PROGRAM 9

Program # 9 (4th Floor)

FREAK Son Reunites with Estranged Father | FULL EPISODE | Dr. Phil by Claire Abramovitz

The Elevator Play by Erin Moughon

Uptown Express by Kevin Cheng

Claire Abramovitz (Playwright): Claire Abramovitz (she/they/any) is an emerging playwright living, working, and eating a lot of cheese in New York City. Their work has been performed in Chicago, Jerusalem, Pennsylvania, and right here in NYC. They enjoy writing about folklore, Judaism, and various kinds of monsters/fish people. Their play To Rot in His Bones was a semifinalist in the 2021 Jewish Plays Project Annual Jewish Playwriting Contest and in Bay Street Theater’s Title Wave, New Works Festival 2024. In their spare time they write poetry, watch Great Lakes freighter compilation videos, keep a list of fake band names, and make soup for at least thirty.

Anya Josephs (Director): Anya Josephs (they/she) is an NYC-based director, writer, and psychotherapist. Some of Anya’s favorite past directorial credits include the world premieres of “…Therein Lie Creeping Things Innumerable,” also by Claire Abramovitz, several short plays with the Playground NYC company including a 2025 Best of the Fest winner, and reimagining of the classics, like an all-female, queer production of Much Ado About Nothing and two interactive virtual Shakespeare productions staged over the COVID-19 lockdown. Anya’s writing can be found in venues like The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, The Deadlands, and Tor.com; her novel Queen of All is available wherever books are sold. 

Willow Lautenberg (Dr. Phil): Willow Lautenberg is an actress-playwright-singer based in NYC. Her Off-Broadway credits include: What It Means to Be Free (Theatre Row) & Spare Rib (New World Stages). Her Regional/Tour credits include: Shrek The Musical, A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Wizard of Oz and Les Misérables. Her playwrighting credits include: Incarcerated (NewYorkRep commission - Off Broadway reading), What It Means to Be Free (play – performed at United Solo, & screenplay – finalist at the Harlem International Film Festival). She holds a BFA in Acting & a Writing Minor from Emerson College. Love & gratitude to her parents & community. @willowthesingingtree

Sara Guilbault (Floyd): Sarah Guilbault is a performer and writer living on unceded Lenape land. A graduate of Bowdoin College who spent time studying classical acting at LAMDA, Sarah also holds a master’s in Performance studies from NYU and a stilt walking license from camp Winnarainbow. Some of their favorite stage roles include Marianne in Constellations, Paulina in Death and the Maiden, and a microbe also written by Claire Abramovitz. Offstage, Sarah can be found wrestling a Dachshund named Walter, knitting socks, and in a prone position reading absurdist political philosophy or Octavia Butler. 

Julia Crowley (Dr. Frankenstein): Julia Crowley is an actress and creator based in NYC and New England whose work can be seen across stage and screen. Julia starred as Charlotte in Thrown Stone Theater’s production of Hysterical! and as Jamie in Athena. She can be seen in the indie film Artificial (2024) which premiered at the Workers Unite Film Festival at Cinema Village and won the award of Best Narrative. She first appeared at the Chain Theater as part of Breaking and Entering Theater Collective’s PEA Fest, starring in their production of Fishbowl. Julia is a graduate of Bennington College, a company member of Playground-NY, and a performer with the Murder Mystery Company with American Immersion Theater. 

Erin Moughon (Playwright) (she/her) is an award-winning playwright and teacher based in New York City. She is thrilled to be returning to the Chain Theatre with this incredible team! Her plays have been produced across the U.S. as well as in England, Canada, Australia, and France. Selected short plays can be found in editions of The Best Ten Minute Plays edited by Lawrence Harbison and Debbie Lamedman and her monologues can be found in Voices of America Vol 1, 3, & 4 edited by Mike Lesser of the Playground Experiment. Her play Prewritten won the 2024 best play award from the Loved Ones series by Broken Arts Entertainment. During the pandemic, she was commissioned by the Educational Theatre Association to write short adaptations for their design lesson plans.  Erin is a proud member of the Dramatist Guild and an Arthur Miller Fellow. @erinplaywright

Ria T. DiLullo (Director) is a director, actor, playwright, and founder of The Skeleton Rep(resents), a 10-year old indie new works development company with a mission to explore modern myth. Through TSR they have produced 12 full stage shows, 3 short play festivals, 60+ salons of new plays, countless readings, and film projects. Most recently, Ria performed in “Track Change” downtown, as well as directed “No Better News” as part of FringeNYC in this very theater. Upcoming projects include a presentation of their play “Echo the Original” as part of LimeFest at The Tank on 8/23. Keep up with Ria and TSR @dilulloria / @skeletonrep / www.dilulloria.com / www.skeletonrep.org

Larissa Adamczyk (Actor/Producer) is excited to be playing Lara, as she wishes she could be nearly as cool. She graduated the Two Year Acting Program at William Esper Studio and currently studies at the Ken Studio. She has recently been seen as Dorothy Secules and Nurse Klein, in the premier production of Sweet Lorraine, part of the 2024 Downtown Urban Arts Festival. Some of her other favorite roles include: Carrie, in the two-person play The Right Person (2022 Chain Theatre Festival), and a soldier in The Playground Experiment's Faces of America Monologue Festival, Volume 4. She has also had the honor to portray some fantastic women: Jane Wilde/Gwendolyn Fairfax/ Virginia Otis in an adaptation of Oscar Wilde's life and Bianca in a reading of Desdemona: A Play About A Handkerchief. Larissa can be seen on the internet, uncovering a mystery phenomenon In The Time Of... a story anthology on Instagram. She is in the short film Unvoiced, which received several nominations in NYC and International film festivals, and Over-Throne, which was Top 50 in AAFL 72hr Film Festival '20.

Alejandra Lorenzo-Agront (Actor/Stage Manager) is a Caribbean-born, NYC-based multidisciplinary artist from the island of Puerto Rico. Raised between colors, music, and storytelling, she began singing traditional Puerto Rican songs and painting as a child. She holds degrees in Fine Arts and Theater from the University of Puerto Rico, and trained in musical theater at Circle in the Square Theatre School in NYC. Her theater work includes regional productions of Rent, Godspell, Once on This Island, and Into the Woods. She toured the U.S. with Disney on Ice, and is now embracing new creative adventures—always carrying a piece of Puerto Rico in her heart.

Morgan Nadia Williams (Actor) (she/her) is a Baltimore-born actor with performance roots in dance. She graduated from NYU Tisch in May 2023 with a BFA in drama, where she studied with the Stella Adler Studio of Acting and Stonestreet Studios. Her notable roles include acting as Agnes in She Kills Monsters (Stella Adler Studio of Acting), Ama in School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play (Hangar Lab Theatre Company) and Lorraine Hansberry in Sweet Lorraine (Theatre Row). She aspires to create and partake in art that challenges both herself and her audience to laugh, think and feel more.

Jake Jervis (Actor)  is a recent grad from Ithaca College with a degree in Musical Theatre. He’s excited to be making his professional debut in NYC with The Elevator Play! He’ll be at The Rev later this summer in Bonnie and Clyde the musical. Thank you to all involved that made this festival a possibility! Special thank you to Mom, Dad, Bros, and Ava! @jakejervis

Alexander Rovang (Sound Design/Producer) has been a musician in NYC for over 25yrs.  Although his credits include Broadway shows & 50-piece orchestras, his favorite time has always been with the smallest, most intimate pieces.   Susan Marshall’s Sawdust Palace, John Mercurio’s Academy, Julianne Wick-Davis’s The Pen.  So, as excited as he is for his newest project (joining the faculty of the Berklee School of Music), he is unquestionably more delighted to be a small part of Erin Moughon’s The Elevator Play!

Ciera Miller (Director) is a NYC based director who loves new works. Past directing credits include: Funeral for a Dog (Edinburgh Fringe, C Arts); The Dark (Miller & Harlow), CafeBlitz (In Confidence), Stuck (Curious Theatre Works); Love is a Blue Tick Hound (Curious Theatre Works), Evermore (Curious Theatre Works), Hootenanny Tonight (Off the Lane), and The Elevator (New York Theatre Festival). Assistant Directing credits include Hadestown Second National Tour, Primero Sueño (METLiveArts), and the world premiere of Stompin' at the Savoy (DTC). She is half of the theater duo Miller & Harlow, the pair were 2023 Jonathan Larson Grant Honorable Mentions and have their new folk musical, Colorado Silver in concert 9/6 at 54 Below! cieramiller.com 

Kevin Cheng (Playwright / Noah) is a Taiwanese actor and writer based in New York City. He received his training at the Neighborhood Playhouse and HB Studio. Notable theater credits include: The Seagull (HB Playwrights), It's A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play (Fiction Brooklyn), A Midsummer Night's Dream (A.R.T./New York), Dear Diary (Chain), and Sunset Diner (East Village Basement). Most recently, he starred in the feature film A Journey of Jack and Tom directed by Chin-En Gau. Kevin is deeply interested in telling stories that highlight human connections and explore how people grope their way toward a sense of equanimity in face of unexpected life events.

Maria Jose Payares (Zoe) is a New York-based actor and producer. From a young age, she's had a great passion for theater and the arts. She graduated from New York Film Academy with a BFA in acting for film and has taken multiple classes at HB Studio. She is so excited to be working on this project and very grateful to Kevin for this opportunity. She wants to thank her friends and family for all the support. Credits: Still Waiting for Lefty by Luke Bond, Reflections of Impertinent Judgements by Diego Ruiz de Velasco.