altitude

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ABOUT US

Founded in 2023 by autistic playwright and producer Anthony J. Piccione, the Neurodivergent New Play Series is 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.

Mr. Piccione is an award-winning writer, producer & teaching artist whose eclectic canon of plays have previously been presented in NYC and regional venues such as The Tank, the New York Theatre Festival, Planet Connections Theatre Festivity, Midtown International Theatre Festival, Manhattan Repertory Theatre, and more. His debut full-length play A Therapy Session with Myself premiered in January 2019 at the Hudson Guild Theatre before transferring in May to the Kraine Theater for an extended year-long run. Since then, his second full-length play One Empire, Under God made its live premiere at The Tank in November 2021 after previously premiering via Zoom earlier that year and is now published and available for licensing at Next Stage Press, while his next full-length play The Lone Wolf Society received a staged reading at The Tank in November 2022 and is slated to be published at Next Stage Press in 2024. Additionally, his short drama What I Left Behind was named the New York Theatre Festival’s Best Short Play of Winterfest 2018, and his short film The Fire That Won't Stop was named an official selection at the Venice Short Film Awards, the Paris International Short Festival, and the Hollywood International Golden Age Festival. He is also the Founding Artistic Director of the Talking It Out Virtual Arts Festival, which is dedicated to promoting mental health awareness through the arts and was nominated for Festival of the Year at the 2023 Young-Howze Theatre Awards, and currently serves on the Board of the Directors of the Autistic Theatremakers Alliance. He has previously worked as a scriptwriter-for-hire whose work has been commissioned by Sesame Workshop and various other clients, as well as a contributing writer to OnStage Blog from 2015 to 2019, and he has taught playwriting at EPIC Players and Broadway Weekends. Visit www.anthonyjpiccione.com to learn more.

The Neurodivergent New Play Series is a curated producted of spit&vigor. Founded in 2015, spit&vigor is a non-profit theater company devoted to the development of new plays and spirited, innovative productions of existing work. Their small roster of productions has been award winning and critically acclaimed, praised as “darkly humorous, deliciously ghoulish”, “wrenching and visually eloquent”, "irresistibly dramatic" and "legitimately upsetting" by the New York Times. In collaboration with theater company Theatre4thePeople, spit&vigor was the recipient of the 2015 New York Innovative Theater Outstanding Premiere Production of a Play Award for their very first production in a historic chapel at The West Park Presbyterian Church, which included an Artist Support Grant from the Donn Russell Fund. spit&vigor has since gone on to earn The Players Theater Off-Broadway Artistic Residency, The Center at West Park’s Artist Residency, IRT's 3B Residency, The Davenport space grant, and The Times Center space grant.

If you would like to make a donation to directly offset production costs for the Neurodivergent New Play Series, please visit https://ko-fi.com/neurodivergentplays

Cast

Meet the Company

Daniel Prillaman

Playwright

Daniel (he/they) is a neurodivergent writer/actor/ginger Virginian currently based out of Northern Ohio. He has a special fondness for absurdism, folklore, and horror, but ultimately loves plays about honest people (or talking animals) in situations he hasn't seen before. When not gleefully giving their "soul" to artistic endeavors and projects, they legitimately enjoy long walks on the beach, a video game with a glass of wine, and biscuits. His plays include A PIRATE CAROL, THE ASHEN CROWN, and YOU SEE THEM IN THE CORNERS OF YOUR EYES, which have been produced in camp workshops and schools across the United States. Their cosmic horror, In the Slush, was a Finalist for the 2023 Princess Grace Award and is published with Ghost Light Publications. Daniel is an alumnus of the University of Virginia and a member of the Dramatists Guild.

Annika Beth

Director

Annika Beth (they/them) is a New York based singer/director/producer. They could not be more excited to make their play-directing debut, and especially so to be making it alongside the Neurodivergent New Play Series. Annika founded That Nameless Theatre Company in January 2023, a theatre company producing cabarets and new works of theatre all across NYC. Some past productions: The Music of Jason Robert Brown, and Larson & Sheik, and Golden Oldies all performed at The Green Room 42 earlier this year. Some favorite credits include Aphrodite (To The Fairest: A New Musical), Heather Chandler (Heathers), Judy Turner (A Chorus Line). "Altitude" is a hilarious and thought provoking new play diving into the concept of control we humans seem to have over our lives, aka, the complete lack of it. Relax, pack a bowl, feel free to dance at any point or simply remain in your seat, and enjoy the show! Instagram/Tiktok: @annika_beth21 See annikabeth.com for more.

Our next scheduled reading at spit&vigor's tiny baby blackbox theater:

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