fIRST DOWN

After two years of development, we are excited to be sharing the world premiere of SEVAN’s play, FIRST DOWN, with our community in New York. Created out of a short piece for our 48 Hour Forum, and then developed as part of our Commissioning Initiative, FIRST DOWN examines crises and questions of identity and faith in modern America.

About the Show

By SEVAN
Directed by Johanna McKeon

Dates: February 18 - March 05, 2022

Theater: 59E59 (Theatre C)

Montana native George Berri is a national sports sensation, beloved hometown hero, and one of the NFL’s best players. But he’s about to create a perfect storm of personal, professional, and political conflict as he wrestles with the decision to reveal who he really is at the Super Bowl. He wants to tell the world he's an Arab-Muslim by praying during the national anthem. The costs of his choice may be more than he bargained for. FIRST DOWN is the first in a triptych of Muslim plays examining crises and questions of identity and faith in modern America.

Featuring: Peter Romano* (he/him), Larry Bull* (he/him), Hend Ayoub* (she/her), and Olivia AbiAssi (she/her)

Creative & Production Team:

• Scenic Designer: Jacob A. Climer (he/him)

• Costume Designer: Dina El-Aziz (she/her)

• Lighting Designer: Christopher Brown (he/him)

• Sound Design: Uptown Works: Daniela Hart (she/they), Bailey Trierweiler (they/them), and Noel Nichols (she/they)

• Projections Design: Stivo Arnoczy

• Production Manager: Courteney Leggett (they/them)

• Stage Manager: Hanako Rodriguez (she/her)

• Translations: Aline Salloum

• Props Consultant: Daniel Brothers

• Assistant Director: Ali-Moosa Mirza

• Associate Scenic Design: Ma'moon Tebbo (he/him)

• Associate Costume Design: Xurui Wang (she/her)

• Assistant Stage Manager: Nia Blizzard (she/they)

• Additional Casting: Stephanie Yankwitt, CSA

• Wardrobe Supervisor: Jessica Larsen

• Covid Compliance Officer: Joana Tsuhlares

For details about 59E59’s Covid Safety guidelines for attending in-person performances, please visit this Covid Safety page.

SEVAN

PLAYWRIGHT

SEVAN is an award-winning actor-writer. His work has been seen in London and New York at The Public Theater, New York Theatre Workshop, The Flea Theater, The Sheen Center, The Bush Theatre, Theatre Royal Stratford East, Theatre503, Rich Mix, The Old Red Lion, The Space and Access Theater. He was a member of the Bush Theatre inaugural 2015 Emerging Writers’ Group; The Public Theater 2011 Emerging Writers Group; NYTW Usual Suspect; Rising Circle Theater Collective 2010 InkTANK Writer’s Lab. NYTW 2011/2012 Teaching Artist. 2021 Orchard Project Performance Lab Fellow. 2021 NAMT Selection. 2017 O’Neill National Playwrights Conference Finalist. 2014/2015/2016 Princess Grace Award Semi-Finalist. 2014 Papatango Playwriting Prize Shortlist. 2014 Saroyan Social Justice/Human Rights Playwriting Award Finalist. 2010/2012 William Saroyan Playwriting Prize Finalist. He has won the 2016 Kondazian Playwriting Award for Armenian Stories and the 2016 Arch and Bruce Foundation Playwriting Prize. www.justsevan.com

Johanna Mckeon

DIRECTOR

Johanna was Associate Director on five Broadway musicals including Hedwig and the Angry Inch, American Idiot, War Paint, Grey Gardens and King Kong as well as multiple national and international tours. Directing credits include the West Coast premiere of Noura by Heather Raffo at The Old Globe, Mona Mansour’s Unseen (Old Globe New Voices Festival), Anne Washburn’s I Have Loved Strangers (Clubbed Thumb and Williamstown Premiere), Tokio Confidential (Atlantic), Comedy of Errors, Schmoozy Togetherness (Williamstown), Much Ado About Nothing, Cymbeline, The Taming of the Shrew, The Rise and Fall of Annie Hall (Martha’s Vineyard Playhouse), A Hatful of Rain (ITS Festival Warsaw), Semi-Permanent (*Outstanding Solo Show NY Fringe Festival), The Importance of Being Earnest (Bard), Golden Motors (BRIC), Functional Drunk, Fiesta Cabana, The Tanks Break (Ontological-Hysteric Theater). Her independent feature Auld Lang Syne received the Audience Award for Narrative Feature at the 2016 Indie Street Film Festival and her newest feature My Address is Still Walton Have You Forgotten? created with playwright Karinne Keithley Syers, has recently begun a screening tour. Her digital series of short Arguments by Juan José Saer is currently available to stream on the Old Globe website. Johanna is the recipient of Drama League, Boris Sagal and Fulbright Fellowships. MFA UT Austin.

Meet our CAST

Hend Ayoub

Theatre credits include Broadway’s Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo with Robin Williams, as well as its previous run at Los Angeles’s Mark Taper Forum; Arena Stage’s A Thousand Splendid Suns; Kiss (Yale Repertory Theatre); Veils (world premiere, Portland Stage; Barrington Stage). Television credits include Homeland, Orange Is The New Black, The Looming Tower, Madam Secretary, Royal Pains, Feed the Beast, Comedy Central’s The Watch List, and recurring roles on Transparent and Damages. In Film, She co-starred in the Emmy Award-winning film Death of a President and the award-winning film Private.

Olivia AbiAssi

Olivia AbiAssi is a Lebanese-American actor and writer based in NYC. Her most recent (zoom/in-person) theatre performances include The Ancestry Dot Com Play (Art House), The Night Traveller (Cutting Ball), Opet Diaries (Dramatists Guild), Hound Dog (Ars Nova), The Commons (59E59). You may also recently hear or see her in commercials for Sunchips, At Home, Samsung, Stripes, among others. She has recently fallen in and/or back in love with: skateboarding, lightning, water sports, and the owl that lives in her parent’s backyard.

Meet our CREATIVE AND PRODUCTION TEAM

JACOB A. CLIMER 

Scenic Designer 

Jacob A Climer - Scenic Design - Recent Works include - Hedwig and the Angry Inch (Olney Theatre Center), The 2021 Texas Rose Festival (Tyler, Texas), Platee (Des Moines Metro Opera). Theatrical work includes Les Miserables (Dallas Theater Center), Unknown Soldier  (Playwrights Horizons), Relevance (MCC), Uncommon Sense (Tectonic Theater), Kid Victory (Vineyard), and Fondly, Colette Richland (NYTW). Selected Opera works: Shining Brow (Arizona Opera), Rusalka (Des Moines Metro Opera/Portland Opera), The Flying Dutchman (Atlanta Opera/Cincinatti Opera/ Houston Grand Opera), The Little Prince (Utah Opera)  Orphee (Des Moines Metro Opera/Portland Opera).  www.jaclimer.com

DINA EL-AZIZ

Costume Designer 

Off-Broadway: Hindsight (Fault Line Theater); Eh Dah? Questions for My Father (Hypokrit Theatre); Dead Are My People (Noor Theater); Other theatre: Tartuffe (Moliere In The Park); P*ssyC*ck Know Nothing, Marjana and the Forty Thieves (Target Margin Theater). Regional: Early Decision/Late Bloomer (Princeton University); Lilith And Her Demons (UArts); This is Who I Am (Wooly Mammoth); 9 Parts of Desire (Portland Center Stage); King Lear (Northern Stage); Noura (The Guthrie); Noura (The Old Globe); Selling Kabul (Williamstown Theatre Festival)

CHRISTOPHER BROWN 

Lighting Designer 

Christopher Brown is a Brooklyn-based lighting designer and technician working in theater and dance. He has worked with Clubbed Thumb, Elevator Repair Service, HERE Arts Center, The Bang Group, and Danspace Project, among others. Chris Brown was awarded the 2006-07 Princess Grace Award for his work with the Mud/Bone Collective, and in 2018 he was a Visiting Artist at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.  He has taught at Stony Brook University and the University of Rochester. He received his MFA in Theatre Design from New York University. His visual arts work can be seen at https://cbrown-sketchblog.blogspot.com

UPTOWN WORKS

Sound Design 

DANIELA HART is a New York City based sound designer and composer with an MFA in Sound Design from the Yale School of Drama. Selected theater credits include Fires In The Mirror (Baltimore Center Stage & Long Wharf Theater); Night Watch (Dorset Theater); Pleasure Machine (Colt Couer); Vapor Trail (MIT Music & Theater Arts); How to Save the World in 90 Minutes (Cherry Lane); Mr. Burns (Iseman Theater, Yale); References to Salvador Dali...(ART, Harvard); Julius Caesar (Vermont Shakespeare); Neighborhood 3 (Rattlestick Theater); The Parlour (Soho Rep). Daniela is also a producer, editor and sound supervisor with her company www.UptownWorksNYC.com 

BAILEY TRIERWEILER (they/them) is a New York City based sound designer. Select design credits include Fires in the Mirror (Baltimore Center Stage & Long Wharf Theater); already there (The REACH at the Kennedy Center); She Kills Monsters (Yale School of Drama); Night Watch (Dorset Theater); The Conduct of Life (Verano Cabaret); Tiny Shakes: Romeo & Juliet (Two River Theater); Measure for Measure (Yale School of Drama); Auntie Vanya (Ars Nova ANT Fest). M.F.A in Sound Design from Yale School of Drama. 

NOEL NICHOLS (they/she) Select design credits with UptownWorks include Today is My Birthday (Yale Repertory Theatre) already there (Kennedy Center), Fires in the Mirror (Baltimore Center Stage & Long Wharf Theatre), Nightwatch (Dorset Theatre Festival) and The Masses are Asses (Wesleyan CFA). Other design credits include Fun Home (Yale School of Drama), Media Clown (University of Iowa) We are Proud to Present a Presentation..., How to Relearn Yourself (Yale Cabaret) Latinos Who Look Like Ricky Martin (Verano Cabaret), Counting Pebbles (Faultline Ensemble). M.F.A. in Sound Design from Yale School of Drama. NoelNicholsDesign.com 

STIVO ARNOCZY

Projections Design

Stivo Arnoczy is a projections designer and video engineer from Queens, NY. NYU: TISCH. Recent work includes: Space Dogs (MCC, as Asst.), untitled danceshowpartything (Virgin Voyages), I Am Sending You the Sacred Face (Theater in Quarantine), Blood Meal (TiQ), Modelland (As Assoc.) B’way: The Rose Tattoo (as Asst.), Be More Chill (as Asst.), The Band’s Visit (Intn’l Tour, as Assoc.); http://stivo.video

COURTENEY LEGGETT

Production Manager

Courteney Leggett (Production Manager, they/them) is a Production Manager and Equity Stage Manager who has worked Off-Broadway, Regionally, as well as on Festivals, and Tours. Their passion is in helping teams develop new works. They have a B.F.A. in Stage Management from the University of Miami, FL. NYC Credits Include: Baghdaddy; Ideation; GIRL Shakes Loose; Seen/By Everyone; A Power Play; Boy; The Biggest Valley; Into the Woods; DirectorFest; NYC Fringe Festival; American Realness Festival. Regional Credits Include: Seared; Trouble Cometh; Sid the Science Kid; The Donkey Show; Girls vs. Boys; The Nutcracker; Our Town; Ayikodans; Miami Made Festival; Jazz Roots.

HANAKO RODRIGUEZ

Stage Manager 

Hanako Rodriguez is a freelance theater professional with a passion for helping to bring to life new works written by underrepresented voices. Her recent New York credits include Polylogues (Colt Coeur), Black Feminist Video Game (The Civilians), and NYT Critic’s Pick ATHENA (The Hearth).  She has worked on numerous Off and Off-Off Broadway projects including those with The Fire This Time Festival, National Black Theatre, HB Studios, Two Headed Rep, The Bushwick Starr, horsetrade, WWTNS?, HERE Arts, and La Mama ETC.

ALINE SALLOUM

Translator

Aline Salloum is an NYC-based actress and writer who has performed in a range of countries, including Switzerland, Lebanon, and the United States. She is a graduate of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts NY and was a member of the 2018/2019 Academy Company. Her recent NYC credits include The Meltdown, which she co-created and co-performed at the Global Forms theater festival produced by Rattlestick Playwrights Theater. And Only Remains Remain, by Freya Powell performed at MoMA PS1 as part of the Greater New York exhibition.

ALI-MOOSA MIRZA 

Assistant Director 

Ali-Moosa Mirza has been dedicated to elevating the voices and stories of people of color through theater. His vision began as a student at UC Santa Cruz where he worked for the Cultural Arts and Diversity Resource Center directing and acting in shows such as Esperanza and A Record of Light. He has since acted in shows such as The Conference of the Birds, Noor and Hadi go to Hogwarts and Under Milkwood. His exploration of theater has brought him to New York where he recently trained with the Stella Adler Summer Conservatory. He is now excited to continue this vision as the assistant director for First Down.

XURUI WANG

Associate Costume Designer 

Xurui Wang is a costume designer and visual artist based in New York City. She graduated from  the University of Connecticut (UConn) with an MFA in Costume Design. She was born and  raised in Shenyang, China where she first developed her interest in theatrical costumes. Xurui’s recent credits include Julius Caesar, A Skate Play, Men on Boats, Cherry Orchard,  etc. She also assisted on theatre productions include Don’t Stop Me, Sunday in the Park  with George, 20th Century, Hindsight, Row, Cabaret, etc. 

MA’MOON TEBBO

Associate Scenic Designer 

Ma’moon is an interdisciplinary Lebanese-born Artist, his passion for storytelling takes shape in many mediums such as Directing, Designing, Painting and Writing. Design credits: Sit Marie Rose, Alexandria Opera House in Egypt (2015). Al Raeioun, The Royal Cultural Center in Amman Jordan (2016). Brine winner of the 24th European (2018) Film Festival. Kalash, LA International Film Festival, and Hollywood MPIFF (2018). Gabriella Austin film festival (2020) and Florida film festival (2021). My name is Thomas Cain Brooklyn film festival 2020. Play of the living in time of instinction at Baltimore center stage (2020). Glimpse, Global form theater festival. Play at “la nuit de l’art” festival by Tanthem (2021).

NIA BLIZZARD

Assistant Stage Manager 

Nia Blizzard (she/they) is a Black theater worker whose passions include (but are not limited to) binge watching reality TV shows, spending time with their friends, and advocating for the rights of all Americans. Their most recent credits include Tina:The Tina Turner Musical by Katori Hall, Frank Ketelaar, and Kees Prins (Stage Management Fellow, Bespoke Theatricals), The Last of the Love Letters by Ngozi Anyanwu (Stage Management Fellow, Atlantic Theater Company), Over Easy by Abaigeal O’Donnell (Production Stage Manager, SheNYC Arts),  “Broadway Celebrates Juneteenth” (Production Assistant, The Broadway League), and Foul Shots by Christin Eve Cato (Production Stage Manager, INTAR Theater Company) . Follow them on Instagram @nia_blizzard1!

STEPHANIE YANKWITT 

Additional Casting

Stephanie Yankwitt, CSA (tbd casting co.) Current/Upcoming theatre: Hansol Jung's WOLF PLAY at Soho Rep, Madhuri Shekar's QUEEN at Long Wharf Theatre & NAATCO, and SONGS ABOUT TRAINS with Working Theater/Radical Evolution. Recent theatre includes Kimber Lee's TO THE YELLOW HOUSE at La Jolla Playhouse, and Will Eno's Gnit at TFANA. Multiple collaborations with Tectonic Theater Project, The Sol Project, and NAATCO. Upcoming work outside of theatre includes a series for Disney+ and a podcast of original short plays for the Broadway Podcast Network. Stephanie is a member of the CSA and sits on the Equity in Entertainment Committee.

JESSICA LARSEN

Wardrobe Supervisor

Jessica is very excited to be a part of First Down with Noor Theatre. She recently worked as the Wardrobe Supervisor for the Drama League’s DirectorFest. Previously, she was the Wardrobe Supervisor at the Barter Theatre, the state theatre of Virginia, as well as worked wardrobe at South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa, California on many new shows including Vietgone and A Doll’s House Part 2. She wants to thank her friends and family, as well as her three rescue cats for always being supportive of her goals.