AUG 2ND - 10TH 8PM MAT. SAT 2PM

MICHÈLE LONSDALE•SMITH

DIRECTOR

13 GRATTAN ST. CELLAR, BUSHWICK STEPS FROM THE MORGAN L STOP

The play is set amid the burgeoning cancel-culture and the last year of the Obama presidency, and finds Zoe, a black student at a liberal arts college, who is called into her white professor’s office to discuss her paper about slavery’s effect on the American Revolution. What begins as a polite clash in perspectives, explodes into a debate about race, history, and power.

Play Runtime: 110 mins with no intermission

From time to time, we may document post show conversation on video. It is not mandatory to participate: however, if you do take part, it is with the understanding that, in doing so, you grant The Gracemoon Arts Company the right to use the footage for archival and promotional purposes. If you do not want to be filmed, please let a member of the company, or a volunteer know.

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MEET THE CAST

ZOE - Played by GABRIELLE GRAHAM

Gabrielle Graham is a Canadian-born artist from Toronto, and is of Jamaican and Montserratian decent. Gabrielle has had a passion for the arts for as long as she can remember, and has showcased her dancing, singing, and acting talent from a young age. She began her in-depth acting study in the notable theatre program at York University in 2010. In her second year of university, she was accepted into the acting conservatory and ensemble in plays that include: Hamlet Machine, Tina in Tough, His Poor Nose Froze, Odysseus/Suitor/Penelope in The Penelopiad Semele/Sister/Boy in The Ecstatic Bible and lead her final show as Venus in Venus. Upon graduation, Gabrielle went on to join the ensemble in a theatre production of The Living at the Summerworks Festival, and toured across Canada where she co-led a two woman play as Harriet Tubman in The Power of Harriet T at the Manitoba Young Peoples Theatre. Gabrielle has gone on to star in various roles on film and television. She is best known for her ensemble role as Nia in Lena Waithe’s series Twenties on BET, and her highly acclaimed opening performance as Holly in Brandon Cronenberg’s feature Possessor. She can also be seen as a lead and co-lead in films such as Swindler Seduction, and Relax I’m from the Future by Luke Higginson. Gabrielle is currently co-starring in the upcoming Netflix limited series The Madness. As Gabrielle’s career blooms, she continues to develop her craft at the LS&CO Acting Studio where she has toured with the company to New York City, Italy and Tobago to help introduce other hungry artists to the craft of acting. Gabrielle is currently a company member of Gracemoon Arts in Toronto and New York, LS&CO’s sister production and theatre company.

I could offer a glorified and embellished list of my most recent credits or proof of where you “might have seen me” and that may give you some insight about the journey I’ve been on to get here, but it won’t tell you much about me. I am Mitzi Jones, I began acting approximately twenty-five years ago, which is a little longer than the time I have known our artistic director Michèle Lonsdale Smith. I studied with her in Vancouver all those years ago, before moving to London, where I met my husband. After getting married I took a substantial hiatus from acting in hopes of finding fulfillment as a wife and mother. Unfortunately what I found wasn’t that, but rather a growing distance from my creativity, my artistry, and ultimately myself. The absence of those things in my life made me extremely angry and subsequently violent towards myself and others. After 10 years away from art, and the final realization that I was not well and neither were my children, I returned home to acting by again seeking out Michèle, LS&CO studios, and eventually the Gracemoon Arts Company. Over the last five years, Michèle and this work has saved my life and made my children irrefutably safer and happier. Our mission as a company is to lend this work to the world in hopes of helping people see who they really are, work hard at accepting those truths, and then find some freedom, self love, and humility to make art and or life with. I have acted on stages in London, Vancouver, Toronto, Riga and now for the first time in New York. I want to thank this beautiful community for having me.

JANINE - Played by MITZI JONES

DIRECTED BY MICHÈLE LONSDALE • SMITH

Michèle Lonsdale•Smith, Trinidad and Tobago born, began her acting career at The Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute in the late 80’s in New York and studied with teachers trained by Mr. Strasberg. Over the past 3 decades, intertwined with an international directing and acting career, including roles in the Feature Film “Race” and Episodic work for NBC, Global, USA Network, Showtime and others, Michèle has directed 24 plays and 2 Web Series. Theater productions include, “Bad Jews”, “Burn This”, “Lion in the Streets”,“The Dreamer Examines his Pillow” (in Italian) “Jesus Hopped the A Train”, “Venus in Fur”, as well as writing and directing the original stage play “The 21st Floor” which were all reviewed notably. She produced and directed the digital series “Bradley Borgen: The Actor Who Could Not Cry.” which won Best Writer & Director at WorldFest Houston and “Little Wars”, a series of 17 short films, each filmed in one continuous shot, is currently in post production.

She is currently the founder and artistic director of the Gracemoon Arts Company.

Synchronous to her acting and directing career, Michèle teaches and coaches award-winning actors around the world; Canada, America, Jamaica, Tobago, England and Italy. Her self developed modality is an amalgamation and iteration on the work of master and visionary teacher Lee Strasberg, as well as completely proprietary techniques. Her research and development has been compiled over the past 25 years, alongside her Master Class at the LS&CO Acting Studio for the Humanitarian Arts, and which over two decades evolved into the Ensemble of Actors at The Gracemoon Arts Company.

In 2023, she returned to New York to live and work, the birthplace of her acting training in the 80s, to create a home for art, and to add her voice to the global conversation. Together with her company of 18 actors, they will officially open The Gracemoon Theatre, Salon & Gallery in Bushwick in April 2024. The non-profit is a home for “the artist”, devoted to uplifting and upholding the New York tradition of excellence and integrity in acting, while aspiring to evolve the art form and its humanitarian impact.

STAGE MANAGER - MOONEY SHEPARD*

Mooney is an artist born and raised in Ontario, Canada who has made the big move to Brooklyn to support the dream of Gracemoon Arts Company! She has been studying acting at LS&Co for under two years now and is eternally grateful for the opportunity to stage manage her first show under the guidance of Michèle Lonsdale Smith and with the love of all the company members at Gracemoon. Thank you! Gather ye rosebuds while ye may…

SOUND & LIGHTING - RANDALL ROSS

Randall has been a company member of the Gracemoon Arts Company for 12 years. He was in Michèle Lonsdale•Smith’s first acting class almost 30 years ago. He is a cinematographer, editor, lighting and sound technician. Randy has executed the audio, visual and technical requirement of Michèle’s vision on all Gracemoon productions. He is also a Co-Founder and Head of Business Development at Gracemoon.

*Appearing through an Agreement between this theatre, Gracemoon Arts Company, and Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.

SET PAINTING - “WIDE AWAKE” by MAIZIANNE @maizianne