THEATERLAB PRESENTS
Bites by Kay Adshead : Tasting Workshop
a workshop presentation
directed by Artist-In-Residence Elena Vannoni
co-produced with STINGAREE (in association with Mama Quilla, London)
Bites by Kay Adshead is a theatrical banquet — a poetic feast of cruelty, resilience, and survival. This October workshop will explore two of its seven “courses” through improvisation, physical action, and ensemble work. The aim is not to present a finished performance, but to invite audiences into a shared theatrical ritual where fragility and imagination become tools of resistance.
This October process aims to explore how the poetic writing — more lyrical and elusive than narrative — can open up to multiple interpretations. In this phase, all geographic references will be removed, shifting the focus away from a specific place or time toward a more universal condition. Situations change, contexts shift, yet dynamics of power, violence, and the denial of human rights repeat themselves: “If we want things to stay as they are, things will have to change” (Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, The Leopard).
The goal is not to present a finished performance but to undertake a shared process in which actors, through structured improvisations, physical action studies, and ensemble work, can discover their own voice and creativity and place it in service of something higher and more universal. For this to happen, I believe it is necessary to set aside our small self, to make space for fragility and vulnerability — conditio sine qua non, in my view — to become vessels of an art that offers political thought, in the etymological sense of the word: a reflection on the polis, on community. In this way, the group creates a theatrical ritual where imagination becomes a tool of resistance.
Participants : CLAUDIA GODI, KELVIN GRULLON, LINDSAY HERRING, CLAIRE LEBOWITZ KING, MICHAELA LIND, RILEY LIBURD, KELSEY MALANOWSKI, HANEEN ARAFAT MURPHY, GABRIEL NEUMANN, BENJAMIN NOWAK, GRACE PETRILLO.
Assistant Director & Stage Manager: KEELEY HEAGERTY
PERFORMANCES
Saturday, October 4th @ 7:00pm
Sunday, October 5th @ 5:00pm
approx. 40mins (no intermission)
light reception and conversation with Director, Elena Vannoni to follow
TICKETS
General Admission: $0
MEET THE ARTISTS
Elena Vannoni (Director, Backstitch Artist-In-Residence)
Elena Vannoni is a stage director, set and costume designer with an international career spanning Italy, Germany, and the United States. She studied at the Accademia Nazionale d’Arte Drammatica Silvio d’Amico in Rome, earned a degree in Theatre History from the University of Florence, and completed her MFA in Theatre Directing at Columbia University in New York. Winner of the National Prize of the Arts for Directing in 2005, she has directed and designed productions across Europe and the U.S., from opera at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino to contemporary theatre in Berlin and Los Angeles. Her recent work includes Rhizome at Theaterlab and The Sea Does Not Reach Naples, inspired by the work of Anna Maria Ortese. Vannoni’s practice integrates physical theatre, visual composition, and dramaturgies of text, space, and body, drawing from Grotowski, Commedia dell’Arte, Viewpoints, and Orazio Costa’s mimetic method. She is currently the Director-in-Residence at Theaterlab, where she is developing Bites by Kay Adshead in co-production with Mama Quilla Productions. Her work emphasizes theatre as a ritual of imagination and relationship.
Kay Adshead (Playwright, Mama Quilla Productions)
Kay Adshead is a writer, theatre maker, performer, filmmaker, and producer. She trained at RADA as an actress, winning the Emile Littler Award for Outstanding Talent. Leading roles in TV, film, and theatre include Cathy in the BBC classic serial Wuthering Heights, Linda in Mike Leigh’s Kiss of Death, Sue McKenna in Film on Four’s Acceptable Levels, Tanzi in Trafford Tanzi at the Mermaid (learning to wrestle for the role), Clara Twain in Adrian Mitchel’s White Suit Blues, and Betty in Stephen Lowe’s Touched, both productions at the Old Vic. She also played Moll Gromer in Philip Martin’s Thee and Me at the RNT.
She has written over 25 plays, published by Methuen, Faber and Faber, and Oberon, with commissions or productions at the Royal National Theatre, the Royal Court, the Young Vic, The Lyric Hammersmith (Main House), The Cockpit, the Bush, the Arcola, Soho Theatre, and many more. Awards include Fringe First, Adelaide Fringe Sensation Award, Adelaide Best Fringe Performance Award, M.E.N. Best Fringe Performance, Scene Savers Best Play 2023 for The Last Little Girl, and a Houston Purposeful Artist Award for the same play. She has been a Susan Smith Blackburn finalist three times (Thatcher’s Women, The Bogus Woman, and Bites). She was nominated for an E.M.M.A. and Encore Magazine Best Play of the Year for Animal. Alex Sierz of The Tribune described her as “the great survivor,” and The Times reviewed her play I am Sad You are Dead Mrs. T at Theatre503 as “a poetic mortar bomb.”
In 1999, with Lucinda Gane, she co-founded the multi-award-winning theatre company Mama Quilla. She has devised and directed more than 10 large-cast experimental and live art, site-specific projects, often working within hard-to-reach communities, creating empowering performances within vulnerable and disadvantaged groups.
Her experimental film bricolage Stormy – The Opera was a finalist at the 57-year-old WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival, an award winner in WRPN Women’s International Film Festival, and won the Kudos Award 2023 in the Depth of Field International Film Festival. Pangolia, a film made from The Pangolin Project produced at Alexandra Palace in 2022, won Best Experimental in the Miami Indie Film Awards and Madrid Art House Film Festival. Both films have been Official Selections more than 15 times at international film festivals. She is currently editing a short film, Sea Glass, and has completed filming The Silent Lyre, shot in Berlin.
Her short screenplay Teratoma is in development, as well as a new full-length play (as yet untitled).
Keeley Heagerty (Assistant Director & Stage Manager)
Keeley has participated in the arts for as long as she can remember, and these experiences have made her a well-rounded artist. Although her background began as a dancer, she started her management training at The River & Rail Theatre Company in Knoxville, Tennessee, where she learned about non-profit organizations and the inner mechanics of a theatre company. In 2020, she traded the Appalachian mountains for New York City and further pursued her passions at Marymount Manhattan College, where she majored in stage management and theatrical directing and minored in arts management. She has since had the pleasure of working with many artists and productions such as Sleep No More, Jujamcyn, 59E59 Theatres, The American Vicarious, and more.
Claudia Godi (Performer)
Born in Florence, Italy, Ms. Godi is currently based in New York City. Claudia is grateful for the guidance of her mentor, Robert X. Modica, whose teachings continue to inspire her work. Selected theatre credits: The Fundamentalist by Juha Jokela, directed by Jason Beckmann (opposite John Hickok); Doomsday Scrolling (Anomalous Co., Here Arts Center); Miracle of the Danube by M. Anderson, directed by Jason Beckmann; Love Letters by A.R. Gurney (opposite Richard Fiske); Ink & Steel (9 Freedoms Productions, The Players Club & JCTC); Trojan Women by Euripides, directed by Olga Levina (JCTC); Felony Friday (opposite John Amos); Prey (opposite Sean Patrick Reilly); Loves of Picasso by Terry D’Alfonso; Always Never There (The Players Club, NYC); The Business of Love – Affare d’Amore (co-written and performed with Scott Decker). Instagram: @claudiagodiactor
Kelvin Grullon (Performer)
Kelvin Grullon is a Dominican-American actor from Washington Heights, New York City. He is also a director, filmmaker, producer, spoken word performer, and DJ under the pseudonym Chico Bembé. Though an architecture graduate from the University of Virginia, he later launched an acting career with The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (Literature to Life), in which he played 10+ characters. Projects include Queen of Basel, King Lear, She Hates Coffee, Room28 Comedy, La Tierra, and No More Lonely People. Director credits include The Great Gatsby (Literature to Life) and Assistant Director on King James (Northern Stage).
Lindsay Herring (Performer)
Lindsay Herring is an actor reemerging into theatre after years in folklore, oral history, and writing, now weaving those practices into her performance work. Recently relocated to NYC from Pittsburgh, PA, she holds a BA in Theatre and an MA in Food Anthropology. She is also an opera singer and burlesque dancer, and has worked as an exhibition designer, dramaturg, and curator. Lindsay leads the Folk & Traditional Arts Program with the Pennsylvania Rural Arts Alliance, exploring contemporary folklife across rural Western Pennsylvania.
Claire Lebowitz King (Performer)
Claire Lebowitz King is excited to return to Theaterlab, where she previously performed in Orietta Crispino’s Three Sisters Come and Go. A former member of the Living Theatre, she assisted Judith Malina on The Brig (Obie Award for Direction and Ensemble). Claire’s play Outside the Gate, which she wrote and performed, was well received at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. She recently returned to NYC after nine years in the UK, where she performed in A People’s History of the United States (Park Theatre, London, dir. Che Walker). Other credits include The Donkey Show (Off-Broadway), Medea, Mysteries and Smaller Pieces, and the short horror film Shroom Baby.
Michaela Lind (Performer)
Michaela Lind is an award-winning performer, filmmaker, and theater-maker, and co-founder of ARA Theater & Media. After leaving her native Sweden, she studied at GITIS-Moscow Art School and worked with legendary clowns Slava Polunin, Bill Irwin, and David Shiner while performing with the all-female troupe Clowns Ex Machina in NYC. She completed her BS at CUNY Baccalaureate with a degree in Ritual Focused Performance Techniques. Michaela has been performing professionally for over 25 years and recently debuted her short film Where Is Now, screening through Films of Return online.
Riley Liburd (Performer)
Riley Liburd is an actress based in New York City and a graduate of Marymount Manhattan College (BFA Acting). There she performed in Athena, Men on Boats, and The Revolutionists. Recent credits include Full Moon (Chain Theatre Festival), M+Z (The Tank), and Two Dime Crisis (Playwrights Horizons Studios). Film work includes Trust Me, Bro, It’s Nice to be Nice, and The Sisters of Briar Glen. Earlier this year, she was nominated for “Best Actress” at the New York Theater Festival for her role in Hymnal. @riley.liburd
Kelsey Malanowski (Performer)
Kelsey Malanowski is a NYC-based classical, contemporary, and film/TV actor. Originally from South Florida, she earned her BFA in Theatre from NYU Tisch School of the Arts. She has also trained with the Atlantic Acting School, Stonestreet Studios, and the Commonwealth Shakespeare Company. Recent credits include The Goo (New Relic Theatre), Manfred (New York Society Library), Femme Fantasies (Strangegirlzz NYC), The World’s on Fire Let’s Talk About Love (Fishwife Productions), Antigone (NRT), and As You Like It (NRT). @kelseymalanowski | kelseymalanowski.com
Haneen Arafat Murphy (Performer)
Haneen Arafat Murphy is a Palestinian-American performer, writer, and host. Her recent theatrical work includes People of the Book (Urban Stages), Georgia & The Butch (The Tank), Lost Sock Laundry (Up Theater), and American Fast (Constellation Stage). In 2023, she was a top finisher at Sparkfest, a national competition for MENASA theater artists hosted by Amphibian Stage in Ft. Worth, TX. @haneen_arafat_murphy | haneenarafatmurphy.com | haneenarafatmurphy.substack.com
Gabriel Neumann (Performer)
Gabriel Neumann is an actor and theater-maker based in NYC. Originally from Brazil, he has worked in numerous theater, film, and TV productions in both Brazil and the U.S. Recent Off-Broadway credits include Imogen Says Nothing (Fiasco Theater) and Rough Trade (Kev Berry). Other credits include Crumbs of Joy (dir. Elena Vannoni) and And The Trees Fall Down (Viviana Prado Nunes). In 2018, Gabriel moved to the U.S. to attend the Stella Adler Studio Summer Conservatory and later joined Fiasco Theater’s Inaugural Conservatory. He is a proud member of AEA and the Brazilian Actors’ Union. gabrielneumann.com
Benjamin Nowak (Performer)
Benjamin Nowak has carved his way into professional acting and filmmaking after being raised in a family where artistic ability was suppressed by a cult church. Since 2021, he has been performing in theatre and film in New York and Los Angeles, including a 2025 KIFF award-winning performance (Star Cross). He is currently starring in The Mutt, an Off-Broadway adaptation of Dostoyevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov. Known for his resemblance to Jon Bon Jovi, he brings a unique charisma to his work.
Grace Petrillo (Performer)
Grace Petrillo (he/they/she) is a queer actor, singer, mover, puppeteer, drag king, jester, magician-in-training, and dog enthusiast, based in Brooklyn. Recent credits include Much Ado About Nothing (Borachio), Good Samaritans (The Tank), and That Chicken Play (REV Theatre Co.). They are excited to be working with Elena once again in such a collaborative environment. @grak_o
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