Latinx Theatre Commons National Convening, and has participated in artEquity’s National Facilitator Training. She has worked on a consultant basis with SITICompany and artEquity and is currently the Associate Director at New Georges. Education/​Training: BA, Drama and Psychology, Vassar College.

A.R.T.: What to Send Up When It Goes Down. Originally from Baltimore, MD, Lockley is an award-winning actor, writer, comedian, producer, and a founder of two Harlem-based organizations: The Movement Theatre Company and Harlem9. With these organizations Eric has produced critically acclaimed productions and festivals, published anthologies of new plays, and created initiatives that highlight the complexity and diversity of people of color. Spearheading video and social media content for The Movement, Eric has ensured increased visibility, brand consistency, and audience development. Lockley has performed in works by prestigious contemporary playwrights Tarell Alvin McCraney (Choir Boy), Marcus Gardley (Black Odyssey), and Idris Goodwin (How We Got On). Recent screen credits include First Reformed, starring Ethan Hawke, and a role in Season 2 of “Luke Cage” on Netflix. His inspirational short film, The Jump, is available to watch on Amazon.com, and his comedic web-series, “Blacker,” has been on a number of best web series lists. With a passion for #blackboyjoy, Eric regularly creates comedic content for his social media platforms and was recently in the Off-Broadway show #DateMe, flexing his comedy and musical improv muscles. Education/​Training: BFA, NYU/​Tisch. Stay connected and learn more online.

A.R.T.: What to Send Up When It Goes Down. Taylor Reynolds is a New York-based director and theater-maker from Chicago and one of the Producing Artistic Leaders of The Movement Theatre Company in Harlem. She has worked as a director, assistant, and collaborator with companies including Signature Theatre Company, Page 73, Clubbed Thumb, New Georges, Ars Nova, Radical Evolution, and The 24 Hour Plays. Selected directing credits: Richard & Jane & Dick & Sally by Noah Diaz (upcoming January 2020), Plano by Will Arbery (Drama Desk nomination for Best Director), Songs About Trains (co-directed with Rebecca Martinez), ALLOND(R)A by Gina Femia, Think Before You Holla (creator/​deviser), FOOD by Rhonda Marie Khan. She is a member of NY Madness and the Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab, a New Georges Affiliated Artist, and a 2017-2018 Clubbed Thumb Directing Fellow. BFA, Carnegie Mellon University.

A.R.T.: Debut. Ryan Dobrin is a New York-based theater-maker and collaborator. He is the Associate Producing Artistic Leader at The Movement Theatre Company and a Directing Fellow at Playwrights Horizons and Manhattan Theatre Club. He is an alumnus of the Emerging Leaders Group at Ars Nova and the Founding Artistic Producer & Resident Director of Those Guilty Creatures. He graduated from Wesleyan University, where he was the first student to receive both the Rachel Henderson Theater Prize and the Outreach & Community Service Prize in Theater.