Reconstructing
A NEW WORK BY THE TEAM
About RECONSTRUCTING
Co-written by 22 artists ages 29 to 99, RECONSTRUCTING is a new work by internationally-renowned theater collective The TEAM (@theteamplays). With a propulsive musical score, RECONSTRUCTING melts time. As a house becomes a plantation becomes a college campus mainstay, the show’s tour-de-force cast—Jillian Walker, Eric Berryman, Rachel Chavkin, Maya Sharpe, Modesto Flako Jimenez, James Harrison Monaco, and Ato Blankson-Wood—shepherd us through these legacies, real and imagined, to ask how, in the aftermath of slavery, we might move through history together.
For touring inquiries & a detailed tech rider, contact Producing Director Emma Orme at emma@theteamplays.org
Please note this performance utilizes haze.
RECONSTRUCTING Credits
Created by The TEAM
Written by Brenda Abbandandolo, Denée Benton, Eric Berryman, Vinie Burrows, Rachel Chavkin, Eisa Davis, Josiah Davis, André De Shields, nicHi douglas, JJJJJerome Ellis, Kate Freer, Jill Frutkin, Amber Gray, Jeremy O. Harris, Modesto Flako Jimenez, Ian Lassiter, Zhailon Levingston, Jake Margolin, James Harrison Monaco, Nick Vaughan, and Jillian Walker
Developed with Matt Hubbs, Marika Kent, Libby King, and Kristen Sieh
Directed by Rachel Chavkin and Zhailon Levingston
Composers: James Harrison Monaco, Jillian Walker, and Maya Sharpe with Eric Berryman
Choreographer: nicHi douglas
Resident Director: Josiah Davis
Featuring: Eric Berryman*, Rachel Chavkin, Modesto ‘Flako’ Jiménez, James Harrison Monaco, Maya Sharpe*, Ato Blankson-Wood* and Jillian Walker*
Scenic Design: Lawrence E. Moten III
Adapted from Original Scenic Design by Nick Vaughan
Lighting Design: Alan C. Edwards
Sound Design: Mikhail Fiksel
Video & Projections Design: Katherine Freer
Costume & Quilt Design: Marla (Brenda Abbandandolo, Marika Kent, and Kristen Sieh)
Props Design: Patricia Marjorie
Process Chaplain: Milta Vega-Cardona
Production Manager: Brian Freeland
Production Stage Manager: Norman Anthony Small*
Music Supervisor: Cody Owen Stine
Music Consultant: Nehemiah Luckett
Associate Choreography: Nile Assata Harris
Associate Video & Projections Designer: Deja Collins
Associate Lighting Designer: Alexander Freer
Associate Sound Designer: Bailey Trierweiler
1st Assistant Stage Manager: Kiara Brown
2nd Assistant Stage Manager: Maia Tivony
Stage Management Production Assistant: Brooks Gillespie
Assistant to the Costume Designer: Miriam Cortes
Substitute Production Manager: Calvin Anderson
A1: Manuel Martinez
THE TEAM PRODUCING AND ARTISTIC STAFF
Artistic Director: Rachel Chavkin
Producing Director: Emma Orme
Petri Director: Libby King
Development & Communication Producer: Diana Khong
Producing Production Assistant: Sagan Chen
Producing Fellow: Stuti Behari
TOW CENTER STAFF
Executive Director, Tow Center: Marcus Richardson
Director, Tow Center: Eveline Chang
Crew Chief, Scenic Supervisor: Lucanus Hotaling
Lighting Supervisor: Andrew Kerr-Thompson
Sound Supervisor: Thomas Selsey
Production Crew: Annabelle Adelaide, Stephanie Beckman, Lem Goldstein, Matthew Hairston, Cody Hom, Ren Hughes, Oziel Jimenez Santos, Grace Loeb, Manuel Martinez, Kat Morrill, Danelle Morrow, Javier Puga, Brian Quinones, Erica Reichler, Maddy Uecker, Michael Welles, Hayley Chisholm, Lucian Loyve
Box Office Staff: John Vetter, Olivia Thomas, Steven Wizior, Florence Rossiello, Natalie Aidinov
Associate Director of House & Patron Services:
Gerard M. Vaccarello
Assistant House Manager: Allan Randall
Tow Center Performance Managers: Richard Harris, Alexandria Timoll, Cassandra Morris-Marcus
Head Ushers: Serafima Zaytsev, Christopher Lutsker, Krystal Walker
Ushers: Danielle Russo, Jeremy Adom, Wali Mohammad, Finn Oliensis, Jacob Guinada, Oscar Docavo, Duke Nagrampa, Isabela Vargas, Joseph Pelan, Jenna Mineo, Duly Rosenberg, Renee Scorcia, Marlon Maynard
*Member of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.
The Director (or Choreographer) is a member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, a national theatrical labor union.
United Scenic Artists, Local USA 829, IATSE is the union representing Scenic, Costume, Lighting, Sound and Projection Designers in Live Performance.
Directors' Notes
“This is Rachel.
It’s funny: the TEAM has historically taken pride when our voices blend in our works, to the point it becomes impossible — via our endlessly iterative process — to trace a single image or line of dialogue back to an individual author’s hand. That said, in writing these notes it feels important to say “this is Rachel speaking” because in so many ways, the making of Reconstructing has been the journey from “we can all come together” to what a character in the show calls, “a kind of group solitude.” And I can’t speak for anyone else [though I’ll represent “team directing” in this moment].
It’s impossible to tell you briefly how divine and difficult this work has been to make, from 2018 to now. Births, deaths, a global pandemic, lots of delirious laughter, and many excruciatingly painful days where the costs of having conversations about race and intimacy with (for many of us) our closest friends or collaborators simply outweighed the potential for creative breakthroughs. And ultimately the final shape of this piece — which comes to you tonight in NEAR, but not total completion — is being honed in the light of all that celebration and grief.
The work itself is a kind of directors’ notes, or devisers’ notes on our process, and the challenge at hand: HOW DO WE WALK THROUGH OUR HISTORY(ies) TOGETHER?
And I want to express love to everyone who was a part of this process. I know your names are in the program, but also the weight and fullness of your presence has changed the shape of my instrument. I’m deeply grateful.”
– Rachel Chavkin
“This is Zhailon. For this leg of Reconstructing, I was not in the rehearsal room. And yet my relationship to the work has remained active—through listening, witnessing from a distance, and trusting the process to continue evolving without my physical presence. That distance clarified something essential for me: collaboration is not only defined by who is in the room, but by what we choose to protect, to release, and to remain accountable to over time.
I have come to understand Reconstructing as a practice of staying in relationship after the fantasy of harmony dissolves. The piece holds absence and proximity side by side, refusing easy resolution and honoring the complexity of walking through our history(ies) together. If there is an offering here, for me, it is this: that staying connected does not always mean staying close—and that care, trust, and responsibility can travel across space and time.
All love to every finger print that has touched this piece.”
– Zhailon Levingston
Cast and Staff Bios
RACHEL CHAVKIN (CO-DIRECTOR/PERFORMER/TEAM ARTISTIC DIRECTOR) is a director, sometime writer and founding artistic director of Brooklyn-based experimental collective, the TEAM whose work has been seen all over NY, the U.S., and internationally, and whose consensus-driven writing process was the subject of a feature length documentary. She won the 2019 Tony Award for her work on Anaïs Mitchell’s Hadestown (Broadway, NYTW, National Theatre, London). She is a three-time Obie Winner, and received Tony and Lortel nominations, and a Drama Desk Award for Dave Malloy’s Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 (Broadway, Ars Nova, A.R.T.). Select projects: Carson Kreitzer’s and MattGould’s Lempicka (Broadway), the TEAM’s Mission Drift (National Theatre), Arthur Miller’s American Clock (Old Vic), the TEAM’s RoosevElvis (Royal Court), Larissa Fasthorse’s The ThanksgivingPlay (2ST, 1st play by a known Native American woman on Broadway), Lilianna Padilla’s How to Defend Yourself—co-directed with Padilla and Steph Paul (NYTW), Marco Ramirez’s The Royale (LCT; Obie Award, Drama Desk and Lortel noms.), Bess Wohl’s Small Mouth Sounds (Ars Nova and national tour), and multiple collaborations with Taylor Mac, Heather Christian, the Bengsons, and Manchester-based writer/performer Chris Thorpe. Her first short film, Remind Me, was an official selection of the Venice and Beverly Hills Film Festivals. 2017 Smithsonian Award for Ingenuity. @rachel.chavkin
ZHAILON LEVINGSTON (CO-DIRECTOR) is a Louisiana-raised storyteller, director, and activist who co-directed CATS: THE JELLICLE BALL, an immersive reimagining of the classic musical that premiered in 2024 at New York City’s Perelman Arts Center. The production earned him an Obie Award (co-Directing) as well as a Drama Desk, Drama League and Outer Critics Circle Award nominations for Outstanding Direction of a Musical. Zhailon’s first “Broadway” job was selling tickets to Broadway shows in Times Square. In 2017 he sold concessions for multiple Broadway theaters. At 27 years old, he became the youngest Black director in Broadway history, directing the Broadway production of CHICKEN AND BISCUITS. His other directing credits include WONDERFUL TOWN at New York City Center Encores; RECONSTRUCTING at Brooklyn Academy of Music (co-directed with Rachel Chavkin); LITTLE MISS PERFECT at Olney Theatre Center; PATIENCE at Second Stage Theatre; and TABLE 17 at MCC Theater (Lortel Award nominee for Outstanding Direction), currently playing at Los Angeles’s Geffen Playhouse.
Levingston is a board member of the Broadway Advocacy Coalition, Artistic Director of Inheritance Theatre Project, and co- created a ‘Theatre of Change’ course at Columbia University School of Law that is still being taught today. Once a year he returns to his hometown of Shreveport, Louisiana to direct community theater as a way to stay connected to his roots.
JAMES HARRISON MONACO (COMPOSER/PERFORMER) tells stories with music. He considers this one of the oldest art forms in the world, and he’s always looking for new ways to do it. He’s obsessed with stories of travel, immigration, translation, quiet violence, quiet grace, global loneliness, and time. His show Travels ran last spring at Ars Nova. He’s also a translator (Spanish and Italian), a music composer, and he writes fiction & non-fiction. His work has been presented at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Lincoln Center (where he’s a New Writer in Residence), MASS MoCA, The Bushwick Starr, The Momentary, and many others. He is one half of the music-storytelling duo Jerome & James. jamesharrisonmonaco.com
MAYA SHARPE (COMPOSER/PERFORMER) is a multi-passionate maker, thinker and writer. Maya’s passion lies in exploring simplicity in humanity through composition. Maya’s goal is to demonstrate that there is more of a connection and love between everything than the politically derived disconnect and hatred.
JILLIAN WALKER (GOGO YEMAH) (COMPOSER/PERFORMER) writes, composes, dramaturgs, and performs sacred texts that break the brutal boundaries of the colonial imagination. Her work has taken the form of plays, musicals, sacred lecture-sermon-concert gatherings, and prayerformances for remembrance and liberation. She draws deeply on her foundation as an initiated Sangoma Priestess (ancestral healer), her studies in dramaturgy (MFA Columbia), and the ongoing work of Black feminist thinkers to bring process-driven performance to life. Her works include The Whitney Album (Soho Rep), Sarah’s Salt. (developed at MCC Theater, Roundabout Theater Company; Honorable Mention for the Relentless Award; finalist for the 2019 Bay Area Playwrights Festival). Songs of Speculation (Third Coast’s inaugural “Audio Unbound” competition winner); and “Blue Ink: A Night with Jillian Walker” performed at Joe’s Pub. Her ancestor-revering work, SKiNFoLK: An American Show (co-presented by The Bushwick Starr and National Black Theatre) was a NY Times Critics’ Pick, a “Best Orchestrations” Antonyo Award-winner, and appears on the 2020 Kilroys List. It is published by 53rd State Press and known in the NY theater community as one of the last great performances of the Before Times. Jillian is currently co-conspiring with The TEAM as a writer/performer and co-composer on Reconstructing. thisisjillianwalker.com
ERIC BERRYMAN (COMPOSER/PERFORMER) is a Baltimore born, Brooklyn based actor who is involved in work he believes his great-grandmother would dig. He was recently seen in MEMNON with the Classical Theatre of Harlem at Marcus Garvey Park and in Get Your Ass in the Water and Swim Like Me at Joe’s Pub/Wooster Group. Eric won an Audelco Award-Best Featured Actor for the world premiere production of the now Pulitzer winning play Primary Trust (Roundabout). He co-stars with Ruby Cruz in the upcoming feature film SOUVENIR. In 2024 he starred in several world premiere productions: Memnon (Classical Theatre of Harlem/Getty Villa); The Ford/Hill Project (Waterwell/The Public Theater); Galilee, 34 (South Coast Rep). Other Select Theatrical Credits: The B-Side: “Negro Folklore from Texas State Prisons” A Record Album Interpretation (Wooster Group-Drama Desk Nomination); Toni Stone (Roundabout); Detroit Red (ArtsEmerson-Elliot Norton Award); Steel Hammer (SITI COMPANY). Select Film/TV credits: “Atlanta” (FX) Season 4, Ep 8-The Goof Who Sat by the Door, portraying ‘short lived Disney CEO’ Thomas Washington. “A Complete Unknown” (Searchlight), “Godfather of Harlem” (Epix/MGM+), “Ramy” (HULU), “Bonding”, “Marriage Story” (NETFLIX), “Evil” (PARAMOUNT+); “Fallout”, “Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”(Amazon). Training: Carnegie Mellon University.
nicHi douglas (CHOREOGRAPHER) is an OBIE Award winning Brooklyn-based experimental theater & dance maker who is interested in leading community care centered creative processes. you can refer to her/them/him/us using any pronouns said with Respect. nicHi is currently a resident artist at HERE Arts Center in NYC. her work has been developed and/or produced at MacDowell, the Hermitage Artist Retreat, Lincoln Center, Ars Nova, The Public Theater, The Shed, and The National Black Theater, among others. they are an Assistant Arts Professor at NYU/Tisch where they teach dance & movement methodologies. Additional awards include: Lucille Lortel Awards for Best Director and Best Musical, the Callaway Award for Choreography, an AUDELCO Award for Choreography, and a Princess Grace Award for Theater. Upcoming: RECONSTRUCTING at Under the Radar Festival. mynameisnichi.com
ATO BLANKSON-WOOD (PERFORMER) (he/him) is a multidisciplinary performance artist and theater maker. As a writer/composer Ato is developing original works with the support of The Team’s Petri Projects and Berkeley Rep’s Ground Floor Residency. As an actor, Ato most recently starred in the world premiere of Jeremy O. Harris’ Spirit of the People and Camino Real at The Williamstown Theatre Festival after starring in the off-Broadway premiere of Wole Soyinka’s The Swamp Dwellers at TFANA. Prior to this, he played Clifford Bradshaw in Cabaret on Broadway. He is best known for his starring role in Harris’ critically acclaimed Slave Play, for which he was nominated for a 2021 Tony Award. He also earned nominations for the Drama League Awards for playing ‘Gary,’ a role he originated for the New York Theatre Workshop production, where his performance earned him a Lortel Nomination. Ato played the titular role of Hamlet in Shakespeare in the Park’s production directed by Kenny Leon. Ato also starred opposite Bill Camp and Elizabeth Marvel in Long Day’s Journey Into Night for Audible, which reunited him with Slave Play director Robert O’Hara. Ato had his breakout performance in the Public Theatre musical The Total Bent (Drama League and Lucille Lortel Award nomination) Ato has also been seen on Broadway in Hair and Lysistrata Jones. Films include Kathryn Bigelow’s Detroit, Spike Lee’s BlacKKKlansman, Worth, opposite Michael Keaton, and Peter Hedge’s The Same Storm. Television includes “The Good Fight,” “She’s Gotta Have It,” and Ava DuVernay’s “When They See Us.” Ato is a graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and the Yale School of Drama. He is a recipient of Vineyard Theatre’s 2025-2026 Colman Domingo Award.
MODESTO “FLAKO” JIMENEZ (PERFORMER) is a Dominican-born, Bushwick-raised, multi-hyphenate artist. As a poet, playwright, educator, actor, producer, and director, his work exists in and explores the intersections of identity, language, mediums, cultures, and communities found in his personal life and beyond. Jimenez’s work includes Taxilandia, a site-specific performance in a moving taxi that received a Critic’s Pick from Time Out New York and The New York Times and was recently recognized with an Obie Special Citation Award. Jimenez is the founder of ¡Oye! Group, a nonprofit that serves as an incubator for artists, both native and immigrant to New York City. In 2021, Jimenez received a Jerome Foundation Fellowship and a Foundation for Contemporary Arts award in performing arts and theater. Jimenez has been selected as a Princeton Hodder Fellow for 2023-2024 and received a Guggenheim fellowship in 2024. Currently, Jimenez is working on Mercedes, a multi-disciplinary art experience exploring the relationships between matriarchy and ancestors, familial bonds and inherited trauma, and how our own identity can impact our mental health.
JOSIAH DAVIS (RESIDENT DIRECTOR) (he/him) is a multi-disciplinary storyteller. A director, choreographer, designer, performer asking, how do we create space for maximum expression, possibility, and liberation in the face of oppressive systems? He is a graduate from the UCLA School of Theater, Film, Television and Brown MFA Directing. He is a Princess Grace Honoraria, NYTW 2050 fellow, National Black Theatre Soul Directing Resident, Susan Stroman Directing Award Recipient, Clubbed Thumb Directing Fellow, and Associate Artistic Director of On The Verge Theatre Festival in Santa Barbara. Selected credits: Mary Gets Hers (Playwrights Realm/MCC) Omar Offrendum’s Little Syria (BAM), Lessons in Survival (Vineyard Theatre), Amani (National Black Theatre/Rattlestick), Clyde’s (Alabama Shakespeare Festival/Arkansas Rep/St.Louis Rep), Importance of Being Earnest (Portland Center Stage), El Mentiroso (Arts On Site), Mr. Saturday Night (Broadway (Assoc.)). Josiahdavis.net
LAWRENCE E. MOTEN III (SET DESIGNER) (he/him/his) [Broadway] Chicken & Biscuits (Circle In The Square); [NYC] Guide for the Homesick (LDK Productions), Reconstructing (BAM), Ghost of John McCain (SoHo Playhouse), The White Chip (MCC) Covenant (Roundabout), Patience (2ST Uptown), Stargazers, STEW (Page 73); [Regional] Senior Class (Olney), Two Trains Running (Hartford Stage), Merry Wives, Kunene And The King (STC), Paradise Blue (Studio), The Comedy of Errors, All’s Well…, Henry 6: One & Two, King James, Twelfth Night, Trouble In Mind (Old Globe), ¡VOS!, Gem of The Ocean (Two River), Black Cypress Bayou (Geffen) Bulrusher (McCarter & Berkeley Rep), Proof, The Brothers Size, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (American Players), Blues For An Alabama Sky (McCarter & Guthrie), Appropriate (South Coast Rep), Christmas in Connecticut (Goodspeed), it’s not a trip, it’s a journey & We Declare You A Terrorist… (Round House), How I Learned What I Learned & Native Son (Playmakers Rep)
Member: USA 829. motendesigns.com; IG: @motendesigns
BRENDA ABBANDANDOLO (COSTUME & QUILT DESIGNER, as part of MARLA) BROADWAY: MARYJANE, THE SIGN IN SIDNEY BRUSTEIN’S WINDOW. (2023 HEWES DESIGN AWARD) OFF B’WAY: THE ANTIQUITIES (Playwrights) SCENE PARTNERS (Vineyard) THE SIGN IN SIDNEY BRUSTEIN’S WINDOW (BAM), CAMP SIEGFRIED (Second Stage), A CASE FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD (Signature), RUSSIAN TROLL FARM (VIRTUAL: OBIE AWARD), MOBY DICK (A.R.T), OCTET (Signature), CONTINUITY (MTC), ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE (The Guthrie), I’LL GET YOU BACK AGAIN (Roundhouse), The Team’s MISSION DRIFT (National Theatre of London), FILM/TV: EASY”S WALTZ, QUIZ LADY, CODA (Academy Award Best Picture), AN AMERICAN PICKLE, THE DISASTER ARTIST, SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE (Associate CD). OTHER: MFA/NYU TSOA. bnadesigner.com
ALAN C. EDWARDS (Lighting Designer) West End: Harry Clarke. Off-B’way: Sally & Tom (Public); Sunset Baby, Fires in The Mirror [Lortel Nom.], Twilight: Los Angeles 1992 (Signature NYC); Harry Clarke [Lortel Award] (Vineyard); Kill Move Paradise [Drama Desk nom] (NBT); Memnon; A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Twelfth Night (CTH); Dakar 2000 (MTC). Regional: Harry Clarke (Berkeley Rep); Gatsby: An American Myth [Norton Award], Twilight: Los Angeles 1992 (A.R.T.); Appropriate (Old Globe); Beautiful (Asolo Rep). Dance: In The Same Tongue (Dianne McIntyre); Chasing Magic, NYCC Artists at The Center ’23 (Ayodele Casel); Lifted by Christopher Rudd for American Ballet Theatre. alancedwards.com
MIKHAIL FIKSEL (SOUND DESIGNER) is excited to continue his first collaboration with The TEAM. He is an award-winning designer, composer, dj, and audio producer whose recent work, on and off-Broadway, includes projects with Audible Theatre, The Lincoln Center, New York Theater Workshop, Steppenwolf, Berkeley Repertory, Playwrights Horizons, Guthrie Theater, The Public Theater, La Jolla Playhouse, The Goodman Theater, Third Rail Projects, Albany Park Theater Project, and numerous releases with Audible Originals and with Make Believe Association (where he is Head Of Audio Production). Recent film projects include EMIGRE/AMERICANA, GLITCH, and THE WISE KIDS. Recent awards include the 2023 Signal Award for Original Music, the 2022 Tony Award for Sound Design, and the 2024 Michael Merritt Award. He is on the faculty at Columbia College Chicago, and is a proud member of USA and TSDCA.
KATHERINE FREER (PROJECTIONS DESIGNER) is a multimedia artist, filmmaker, organizer, and educator whose artistic practice lives at the intersection of story, technology, and civic engagement. Recent Credits Include: Peculiar Patriot (Baltimore Center Stage), Diary of a Tap Dancer (American Repertory Theater), We Are Your Robots (Theatre for a New Audience), Sunset Baby (Signature Theatre), Number Our Days (Perelman Performing Arts Center), La Bohème (Pacific Symphony), Family Ball (Kennedy Center), Dream Machine (Lincoln Center), Lizard Boy (Oregon Shakespeare Festival), The Little Mermaid (The Muny), and Rent (Theatre Under the Stars). She is a proud member of Wingspace Theatrical Design and United Scenic Artists Local USA 829, a core collaborator with All My Relations Collective, a collaborating artist with The TEAM, and Head of the Integrated Media Program at the University of Texas at Austin and the Associate Director of Texas Immersive Institute. @k8tefree
PATRICIA MARJORIE (PROPS DESIGNER) is a Brazilian multidisciplinary theatre artist based in New York with focus on directing, costume and props design. Recent works: costume designer for “Show Trial” directed by Tom Costello, “Riven” by Marina Zurita, and “Good Luck in Space” by Greg Kotis at Manhattan School of Music; props designer for “And Then We Were No More” by Tim Blake Nelson, “Reconstructing” at BAM directed by Rachel Chavkin & Zhailon Levingston; scenic and costume designer for “Primordial” at The Tank and ”The Lydian Gale Parr” at Target Margin both directed by Meghan Finn; costume for “PUSH PARTY” by Nia Akilah Robinson; props for “Wolf Play” directed by Dustin Wills at MCC and Soho Rep, “YOU WILL GET SICK” directed by Sam Pinkelton at Roundabout, “Flex” directed by Lileana Blain-Cruz at Lincoln Center Theatre, “Ulysses” and “The Seagull” by Elevator Repair Service, “Black Exhibition” by Jeremy O. Harris directed by Machel Ross. Patricia has also recently Performed on “Mrs. Loman” directed by Meghan Finn (Theatre Row) and directed “What Will Become of Kaaron?” (The Tank) and her own work as a playwright “A Song to Keep the Wolves Awake” (The Tank).
BRIAN FREELAND (PRODUCTION MANAGER) (he/him) is a production manager, director, producer, writer, and sound/media artist. Production management includes works for and with Illinoise (Broadway), The Flea, BAM, En Garde Arts, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Lincoln Center, Soho Rep, Geoff Sobelle, The TEAM, Wooly Mammoth Theatre, The Park Avenue Armory, Mass MoCA, Ripe Time, The Bearded Ladies, Andrew Schneider, Up Until Now Collective, Bard, Curious Theatre Company, HERE Arts Center, Beth Morrison Projects, The LIDA Project, Countdown to Zero, The Brick, and the PROTOTYPE Festival. Brian is also the Director of Production for the annual Under The Radar Festival. brianfreeland.
NORMAN ANTHONY SMALL (Production Stage Manager) Broadway: The Shark Is Broken, Leopoldstadt, American Buffalo. Off-Broadway: Lights Out: Nat “King” Cole (New York Theatre Workshop); Good Bones, Sally & Tom (The Public Theater); Where We Stand (WP Theater); Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven (Atlantic Theater Company). Regional: Appropriate (The Old Globe); Crumbs From The Table of Joy, Ella – A Musical Tribute to Ella Fitzgerald, EMERGENCY (Crossroads Theatre Company); The Year of Magical Thinking, Fires in the Mirror (Long Wharf Theatre); Fires in the Mirror, A Play for the Living in a Time of Extinction, Where We Stand (Baltimore Center Stage); Measure for Measure, Art (Shakespeare & Company). Tour: Twisted Melodies (Baltimore Center Stage/Apollo Theater); Water +/- (NPR). Education: Master of Business Administration (MBA) in Media Management, Metropolitan College of New York; Bachelor of Music (BM) in Music Engineering Technology, University of Miami. Faculty: Adjunct Professor of Stage Management at Fordham University. Award: Charlie Blackwell Symposium Scholarship for Stage Managers of Color.
KIARA BROWN (1ST ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER) is a stage manager and theatre advocate for DEIA+ in the workplace from Joliet, IL. Recent stage management credits include Life and Trust, Dwellers, Goddess at the Lucky Lady Motel, How to Dance in Ohio, Swing State, Headspace, Fish in a Tree, and others. Kiara also works very closely with the Harriet Tubman Effect Institute and is grateful to have joined this wonderful team of artists.
MAIA TIVONY (2ND ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER) (she/they) Broadway Credits: Harry Potter & the Cursed Child; Cult of Love. Other Credits: Twelfth Night (Shakespeare in the Park); Romeo and Juliet (Hartford Stage); let slip, hold sway (Sweat Variant); Blue Cowboy; Self Portraits (Deluxe) (The Bushwick Starr); The Seagull/Woodstock, NY; Bernarda’s Daughters (The New Group); 1776 (American Repertory Theater). BFA Emerson College. All of me is credited to Mama, Tata, and Carter.
BROOKS GILLESPIE (STAGE MANAGEMENT PRODUCTION ASSISTANT) is an NYC-based playwright, actor, and singer/songwriter. A recent graduate of Barnard College at Columbia University, Brooks is thrilled to be making her professional debut with RECONSTRUCTING. Recent credits include Henry IV (Lancaster/Mistress Quickly, Accidental Evils), Twelfth Night (Sir Toby Belch/Assistant Composer, Barnard College), ALLIANCE (Playwright, Barnard College), and BABY’S first CRAZY kiss STORY (Playwright, NOMADS). Brooks is a recipient of the Brandt and Dasha Amsterdam Epstein Playwriting Awards. Thanks to Emma for bringing her onto the project and to the whole RECONSTRUCTING team for a wonderful experience! brooksgillespie.com
CODY OWEN STINE (MUSIC SUPERVISOR) (he/him) is a composer, songwriter, music director, arranger, and multi-instrumentalist. As a composer/lyricist, his work has been performed at Ars Nova, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Second City LA, and Edinburgh Fringe. He is co-founder and co-artistic director of art collective Sloondermoon, with whom he has devised work commissioned by MoMA PS1, ChaShaMa, and Stage Time Studios. Broadway: Hadestown (Associate MD and Music Supervisor of the National Tour); Outsiders; Moulin Rouge; Spongebob Squarepants; Finding Neverland. Original Cast Albums: Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play; Miss You Like Hell; The Robber Bridegroom; The Jonathan Larson Project; The Liz Swados Project. He is a 2019 Jonathan Larson Grant semi-finalist; 2019 commissioned writer, Williamstown Theatre Festival; and winner of the inaugural Margaret Guthman Jazz Piano Competition. codyowenstine.com
NILE ASSATA HARRIS (ASSOCIATE CHOREOGRAPHER) is a New York Based artist. Originally from Philadelphia Pennsylvania, Nile graduated with a BFA in theatre from NYU. Recent work includes The Chamber (Powerhouse) Triplicity (Talking Bands) Observer Effect ( The Liberation Theatre Company) Nicole, The Scrivener (ART/NY 29 hour reading) Tent City (59 E 59 Developmental Workshop) Mercury Store Acting Company member, and Directing Technique Spring ‘25 cohort.
ALEXANDER LE VAILLANT FREER (ASSOCIATE LIGHTING DESIGNER) He/Him/His Alexander’s work has been influenced by his time working and studying in immersive theater, architectural lighting, and from his travels. He holds an MFA in Lighting Design from California Institute of the Arts. He is a proud member of USITT and USA 829. Previous design credits include: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time (Le Petit Theater, New Orleans LA), #Unwanted (The Shed, New York NY), GLOW Holiday Light Festival (St. Paul MN), Miracle on 34th Street (Pasadena Playhouse, Pasadena CA), Fantômas-Revenge of the Image (Whuzen, China), Francesca Francesca (Edinburgh, Scotland), Ocean of Milk (Prague, CR), of Light (Reykjavik, Iceland), Titanic-A Devised Piece (Moscow, Russia). levaillantdesign.com
DEJA COLLINS (ASSOCIATE PROJECTIONS DESIGNER) is a Projection and Media designer based in Los Angeles. Specialising in film, motion graphics, and visual effects, Deja is constantly seeking new opportunities to reimagine archival and visual information within immersive spaces. Some of her credits include Fly Me to the Sun at Fountain Theatre, Confederates and One in Two at Mosaic Theatre, POTUS at Montgomery College, Re-Memori at Penumbra Theatre (World Premiere), and By the Way, Meet Vera Stark at the University of Maryland, College Park. You can view more of her work at
dcllns.myportfolio.com.
EVELINE CHANG (TOW CENTER DIRECTOR) is the Director of the Leonard & Claire Tow Center for the Performing Arts at Brooklyn College. A former dancer, Eveline brings a rich background in K-12 arts education, higher education, and cultural programming, beginning in California and now in NYC for nearly two decades. Previously, she held positions at BAM, NYU Tisch, UCLA, and Brooklyn Bridge Park. She’s a proud parent of two young children at NYC public schools. BA & BFA: University of California, Irvine. MA: King’s College London.
MARCUS I. RICHARDSON (TOW CENTER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR) is the Executive Director of Strategic Initiatives and General Manager of the Leonard & Claire Tow Center for the Performing Arts at Brooklyn College. An arts administrator, Marcus brings extensive experience across theater and media arts, with a focus on building community-centered arts programming and strengthening institutional performing arts capacity. His work includes leading the Tow Center following its recent renovation and guiding capital investments in performance infrastructure that enhance student artistic excellence and audience access. Marcus’ leadership bridges operational strategy with public artistic engagement within higher education and the communities it serves. Marcus holds graduate degrees in education, fine arts, and public leadership and is a doctoral candidate in Urban Education at the CUNY Graduate Center. He lives in central and south Brooklyn with his wife and their two children.
EMMA ORME (TEAM PRODUCING DIRECTOR) was a Fellow of WP Theater’s 2022-24 Lab and producer of the Obie award-winning, Off-Broadway premiere of CIRCLE JERK (Fake Friends). She has produced, performed in, and developed work at NYTW, The Public, Williamstown, LaMama, The Flea, Atlantic Theater, EST, Drama League, and more, and she works ongoingly with CHILD, a performance collective founded by Lisa Fagan and recipient of the Baryshnikov Arts Center fellowship. Favorite producing credits include: PLEASURE MACHINE, an audio thriller starring Starr Busby and directed by Tara Elliott (Colt Coeur); Time Out Critics’ Pick Brief Chronicle: Books 6-8 by Agnes Borinsky (i am a slow tide); NYT Critics’ Pick Red Emma & The Mad Monk; NYT Critics’ Pick AGNES (Lesser America); workshops of new plays by Ruby Rae Spiegel, Aya Aziz, Sunita Prasad, Justine Gelfman, Gina Femia, Celeste Jennings, Deborah Yarchun, and others; and Xandra Nur Clark’s Polylogues. Before she started with The TEAM, she worked as Producing Director at Hypokrit Productions, BOLD Associate Producer at Northern Stage, Grants Manager at Williamstown Theatre Festival, Live Video Producer for The New York Times, and Associate Producer on the documentary The Kleptocrats. BA: Dartmouth College.
DIANA KHONG (TEAM DEVELOPMENT AND COMMUNICATIONS PRODUCER) is Viet multi-hyphenate—working as a writer, director, producer, dramaturg, and intimacy coordinator across film and theater. Their work has been supported and developed by Panavision, The Prior Performing Arts Center, Fresh Ink Theatre, Chuang Stage, Lambda Literary, Director’s Lab North, and more. As a filmmaker, they are one-half of the directorial team behind Last Weekend Productions. Their next film, Band Practice (@bandpracticefilm), is a queer coming-of-age romantic comedy following a Black majorette and Viet band geek set to be released in late 2026. Drawing on their work as a mutual aid organizer and educator, Diana’s work encourages necessary bravery in building a liberated world. They were born and raised in Worcester, MA.
STUTI BEHARI (TEAM PRODUCING FELLOW) is an artist-scholar working at the intersection of visual arts, disability studies, and collective creative practice. Shaped by their experiences growing up with a disability in India, their work examines how language and media shape the representation of marginalized bodies. They hold a BA from Lewis & Clark College in Rhetoric & Media Studies and Studio Art. Stuti’s visual practice explores disability through confrontation and vulnerability, drawing on lived experiences of chronic pain. Using charcoal and collage, they reconstruct the disabled body to challenge able-bodied norms and reframe disability as a question of access rather than deficiency. Through this work, they understand art-making as a practice of cripping representation.
Partner Organizations & Audiences
Our longtime organizational partners include Round House Theatre, The Broad Stage, Carolina Performing Arts at UNC Chapel Hill, ArtsEmerson, The Hopkins Center for the Arts at Dartmouth College, and Brooklyn Academy of Music.
Audience development and creative development are inextricably linked in the making of RECONSTRUCTING. With our partner orgs, we are working to thoughtfully and steadily cultivate a racially-diverse, locally-representative audience, with a particular focus on meaningful representation of Black-identifying audience members at every performance. We are in the process of nurturing durational relationships between our artists and our partner orgs’ audiences so that our work and their engagement with it is hyper-local. Our intention is to share RECONSTRUCTING in New York and across the country—and make it as “useful” to audiences as the process has been to us as a collective.
Development & Funding Support
Reconstructing was commissioned by Round House Theatre in Bethesda, Maryland (Ryan Rilette, Artistic Director, Ed Zakreski, Managing Director), and has received substantial development support from, and in-progress performances were presented by LUMBERYARD Center for Film and Performing Arts. Reconstructing has also been developed with support from Brooklyn Academy of Music, The Hopkins Center for the Arts at Dartmouth College, Carolina Performing Arts at UNC Chapel Hill, through their Southern Futures Project, and Alabama Shakespeare Festival. Additional partner organizations include BroadStage and ArtsEmerson.
Reconstructing has received support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, New England Foundation for the Arts, the Axe-Houghton Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, and MAP Fund. Production design support provided by the Edith Lutyens and Norman Bel Geddes Design Enhancement Fund, a program of the Alliance of Resident Theatres/New York (A.R.T./New York). Additional major support has come from Neil Mazzella at Hudson Scenic, Dalio Philanthropies, JMJ Fund, John Kimmelman, the TEAM’s Board of Directors, Daniel Hawkins & Sara Rosenbaum, Diana DiMenna, and David Chavkin. Subsidized studio space has been provided by the A.R.T./New York Creative Space Grant, supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Process documentation support has been provided by Mighty Lucky Studios, and residency space has been provided by Groundworks.
Special thanks to Alexandra Lalonde, Laura Elliott, Genevieve Ortiz, Nia Witherspoon, Dr. Tawnya Pettiford-Wates, Melanie George, Kalonji Gilchrist, Christopher Darbassie, Mr. Freeman, Mercury Store, Target Margin Theater, Kristen & Frank Leonard (Groundworks), Laurie Watson, David Rosenberg, Khalil Abdullah, Jake Heinrichs, Dave Polato, Beau and Rachel Alluli, Jessica Almasy, Theater Mitu, West Music, David Dower, Johanna Evans, Dr. Frances Forrest and the American Museum of Natural History, Deborah King, LUMBERYARD’s “Fresh Start” Program, Culture Mill, The Hancher at U of Iowa, Neil Mazzella and Hudson Scenic, Rhiannon Giddens, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Equal Justice Initiative, Bryan Stevenson, Liz Heinrichs, Jane Humphreys, Nina Rubin, Ed Bridges, Sojourner Harrison, and Gregory Harrison.
Photos by Julieta Cervantes