Quote of the Day

8:39 PM / Posted by Ashley / comments (0)

"We're dead as a species if we don't tell stories, because then we don't know who we are." - Alan Rickman

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Life with Ryan

9:41 AM / Posted by Ashley / comments (0)





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As winter approaches, Occupy can use theater to maintain protest

11:50 PM / Posted by Ashley / comments (3)

This was forwarded to me from Melissa at The Anthropologists (http://www.theanthropologists.org/). Check out their amazing theatre and join their mailing list so you can receive awesome e-mails that contain passages such as what you will read below.

Related reading via You've Cott Mail:

Commentary: As winter approaches, Occupy can use theater to maintain protest

Benjamin Kabialis, The Berkeley Beacon [Emerson College newspaper] 11/10/11
During the Great Depression, a burgeoning population of workers' theater groups stamped on posters and playbills a common and empowering phrase: "Theater is a weapon." Theater welcomed the exuberance of material forged from the passions of deeply personal battles for workers' rights, and workers cultivated theater as a tool to raise class-consciousness. As American theater looks for the spark of revolution and Occupy Wall Street receives criticism for lack of direction, participants in both camps must take hold of this powerful partnership. Why does American theater dissolve while Occupy Wall Street bolsters its ranks? The latter is held together by a shared and deeply personal connection to the cause, while the former has become an institution completely out of touch with reality. Rather than an exploration of humanity, theater has become an exploration of theater. In colleges and universities actors study the craft of acting and playwrights study the writing of plays. The art form has become a sort of members-only party with no guiding principles outside those of economics. In several ways, Broadway's grandiose theaters, movie star performers, and steep ticket prices mirror the 1% of America's Wall Street. The Worker's Laboratory Theater, the Group Theater, and the Labor Stage were only a few of hundreds of troupes during the 1930s that proved theater could thrive without the resources or splendor of Broadway. Throughout the 1930s workers' movement, theater proved strongest when used as a tool for holding protest groups together. With winter approaching and harsh media criticism growing, Occupy Wall Street can use theater as a way of building community and maintaining a sense of passion in their own ranks.

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Favorite Photos of 2011 (Part 1)

9:37 PM / Posted by Ashley / comments (0)

Each year I sift through my collection of photos (I take a lot) and pull out my favorites. I posted 2010's album on facebook. This year I'm throwing them up on here. Special thanks to the people who appear in many of these photos: Project Girl Performance Collective, Co-Op Theatre East, Robert A. K. Gonyo, Ryan Victor Pierce, Dominique Fishback, Karen Vigo, Danielle Walker, Mariah MacCarthy, Michael Rehse, Anna Savant, Hannah Rose Barfoot, Lillian Rodriguez and many many more. I am aiming to get some more paid photo gigs in 2012, so if you like what you see here (or on my site) drop me a line.

Check out my photography website here: http://ashley-marinaccio.com/photographer/


OCTOBER: Peace Builders event at the United Nations where Project Girl performed. project Girls led conference participants in creating a banner where everybody wrote what they were going to do to be the "change" we wish to see in the world.


JULY: Summer flower.

SEPTEMBER: Fall flowers.


MAY: Written on an abandoned restaurant in the West Village of NYC. I identified with this statement.


JULY: Ryan (who you'll meet in Part 2) took me to the Bronx Zoo on the hottest day of the year. It was 104 degrees and we only got halfway through the zoo until we couldn't take the heat anymore.


JULY: I took a site specific directing class in Central Park with ESPA (highly recommended all around). Here is a still shot from a scene I did with Dominique Fishback and Karen Vigo from Mariah MacCarthy's "Ampersand: Romeo and Juliet", which was one of the hottest shows in the 2011 Fringe Festival. I made a post about it over the summer.

JULY: Another Ampersand shot.


DECEMBER: Occupy Broadway.

DECEMBER: Occupy Broadway. Danielle Walker performs as she's watched by members of the NYPD.

NOVEMBER: From Project Girl Performance Collective's fall photo shoot.


NOVEMBER: Another from Project Girl's fall photo shoot.


NOVEMBER: My all time favorite Project Girl photo.


SEPTEMBER: Central Park.


NOVEMBER: My "other" all time favorite Project Girl shot. I think I say this a lot. This was a good photo day.

AUGUST: Bethesda Fountain in Central Park, NY.


OCTOBER: Production shot from Muzungu by David Myers at the Fourth Street Theatre.

OCTOBER: Catskills in New York.


OCTOBER: Pumpkins in the Catskills, New York.

SEPTEMBER: Project Girl photo shoot.

SEPTEMBER: Project Girls are active 24 hours a day!

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Year in Review - Favorite Photos of 2011 (Part 2)

8:55 PM / Posted by Ashley / comments (0)

Here's Part 2:


OCTOBER: Project Girl Performance Collective's photo shoot. Project Girls are active 24 hours a day.


OCTOBER: My personal favorite from the Project Girl photo shoot.

OCTOBER: Yet another Project Girl shot. This was a good day. DUMBO is a great place to shoot. We got a ton of interesting photos. The rain had us sort of bummed out but it didn't stop us from having a good time.

SEPTEMBER: Ryan Victor Pierce. Focused. Hardworking. and Talented. I shot this during a rehearsal for Co-Op Theatre East (COTE) and Mixed Phoenix Theatre Group's production of "Muzungu". This night also happened to be a good photo night (some are better than others). I got some great shots of the actors and production crew but my favorite photos all just happened to be of Ryan. Coincidence? Methinks not.

SEPTEMBER: Ryan also has a goofy side. See above.

SEPTEMBER: Robert A. K. Gonyo - my fearless COTE partner in crime. Here he is directing the NY Premiere of "Muzungu" by David Myers.


AUGUST: Statue of Liberty from the Staten Island Ferry

AUGUST: Dominique Fishback. Hands down one of the most brilliant writers and spoken word artists I know. She is a Project Girl and proud to be one of the original collective members. Dominique has been with Project Girl since 2008. She is currently a student at Pace University and getting ready to graduate next year. She will be taking the world by storm. I'll always be proud to say "I took her headshots way back when..."


AUGUST: More Dominique. We took these in East New York (Dom's hood).


AUGUST: Is she photogenic or what?


AUGUST: Book this girl for print work right now!


AUGUST: Hurricane Irene comes (and goes). I walked through Harlem trying to get some interesting "hurricane" shots and came up with a more iconic image.

AUGUST: That's my street!

SEPTEMBER: Co-Op Theatre East debuts a performance workshop series at the Looking Glass Theatre free of charge for participants as part of our mission to make theatre training accessible.

AUGUST: Eve of Irene. Two fishermen in Battery Park City attempt to catch fish before the mandatory evacuation of the area due to storm surge.


OCTOBER: "Muzungu" poster art. This was the "money shot" from COTE and MPTG's production of "Muzungu" by David Myers. This was reproduced on hundreds of posters and thousands of postcards.

FEBRUARY: Co-Op Theatre East's production of Trojan Women Redux at Looking Glass Theatre, adapted and directed by Casey Cleverly. This features another brilliant talent, Lillian Rodriguez. Should I mention she is also Project Girl alum?

FEBRUARY: Anna and Hannah (as Hecuba and Cassandra). I seem to think I have another photo of them in a similar hold from another COTE show a year back...

FEBRUARY: Anna and Hannah in Trojan Women Redux. One of my favorite elements of this show was the use of the video projections on the broken brick wall screen (you can see it in the back).

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TIME Magazine

8:54 PM / Posted by Ashley / comments (0)


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Buy Nothing Day!

10:13 AM / Posted by Ashley / comments (0)


Shame on the folks who are camped out in front of Target...

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Top 10 George Carlin Quotes

5:13 PM / Posted by Ashley / comments (0)

7 Reasons Why Theatre Makes Our Lives Better

5:12 PM / Posted by Ashley / comments (0)

7 Reasons Why Theatre Makes Our Lives Better

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How Sweet It Is!

10:03 PM / Posted by Ashley / comments (0)


The People United Will Never Be Defeated.



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A Letter from Troy Davis

11:58 PM / Posted by Ashley / comments (0)

A letter from Troy Davis:

To All:

I want to thank all of you for your efforts and dedication to Human Rights and Human Kindness, in the past year I have experienced such emotion, joy, sadness and never ending faith. It is because of all of you that I am alive today, as I look at my sister Martina I am marveled by the love she has for me and of course I worry about her and her health, but as she tells me she is the eldest and she will not back down from this fight to save my life and prove to the world that I am innocent of this terrible crime.

As I look at my mail from across the globe, from places I have never ever dreamed I would know about and people speaking languages and expressing cultures and religions I could only hope to one day see first hand. I am humbled by the emotion that fills my heart with overwhelming, overflowing Joy. I can’t even explain the insurgence of emotion I feel when I try to express the strength I draw from you all, it compounds my faith and it shows me yet again that this is not a case about the death penalty, this is not a case about Troy Davis, this is a case about Justice and the Human Spirit to see Justice prevail.

I cannot answer all of your letters but I do read them all, I cannot see you all but I can imagine your faces, I cannot hear you speak but your letters take me to the far reaches of the world, I cannot touch you physically but I feel your warmth everyday I exist.

So Thank you and remember I am in a place where execution can only destroy your physical form but because of my faith in God, my family and all of you I have been spiritually free for some time and no matter what happens in the days, weeks to come, this Movement to end the death penalty, to seek true justice, to expose a system that fails to protect the innocent must be accelerated. There are so many more Troy Davis’. This fight to end the death penalty is not won or lost through me but through our strength to move forward and save every innocent person in captivity around the globe. We need to dismantle this Unjust system city by city, state by state and country by country.

I can’t wait to Stand with you, no matter if that is in physical or spiritual form, I will one day be announcing,

“I AM TROY DAVIS, and I AM FREE!”

Never Stop Fighting for Justice and We will Win!

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Quote of the Day

11:57 PM / Posted by Ashley / comments (0)


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Being a Kid After 9/11

1:57 PM / Posted by Ashley / comments (0)

Being a Kid After 9/11

Young performers in New York City explore what it means to grow up after the world changed

By Tyrus Cukavac | August 22 , 2011
<p>Cast members rehearse for their debut on September 10.</p>

Cast members rehearse for their debut on September 10.



People around the country are preparing to observe the 10th anniversary of the tragedy known as 9/11. On September 11, 2001, terrorists attacked the United States and more than 3,000 people died. A group of young people in New York City, where the terrorists destroyed the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, are remembering the event in their own way. Together, they wrote a play to explore the impact of Spetember 11 on their lives.

The final play is called Ten Years Later: Voices from the Post-9/11 Generation Speak. Co-director Ashley Marinaccio told Scholastic News, “It is completely youth driven. It focuses on the cultural aftermath of what it means to be a kid after 9/11.”

The writers and performers range from 9 to 23 years old. The youngest members of the group were not yet born when the events of 9/11 occurred. Others were children or young teens. Together, they interviewed community members, participated in writing exercises, and wrote songs to create an original play based on their experiences in New York following September 11.

A DIFFERENT AMERICA

Heightened security in buildings and airports and U.S. involvement in wars in the Middle East are a few of the ways the 9/11 terrorist attacks changed life in the United States. Many young people growing up in the past 10 years don’t clearly remember what life was like before the tragedy.

“My first view of the Manhattan skyline was without the towers,” cast member Emily Rupp, now 21, says in the play. “When I first saw it, I just tried to imagine what it could’ve looked like. . . . My Manhattan skyline will always be an unfinished puzzle to me.”

Shortly after 9/11, the U.S. sent American troops to Afghanistan to try to find those who had planned the attacks. Thousands of troops remain there. Many cast members do not remember a time when the United States was not at war. The play explores this through monologues and scenes. Other themes include the meaning of patriotism and increased security in American life.

The first performance will take place on September 10 at Pace University in New York City as part of a larger memorial program. This performance is just one way people around the country are preparing for the anniversary. On September 11, a memorial honoring victims will be dedicated at Ground Zero, the site where the Twin Towers once stood.

Ceremonies of remembrance will also take place at the two other sites where the terrorists crashed hijacked planes—at the Pentagon, near Washington, D.C., and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Scores of other services and events will mark the day around the nation as Americans seek to honor the memories of the victims.

Read more about how people across the United States are commemorating the 10th anniversary of September 11.

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Ten Years Later - Promo Video

10:59 AM / Posted by Ashley / comments (0)



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TEN YEARS LATER OPENS AT PETER JAY SHARP THEATER

10:58 AM / Posted by Ashley / comments (0)


TEN YEARS LATER OPENS AT PETER JAY SHARP THEATER

Monday, September 12, 2011, 8:00 pm
Peter Jay Sharp Theater at 416 West 42nd Street - New York

Tickets on sale now! Contact Ticket Central!

August 22, 2011, New York, NY – Co-Op Theatre East and Project Girl Performance Collective debuts a cutting-edge, ensemble-devised play, created by youth between the ages of 9 and 23, Ten Years Later explores the impact of the September 11th terrorist attacks on youth. The young cast explores what it means to be coming of age in a post-9/11 society as a young person living in the shadow of Twin Towers that most of them have never seen. “My first view of the Manhattan skyline was without the towers,” said cast member Emily Rupp. “When I first saw it, I tried to imagine what it could’ve looked like. It was like putting together a puzzle.”

The “Ten Years Later” cast may not have seen the World Trade Center but they have been infinitely affected by the disaster as evident from their revealing stories and struggles. Terrorism, fundamentalism, orange alerts, airport security, subway sniffing dogs and tea party patriotism, as you will see in the show, weigh heavily on the minds and hearts of today’s youth.

Ten Years Later: Voices from the Post 9/11 Generation Speak opens 8:00 pm on September 12th, 2011 at the Peter Jay Sharp Theatre and then tours the tri-State area. Please contact Casey Cleverly at casey@cooptheatreeast.org ­­­­­­­­­­ if you have any questions or would like to book the show this Fall.

About Co-Op Theatre East: Founded in Spring 2008 by three graduates of the Performance Studies program at Tisch School of the Arts, Co-Op Theatre East produces socially minded performance that deals with the questions of today, the situations we find ourselves immersed in as New Yorkers, Americas, and world citizens at this moment. Co-Op Theatre East believes in the power of art to foster a dialogue for social change. We provide an entertaining performance forum in which to ask evocative, challenging questions of artists and audiences on our way to creating collaborative answers. www.cooptheatreeast.org.

About Project Girl Performance Collective: "It was inspiring to see bright, confident young women holding forth onstage" (The New Yorker, September 3, 2010) was the response to the Collective’s most recent show at The Fringe Festival. Project Girl Performance Collective (PGPC) empowers young women by creating a safe space to address contemporary social, political and cultural issues through the performing arts and written word. The Project Girl Performance Collective is committed to the idea of theatre and performance as a medium for awareness, action and social change. www.projectgirlperformancecollective.org.

The cast includes
Kate Bralower (10, Manhattan)
Tiffani-Amber DiGrazia (9, Queens)
Samantha Phillips (15, Westchester)
Monica Furman (15, Brooklyn)
Arianna Hanson (15, Bronx)
Hank Chen (23, Washington, D. C.)
Nick Wolf (21, New Jersey)
Stacey Oliver (19, Connecticut)
Deanna Alexandra (16, Long Island)
Emily Rupp (21, Brooklyn)
Peter Kendall (20, New Jersey)
Mariah Adkins (23, Brooklyn)
Haleigh Spasjevich (22, Manhattan)
Laura Killeen (23, United Kingdom).

It is directed by Ashley Marinaccio and Robert A. K. Gonyo, Artistic Directors of Co-Op Theatre East, Assistant Directed & Stage Managed by Daniel Mendoza and produced by Jessica Greer Morris, Executive Director of the Project Girl Performance Collective, 9/11 Worker and Chair of the World Trade Center Community Advisory Board (2001-2004).


Co-Op Theatre East and Project Girl Performance Collective present:

TEN YEARS LATER: VOICES FROM THE POST-9/11 GENERATION SPEAK

Conceived and Directed by Ashley Marinaccio, Robert A. K. Gonyo and Daniel Mendoza

Produced by Jessica Greer Morris

Monday, September 12, 2011

8:00 pm

Peter Jay Sharp Theater

416 West 42nd Street - New York

Tickets available through Ticket Central

$20 General Admission

$15 Student/Senior Discount


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