People
Artistic DirectorsJeff Clarke Company Members
Sara Buffamanti Resident Artists
Liz Eckert |
Jeff Clarke
Jeff is a founding member and co-Artistic Director of Performance Lab 115 and has been performing with them since their inaugural production, God’s Waiting Room, (Overall Excellence Award: FringeNYC 2005). Other recent New York projects include Caucasian Chalk Circle, A Small Hole, Synesthesia and Dead Letter Office with PL115, This Place is a Desert (Dir Jay Scheib, ICA Boston), SICK and 1000 Wolves (Dir Caleb Hammond, Ontological), C4:The Chekhov Project (Artists of Tomorrow), and In Circles (OFF Stage Festival), Safety (Urban Stages). His work has also taken him abroad with increasing frequency; in recent years he has acted in productions of A Hush Hush Hidden Thing (PL115) at the Merlin in Budapest, Crocodile Eyes (dir. Eduardo Machado) in the Premio Dams festival in Bologna, Italy, Twelfth Night, at international festivals in Germany and Korea, and The First Chapter of Peter at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival (Fringe First Nomination). MFA, Columbia 2005. Back to topRebecca Lingafelter
Rebecca Lingafelter has been performing, directing, and producing theatre for over 15 years. In 2005 she received her MFA from Columbia University where she had the opportunity to work with Andrei Serban, Kristin Linklater and Anne Bogart. In 2003 she trained with AnneÕs SITI Company at their Summer Institute in Saratoga. Her thesis production, House of Bernarda Alba (Angustias) directed by Karin Coonrod was awarded Best Ensemble of the Year by the NY Observer. She has performed internationally in Korea, Germany, Italy and Budapest, Hungary. In New York she has performed at Dance New Amsterdam, PS122 as part of FringeNYC, The Bushwick Starr, The Ontological Hysteric Incubator, The Chocolate Factory, Judson Church, Vortex Theatre Company, Target Margin Theatre, and The Metropolitan Opera. She is co-artistic director of Performance Lab 115 and has produced and performed in all of their productions. She teaches movement and voice at the New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts. Back to topSara Buffamanti
Sara is an international performer who has played in Tokyo, Korea, Southeast Asia, Germany, Italy and Scotland. Since graduating from the BFA Acting Conservatory at UC Santa Barbara, and the MFA Acting Program at Columbia University, she has worked in NYC with the LITE group, the LIFT group, Theatreworks USA, Vortex Theater, Target Margin Theater, Judson Church Theater, Broadway Asia, Electric Pear Productions, Alphabet Arts, and the Metropolitan Opera. Performance Lab 115 credits include: Ari in Artifacts of Consequence, Shauva in the Caucasian Chalk Circle, The Emcee in The Terrible Temptation to do Good, and Antoinette in The Verge. Sara is the creator and solo-performer of Eleanor alla Barre, a one-woman clown piece, and currently teaches voice and movement at the School of Film and Television. Back to topShelley Gershoni
Shelley recently completed her MFA at Columbia University. Last summer she performed A Small Hole and the previous summer she performed God’s Waiting Room (Outstanding Play Award from Fringe Festival, 2005) both with PL115. Shelley has toured to Italy with productions of the House of Bernarda Alba (New York Observer’s Ensemble of the Year, 2005) and Crocodile Eyes. She has also traveled to Seoul, Korea and Recklinghausen, Germany to perform as Maria in Twelfth Night and to Budapest, Hungary to perform in God’s Waiting Room and A Hush Hush Hidden Thing. Additionally, Shelley performs Commedia roles with the Metropolitan Opera and sometimes you can catch her playing a nurse on 'One Life to Live.' Back to topRachel Jablin
Rachel Jablin holds a B.A. in Drama and Philosophy from Tufts Universtiy in Medford, MA and an M.F.A. in Acting from Columbia University in New York. She received a Studies in Shakespeare Certificate from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, and has performed extensively in New York and New England. Additionally, she has toured shows to Europe and Asia alongside other members of Performance Lab 115. In her spare time, Rachel studies yoga and comedy writing. Back to topMarty Keiser
Marty is an actor, playwright, and director. He is a graduate from Columbia University's MFA Acting Program, received a BA from Tufts University in theatre and psychology and studied at the London Academy of Theatre. With PL 115, Marty has appeared as Theo (Artifacts of Consequence), Azdak (Caucasian Chalk Circle), and Winnebago (SINK!). New York Stage credits include Featured Actor aka Guard with Big Stick (From the House of the Dead at the METROPOLITAN OPERA), Bottom (Midsummer Nights Dream), Costard (Love's Labours Lost), Karl Kleinerman (To Barcelona!), Hercules (Alcestis), and Joshua/Gerry (Cloud 9). Regional credits include David O. Selznick (Moonlight and Magnolias) and Pete, etc (Almost, Maine) at Saint Michael's Playhouse in Vermont; and Feste (Twelfth Night) at Princeton Rep Shakespeare Festival. He toured with the PL115 actors to Germany, Korea and Italy. On the Big Screen, Marty can be seen as the title role in OSIRIS FORD - an independent film to be released by Rogue Planet Productions in the near future. He has also appeared in a number of NYU short films including The Raffle by Isaac Brody. Marty is the author of the original play SHORTER THAN TOM and is a Teaching Artist. Back to topLiz EckertLiz has collaborated with PL115 on Mourn the Living Hector (NY Fringe Festival '08), Caucasian Chalk Circle (The Chocolate Factory '09) and SINK! (in development). She earned her MFA at Columbia University in 2008 and is currently pursuing the teacher training program at the Linklater Center for Voice and Language. Liz has performed with North American Cultural Laboratory, Stolen Chair Theatre Company, and Faux-Real Theatre Company, and with the improv groups, The Jolly Llamas, Performance of a Lifetime and Teen Movie High. Her work has also been seen at Ensemble Studio Theatre, The Peterborough Players (NH), Flock Theatre (CT), The Colonial Theatre (RI), and the Miryang Theater Festival (Korea). Back to topAshlin HalfnightA recent graduate of Columbia University's MFA playwriting program, Ashlin is the recipient of the Howard Stein Playwrighting Fellowship. His play American Drek was awarded the Ludwig Vogelstein Artist Grant, and his play Good Pictures was nominated for the 2004 Mentor Project at Cherry Lane. He has been awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to study in Budapest where he will be writing a trilogy of plays for the National Theatre of Hungary. Back to topAndrew Z. KelseyDead Letter Office marks Andrew's first project with PL 115. Recent roles: Brandon in Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa's Good Boys and True (Eugene O'Neill Theater Center); Time in Automata Pieta, by Constance Congdon (world premiere, Magic Theater, San Francisco); George in Time on Fire, by Timothy Mason (Magic Theater and Royal National Theater, London); Semaj in the Smokin' Word production of Passin' Me By (Ohio Theatre, New York); and Abe/Aaron in Grace, by Jesse Cameron Alick (South Oxford Space, Brooklyn). His first mainstage role was Salvatore in The Rose Tattoo (A.C.T., San Francisco). Andrew is a frequent volunteer with the 52nd Street Project, and has performed in plays with them at the Ensemble Studio Theatre and the Public Theater. He earned his B.A. at Amherst College. Back to topBeth KurkjianBeth lives and creates dance theatre in NYC. She has shown solo work
at PS 122, Dixon Place, La Mama, Galapagos, and the Ontological. In
London, Kurkjian performed her solo Age Less and a 30-min version of
Sylvie or Marie at the ICA Theater and the SHUNT Lounge. Her directing
work includes two original dance theater shows Crochet: I Dream Ballet
(Ontological) and 18 to 21 (Skidmore College). Kurkjian has
choreographed dances for two PL115 shows - Bertolt Brecht's Caucasian
Chalk Circle (Mabou Mines Residency) and Julia Jarcho's A Small Hole
(DNA) - and for Kate E. Ryan's Women of Trachis (Ohio), all directed by
Alice Reagan. She has performed in ensemble projects created by Ken
Nintzel, Juliana Francis, Yehuda Duenyas, Aaron Landsman, Johanna S.
Meyer, Noemie Lafrance, Nellie Tinder, and GAle GAtes et al. Shane LeClairShane is a registered architect and currently designs exhibits for the Bronx Zoo. Previous set designs include The Grasshopper by Anton Chekhov and Iphigenia at Aulis. He won the award for Best Set Design for PL115's A Small Hole in the NY Fringe Festival, 2006. Back to topAlice ReaganAlice most recently collaborated with PL115 on a new translation/adaptation of Brecht’s Caucasian Chalk Circle through the Mabou Mines/SUITE Resident Artist Program. Other directing credits include The Knights by Rob Handel (Target Margin Theater), Alice in War by Steven Bogart (Summer Play Festival), Women of Trachis by Kate E. Ryan (Target Margin), A Small Hole by Julia Jarcho (FringeNYC), Pickford with Beth Kurkjian (Ontological), Big Night by Dawn Powell (Bates College), Alcestis by Euripides (chashama) and Machinal by Sophie Treadwell (Riverside Church). She has worked as a dramaturg or assistant director for Anne Bogart, Robert Woodruff, Robert Falls, and David Herskovits. 2006 Princess Grace Award. Target Margin Artistic Associate, 2006-07. 2008 Drama League Directing Fellow. MA: Performance Studies, Tisch School of the Arts/NYU, Amankulor Award. MFA: Columbia, Dean’s Fellow. Back to topRamona ThomasiusRamona first collaborated with PL115 as dramaturg on the New York International Fringe Festival production of A Small Hole by Julia Jarcho. She also has worked at the Garage Theatre in London, the Thirteen Street Repertory Company and the Ensemble Studio Theatre Institute in New York among others. Currently, she is the dramaturg for an adaptation of Sophocles’ Women of Trachis, part of Target Margin Theater’s upcoming Greek Season. Earlier in 2006, she also completed an international dramaturgy workshop on Heiner Müller in Berlin. In addition, she is a script reader for the Red Bull Theatre Company, New York. Back to topMark ValadezMark is a New York based sound designer and musician. Select NYC credits include: Alcestis (chashama), Fires (Vortex Theatre), Cleansed (NYC premiere, Columbia Stages), Blood Wedding, Baby Face (Walkerspace), Cherubina (Sanford Meisner Theatre). He is resident sound designer for PL115, and has designed sound for all of their productions including the award winning production of Ashlin Halfnight's God's Waiting Room (PS122/FringeFest NYC 2005 and Budapest, Hungary), A Small Hole by 13P Julia Jarcho, and Dead Letter Office (chashama, HERE Arts Center). He most recently composed music for PL115's new translation of Caucasian Chalk Circle (Mabou Mines Resident Artist Program). He plays guitar with The Ransome Brothers. Back to topMeiyin WangMeiyin is the co-Artistic Director of theatrewagon and artistic associate of Singapore Repertory Theatre. Directing highlights include Cleansed (NY Premiere), Betrayal (Singapore Premiere), C4 The Chekhov Project, Scratch/Medea, A Lover's Discourse, Mother Courage, Ivanov. In Singapore, Meiyin's work was described by Òbold, brisk and brilliantÓ and was nominated for Best Direction and Best Script by national media. She has assisted Robert Woodruff, Eduardo Machado, Lisa Peterson and has worked at ART, The Public, INTAR, CSC, Barrow Group, Prospect Theater, Long Beach Opera. She is the Associate Producer for Under The Radar. Affiliations: SSDC, Womens Project Directors Lab. M.F.A., Columbia. Back to top |