People
Artistic DirectorsJeff Clarke Company Members
Sara Buffamanti Resident Artists
Ashlin Halfnight |
Jeff Clarke
Jeff is a founding member and co-Artistic Director of Performance Lab 115 and performed with them in God’s Waiting Room, (Overall Excellence Award: FringeNYC 2005). Other recent New York projects include Caucasian Chalk Circle, A Small Hole, Synesthesia and Dead Letter Office with PL115, This Place is a Desert (Dir Jay Scheib, ICA Boston), SICK (Dir Caleb Hammond, Ontological/ Collective: Unconscious), C4:The Chekhov Project(Artists of Tomorrow), In Circles (OFF Stage Festival), Safety (Urban Stages) and Lion in the Streets (Abingdon). His work has also taken him abroad with increasing frequency; in recent years he has acted in productions of A Hush Hush Hidden Thing (PL115) at the Merlin in Budapest, Crocodile Eyes (dir. Eduardo Machado) in the Premio Dams festival in Bologna, Italy, Twelfth Night, at international festivals in Germany and Korea, and The First Chapter of Peter at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival (Fringe First Nomination). MFA, Columbia 2005. Back to topShelley Gershoni
Shelley recently completed her MFA at Columbia University. Last summer she performed A Small Hole and the previous summer she performed God’s Waiting Room (Outstanding Play Award from Fringe Festival, 2005) both with PL115. Shelley has toured to Italy with productions of the House of Bernarda Alba (New York Observer’s Ensemble of the Year, 2005) and Crocodile Eyes. She has also traveled to Seoul, Korea and Recklinghausen, Germany to perform as Maria in Twelfth Night and to Budapest, Hungary to perform in God’s Waiting Room and A Hush Hush Hidden Thing. Additionally, Shelley performs Commedia roles with the Metropolitan Opera and sometimes you can catch her playing a nurse on 'One Life to Live.' Back to topRebecca Lingafelter
Rebecca is a performer and theatre maker based in New York City. Before moving to New York she acted and directed in Seattle with, Akropolis Performance Lab, Seattle Public Theatre, and the Union Garage. In May 2005 she received her MFA in acting from Columbia University. Since graduating she has performed in numerous downtown productions including 1+1 (OASIS festival, chashama), Agamemnon (The Vortex Theatre, Drama Desk Nomination – best director), AP+Birds (dir. Maria Goyanes), and the NYC premier of Sarah Kane’s Cleansed. She is a founding member of PL115 and performed in their award winning production of God’s Waiting Room at the FringeNYC 2005. She has toured internationally to Germany, Korea, and Italy and was thrilled to be part of PL115’s tour of God’s Waiting Room to Budapest, Hungary in Spring 2006. Upcoming projects include Women of Trachis by Kate Ryan at the Ohio Theatre in January 2007, and Sophocles’ Ajax directed by Gisela Cardenas in Spring 2007. Back to topElena Mulroney
Elena is an Australian-born, U.S.-raised actress and theatre artist. She is one of the founding actors/artistic directors of Performance Lab 115 and is inspired, most recently, by the working methods of the Living Theatre, the aesthetic of Eastern European art movements, the approach of graffiti artist Bansky, and the work of literary organization 826 Valencia. She graduated from Columbia University's MFA Acting program in 2005 (Mother Courage in Mother Courage, Sasha in Ivanov, Mother in Footfalls, and Prudencia in The House of Bernarda Alba) and continues work with Performance Lab 115 (Fanny Price in A Small Hole—a mutation of Mansfield Park, and Bordo in God’s Waiting Room—inspired by the company’s adaptation of The Master and Margarita), Theatrewagon (Medea in Scratch), and other downtown NY companies. Currently in California, she teaches for the Berkeley Rep School of Theatre and is understudying the mother in The Pillowman at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre. Most recently, she adapted and performed in Slavomir Mrozek’s play, Striptease, on a moving platform on the Oakland Amtrak line, just down from Jack London Square. Back to topSara Buffamanti
Sara is an actress, singer and dancer residing in Brooklyn. She has toured internationally, performing in Edinburgh, Germany and Korea (Twelfth Night), Bologna (Premio Dames Festival, House of Bernarda Alba), and most recently in Southeast Asia with the Broadway Asia Tour of Spongebob Squarepants the Sponge Who Could Fly. In the US, Sara has toured from coast-to-coast as a member of the Santa Barbara based, actor generated ensemble Woven, and Theaterworks USA (Ramona Quimby). She has also worked with Shakespeare Santa Cruz, Santa Barbara Civic Light Opera, and Moonlight Amphitheater in San Diego, CA. Sara graduated from the MFA Acting Program at Columbia University in 2006. Since then, she has performed with The LITE group, Vortex Theater, Target Margin Theater, and Judson Church Theater. Sara is the creator and solo-performer of Eleanor alla Barre, a clown piece that premiered at the New York Fringe Festival in 2006. Back to topRachel Jablin
Rachel is an actress and a writer who was born in Manhattan, raised in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, and currently resides in Brooklyn. She received her B.A. in drama and philosophy from Tufts University. During that time, she worked with the Commonwealth Shakespeare Company in Boston, and studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. She toured internationally alongside other members of PL115 to Germany and Korea with Niky Wolcz's production of Twelfth Night and to Italy with Karin Coonrod's House of Bernarda Alba. She holds an M.F.A. from Columbia University and since graduation she has played ingenues and grotesques alike around New York City. Back to topMarty Keiser
Marty is an actor, playwright, and director. He is a graduate from Columbia University's MFA Acting Program, received a BA from Tufts University, majoring in theatre and psychology and studied at the London Academy of Theatre. On Stage, Marty has performed as Bottom (Midsummer Nights Dream), Feste (Twelfth Night), Costard (Love's Labours Lost), Hercules (Alcestis, directed by Alice Reagan), and Joshua/Gerry (Cloud 9, directed by Alexis Poledouris). He toured with the PL115 actors to Germany, Korea and Italy. On the Big Screen, Marty can be seen as the title role in OSIRIS FORD - an independent film to be released by Rogue Planet Productions in the near future. He has also appeared in a number of NYU short films. On the Small Screen, he was featured in an ESPN/SpeedVision Pilot entitled MUSCLE. Marty is the author of the original play SHORTER THAN TOM. He is incredibly excited to begin a new adventure with PL115. Back to topAshlin HalfnightA recent graduate of Columbia University's MFA playwriting program, Ashlin is the recipient of the Howard Stein Playwrighting Fellowship. His play American Drek was awarded the Ludwig Vogelstein Artist Grant, and his play Good Pictures was nominated for the 2004 Mentor Project at Cherry Lane. He has been awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to study in Budapest where he will be writing a trilogy of plays for the National Theatre of Hungary. Back to topAndrew Z. KelseyDead Letter Office marks Andrew's first project with PL 115. Recent roles: Brandon in Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa's Good Boys and True (Eugene O'Neill Theater Center); Time in Automata Pieta, by Constance Congdon (world premiere, Magic Theater, San Francisco); George in Time on Fire, by Timothy Mason (Magic Theater and Royal National Theater, London); Semaj in the Smokin' Word production of Passin' Me By (Ohio Theatre, New York); and Abe/Aaron in Grace, by Jesse Cameron Alick (South Oxford Space, Brooklyn). His first mainstage role was Salvatore in The Rose Tattoo (A.C.T., San Francisco). Andrew is a frequent volunteer with the 52nd Street Project, and has performed in plays with them at the Ensemble Studio Theatre and the Public Theater. He earned his B.A. at Amherst College. Back to topBeth KurkjianBeth lives and creates dance theatre in NYC. She has shown solo work
at PS 122, Dixon Place, La Mama, Galapagos, and the Ontological. In
London, Kurkjian performed her solo Age Less and a 30-min version of
Sylvie or Marie at the ICA Theater and the SHUNT Lounge. Her directing
work includes two original dance theater shows Crochet: I Dream Ballet
(Ontological) and 18 to 21 (Skidmore College). Kurkjian has
choreographed dances for two PL115 shows - Bertolt Brecht's Caucasian
Chalk Circle (Mabou Mines Residency) and Julia Jarcho's A Small Hole
(DNA) - and for Kate E. Ryan's Women of Trachis (Ohio), all directed by
Alice Reagan. She has performed in ensemble projects created by Ken
Nintzel, Juliana Francis, Yehuda Duenyas, Aaron Landsman, Johanna S.
Meyer, Noemie Lafrance, Nellie Tinder, and GAle GAtes et al. Shane LeClairShane is a registered architect and currently designs exhibits for the Bronx Zoo. Previous set designs include The Grasshopper by Anton Chekhov and Iphigenia at Aulis. He won the award for Best Set Design for PL115's A Small Hole in the NY Fringe Festival, 2006. Back to topAlice ReaganAlice most recently collaborated with PL115 on a new translation/adaptation of Brecht’s Caucasian Chalk Circle through the Mabou Mines/SUITE Resident Artist Program. Other directing credits include The Knights by Rob Handel (Target Margin Theater), Alice in War by Steven Bogart (Summer Play Festival), Women of Trachis by Kate E. Ryan (Target Margin), A Small Hole by Julia Jarcho (FringeNYC), Pickford with Beth Kurkjian (Ontological), Big Night by Dawn Powell (Bates College), Alcestis by Euripides (chashama) and Machinal by Sophie Treadwell (Riverside Church). She has worked as a dramaturg or assistant director for Anne Bogart, Robert Woodruff, Robert Falls, and David Herskovits. 2006 Princess Grace Award. Target Margin Artistic Associate, 2006-07. 2008 Drama League Directing Fellow. MA: Performance Studies, Tisch School of the Arts/NYU, Amankulor Award. MFA: Columbia, Dean’s Fellow. Back to topRamona ThomasiusRamona first collaborated with PL115 as dramaturg on the New York International Fringe Festival production of A Small Hole by Julia Jarcho. She also has worked at the Garage Theatre in London, the Thirteen Street Repertory Company and the Ensemble Studio Theatre Institute in New York among others. Currently, she is the dramaturg for an adaptation of Sophocles’ Women of Trachis, part of Target Margin Theater’s upcoming Greek Season. Earlier in 2006, she also completed an international dramaturgy workshop on Heiner Müller in Berlin. In addition, she is a script reader for the Red Bull Theatre Company, New York. Back to topMark ValadezMark is a musician and sound designer native to the Pacific Northwest. As well as composition and sound design for film, he has designed sound for theatre including Alcestis, Machinal, Iphigenia at Aulis, God’s Waiting Room (NYC and Budapest), The NYC premier of Sara Kane’s Cleansed, A Small Hole, and Blood Wedding. Back to topMeiyin WangMeiyin is the co-Artistic Director of theatrewagon and artistic associate of Singapore Repertory Theatre. Directing highlights include Cleansed (NY Premiere), Betrayal (Singapore Premiere), C4 The Chekhov Project, Scratch/Medea, A Lover's Discourse, Mother Courage, Ivanov. In Singapore, Meiyin's work was described by Òbold, brisk and brilliantÓ and was nominated for Best Direction and Best Script by national media. She has assisted Robert Woodruff, Eduardo Machado, Lisa Peterson and has worked at ART, The Public, INTAR, CSC, Barrow Group, Prospect Theater, Long Beach Opera. She is the Associate Producer for Under The Radar. Affiliations: SSDC, Womens Project Directors Lab. M.F.A., Columbia. Back to top |