BLISS: A COLLECTION OF COMMISSIONED SCENES AND MONOLOGUES
co-conceived by L Morgan Lee (she/her) and George Strus (they/them)
directed by L Morgan Lee (she/her)
in partnership with Broadway Licensing
Dramaturg: George Strus (they/them)
Stage Manager: Kasson Marroquin (they/he)
featuring new works by Dante Green (they/he/she), Dena Igusti, Esperanza Rosales Balcárcel, Haruna Lee (they/them), Kit Yan (they/he/she), L Morgan Lee (she/her), Nazareth Hassan, Noax (they/them), Preston Max Allen (he/him), R. Réal Vargas Alanis (they+), Rob Madge (they/them), and Shualee Cook (she/her)
featuring Indya Moore (she/her), Kyr Siegel (he/him), River Gallo (they/them), Sara Ramírez (they/them), and Temidayo Amay (they/he)
with stage directions read by Kathel Griffin (they/them/he/him)
Following last year’s presentation of OVERHEARD: Fifteen Commissioned Monologues Written BY TNB2S+ Artists FOR TNB2S+ Artists, BTB Core Community member L Morgan Lee and Founding Artistic Director George Strus are partnering with Broadway Licensing once again to create BLISS: A Collection of Commissioned Scenes and Monologues. The twelve commissioned works will be crafted together and brought to life by a cast of five TNB2S+ performers to close the 2023 Breaking the Binary Theatre Festival. The works will then be published and licensed by Broadway Licensing in 2024.
L Morgan Lee (she/her)
Co-conceiver, Director, and Writer
L Morgan Lee (she/her) is a Tony Award® nominated actress and storyteller known for her history-making turn in A Strange Loop on Broadway - a performance which also garnered her an Antonyo Award and a Drama League Distinguished Performance nomination. In London, she was seen playing artist Lili Elbe in a musical adaptation of The Danish Girl (currently in development). Other work includes well over a decade of Off-Broadway, Regional, International/National tours and concerts with artists from Paul McCartney to Our Lady J. In the studio, L Morgan was the voice of Ornate Williams in the Sugar Maple Series w. Fred Savage (Osiris Media) and can be found on Joe Iconis' album (Ghostlight Records), The Rainbow Lullaby Album (Broadway Records), and more. For more: @lmorganlee | lmorganlee.com
George Strus (they/them)
Co-conceiver and Dramaturg
George Strus (they/them) is a trans non-binary Latiné artist based on the unceded ancestral lands of the Munsee Lenape people (colloquially known as New York). They founded Breaking the Binary Theatre: a new work development and community building hub for transgender, non-binary, and Two-Spirit+ theatermakers. In addition to their role as Founding Artistic Director of Breaking the Binary Theatre and their freelance producorial and dramaturgical work, they also currently serve as Artistic Producer at The Sol Project, Seasonal Producing Manager at The Public Theater, Producers Cohort Program Facilitator at The Tank, and Theatre Scout at Curate Management. Previously, they held positions at Second Stage Theater, A3 Artists Agency, Manhattan Theatre Club, Pride Plays at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, Playbill, Stacey Mindich Productions, Alchemation, Telsey + Company Casting, Paper Mill Playhouse, and Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. @GeorgeStrus / www.georgestrus.com
Dante Green (they/he/she)
Writer
Dante Green (they/he/she) is a Black, Queer, multi-hyphenate artist. They are an alumnus of Headlong Performance Institute and University of the Arts with a BFA in Directing, Playwriting, and Production. Dante is the Founding Artistic Director of the Makers' Ensemble, a Network of Ensemble Theaters member, a former Wesleyan Breaking New Ground Fellow, and the inaugural Emerging Artist Initiative Fellow at Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble. Dante's work has been produced with Ars Nova, Pig Iron Theater Company, The Tank, and others. Dante has also been a Visiting Artist at Wesleyan University, Point Park, NYU, and Sheridan College.
Dena Igusti
Writer
Dena Igusti is an Indonesian Muslim writer born and raised in Queens, New York. They are the author of CUT WOMAN (Game Over Books, 2020), which has been listed as a 2020 Harvard Bookstore Staff Pick and a Entropy Mag’s Best Of 2020-2021, and I NEED THIS TO NOT SWALLOW ME ALIVE (Gingerbug Press, 2021). They are the co-playwright of the wish: a manual for a last-ditch effort to save abortion in the united states through theater, created with the support of New Georges and made possible by the Clubbed Thumb Constitution Commission, funded by Heidi Schreck and the producers of What The Constitution Means to Me, and winner of A is For. Their work has been produced and performed at LA Times, The Brooklyn Museum, The Apollo Theater, Prelude Festival (Cut Woman, 2020), Center At West Park (CON DOUGH, 2021), The Tank (First Sight 2021 at LimeFest), and several other venues internationally. They have received commissions from The Miranda Family Fund (2023), Motor Theater Company (2023), New Ohio Theatre (Now In Process 2022), Center at West Park (2021), Converse, and more.
Esperanza Rosales Balcárcel
Writer
Esperanza Rosales Balcárcel (she/they) is a trans Guatemalan artist, born in Guatemala City and raised in Norwalk, CT. Esperanza’s plays have been supported by TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, Roundabout Theatre, Princeton University Lewis Center for the Arts, and the Stanford Department of Theater and Performance Studies, and the O’Neill Theater Center. Esperanza is the recipient of the Princeton Ward Prize for Fiction, the Eugene O'Neill Memorial Scholarship, the Paul Greene Award from the National Theatre Conference, and the Kennedy Center's Paula Vogel Playwriting Award (Finalist) and Latinx Playwriting Award. They are currently a Teaching Fellow for the Public Theater, and the Drama Teacher at Brooklyn Prospect High School. BA: Princeton, MFA: Yale.
Haruna Lee (they/them)
Writer
Haruna Lee (they/them) is a Taiwanese/Japanese/American theater maker, screenwriter, educator and community steward. Plays include War Lesbian, Memory Retrograde, plural (love) and Suicide Forest for which they received an Obie Award for Playwriting and Conception and was on the Kilroys List. Lee has received the Steinberg Playwright Award, the Ollie New Play Award, FCA Grants to Artists Award, a MacDowell Fellowship, the Map Fund Grant, and is a member of New Dramatists. Their writing has been published by 53rd State Press, Theater Magazine, Table Work Press, Almanac, and they've taught playwriting at Brooklyn College, Stanford, NYU, Pace, and York College. harunalee.com
Kit Yan (they/she/he)
Writer
Kit Yan (they/she/he) is a Yellow American New York based artist, born in China, and raised in the Kingdom of Hawaii. Kit is a 2023 Helen Merrill Award recipient, 2022 Harold Adamson Lyric Award winner, 2021 Jonathan Larson Grant and Kleban Prize recipient for Libretto, a 2021 Sundance IDP Fellow and grantee, a 2019 Vivace Award recipient for big ideas in musical theater, a former Musical Theater Factory Makers Fellow, Playwright’s Center fellow, Company One/Pao Arts Fellow, Lincoln Center Writer in residence, Dramatists Guild Foundation Fellow and MacDowell Fellow. Their films have been shown at OUTfest, CAAMfest, The LA Asian Pacific Film Festival, and The Asian American International Film Festival among many others. They have worked for Disney, Milk and Cookies, and others in tv and film. Kit’s works include INTERSTATE, which won "Best Lyrics" at the 2018 New York Musical Theater Festival, QUEER HEARTACHE which won 5 awards at the Chicago and SF Fringe Festivals, and MISS STEP which received a first draft commission from 5th Avenue theater. Kit’s work has been supported by Playwrights Horizons, MCC, OSF, Keen Company, and San Diego Repertory Theater. Their work has been produced by the American Repertory Theater, the Smithsonian, NAMT, Musical Theater Factory, the New York Musical Festival, Mixed Blood, and Diversionary Theater. @kityanpoet
Nazareth Hassan
Writer
Nazareth Hassan is an interdisciplinary artist working in performance, writing, music, video, and photography. Recent performance works include Untitled (1-5) at The Shed (text published by 3 Hole Press), VANTABLACK at Theatretreffen Stuckemarkt in Berlin, #2112 at Center for Performance Research in Brooklyn, and Memory A at Museo Universitario del Arte Contemporaneo in Mexico City. Their first collection of poetry and photography Slow Mania will be published in 2025 by Futurepoem. They have released 4 singles, available on all platforms. They were the 2022 resident dramaturg at the Royal Court Theatre in London. They are a 2023-25 Jerome Hill artist fellow and a current resident of the Vineyard Theatre.
Noax (they/them)
Writer
Noax (they/them) is a multidisciplinary artist based in Manhattan. They have worked professionally in the entertainment industry for several years as an actor, singer, writer, and advocate in NYC. They seek to foster community amongst the various ecosystems they inhabit and discover transformative ways in which we can educate artists that are rooted in equity, self-empowerment, and community building. Organizations to consider donating to: Breaking the Binary, Black Trans Liberation, For the Gworls, Black Trans Femmes in the Arts, and The Marsha P. Johnson Institute. www.noax.me
Preston Max Allen (he/him)
Writer
Preston Max Allen (he/him) is a playwright, composer, and lyricist whose work has been featured at the New Amsterdam Theatre, Lincoln Center, Signature Theatre, and more. Preston conceived and wrote the 2019 Off-Broadway musical WE ARE THE TIGERS (album streaming); AGENT 355 (dramaturgy/co-book Jessica Kahkoska); and THE RAGE: CARRIE 2, AN UNAUTHORIZED MUSICAL PARODY (Jeff Nominee, Best New Musical). Plays: MODERN GENTLEMAN (2022 NYSAF summer workshop); CAROLINE (2021 Ars Nova Out Loud); and STORYTIME. Preston is a member of the Writers Guild of America East, Ars Nova Play Group (2019-21), and alum of the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theater Workshop.
R. Réal Vargas Alanis (they+/Purépecha/Tlahualil)
Writer
R. Réal Vargas Alanis (they+/Purépecha/Tlahualil) is a renowned indigiqueer artist specializing in New Work Development. Réal is a Casting Director with Casting Collective, guest artist at Princeton University, award-winning director, Artistic Director of IN THE MARGIN, and was named to be among “the best latinx comedic talent in the country” by the Latinx Theatre Commons. They also serve as Associate Director for the tour of "Between Two Knees" by the 1491’s (Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Yale Repertory Theatre, McCarter Theater Center, Seattle Rep, and Perelman Center for the Arts). www.realvalanis.com | iG: @realvalanis
Rob Madge (they/them)
Writer
Rob Madge (they/them) is a theatre maker, writer and actor. They began working professionally in theatre at the age of 9, having spent the majority of their childhood forcing their family to help them put on shows in the living room, most of which are now documented on Rob’s social media channels. Rob is best known for their solo show My Son’s A Queer (But What Can You Do?) which was nominated for Best Entertainment or Comedy Play at the 2023 Olivier Awards. The show opened at The Turbine Theatre, where it won the WhatsOnStage Award for Best Off-West End Production, before sold out runs at Edinburgh Fringe Festival and the Garrick and Ambassadors Theatre in the West End. They have also had roles in Les Miserables, Oliver!, Matilda, Mary Poppins, Bedknobs and Broomsticks and, most recently, the London Palladium pantomimes.
Shualee Cook (she/her)
Writer
Shualee Cook (she/her) writes plays as a way of asking questions and figuring out possible answers within a community. She is the recipient of 2021 Chesly/Bumbalo Award, The 2020 RAC Artist Fellowship, and the 2019 Parity Commission. She has been a resident playwright in the Confluence Regional Writers Project, Stage Left Theatre, and Tesseract Theatre. Her work has been developed by About Face Theatre, Breaking the Binary Theatre, The New Coordinates, Mustard Seed Theatre, The Road Theatre, Idle Muse Athena Festival, and the St.Louis Shakespeare Festival, among others. Plays include And Certain Women, Cercle Hermaphroditos, Earworm, and An Invitation Out.
Indya Moore (she/her)
Performer
Born and raised in the Bronx, Indya Moore (she/her) is a celebrated actor, model, and activist who has appeared on the cover of such publications as Vogue, V Magazine, and PORTER, and has collaborated with such designers as Tommy Hilfiger, Louis Vuitton, Saint Laurent, and Calvin Klein. They are currently the face of YSL Cosmetics.
From 2018 to 2021, Indya starred in the Emmy Award-winning FX series POSE, for which they received critical acclaim for their role as “Angel.” They will next be seen in Warner Bros.’ AQUAMAN AND THE LOST KINGDOM, which is set to be released in December.
In 2019, Indya was named to TIME Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People list and made history as the first trans person to be on the cover of ELLE. They also appeared on The Hollywood Reporter’s Next Gen list, in addition to Forbes’ 30 Under 30.
Throughout the pandemic, Indya immersed themself in charitable work, raising and redistributing money for marginalized communities, and created a campaign entitled Trans Santa to support in-need trans youth around the holiday season.
Kyr Siegel (he/him)
Performer
Kyr Siegel (he/him) is a Brooklyn-based actor, dancer, and playwright. He holds a BA from Sarah Lawrence College with a concentration in Performing Arts, Chemistry, and Gender and Sexuality Studies. He is an alum of the National Theater Institute (Playwriting Theatermakers ’22 and Acting Track '20). His favorite acting credits include productions of Sweeney Todd, Hamlet, WalkOver, and The Miracle Worker. He has had the privilege of working with Jujamcyn Theaters, The Wild Project, Kraine Theater, as well as other theaters throughout NYC both as an actor and a theatrical electrician. He is eternally grateful to have a hand in bringing queer stories to life! www.kyrsiegel.com
River Gallo (they/them)
Performer
Born and raised in New Jersey, River Gallo (they/them) is a filmmaker, actor, writer and intersex activist. River holds a BFA in Acting from NYU and an MFA in Film & TV Production from USC’s School of Cinematic Arts. Their short film PONYBOI was executive produced by Emma Thompson and Stephen Fry and premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. A feature-length adaptation of PONYBOI is currently in post-production, adn set to premiere in 2024. River wrote the screenplay and stars in the film alongside Dylan O’Brien, Murray Bartlett, Indya Moore, and Victoria Pedretti. They were also the subject of the critically-acclaimed feature documentary EVERY BODY directed by Academy-award nominated director Julie Cohen. Prior to their feature debut, River starred in multiple short films, a stage production of KING LEAR at the Annenberg Theater in Los Angeles, as well as an episode of the Hulu series LOVE, VICTOR. In the commercial space, River directed advertising spots for Facebook, and starred in a national ad campaign for Indeed. For their work in the arts and on social justice issues, River has been featured in Hunger Magazine, OUT Magazine, and won a GLAAD Rising Star Media Award. River was named one of the 10 LGBTQIA+ Film and TV Creators on the Rise in 2023 by Indiewire.
Sara Ramírez (they/them)
Performer
Tony Award© winner Sara Ramírez (they/them) made history playing the longest-running Latine LGBTQ+ character on TV, ‘Dr. Callie Torres’ on ABC’s hit Grey’s Anatomy. Other TV credits include: Law & Order: SUV, Madam Secretary, And Just Like That, and animated series Sofia the First. Sara graduated Juilliard’s Drama School and made their Broadway debut starring in Paul Simon’s The Capeman. Following that, they starred on Broadway in Fascinating Rhythm, A Class Act, and Off Broadway in The Vagina Monologues. For their performance as the original Lady of the Lake in the Broadway smash-hit Monty Python’s Spamalot, they earned both a Tony Award© and Outer Critics Award.
Temidayo Amay (they/he)
Performer
Tẹmídayọ Amay (they/he) is a Black Trans Non-Binary writer, producer, actor, and queer activist. OFF-BROADWAY: Classic Stage Company: black odyssey; MCC Theater: On Love; Classical Theatre of Harlem: Foriwa; The Public Theatre; Ars Nova; Clubbed Thumb. REGIONAL: Round House Theatre: School Girls: or, the African Mean Girls Play (Helen Hayes Award: winner); Signature Theatre: The Color Purple; Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company: Describe the Night; Arena Stage; The Kennedy Center; Shakespeare Theatre Company; Longacre Lea: The Interstellar Ghost Hour (Helen Hayes Award: nominated). DIRECTING: The Athena Project: The Newlywed Game. WRITING: BTB: POOL. AFFILIATES: Musical Theatre Factory; TPOC; TEMPO, PILOT, RISE.
Kathel Griffin (they/them/he/him)
Stage Directions Reader
Kathel ('kuh-hail' or Kat) Griffin (they/them/he/him) is a Trans Masculine Brooklyn based AEA Actor Represented by Clear Talent Group. He asks you to get engaged with fighting Anti-Trans Legislation by utilizing the resources found at www.trans-week.com & by donating to organizations like @TLDF , @southernequality , & ACLU state chapters like @ACLUFL. Follow @ChaseStrangio for more. Off-Broadway: 'PLAY ON!’ (Classic Stage Company), 'Millennials are Killing Musicals' (Theatre 71) Select Regional/Workshop/Festival: ‘The Wizard of Oz’ (Geva Theatre Center) 'King Lear', 'A Christmas Carol' (Great Lakes Theatre) 'Mary Poppins' (Beck Center for the Arts) 'The Wild Party' (BAR New Haven) ‘Here and Their’, ‘Miss Step’ (Open Jar/The 5th Avenue Theatre) 'Medusa' (Ripley Grier Studios) WonderBoy (NAMT).
@KathelGriffin