A DEEP SPACE PERFORMANCE RESIDENCY

Birding for Beginners (A Eulogy for Pilgrims)

Concluding their week-long residency, Jessica Almasy and her collaborators will present an excerpt of Birding for Beginners, a production she describes as “a deliciously slo burning 12 hour American voyage, fashioned after the seabound pelagic birding tour. A sequel to Hamlet meets Colonial Williamsburg, shot in the desert.”

About the Artists

Birding for Beginners Creative Team (Top Row L-R): Kristen Sieh, Han Van Sciver, Jay Maury, Evelyn Spahr, Mitchell Polonsky; (Middle Row L-R): Frank Boudreaux, Ema Zivkovic, Jessica Almasy, Kate Benson, Sheldon Donenberg, Andreea Mincic; (Bottom Row): Admiral Grey, Ben Williams, Hannah Mitchell, Mike Pride, Chloe Claudel

JESSICA ALMASY
Jessica is a writer, director, producer, and actress working across all mediums. She is a cofounder of the TEAM (www.theteamplays.org), has recorded over 400 audio books, most notably as Lourna Dee in Star Wars, and quarterbacked alongside artists like Josephine Decker, Hilton Als, Haruna Lee, and Tim Robbins. She is a birder by proxy, and grateful for the pilgrim.

KRISTEN SIEH
Kristen thought she was going to be a costume designer in her 20s, but then she started making a living as an actor. Now she's back up to her old tricks.  Here are some of her acting credits: Broadway: The Band’s Visit.  Select Off-Broadway: Gatz, The Fortress of Solitude, February House (The Public Theater), Scene Partners, RoosevElvis (The Vineyard), Dr. Ride’s American Beach House (Ars Nova), The Antiquities, Men On Boats (Playwrights Horizons), Iphigenia at Aulis (Classic Stage Company). She has performed with companies such as Half Straddle, ERS, Builders Association, The Foundry, Pig Iron, Ripe Time, Clubbed Thumb, and Banana Bag & Bodice in NYC, regionally and abroad, and is a founding member of The TEAM with whom she has co-written, performed, and costume designed numerous works including RoosevElvis and Particularly in the Heartland. TV: The Plot Against America, House of Cards, Orange is the New Black, Boardwalk Empire, etc. Kristen is also an award-winning narrator of audiobooks, a craftsperson, and a gardener. In 2023 she received a certificate in horticulture from The NY Botanical Garden, and in 2024 she formed the textile collective, Marla, with Brenda Abandandolo and Marika Kent. 

KATE BENSON
Kate is a writer and performer who lives in Brooklyn, NY. She has worked at the Public, Dixon Place, LaMama, and New York Theater Workshop. Her plays have been presented by New Georges, the Bushwick Starr, and the WP Theater. She is a company member of ERS and a graduate of the Brooklyn College Playwrighting program.

JAY MAURY
Jay is a sound, lighting, video, and scenery designer working out of Brooklyn. As the resident designer and technical director of The Bushwick Starr, he has designed all in-house events and all infrastructure for the new venue.  Jay also designed elements for recent projects including Presencia (Sound Design), This/That (Associate Production Design), and associate video design for Demons, Slam Dance, and Definition. Additional design credits include Saratoga Opera (Sound Design, Lighting Design); Weasel Fest (Lighting Design); and Big Green Theater (Lighting Design, Production Design).

ADMIRAL GREY
Admiral Grey is a multidisciplinary artist and performer building colorful, transformative worlds through performance, materials, language, music, and video. They have collaborated with notably trailblazing theatrical groups such as Sister Sylvester, The Drunkard’s Wife, The Nerve Tank, and Robin Frohardt Company in devising, performing, composing, sound design, costume, puppetry, and film, as well as helming their own production company Snake In The Boot. They are known for their genre-bending musical projects, having received most acclaim as the visceral and transformative front person for the band Cellular Chaos. Their works and performances have been seen across the United States and in Singapore, Turkey, Egypt, Greece, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, France, Belgium, The Netherlands, and England. Their current interdisciplinary work The Human Dream Project has received grants from New York State Council On The Arts, The Foundation for Contemporary Arts, Artists Relief, and The Jim Henson Foundation.

EVELYN SPAHR
Evelyn is a generative artist and actor based in NYC. When not in rehearsal,  Evelyn enjoys watching reality tv, trying new recipes with her partner, and going to the mall.

SHELDON DONENBERG
Sheldon is an actor, generative artist, and older brother. Recent credits include: The Jew of Malta at Red Bull Theatre, Three Sisters at the Actors Studio. Humbled and grateful to be included in this inspiring group of collaborators.

BEN WILLIAMS
Ben is an actor, sound designer, and audio producer. He has worked with Elevator Repair Service, Julia Jarcho's Minor Theater, and many others. Awards for sound design: Obie, Lucille Lortel, Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award, and the inaugural Third Coast International Audio Festival “Audio Unbound” Award. Ben produces and curates category : other (category-other.com) an award-winning platform for experimental audio.

CHLOE CLAUDEL
Chloe is an actor, director, choreographer, writer, and a co-founder of The Goat Exchange. Recent credits include The Barbarians (La MaMa), DEADCLASS, OHIO (The Tank), and ESCAPED ALONE (not not not not not enough oxygen) (Torn Page).

MITCHELL POLONSKY
Mitchell is a theater maker, photographer, and sound/media artist from Ohio. He has co-Directed more than 20 original works with the Goat Exchange, which he co-founded with Chloe Claudel in 2016. Recent work includes Deadclass, Ohio; Not Not Not Not Not Enough Oxygen; and upcoming Time Passes (in progress).

EMA ZIVKOVIC
Ema is a Croatian actor, writer, and choreographer living in New York. They have worked at/with Ars Nova, Clubbed Thumb, Rattlestick Theater, Actors Theatre of Louisville, The TEAM, The 24 Hour Plays, The Hangar Theatre, Target Margin, National Theatre Institute, Williamstown Theatre Fest, Joe’s Pub/The Public, Perseverance Theatre of Alaska, Dramatist Guild Foundation, Drama League, National Queer Theatre, and more. Education: British American Drama Academy & Sarah Lawrence College. Ema is part of the Mercury Store Acting Company. If you want Ema to like you, go stream “swearing in english” at ARS NOVA Supra. Also, are you an agent? Get Ema an agent. www.emazivkovic.com

HANNAH MITCHELL
Hannah is a Georgia-raised and NYC-based performer, theater-maker, and educator whose work engages the improvisational modes of clown and bouffon. She is a founding member of the experimental performance collective CHILD, whose creative output “so insistently defies human logic” (Helen Shaw, The New Yorker), and of the clown company WüfPak. Her projects have taken inspiration from auctioneer chant, Greek tragedy, consciousness alteration, cyborgs, worms and trad wives to explore sincerity, trance, family systems, mania, and gender roles under capitalism. Her work has been developed through the Mabou Mines Resident Artist Program, The No Theme Festival, The Philadelphia Fringe Festival, ?!:New Works Festival, Mother’s Milk Series, and upcoming at The Exponential Festival. Hannah has performed at many venues around NYC including The Public Theater, The Brick Theater, Park Ave Armory, Collapsable Hole, Lincoln Center, Life World, New Ohio Theatre, HERE Arts Center, Target Margin Theater, and Brooklyn Comedy Collective, among others. Regionally her work has been seen at Princeton University, and abroad at The Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

HAN VAN SCIVER
Han is a multidisciplinary performer, writer, and musician. Acting credits include At The Wedding (Lincoln Center), Orlando (Williamstown), An Oxford Man (Manhattan Theater Club), Kit Marlowe (TFANA/Red Bull), and Hamlet (Alabama Shakespeare). Original works include DRAGON (New York Theatre Workshop), Gay Narcissus (Orchard Project/Die-Cast), Happy Birthday Han (JACK), and episodic SAD HAN (@sad_han, American Theatre). Film: Regulars, Has Anyone Else Lost Their Body? TV: The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live, Elsbeth. Percussion: Northern Stage (Ani DiFranco), Lake Lucille Chekhov Project, Ars Nova, Joe’s Pub, Baltimore Center Stage, and more. MFA: Brown/Trinity Rep. www.hanvansciver.com / @rhymes.with.man

MIKE PRIDE
A percussionist, composer, educator, and visual artist based out of New York City since 2000, Mike currently performs solo, leads the jazz quartet From Bacteria To Boys, the 7-drummer installation Drummer's Corpse, the piano trio I Hate Work, and his newest band, Tributary Trio. He is also co-leader of the ensembles Pulverize The Sound (w/ Peter Evans and Tim Dahl), Three-Layer Cake (w/ Mike Watt & Brandon Seabrook) and Location Location Location (w/ Michael Formanek & Anthony Pirog). Pride is renowned for his ability to excel in a wide range of genres and ensembles. He has worked with everyone from improvised music icon Anthony Braxton to punk legends Millions Of Dead Cops, toured extensively on four continents, appeared on more than 150 recordings, and toured arenas worldwide opening for comedian Amy Schumer with Jason Stein's Locksmith Isidore. www.mikepride.com

FRANK BOUDREAUX
Playwright/theater artist Frank Boudreaux has performed at The Bushwick Starr, 3LD, The Kitchen, Dixon Place, PS 122, The Invisible Dog, Incubator Arts Project, and Richard Foreman’s Ontological-Hysteric. His plays have been produced and read by The New Group, LAByrinth, Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, The Bushwick Starr, Dixon Place, 3LD, Boundless Theatre (London), Portland Playhouse (Portland, OR), and The Country Playhouse (Houston, TX). BFA Tisch (w/ Jess Almasy!). MFA Brooklyn College (Mac Wellman and Erin Courtney).

ANDREEA MINCIC
Andreea (she/her) is a theater designer and visual artist based in New York City. From stage design to costumes, masks, props, and puppets, Andreea loves everything that has a good idea and involves collaboration with other artists. She uses her hands to make all kinds of fun things, and she loves working on unconventional, exciting performances. Andreea designs mostly for downtown theatre companies, and some of her favorite collaborators are Alex Tatarsky, Tom Lee, Amanda Horowitz, Marc Lafia, Big Dance Theater, 31Down, The Builders Association, Hoi Polloi, Jim Findlay, Radiohole, Mallory Catlett, and Banana Bag And Bodice.