On New York’s Lower East Side, a mother works hard to keep the electricity flowing for her daughter’s respirator while a hurricane looms nearby. As she prepares for disaster, a vibrant host of characters brings new meaning to the phrase “it takes a village.”
Pike St.
Nov 24 - Dec 3, 2017
As she prepares for disaster, a vibrant host of characters brings new meaning to the phrase “it takes a village.”
Creator & Preformer
Nilaja Sun
Creator & Preformer
Nilaja Sun is an actor, playwright, and teaching artist. She recently performed an extended run of the critically acclaimed solo piece Pike St., which was commissioned and produced by Epic Theatre Ensemble and performed at the Abrons Arts Center. This year, a tour of the show started at the Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company in D.C. and has continued to theaters in Minneapolis; Edinburgh, Scotland; and Melbourne, Australia.
Nilaja’s Obie award-winning solo piece No Child… was directed by Hal Brooks and commissioned and produced by Epic Theatre Ensemble. For her creation and performance of No Child… and its subsequent national tour, Nilaja garnered 21 awards including: an Obie Award, a Lucille Lortel Award, two Outer Critics Circle Awards (including the John Gassner Playwriting Award for Outstanding New American Play), a Theatre World Award, the Helen Hayes Award, two NAACP Theatre Awards, and was awarded the soloNOVA Award for Artist of the Year by terraNOVA Collective. For Pike St., Nilaja was recently awarded the Edinburgh Award and Ivey Award.
TV/FILM: Madam Secretary, The Good Wife, BrainDead, 30 Rock, Law & Order: SVU, Unforgettable, Louie, The International, and Rubicon.
A native of the Lower East Side, she is a Princess Grace Award recipient and has worked proudly as a teaching artist in New York City for more than 15 years.
Meet The Creative Team
Ron Russel
director
Ron Russell has co-founded four theatres that still produce today: the nationally- acclaimed Summer Theatre Enrichment Project at El Centro in Lorain, OH (1992); Swine Palace Productions in Louisiana, while receiving his MFA-Directing from the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Barry Kyle (1992-1994); UBI Rep Theatre in San Diego (1995); and Epic Theatre Ensemble in 2001. With Epic, where he is Executive Director, he has directed 16 Off-Broadway productions, including world premieres of Kate Fodor’s Hannah and Martin and Vern, Thiessen’s Einstein’s Gift; Shakespeare’s Macbeth and Richard III: Born With Teeth. In other public performances for Epic, he co-adapted and directed a touring in-school Antigone (OBIE Award) and Ibsen’s Pillars of Society (International Ibsen Award, 2011), as well as touring productions of Keith Josef Adkins’ Sugar and Needles and Dominique Morisseau’s Mend. He has also designed sound for award-winning productions of Nilaja Sun’s No Child… (OBIE Award) and Judith Thompson’s Palace of the End. His teaching experience includes over 50 public schools, reaching over 18,000 youth, and his work as an educator in NYC has been recognized by citations from the Municipal Arts Society and Mayors Giuliani and Bloomberg.
Steve H. Broadnax III
Director
Regional and Tour— Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival: The Hip Hop Project, an award-winning, full-length original play directed, choreographed, and conceived by Steve.
Writing credits include — American Taboo, Smash/Hit, Hard To Say I Love You, Sex Love, And Everything In Between.
Directing credits include — Classical Theatre of Harlem, National Black Theatre, The Black Theatre Troupe, Arkansas Repertory Theatre, Moore Theatre, The Edinburgh Fringe Festival, National Arts Festival (South Africa).
Acting credits include — Arkansas Repertory: Dreamgirls; R.L. at the Crossroads; Pennsylvania Centre Stage; St. Louis Black Rep; St. Louis Repertory Theatre; St. Louis Muny; Lincoln Amphitheatre; Westport Playhouse; Ozark Actors Theatre.
Professional — Associate Professor of Theatre Head Graduate Acting at Penn State University.
Education — MFA in Acting from Penn State, BFA in Musical Theatre from Webster University in St. Louis.
Cletus Karamon
Lighting Designer
Cletus Karamon is back at home in the Detroit area after being gone for over 25 years. He spent 10 years on Broadway with such shows as: A Bengal Tiger and the Baghdad Zoo (with Robin Williams), Pee Wee Herman on Broadway, 33 Variations (with Jane Fonda), All My Sons (with John Lithgow and Katie Holmes), and Curtains (with David Hyde Pierce), to name a few. Cletus also spent 15 years on the road with 1st National Broadway tours such as Elaine Stritch: at Liberty, ART (with Judd Hirsh), Tallulah (with Kathleen Turner), Kiss Me Kate (with Rachel York and Rex Smith), Bring in Da’ Noise, Bring in Da’ Funk and Jelly’s Last Jam (with Maurice Hine), plus others. He was the lighting supervisor for Damn Yankees, starring Jerry Lewis, on the West End in London. Cletus also worked as the production manager for Miami’s Coconut Playhouses and Parker Playhouse for I Am My Own Wife and Southern Comforted (with Hal Holbrook and Dixie Carter).
Clint Ramos
Costume Designer
Clint Ramos is the recipient of the 2016 Tony Award for Best Costume Design of a Play. Notable set/costume designs include the Broadway productions of Eclipsed, The Elephant Man (also West End), and Violet (also with Sutton Foster). He has over 100 regional and international credits. Awards: Obie Award for Sustained Excellence in Design, three Lucille Lortel Awards, TDF Irene Sharaff Award, and two American Theater Wing Henry Hewes Awards. Upcoming: In Transit on Broadway, David Byrne’s new musical Joan of Arc: Into the Fire (Public), Kander and Pierce’s Kid Victory (Vineyard). www.clintramos.com
