809 Almond
May 3 - May 17 | Sheila & Hughes Potiker Theatre
by Mylan Gray. directed by Stephen Buescher
About the Show
809 Almond is a Berkeley co-op founded during the Sixties, but things have changed a lot since the Sixties. Instead of marching in the streets, the co-op's residents are starting tech start-ups. In an effort to get back to their progressive roots, they recruit a Black roommate - except their new Black roommate has plans of her own. A dark comedy about race, sex, and late-stage capitalism, 809 ALMOND explores the blind spots and hypocrisies of well-intentioned liberalism.
Content Warning
This production contains references to or explorations of the following topics, which may be triggering:
- Guns
- Violence
- Nudity
- Profane Language
- Racial Slurs
This production will also contain:
- Flashing Lights/Strobe
|
The Cast
Stephanie - Emma Lias
Andrew - Germainne Lebrón
Angela - Kyá Lee
Jonathan - Layth Haddad
Loren - Torkan Omari
Understudies
U/S Stephanie - Sophia Ignacio
U/S Andrew - John Soto
U/S Angela - Charity Reid
U/S Jonathan - Justin Valine
U/S Loren - Taylor Mapes
Creative and Stage Management Team
Assistant Director - Annais Scott
Assistant Director - Charlotte Yu
Dramaturg - Mysia Anderson
Scenic Designer - Eleanor Williams
Assistant Scenic Designer - Abigail Miranda
Costume Designer - Alina Bokovikova
Assistant Costume Designer - Faith Garcia
Lighting Designer - Taylor Olson
Assistant Lighting Designer - Aunya Graham
Sound Designer - Padra Crisafulli
Assistant Sound Designer - Jordyn Lowe
Production Stage Manager - Juhi Sabharwal
Assistant Stage Manager - Yareli Garcia
Assistant Stage Manager - Ziyi Fang
Production Assistant - Jill Liang
About the Playwright
Mylan Gray (they/he) is an Eagle Scout and debate champion turned Black absurdist playwright. They are a descendant of black educators and soldiers and are preoccupied with transforming Black suffering into Black joy, laughter and peace. They have received the Lorraine Hansberry Award from the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival for their play, Buried in Blood. Their work has been developed by the Tank Theater, the Workshop Theater, the Kansas City Public Theater, the Whim Theater Company, the Mid-America Theater Conference, the Westmont Hive Festival and the Writing Downtown Residency in Las Vegas. They are a graduate of Stanford University, where they received the Kennell Jackson Jr. Award, the Braden Storytelling Grant, and a Chappell Lougee Scholarship. They are co-producer of the LIT Council of the Tank Theater, and have written a fiction podcast for LWC Studios. Their work draws on his deep reverence for Brazil and a penchant for spiritual journeying. When they are not writing, reading, or watching films, they are in the forest soaking up the songs of birds and listening to the world's oldest keeper of stories: the trees.
About the Director
Professor Stephen Buescher is an actor, director, and teaching artist who has designed and led movement training curriculum for various master’s programs including Brown University/Trinity Repertory Consortium and the American Conservatory Theater. He has also taught physical theater in the master’s programs at the Yale School of Drama, University of Missouri Kansas City, and the University of Connecticut. He has choreographed Hamlet, A Thousand Splendid Suns, Orphan of Zhao, Stuck Elevator, Monstress, Let There Be Love, and Underneath the Lintel at the American Conservatory Theater; The Imaginary Invalid at the Old Globe Theater (Fiasco); A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Private Lives at Long Wharf Theater; A Christmas Carol at Trinity Repertory Company; Love’s Labour’s Lost at Shakespeare Santa Cruz; Blues for an Alabama Sky at the Lorraine Hansberry Theater; and Black Maria at The Providence Black Repertory Theater. He has directed numerous productions in the MFA Conservatory including The Bacchae Communion Rite, The Taming of the Shrew, Romeo and Juliet, Galileo, The House of Bernarda Alba (Moscow Art Theater), Hotel Paradiso, Black Orpheus, and Crazy for the Country. Professor Buescher has been a long time company member with Dell’ Arte International where he has performed both nationally and internationally. International Festivals include the International Small Scene Theater Festival (Croatia), The Festival of New Adaptations (Hungary), and The Festival International de Teatro Caribe (Colombia). He has also performed with the National Theater of Greece, Oktana Dance, and Tanz Theater Heidelberg. Nationally he has performed with Dell’ Arte International, American Conservatory Theater, Smith Wymore Disappearing Acts, Scott Wells and Dancers, Shotgun Players, and Deborah Slater Dance. He is a first round recipient of TCG’s New Generations Grant, a member of SDC, and the Network of Ensemble Theaters. Professor Buescher is a graduate of the Dell’ Arte International School of Physical Theater and California Institute of the Arts.