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An Institution

 
 

Written by

Dan Takacs

 
Directed by
Jaye Hunt
   
   
Starring  

Arcadia Squires

Pandora  

Keyana Hemphill

Tamara  

Keara Benton*

Cassie
Kristen Gabrielle  Cleta
Guy Ventoliere* Oz
Bruce Ross* Doc

Jen Taher*

Alma
E.B. Hinnant Stage Directions

*Equity Member appearing with permission of Actors’ Equity Association without benefit of an Equity contract in this Off-Off Broadway production

 

 
Neurodivergent Plays Staff  
Founding Artistic Director Anthony J. Piccione  
Associate Artistic Director Jaye Hunt
Development Coordinator India Nykamp

 

Current Board of Directors

 

Anthony J. Piccione, Jaye Hunt, Ben Dworkin, Christine Mordente & Leigh Pomeranz

 

 

This reading is an Equity Approved Showcase

 

 
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ABOUT US

Founded in 2023 by autistic playwright and producer Anthony J. Piccione, Neurodivergent Plays - formerly known as the Neurodivergent New Play Series - is a non-profit organization dedicated to presenting matinee readings on the 3rd Sunday of every month - with seasonal breaks in December, January, July, and August - of plays written entirely by neurodivergent and disabled playwrights (i.e autism, ADHD, dyslexia, OCD, Tourette syndrome, etc.) as part of a growing resident company of playwrights whose interests and specialties span a wide range of subjects, genres & structural approaches, with each play personally selected from a neuroinclusive resident company of directors. Learn more by visiting www.neurodivergentplays.com and following @neurodivergentplays on Instagram.


Who's Who


Cast

Arcadia Squires

Pandora
Keyana Hemphill

Tamara
Keara Benton

Cassie
Kristen Gabrielle

Cleta
Guy Ventoliere

OZ
Bruce Ross

Doc
Jennifer Taher

Alma

Creative Team

Dan Takacs

Playwright
Jaye Hunt

Director

Meet the Company


Arcadia Squires (Pandora )

Arcadia is a Brooklyn based actor. She was recently seen in “Troop 3200” at Brooklyn Art Haus; some more recent work includes award winning short film “Permanent Scar” (dir. Ally Betker), her own filmmaking debut, “bellyweb”, and “Tarrytown” (dir. Tomas Samiego Evans).

ar.cadia
Keyana Hemphill (Tamara)

Keyana Hemphill (she/her) is a New York-based actor and stage manager. Most recently, she reprised her role in Sarah Galante's Body Negative, directed by Lauren Zeftel, and produced by Broadway Bods and BETHtrCo. BFA: NYU Tisch ‘17. Theatre credits include: Ensemble in 21st Century Princess (The Collapsible Hole, Jordan Baum); Gigi/Clown in Granted (Hunter College, Emmy Weissman); A Night of Chekhov (The Rat, Atomi Theatre Collective); Ensemble in 21st Century Princess (PAGEANT); Anna in I was unbecoming then (Ars Nova); Rae in Fettuccine (The Chain: One Act Festival, Queen-Tiye Akamefula); Ensemble in I Love You Jesus Christ (The Tank, John Anthony Loffredo); Ensemble / Self in Untitled 1-5 (The Shed, Nazareth Hassan); Florinda in Into the Woods (Off Brand Opera, Stephen Sondheim); Web: Too Far Web Series (YouTube, Julia Feinberg + Ashley Toth). 

keke4940
Keara Benton (Cassie)

Keara Benton (she/her) is an actor, singer, writer and theatre maker. (If you ask nicely and give her an iced coffee she’ll also produce, social media manage, and direct.) Recent credits: The Brian Wilson Space Experiment (Brooklyn Art Haus), As You Like It, King John, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Shakespeare on the Sound). TV/Film: “Mind Over Murder” (HBO), Goodbye Honey. Directing: A Christmas Carol (Shakespeare on the Sound, Upcoming: Dec '26), MaryLou (The Chain, Winter One Acts Festival '26). BFA: NYU Tisch. www.kearabenton.com 

kearabee
Kristen Gabrielle (Cleta)

KRISTEN GABRIELLE | CLETA

Kristen Gabrielle is a New York City–based actor who studied at Drew University and Yale School of Drama. Working across theatre and film, she believes the artistry lies not in yesterday’s performances, but in the moments we create now.

Drawn to complex, unapologetically human characters whose contradictions reveal deeper truths, Kristen brings that curiosity to her portrayal of Cleta in Dan Takács’ An Institution, exploring the uneasy intersection of power, loyalty and personal conviction.

kg.smith
Guy Ventoliere (OZ)

Guy Ventoliere is a New York–based Actors’ Equity performer, director, and theatre artist with more than three decades of experience on stage and screen. He has appeared in more than 120 theatrical productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway, regionally, and internationally, including over 37 productions of Shakespeare, as well as works by Chekhov, O’Neill, Odets, Tennessee Williams, Miller, and other major playwrights. He also played Ted O’Toole in the Disney series Cool Tool Adventures. His career has included directing, Equity stage management, virtually every aspect of technical theatre, arts administration, and theatre education, with professional work connected to Broadway, Lincoln Center, the Metropolitan Opera, and Saturday Night Live. Guy holds a specialized B.A. in Shakespearean Theatre as well as a master’s degree in Theatre, and has devoted much of his career to classical and American dramatic literature. - guyventoliere.com

Bruce Ross (Doc)

I was a member of the renowned RecklessTheatre Company, where I appeared in RAIN FROM HEAVEN and TIS PITY SHE’S A WHORE.  Other recent credits include Claudius in HAMLET at Theatre at Woodshill, and Dawid in SORROWS AND REJOICING at New Day Repertory.

 

My film credits include leading roles in the Lithuanian feature THE WRITER; THE LATENT (with Cooper Koch); FAMILY THERAPY (with Mark Margolis); BRING HIM BACK DEAD (with Daniel Baldwin); and the INNER GLOW OF THINGS, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival.  Television credits include the premiere season of Z ROCK (IFC) and playing Al Gore on SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE.

 

I was born and raised in Philadelphia and spent most of my college years in Wisconsin. I have travelled to over 30 countries and loved every experience. Bhutan is my next bucket-list destination.  Currently, I relish the time I spend at my 20-acre farm in upstate New York, which I share with my husband and dog.

www.bruceross.com
originalbruceross
Jennifer Taher (Alma)

Jenny Taher is a New York based actor, writer, & producer. Some places she’s performed include PS122, Brooklyn Academy of Music, HERE Arts, EST, American Rep Theater, Actors Theater of Louisville, and internationally at the Bonn Biennale, Dublin Int’l Theater Festival, Festival de Bobigny in Paris, and The Edinburgh Fringe (twice). Her short films have been shown at: The Atlanta Underground Film Fest, Mammoth Film Fest, The Manhattan Short (Bronze Winner), NY Int'l Short Film Fest,  Williamsburg Int'l Short Film Festival, The Ohio Indie/Theater Film Fest, Half-The-Sky Fest and Palm Springs. She recently completed acting work in three feature films: 'I think I'm Sick' by Danny Gevirtz, 'Recurring Gig' by Adam Hutchinson and 'TimeShares' by Evan Richter.

@jennysnapzpics
Dan Takacs (Playwright)

Dan Takacs is an award-winning, non-binary, neurodivergent, Jewish playwright, screenwriter, director, and public school drama teacher from Oberlin, Ohio. Their original plays have been seen at The Riant Theatre, Cleveland Public Theatre, Boston Playwright's Theatre, the Broadway Bound Theatre Festival, and the Rogue Theatre Festival, and they have directed in Cleveland, Chicago, Denver, and in Boston. They received their BA in Drama and English from Kenyon College, and earned their MFA in Theatre Education from Boston University, with a concentration in playwriting and directing. Dan won the Frank Moffett Mosier Fellowship for Works in Heightened Language for their play "The Piteous Life and Tragical Death of Steve the Intern," the Peter Honegger Prize and the Theatre Network of Texas Production of Original Plays Award for his play "An Institution," and a won the OANO Award for directing “Know Abuse.” Favorite directing projects include "The Millennials" (CPT), "The 39 Steps" (Chagrin Valley Little Theatre), and "The Adventurous Adventuress" (Dobama). Dan lives with their wife Linda, daughter Greta, and the twins, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Jaye Hunt (Director)

Jaye Hunt (they/them) is a multidisciplinary theater artist. Their recent directing work includes a production of The Brian Wilson Space Experiment by Jenna Rush at the Tank, a workshop of Strange Fish by Reid Pope with Parity Productions, a reading of Let Me Not Be Myself by M Sloth Levine with t4t fest, and short plays with Sapphest, Blank Page Theatre Company, Cry Havoc, and New York Shakespeare Exchange. Jaye is the Literary Manager of Parity Productions, a theatre company dedicated to producing the works of women, trans, gender-expansive, and intersex theatre artists. Jaye’s work examines and questions normativity. They work to create equity onstage and backstage. www.jayehunt.com

instgram.comhayejunt

Coming up next at Neurodivergent Plays:

 

 

Pieta

Written by Brynn N. Hambley

Directed by Ciara Berardi

November 15th, 2026 at 4pm

In a convent hospital in Venice, Italy, the best musicians in the region train under the tutelage of Antonio Vivaldi. Anna Maria, Sophie, Bettina, and Cattina were abandoned at birth, like all the residents, and trained to be world-class musicians. But they keep a secret from their adoring public--they are all disabled. Pieta is a story of identity, queerness, disability, friendship, and the lengths a woman might go to recover the agency that should’ve always been hers.

 

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