Ars Nova presents

Eager To Lose

A Farce In Burlesque

Written by Matthew-Lee Erlbach 
Created by Matthew-Lee Erlbach, Wes Grantom, Portia Krieger, Tansy 
Directed by Wes Grantom & Portia Krieger

THEATERMANIA

FLAVORPILL

Ars Nova presents

Eager To Lose

A Farce In Burlesque

Written by Matthew-Lee Erlbach 
Created by Matthew-Lee Erlbach, Wes Grantom, Portia Krieger, Tansy 
Directed by Wes Grantom & Portia Krieger

THE TEAM

Choreography TANSY
Musical Director CODY OWEN STINE
Scenic Design MARK ERBAUGH  
Costume Design TILLY GRIMES
Lighting Design BRIAN TOVAR  
Sound Design JOSH MILLICAN
Prop Design NOAH MEASE  
Production Stage Manager LISA McGINN
Assistant Stage Manager LAURA KIM

 

ABOUT THE CREATORS

MATTHEW-LEE ERLBACH (Playwright) is stoked to be back at Ars Nova. Writer: Handbook for an American Revolutionary (Tony Speciale, dir, Off-B’way); Kevin Lamb (Michael Berresse, dir); KING GEORGE III; Revelations. TV/Film: Roger, the Chicken (Best Screenplay, Houston); Whipped, featuring Carrie Preston (Locomotive Film); pitchman (Cineflix); Nickelodeon; MTV; WWE; Huffington Post. Actor: MTV’s Epic Fail; Another Earth (Sundance); Important Things with Demetri Martin; Law & Order: SVU. Proud graduate, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Also, Second City, Chicago. Matthew-Lee.com

WES GRANTOM (Co-Director) is thrilled to be back at Ars Nova after directing for Missed Connections, The Urban Dictionary Plays and The Netflix Plays as well as projects for ANT Fest and Project Residency. Other credits include The Steadfast by Mat Smart and Mine by Bekah Brunstetter (Slant Theatre Project), Clybourne Park (Premiere Stages) and Anonymous by Naomi Iizuka (Waterwell/PPAS). Drama League Directing Fellow, member of Lincoln Center Directors Lab, Co-Artistic Director of Slant Theatre Project, graduate of the University of Evansville.

PORTIA KRIEGER (Co-Director) Recent directing credits include Baby Screams Miracle (Clubbed Thumb), The Netflix Plays (Ars Nova), Tigers Be Still (TheaterSquared), Too Much Too Soon (Lesser America) and When You’re Here (Williamstown), along with workshops and readings at the Roundabout Underground, New York Stage & Film, Rattlestick, Page 73, Naked Angels and others. Portia is an alumna of the Drama League Directors Project and the Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab, Ars Nova’s 2013 Director-in-Residence, a Lesser America ensemble member and a co-founder of the New Georges Jam.

TANSY (Choreography, Tansy) Frequently described as “The Elizabeth Taylor of Burlesque,” this vintage vixen teases with both humor and sophisticated sensuality. Channeling the sublime glamour of another era, Tansy has entertained at The New York Burlesque Festival, The New Orleans Burlesque Festival, and The Burlesque Hall of Fame Weekend in Las Vegas. She has charmed audiences across the country on tour with The World Famous Pontani Sisters, and last year, won the title of “Miss Newcomer World” at The World Burlesque Games in London, England.

ABOUT THE CAST 

JOHN BEHLMANN (MC) was last seen at Ars Nova this summer in Trapeze Hero!, which he also directed. Broadway: Journey’s End. Off-Broadway: The 39 Steps (NWS); Wild Animals You Should Know (MCC); Ghosts (Pearl); The Steadfast (Slant). Film/TV: The Wolf of Wall Street (Scorsese, Upcoming), Stryka, Revolutionary Road, Pretty Bird, The Good Wife, All My Children, Guiding Light, 3 Lbs. John is also the co-Artistic Director of Fight or Flight, a trapeze theater company.

RICHARD SAUDEK (Peeps) NYC: pool (no water) (PS122), Evelyn (Bushwick Starr), Wolves (59E59), Corporate Carnival (The Women’s Project), The Killing Room (Teatro Circulo), The Mandrake (Pearl Theatre Co.), Dream of Me (The Players Theatre), Breath on the Mirror (LaMama). Regional: Trouble Tales (Williamstown), Orestes (title role, dir. Jo Anne Akalaitis, The Fisher Center for the Performing Arts). Richard’s a member of One Year Lease Theater Co. OYL premieres international work in NYC and has an annual residency in Papingo, Greece.

EMILY WALTON (Glinda) is very excited to be a part of this saucy show!  Broadway credits include Peter and the Starcatcher and August: Osage County. Off-Broadway credits include The Shaggs: Philosophy of the World, Cactus Flower, Saved, The Deepest Play Ever. Regional credits include Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz (Sacramento Music Circus), Sondheim on Sondheim (Great Lakes Theater Festival) and The Graduate (Cape Playhouse). Emily is also a singer-songwriter. Thank you, everyone!  

STACEY YEN (Trixie) Past theater credits include The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (Under the Radar Festival; King’s Theater, Edinburgh; The Esplanade, Singapore), Enjoy (The Play Company), Yellowface (The Public), Twelfth Night (Hartford Stage), The Arabian Nights (Arena Stage, Berkeley Rep, Lookingglass Theatre, Kansas City Rep), Mirror of the Invisible World (Goodman Theatre), The Winter’s Tale (Williamstown), among others. Film credits include The Weekend. Television credits include HBO’s Treme, The Secret Lives of Husbands & Wives, Gossip Girl, Unforgettable, The Good Wife, Blue Bloods, Ugly Betty, Nurse Jackie, CSI: NY, Rubicon, Two Chicks. She attended Brown University and went on to receive an  M.F.A. from NYU Tisch School of the Arts. Special thanks to Vayu.

ABOUT THE BAND

BEN ARONS (Drums) is a drummer, audio engineer and photographer. Recent projects include drums for Murder Ballad, Pepper & Sam and Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, and audio recordings for Jena Malone, Jimmy Fallon, Karen O, Harper Simon, CBS News, Golf Channel, FX, and AT&T. His photographs have appeared in The New York Times, Time Out New York, The Village Voice and Drumhead. BenAronsPhoto.com

CHRIS BASTIAN (Bass) is a Northern California native and has been performing professionally since he was 15. A graduate of UCLA, Chris performs regularly in the NYC area on upright and electric bass. 
ChristoBass.com

DANNY JONOKUCHI (Trumpet) at 23, has proven to be one of the most unique and dynamic trumpeters to arrive on the New York jazz scene. Danny originally hails from the Los Angeles area where he was brought up by some of the top studio musicians. In 2008, he received a B.M. from Temple University’s Boyer College of Music and Dance in Philadelphia. He now lives in NYC where he regularly performs with his own groups and as a sideman. 

CODY OWEN STINE (Musical Direction, Orchestrations, Arrangements, Cody) is a composer, lyricist, arranger and musical director. His composer/lyricist credits include Delilah Dix: America’s Showgirl (Ars Nova); Rites of Passage (Prospect Theater); Nobody’s Perfect (52nd Street Project); Delilah Dix: Showin’ My Business (Ars Nova, Edinburgh Fringe, Second City LA, and others). Cody’s next composer/lyricist project is The Prisoner of Vegas (Musical Mondays Theater Lab). Musical direction credits include Murder Ballad (MTC, Union Square Theatre), La MaMa, 54 Below, Joe’s Pub and others. Member of the BMI Musical Theatre Worshop and Dramatists Guild. CodyOwenStine.com

ABOUT THE TEAM

MARK ERBAUGH (Scenic Design) is a set designer for theater, film, and television. He is the Art Director for the Late Show with David Letterman. Other TV and Film credits include two seasons of Queer Eye as well as Tyler Perry’s Madea Goes to Jail and The Family That Preys. Mark recently collaborated with Portia Krieger on Tigers Be Still at TheaterSquared.  He has worked at Hartford Stage, Atlantic Theater Company, the Alley Theater, MCC, Playwrights Horizons and Second Stage among others. He has taught at and is a graduate of NYU. Thanks to all who are Eager To Lose, everyone at Ars Nova and to Wes and to Portia. 

TILLY GRIMES (Costume Design) Past credits include Family Album (Oregon Shakespeare Festival), Present Laughter (Two River Theatre Company), Steadfast (Barrow Group), The Netflix Plays (Ars Nova), The How and the Why (Trinity Rep), Twelfth Night (Westport County Playhouse) and Caligula (Project Theatre, Dublin), among others. Awards include Balsamo Grant for Emerging Immigrant Artists, Irish Arts Design Award and Irish Times Theatre Award Nomination. Tilly is also co-Artistic Director of London/Parisian Theatre Company SavageCharm. She received her MFA from NYU Tisch School of the Arts and teaches at Brown University’s directing MFA program.

BRIAN TOVAR (Lighting Design) Recent NYC credits include: Haute Mess, The Lapsburgh Layover, TRAVIS, Factory Girls (Ars Nova); Tamar of the River (Prospect Theater); Sleeping Rough (Page73); Rapture (The Play Company); Jesus Hopped the A Train (Atlantic Stage 2); Rio, Les Enfants De Paris, The Brain That Wouldn’t Die, Street Lights (NYMF); Just Cause (The Flea Theater); Spidermusical (Mint); Accidentally Like a Martyr (The Wild Project); Veritas, Vote!, Perez Hilton Saves The Universe (NYC Fringe); The Wendy Complex (MITF); The Wendigo (Medicine Show), among others. Regional credits include Denver Center Theatre, Two River Theatre and Northern Stage. Broadway assistant credits include HAIR, Passing Strange and 39 Steps. Love all around. BrianTovarDesign.com

JOSH MILLICAN’s (Sound Design) work was last seen at Ars Nova in The Netflix Plays. Broadway credits include Big Fish (Asst.), Bridges of Madison County (Upcoming, Asst.). International credits include Coram Boy, Angels in America (UK); The Fall & Rise of the Phoenix (South Africa, Asst.). Other credits include Theater for the New City, The New Ohio, R.Evolucion Latina (BC/EFA), Multistages, Marymount Manhattan, The Lee Strasberg Institute, North Shore Music Theatre and Williamstown. Graduate of The Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts, and recipient of the Sennheiser Achievement award for Sound Design. JoshMillican.com

NOAH MEASE (Prop Design) Recent props design credits include Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812 (Kazino), Women or Nothing (Atlantic Theater Company), The Debate Society’s Blood Play (The Bushwick Starr, The Public/UTR, Williamstown), The Netflix Plays and TRAVIS (Ars Nova). Noah also writes plays and is currently developing an adaptation of Plato’s Republic with the OBIE Award-winning theater company Hoi Polloi. He is a graduate of Middlebury College with a B.A. in Theater & Spanish.

LISA McGINN (Production Stage Manager ) Previous credits include The Object Lesson with Geoff Sobelle; The Wholehearted, Chimera (Stein | Holum Projects); You, My Mother (Two-Headed Calf); Baby Screams Miracle (Clubbed Thumb); How to Build a Forest (PearlDamour + Shawn Hall); How to Break (HERE Arts Center); The Seagull and Ivanov (Chekhov at Lake Lucille); The Peripherals and Hot Lunch Apostles (Talking Band), Temporal Powers (Mint Theater Co.); Shakespeare’s Richard II…on Trapeze! (Matchbook Productions/Sonnet Rep).

LAURA KIM (Assistant Stage Manager) Past credits include Core Values; The Netflix Plays; Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet Of 1812 (Ars Nova); Bouncing Back: The Resilient Plays (The 52nd Street Project); As Wide As I Can See (At Hand Theatre Company); uncle tom: deconstructed (The Conciliation Project, performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival), among others.

HENRY RUSSELL BERGSTEIN, CSA (Casting) Broadway: The Lyons by Nicky Silver. Other Theater: Checkers, Picked, Middletown, The Metal Children, Wig Out!, Slug Bearers of Kayrol Island… (Vineyard Theatre), Natasha, Pierre, & The Great Comet of 1812 (Ars Nova), 3C (Rattlestick), Gorilla Man. Film: Casting Director: It Felt Like Love (Sundance 2013 Next Series), Certainty, Quitters, Infinitely Polar Bear. Casting Associate: Frances Ha, Moonrise Kingdom, The Immigrant, The Double, At Any Price, I Don’t Know How She Does It, Limitless, The Last Airbender, All Good Things and Two Lovers. Other: Former Manager of East Coast Casting for Warner Bros. Television Studios in NY, Sundance Institute’s Theater Lab, and Naked Angels 1^st Mondays Series.