The artists from Ars Nova’s comedy residency take over our untamed monthly variety show-meets-party. Mahayla Laurence and Matt Gehring host this special SHOWGASM. introducing us to each of the comedy creators in CAMP who will be returning with their own full-length shows in June 2024.
Featuring Sarah Adelman, Kurt Cruz, Lida Darmian, Emily Dayton Evans, Marina Gasparyan, Maarit Hara, Anne-Marie Pietersma & SMJ.
Suggested Tix Price: $10
Tix to this show are Name Your Price starting at $5, meaning you decide what you pay! We pass on 100% of the single ticket revenue directly to the show’s lead artists, and give them an opportunity to suggest the ticket price that they’d prefer. You can learn more about What’s Ars Is Yours: Name Your Price Tix by visiting our How We Do It page.
SHOWGASM. will stream live from Ars Nova on December 14 @ 7:30pm on Ars Nova Supra. Following the live stream, you’ll be able to watch the show on-demand for up to a year. Get a cancel-anytime $15/mo subscription to stream live or on-demand.
Matt Gehring is a performer, writer and director of comedy. He’s been on Amazon, Netflix, Comedy Central and has spent years on the UCB stage. Check out the Broadway-Meets-Sketch show, SHIZ he created with Shaina Taub. Matt is currently getting his MFA in theater directing at Brooklyn College
Mahayla Laurence is a multi-disciplinary artist engaging in work that creates space for conversations around mental and spiritual health, joy, humor, stewardship, and community. They also facilitate the Engaging Artists Fellowship at More Art in addition to being in a fellowship themselves with the New Victory LabWorks program. Mahayla is a certified breathwork practitioner and herbalism apprentice at the Sacred Vibes Apothecary. www.mahaylalaurence.com.
Sarah Adelman is a former reproductive health Research Scientist and stand-up comedian born and raised in NYC and based in Brooklyn. She’s a regular at Stand Up NY, New York Comedy Club, Greenwich Village Comedy Club, Littlefield, Union Hall, and other awesome clubs and venues. She can be seen on two episodes of HBO Game Theory and has been featured on NBC News, Meta, Risk! Podcast, the 92nd Street Y, and more. She produces three monthly shows and a weekly podcast- you can find links to those and more about Sarah at sarahadelmancomedy.com
Kurt Cruz is a musician, comedian, and Technical Director. Previously, he was the Technical Director at the Upright Citizens Brigade – Hell’s Kitchen and Caveat NYC. He is also a freelance audio mixer, podcast editor, and live-stream technician. When he’s not behind the tech booth, you can find him performing improv and music at various venues throughout NYC. Check out his solo indie music project, Kuko, on all streaming platforms. Kukomusic.com
Lida Darmian (she/her) is an actor/comedian/clown/writer/podcaster/master-of-slashes from LA, but based in NYC. She received her BFA from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, and can now be seen performing sketch, improv, clowning and storytelling in bars and venues around the country. She has trained in improv, sketch, and clowning at UCB, Annoyance, Magnet Theater, BCC, Chris Bayes, and Ècole Philippe Gaulier. You may have seen her in a commercial before, or maybe she just looks like someone you know. Also, she is scared of whales, so please don’t bring them up (but if it happens, it happens).
Emily is a NYC based SAG/AFTRA actor, comedian, director, writer, and award-winning filmmaker. A proudly queer multihyphenate, Emily’s platform centers LGBTQ+ characters, and raises mental health awareness. She has been a featured performer at HBO Women in Comedy Festival, her sketch comedy pilot won BEST OF the Late Night competition 2023 at SeriesFest, and she was recently named Content Creator to Watch by New York Comedy Festival. You can watch her in landmark television series; The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (AMAZON), The Other Two (HBOMAX), The Loudest Voice (SHOWTIME), and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (NETFLIX). Originally from rural Vermont, Emily also knows how to milk a goat! Learn more about Emily here: https://emilyevansactor.com/
Marina Gasparyan is a Russian-Armenian actor, writer, producer, and comedian. She is originally from Moscow and came to America in 1996 through a Jewish refugee program. She has a degree in Cinema Studies and Dramatic Literature from NYU and was the co-founder of a curated monthly screening series Black Mariah Films (2012-2015) where she programmed film series that showcased emerging filmmakers alongside classic and art house films. She has completed acting programs at The Barrow Group Theatre Company and Playhouse West. She has also trained at Upright Citizens Brigade (UCB), People’s Improv Theatre (PIT), The Second City, iO Chicago, and The Groundlings. She writes poetry and hosts a monthly reading series People Reading Funny Things at Black Spring Books in Williamsburg where comedians and poets join forces to perform a range of comedic and literary material. She loves writing and performing badass female characters and impersonating Edgar Allan Poe. https://www.marinagasparyan.com/
Maarit Hara is an actor, theater maker, clown and improviser from Helsinki, Finland. She is skilled in both drama and comedy, having trained at East15 Acting School (London) and the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre (NYC). Maarit loves to laugh at the ridiculousness and tragedy of human beings (especially herself) and has been described as a fanatic by her clown teacher. You can ask her anything about vitamin B12 and she’ll be happy to tell you! You can read more about her work here: https://www.maarithara.com/copy-of-portfolio
Anne-Marie Pietersma (she/her) is a Brooklyn-based actor, writer, comedian, voice actor, and ACS Certified Cheese Professional® from Claremont, CA. She has very important pieces of paper from Penn State University, Boston University, New York Film Academy, and the National Musical Theatre Institute. She has trained at UCB, Annoyance, ComedySportz, and spent hours of her childhood learning every word to Spaceballs and The First Wives Club. Anne-Marie comes from a dairy farming family and is passionate about teaching people how to trust themselves and their taste through cheese tasting + creativity workshops (it does work). She blends food and storytelling wherever possible as reflected in her first one-woman show “Mild to Wild”, her upcoming book “I’ll Have What Cheese Having: Cheese Pairings Inspired by Romantic Comedies” and her weekly newsletter Trust Your Taste.
SMJ (they/them) is an NYC-based, mixed-Latiné, and Trans non-binary playwright, musical theater writer, educator, & theatermaker originally from Mount Vernon, OH. They are a 2022-2023 Dramatists Guild Foundation Fellow. Currently, SMJ is creating work with Ars Nova, The Road Theatre Company’s Under Construction Playwriting Group, Latiné Musical Theatre Lab, The Orchard Project, and American Theater Group. Their work has been seen in various forms throughout the US including the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, New York Stage and Film, Lincoln Center, National Queer Theater, Carnegie Mellon University, Otterbein University, Wright State University, Art House Productions, UTEP, Andy’s Summer Playhouse, The Workshop Theater, The 24 Hour Plays, The Fled Collective, Live Arts, The Uptown Collective, CRY HAVOC, The Tank, and DR2 Theatre. SMJ also writes for the serial podcast, University Radio. SMJ has been a semifinalist for the O’Neill’s National Playwrights Conference, Princess Grace Award at New Dramatists, and Van Lier New Voices Fellowship as well as a Finalist for the 2023 Parity Development Award and the Doric Wilson Playwright Award. SMJ is a graduate of Otterbein University and the National Theater Institute at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center. They’re a member of the Dramatists Guild and Ring of Keys. www.smjwrites.com
This show will take place at Ars Nova, located at 511 W 54th Street, New York, NY 10019.
Seating is general admission and first-come first-served. So, the earlier you arrive at the theater, the more choice you’ll have about where you sit! (Bonus: cheapest drinks in Midtown are at Bars Nova!)
The only way to guarantee you reserved seats is to become a Super Nova. Super Novas never hear “sold out,” get reserved seats in prime locations, and make fair wages and accessible tickets possible. Learn more about becoming a Super Nova here!
Tix to this show are Name Your Price starting at $5, meaning you decide what you pay! Best of all, when you name your price, 100% of the single ticket revenue is passed on directly to the show’s lead artists! You can learn more about What’s Ars Is Yours: Name Your Price Tix by visiting our How We Do It page.
Once you’ve selected your performance date and time at check-out, you’ll see a number of ticket price options ranging from $5 to $100. Select the price point you want to pay and the number of tickets you’d like to purchase and they’ll be added to your cart. After that, continue through the check-out process and you’ll be all set!
Yes. The processing fees are charged by our ticketing and credit card processors, and increase along with the base price of your ticket.
Yes! Ars Nova Supra is our digital platform where you can live stream all of our one-night shows and watch premieres from the past year on-demand. For the low price of $15/mo, you can access an entire seasons worth of comedy, music and theater from our groundbreaking artists, and additionally you can cancel your subscription anytime!
All sales are final – there are no refunds or exchanges.
If you’re unable to use your tickets, you may donate them in exchange for a letter of tax credit by emailing tix@arsnovanyc.com.
We ask that you stay home if you aren’t feeling well or are awaiting the results of a COVID test. Please let us know prior to your ticketed performance, and we will work with you to find a solution if you’re unable to attend.
We welcome and encourage mask-wearing to protect yourself and others. However, as mask mandates have lifted and city, state and federal guidelines have changed, we will not be requiring them at performances.
We no longer require proof of vaccination, but we strongly encourage all audience members to get vaccinated and boosted in accordance with public health guidelines.
Our staff will clean and sanitize the theater and common areas and we’ll continue to provide hand sanitizer for your personal use.
Signage is posted in all spaces encouraging washing or sanitizing hands frequently.
Ars Nova is uncensored. We provide content advisories — to the best of our ability — to inform audiences when shows contain racial violence, racist language, sexual violence or nudity. We provide information about this type of content in advance, based on our core values, so that each audience member can make an informed decision about if and how they’d like to engage with that content. We welcome artists to share additional information about their shows based on their own core values.
