Performance for One
Untitled Theater Company No. 61
Performance for One is a one-on-one theater performance, written by Edward Einhorn and featuring Yvonne Roen, Melissa Rakiro, Moira Stone, and Jan Leslie Harding.
The performance is about memory, but even more so, it is about relationship between performer, audience member, and author. What is the responsibility of the audience member, and how is it felt differently when there is only one audience member? Who is the story teller, the author or the performer? What happens to a memory that two people share after one of those people is gone?
Each performance lasts approximately seven minutes, and are scheduled in ten minute slots. Please contact theaterofideas@gmail.com to schedule a slot.
About the Artists
Edward Einhorn is a playwright, director, translator, librettist, and novelist. His work has been performed in New York venues such as La MaMa, 3LD Art & Technology Center, HERE Arts Center, The New Ohio, St. Ann’s Warehouse, the Walter Bruno Theater at Lincoln Center, and the Bohemian National Hall. Outside of New York, his work has been done at Peckham Asylum Chapel (London), Wigmore Hall (London), Milton Court at the Barbican (London), Forth Worth Opera (Fort Worth, Texas), Sacred Fools (Los Angeles), and the Czech Embassy (Washington, DC). He is the Artistic Director of Untitled Theater Company No. 61: A Theater of Ideas – a New York independent theater company.
Recent shows include The Marriage of Alice B. Toklas by Gertrude Stein, a comic farce about the lives of Stein and Toklas, which received a Critic’s Pick from the co-chief reviewer of The New York Times, Jesse Green; The Neurology of the Soul, a play about the nexus between neuroscience, marketing, art, and love; The Resistible Rise of JR Brinkley, a Brechtian parable based on the true story of a 1920’s con man turned politician; The Iron Heel, an adaptation of Jack London’s socialist dystopic novel from 1908; City of Glass, an adaptation of the neo-noir novel by Paul Auster; Money Lab, an economic vaudeville combining multiple performance disciplines (dance, opera, puppetry, cabaret, clowning, and interactive games); The Velvet Oratorio, an opera/theater piece commissioned for the 25th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution; The God Projekt, a puppet play about the origin of monotheism; and a stage adaptation of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
The New York Times has called his work “exquisitely ingenious,” “dramatically shrewd,” and “almost unbearably funny”; Time Out has called it “challenging, thought-provoking,” “mesmerizing,” and “startlingly intense”; and The Village Voice has called it “hilarious, provocative,” and “Inspired absurdist comedy.” He has received a Sloan Grant, SEED Magazine’s Revolutionary Mind Award, The NY Innovative Theater Award for Best Performance Art Production of the Year, NYTheater.com’s Person of the Year Award and placement in their Indie Theater Hall of Fame, 2nd Prize from the Arch and Bruce Brown Foundations Playwriting Competition, a fellowship from American Opera Projects, and Critic’s Picks in Time Out, The Village Voice, and The New York Times.
For more about Edward, follow him on Instagram and Twitter.
Yvonne Roen is an actress, teaching artist, and director living and working in the New York Metro area. When not making theater, films, or music, she is busy cooking, gardening, raising her son, and talking politics with anyone who will listen.
For more about Yvonne visit her website at https://www.yvonneroen.com/
Melissa Rakiro, originally from the Philadelphia area, received her Bachelor’s in Acting from Temple University. While in school she continued her vocal studies through the Boyer School of Music in Opera, Jazz and Musical Theater. Melissa currently resides in New York City. She has appeared in various productions with The Public Theater, the Lantern Theater, and directors such as Oskar Eustis and Todrick Hall.
Recently, Melissa appeared in the second season of Marvel’s Luke Cage in her first principal recurring role as Billie’s sister, currently streaming on Netflix. Melissa has also appeared in commercial/print ads such as Primark, Drexel University, Threadfast Apparel, and Sony.
For more about Melissa visit her website at https://www.melissarakiro.com/
Moira Stone is an actor and singer making new and experimental theater, film, and music. They’ve performed at EST, HERE, 3LD, PS 122, The Brick, The Metropolitan Museum, The Bohemian National Hall, onboard the QE2, and many, many other venues in New York and beyond.
They won the 2017 NYIT Award for Outstanding Actress in a Leading Role, and in 2013, was inducted into the Indie Theater Hall of Fame. Stone is a proud member of AEA and graduate of Indiana University. They split their time between New York City and upstate New York.
For more about Moira visit their website at http://www.moirastone.com/
Jan Leslie Harding was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. She is an actress, known for A Dog Year (2009), The Boys Who Brunch (2010), Amateur (1994) and Law and Order (1995 – 2000).
Untitled Theater Company No. 61 is a theater of ideas: scientific, political, philosophical, and above all theatrical. Shows mix tragedy and comedy in a manner inspired by classic absurdism, while often incorporating music, technology, and physical theater. Early defining events for UTC61 include the Havel Festival and the Ionesco Festival, which included their full works (with the participation and attendance of President Havel and Ionesco’s daughter, Marie-France, respectively). Though UTC61 now produces only original work, their responses to the absurd and terrifying moments of their history are a continuing inspiration as the theater company tries to navigate a contemporary response to our time.
For more information, visit their website at http://www.untitledtheater.com/
