Beyond Pluto
By Richard Vetere
Synopsis
Emma and Leo are hitchhiking across America on a spiritual and emotional quest when they are confronted by a powerful CEO who has been stalking them. This confrontation on a deserted road reveals terrifying truths they need to reckon with.
Bios
Richard Vetere (Playwright & Actor): Richard Vetere playwright/actor as CEO. He won the Jean Dalrymple Award for BestPlay 2025 for his play Zaglada. He wrote the cult classic film Vigilante and was recently hiredto write the novelization for Fathom Press. He co-wrote the screenplay adaption of hisnovel published by Simon & Schuster The Third Miracle produced by Francis FordCoppola starring Ed Harris, directed by Agneiszka Holland. He wrote The Marriage Foolfor CBS Films starring Walter Mathau and Carol Burnet, an adaptation of his stage play.His play The Painter was in the winter festival at the Chain directed by MajaWampuszyc. He has worked with director Amber Brookes on his plays Black & WhiteCity Blues and Poet on a String.
Amber Brookes (Director & Actor): Alumni of The American Academy of Dramatic Arts (Class of 2020) and a member of The Actors Studio Playwright Directors Unit. Amber won the 2026 Hells Kitchen Award for “Best Breakout Artist in Acting & Directing”, she has collaborated with playwright Richard Vetere on critically acclaimed productions Black & White City Blues and Poet On A String, both of which premiered at The American Theatre of Actors where Amber has appeared in dozens of productions as both actress and director. @amberbrookesactress @directedbyamber
Jake Minter (Actor): Jake Minter Jake has directed several musicals across the U.S and produced several plays including Richard III - of which he starred in as 'Buckingham'. You may have seen him on screen as 'Edmund' in the world release of #LEAR, a film adaptation of Shakespeare's King Lear. Selected professional credits include 'Hamlet' in Hamlet , Konstantine in The Seagull, and Delmore Schwartz in Poet on a String by Richard Vetere. He enjoys creating meaningful and impactful art and bringing stories to life in acting, music, and dance. www.jakeminter.com Instagram: @thejakeminter
Bodega Cat
Written by Melvin Ningyao Yen
Directed by Sissi Xiqian Chen
Synopsis
In a 24-hour Brooklyn bodega, a night clerk and a regular customer search for a missing cat. Beneath the fluorescent light, the animal’s absence becomes a small ritual of survival — a way for two lonely people to ask, without saying it directly, whether someone might stay.
Bodega Cat was first developed with their PlayGround-NY family, whose generosity helped this small late-night story find its first room.
Cast
Marisa Moureau — Clerk
Elizabeth Rose — Regular
Creative Team
Elizabeth Rose (as Regular)
Elizabeth Rose is a New York City based actor. Last year, she had the honor of being part of two new plays. She was Ellie in I Love Pasta (Studio 520), and Alessandra in By Design (AMT Theater’s Broadway Bound Theatre Festival). She was also recently seen acting and playing hand drums in Repro Eco: Six Short Plays (Goddard Riverside Community Arts Center), Hashtag Infinity (Theatre for the New City), and The Bacchae (AMT Theatre).
Marisa Moureau (as Clerk)
Marisa Moureau is a British-American actor and filmmaker based in NYC. Recent theatre credits include Elizabeth in Richard III, Cordelia/Fool in King Lear, and originating the role of the Warden in Dirty Books. You can keep up with her debut film on instagram @foodthrougtheagesfilm and follower her at @marisamoureau or www.marisamoureau.com
Melvin Ningyao Yen (Playwright)
Melvin Ningyao Yen (all pronouns) is a New York–based Taiwanese cultural critic, playwright, and theater maker. A member of The Public Theater’s 2025–26 BIPOC Critics Lab and the PlayGround-NY Writers Pool, Melvin has held fellowships at Lincoln Center, Manhattan Theatre Club, and Playwrights Horizons. Their work moves across playwriting, criticism, photography, and interdisciplinary performance, often tracing migration, ritual, queer intimacy, Buddhist impermanence, and the quiet spiritual architectures of everyday life. Their criticism, poetry, and essays have appeared on HowlRound, The Amp, and their Substack, The Ritual of Seeing. Bodega Cat was first developed with their PlayGround-NY family, whose generosity helped this small late-night story find its first room.
Sissi Xiqian Chen (Director)
Sissi Chen 茜蒨 is a New York-based theatre director, producer, and performer. Her work focuses on gender politics, cross-cultural storytelling, diasporic experience, and emotional lives shaped by society. Her directing often works through movement, rhythm, intimacy, humor, and emotionally charged physical behavior. Recent directing credits include Not Our Home, Not Our Home! (2025), Red Threads (Winner of the 2024 Rogue Theatre Festival), The President’s Invitation 《蒋公的面子》 (2024), Murder Up in the Air 《空中花园谋杀案》 (2023). Sissi also specializes in theater education and community engagement and has collaborated with Roundabout Theatre Company, the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts, and Tony Awards China. She co-founded Nomad Theater, a community theatre organization that aims to engage Mandarin-English speaking audiences in New York City.
Amelia Yuqing Wang (Stage Manager)
Amelia Wang (she/her) is a New York based director, stage manager and playwright wannabe. Her work focuses on the exploration of sisterhood and the search of self amid political turbulence. Recent credits include The President’s Invitation (Production Stage Manager, New York NoMad Theatre), Journey to the West (Director, Columbia University), Sophia’s Gift (Director, Playwright, 2022 International Asian Culture Society Showcase), Avenue Q (Assistant Stage Manager, OB Playhouse), Much Ado About Nothing (Assistant Stage Manager, Assistant Light Designer, La Jolla Playhouse). She co-founded Nomad Theater (with Sissi) in New York, and served as the President of Columbia Blue Glaze Theatre in Columbia University (21’ - 22’). She holds a B.A. in Theatre from University of California, San Diego.
Ruomeng Li (Scenic Designer)
Ruomeng Li is a scenic and production designer based in New York City. She is passionate about bringing stories to life through theatre, opera, dance, as well as painting and sculpture. She finds inspiration in the details of everyday life and value all we feel, which continually fuels her creative work. Recent scenic credits include Visa, Drama & Other Disaster, Cherry Tortured, All My Sons(2024), Leo’s Requiem. www.ruomengli.com
Silvan Tang (Sound & Music Designer)
Silvan Tang is a New York–based composer, music producer, sound designer, and audio engineer whose work spans theatre, stage, commercial music, and multimedia storytelling. She holds a dual degree in Music Technology from New York University and creates music and sound for productions that blend narrative, performance, installation, and immersive sonic design.
Her recent credits include: CHUAN Festival – Vanishing 4.0; The Liftist马桶圈, and Light光 (Hollywood Fringe Festival 2026); NYU GALA (2024–2026); Light光 (United Solo Festival 2025); Farewell, and Erase改删别姬; Mr. Donkey驴得水; MOU One Act Festival; Femme 9 19她是九毫米口径; Don’t Pitch It, Do It.; Hollow Cross虚无的十字架;The Metamorphosis变形记; and Teal Echoes Blue. (Her Web: www.silvantangmusic.com)
Yuyi (Key Visual Artist)
Yuyi is a designer and illustrator with experience in publishing illustration and visual design for multiple productions, including key visual design and graphic design. Her work has been featured in performance, musical, immersive experience, and plays. @s.yuuuuyi
Bodega Cat
Written and directed by Dina Zhanybekova
SYNOPSIS
A dark comedy set in a New York City bodega, Bodega Cat explores the collision of government bureaucracy and immigrant life.
CREW BIOS
Dina Zhanybekova (she/her) – Playwright/Director
Dina Zhanybekova is a writer, director, and actress from Kazakhstan whose work spans film, television, theater, and music. As an interdisciplinary artist shaped by exposure to different cultures, she strongly believes that what unites us far outweighs what sets us apart, and hopes to carry that message through her work.
Katie Lawrence (she/her) – Producer/Stage Manager
Katie Lawrence is a producer and photographer based in the NY/NJ area. She works in production in the film and television space while dabbling in live events, you can catch her on a football field or in the photo pit of a concert on the weekends. Comedy and its impact on audiences first inspired Katie to get into the arts and she is especially excited to bring that element of Bodega Cat to life.
Jae Hargest (they/them) – Set & SFX Designer
Jae would build thousands of bodegas for every cat in the world to live happily.
CAST BIOS
Anant Joshi (he/him) – “Karim”
Anant Joshi is an actor hailing from Mumbai, India. Anant is very excited to be a part of Bodega Cat at The Chain Theatre. He recently worked in Vernissage as Mustafa at The Tank. His other credits include Bobbie Clearly (Atlantic Stage 2) and Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde (Burgdorff Centre). Anant studied Acting at the Atlantic Acting School, where he received his 2 year conservatory certificate. For fun, Anant loves playing Pickle Ball and Cricket. He wants to thank his parents Vaishali, and Sudhir for always supporting his passions.
Catarina Maria (she/her) – “Sara”
Catarina Maria (Sara) is a classically trained Greek/Turkish American actor based in Brooklyn, New York. She is very excited to be making her debut with Chain Theater and is so grateful to work with this amazing team. Catarina has performed mostly on stage, ranging from contemporary projects, sketch comedies to devised theater. Currently, Catarina is playing the role of "Lia" in the surrealist short film "Dolls To Flame", set to come out later next year. Other roles include: Belle (Beauty and the Beast), Camille (Film- Distant Connections), #46 (The Wolves) and Margaret (Silent Sky).
Emma Markey (she/her) – “Katie/Anna”
Emma Markey is a singer, actor, dancer, and recent grad who earned her BM at The Catholic University of America. She is based in Brooklyn, New York. When she is not performing, Emma is watching every reality tv show and eating ice cream. She is incredibly interested in makeup and fashion, and loves to express her creativity in those mediums. For Emma, theater gives her the agency to be as weird as possible and bring joy to the people sitting in the audience.
Darian Bencosme (he/him) – “Bodega Visitor 1/Lawyer”
Darian Bencosme is a graduate of the conservatory of acting at SUNY Purchase. He would like to extend his gratitude to his friends and family for all their love.
Rodrigo Cuevas (he/him) – “Bodega Visitor 2”
Rodrigo Cuevas is an actor based in New York City.