Creative Team
Written by Mathilde Dratwa
Mathilde Dratwa is a member of Dorset Theater Festival’s Women Artists Write initiative and of New York Foundation for the Arts’ Immigrant Artist Program, a former co-leader of the FilmShop collective and a two-time Pulitzer Center Grant recipient. Her theater credits include Milk and Gall (Great Plains Theater Conference, O’Neill National Playwrights Conference Semi-Finalist) and Escape from Garden Grove (Last Frontier Theater Conference, Maxim Mazumdar New Play Competition Finalist). She wrote and directed the narrative short films PETA PAN (starring Independent Spirit Award Nominee Nisreen Faour) and ESCAPE FROM GARDEN GROVE (Sundance Channel Shorts Contest Finalist), as well as the web series ALMOST ANONYMOUS (best original concept, NYC WebFest). A seasoned educator, Mathilde is a Master Teaching Artist for Roundabout Theatre Company, the New Victory, the Shakespeare Society and the School of The New York Times. She is the co-founder of Moms-in-Film (SXSW Community Grant, Wee Wagon Project, Free childcare at SXSW and Sundance). Mathilde holds a masters from Drama Centre London as well as a BA and MA from Cambridge University.
Directed by Jen Wineman
Jen Wineman is a Brooklyn-based director/choreographer. New York: Surfer Girl (Animus Theatre); My Heart is in the East (La Mama); Fable (NYMF), The King’s Whore (Walkerspace); F#%king Up Everything (Elektra Theater). Regionally, she has directed at Pittsburgh CLO, Asolo Rep, Playmakers Rep, Virginia Rep, Dorset Theatre Festival, and Tantrum Theater. Up next: Gianmarco Soresi’s new play Less Than 50% at 59E59. Jen recently completed her first film, You Look Amazing, by The Daily Show’s Colleen Werthmann. B.A. Vassar, M.F.A. Yale. www.jenwineman.com
Event Sponsor
Space for this event was sponsored in part by Sokoloff Arts
Synopsis
Raising a magnifying glass to the experience of being a new mother under Trump, Milk and Gall opens as Vera gives birth to a shape-shifting baby on election night. Over the course of one seemingly unending year, tensions mount between Vera and her second-wave feminist mother, she struggles to connect physically with her husband, and her friendship with her Syrian-American best friend Amira falters. A surreal and fragmented play mimicking the experience of sleep-deprived new parents, Milk and Gall explores the terror of the mundane: Vera is stuck in the world of diapers, breast pumps and padsicles while everyone else she knows is out marching.
Cast
Rutanya Alda (Barbara)
Rutanya Alda has been a distinguished actress in film, television, and theater for over 40 years, appearing in more than 100 films and TV shows. She is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. She began her career with two early films by Brian De Palma, Greetings and Hi, Mom!, in which she starred with Robert De Niro. Following these, she appeared in such films as Panic in Needle Park, Scarecrow, The Long Goodbye, Sam Peckinpah’s Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, George Romero’s The Dark Half, Last Exit to Brooklyn, Racing with the Moon, the Christmas perennial Prancer, and the Oscar-winning film The Deer Hunter. At present, Rutanya has the distinction of being cult icon in two categories: Amityville II: The Possession, in which she stars opposite Burt Young, and Mommie Dearest, about which she published her first book, the critically and reader-acclaimed The Mommie Dearest Diary. Rutanya has appeared in dozens of theater plays, recently including John Guare’s new play “More Stars Than There Are in Heaven.” She is presently writing a one woman show based on her childhood living in a displaced persons camp in Europe after World War II.
Julie Asriyan (Amira)
Julie is a multi-cultural actor/filmmaker/producer from NYC by way of many corners of the world. She is a graduate of William Esper Studio acting conservatory. Julie is a NYIT Awards nominee for Outstanding Actress in a Featured Role and 2017 Webby Award Honoree. Julie is the co-creator of Casting Call | The Project – a viral web video addressing women’s representation in film and TV– (IndieWire Women&Hollywood, Huff Post, NY Mag) dubbed “A Must-See Video” by RogerEbert.com. She currently stars in “Our City. Our Story.” commercial campaign for 9/11 Memorial & Museum – which draws focus on her life story as a refugee, an actor and a New Yorker. For More: julieasriyan.com
Brian D. Coats (Nurse)
Broadway: Jitney. Off-Broadway includes: The First Noel (CTH/ The Apollo), On the Levee (Lincoln Center), The Merry Wives of Windsor, Two Gentlemen of Verona (Public). Regional: The Royale (Cleveland Play House), The Nest (Denver Center Theatre), Seven Guitars, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (Two River Theater), Fences, A Raisin in the Sun (Geva Theater), Distant Fires (People’s Light and Theater), Invisible Man (Huntington/ Studio Theatre-DC), The Wedding Gift, pen/man/ship (Contemporary American Theatre Fest), Count (PlayMakers Rep). TV includes: “Law & Order,” “Law & Order: SVU,” “JAG,” “Blue Bloods,” “The Sopranos,” “Boardwalk Empire,” “Luke Cage,” and “The Blacklist.”
Carrie Heitman (Vera)
CARRIE HEITMAN is co-artistic director of Hook & Eye Theater. She has appeared Off-Broadway, regionally, the UK, Poland, Russia and Malaysia. NYC favorites include The Cherry Lane, The Pearl, The Women’s Project, DTW, The New Ohio, The Abingdon, Mark Morris Dance Center, and others. TV/Film: Lipstick Jungle, A Piece of Cake, The Patriot, Everything’s Gonna Be Pink (Roni Ezra, Oscar Nom), What About Us? (w/Jasmine Guy). MFA: UNC Chapel Hill; AEA; Master teaching artist for the Roundabout Theatre.
Irene Sofia Lucio (Alexa)
Broadway: Wit (MTC). Off Broadway: Orange Julius (Rattlestick Playwrights Theater), The Undertaking (BAM/Theatre de la Ville), King Liz (Second Stage Uptown), Love and Information (NYTW), We Play for the Gods (Women’s Project), Estrella Cruz the Junkyard Queen (Ars Nova). Regional Credits include: Bad Jews (Studio Theater DC- Helen Hayes Nomination), Pygmalion (Cal Shakes), Romeo and Juliet (Yale Rep), Master Builder (Yale Rep), Amadeus (Chautauqua Theater Co.), After the Revolution (Williamstown Theater Festival). Television: The Americans (FX), Madam Secretary (CBS), Gossip Girl (CW), Stranded in Paradise (Hallmark), Casi Casi (HBO Latino). She is Co-Creator, Producer, and Actor for BUTS Webseries:(www.butswebseries.com)
recently nominated for an Imagen Award. She is a graduate of the Yale School of Drama where she was the recipient of the Herschel Williams Prize, awarded to an acting student with outstanding ability. She is also a graduate of Princeton University. Ireneis a proud member of the Actor’s Center and a native of San Juan Puerto Rico.
Aaron Roman Weiner (Michael)
Broadway: Fool For Love. Recent Off-B’way: Bill Cain’s 9 Circles, Lone Star Spirits (Crowded Outlet), The Insurgents, Radiance, and Thinner Than Water (all with LAByrinth Theater Company), Two Thirds Home (Broken Watch). Recent regional: The world premiere of Rachel Bonds’ Swimmers (Marin Theater Company), Rounding Third (Hangar Theatre), A Steady Rain (TheaterWorks, Hartford), The Glass Menagerie (Steppenwolf Garage), Touch (Victory Gardens Theater, Chicago. Jeff Award nomination). Television: for five seasons, Agent Brooks on The Americans. Recurring roles on Crisis, and Made in Jersey. Other TV includes Taken, Chicago PD, The Following, Person of Interest. Films include The Post, Side Effects, Public Enemies. Proud member of LAByrinth Theater Company.
Jono Waldman
Guitar and Stage Directions
Jono Waldman is the founder of 5000 Jazz Assassins, an internationally touring jazz ensemble that plays pop songs from the 1920s, 30s, and 40s. As a composer, he has written original music for Spellbound’s Theatre’s The World Inside Me, the Teaching Artistry with Courtney J Bodie podcast, and even the New York City Department of Education. His Instagram is Jono Vs The House.