FIRST LOOK SERIES:
Kind Strangers Collective Presents:
Rock Bottom, Bottoms Up: Scenes of Resilience from Emerging Voices
Scenes written by Laura Winters, Jamie Gore Pawlik, Ayla Parsons, and Martyna Majok
Directed by David Zayas Jr., Derek Speedy, Jamie Gore Pawlik, and Wiley Basho Gorn
Conceived and produced by Jamie Gore Pawlik and Marjie Shrimpton
Rock Bottom, Bottoms Up is an evening of scenes from new works in development by three emerging female playwrights, alongside one scene by Pulitzer Prize–winner Martyna Majok. Whether women navigating a grotesque and taboo addiction, couples determining their futures, or individuals reckoning with the American dream, all scenes circle themes of survival, recovery, and resilience—in the many forms they take.
PLEASE NOTE: Our elevator will be under repair at this time. Patrons will need to access the space via two flights of stairs. We apologize for any inconvenience. If you have any questions or concerns, please call (212) 929-2545 or email theaterlab36@gmail.com
Presented works:
The Starters by Laura Winters
I EAT BOYS by Jamie Gore Pawlik
The Content by Ayla Parsons
Ironbound by Martyna Majok
Performed by Jill Zmolek, Hamid Tavakoli, Marjie Shrimpton*, Sheldon Shaw, Britian Seibert*, Naama Potok*, Ayla Parsons, Danny Hilt*, Barbara Hentschel*, Maliyah Gramata-Jones, and Talia Frank-Stempel
Co-produced by all Collective members
*Actors appearing courtesy of Actors’ Equity Association.
Content Advisory: This show contains mature themes, graphic language, and references to suicide and addiction.
Kind Strangers Collective is an ensemble of theatre artists dedicated to creating opportunities to amplify new talent, perform together, and share the work that excites and challenges us most with our community in New York City. Rock Bottom, Bottoms Up is our second production.
Performances Dates/Times:
Tickets:
MEET THE ARTISTS
Jamie Gore Pawlik (Playwright, I EAT BOYS; Director, Ironbound; Co-Producer) is a New York–based actor and writer whose career spans the screen, London’s stages, and many a Brooklyn bar, where she has performed improv comedy. Jamie graduated from Columbia University’s Undergraduate Film Program, concentrating in Screenwriting. Jamie is a proud member of SAG-AFTRA and AEA, a graduate of Barnard College, Columbia University, and holds an MFA from the Actors Studio Drama School. In 2024, Jamie co-founded Kind Strangers Collective with Marjie Shrimpton, producing their first show, EXHUMED, in November. I EAT BOYS is her first play. www.jamiegorepawlik.com
Marjie Shrimpton (Producer; Actor, The Starters and I EAT BOYS) is an actor and producer, among many other things, based in Brooklyn. She co-founded Kind Strangers Collective with Jamie Gore Pawlik in 2024, producing their first show, EXHUMED, at Theaterlab in November. Favorite work: Mac in Jeffrey Hatcher’s one-woman one-act The Thief of Tears (Kind Strangers), The Skin of Our Teeth (Berkshire Theatre Group, dir. David Auburn), A Christmas Carol (Greenbrier Valley Theatre), White Christmas (as Judy Haynes), her stage and film collaborations with director-choreographer Brandon Powers and director-cinematographer Julia Discenza, and her solo cabaret honoring Judy Garland, What Would Judy Do? Her work has also been seen at Museum of the City of New York, BPAC, NYMF, New York Live Arts, Sounds of the City, and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. BA in Dance & Human Rights, Barnard College of Columbia University. www.marjieshrimpton.com
Laura Winters (Playwright, The Starters) is a bicoastal playwright and screenwriter. Full length plays include ALL OF ME (productions: off-Broadway at The New Group, world premiere at Barrington Stage Company), CORONATION (production: Refracted Theatre Company Chicago, non-Equity Jeff Nominated for best New Work, National Playwrights’ Conference finalist), EMERSON LOSES HER MIND (developmental readings: Roundabout, The Old Globe, Semi-Finalist at NPC), GONZO (Barrington Stage Burman New Play Award Semi-Finalist, Rough Draft Theatre Festival), and a full-length children’s play, SPACE MISSION #5379: SAVING RACHEL, NEVADA (production: East Valley Children’s Theatre. Recognition: Best Original Script in the Arizoni Theatre Awards of Excellence, 2nd place Jackie White Memorial International Playwriting Contest). THE STARTERS was featured in LAByrinth Theater’s Barn Series and was an NPC semi-finalist. www.Laura-Winters.com
David Zayas Jr. (Director, The Starters) made his Off-Broadway directorial debut with Simpatico by Sam Shepard. A Bronx native, theater and film director, actor, and photographer, David is a member of The Actors Studio’s Playwright/Directors Unit and LAByrinth Theater Company. He has directed with Planet Connections, Actors Theatre of NY, NY Theater Festival, Samuel French OOB Festival, Nylon Fusion and the Chain Theatre along with award-winning films in over 20 festivals. David directed the LAByrinth’s Barn Series reading of The Starters at 59E59 Theaters in March and is excited to be exploring it further with Kind Strangers.
Sheldon Shaw (Actor, The Starters) is an artist based in New York City, with experience as a screenwriter, playwright, and actor. His acting credits include the film Homecoming by Eugene Ashe and the play White, written and directed by James Ijames. Shaw’s acclaimed plays include Jailbird and CNTL(ALT)RIGHT DEL. His screenplay, Glen, won the Black Screenplay Matter competition and received finalist status in several others.
Ayla Parsons (Playwright, The Content; Actor, The Content and I EAT BOYS) is a graduate of the Stella Adler Studio of Acting’s 2-year conservatory. She’s excited to return for her second production with the Kind Strangers Collective. Select theatre credits include Maria in Twelfth Night, Beth in A Lie of the Mind, and Mina Murray/Harker in Dracula, for which she earned a Best Lead Actress nomination. Ayla is grateful to continue exploring bold, layered stories with this ensemble and thrilled to share a new dimension of her work as a writer.
Wiley Basho Gorn (Director, The Content) is a director, dramaturg, text coach, and teaching artist. His work focuses on developing a personal connection to heightened language and the physical space. Directing credits include: house of sueños: an audio drama (Seattle Shakespeare Company’s Rough Magic podcast), Twelfth Night, or What You Will (Fern Shakespeare Company, Seattle WA), It Will Be Now (18th & Union, Seattle WA), As You Like It (ACT Theatre, Seattle WA) and The Tempest (Taksu Theatre Co., Brooklyn NY). Dramaturgy credits include: King John, Bring Down the House Pt 1 & 2, As You Like It, Macbeth, All’s Well That Ends Well (Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Ashland OR), Richard III (Seattle Shakespeare Company and upstart crow collective, Seattle WA). Wiley is an affiliate artist of upstart crow collective and received his BFA from the School of Drama at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. wileybashogorn.com
Hamid Tavakoli (Actor, The Content) is a graduate of Stella Adler Studio’s Conservatory program. He is an actor with a diverse range of credits in both theatre and film. He is known for his role as Konstantin in The Seagull, Mark in People Places and Things, and a few other productions. His film work includes Ivan in Manhatta, which has been featured at several film festivals, as well as Jimmy in An Unexpected Visit and Henry in It Was Wrong of Me to Touch Your Butt on the L. Hamid is excited to return to the Kind Strangers Collective and collaborate with such a skilled cast and crew once again.
Danny Hilt (Actor, Ironbound) is an actor and writer and, sometimes, a director. He plays Bomb Tech Aaron Hill on FBI and has also appeared in The Deuce, Law & Order: SVU, The Sopranos, Power Book III, What Would You Do, Law & Order, and Mr. & Mrs. Smith. Film credits include Benji’s Hour, American Gangster, and Foxcatcher. Recently seen on stage in the World Premiere of Vatican Falls, he’s also worked on plays such as Good People, Detroit, Straight Faced Lies, Bash, Smiles to Saturn, The Psychiatrist Is Out, and King Lear. As a voice over artist, he’s voiced national TV commercials, radio, and video games. BA Rutgers University. This is his second production with Kind Strangers.
Britian Seibert (Actor, Ironbound) is originally from Chicago, but has lived in NYC for ten years, so she’s a New Yorker now and don’t you forget it. Off Broadway: The Fears (Signature Theater), Letters to Sala (Barrow Group), Monster (Atlantic Theater) Consent (US premiere/NYU), Regional: Pride and Prejudice, Venus in Fur (Cincinnati Playhouse), Romeo and Juliet (Olney Theater/National Players), The Snow Queen (Portland Stage), Lend Me a Tenor (Arrowrock Lyceum). She played Cynthia Frazier, across from Jeff Daniels, in the second season of American Rust (Amazon Prime), Eva, across from Brit Marling, in A Murder at the End of the World (FX/Hulu), and her film debut, In Spite of Ourselves, premieres at the end of 2025. MFA: NYU Graduate Acting.
Derek Speedy (Director, I EAT BOYS) is an NYC-based actor, director, and wine nerd. His work has been seen at Asolo Rep, Williamstown Theater Festival, Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Harvard University, Gloucester Stage, Athens Theatre Group, the theatre company, 54 Below & Greenroom 42, Kind Strangers Collective, among others. Favorite credits include: Lifespan of a Fact (Jim Fingal), Tartuffe (Tartuffe), Into the Woods (The Baker), Romeo & Juliet (Tybalt), and several characters as a four-year cast member of the Hasty Pudding Theatricals, among others. This is his second Kind Strangers production.
Maliyah Gramata-Jones (Actor, I EAT BOYS) is a multidisciplinary artist, activist and yogi. Her stage credits include: Stew (Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park), the world premiere of Who All Over There, The Wolves (Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati), Puffs, Red Bike (Know Theatre), Titus Andronicus (Cincinnati Shakespeare Company). In the fall, she will be pursuing an Acting MFA at UCSD. @_goddessjones_
Talia Frank-Stempel (Actor, I EAT BOYS) is an actor, writer, and director based out of NY. She is originally from Chevy Chase, MD, and received a BFA in Acting from Emerson College. She studied at the Eugene O’Neill Theater NTI Program and is also a physical theater performer, trained in Action Theater under originator Ruth Zaporah. Recent acting credits include A Clown In Waiting (Fern) with Quick And Dirty Theater, and the indie films In Our Veins (Jo) and Stick Bug (Rose). Her original work includes her play Phoenix (writer/director), the indie short Stick Bug (actor/writer), and her current project Vestal Virgins (writer/director). taliafrank-stempel.com
Barbara Hentschel (Actor, I EAT BOYS) is an NYC and CT–based actor. Regional Theatre highlights: Queen Gertrude, Hamlet (Legacy Theatre); Lady Montague in Romeo & Juliet, dir. Mark Lamos (Westport Country Playhouse). Valet in William Mastrosimone’s Ride the Tiger, dir. Gordon Edelstein (Long Wharf Theatre). Lissie in E.M. Lewis’s Apple Season (Ivoryton Playhouse). TV: Amy Price in Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel (Netflix), The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Amazon). Barbara earned her MFA in the inaugural class of the Actors Studio MFA program, where studied acting with Elizabeth Kemp and Ellen Burstyn. She is a member of the Theatre Artists Workshop in Westport, CT, and has been training with Scott Freeman since Fall 2024. www.bhentschel.com
Naama Potok (Actor, I EAT BOYS) Theatre credits: Edith Frank in The Diary of Anne Frank (Co-Production: Geva Theatre Center and Arizona Theatre Company, dir. David Ira Goldstein); Rivkeh Lev, Anna Schaeffer, and Rachel in My Name Is Asher Lev (Westside Theatre, Penguin Rep, Florida Studio); Scheherazade in Arabian Nights (BAM, Actors Gang, Steppenwolf, Lookingglass Tour – Joseph Jefferson Award Nomination for Best Ensemble); Greek Princess in Mirror of the Invisible World (Goodman Theatre); Katherine in Henry IV, Boy in Old Man and the Sea, History of the Devil (Next Theatre); Eileen Rafferty in Slides (Williamstown Theatre Festival, dir. Geraldine Fitzgerald); Manke in God of Vengeance (A Contemporary Theatre, World Premiere Adaptation); Hindle in God of Vengeance (Target Margin); Helen in Helen of Troy, Debbie in The Real Thing (StageWest); Gila Marhouni in Haram! Iran! (TADA Festival of New Plays); Marjory in The Education of Marjory (Strawdog Theatre); Beatrice in A View from the Bridge (Oxford University Drama Society). Film credits: Blink, Susie, Ani, Waiting for Marion Cotillard (Médiane-Art&Comm’), The Chosen (20th Century Fox), Reindeer Games. Episodic: Larry Silver, “Larry Tries Palm Reading”. This is Naama’s second production with Kind Strangers Collective.
Jill Zmolek (Actor, I EAT BOYS) is thrilled to be making her debut with the Kind Strangers Collective. She works in theater and film, recently appearing as Clementine in the feature film Charliebird, which will have its world premiere in June as an official selection of the 2025 Tribeca Festival. She studied creative writing and film at Creighton University before relocating to New York. A native of Ames, Iowa, Jill now lives in a neighborhood in Brooklyn where there are no other young people. When not performing, she can be found at home, reorganizing her already clean apartment. More of her work can be found at jillzmolek.com or on Instagram @jillzmolek (no one else seems to have this name).
Charlie Lockwood (Sound Designer) is an actor and musician from San Jose, California, currently based in Brooklyn, New York. Charlie studied acting at Atlantic Acting School. With his cat by his side, he is an actor by day and musician by…day. Charlie likes living a quiet life at home, and spends most of his time hanging out with his wife, Jane, or making albums with his band, kid at the corner. You can find him at @charlielockwoood on instagram or at www.Charlie-Lockwood.com.
Fisayo Ekeng (Lighting Designer) is a Nigerian actor, director and lighting designer. She is a senior at Tisch Drama currently studying at Playwrights Horizons Theatre School with a cross-enrollment in the Production & Design Studio, where she is concentrating in Lighting Design. (Previous studios: The Meisner Studio, The Classical Studio.)
COVID-19 policy: In guidance with the city and state COVID-19 policies, we will no longer be requiring masks, but strongly recommend them.