IN THE PENAL COLONY
July, 2019
Next Door @ NYTW
Adapted from Franz Kafka's short story of the same name, In the Penal Colony investigates the performance of power, patriarchy and punishment. Three black men convene in an unnamed penal colony, asking what it means for them to exist in the media, when observed, when consumed, when punished.
Written and Directed by Miranda Haymon
Producers: The Hodgepodge Group and Lucy Powis
Featuring Jamar Brathwaite, David Glover, and Dhari Noel
Set Designer: Emmie Finckel
Lighting Designer: Cha See
Sound Designer: Valentine Monfeuga
Props Designer and Associate Set Designer: Holden Gunster
Stage Management: Jessica Emmanus and Haley Dunlavey
Photos by Mari Uchida
January-February, 2020
REALLY REALLY GORGEOUS
The Tank
Enter America's disgusting and sensational future--everything is underwater, but the TVs still work. In a moldy shack, two women slosh through life together, each the other's only remaining companion, sharing dreams of stardom and power that will never, ever, ever come true. Except when they do. Directed by Miranda Haymon, Nick Mecikalski's Really Really Gorgeous traverses the dystopian, the outlandish, and the magical to arrive at the collision between love, celebrity... and the apocalypse.
Written by Nick Mecikalski
Directed by Miranda Haymon
Featuring Sophie Becker, Giselle LeBleu Gant, and Amber Jaunai
Set Designer: Crushed Red
Costume Designer: Alice Tavener
Lighting Designer: Taylor Lilly
Sound Designer: Chris Darbassie
Stage Management: Adam Munawar Rahman and Emma Hogan
Photos by Mari Uchida
[wave emoji]
June, 2019
Ars Nova's ANT Fest
A resilient speaker dies in a catastrophic tsunami over and over. This bracing and meditative epic turns the finality of death prismatic, and eventually choral. Cathartic redemption, on repeat.
Written by Nazareth Hassan
Directed by Miranda Haymon
Music by Nick Jaeckel
Featuring Stella Asa, Giselle LeBleu Gant, David Glover, Nazareth Hassan, Matthew James Sherrod, Oumou Traore
Set Designer: Jejomar Ysit
Costume Designer: Nathan Mullen
Lighting Designer: Zack Lobel
Photo by Zenzali Lael
April, 2019
LPAC's Rough Draft Festival
PROSPERITY!
June Miller has dreamt of stardom ever since her humble beginnings in an RV off Highway 41. When her Papa’s windfall from church bingo unexpectedly paves the way for June to audition for a dream role in New York City, her wildest dreams finally feel within reach. PROSPERITY! chases a daddy-daughter duo on a cross-country road trip as they navigate a decoupaged landscape of unraveling opportunity. This Brechtian drag epic throws us head first into the psychological realities of our American dreams.
Written by Sam Max
Created by Sam Max and Jake Sellers
Music by Sam Max and Avery Leigh Draut
Directed by Miranda Haymon
Featuring Lilli Hokama, Jax Jackson, Daniel Maseda, Jake Sellers, Ry Szelong
Photo by Erica Snyder
BETWEEN THE THREADS
Photos by Emily Hewitt
January-February, 2019
HERE
Between the Threads (Jewish Women Project) is a devised theatre piece about Jewish women in America exploring their relationship to their Judaism. What does it mean to be part of a tiny minority with a disproportionate representation in the national consciousness? How does our identity as Jews intersect with our identities as women? How important is our Judaism to our lives now? What is our responsibility as a historically oppressed people in the face of blatant injustice in our own country, and injustice done in our name in another?
Conceived and Directed by Coral Cohen
Original Music by Zoë Aqua
Performed and Co-created by: Zoë Aqua, Hannah Goldman, Lea Kalisch, Luisa Muhr, Daniella Seidl, Laura Lassy Townsend
Dramaturg & Script Supervisor: Tatiana Baccari
Associate Producers: Kimberly Dillon & Lucy Powis
Set Designer: Lauren Barber
Costume Designer: Johanna Pan
Lighting Designer: Elizabeth M. Stewart
Stage Management: Kailie White and Haley Dunlavey
2015-2017
THEN THEY FIGHT
Then They Fight was co-founded in 2015 by Aaron Jan, Jordan Laffrenier, Lucy Powis, and Luke Reece as a theatre company to support the work of underproduced, underestimated, and unexpected theatre artists in Canada. In aiming to bridge the gap between artistic disciplines and form relationships between early- and late-career artists, the company produced large-scale multidisciplinary work, including two iterations of The 10/10/10 Project.
In The 10/10/10 Project, 10 writers, 10, composers, and 10 choreographers (as well as filmmakers and visual artists, in the 2nd iteration) worked together to create a piece without ever speaking to each other. As dramaturg/co-creator/producer, Lucy drafted contracts for each artist, and was the central point of contact for them throughout the creation process.
Additionally, Lucy co-created and curated Then Speak with Dorcas Chiu, Aaron Jan, Jordan Laffrenier, and Margarita Valderrama. Then Speak was a series of multidisciplinary workshops in honour of Canada's 150th birthday that were meant to speak to what community means to citizens and residents of Canada.
playGROUND
2014-2015
Logo by Kathy Siu
Lucy was co-Artistic Director of York University's 23rd annual playGround Festival, a week-long festival featuring 16 new works.
Alongside her co-AD, Bessie Cheng, Lucy created a new mission for the festival devoted to development and process instead of finished products. A new playwriting group was formed, whose members read their work as part of the festival. The intermezzos, short pieces in between longer ones upon each night, were rethought in order to provide more thematic structure. Peer showings and audience feedback were also added components.
Additionally, Lucy and Bessie were in charge of planning and executing the marketing and tech schedules for the festival, curating it, and planning the opening night party.