Get to Know the Cast of QUEENS
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- SOFIYA AKILOVA
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- PAOLA LÁZARO
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- MARJAN NESHAT
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- AMANDA QUAID
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- ANNA REEDER
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- ANDREA SYGLOWSKI
SOFIYA AKILOVA (Stage Direction) is a tv, film, and theatre actor, and a writer. She emigrated from Uzbekistan to New York with her family in 1990. She attended LaGuardia High School for Performing Arts and completed her bachelor’s in English Literature at Queens College. Sofiya is also an alumna of NYU Grad Acting. Recently, she has performed in productions at Yale Rep and The Old Globe Theatre. She has also appeared in the following television shows: Madam Secretary, TURN: Washington’s Spies, Allegiance, and Alpha House. Sofiya is a recent and proud member of the 52nd Street Project.
PAOLA LÁZARO (Isabela/Glenys) is an actress and playwright born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico. She holds a B.F.A. in Dramatic Writing from SUNY Purchase College, M.F.A. in Playwriting from Columbia University. In 2015 she was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play in To the Bone at Cherry Lane Theatre. Lázaro was also in Martyna Majok’s John Who’s Here From Cambridge at EST. She received the Tow Foundation Playwright-in-Residence grant at the Atlantic Theater for 2016-2017 for her play Tell Hector I Miss Him, premiering next season at Atlantic. Her most recent play There’s Always the Hudson will have a reading at Labyrinth Theater in May as part of their Up Next Series. Paola was awarded the Arts Entertainment Scholarship Award from NHFA, a member of the Public Theater’s 2015 Emerging Writers Group and was selected Playwright-in-Residence for the Sundance Theater Lab in Morocco 2016.
MARJAN NESHAT (Aamani/Nasima) Recent theater credits include Irina in Three Sisters, Fallaci directed by Oskar Eustis, Scorched, Hermia in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Aiesha Ghazali in The Near East, Masha in The Seagull with Dianne Wiest. She just finished work on the film The Book of Henry with Naomi Watts and a recurring role on the ABC drama “Quantico.” Other film and TV credits include a starring role in the independent film Almost in Love with Alan Cumming, RoboCop, Sex in the City 2, Funny in Farsi (directed by Barry Sonnenfeld), “Person of Interest,” “Royal Pains,” “Blue Bloods,” “Black Box,” “Unforgettable,” “Fringe,” multiple Law and Orders. She is a member of The Actors Center in NYC.
AMANDA QUAID (Inna) New York: The (curious case of the) Watson Intelligence (Playwrights Horizons, world premiere by Madeleine George), Luck of the Irish (LCT3, Lortel nom), Cock (The Duke), A Public Reading…Walt Disney (Soho Rep, world premiere by Lucas Hnath), Pericles (Public, AEA St. Clair Bayfield Award), Equus (Broadway), The Illusion (Signature), Galileo (CSC), Happy Hour (Atlantic), The Witch of Edmonton (Red Bull), The Seagull (dir. Max Stafford-Clark), three plays at Irish Rep, most recently The Weir. Regional: Old Globe, Shakespeare Theatre, Barrington Stage Company, Folger, Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival. TV/film: “Blue Bloods,” “Law & Order: SVU,” Non-Stop. Faculty: HB Studio, The Freeman Studio. Quaid directed her first short film, English, in 2014, which premiered at Cannes Short Film Corner and will screen in May as part of the New York Women in Film and Television’s Immigrant Experiences Series. For more info, visit amandaquaid.com.
ANA REEDER (Renia) Broadway: Big Knife, Hedda Gabler, Top Girls, Sight Unseen; Off-Broadway: Radiance, The Maids, Happy Hour, Living Room in Africa, The Wooden Breeks, Small Tragedy (Obie), Humble Boy, An Experiment with an Air Pump,Time of the Cuckoo, Some Voices, Killers and Other Family, Maid, Macbeth, Henry VIII, Hedda Gabler (NYTW); London: The Distance from Here (Almeida Theatre) Williamstown: A Streetcar Named Desire. Film: No Country for Old Men, The Locksmith (original title: Homewrecker/ Best of Next/Sundance), Acts of Worship (Independent Spirit Award Nomination/Best Actress, Best Actress/Santa Barbara Film Festival), Marie and Bruce, One for the Money. TV: HBO’s You Don’t Know Jack, Damages, Law & Order, Blue Bloods. BA: Middlebury College, MFA: NYU.
ANDREA SYGLOWSKI (Pelagiya/Lera) recently appeared in the world premiere productions of The Nest by Theresa Rebeck (The Denver Center) and Of Good Stock by Melissa Ross (South Coast Rep). Her 2014 production of Venus in Fur at the Huntington Theatre garnered her the 2014 Elliott Norton Award for Best Actress in a Large Theatre, and an IRNE Award for Best Actress. She has participated in new play development workshops at The Roundabout, New York Theatre Workshop, Labyrinth Theatre Company, Bay Street Theatre, The Lark, Ars Nova, Jewish Plays Project, Ma-Yi Theatre Company, The New York Society Library, and BAM. Other credits include: Asking for Trouble (Ensemble Studio Theatre), The Walk Through (Slate Theatre Company), A Flea in her Ear, Bully to You, Schmoozy Togetherness, White Trash Anthem (Williamstown Theatre Festival), Three Sisters, Loves Labours Lost, Elijah, Carve (Chautauqua Theatre Company) Much Ado About Nothing, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Shakespeare at the Manor) TV: ‘The Good Wife,’ ‘How to Get Away with Murder,’ ‘Elementary.’ Film: Every New York City Party Happens in a Bathroom. Training: USC and The Juilliard School, class of 2013, where she was the proud recipient of the Robin Williams Scholarship.
FINAL WEEK OF THE PIPELINE FESTIVAL
WEEK 5: April 21 – April 23
QUEENS
The award-winning playwright Martyna Majok unveils her latest work for Pipeline Festival audiences.
By Martyna Majok
Directed by Tamilla Woodard
Produced by Rachel Karpf Reidy
Starring Sofiya Akilova, Paola Lázaro, Marjan Neshat, Amanda Quaid, Ana Reeder, Andrea Syglowski
Martyna Majok, author of WP’s recent hit IRONBOUND, continues her exploration of the people on the fringes of society through a fierce and funny new play about immigrant women seeking more than the American Dream. Don’t miss this chance to see this award-winning playwright’s newest work in its earliest stages! #QueensPlay
@WomensProject #PipelineFestival / #WPLab
(Producer) Rachel Karpf works with artists and cultural institutions to produce theater and live performance pieces that inspire, delight, and move audiences. Recent works include Todd Almond and Courtney Love’s Kansas City Choir Boy (ART/Beth Morrison Projects) and Jay Scheib and Keeril Makan’s Persona (M.I.T & National Sawdust/Beth Morrison Projects). As Associate Director of Page 73: Clare Barron’s You Got Older, directed by Anne Kauffman (2 OBIE Awards, 4 Drama Desk Award noms., Susan Smith Blackburn Prize finalist); George Brant’s Grounded, directed by Ken Rus Schmoll (Drama Desk Award nom.); Cori Thomas’ When January Feels Like Summer, directed by Daniella Topol (co-produced with EST). With the Institute for Psychogeographic Adventure, she has produced large-scale site-specific performance adventures including in the Brooklyn Museum (BEAT Festival), PRELUDE, Stony Brook University, and throughout the DUMBO neighborhood. For 13P: Lucy Thurber’s Monstrosity, Julia Jarcho’s American Treasure, and Madeline George’s The Zero Hour. Other projects at LCT3/Lincoln Center Theater, New York Theater Workshop, and the Commonweal Theatre. Creator of the lecture series Saloon; grant review panelist for NSYCA and others. BA: Dartmouth College. 
(Director) Tamilla Woodard is a theatre director working nationally and internationally. Currently, she is serving as the Artistic Director of The Five Boroughs/One City Project, a multi-year initiative of The Working Theater. The project supports the commissioning and development of 5 Playwright/Director teams working in collaborations and creating theatrical works in response to and inside of working class communities in all 5 boroughs. She is co-founder of PopUp Theatrics, a partnership creating site specific and immersive productions around the world. She is a Usual Suspect at New York Theatre Workshop, alumnus of The Lincoln Center Directors Lab and former Audrey Fellow at New Georges. She graduated from The Yale School of Drama’s Acting program and is the recipient of The Josephine Abady Award from The League of Professional Theatre Women and The Charles Bowden Award from New Dramatists. Her work has been presented and developed at the Working Theater, NYTW, New Georges, HERE, The Lark, The Actors Theatre of Louisville, PS122, DR 2, The Culture Project, Urban Stages, Dance Theatre Workshop, The Kitchen Theatre and for festivals and theater’s Internationally. Most recent work includes: A Midsummer Nights Dream, NY Times Critics Pick, Cherry Smoke by James McManus, and La Ruta by Ed Cardona Jr, for Working Theater, NYC (NY Times End of Year List of Notable productions). For PopUP: Broken City: Harlem, a site specific commission by The Harlem Arts Festival. Long Distance Affair, a Skype immersive performance with editions in Romania, Argentina, Mexico, Scotland and the US; INSIDE, a site specific production with editions in Bucharest and Madrid. Upcoming: The Block by Dan Hoyle, Working Theater and Broken City: Wall Street, PopUP Theatrics.
(Playwright) Martyna Majok was born in Bytom, Poland, and aged in Jersey and Chicago. Her plays have been performed and developed at Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Marin Theatre Company, Actors Theatre of Louisville, LAByrinth Theatre Company, Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre, Women’s Project Theater, Ensemble Studio Theatre, The John F. Kennedy Center, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Dorset Theatre Festival, New York Stage & Film, Yale Cabaret, The Playwright and Director Center of Moscow, Round House Theatre, Satori Group, Red Tape Theatre, and The LIDA Project, among others. Awards include the inaugural Women’s Invitational Prize at Ashland New Play Festival, The Kennedy Center’s Jean Kennedy Smith Award, Marin Theatre’s David Calicchio Emerging American Playwright Prize, New York Theatre Workshop’s 2050 Fellowship, Aurora Theatre’s Global Age Project Prize, National New Play Network’s Smith Prize for Political Playwriting, Jane Chambers Student Feminist Playwriting Prize, and The Merage Fellowship for the American Dream. Commissions from Geffen Playhouse, South Coast Rep, Manhattan Theatre Club, Marin Theatre Company, “The New Yorker” website, Ensemble Studio Theatre, and The Foundry Theatre. Publications by Dramatists Play Service, Samuel French, TCG, and Smith & Kraus. Residencies at SPACE on Ryder Farm, Fuller Road, Marble House Project, and Ragdale. BA: University of Chicago; MFA: Yale School of Drama. Martyna is currently part of the Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwright Program at The Juilliard School. She has taught playwriting at Williams College, Wesleyan University, SUNY Purchase, and as an assistant to Paula Vogel at Yale. Alumna of EST’s Youngblood. Member of Women’s Project Lab, The Dramatist Guild, and New York Theatre Workshop’s Usual Suspects. Martyna was the 2012-2013 NNPN playwright-in-residence. She is the 2015-2016 PoNY Fellow at the Lark Play Development Center.