No Singing In The Navy

About the Show

Three silly sailors have $100 and 24 hours in San Diego before they’re shipped off to war and certain death. A loving and sardonic riff on the golden (problematic) age of musical theater, NO SINGING IN THE NAVY looks at what happens when American ideas of innocence and nostalgia collide with messy political realities and uncomfortable truths. 

The Cast

Sailor 1: Bailey Lee

Sailor 2: Elliot Saga

Sailor 3: Ellen Nikbakht*

Understudies

U/S Sailor 1: Emjay Williams

U/S Sailor 2: Tommy Huebner

U/S Sailor 3: Madeleine Kerr

*Members of Actor's Equity Association

Creative Team

Music Director: Padra Crisafulli

Scenic Design: Maddie Butler

Costume Design: Ting Xiong

Lighting Design: Stephaney Knapp

Dramaturg: Natalia Demko

Fight & Intimacy Director: Rachel Flesher

Music Mentor/ Accompanist: Kyle Blair

Assistant Director: Clara Williams

Assistant Director: Wes Jensen

Assistant Music Director: Ash Floyd

Assistant Accompanist: Kelly Feng

Assistant Light Design: Melody Vilitchai

Assistant Costume Design: Kiki Drew

Assistant Costume Design: Anthony Mercado

EDI Faculty Advocates: Robert Brill

Stage Management Team

Production Stage Manager: Huai Huang

Assistant Stage Manager: Tess Twomey

Assistant Stage Manager: Connor Rankin

Production Assistant: Angela Zhang

About the Playwright

Milo Cramer is a third-year MFA student. As a child, Milo couldn’t pronounce “r,” “k,” “ch,” “th,” “j,” or “t,” and was in speech therapy until age 10 - a lot of his work is trying to process human connection and misunderstanding on a very basic level! Milo’s audio-play Boy Factory - a thrillingly vulnerable masturbation confessional - can be heard on Playwrights Horizons: Soundstage. His play Cute Activist premiered at The Bushwick Starr in 2018 (“a brilliant match of material and theater…a fable for our times” – Jesse Green, NYT). With New Saloon Theater Company (co-founder), Milo spent four years collaboratively devising Minor Character: Six Translations of Uncle Vanya at the Same Time (“delightful… a spring-green forum on youth’s discontents” – Helen Shaw, Village Voice), presented at The Public Theater’s Under The Radar Festival. Milo is a Macdowell Fellow and is under commission from Clubbed Thumb and Playwrights Horizons. He is working on a one person musical about the New York City school system.

About the Director

Professor Aysan Celik (she/hers) has worked as an actor and theater-maker for over 20 years. She has originated roles in world premieres of plays, created cutting-edge experimental performances with her collaborators, and inhabited a variety of parts Off Broadway in New York, at U.S. regional theaters, and on international tours. Professor Aysan's research interest, an exploration of the relationship between comedy and social justice, guides much of her recent and upcoming work as a creator and actor. 

Professor Celik is an alumna of UCLA and the ART Institute at Harvard and is a member of acclaimed New York theater companies Theater Mitu and The Civilians. Before joining the UC San Diego community, Aysan was a professor at New York University Abu Dhabi for 10 years, where she had the privilege of working with students from over 116 countries. Originally from California, she is the daughter of Middle Eastern immigrants.