FIRST PAGE Table Read: NOTHING LIKE HERE by Stacey Linnartz
CAST:
ELIZABETH: Isabella Gallegos
VALERIA: Quinn Andrews
MR: Jeremy Rishe
MRS: Stacey Linnartz
ASSISTANT: Emory Kemph
The Ghost Light Collective FIRST PAGE Series grants our members professional space, casting, dramaturgical, and rehearsal resources so they may hear their new plays out loud in front of an audience.
To submit your play, email: kccghostlight@gmail.com
BIOS:
Quinn Andrews (VALERIA) is an actor and poet hailing from the Hudson Valley, NY. She recently graduated from Hofstra University where she received a BFA in theater performance with a minor in creative writing. Quinn is passionate about breathing depth and humanity into “odd-ball” characters, as well as the enduring relevance of classical works and making them more accessible to modern audiences. Recent credits include: Lady Macbeth is a Freshman in the Ensemble… (Thea), Trojan Women (Cassandra), and Coriolanus (Sicinius Velutus).
Isabella Gallegos (ELIZABETH) is an actor and educator based in NYC. She recently graduated with a BA in theatre from Fordham University and spent a semester receiving classical training at the London Academy of Music and the Dramatic Arts. She recently played Juliet in the Astoria Players’ production of Romeo and Juliet. Her other most recent roles include Zuzu (Dance Nation), Portia (Julius Caesar), Vicereine (The Sins of Sor Juana), and Aneas (Troilus and Cressida). When she’s not in the theatre, Isabella is also a teaching artist with The Kids Creative Collective, working to provide arts education to NYC public school students.
Emory Kemph (ASSISTANT is a writer, performer, and educator based in NYC. She holds a BFA from NYU Drama, where she studied at the Playwrights Horizons Theater School and Stonestreet Studios. Emory teaches at KCC, the Brooklyn Green School, and other organizations around the city. Select acting credits: GEORGIA ROSE (winner of the Samuel French Off-Off Broadway Festival), A CHORUS LINE (Edinburgh Fringe), REGENERATION (Repro Freedom Arts), and the NYU REALITY SHOW (Barclays Center). She's dedicated to creating theater that contends with social issues, sparks joy, and invites questions.
Stacey Linnartz (Playwright / Director / MRS) is a NYC-based professional actor, director, writer, and educator. She is the Artistic Director and a proud Co-Founder of Kids Creative Collective, Inc. which brings tuition free theatre arts programming to under resourced schools and communities. MFA, NYU Tisch Graduate Acting Program. Off Broadway: The Limits of Admiration (NY Theatre Festival), Life Sucks & Enemy of the People (Wheelhouse), Anxiety Yoga (The Misfits), Strange Bare Facts (Signature), God of Vengeance (The Barrow Group), The Snake and the Falcon (La Mama), Modotti (The Acorn/Theatre Row), Amendment 13 (Clubbed Thumb), Ghosting, Lost in Light (The Public Theatre), Heaven Can Wait (Actors Studio), Down The Road (ATA). Regional: Our Town (ATG), Shipwrecked! (Capital Rep), A Streetcar Named Desire, Uncle Vanya (New Harmony), Eclectic Society (Walnut Street), Romeo and Juliet, As You Like It (Smoky Mountain Shakespeare). London: Old Times, Sirocco (Royal Court). Film: You Like That, Life to the Lees, Away, The Last 48, The Weekend, Swinging In Between, Shallow Point, The First Born, Godzilla. Web: 51 and Done, First World Problem, Couples, Dinner With Mom, 12 Months of June. Television: Gossip Girl, As The World Turns, Ed, Rescue Me, Thirdwatch. Stacey is also Producer / Partner at Saint Sarah Productions which produces film, online content and theatre in NYC. She is the founder of Saint Sarah Women’s Collective which was created in 2020 during the pandemic for women theatre artists. As an artist-activist Stacey has worked with Remember The Women Institute, Artists Rise Up NY, Words of Choice, Reproductive Freedom Arts and at The International Human Rights Theatre Festival.
Jeremy Rishe (MR) is a co-founding producer of Saint Sarah Productions - for which he also acts, writes and occasionally directs. He holds an MFA from NYU's Graduate Acting Program and is also a proud Co-Founder of KCC. He’s currently filming the supporting lead, Pastor Samuel Knight, in Jay Craven’s next feature, LOST NATION. Other Select acting credits: TV/Film: INVASION (Apple+), ELEMENTARY, THE GOOD WIFE, BLUE BLOODS, & MADAM SECRETARY (cbs), LAW&ORDER: SVU, LAW&ORDER (nbc), THE BLACK BOX (abc), 3 BACKYARDS (Sundance audience award), JEWTAH, THE WEEKEND (feature: co-writing, producing, and acting credit), TWO NIGHT STAND (Amazon). Select Off-Broadway credits: THE SABBATH GIRL (59e59), THE MEGILE OF ITZIK MANGER (Folksbiene), SEX ON SUNDAY (Urban Stages), STARRY MESSENGER (tfna), JEWTOPIA (West Side Theatre). Select Regional credits: SCHOOL FOR LIES (Arkansas Rep), OVER THE TAVERN (Alabama Shakes), THE CHOSEN (Cleveland Playhouse), THE CRIPPLE OF INISHMAAN (Pioneer Theatre Company), THE TEMPEST, A MIDSUMMER NIGHTS DREAM, STREET SCENE, and THE SKIN OF OUR TEETH (Chautauqua Theatre Company)
Francesca Mantani Arkus (Dramaturg / Original Project Director) is a stage director, dramaturg, deviser, and collaborator. Credits include Light in the Refrigerator / Hudson Guild Theatre, Ghosting / the Public Theatre, Sisters Outside and a Brother Who Knows Where / Center Theatre Group & Mark Taper Forum, How She Played The Game / Anne Frank Center of New York, Reflections from the Incognito Lounge / The Capitol Theater, BodyLogue / Queens Theatre in the Park, The Tank in NYC, Swan Day in Washington DC, The Flying Cloud / American Living Room Series at HERE, Frenesi and Mi Vida En Jira / A Life...Abroad / HERE, Longing for Home + Pain = Nostalgia / Chekov Now! Festival, 50 Women / The Belt Theatre. She has served as Assistant Director to Romulus Linney during the founding year of Signature Theatre, Will Pomerantz on Macbeth at The Juilliard School and Tilt by The Talking Band at LaMaMa, Luke Yankee on High Infidelity at the Promenade Theatre and Tina Landau on Floyd Collins at Playwrights Horizons and Time of Your Life, at Steppenwolf, Seattle Rep, and A.C.T. in San Francisco. Francesca has served as a dramaturgical director at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts Rita & Burton Goldberg MFA and BFA Departments of Dramatic Writing. Since 2006, Francesca has served as resident director for Words of Choice, created by Cindy Cooper, which has performed in New York and around the country in support of women’s reproductive rights. As a director and deviser, Francesca has been involved with Saint Sarah Women’s Collective since its inception. MFA in Stage Directing, Brooklyn College, MA in Television Production and Broadband, New York Institute of Technology.
Playwright Statement: This play was initially a response to the fact that we as women cannot professionally play the male roles in Samuel Beckett's plays. The structure and form of the play was inspired by that of 'Waiting for Godot', but it is my hope that this piece has found its own theatrical footing. Wanting to explore the indoctrinations of gender structures and belief systems in the early 21st Century, 'Godot', initially my prime formula, has become more of a springboard and less of a template for this play. It has taken on its own life and should be approached as a primary piece, although a knowledge of Beckett's outlook and a familiarity with the world of 'Godot' is absolutely necessary for the players.
