Monday, February 24 at 7pm
FOCUS
by Alex Webb
Monday, February 24 at 7pm
FOCUS
Written and directed by Alex Webb
Stage Manager: Kodi Lynn Milburn
Stage Directions: Josh Evans
Featuring: Corey Allen*, Emily Bosco*, Shirleyann Kaladjian*,
Kate Middleton*, and Alex Webb*
Where: A.R.T. NY, 520 8th Ave. (Between 36th/37th St.)
Third Floor, NYC 10018, Monday at 7PM
A group of strangers are brought together to conduct a focus group about an unknown product. Fun ice-breakers, artisanal snacks and clever banter get the group going. It’s fun and easy and there’s an envelope stuffed with cash waiting for them at the end … what could go wrong?
RSVP@GroundUPproductions.org
Alex Webb/Playwright's first play, Amelia, was published by Samuel French in 2017. (www.ameliatheplay.com) Amelia was an Editor’s pick of the Washington Post, Helen Hayes recommended, and received tremendous critical response in Washington, DC and New York. His play, Beautiful Monster, about George Bernard Shaw, had a developmental reading at the Washington Stage Guild in 2022. Alex was commissioned to write the book for a new Broadway musical about the battle of Gettysburg, which is in development. His play, blackandblue, was a semi-finalist for the O’Neill National Playwrights Conference. As an actor Alex has worked with Oscar winners Meryl Streep, Ben Affleck, Olympia Dukakis, Eli Wallach and Melissa Leo among others. He was an Associate Artist with the Aquila Theatre Company for many years and has worked at CSC, The Public Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse, Arena Stage, St. Louis Rep. and The Kennedy Center among others.
Corey Allen: A multi-disciplinary artist based in Brooklyn & Austin, TX, Corey holds an MFA in Acting from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and a BA in Drama from UC Irvine and is on the Acting Faculty at the University of Texas at Austin. Allen has appeared on regional stages from the Shakespeare Theatre, Huntington Theatre Company, Pioneer Theatre Company, Great River Shakespeare Festival, Utah Shakespeare Festival, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis and many more. Film credits include Halston, Lost & Found and Proximity and he’s been seen on television’s The Blacklist, Happy!, Mindhunter, Power and Manh(a)ttan among others.
Emily Bosco (she/her) is thrilled to be making her Ground UP debut! She is a proud Colombian-Italian actor and fellow alumna of UNC Chapel Hill, holding an MFA from their Professional Actor Training Program. Favorite credits include Go Back For Murder (Barnstormers Theatre), Pride and Prejudice (Greenbrier Valley Theatre), Sense & Sensibility (PlayMakers Rep), Galileo's Daughter (Remy Bumppo), Steel Magnolias (Creede Rep), and The Rat Trap (Mint Theater). Other passions include dogs, chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream, Taylor Swift, and being the world's best Auntie to her niece and nephews. AEA Member. www.emilybosco.com. For my family, given and chosen.
Josh Evans: Favorite credits include - Theatre: Hamlet: Dead for a Ducat (Six Part Productions); Remission (Columbia University); Rubber Ducks and Sunsets (Ground Up Productions); The Dumb Waiter (Under St. Marks). Film: Can You Ever Forgive Me? (Fox Searchlight Pictures); Killing the Dog (Six Part Productions). Television: “FBI” (CBS), “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” (Amazon), “Gotham” (Fox) “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” (Netflix), “Blacklist” (NBC). Graduate - UNC Chapel Hill and Michael Howard Studios. Company Member - Ground UP Productions. The work is dedicated to his parents and his wife. joshlevans.com
Shirleyann Kaladjian: Film credits include Peter Farrelly’s “The Greatest Beer Run Ever,” John Waters’ “A Dirty Shame” and “Hove (The Wind)” with Olympia Dukakis. TV credits include American Horror Story, FBI, FBI:Most Wanted, The Blacklist, Law & Order:SVU, Extrapolations, as well as numerous commercials. Shirleyann was a company member with AquilaTheatre Company, performing in NYC at the Culture Project and Lincoln Center, and on national tour. She has also been a comedy improv team member at Upright Citizens Brigade and the Magnet Theatre. Regionally, Shirleyann has appeared at the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, GeVa Theatre, Skylight Opera Theatre, Washington Stage Guild, American Stage, Meadow Brook Theatre and Totem Pole Playhouse. She is also an avid rock climber, but does not free solo.
Kate Middleton: Broadway/Off-Broadway: Music City (Ground UP Productions), Women Without Men (Mint Theatre), Shear Madness, New York City Premiere (New World Stages), The Other Place (MTC), The Late Christopher Bean (TACT), Asymmetric (59E59), Pratfalls (Abingdon). Select Regional: The Kennedy Center, ROE world premiere at The Goodman Theatre as Jane Roe, The Fountain Theatre, Pioneer Theatre Company, The Huntington, St. Louis Rep., GEVA, Cape Playhouse, Dorset Theatre Festival, Triad Stage, Playmakers Rep., NJ Shakespeare, Weston Playhouse, Warehouse Theatre, Bickford Theatre. TV: “Chicago Fire”, “Elementary”, “Blacklist”, “FBI: Most Wanted”, “Orange is the New Black”, “Blue Bloods”, “Mercy”, “Law & Order”, “Law & Order: SVU”, and Comedy Central. Film: The Boston Strangler, The Tender Bar, Spoiler Alert, Set It Up, Noah Wise, 40th, Obits, Showing Up, T.I.C., April Flowers. Producing Artistic Director of Ground UP Productions. TACT Company Member.
Kodi Lynn Milburn, renowned as the "Swiss Army Knife of Theater," embodies a fusion of creativity and activism. As a mixed indigenous neurodivergent queer, Kodi’s artistry resonates with a commitment to justice, harmony with nature, amplifying lost voices, and reflecting contemporary issues, echoing the ethos of the Jester's Privilege. Kodi’s work has been described as “inspired” (Alix Cohen, Women Around Town), “amazing” (Travelanche), “lush compositions and evocative soundscapes…a fantastic collaborator: creative, proactive, generous, organized, versatile, and indispensable” (Nathan Davis, Drama Desk Nominated Sound Designer) Cross discipline credits include: Sylvia Milo’s The Other Mozart (Hong Kong, Players Theatre NYC, U.S. Tour), Funny Guy (59e59, London, Edinburgh Fringe), AMP (HERE), Tussaud/Antoinette (IRT), Big Wave (TaDa!) My Onliness (The New Ohio), Chess (American Theater for Actors), Uta Hagen Centennial Salon (Lincoln Center), Heart Strings (Atlantic Theater Co) I am the Utterance of my name (Baryshnikov Arts Center, TheaterLab, HERE), Sparkle Spa (BMI), Ewalt & Walker (54 Below), Mary & Max (Bobby Cronin & Crystal Skillman), Voyage en Chanson (National Sawdust), L’autre Mozart (Fringe North, Halifax Fringe), Rhinoceros (Atlantic Acting School) and more. Kodi is a New York Foundation for the Arts Music Fellow.
kodilynnmilburn.com
