#Ilana Becker

[tampire]

Animal Metaphors

[thegreatescape]

Ilana Becker : myrtle sammich @robinlordtaylor @Anth_Carrigan

[chrisnaustin]

If only I were she!

[gotankgo]

[the-barnum-effect-blog]

Congratulations, It’s a colon.

[writemarcus]

Gingold Theatrical Group to Present SPEAKERS' CORNER New Play Development Workshops

Featuring: Karma Sutra Chai Tea Latte, Vigil-Aunties, There Goes The Neighborhood, and Howl From Up High.

by Chloe Rabinowitz May. 18, 2022  

Gingold Theatrical Group, now in its 17th Season, is continuing its new play development with the Plays-In-Progress AEA-approved Showcases of this year's SPEAKER'S CORNER Writers Group. This season, writers Aeneas Sagar Hemphill, Divya Mangwani, Marcus Scott and Mallory Jane Weiss are developing works in response to prompts from the revolutionary activist humanitarian writings and precepts of George Bernard Shaw. These Actors Equity Association approved 29-hour workshops culminate with a presentation as an opportunity for each playwright to assess where they are with their work and to determine the next steps to be taken. These invitation-only presentations will take place at ART-NY Studios (520 8th Avenue). Space for each final presentation is extremely limited and reservations must be made, so to request the opportunity to attend any of these events please email info@gingoldgroup.org This year's showcases will be:

Howl From Up High

by Mallory Jane Weiss, Directed by Lily Riopelle Thursday May 19th at 6pm Purva Bedi, Tori Ernst, Jacqueline Guillen, Sarah Rose Kearns, Adam Langdon, Collin McConnell; Assistant Director, Margaret Lee

Vigil-Aunties

by Divya Mangwani, Directed by Arpita Mukherjee Friday May 20th at 7pm Anya Banerji, Aadya Bedi, Sayali Niranjan Bramhe, Rahoul Roy, Mahima Saigal, Salma Shaw, and Rita Wolf; Assistant Director, Sara Vishnev

There Goes The Neighborhood

by Marcus Scott, Directed by Dev Bondarin Friday June 3rd at 7pm Phillip Burke, Shavanna Calder, Anthony Goss, Ashley Jossell, Olivia Kinter, Monique Robinson, David Rowen, Cliff Sellers; Stage Manager Elliot J. Cohen.

Karma Sutra Chai Tea Latte

by Aeneas Hemphill, Directed by Arpita Mukherjee, Monday June 6th at 2pm Shawn, Jain, Sean Devare, Salma Shaw, Khyati Sehgal, Mahima Saigal; Stage Manager Elliot J. Cohen

"Among the many programs we've developed over the last 17 years, developing new plays with the intent to produce and publish, has always been the most ambitious dream of all of us at Gingold. While we continue to produce our annual full off-Broadway productions of plays by George Bernard Shaw, we plan to add at least one new play to our schedule to share with our devoted patrons," said David Staller. Named after the corner of London's Hyde Park where George Bernard Shaw and other political speakers have delivered speeches since 1855, GTG's SPEAKERS' CORNER brings together six to ten writers each year who will spend the year exploring a specific Shaw play and writing individual new plays in response to that text and Shaw's forward thinking humanitarian ideals. Speakers' Corner members meet bi-monthly, and GTG will host showings of the works that Speakers' Corner develops at the end of the season. The group's members were identified through an open application process under the guidance of Becker, GTG Artistic Director David Staller, and this season's Speakers' Corner Readers and Advisory Committee: Ilana Becker, Stephen Brown-Fried, Ralph B. Peña, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Sharon Washington, along with Speakers' Corne alumni Hank Kim, and Lorenzo Roberts.

WRITERS:

Aeneas Sagar Hemphill (he/him) is an Indian-American playwright and screenwriter based in NYC and DC. Weaving through many genres, his work builds new worlds to illuminate our own, investigating the ghosts that haunt our lives and communities with passion, pathos, and humor. He was a 2019 Resident Artist with Monson Arts Center and 2017-2018 Playlab fellow at Pipeline Theatre, as well as semi-finalist for the 2019 Princess Grace Award, semi-finalist for the 2019 Mabou Mines Resident Artist Program, and finalist for the 2017 Many Voices Fellowship. His plays include: Black Hollow (Argo Collective, Dreamscape Theatre), The Troll King (Pipeline), Childhood Songs (Monson Arts), The Republic of Janet & Arthur (Amios), The Red Balloon (Noor Theatre), A Stitch Here or There (DarkHorse Dramatists, Slingshot Theatre), A Horse and a Housecat (Slingshot Theatre). MFA Playwriting, Columbia University. Divya Mangwani is a writer and theatre artist from Pune, India, based in New York. She examines the absurdities of the social, political and mythical. Her work focuses on global identity and belonging. Divya was the founder and Artistic Director of Moonbeam Factory Theatre, where she wrote, directed, and produced plays in India, Singapore and Glasgow. In New York, she has developed work with UNICEF, Soho Rep, New York Theatre Workshop, Gingold Theatrical Group, Rattlestick Theatre, Mabou Mines, Hypokrit Theatre, The Flea, Project Y, Pipeline Theatre, Rising Sun, and Governors Island. Divya is a recent fellow of the Soho Rep Writer/Director Lab and the Gingold Theatrical Group Speakers Corner and was a NYTW 2050 Artistic Fellow, Hypokrit Theatre Tamasha playwright, Project Y Writers Group and Playlab fellow at Pipeline Theatre. Divya has also worked as a journalist and editor at The Times of India, ESPN, Crisis Response Journal, and Daily News & Analysis. Marcus Scott is a dramatist & journalist. Selected work includes Tumbleweed (finalist for the 2017 Bay Area Playwrights Festival; semifinalist for the 2022 Eugene O'Neill Theater Center National Playwrights Conference, the 2022 Blue Ink Playwriting Award & the 2017 New Dramatists Princess Grace Fellowship Award), Sibling Rivalries (finalist for the 2021 Seven Devils Playwrights Conference; semi-finalist for the 2022 Lanford Wilson New American Play Festival, the 2021 Blue Ink Playwriting Award & the 2021 New Dramatists Princess Grace Fellowship Award) and Cherry Bomb (recipient of the 2017 Drama League First Stage Artist-In-Residence). He was commissioned by Heartbeat Opera to adapt Beethoven's Fidelio (Librettist/Co-writer; The Met Museum; NY Times Critic's Pick). Recently developed at Gingold Theatrical Group (Speaker's Corner), Zoetic Stage (Finstrom Festival Of New Work), Queens Theatre (New American Voices series) and The Road Theatre Company's Under Construction 3 Playwrights Group and Cohort 2 of the Southern Black Playwrights Lab at the Mojoaa Performing Arts Company. Scott is a 2021 NYSAF Founders' Award finalist and a 2021 Doric Wilson Independent Playwright Award semi-finalist. His articles appeared in Architectural Digest, Time Out New York, American Theatre Magazine, Playbill, Elle, Out, Essence, The Brooklyn Rail, among others. MFA: GMTWP, NYU Tisch. Mallory Jane Weiss's plays include Big Black Sunhats (The O'Neill National Playwrights Conference 2022; Clubbed Thumb Biennial Commission finalist 2020), Lights Out and Away We Go (Clubbed Thumb reading June 2022), The Page Turners (The O'Neill National Playwrights Conference finalist 2021), Pony Up (Princess Grace Finalist 2019; SPACE on Ryder Farm semi-finalist 2020), Howl From Up High (in development with Gingold Theatrical Group), Evermore Unrest (Red Bull Short New Play Festival 2020), Dave and Julia are stuck in a tree (Playing on Air's James Stevenson Prize 2020), and Losing You, Which Is Enough (workshop readings at The Lark and Cherry Lane Theatre). She is a member of Clubbed Thumb's Early Career Writers' Group (2021-2022), The COOP's Clusterf**k vol. 2 (2021), Gingold Theatrical Group's Speakers Corner, and Fresh Ground Pepper's BRB Retreat (2019). Mallory earned her B.A. from Harvard University and her M.F.A. in playwriting from The New School. She also works as a Senior Writer for Ethena, where she creates harassment-prevention training in the form of short-form articles, graphic novels, audio plays, and more. In addition to Speakers' Corner, GTG's on-going play development also includes PRESS CUTTINGS, which, in recognition of Shaw's career as a theatre critic, supports the development of new plays written by theatre journalists. Press Cuttings has commissioned new plays by Jeremy McCarter, Robert Simonson, and David Cote, and, in June of 2017, presented an AEA workshop of David Cote's Otherland directed by May Adrales. This fall, GTG returned to live, in person performance with the acclaimed revival of Bernard Shaw's Mrs. Warren's Profession starring Robert Cuccioli, David Lee Huynh, Alvin Keith, Nicole King, Raphael Nash Thompson, and Tony® Award winner Karen Ziemba as Mrs. Warren, which recently completed its acclaimed Off-Broadway engagement at Theatre Row, directed by David Staller. Terry Teachout, reviewing Mrs. Warren's Profession in The Wall Street Journal, declared "Mr. Staller, who knows everything there is to know about Shaw, has not only staged the play but edited the text with his accustomed skill. All the more reason, then, to praise David Staller, the artistic director of Project Shaw, a long-running series of semi-staged concert readings of the playwright's 60-odd shows. In addition to Project Shaw, Mr. Staller's Gingold Theatrical Group presented fully staged small-scale off-Broadway versions of Heartbreak House in 2018 and Caesar and Cleopatra in 2019, and now they're doing Mrs. Warren's Profession. The production is completely satisfying... Sprinkled with tart, school-of-Wilde epigrams ('There are no secrets better kept than the secrets everybody guesses') and overflowing with glittering talk, it's a foolproof vehicle for six accomplished actors and a director who, like Mr. Staller, knows better than to let the play become a static chat-fest. Instead, he keeps the actors moving and the pace brisk, and the results are immensely pleasurable." GINGOLD THEATRICAL GROUP creates theater that supports human rights, freedom of speech, and individual liberty using the work of George Bernard Shaw as our guide. All of GTG's programs are inspired by Shaw's humanitarian values. Through full productions, staged readings, new play development, and inner-city educational programs, GTG brings Shavian precepts to audiences and artists across New York, encouraging individuals to breathe Shaw's humanist ideals into their contributions for the future. Shaw created plays to inspire peaceful discussion and activism and that is what GTG aims to accomplish. GTG's past productions include Man and Superman (2012), You Never Can Tell (2013), Major Barbara (2014), Widowers' Houses (2016), Heartbreak House (2018), and Caesar & Cleopatra (2019). Founded in 2006 by David Staller, GTG has carved a permanent niche for the work of George Bernard Shaw within the social and cultural life of New York City, and, through the Project Shaw reading series, made history in 2009 as the first company ever to present performances of every one of Shaw's 65 plays (including full-length works, one-acts and sketches). GTG brings together performers, critics, students, academics and the general public with the opportunity to explore and perform theatrical work inspired by the humanitarian and activist values that Shaw championed. All comedies, these plays boldly exhibit the insight, wit, passion and all-encompassing socio-political focus that distinguished Shaw as one of the most inventive and incisive writers of all time. Through performances, symposiums, new play development, and outreach, as well as through our discussion groups and partnerships with schools including SUNY Stony Brook, Regis, the De La Salle Academy, and The Broome Street Academy, GTG has helped spark a renewed interest in Shaw across the country, and a bold interest in theater as activism. Young people are particularly inspired by Shaw's invocation to challenge the strictures society imposes, to embrace the power of the individual, to make bold personal choices and to take responsibility for these choices. GTG's new play development lab, Speakers' Corner, created to support playwrights inspired by Shaw's ideals, is now in its second cycle. Through monthly prompts and feedback, writers develop work inspired by or in response to a specific Shaw text. Plays developed through Speakers' Corner will be nurtured in workshops and readings with the expectation that GTG will publish or produce them. GTG encourages all people to rejoice in the possibilities of the future. All of GTG's programming is designed to inspire lively discussion and peaceful activism with issues related to human rights, the freedom of speech, and individual liberty. This was the purpose behind all of Shaw's work and why GTG chose him as the guide toward helping create a more tolerant and inclusive world through the exploration of the Arts. For more information about the Workshops or any of Gingold Theatrical Group's projects, please call 212-355-7823, email info@gingoldgroup.org, or visit online at www.gingoldgroup.org.

[finishinglinepress]

FLP CHAPBOOK OF THE DAY: On Sunday Afternoons by Richard Becker

TO ORDER GO TO: https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/on-sunday-afternoons-by-richard-becker/

RESERVE YOUR COPY TODAY

Richard Becker has had poems in Columbia, America, The Baltimore Review, U City Review, Cold Mountain Review, among others. His chapbook,“Fates,” is published by The Literary Review. He lives in Richmond, VA with wife Doris Wylee-Becker, daughter Ilana Lee, and Golden Retriever Muffin. He is Associate Professor of Music at the University of Richmond.

ADVANCE PRAISE FOR On Sunday Afternoons by Richard Becker

Despite its unassuming low-key title, On Sunday Afternoons is a collection of vividly stimulating surprises–whether of natural description, emotional understanding, or bristling with tactful literary reference. What I especially admire is how in poem after poem Becker startles a reader into refreshed appreciation of what we think of as the “ordinary” world. Ordinary yes, but extraordinary too in the near-haiku glimmer and glow with which the poet animates small corners of the natural world. In one poem “Local plovers call-/ and-answered/ from the power poles;” in another “night animals’ voices rise cantabile falsetto/ in mock solemnity. She cranes her neck.” (That Becker is also a musician-composer enriches his poetic brew.) On Sunday Afternoons also contains longer meditations rich in human–often familial–feeling, or poems that lean into more surreal animations, or revisit a remembered Brooklyn: “washed up on the shoals of the Gowanus.” Lucid and musically realized, these poems emerge from what Becker calls “This center of imagining,” a place in which the “bright sky” of his own imagination is at home.

–Eamon Grennan

“a gorgeous collection… thoughtful, affecting, and compelling…filled with poems that are beautifully crafted, imaginative, moving.”

–Jeffrey Levine

Of “Fates,” “[there’s a] dense sensual feel of language [and its] frame is kept both various yet consistent. It’s really a great size and shape, like they say — delightful!”

–Robert Creeley

Please share/please repost [PROMO] #flpauthor #preorder #AwesomeCoverArt #poetry

[theatredirectors]

268 Directors and the end of the blog

This post marks the end of the Ask a Director experiment. I’m so grateful to all who have contributed, supported and engaged with it over the past six and a half years. 

This blog was started at a time when I felt incredibly alone in the directing field. I had always been taught that a director operates solo, that it was a lonely career and above all, it was based on scarcity. This was a style of working and living that didn't fit for me. I wanted to talk to other directors about their practice and thoughts about the field, both national and international. This blog was started as a way to connect, to uplift other directors and to create a conversation about the changing field and practices. 

It's surpassed all of these goals and brought me more joy than I can name. 

I'm now at a moment where my practice and advocacy are taking different and exciting paths and it's time for me to put this site to bed. I remain committed to uplifting other directors, to talking about the practice, to flattening hierarchies, to opening doors for new ways of working, and leading rehearsal rooms, companies, and classrooms away from silos and vacuums. Featuring these 268 different directors was just the beginning. 

I encourage you all to hire them (and others), advocate for them (and others) and choose to work in a system that values connection and generosity. 

Abhishek Majumdar

Adam Fitzgerald

Alice Stanley

Aliza Shane

Amanda McRaven

Amy Corcoran

Amy Jephta

Anisa George

Ana Margineau

Andrew Scoville

Anna Stromberg

Anne Cecelia Haney

Ariel Francoeur

Arpita Mukherjee

Ashley Hollingshead

Ashley Marinaccio

Andrew Neisler

Beng Oh

Ben Randle

Ben Stockman

Benjamin Kamine

Beth Lopes

Bo Powell

Bogdan Georgescu

Bonnie Gabel

Brandon Ivie

Brandon Woolf

Brian Hashimoto

Cait Robinson

Caitlin Ryan O’Connell

Caitlin Sullivan

Catie Davis

Cara Phipps

Carol Ann Tan

Carsen Joenk

Chari Arespacochaga

Cheryl Faraone

Chloe Treat

Christin Eve Cato

Christine Zagrobelny

Christopher Diercksen

Colette Robert

Colleen Hughes

Cyndy Marion

Dado Gyure

Dan Rothenberg

Daniel Irizarry

Danielle Ozymandias

Danny Sharon

Dara Malina

David Charles

Dennis Yueh-Yeh Li

Derek Spencer 

Donald Brenner

Doug Oliphant

Eamon Boylan

Elena Araoz

Emily Lyons

Emma Miller

Eric Kildow

Eric Wallach

Eric Powell Holm

Estefania Fadul

Evelina Stampa

Evren Odcikin

Evi Stamatiou

Francesca Montanile Lyons

Gabriel Vega Weissman

Gian Marco Riccardo Lo Forte 

Graham Schmidt

Gregg Wiggans

Hannah Ryan

Hannah Wolf

Heather Bagnall

Horia Suru

Ilana Becker

Ilana Ransom Toeplitz

Illana Stein

Ioanna Katsarou

Ioli Andreadi

Irina Abraham Chigiryov

Iris Sowlat

Isaac Klein

J Paul Nicholas

Jack Tamburri

Jaclyn Biskup

Jacob Basri

Jake Beckhard

Jaki Bradley

Jamie Watkins

Javier Molina

Jay Stern

Jay Stull

Jenna Rossman

Jenna Worsham

Jennifer Chambers

Jenny Bennett

Jenny Reed

Jeremy Bloom

Jeremy Pickard

Jerrell Henderson

Jess Hutchinson

Jess Shoemaker

Jesse Jou

Jessi D Hill

Jessica Burr

Jessica Holt

Jillian Carucci

Joanne Zipay

Jo Cattell

John Michael Diresta

John Kurzynowski

Joe Hedel

Jonathan Munoz-Proulx

Jose Zayas

Josh Kelley

Josh Sobel

Joshua Kahan Brody

Joshua William Gelb

Julia Sears

Justin Schlabach

Kareem Fahmy

Karen Christina Jones

Kate Bergstrom

Kate Hopkins

Kate Jopson

Kate Moore Heaney

Katherine M. Carter

Katherine Wilkinson

Kathy Gail MacGowan

Katie Chidester

Kendall Cornell 

Kendra Augustin

Kholoud Sawaf

Kimberly Faith Hickmann

Kim Weild

KJ Sanchez

Knud Adams

Kristin Marting

Kristin McCarthy Parker

Kristin Skye Hoffman

Kristy Chambrelli

Kristy Dodson

KT Shorb

Kyle Metzger

Kylie M. Brown

Larissa Fasthorse

Larissa Lury

Laura Brandel

Laura Steinroeder

Lauren Hlubny

Lauren Keating

Lavina Jadhwani

Jenn Haltman

Leta Tremblay

Lila Rachel Becker

Lillian Meredith

Lily Riopelle

Lindsey Hope Pearlman

Lisa Rothe

Lisa Sanaye Dring

Liz Thaler

Lori Wolter Hudson

Lucie Tiberghien

Luke Comer

Luke Tudball

Lyndsay Burch

Lynn Lammers

Mallory Catlett

Manon Manavit

Margarett Perry

Maridee Slater

Marina Bergenstock

Marti Lyons

Martin Jago

Matt Cosper

Matt Ritchey

Max Hunter

Megan Sandberg-Zakian

Megan Weaver

Meghan Finn

Melissa Crespo

Melody Erfani

Michael Alvarez

Michael T. Williams

Michaela Escarcega

Michelle Tattenbaum

Mimi Barcomi

Miranda Haymon

Molly Beach Murphy

Molly Clifford

Molly Noble

Morgan Gould

Morgan Green

Murielle Borst-Tarrant

Nana Dakin

Natalie Novacek

Neal Kowalsky

Nell Bang-Jensen

Nick Benacerraf

Noa Egozi

Norah Elges

Normandy Sherwood

Olivia Lilley

Orly Noa Rabinyan

Oscar Mendoza

Pablo Paz

Padraic Lillis 

Patrick Walsh

Pete Danelski

Pirronne Yousefzadeh

Portia Krieger

Rachel Karp

Rachel Wohlander

Randolph Curtis Rand

Raz Golden

Rebecca Cunningham

Rebecca Martinez

Rebecca Wear

Renee Phillippi

Renee Yeong

Rich Brown

Rick St. Peter

Robert Schneider

Ryan Anthony Nicotra

Sammi Cannold

Sammy Zeisel

Sanaz Ghajar

Sara Holdren

Sara Lyons

Sara Rademacher

Sarah Elizabeth Wansley

Sarah Hughes

Sarah M. Chichester

Sarah Rose Leonard

Sash Bischoff

Scarlett Kim

Seonjae Kim

Seth Pyatt

Sharifa Elkady

Shaun Patrick Tubbs

Sherri Eden Barber

Simon Hanukai

Sophia Watt

Suchan Vodoor

Stephen Cedars

Steven Kopp

Steven Wilson

Talya Klein

Tana Siros

Tara Ahmadinejad

Tara Cioletti

Tara Elliott

Tatiana Pandiani

Taylor Reynolds

TerryandtheCuz

Tommy Schoffler

Tracy Bersley

Trevor Biship

Tyler Mercer

Wednesday Sue Derrico

Will Dagger

Will Davis

Will Detlefsen

Will Steinberger

Yojiro Ichikawa

Yoni Oppenheim

Zi Alikhan

Zoya Kachardurian

[andromedia-aria13]

Ilana Becker as Irritabelle for Viberzi IBS Medication 😂

[thegreatescape]

lanibecker : ❤️🤴🏻 @corymichaelsmith lanibecker#gotham #on #fox #bts #the#riddler 

[justgotham]

Gotham 4x03 Title & Synopsis

A Dark Knight: They Who Hide Behind Masks

Gordon takes matters into his own hands when he travels to Miami in attempts to persuade Carmine Falcone for his help in the fight against Penguin. There, he meets Carmine's (guest star John Doman) daughter, Sofia (Crystal Reed), who unexpectedly follows Gordon back to Gotham. The battle for Penguin's prized weaponry continues during auction night at the Iceberg Lounge and Bruce's presence puts him on Penguin's radar.

Guest Cast: Ilana Becker as Myrtle Jenkins, John Doman as Carmine Falcone, Anthony Carrigan as Zsasz, Kelcy Griffin as Detective Harper

Via: FutonCritic

[chrisnaustin]

If only I were she!

[sueboohscorner]

They Who Hide Behind Masks #Gotham Season 4 Episode 3 Spoilers, Rate, Review

Alrighty then, this episode doesn’t have a whole lot of stuff going on compared to the last two episodes, but since it is Gotham, Stuff. Did. Occur.

                        We take an enormous jump back in history, 125 A.D. in Arabia, to be exact. A man on a horse crosses over a battlefield of wounded bodies of wounded or dead soldiers in the wake. He scans his eyes among the many faces of warriors and rests his sights on one badly hurt man.

            He takes the man and plunges him into the waters of the Lazarus Pit. The water remains still for a moment. It then begins to rumble. Then the wounded man (Alexander Siddig) surges from the Pit, breathing the air of life once again. He is confused and asks why this man would save him and bring him back to the land of the living. The mysterious man presents him with a knife and tells him that he is his new heir and that he shall now take on his legacy and the new name of Ra’s al Ghul.

(I know! The freaking year 125! 125! That’s how long he’s been alive!)

            In present-day Gotham, Bruce Wayne (David Mazouz) put his new suit to good use and investigates new merchandise being brought in the dock for the Penguin. Through radio transmission, Bruce informs Alfred (Sean Pertwee) that he isn’t the only one doing some snooping around the newly arrived shipment. Bruce sees a thief, also wearing a mask, approaching Penguin’s products.

    The thief gets on a truck and tries to take what is in the crate. Bruce carefully peers through the wooden planks covering the truck to see what exactly the thief is doing. Unfortunately, someone wearing a lot of black, armored clothing while standing outside a truck tends to draw some attention. The armed guards catch Bruce.

            His new bullet-proof duds give Bruce the confidence boost to totally kick the mess out of the guards, although he does sustain a knife injury to his hand. Bruce manages to thwart off the guards. Although in all the ruckus, the unknown masked thief gets away as well.

            Away from the line of fire, the masked thief reveals to us that it’s *gasp* Selina Kyle (Camren Bicondova)!

            Meanwhile, Jim Gordon (Ben McKenzie) takes a little trip to Miami to have a chat with Carmine Falcone (John Doman). Jim joins Falcone at an al fresco café table, along with his daughter Sofia Falcone (Crystal Reed); Carmine Falcone’s only daughter, by the way.

            Jim asks Falcone for help in taking down Penguin and restoring some order back into the city. Carmine surprises us as well as Jim with information that he is slowly dying and cannot go back to Gotham. Sofia offers to go to Gotham in Carmine’s stead. He declines her request, saying that she is not ready for Gotham.

But come on, I mean, who is?

            Jim and Sofia talk a stroll along the shore. She talks about how she and her father’s relationship has always been a little rough. Sofia, even as a child, would always have to schedule an appointment just to spend time with her father. Now, because of his health, Sofia feels somewhat grateful that she can spend time with her father.

            Of course with Jim being Jim in this show, he and Sofia end up kissing.

We take a change of scenery to see Oswald Cobblepot (Robin Lord Taylor) and Victor Zsasz (Anthony Carrigan) talk about the attempt at robbery on Penguin’s merchandise. Victor calms down Penguin in a tizzy as the turn off the lights and leaves the club.

            In the dark, a silhouette of a woman peers out from behind a corner and approaches the giant block of ice that has been the home of Edward Nygma (Corey Michael Smith) for around five months, a torching device in her hand…

         Edward Nygma awakens, panicked, and confused. He looks around to find himself laying in an unfamiliar bed in an unfamiliar room. A cry of delight rings out to reveal Edward’s savior from his frozen state: A woman that has known Edward Nygma since elementary school, Myrtle Jenkins (Ilana Becker). Fortunately for Edward, she figured out Oswald’s schedule, somewhat late, so that she could find the right time to free him. Unfortunately for Edward, she is COMPLETELY obsessed with him, or his “number one fan”.

(So…. she kinda reminds me of a lot of fangirls/boys I have met or chatted with. And, to a degree, since I’m very insecure about talking about things I like, this Myrtle character reminds me of me.

            Anyway, as Myrtle self-names herself as Edward’s sidekick, “The Riddlette,” she takes it upon herself to bring Edward back to full strength so that he can truly become the Riddler again. However, Edward begins to show signs of brain damage, and Myrtle brings out a big book of riddles to help get the only muscle that counts for Edward Nygma, being the brain, up and running to genius level again.

            Easy riddle after easy riddle, Edward gets frustrated, saying that all of his answers were right and all of Myrtle’s answers were wrong. Myrtle reveals that the book of riddles she used to help Edward was a book of riddles for children.

(I mean seriously, one of the riddles was “What’s green, red, and spins round and round?”….A frog in a blender. Even I knew that)

            Realizing that something may, in fact, be wrong with him, in his frustration, Edward takes the book and strikes Myrtle with it, knocking her out and giving him time to escape.

            Back at the docks, Bruce goes undercover, clothes, accents, and all, and he discovers that the merchandise he got in trouble for sneaking around were items being auctioned off for the black market under Penguin’s authority. Once again, Bruce gets caught by a bunch of dock thugs when Alfred, also in disguise, pops up and he and Bruce kick some butt….just like the Bat team should.

            In the Iceberg Lounge, Barbara (Erin Richards) goes to Penguin and asks if she could get a certain knife before the auction proceeds. Oswald politely declines.

            At Wayne Manor, discussing the items up for auction, Bruce and Alfred find out that this certain knife was used as an embalming tool and it belonged to a ruler in first century Mesopotamia, King Balahsi. Finding out more about the knife in a book, Bruce finds a picture that looks very similar to Ra’s al Ghul that was taken around 2,000 years ago.

            Under the guise of Bruce Wayne, billionaire brat, he and Alfred attend the auction…..honestly, every single second of Bruce in this scene is pure awesome.

            After buying nearly every item, and battling Barbara for the embalming knife, Bruce walks away with said knife in his possession.

             Later that night, Selina sneaks into Wayne Manor to steal the knife. To her surprise, Bruce just so happened to be sitting in the library…quietly…with the knife…in the dark…okay. Selina admits that she was trying to steal the knife and asks Bruce to do her a solid. Bruce refuses to give up the knife and tells Selina to leave.. 

            Returning to Gotham with more Vitamin D than usual, Jim Gordon arrives to the GCPD to see Harvey Bullock (Donal Logue) welcome a new detective. Jim is also surprised to see that Sofia had followed Jim back to his home, seemingly willing to help Jim in his quest to help Gotham.

            After finding out who unfroze Edward, Penguin and Zsasz confront Myrtle in her home. She confesses everything that happened, including Edward’s possible brain damage due to the freezing. In order to show an example for those who have been trying to steal from him, Penguin tells Victor to kill Myrtle. But not before complimenting her hand made dress.

            In her fully armed pad, Barbara pours herself a drink while a mysterious figure is seen behind her, sneaking in. Barbara goes toe to toe with the intruder, who turns out to be her newest teacher, Ra’s al Ghul. Some exposition about how he dipped Barbara in the Lazarus Pit and so on is had. Barbara informs Ra’s that Bruce Wayne obtained the embalming knife despite her best efforts. Ra’s is pleased instead of upset that the boy Bruce Wayne has the knife in his possession. Some more quips and retorts are had…..and then *sigh* Ra’s and Barbara kiss.

            I know not much happened in this episode action wise, but I do enjoy some moments in Gotham where I can just take a moment and asses everything that has happened and take closer notice as to what’s going on in current episodes and possibly make theories about scenarios in the future.

.....Okay I gotta say it. Sofia, welcome. Glad your a part of the Gotham family. But seriously! Put on a bra! It's not attractive

            I’d give this episode a 7.5/10

 Alright, until next time. As always, stay weird.

[tvtracker]

Gotham Episode 4.03 'They Who Hide Behind Masks' Press Release. KNIVES WITH GREEN EYES ON AN ALL-NEW "GOTHAM" THURSDAY, OCTOBER 5, ON FOX Gordon takes matters into his own hands when he travels to Miami in attempts to persuade Carmine Falcone for his help in the fight against Penguin. There, he meets Carmine's (guest star John Doman) daughter, Sofia (Crystal Reed), who unexpectedly follows Gordon back to Gotham. The battle for Penguin's prized weaponry continues during auction night at the Iceberg Lounge and Bruce's presence puts him on Penguin's radar in the all-new "A Dark Knight: They Who Hide Behind Masks" episode of GOTHAM airing Thursday, Oct. 5 (8:00-9:01 PM ET/PT) on FOX. (GTH-403) (TV-14 L, V) Cast: Ben McKenzie as Detective James Gordon, Donal Logue as Harvey Bullock, David Mazouz as Bruce Wayne, Morena Baccarin as Leslie Thompkins, Sean Pertwee as Alfred, Robin Lord Taylor as The Penguin, Erin Richards as Barbara Kean, Camren Bicondova as Selina Kyle/the future Catwoman, Cory Michael Smith as Edward Nygma/the Riddler, Jessica Lucas as Tabitha Galavan, Chris Chalk as Lucius Fox, Drew Powell as Butch Gilzean/Solomon Grundy, Alexander Siddig as Ra's Ah Ghul, Crystal Reed as Sofia Falcone Guest Cast: Ilana Becker as Myrtle Jenkins, John Doman as Carmine Falcone, Anthony Carrigan as Zsasz, Kelcy Griffin as Detective Harper Source: FOX

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The Civilians Announces Tenth Annual R&D Group

The Civilians will present the newest members of The R&D Group, marking the Group's 10th season, and The Civilians 20th Anniversary Season. The R&D Group is comprised of playwrights, composers, and directors who work together as a writing group for nine months to develop new plays and musicals. The season culminates in the Findings Series, a works-in-progress reading series anticipated taking place in June 2021. The artists were selected from a competitive application process. The open call received a record number of 268 applications, a 60% increase from last year.

The members of The Civilians' 2020-21 R&D Group are Galia Backal, Nana Dakin, Isabella Dawis, Jacinth Greywoode, Jaime Lozano, Emily Lyon, AriDy Nox, Reynaldo Piniella, Tylie Shider, Tidtaya Sinutoke, Rachel Stevens, Ken Urban, and Noelle Viñas.

Led by R&D Program Director Ilana Becker, the artists share work as it develops, discuss their creative processes, and provide a community of support for one another. Each project develops according to its unique methods of creative inquiry, offering new approaches to the idea of "investigative theater." Methods may include interviews, community engagement, research, or other experimental methods of inquiry. The artists will meet twice a month, virtually.

"The sheer talent and curiosity we encountered in this year's applicants proved exceptionally heartening. This season's R&D Group artists, in particular, inspired us with their visionary and deeply personal approaches to questions that demand illumination," said Becker. Artistic Director Steve Cosson added, "I am overjoyed to mark the 10th Anniversary of The Civilians' R&D Group with these exceptional artists; I'm immensely excited as they embark on the process of developing these vital new projects."

Ken Urban's project, THE MODERATE, joins the group through The Civilians' new work development program; his play is commissioned by the EST/Sloan Project, developed by The Civilians, and will receive its first reading at EST. This season, Cosson and Becker will also hold two virtual roundtable sessions with Finalist Directors in order to better get to know their work, and to expand community.

The 2020-21 R&D Group projects are as follows:

SUNWATCHER

Libretto by Isabella Dawis, Music by Tidtaya Sinutoke, Directed by Nana Dakin, with support from Producer/Cultural Consultant Ikumi Kuronaga

SUNWATCHER, a Noh-inspired musical, is the story of astronomer Hisako Koyama (1916-1997) - intertwined with the ancient Japanese myth of the sun goddess Amaterasu, in a retelling inspired by the structure of classical Noh theatre. Hisako was a woman with no formal scientific training - also a survivor of the 1945 US air raid of Tokyo, the deadliest bombing in history - who managed to rise to the stature of Galileo. She did so by drawing the sun in painstaking detail every day for 40 years, a landmark achievement for solar science. SUNWATCHER is a celebration of Hisako's extraordinary dedication to ordinary observation, reminding us how seemingly small acts can have an immense impact over time and space.

BLACK GIRL IN PARIS

Music by Jacinth Greywoode, Book and Lyrics by AriDy Nox

BLACK GIRL IN PARIS is a musical about one of the most famous and least known black women in the American historical canon: Sally Hemmings. It hones in on her years spent in Paris, a point in her life where she both had the most access to freedom ever afforded her and the beginnings of the relationship that would forever define her legacy. Black Girl in Paris seeks to explore the inherent contradictions of an enslaved young black woman held in bondage in a city where slavery has been outlawed, under a man widely considered to be one of the architects of one of the greatest articulations of the necessity of freedom in the western world. It also centers an ensemble cast of Ancestors who chide and guide Sally along her journey, interweaving fables and history to craft the nuanced world Sally is forced to grapple with. At the heart of this musical is the question "What does it mean to be free?", a question black Americans have been grappling with since the original kidnapping and enslavement of Africans for The American Project.

DESAPARECIDAS (Working Title)

Lyrics and Music Jaime Lozano, Directed by Rachel M. Stevens, Co-Created by Lozano and Stevens

Told through the lens of Mexican folklore, our story explores the psychology behind societal suppression and the strategic erasure of female voices in the fight to end gender-based violence and the killing of women and girls. A female ensemble assumes a community of characters in a tapestried play of dramatized accounts, fictionalized scenes and musical sequences to unearth and dismantle the moral behind the 'myth' of violence against women.

DISSENTARY

Written by Reynaldo Piniella, Directed by Emily Lyon

Tasked with escaping your neighborhood, you inevitably run across environmental hazards that impede your progress. Especially if you're Black, Indigenous or Latinx. Dissentary takes inspiration from the classic game The Oregon Trail and adds an environmental justice lens; your group can do one of two things - leave in pursuit of clean air, water and healthy food, or stay and defeat the corporations focused only on profits. Dissentary will both be a participatory theatrical piece as well as an accompanying card game that will allow people to play the game off-line themselves, thus giving access to people who normally don't have access to the arts.

RESET: RACE and CULTURE CONTACTS in the MODERN WORLD

Written by Tylie Shider

an investigative work of theatre

about how incidents between police and black Americans

continues to reset race relations in the country.

THE MODERATE

a new play by Ken Urban, directed by Steve Cosson, commissioned by the EST/Sloan Project and developed by The Civilians.

ACCEPT. ACCEPT. REJECT. ACCEPT. REJECT. For a minimum of eight hours a day, with a target of at least 2,000 videos a day, Frank evaluates the videos and photos uploaded on the world's largest social media site. What Frank sees, he can't un-see, but he soon realizes he has the power to change the world. Playwright Ken Urban and director Steve Cosson will interview scientists, researchers and policymakers in order to dramatize the hidden human cost of the internet and imagine a future when a free exchange of knowledge and information is possible again. This project is an EST/Alfred P. Sloan Science & Technology Project Commission.

EL CÓNDOR MÁGICO

Written by Noelle Viñas, Directed by Galia Backal

El Cóndor Mágico examines the events of Operation Condor, the US-backed campaign of right-wing dictatorships and repressive regimes in South America throughout the 1970s-80s via oral history, research, and satire. It will also explore the American fascination with magical realism, a Latin American narrative tool rooted in history in a region where people have been known to "disappear," problems miraculously go away, and corruption can serve as a curtain behind which history does tricks. Research will unravel how the political imprisonment of over 400,000 people, varied intimidation/torture tactics taught by the US, and unknown thousands of "disappeared" people set a precedent for relations between the US and Latin America that haunt us today. With an eye on Operation Condor's long shadow and impressive wingspan, it asks: who is the magician behind the "magical realism" when it comes to the relationship between Latin America and the US?

FINALISTS

In honor of the overwhelming amount of talent and curiosity displayed amongst this year's applicants, The Civilians are pleased to share the exceptional finalists considered for this season's R&D Group:

Finalist Projects were proposed by Calley N. Anderson; Masi Asare; Helen Banner; Aaron Coleman; Sara Cooper & Kira Stone; Annalisa Dias; Dominic Finocchiaro & Stephen Bennett; Franky D. Gonzalez; Suzy Jane Hunt; Rachel Gita Karp, Ben Hoover & Jacob Russell; Divya Mangwani & Kate Moore Heaney; Talene Monahon & Adam Chanler-Berat; Brett Robinson; Dominique Rider & Nissy Aya; Marcus Antwan Scott, Ryan Kerr, & Dev Bondarin; David B. Thomas, Nick Hatcher, & Sheridan Merrick; Xandra Nur Clark; and Sim Yan Ying "YY" & Alvin Tan.

Finalist Directors are é boylan, Britt Berke, Matt Dickson, Joan Sergay, Noam Shapiro, Emerie Snyder, Leia Squillance, Alex Tobey, and Michael T. Williams.

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Who’s Ilana Becker from “Orange is the New Black”? Wiki: Age, Net Worth, Husband Who is Ilana Becker? Ilana Becker was born on the 21st October 1987 in Washington D.C., USA and is an actress, probably best recognized for portraying the role of Danielle in the TV series entitled “Odd Mom Out” (2015), and guest-starring in an episode of the TV series “Orange Is The New Black” (2016).