Atlantic Pacific Theatre Presents…
DO,WAGER: A performance diptych on the vestiges of Philippine American War.
In each performance, the audience experiences two distinct theatre experiences:
Part 1: Devised by the Atlantic Pacific Theatre ensemble and directed by Brisa Areli Muñoz.
Part 2: Written by Claro de los Reyes and directed by Artem Yatsunov
Light Design: Robert M. Stevenson
Stage/Production Manager: Shanti Rose
Featuring:
Ben Weber, Lydia Gaston, Laura Cabochan, Michelle Vergara Moore,
Ashley Turner, Lynnette R. Freeman, Claro de los Reyes and Robert M. Stevenson.
Featured in Incoming! Series at the 2018 Under The Radar Festival X PUBLIC Theater
"hopscotching between worlds... understated elegance and confidence ...culturally omnivorous... bracing.... directed by artem yatsunov." - ny times
"it’s been a long and interesting road for modesto “flako” jimenez" - wpix 11
Hiding out in his abuelita’s bathroom, Flako, a young Dominican man, escapes into the memories of losing his culture and self to the gentrified blocks of Bushwick. Oye For My Dear Brooklyn is performed in both English and Spanish through a series of poems, video projections, and music. Lyrical and savage, Flako’s poetry is populated with immigrants, drug dealers, condoritos, tiguerasos, mothers and sons, all asking the same question, “What’s my moral worth?”
2016-2018
Abrons Arts Center/Under The Radar X PUBLIC/The Performing Garage
Stage Manager: Kendall Allen
Set: Michael Minahan
Gallery Installation: Sara Sciabbarrasi
Lights: Dan Kent/Megan Lang
Board Operator: Alexandria Bush
Video: Kevin Torres, Thomas Kavanagh, Skye Morse-Hodgson
Sound: Drew Weinstein
Music: Marcus Bowers
Photos: Shunk Takino & Radio Silence
Back from its hit 2014 run at The Bushwick Starr, Last Night at the Palladium is part interactive art installation and part immersive play set at an epic party. Accompanied by a live DJ and projections, Last Night At The Palladium tells the story of New York City’s transforming art scene – from Andy Warhhol’s famous Silver Factory to the closing of the Palladium Night Club. Actors, graffiti artists, musicians and poets take us through the decades, bringing to life Warhol, Basquiat, Ginsberg, Patti Smith, Fab Five Freddy, Edie Sedgwick, Patti Astor, among many other irreverent voices of the city.
Produced by Brooklyn Gypsies Collective and 3LD Art & Technology Center.
July 2016
Featuring: Bay Bryan, Deidrea Hamid, Merlin Wighthawk, Olander 'Big O' Wilson, Claire Moodey, Nick E. Finn, James Allister Sprang, Marissa Metelica, Eric Acevedo, Ngoma Hill and Jo Anna 'JoAnnesta' Mclean.
Live Graffiti: UR New York
Live DJ: Andre Mayes
Director: Modesto Flako Jimenez
Associate Director: Artem Yatsunov
Video/Film: Kevin Torres
Light Design: Dan Kent
Set Design: Michael Minahan
Costume Design: Enver Chakartash
Visual Design: Simon Harding
Musical Direction: Lateef Dameer.
Bay Bryan comes out.
As ginger.
A coming-of-age cabaret for anyone who has ever felt—even a little bit—queer at heart. A fusion of storytelling, improv, song cycle, and just a drop of drag.
Production Profiles: Call Me Adam & Philadelphia Gay News
"Bryan’s storytelling transports us to an uncomfortable and confusing time in a queer person’s life, while his authenticity creates a warm safe place that resonates with any personal experience of “queer"- Phindie (Full Review)
"Star Bay Bryan and producer/director Artem Yatsunov are an extremely charming duo…. A heartwarming queer night to be sure."- Philadelphia Weekly (Full Review)
"Two boys at once. This will be fun."- Philadelphia Gay News (Full Profile)
Past Performances: The Tank, Minnesota Fringe Festival, Philly Fringe Festival, One Catches Light Festival, HorseTrade Theatre
In a secluded cabin in the woods, two brothers with a long conflicted relationship hatch an ill-conceived plot of revenge. Through reactive emotion, deviation from plan, and gross ineptitude, the situation slowly slides out of control and down a slippery slope toward moments of sudden, irrevocable, and surprising violence. Omnivores investigates how conflicts perpetuate themselves and why no one ever really forgives anyone else, in a cautionary tale of the dangers inherent in family, revenge, and leftovers.
Great rock ’n’ roll energy — very raw, very present"- NY Times (Full Profile)
"It's a violent play, but considering the loonies involved, the bloodshed is logical rather than gratuitous... The able director Artem Yatsunov creates the right mood of menace"- NJ Star Ledger (Full Review)
Playwrights Theater of New Jersey ('9) / Hamilton Stage ('13)
Produced by StrangeDog Theatre
Featuring: Joseph Palestina, Brian Parks, Scott Cagney, Thomas Molyneaux/ David Murgittroyd, and Jon Barker.
Lights/Stage Manager: Dani Constance / Darielle Shandler
Sets: Ilya Chigirev / Peter Martino
“Your call may be monitored.” NJ’s premiere indie-theatre auteurs, StrangeDog, bring you Ben Clawson’s (Luna Stage, Shadowlands, David Mark Cohen award recipient) latest odyssey – a chronicle of two strangers who clash with a kitchen appliance, conquer customer service and quality assurance, only to discover simple companionship in the strangest of places.
"Cleverly placed poignant ruminations about how easily one can become lost in their own life...Director Artem Yatsunov also knows how to time the script’s many clever lines."- Theatre Is Easy (Full Review)
"BASIC HELP does a beautiful job of exploring unexpected connections found in strange places which can lead us to decisions we wouldn’t have been brave enough to make otherwise. Yatsunov makes it obvious that these two human beings – without seeing each other, without REALLY knowing each other beyond the scope of these brief daily interactions, have created a bond which both rely on."- The Happiest Medium (Full Review)
Featuring Megan Greener and Gavin Earl Johnson
Frigid Festival and Luna Stage Theater
Produced by StrangeDog Theatre
2014
Assistant Director: Michael Joel
Postcard Art: Michelle Lupo
Postcard Design: Lindsey Yadon
It's time for the annual Christmas Eve service in a small town at an even smaller church. Last year didn't go well, and this year isn't shaping up much better. The congregation is too old, the pastor is too young, and the choir is badly out of tune. Plus, there's a drunk who refuses to get off the church steps. Join these wacky revelers as they attempt to celebrate the holiday season and figure out just what the heck it is that they all seem to be searching for.
"It’s a post-modern "God bless us…" and works just as well... Yatsunov elicits terrific performances from every actor."- Monclair Times (Full Review)
"Tilt the Unlit Candle" goes on my holiday theatre list, right up there with "A Charlie Brown Christmas."- NorthJersey.com (Full Review)
"Artem Yatsunov helms the intelligently staged production...the absolute best take on the mandatory snowfall in a holiday production"- NJ Star Ledger (Full Review)
Luna Stage and StrangeDog Theatre
May 2014
Featuring: Tim Artz, Scott Cagney, Kelley Evans, Megan Greener, Tony Knotts, Michelle Lupo, Jerome R Shuler Jr., Liz Zazzi
Stage Manager: Dan Viola
sst. Stage Manager: Courtney Labossiere
Production Manager: Liz Cesario
Scenic Design: Libby Stadstad
Light Design: Rachel Budin
Sound Design: Julian Evans
Costume Design: Deborah Caney
Photos: Brianna McIntyre and Steven Lawler
William Burke returns to JACK with an audacious framework for his mystical texts. In "PIONEERS#goforth," Burke suspends actors Nikki Calonge, Zoë Geltman and Ugo Chukwu in a net above the audience for a play about making choices and the limitations placed on the experimental nature of our young. Composer/musician Catherine Brookman will provide live underscoring, employing her technical wizardry and ethereal voice.
"Alive as fuck"- CULTUREBOT (Full Review)
"They describe futile searches for authenticity and originality, in which half-remembered commercials and blearily recalled photographs seem somehow more real than actual lived experience."- New York Times (Full Review)
"Three actors are suspended in a net above the crowd in the latest enigmatic theatrical experiment by writer-director William Burke "- Time Out New York (Full Review)
JACK Performing Arts Space
2016
Director/Writer: William Burke
Asst. Director and Stage Manager: Artem Yatsunov
Featuring Nikki Calonge, Zoë Geltman and Ugo Chukwu.
Set Design: Carolyn Mraz
Lights: Megan Lang
Costumes: Alice Tavener
Live music composed and performed by Catherine Brookman
Production: Gene Lee and Ann Marie Dorr
Producer: John Del Gaudio
Dejected, discouraged and depressed, Jonathon arrives home from work to his miserable little apartment where he lives all alone....Well, he lives all alone with his roommates:His dead dog on the couch, his dead grandpa at the table, and his ex-girlfriend locked in the closet
"Go See ‘Claire Went to France’? Abso-arfin-lutely! ...Mr. Clawson's dialogue is tragicomic gold… smart synthesis of dour absurdism and absurdly good humor reveals itself capable of carrying warmth with ease." Local East Village/NY Times (Full Review)
"An inventive, theatrical staging by the director, Artem Yatsunov; and a charming spirit." - NYTheatre.com (Full Review)
Under St. Marks ('12) / Hamilton Stage ('14)
Produced by StrangeDog Theatre
Featuring: Scott Cagney, Megan Greener, Tony K. Knotts, Shannon Sullivan, Alie Chan / Elizabeth Macintosh and Gary Martins.
Lights/Stage Manager: Darielle Shandler
Sound/Projections: Christopher Caporlingua
Set: Jessica Parks
Props/Dionosaur: Sara Sciabbarrasi
Five new short plays from Ben Clawson, Stacie Lents, Nikkole Salter, Joey Palestina and John Wooten. commissioned by StrangeDog, placing age old fairy-tales in a single dilapidated modern apartment building. These classic stories have been turned on their heads, the rules of their world have changed, and Prince Charming has developed a drinking problem.
"Old fairy tales in a new way...The jokes in the script are maximized in their potential thanks to the direction of Artem Yatsunov"- Theatre Is Easy (Full Review)
"These four little plays go where fairy tale spin has not, to our knowledge, gone before, and invert the whole damn genre."- Stage Buddy (Full Review)
"Since it is Strange Dog, there is the mandatory sex, booze, youthful energy, underwear and groan inducing, gross-flavored humor"- NorthJersey.com (Full Review)
Luna Stage / Under St. Marks
Produced by StrangeDog Theater
2014
Stage Manager: Katie Chai
Light/Sound: Harrison J. Adams
Photography: Anthony Gusevich
Sets/Tech Direction: Christopher Caporlingua
A StrangeDog Theatre Production
Spanning a decade in the lives of these men-children, The Virilogy watches as Brian, Stu and Quinn attempt to discover how to be heart broken, how to be a man, how to be a friend, and how to fail miserably at all of the above. From Star Wars to Care Bears, cookbooks to car chases, bridesmaids to basketball, angels to she-devils and back again, the boys of The Virilogy search for something solid to hold on to...and they pray that thing doesn't turn out to be each other. Features: Virilia, Virility, and Visectomy.
"This show has fantastic energy, and I was thoroughly engaged the whole time. Clawson's writing captures the balance between the easy banter of a group of old friends and the awkwardness of their attempts to discuss their feelings. Of course, the writing is brought to life as Cagney, Murgittroyd, and Hernandez let the action flow organically. "
- The Huffington Post (Full Article)
"As satire (and comedy) The Virilogy is immensely entertaining...Every bro mythology is faithfully reproduced and skewered with rapid fire jokes and gut busting physical comedy. It's like a live version of Archer, Family Guy, and Tosh.0 wrapped in a Taco Bell Dorito Taco."
- Culturalcapitol.com ( Full Article )
"Ben Clawson's clever dialogue is well executed by director Artem Yatsunov, as well as the talented cast who know how to milk every possible laugh from every quip, and time each joke perfectly."
- Theatre Is Easy (Full Article)
"An enormously well-written well acted, well directed play so full of laughs, heart, and surprises that the drinking-game part became secondary."
- The Happiest Medium ( Full Article )
Tierney's Tavern ('11) / Under St. Marks & Red Room ('12)
Directed by Artem Yatsunov
Featuring: Scott Cagney, Alejandro Jernandez, and David J. Murgittroyd
