Written by The Kilbanes Directed by Tamilla Woodard Choreographed by nicHi douglas
Sisterhood. Love. Vengeance. Flight. Inspired by a tale from Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Weightless tells the story of two deeply devoted sisters, Procne and Philomela. Separated by circumstance, they must travel across worlds—facing devastating sacrifice and divine intervention—in order to reunite.
The Kilbanes’ Weightless is a theatrical concept album driven by a deeply moving narrative, which weaves ancient myth with indie rock. The band and the cast are one and the same, blurring the line between actors and musicians, as well as between musical theaterand rock concert.
Weightless will play a limited engagement from September 17 – October 16, 2022 at WP Theater with support from piece by piece productions.
“Weightless is “a sister-power rock concert, with indie-optimist effervescence and MUSIC THAT SOARS.” – The New Yorker
“ONE OF THE BEST NEW MUSICALS IN RECENT MEMORY! A thumpingly melodic score, with hooks that will be STUCK IN YOUR HEAD FOR DAYS.” – The Wrap
“IRRESISTIBLE MUSIC – better than Hadestown – that will keep your head bobbing throughout. The riff battles are THE STUFF OF LEGEND.” – Theatermania
The world premiere of Weightless was developed and produced by Z Space (Lisa Steindler, Executive Artistic Director) and piece by piece productions in March 2018 at Z Space in San Francisco. In 2019, it played at A.C.T. in San Francisco, and BRIC House in Brooklyn as part of the Public Theater’s Under the Radar festival.
Following the piece’s extensive further development with director Tamilla Woodard, including at TheaterSquared as part of the Arkansas New Play Festival, WP Theater filmed the show at CalShakes, a spectacular outdoor amphitheater in the Bay Area, and streamed it online May-June of 2021. The Weightless Album can be heard on Spotify and other streaming services.
“Weightless has a well-crafted form, and its spoken dialogue melds beautifully with the propulsive score. Weightless is an accomplished work, and an entertaining one.” – The New York Times
“The Kilbanes could fly endlessly into space on a single, hypnotically executed chord…To watch this show is to be reanimated with a childlike sense that our choices have magical origins and magical ripple effects.” – San Francisco Chronicle
KATE KILBANE (Author/Procne/Bass, She/Her) & DAN MOSES (Author/Keyboard, He/Him). The Kilbanes are a theatrical rock band led by married songwriting duo Kate Kilbane and Dan Moses. Their rock musical Weightless ran at ACT after productions at the Public Theatre’s Under the Radar Festival and Z Space in San Francisco. Weightless received the highest rating from the SF Chronicle as well as a Bay Area Critics Circle Awards nomination for Best New Music. Their piece, Eddie the Marvelous, Who Will Save the World, was selected for the O’Neill National Music Conference in 2018. Eddie got its start at Berkeley Rep’s Ground Floor and was featured at Theatreworks’ New Works Festival. The Kilbanes collaborated with SF Shakespeare Festival on a musical version of As You Like It that played throughout the Bay Area. They currently have commissions with Theatreworks Silicon Valley and ACT’s Youth Conservatory program and have collaborated on several pieces with nationallyrenowned playwright Lauren Gunderson.
TAMILLA WOODARD
(Director, She/Her) was recently named one of 50 Women to Watch on Broadway, she is the co-artistic director of Working Theater in New York; the founder of the site specific international partnership, PopUP Theatrics; and the associate director of Tony Award-winning Hadestown on Broadway. Prior to joining Working Theater, she served as the BOLD associate artistic director at WP Theater. She has directed at theaters nationally and internationally, including at WP Theater, Baltimore Center Stage, American Conservatory Theater, Classical Theater of Harlem, The Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts with TheaterWorksUSA, and The Cleveland Public Theatre, among others. Recent highlights include the world premiere of Donnetta Lavinia Gray’s award-winning Where We Stand at WP Theatre, Caryl Churchill’s Top Girls at A.C.T.’s Geary Theater, and the critically acclaimed immersive off-Broadway production of 3/Fifths, by James Scruggs. Currently, she is represented online with the visionary, interactive digital tour of American Dreams, which she directs and developed with Leila Buck. Her work has been recognized with an Off-Broadway Alliance Award and Lucille Lortel Nomination. She is a graduate of the Yale School of Drama, where she also teaches.
NICHI DOUGLAS
CHOREOGRAPHER (she/he/they/we). nicHi douglas is a Brooklyn-based performer, choreographer, director, playwright, educator and ART-IVIST who spells her name with a capital H. She is the Head of Movement in the NYU/Tisch Playwrights Horizons Theater School studio. She has developed original theater work at Denver Center, Berkeley Rep, and The Public Theater, among others. She recently developed an interactive dance exhibit for the National Museum of African-American Music, and Co-Directed an evening-length event for the Women’s Summit at this year’s all-virtual Sundance Film Festival (2021). Her sacred offering for Black womxn, (pray), co-composed by Starr Busby & JJJJJerome Ellis, has been commissioned by Ars Nova. nicHi’s reparations-based mutual aid fund, nicHi’s SuSu, launched in October 2020. nicHi is currently a Resident Artist in Ars Nova’s Vision Residency 20-21 and New Victory Theater’s LabWorks Residency 20-21. Recent stage credits: A Time Like This: Music for Change (Carnegie Hall, Stage Director), Girl From the North Country (Public Theater, Associate
Choreographer), where love lies fallow (Open Call/The Shed, The Public Theater,
Playwright/Choreographer/Director), SKiNFoLK: An American Show (NYT Critic’s Pick//The Bushwick Starr/National Black Theater, Choreographer). Upcoming: The Harriet Holland Social Club Presents the 84th Annual Star-Burst Cotillion in the Grand Ballroom of the Renaissance Hotel (The Movement Theatre Company/New Georges, Movement Director)BFA, Tisch/NYU; MFA, The New School www.mynameisnichi.com | @mynameisnichi
LILA BLUE
(Philomela, They/She) Off-Broadway credits include Anya in Cherry Orchard (Lake Lucille Chekov Project), Philomela in Weightless (Z Space), and Lila in Live From the Basement (New Conservatory Theatre Center). Television and film credits include her original music in the film Story of A Girl (Lifetime), as well as original music in the documentary Each and Every Day (MTV). She is currently pursuing a B.A. at Sarah Lawrence.
KOFY BROWN
(Iris/Percussion, She/Her). An Oakland, Calif. musician, singer and songwriter, she has been a pioneering force in the Bay Area’s hip-hop soul/rock scene. She’s played the prestigious North Sea Jazz Festival, toured with Iggy Pop, and played with Bootsy Collins, Maceo Parker, Macy Gray and others as well as placing music on MTV, OWN and other independent films. Her band, the KBB (Kofy Brown Band), have spread the gospel of Brown’s unique style of soul, rock, funk and more all-over North America, Canada and Europe while on tour. She is also the drummer/singer for Skip the Needle and bassist/singer for Sistas in the Pit. Her new release, Child of Providence, an homage to her great, great grandfather Providence Powers, is released on her indie label Simba Music. This is her 10th release – available on all electronic formats.
DAN HARRIS
(Percussion, He/Him) has been the drummer with the Kilbanes for over 10 years. He also plays with San Francisco rock band Society of Rockets. In the early and mid-2000s he produced hip hop with various rappers in St. Louis, and played drums with the St. Louis hip hop band Sac Lunch. When not drumming, he develops cutting-edge digital audio technologies for consumer electronics and professional audio companies. He received his Master of Science degree in Music Engineering Technology from the University of Miami Frost School of Music.
JOSH POLLOCK
(Tereus/Guitar, He/Him) is an actor, composer, and musician who’s performed throughout the world in about 4,000 bands and in collaborations with the likes of John Cale, Flea, Acid Mothers Temple, and Van Dyke Parks, amongst others. He was last seen on stage as Catesby in Cal Shakes’ The War Of The Roses, on television as Wolverine #2 in the series Trauma (NBC), and on film as Coughing Man in Steven Soderbergh’s Contagion. He can also be heard narrating the audiobook of I’m Your Man: The Life Of Leonard Cohen, by Sylvie Simmons. JoshPollockInc.com
PEIYI WONG
SCENIC DESIGNis a scenographer and interdisciplinary artist based in Brooklyn, NY. She designs sets, installations, and costumes for live performance and film. Select off-Broadway and downtown credits include set+costume design: The Trial of the Catonsville Nine (Transport Group), A Hunger Artist (Sinking Ship|The Tank), MukhAgni (The Public UTR), The Seventh Voyage and All the Different Ways…(Theater in Quarantine); set design: The Vicksburg Project (Mabou Mines), Songs About Trains (Radical Evolution|Working Theater), Look Out Sh!^head (Object Collection|La Mama), Memoirs of a…Unicorn (NYLA, 2018 Bessie Award Outstanding Design), Charleses (The Tank, Hewes nomination); costumedesign for Namour (ARRAY feature film, on Netflix). Upcoming: SPEECH (Lightning Rod Special). Faculty at Playwrights Horizons Theater School, NYU Tisch. MFA, CalArts. www.peiyiameliawong.com
DINA EL-AZIZ
COSTUME DESIGN (She/Her/Hers) Regional Theater: Selling Kabul (Seattle Rep); Unseen (OSF); When Monica Met Hillary, (Miami New Drama); This is Who I Am (OSF/Woolly Mammoth/The Guthrie/ART/PlayCo); 9 Parts of Desire (Portland Center Stage); King Lear (Northern Stage); Noura (The Guthrie); Noura (The Old Globe); Selling Kabul (Williamstown Theatre Festival). Off-Broadway: The Vagrant Trilogy (The Public Theater); Spindle Shuttle Needle (Clubbed Thumb); Heartland (Geva Theater/59E59); First Down (Noor Theater/59E59); Hindsight (Fault Line Theater); Eh Dah? Questions for My Father (Hypokrit Theatre); The Russian and The Jew (Anna and Kitty Inc/The Tank); Dead Are My People (Noor Theater). Other Theater: One Night, P*ssyC*ck Know Nothing, Marjana and the Forty Thieves Pay No Attention To The Girl, (Target Margin Theater); Design for Stage and Film M.F.A. – NYU Tisch School of the Arts. www.dinae.me
STACEY DEROSIER
LIGHTING DESIGNCredits: Fat Ham (Public Theater), sandblasted (Vineyard Theatre and WP Theater), This Beautiful Future (TheaterLab), The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe (The Shed), The Last of the Love Letters (Atlantic Theater Company), Stew (Page 73), for all the women who thought they were mad (Soho Rep), White Noise conceived by Daniel Fish (NYU Skirball), Playing Hot! (Pipeline Theater Company), Lewiston/Clarkston (Rattlestick Playwright’s Theater). 2018 Recipient of The Daryl Roth Creative Spirit Award.
JOANNA LYNNE STAUB
SOUND DESIGN (she/her) returns to WP Theater, having previously designed Hatef**k and the 2018 Pipeline Festival. She is a NYC-based Sound Designer and Audio Engineer with over 30 years of experience in Live Entertainment. Her Off-Broadway and Regional designs include work at Alliance Theatre, Asolo Rep, 5th Avenue Theatre Seattle, Goodman Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Public Theater, and Seattle REP. She has extensive credits associate designing and engineering Broadway Shows and National Touring Companies. TV credits include audio engineering the NBC-Live! Productions of The Sound of Music, Peter Pan, and The Wiz. Her work as a recording engineer was honored with a 2022 GRAMMY Nomination for Best Musical Theatre Album for Snapshots. She has lectured at Ithaca College, Princeton University, and University of Cincinnati. She holds degrees in music and audio engineering from Ithaca College and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Jlssound.com
JOHNNY MORENO
PROJECTION/VIDEO DESIGN is a production designer, film & video maker and educator working in Live Music, Theater, Film & Video. For over a decade he has toured internationally as a video director & designer with multi-Grammy Award winning singer Lila Downs. As a film / video maker & cinematographer, he directs and creates visual material across a variety of mediums. Projects include work for composer Hans Zimmer, Production Design on José Rivera’s short film The Fall of a Sparrow, Executive Producer on award winning short film Early Light. He provided camera work for designer Peter Nigrini on Broadway’s MJ the Musical, Dear Evan Hansen and MCC’s Space Dogs of the Cosmodrome. Theater Design: Fandango for Butterflies and coyotes (La Jolla Playhouse), For All the Women Who Thought They Were Mad; (Soho Rep), Addressless; (Rattlestick Theater), A Grave is Given Supper; (New Ohio Theater / Teatro Dallas), Definition; (Bushwick Starr) Art / Public Installations include: Sweet CrudeVideo Sculpture (Anna Kustera Gallery), As Above So Below (Dumbo Arts Festival) Upcoming: Public Obscenities; (Soho Rep). johnnymoreno.com IG/Twitter: @johnnymoreno
E. SARA BARNES
PRODUCTION STAGE MANAGER (she/her) NYC: Our Dear Dead Drug Lord (WP Theater), Broadway Bounty Hunter (Greenwich House Theater), Jersey Boys (New World Stages), Pacific Overtures (Classic Stage); Oh, Hello (Cherry Lane); Straight (Theatre Row); By the Water (Manhattan Theatre Club); Pageant (Davenport Theater); Bloodsong of Love (Ars Nova); The Sonic Life of a Giant Tortoise (Play Company); Three Men on a Horse, Bedroom Farce (The Actors Company Theatre); Twelfth Night (Sonnet Repertory Theatre). REGIONAL: May We All (TPAC), Other World (DTC), Broadway Bounty Hunter (Barrington Stage Company), Gypsy! (starring Karen Ziemba, Sharon Playhouse), I Promised Myself to Live Faster, Twelfth Night, Zero Cost House (Pig Iron Theatre Co.); Guys and Dolls, Saving Aimee, Memphis! Hello, Dolly! (5th Avenue Theatre)
