Lascivious Something

May 2 – June 6, 2010

By Sheila Callaghan
Directed by Daniella Topol


By Sheila Callaghan
Directed by Daniella Topol
By Sheila Callaghan
Directed by Daniella Topol
By Sheila Callaghan
Directed by Daniella Topol

An American and his young Greek bride escape to an island and plant a small vineyard. Their harvest ripens, and a fractious American woman arrives uninvited to stir up passions at their first tasting.

“Definitely worth spending an undeniably tense evening with, right through an unexpected twist at the end.” – Associated Press

“Blown Away…Honest, captivating from beginning to end.  I can’t recommend it enough” – WCBS Radio 880

“It’s a rich, complicated, thought-provoking piece of writing given a strong production by the Women’s Project, one that I’m still thinking about.” – NYTheatre.com

By Sheila Callaghan
Directed by Daniella Topol
By Sheila Callaghan
Directed by Daniella Topol
By Sheila Callaghan
Directed by Daniella Topol

Sheila Callaghan

(Playwright) Sheila Callaghan’s plays have been produced and developed with Soho Rep, Playwright’s Horizons, South Coast Repertory, Clubbed Thumb, The LARK, Actor’s Theatre of Louisville, New Georges, Woolly Mammoth, and Rattlestick Playwright’s Theatre, among others. Sheila is the recipient of the Princess Grace Award for emerging artists, a Jerome Fellowship from the Playwright’s Center in Minneapolis, a MacDowell Residency, a 2005 Cherry Lane Mentorship Fellowship, the Susan Smith Blackburn Award, and the prestigious Whiting Award. She has received grants from NYFA, NYSCA, and the MAP Foundation. Her plays have been produced internationally in New Zealand, Norway, Germany, and the Czech Republic. She has been commissioned by Playwright’s Horizons, South Coast Repertory, The Playwright’s Foundation, Clubbed Thumb, and EST/Sloan. Her full-length plays include Scab, Crawl, Fade to White, Crumble (Lay Me Down, Justin Timberlake), We Are Not These Hands, Dead City, Kate Crackernuts, That Pretty Pretty; or The Rape Play, and Fever/Dream. Several of her plays are published by Playscripts.com and Samuel French, and her monologues can be found in various anthologies. She has taught playwriting at Columbia University, The University of Rochester, The College of New Jersey, and Florida State University, and she is currently on the faculty at Spalding University’s MFA program in creative writing. Sheila is a resident artist at HERE Arts Center and a member of the Obie winning playwright’s organization 13P. Sheila is also a resident of New Dramatists. Currently, Sheila is a writer on the Showtime series The United States of Tara.

Daniella Topol

(Director) NY credits include: Trista Baldwin’s Sand (Women’s Project), Sheila Callaghan’s Dead City (New Georges), Judith Thompson’s Palace of the End (Epic Theatre), Susan Yankowitz’s Night Sky (Baruch Performing Arts Center/Power Productions), Nicki Bloom’s Tender (Summer Play Festival), Leslie Ayvazian’s Carol and Jill (Ensemble Studio Theatre), Jakob Holder’s Housebreaking (Cherry Lane Mentor Project), Zakiyyah Alexander’s Sick? (Summer Play Festival), Peter Gil-Sheridan’s Topsy Turvy Mouse (Cherry Lane Mentor Project), and Stanton Wood’s Snow Queen (Urban Stages).  She has directed readings and workshops for a number of NY companies including the Lark, New York Theatre Workshop, New Dramatists, NYU’s Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program, Playwrights Horizons, Primary Stages, the Public, and the Roundabout.  Regionally, she has most recently directed productions of Caridad Svich’s Instructions for Breathing (Passage Theatre, NJ), Kim Oler, Alison Hubbard, and Sean Hartley’s world premiere musical of Little Women (Village Theatre, WA) and Trista Baldwin’s Forgetting (Playwrights Center/Workhaus Collective, MN) and has directed workshops of musicals at Goodspeed Musicals and Barrington Stage in conjunction with NYU’s Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program. A graduate of Carnegie Mellon’s directing program, Daniella has been the Artistic Program Director at the Lark Play Development Center, the New Works Program Director at the National Alliance for Musical Theatre, and the Associate Producing Director of City Theatre.  She is a member of the board of the Lark Play Development Center and the National Alliance for Musical Theatre and has been a grants review panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts, NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, NY State Council on the Arts and TCG.  She is currently working as a resident artist at HERE developing a new multi-media piece on floods with Sheila Callaghan, Katie Down, Leah Gelpe, Mimi Lien, and Tyler Micoleau.  Upcoming productions include: Stretch (People’s Light and Theatre Company), Sarita (Fordham University), and a workshop of Rosa (Richard Rodgers Award Winner – presentations at the Public Theatre and Queens Theatre in the Park).

Rob Campbell

(August) Rob Campbell has premiered roles on Broadway and off for Caryl Churchill (Mad Forest), David Hare (Ivanov), Brian Friel (Translations), Suzan-Lori Parks (In the Blood and 365 Plays), Craig Lucas (The Singing Forest and  Small Tragedy – Obie Award), Steve Martin (Wasp), Theresa Rebeck (Our House), George F. Walker (Tough!), Emily Mann (Cherry Orchard), Tom Babe (Downed American), Jez Butterworth (Mojo), Martin Crimp (The Treatment), David Eldridge (Under the Blue Sky), Chuck Mee (Snow in June), Robert Farquhar (Bad Jazz), David Greenspan and Stephin Merritt (Orphan of Zhao) and the Christopher Walken (Him). Twelve seasons with the O’Neill Playwrights Conference. Romeo (Yale Rep), Hamlet (McCarter Theatre), Vershinin (Lake Lucille). Film and TV: Unforgiven, The Crucible, Boys Don’t Cry, Hedwig & the Angry Inch, Ethan Frome, The Stars Fell On  Henrietta, Hostile Waters, Liberty, Snow Days, Normandie, Lone Justice, The Photographer, City of Ghosts, Rabbit Hole, “Damages.” “Criminal Intent,” “Sex & the City,” “Law & Order,” “Hope & Faith,” “NY Undercover,” “Brotherhood,” “Law & Order SVU.” BA: Wesleyan.  MFA: Yale Drama.

Dana Eskelson

(Liza) — Favorite roles include Marya Grekovna in Platonov, Varya in The Cherry Orchard, Masha in Three Sisters, and Masha in The Seagull with The Chekhov Retreat directed by Brian Mertes and Melissa Kievman. Other favorites with The Atlantic Theater, The Vineyard Theater, Steppenwolf Theater, A.R.T. and New Crime Theater in Chicago. Film/television roles including: “Peter and Vandy”, “The Brave One”, “Cold Creek Manor”, “One Last Thing”, recurring roles on “Brotherhood”, “Prince Street” and “New York Undercover”; and guest roles on “The Unusuals”, The Law and Order Triad, and “100 Centre Street”, among others. Upcoming films: “The Company Men”/ official premiere at Sundance 2010, and “Three Backyards”/ Sundance 2010 Grand Jury Prize Nominee and Directing Award winner for Eric Mendelsohn.

Ronete Levenson

(Boy) — NY : Our Town (Barrow Street Theater); What Once We Felt(LCT) dir. Ken Rus Schmoll; Origin Story (The Public) dir. Hal Brooks; Stunning (NY Theater Workshop ); Regional:  Argonautika dir. Mary Zimmerman (Berkelely Rep, Shakespeare Theater of DC, McCarter); TV / Film: Law & Order, Law & Order: SVU, Guiding Light , Possible Side Effects (pilot) dir. Tim Robbins (Showtime) and Taking Woodstock dir. Ang Lee.

Elisabeth Waterston

(Daphne) most recently appeared as Isabella in Theatre for a New Audience’s production of Measure for Measure (dir. Arin Arbus). Other New York: The Tempest (CSC), The Young Left (Cherry Lane), Father Joy (SPF), Much Ado About Nothing (NYSF), Spring Awakening (Prospect Theater Co.), The Beach Plays (HB Playwrights), Talk to me Like the Rain, The Vortex. Regional: Othello (TFANA/Intiman), Uncle Vanya (Long Wharf),
Lady with a Lapdog (A.R.T.), Tonight at 8:30 (Williamstown). TV & Film: “The Practice”, “Law & Order”, “The District”, Good Dick, The Sensation
of Sight
, The Prince and Me.

Alaine Alldaffer

(Casting Director) Alaine Alldaffer is the Casting Director for Playwrights Horizons and The Huntington Theater in Boston. Theater credits include Deadman’s Cellphone with Mary Louis Parker (PWH), Grey Gardens (PWH and Broadway), Walmartopia the musical, Knights of Prosperity (ABC), ED (NBC). Currently in the works is This with Parker Posey at Playwrights Horizons.   She credits Lisa Donadio as co-casting director for Lascivious Something.

Marsha Ginsberg

(Scenery) Marsha Ginsberg works in the interdisciplinary overlap between scenic design for theater and opera, installation art and photography. She studied Theater Design at NYU Tisch School of Arts, and Visual Arts at the Whitney Museum Independent Study Program and Cooper Union, School of Art. Her work for the stage has consistently forged new directions in considering stage space, as well as innovating approaches to re/viewing canonical works or visualizing new texts. Notable work in opera includes collaborations with directors Roy Rallo: Don Pasquale (Nationaltheater Weimar, Germany); La Finta Giardiniera (San Francisco Opera Center); Bluebeard’s Castle and Elektra (Long Beach Opera); and with Christopher Alden: Die Entfuhrung Aus Dem Serail (Theater Basel, Switzerland);  Imeneo (Glimmerglass Opera/NYC Opera); Carmen (Nationaltheater Manheim, Germany); In Mahler’s Shadow, EOS Orchestra, La Serva Padrone, Pauvre Matelot, Rita (San Francisco Opera Center). Recent world premieres: the theatrical installation, Bleakhouse in collaboration with Heiko Kalmbach, for Crash! Boom! BAU! Festival commemorating 90th year of the Bauhaus, Theaterhaus, Jena, Germany;  The Obie award winning Telephone by Ariane Reines, dir. Ken Rus Schmoll, Foundry Theater at Cherry Lane, NYC; Kafeneion dir.  Dimitri Kourtakis, Athens/Epidaurus Festival, Greece;  Knock-Out by Katharina Schmitt (based on Gerhard Richter painting cycle, “October 18, 1977”) dir. Heiko Kalmbach at Theaterhaus Jena, Thalia Theater, Hamburg.  Recent solo and group exhibitions:  Pavlov’s Lab and Other Rooms, solo exhibit at Magnus Muller Gallery, Berlin, displaying photos, a stage construction and performance series; Design Life Now, National Design Triennial, Cooper Hewitt Museum, ICA Boston and Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, TX.  She teaches scenic design to architects at The School of Constructed Environments, Parsons School of Design, and is currently teaching in Masterstudiengang Buehnenbild, TU, Berlin, Germany. She has held assistant professorships at Swarthmore College, Wesleyan College and UCLA, Department of Theater, Film and TV.

Christopher Akerlind

(Lighting) Broadway: Superior Donuts, Top Girls, 110 In The Shade (Tony nom.), Well, Awake and Sing!  (Tony nom.), Rabbit Hole, A Touch of the Poet, In My Life, The Light In The Piazza (Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics awards), The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife, Seven Guitars (Tony nom.), The Piano Lesson among others. Recent: KDO! (Foret Nationale, Brussels), Kafeneion (Athens Festival); Garden Of Earthly Delights (Minetta Lane); Orpheus X (TFANA); Kaos (NYTW). Awards: Obie, Michael Merritt Award, etc.

Theresa Squire

(Costumes) Theresa Squire has been designing costumes in New York for over 10 years. Although she designs mainly for theatre, her work has also been seen in dance, film, print, industrials and commercials. Her costumes were seen on Broadway in High Fidelity and The Lieutenant of Inishmore. She is the resident costume designer for the Drama Desk Award winning Keen Company (Carl Forsman). She has designed for Soho Rep, (Blasted directed by Sarah Benson), The Atlantic Theatre Company (The Lietutent of Inishmore directed by Wilson Milam, The Cherry Orchard, directed by Scott Zigler and The Ionesco’s directed by Carl Forsman), Barrow Street Theatre (Orson’s Shadow directed by David Cromer and Two Men Talking directed by Dan Milne), The New Group (Rafta Rafta, Directed by Scott Elliot, Sin, A Cardinal Deposed, Everything’s Turning into Beautiful, both directed by Carl Forsman and Accomplices directed by Ian Morgan), The Flying Machine/Soho Rep (Frankenstein, Signals of Distress, Utopians all directed by Joshua Carlbach) The Hourglass Group (Trouble in Paradise directed by Elyse Singer, Beebo Brinker Chronicles directed by Leigh Silverman), Merrimack Repertory Theatre (The Fantastiks! Directed by Jonathan Silverstein, Dinah Was directed by Charles Towers and The Breadwinner), Chautauqua Theatre Company (Ah Wilderness directed by Lisa Rothe), New World Stages (Elvis People directed by Henry Wishcamper), Long Wharf (The Good Theif directed by Carl Forsman), Dorset Theatre Festival, (Dulcy, Sleuth directed by Jess Berger) Virginia Opera Company (The Pirates of Penzance directed by Worth Gardner), 2nd Ave Theatre (Hydriotaphia directed by Michael Wilson), Writer’s Theatre of Chicago (Crime and Punishment directed by Michael Halberstam), 2nd Stage (Peter and Jerry directed by Pam MacKinnon). She just finished working on a full length dance piece Remember Me with Parson’s Dance and East Village Opera Company.

Broken Chord Collective

(Sound Design and Original Music) Broken Chord Collective composes and designs music and sound for theatre. The sound design and music for Lascivious Something was created by collective members Daniel Baker and Aaron Meicht.  Other credits include productions in New York at Atlantic Theater Company, Cherry Lane Theatre, Juilliard, Keen Company, La Mama E.T.C., Primary Stages, Manhattan Theatre Club, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, Second Stage Theatre, and Women’s Project.  Regional credits include productions at  Dallas Theater Center, Geva Theatre Center, Hartford Stage, The Huntington,  Long Wharf Theatre, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Shakespeare Theatre Company (Washington DC), Weston Playhouse, Westport Country Playhouse, Portland Center Stage, Passage Theatre Company and Yale Rep. www.brokenchordcollective.com.

Cherry Lane Theater

(Co-Producer) Cherry Lane Theater originally developed Sheila Callaghan’s Lascivious Something in our Obie-Award winning Mentor Project program, and we are thrilled and honored to be collaborating with the Women’s Project to present the play and these artists’ work to New York audiences. A landmark in Greenwich Village’s cultural landscape, Cherry Lane Theatre serves as a vital lab for the development of new American works and the cultivation of a diverse, multigenerational audience.  Our primary focus is the playwright as central to the dramatic event and the text as intrinsic to theatrical innovation and excellence.  As New York City’s longest continuously running Off-Broadway theatre, Cherry Lane has helped to define American drama, fostering theatre that is daring and relevant for 85 years.  Since 1997, our resident company produces under the leadership of Founding Artistic Director Angelina Fiordellisi and Managing Director James King.  Mainstage productions include our Discovery Series, new plays developed within our award-winning programs and our Heritage Series which features groundbreaking off-broadway classics presented at Cherry Lane since 1924.  Our 60-seat Studio Theatre, built in 1998, has been the incubator for hundreds of new plays where CLT Company and guests have developed and produced the work of emerging playwrights.  Our newest space, the 90-seat Cherry Pit, located at 155 bank street, is home to Solo Fest at the Pit, NY Fringe Festival, late-night, alternative and avant-garde programming, as well as a home for Naked Angels and other not-for-profit companies.  Join the Cherry Lane community: support playwriting and the future of American drama.  To sponsor playwrights and productions, please call 212-989-2020 extension 26.  To view our entire production history, visit our website, www.cherrylanetheatre.org.

  • Lascivious Something Interview with playwright Sheila Callaghan and director Daniella Topol

  • Rob Campbell Dana Eskelson in LASCIVIOUS SOMETHING.

  • Elisabeth Waterston, Dana Eskelson and Rob Campbell in LASCIVIOUS SOMETHING

  • Rob Campbell, Elisabeth Waterston and Dana Eskelson in LASCIVIOUS SOMETHING

  • Rob Campbell and Dana Eskelson in LASCIVIOUS SOMETHING

  • Dana Eskelson, Rob Campbell and Elisabeth Waterston in LASCIVIOUS SOMETHING

  • Elisabeth Waterston and Ronete Levenson in LASCIVIOUS SOMETHING