The House of Ash

Some links to information about our show:

PGPC blog: http://pgpcnyc.blogspot.com/

Show's website: http://www.theateronline.com/pb.xzc?PK=25096

NY Theatre Fringe preview: http://www.nytheatre.com/nytheatre/listing_fnyc.php?t=10590

One of the GirlPower cast members created this video for the show. It includes interviews with cast members discussion what having "girl power" means to them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWqhBtIL1tk

Check out the GirlPower- Teen Performance Collective's newest show "Survival of the Fittest" tonight at 6:00 pm. For this show we had two GirlPower alumni come back and co-direct. If you're in the Greenwich Village area tonight, stop by and check it out. GirlPower is presented as part of the Manhattan Theatre Source's "Estrogenius Festival", celebrating women's voices in theatre and the arts. http://www.estrogenius.org/ .

GirlPower: Survival of the Fittest
teen actors, teen voices
October 9 & 10 at 6pm
tickets: $18

GirlPower is a series of powerful written words performed by teen actors struggling with issues that they face in today's world. The actresses share the joys and troubles of growing up in today's generation with their experiences of love, relationships, parents, pain and success

The Company:
Deanna Alexandra, Kaylyn O'Gara, Tess Cronin, Manya Saaraswat, Emily Rupp, Valerie Dent, Dailyn Santana, Camille Theobald, Michelle Lee and Beatrice Miller

Directed by:
Andrea Panichi and Kezia Tyson

Edited and Facilitated by:
Ashley Marinaccio and Elizabeth Koke

For more information visit: http://estrogenius.org/estro/components/girl_power.html

GirlPower video created by Manya Saaraswat:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWqhBtIL1tk

One (probably) last review of GirlPower: Voices of a Generation from the Fringe Festival. Gearing up for the new GirlPower class, beginning in a few weeks! This is from a blog called the New Theater Corps. Definitely check them out:

http://newtheatercorps.blogspot.com/2009/09/fringegirl-power-voices-of-generation.html

Another round of reviews from GirlPower at the Fringe Festival:

http://www.nytheatre-i.com/2009/08/report-from-fringenyc-9.html

and

http://www.nytheatre.com/nytheatre/review_fest.php?p=100191

GirlPower: Voices of a Generation
New York International Fringe Festival
reviewed by Nancy Kim
Aug 20, 2009

Dubbed the "MySpace Generation," young people in their teens and early 20s are identified by the way the internet is at the center of their lives, where they communicate, interact, and establish their friendships, relationships, and identities all online. Therefore, it's daring to see the GirlPower Ensemble take center stage in revealing what is on the minds of young women of their generation.

A group of 19 girls and young women—ranging from 13 through college-aged—make up the ensemble and most of them perform their own words in a collection of almost 40 monologues, poems, and short scenes. Topics include familiar struggles and obstacles, such as body issues and Barbie, sexual pressures, and family relationships. But these are also young women who embrace being weird, different, and flawed. Ashley Marinaccio and Elizabeth Koke helped to edit and direct, giving each ensemble member a couple of opportunities to take the spotlight while the rest of the company remains on stage to listen before they take their turn. This simple staging reminds us the power of listening and sharing as a community.

I think the deeply personal stories and monologues that resonated with me are the ones that I viewed through the lens of my own experience and history, so I was struck by Kezia Tyson's "Graffiti" when she asks people to see the beauty and art in grafitti and wonders if people will also give her a chance. Or in Michelle Lee's monologue, "Feeling Different," in which she doesn't understand why people have to be defined by how they look, what they watch, or what they wear. And in both "A Talk with My Guidance Counselor" and "Tribute to Ms. Whiting," I was reminded how profound the influence of a teacher or the safe ear of a grown-up could be. Writer/performer Lyric Anderson unleashes her pent-up fears of sexual pressure to her guidance counselor, while Lauren Curet performs a monologue by Nora Kennedy about a U.S. Honors teacher who opens her eyes and helps her to question the portrayals of women in media. I also admired Dominique Fishback's spoken-word poem, "He Once Had A Dream," about our responsibility to Martin Luther King, Jr.'s legacy.

Near the end, each girl contributes a couple of lines to the "The Theatre and I," giving their reasons why theatre is important to them. It's nice to hear Amber Rhabb state simply, "I think the theatre and I will be together forever." If that proves to be true, then we're lucky that theatre is going to be left in their generation's capable hands.

Some production photos by Christine Weems:

I finally launched my website: www.ashley-marinaccio.com . I hope that you will check it out!

Also, be sure to check out some reviews from GirlPower: Voices of a Generation. We have 2 more shows!

From TimeOutNY:
http://newyork.timeout.com/events/fringe-festival/298096/girlpower

From TDF:
http://pxpplog.blogspot.com/2009/08/girlpower-voices-of-generation.html

Yay!

Check it out here: http://www.nj.com/entertainment/ticket/index.ssf/2009/08/fringes_of_jersey_local_perfor.html

We had an excellent sold-out opening night at FringeNYC! Looking forward to the next performance on Wednesday. Order your tickets at www.fringenyc.org .

Scattered throughout the city...

Hope you will check out "GirlPower: Voices of a Generation" in the NYC Fringe Festival. Tickets are going fast...

Clemente Soto Velez Cultural Center

107 Suffolk St.New York, NY 10002
Tickets: $15

For tickets visit http://www.fringenyc.org/

Notice how we're now a "Performance Collective"? Loves it. Here is the new GirlPower audition breakdown for the following year. If you are (or know anyone) interested, feel free to submit. We're looking for a diverse group of young women and have a ton of exciting plans!

****

Estrogenius Festival: GirlPower

Seeking: Performers/Writers/Activists between the ages of 10-20. Please do NOT submit if you do not fall into this age category as these aremonologues written specifically by and for young women between theages of 10-20. Through writing and acting workshops, guest artists,discussion groups, performances and drawing from the media, news andinterviews with peers, the GirlPower collective will be workingtogether in generating a theatrical event based on their own lifeexperiences and what it means to be a young woman in today's world.The actresses share the joys and troubles of today's generation withtheir experiences of love, relationships, parents, identity, pain andsuccess.

GirlPower is part of the Manhattan Theatre Source's month longEstrogenius Festival (www.theatresource.org/aboutestro.html orwww.estrogenius.org ) which is in it's 10th season and has become oneof New York City's largest women's arts festivals, presenting morethan 35 events over 24 nights. The festival features a diverseschedule of short plays, dance, solo shows, visual art, paneldiscussions and performances by teens. The festival has afforded morethan 1,600 artists the chance to shine. The 2009 festival runs October1 through November 1 at Manhattan Theatre Source.

Currently, the 2008-2009 GirlPower collective is performing in the NYCInternational Fringe Festival, August 14th through 30th(www.girlpowermts.blogspot.com and fringnyc.org). The 2009-2010collective is encouraged to come back for a spring performance andsimilar experience in a 2010 summer festival. We are also working onbringing the performance to public schools and community events in thetri-state area.

GirlPower will be presented at the Manhattan Theatre Source October9th and 10th, 2009. Tech Rehearsal will be on October 8th. There willbe two afternoon performances during the week of the show for schooland community groups. Rehearsals will begin in late August and will beheld Saturday mornings from 9:30 am - 12:00 pm.Do not submit if you are unavailable for the performances or a largeportion of the proposed rehearsal period.

Please send a picture and resume to girlpowermts@gmail.com. Also,please include information about yourself and why you want toparticipate in this project. Auditions will be held on Monday, July13th from 3:00 - 6:00 pm at the Manhattan Theatre Source. Uponreceiving your information, we will schedule you in a five minute audition slot.

For the audition, please write a short monologue (2 minutes or under) about your life/school/friends/goals/fears/hobbies/interests etc. oranything that shows us who you are and the issues you care about. Youcan feel free to write a poem, short story, scene or spoken word pieceas well. We want to see who you are. You do not need to memorize thispiece. We also ask that you prepare any monologue 2 minutes or under.Be prepared to perform the monologue and your written piece.GirlPower is presented under an AEA Showcase Code. Union/Non-Union may apply.It is produced and directed by Ashley Marinaccio and Elizabeth Koke.

I'm happy to say that June has been a really productive month thus far (and we're only 7 days in!). Last week, I spoke on the "Return to Springboard" panel for the 2009 SpringboardNYC class (who is currently at the Tony Award Rehearsal... JEALOUS!). I spoke a little about what my experiences in this crazy industry have been like so far and the transition from undergrad to grad to real world. I hope it was helpful. It seemed to get great feedback. One of my friends Kahlil Gonzalez-Garcia (who is now in Chapel Hill's MFA Acting Program) was also on the panel along with Illana Becker, who assistant directed "Reasons to be Pretty" on Broadway this season. Springboard people are doing exciting things!

This weekend I finished all of the major FringeNYC publicity/marketing/press information we need and about 20 directing/acting/playwriting submissions to be mailed on Monday. I still have quite a few to go but I've recently discovered the joys of Microsoft Excel spreadsheets, which makes my life (and mailing process) a little bit more organized.

After work yesterday I got to checkout this awesome street fair for "Young Artists and Leaders" produced by Downtown Art (http://downtownart.org/index.html) on the Lower East Side. It was for teens and youth theatre groups, but I was hoping to get some ideas for where we can go with GirlPower in the future. I met some phenomenal groups and saw some great performances. My favorite organization (and I'm ashamed that I never heard of them before yesterday) was called City At Peace (http://cpnational.org/ny/) and I was incredibly inspired to read about what their youth theatre is accomplishing. I had a brief discussion with one of their directors and definitely hoping that we can form some kind of relationship. I would love to incorporate some kind of service component into the GirlPower program next year, like City At Peace does.

That's all for now!

Today:
- Go to Staples and see what they can do about poor lil' red (my laptop)
- Go to Rite Aid (or CVS)
- Watch the Tony's at 8:00 pm tonight!

Last week marked another production of GirlPower. Check out some pictures below and on my photo blog. We also found out that GirlPower was accepted into the annual NYC Fringe Festival (yaye!). I have been working on the paperwork to get all of that in order. I'm looking forward to being part of FringeNYC, as I have enjoyed so many productions in the past. This will be a wonderful opportunity for all of the girls involved, too. Can't wait to get the ball rolling on this...

Other than that, my high school is having its 25th anniversary of the visual and performing arts academy on May 29th, 2009. Check out an article about it here: http://www.app.com/article/20090512/GETPUBLISHED/905110313/-1/OPINION05 . Looking forward to attending it and catching up with people that I haven't seen in years! Lots of people are doing great things, so it will be fun to hear all about it.

Speaking of catching up, I had a wonderful time with students, faculty and alumni from the Pace sociology/anthropology department last night. Below is a terribly pixilatd picture from the dinner. Roger is one of my mentors and favorite people in the world. Aseel, who is my other mentor and favorite person in the world, doesn't like her picture flaunted everywhere. I talk about them both A LOT... though I think this is one of the first times they've been mentioned on this blog. Sometimes I just say "My mentor ... " but usually when I say that, I'm referring to one of them.

Roger and me

San Francisco in Photographs...




Golden Gate Bridge

Golden Gate Park

Pier 39 (This picture is dedicated to my mother and her fondness of seagulls and sea lions... arf arf arf)

Golden Gate Bridge at dusk

More will be on the photoblog soon...

I just returned from a wonderful week in San Francisco where I presented on a panel called "Radical Theatre and its Cultural Interventions" at the 107th American Anthropological Association meeting (http://www.aaanet.org/). I did an excerpt of my piece "What to do in Case you Miss the Rapture". It was a fantastic week that really helped solidify how I want anthropology and theatre to work in my life. The other anthropologists on the panel were absolutely phenomenal. It was a fantastic opportunity to network with individuals who are doing like minded work. I'm super inspired now and am looking forward to working on developing a PhD project and applying to anthropology programs. I also had the chance to catch up with my mentor from undergrad and see her as a discussant on a panel on Israel/Palestine. So much fun getting to see her in action again (it's been awhile). Although we're always in touch, I haven't been with her in an academic setting in a few years.

Elizabeth and I are in the process of organizing our next round of GirlPower. She came up with some ground breaking ideas for how to expand the program and really make it part of the community. We're aiming to finish up our grant proposal this weekend and submit it to MTS. In the meantime, we're starting a blog for the girls to connect with each other during down time and keep up their writing. The address of the blog is http://www.girlpowermts.blogspot.com/ . It's a little dead right now, but I guarantee it will pick up within the next few weeks when everyone gets hooked up to it.

On the Co-Op Theatre East front... We're going to launch an official website soon (that's not our blog). We have "Cascando" coming up on December 18th, Robby's new play in February and "My Name is Rachel Corrie" in the spring. More on everything coming soon...