The Mother Line Story Project Mother Line Story Project Workshop Group

About This Show

The Mother Line Story Project is a platform to amplify women’s voices past & present, in which 12 storytellers write & perform in the voices of their ancestors. The personal illuminates the universal as they recount & reclaim the stories of their Mother Line.

About the Artists

Mother Line Story Project Workshop Group is a collective where women tell stories about the women who came before. Beginning as a handful of NYC artists sharing dinner, wine & stories in June 2015, the project has grown into a multi-media platform where women from all over the world are invited to share the voices of their Mother Line through our podcast & live performances.

Eliza Simpson is a NYC based actor, director & creator of The Mother Line Story Project. She can currently be seen in The Woodsman at New World Stages. She is an artistic associate of Strangemen and Co. & former member of The Bats Theater Co. at The Flea Theater. This is dedicated to her mother.

Amanda A. Lederer is an NYC-based actor, Associate Artistic Director of Strangemen & Co., Co-Producer of The Mother Line Story Project & graduate of Catawba College.  Currently, she can be seen in The Woodsman at New World Stages. Amanda’s off-broadway credits include The Woodsman (59E59, Ars Nova) & Shlemiel the First (TFANA). She has performed with St. Anne’s Warehouse, NYMF & Gallery Players. Select regional performances include The Divine Sister (Stageworks-Hudson), Make Sure It’s Me (BTF), Streetcar, Uncle Vanya & Guys&Dolls (NHT-Indiana). Amanda can be seen in That Awkward Moment, with Zac Efron & Michael B. Jordan.

Lauren Nordvig is a Gator Grad who has worked with The Pearl, Epic Theatre Ensemble, NYClassical & can currently be seen in The Woodsman at New World Stages. She is a Company Member at The Hippodrome State Theatre, a Shakespeare Society Ambassador & an Artistic Associate of Strangemen&Co.

Julia Anrather is a half-Italian maker of theater and music who grew up in NYC. She’s a member of the Bat theater company, the MasterFool acting company where she most recently played Lady MacDuff in their Macbeth, and she’s releasing her new EP “VictoryVitriol” this March. Thank you to the members of Motherline for including her in their magic. https://soundcloud.com/juliaanrather/…

Cristina Pitter is a Brooklyn based artist, storyteller, healer, and sex educator. She also has the best laugh ever. Seriously. Off Broadway/Off-Off Broadway: Girl (La Mama Galleria), Impact (Cherry Lane Theatre),Neighborhood 3: Requisition of Doom (The Flea Theater), Shooting Blanks In The Afterlife (EST Youngblood Brunch), See With Vision (Woodshed Collective), #serials@theflea (The Flea Theater), and Kapowi-GoGo (The PIT). TV/Film: “Law & Order SVU”, “Orange Is The New Black”, “Me And Lizzie”, “Floating Sunflowers” and “Bruce”. Member of The Bats at The Flea Theater, Barefoot Theatre Company, Decent Company, and a NBC/PIT Diversity Scholar. BFA Brooklyn College. Feel free to follow her antics on Twitter @isisgypsy or Instagram @lavidagypsy

Megan McDermott* is thrilled to be a part of this wonderful ensemble of talented women!NYC credits include: The Three Sisters (The Wild Project), The Erpingham Camp (WorkShop Theatre), and Big Love (The Wild Project). Regional credits include: In The Next Room/The Vibrator Play, Time Stands Still, The Glass Menagerie, The Importance of Being Earnest, Twelfth Night, Why Marry?, Crimes of the Heart, Shakespeare in Hollywood, The Learned Ladies, Amadeus, The Three Sisters, Richard II, The Eight: Reindeer Monologues, Berkeley Square, Laughter on the 23rd Floor, Ivanov, Dulcy, and Spring Awakening. She has performed at The Wilma Theater, The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, Delaware Theatre Company, Bristol Riverside Theatre, Act II Playhouse, EgoPo Productions, East Lynne Theater, Pittsburgh Irish and Classical Theatre, Philadelphia Theatre Workshop, and McCarter Theatre Center. Training: The Actors Center Studio/NY, The British American Drama Academy, and The Moscow Art Theatre. http://megan-mcdermott.com/

Asia Kate Dillon – NEW YORK DIXON PLACE, Good Men Wanted, Albert Cashier /  NY DISTILLING CO., Macbeth, Malcolm / THE PIT, Kapowi GoGo!!!, Blade Gunnblade / THE FLEA, The Mysteries, Lucifer REGIONAL ARENA STAGE, Good Men Wanted, Albert Cashier / SHAKESPEARE THEATRE CO., The Tempest, Ariel understudy / AWI, My Name is Rachel Corrie, Rachel Corrie TELEVISION/FILM We’re All Gonna Die / Master of None / Younger TRAINING AMDA; Studio Program / Actor’s Workshop of Ithaca; Meisner Training Program

Sophia Zukoski is a second generation Norwegian-American preceded by a motherline of Norwegian women. She is a graduate of SUNY Purchase’s BFA Acting Conservatory and an associate artist in Strangemen & Co.  and The Electric Eye Ensemble. Tonight her love and gratitude extend to her grandmother – Thank you for always sharing your stories, your soul, and making me laugh. Thank you Mother Line and company for this gorgeous theatrical experience.

Evangeline Johns* As a woman of “a certain age” I am thrilled to work with this group of young, bold, aware women who have chosen to explore roots. A plant grows from the roots up, but the roots are buried deep in the earth. We forget about them, but without roots, a plant has no sustenance. As an actress, my roots have been nourished by years of work in experimental, multi-media theatre, and I feel a return to those roots now,with the motherline project. I intend to drink deeply, thanks to all involved.

Ariana Johns* is currently the lyricist for the soon to be Off-Broadway musical, BUZZ, Son of a Bee…an actor’s life for me (as well as playing Carla in the production). Her solo show, Vampingo…a comedy with bite was part of the NY International Fringe Festival, and her comedy Moonbite…a montage of radiant lunacy has had sold-out runs in NY and L.A. She’s also loving singing cabaret, and has a series at Don’t Tell Mama, A Dreamer’s Guide to the Galaxy. Ariana is thrilled to join this compelling cast of women (including her mother, Evangeline!)

Lindsley Howard is thrilled to be lending an ear and a voice to her family’s long line of tough-as-nails, Texas-born women. Originally hailing from Austin, TX she received her BFA at St Edward’s University, and is a BAT at the Flea. Thank you to the entire Motherline company and cast for always leaning in and embracing the process. http://www.lindsleyhoward.com/

Leemore Malka is third in a Mother Line of lifelong Bronx girls and prior to that, Austrian dames she wishes she knew. She is an NYU graduate, a Bat at the Flea Theater, an improviser on the team Big City performing twice monthly at the PIT, a trilinguist and an old soul. So many thanks to The Mother Line Story Project, and to you. http://www.leemoremalka.com/

Susan Izatt* is an NYC based actor and performance artist, director and dramaturg, and daughter of a Scottish mother, who is thrilled to be part of telling our mothers and grandmothers stories. Favorite roles and collaborations include Off-Broadway, Julia, in That Ilk, Hudson Guild; Kathy, in Northern Country at Henry Street Settlement, with Dorothy Linman directing; Regional: Rita in Educating Rita,(won regional critic’s Best Actress award;)  Princess Ira, Verse Theatre’s 1953, written by Paul Raine UK Poet Laureate/US premier; Duchess of Glouster, in Tribeca Lab’s Richard II; Titania in A MIdsummers Night Dream, Heather in Gidion’s Knot, The Seeing Place Theatre Co, Clarion Theatre, Brandon Walker Dir, Amanda in Composure, Scott C. Sickles playwright, Fritz Brekler directing. Voice Artist: NFL television broadcasts, Pathmark’s, Lochheed Martin, New Balance, Sesame Street, Dunkin Donuts and others. Various Directing work and Literary Associate and Dramaturg at The Workshop Theatre Company, Ensemble Member The Seeing Place Theatre Co.

Zach Pizza (Lighting Designer) is thrilled to be with this talented group working on this special project. Selected credits… Off-Broadway: On the Head of a Pin (59E59). New York: Coming of Age, Two-Month Rule (NYMF), Stripped (Culture Club), Dream Babies (St. Clements Theater). Regional: Sister Play, Electric Baby, 100 Years, The Other Place (Dreamcatcher Rep), Next to Normal, Red (NJACT Perry Award), Altar Boyz (Porchlight Prod). Assistant LD: What I Did Last Summer (Signature Theater). Assistant to LD: Rock of Ages (Helen Hayes Theater). Thanks always to all of my friends and families. Purchase College alum. www.zachpizzalighting.com

Anna Aschilman (Stage Manager) is a freelance stage manager from Wisconsin, and a recent graduate from Ithaca College with a B.A. in Theatre Studies. New York credits:Then She Fell (Third Rail Projects), The Rise and Fall of Marcus Monroe (Ars Nova). Regional: How to Succeed (Sunset Playhouse, Elm Grove, WI), Il Sogno (Opera Ithaca), and numerous Ithaca College productions as both stage manager and fight director.

 

Tuesday, Feb. 23 at 7:30pm

General Admission
$12 in advance
$15 at the door

Stu / Sen / id NYC
$10

Estimated Runtime
50 minutes

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Credits

Written & performed by
Mother Line Story Project Workshop Group  

Directed by
Eliza Simpson

Produced by
Lauren Nordvig, Amanda Lederer & Eliza Simpson

Lighting Design by
Zach Pizza

Production Stage Management by
Anna Aschilman

Featuring
Julia Anrather, Amanda A. Lederer, Lauren Nordvig, Cristina Pitter, Megan McDermott*, Asia Kate Dillon, Sophia Zukoski, Evangeline Johns*, Ariana Johns*, Lindsley Howard, Leemore Malka, Susan Izatt*

*Appearing courtesy of Actor’s Equity Association

Photo Credit
Brandon Dottin

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