Abyss

Maria Milisavljevic (Playwright, Translator) an award-winning, theatre creator, dramaturg and translator. She is the International playwright-in-residence at Tarragon Theatre in Toronto.

Over the past sixteen years, Maria has worked with various theatres and companies across Germany, Canada, the U.S. and the UK. She is the artistic director of the TheaterTruppe which she founded in 2005. Through the TheaterTruppe she has directed, created and written a lot of her work. Maria’s work includes productions of classics, modern classics and her own plays Annas Fest (2008), hell/warm (2009) and Hero of the Day (2010).

Maria lived in Canada from 2011 to 2015, where she worked as a script reader, script coordinator and assistant director on productions like Hannah Moscovitch’s This is War (assistant director), Joan McLeod’s The Valley (assistant director and production dramaturg) and David Yee’s carried away on the crest of a wave (script coordinator), all at Tarragon Theatre.

Maria's play Brandung won the prestigious 2013 Kleist Promotional Award for Young Dramatists and opened at Deutsches Theater Berlin, where it played in repertory until 2015. Brandung (Engl. title Abyss) has since opened at Tarragon Theatre in Toronto, in New York, London, Vienna, and Mexico City. Abyss was nominated for the Dora Mavor Moore Award 2015 in the category 'Outstanding New Play'.

Maria's next play Beben won the German Playwright's Award ('Deutschsprachiger Autorenpreis') at the Heidelberger Stückemarkt 2016, the Else-Lasker-Schüler Award for Best New Play (Stückepreis) 2016, nominated for the Mülheimer Dramatikerpreis 2018, and was shortlisted for the 2016 Stückemarkt at the internationally renowned annual theatre festival Theatertreffen in Berlin. It played at several theatres in Germany, Toronto, and Brasil, and will see its Austrian premiere at the Burgtheater in Vienna in January 2019.

Maria's English work Peace River Country opened as part of Tarragon's 2016/17 Season. Her adaptation of the Enemy of the People (with Richard Rose) for Saint John Theatre Company, New Brunswick, went on an international tour to Theater Konstanz, Germany, in January 2017. Her most current work Auf ewig unser Gestern opened at Residenztheater Munich in July 2018.

Maria translates her works into English herself. She has further translated prominent plays like the Schaubühne Berlin’s version of the Enemy of the People, which was part of both Tarragon’s 2015/16 and 2016/17 season or – most recently – Susanna Fournier’s antigone lebt* (English title antigone lives*), as a commission by Residenztheater Munich.

Maria holds a doctoral degree in English. She is further the recipient of a three-year scholarship grant by the Bavarian Ministry for Sciences and the Arts. In 2009, she also received the John McGrath Scholarship in Theatre Studies of the Scottish Universities for Hero of the Day. From 2015 to 2016 she was a member of the playwrights unit "Infiziert!" at Schauspielhaus Wien. In 2018 and 2019 she was part of the international playwrights unit ‘World/ Stage’ at Residenztheater Munich.

Maria Mileaf (Director) is based in NYC where she has directed Vijay Tendulkar’s Sakharam Binder and Maria Milisavljevic’s Abyss for the Play Company; Sharon Washington’s Feeding the Dragon, Lee Blessings’ Body of Water and his Going to St. Ives at Primary Stages; Courtney Baron’s Here I Lie and Alan Zweibel’s Playing God @ 59E59; Alexandra Gersten-Vasillaros’ The Argument at The Vineyard; and Kira Obolensky’s Lobster Alice at Playwrights Horizons.

Nicole Balsam (Actor) Theater credits include the world premiere of Spirits of Exit Eleven at TheaterRow. Recent television credits include a guest star on Law and Order: SVU and the upcoming NBC drama Shades of Blue. Frat Star, Abnormal Attraction, and Central Park. She is a graduate of NYU's Tisch School of the Arts.

Flora Diaz (Actor) Credits Include: OFF-BROADWAY: Enfrascada (Clubbed Thumb), Flowers and Tooth And Claw (Ensemble Studio Theatre), Jailbait (Cherry Lane Theatre), War (Rattlestick Theatre) REGIONAL: So Go The Ghosts of Mexico (Sundance Theatre Lab), Donnie Darko (American Repertory Theater), Boleros For The Disenchanted (Huntington Theatre Company), How to Act Around Cops (SOHO Theatre, London). TV/FILM: "Elementary", "Law & Order" (classic, "Criminal Intent" and "SVU"),"Over/Under" (pilot), Rodger Dodger, You Were Never Here, and upcoming: The Eyes of My Mother. www.floradiaz.com

Carter Hudson (Actor) Off-Broadway: The Substance of Fire(Second Stage),Wyoming (Lesser America), The Boogeyman Thumbs A-1-A (NY Fringe/Glass Bandits), '68 (LAByrinth workshop). Regional: Unbuilt City (New York Stage and Film) The Chosen and The Whipping Man (Both at Portland Center Stage), Mai Dang Lao and DB (JAW West Festival), Honus and Me (Mountain Playhouse), Empire Comics Presents . . . (Strangemen & Co.), Upcoming Television: Crime (HBO), Codes of Conduct (HBO). Founding member of Glass Bandits Theater Company. Graduate of SUNY Purchase Acting Conservatory.

Neil Patel (Set Designer) Recent New York: Father Comes Hone from the Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3), Mr Burns (a post electric play), The Lion. Recent Opera: Norma (LA Opera). Recent Film: Loitering with Intent, Dil Dhadakne Do. neilpateldesign.com

Katherine Roth (Costume Designer) New York credits: Sore Throats at Theatre for a New Audience, The Sugar Syndrome at Williamstown, The Argument at the Vineyard Theatre, Sakharam Binder, M. Ibrahim and the Flowers of the Koran at the Play Company, Happy Days at Cherry Lane, Breath, Boom at Playwrights' Horizons, Trestle at Pope Lick Creek at New York Theater Workshop, Hard Feelings, The Chemistry of Change at the Women’s Project, Model Apartment at Primary Stages. Regional theatre: George Street Playhouse, Huntington Theatre, Intiman Theatre, Old Globe, Mark Taper Forum, California Shakespeare Festival, Dallas Theater Center, La Jolla Playhouse, Yale Rep, Center Stage, South Coast Rep, Magic Theatre. Film/TV: Exiles in New York, Associate Costume Designer, All My Children.

Matthew Richards (Lighting Designer) Play Company: Invasion!, Made in Poland. Broadway: Ann. Recent Off-Broadway: The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey (Westside Arts), Informed Consent (Primary Stages), Verite (Lincoln Center 3), Tamburlaine, and The killer (Theatre For A New Audience), Atlantic Theater Co., Brooklyn Academy of Music, MCC, Rattlestick, Playwrights horizons. Regional credits include: Actors Theater of Louisville, Arena Stage, Baltimore Center Stage, Cincinnati Playhouse, Cleveland Playhouse, Dallas Theater Center, Ford’s Theatre, The Goodman, The Guthrie, Hartford Stage, The Huntington, La Jolla Playhouse, Long Wharf, New York Stage and Film, The Old Globe, Shakespeare Theatre, Westport Playhouse.

Bart Fasbender (Sound Design) Recent/current designs: Slag Heap, Women on Fire and 2003 – 2005 Mentor Projects at Cherry Lane; Boozy at The Culture Project (previously at The Ohio); Reasons for Return at Symphony Space and Are We Here Yet at Tribeca PAC for MoCo; Barbara Bush Never Slept Here, Gheri Dosti and William Hoffman's Shoe Palace Murray at Bernie West Theatre for Circle East; Trust at The Kirk and Sakharam Binder at 59E59 for The Play Company; Legal Snarls, Mark Medoff's Same Life Over and Lakawana Rails Radio Plays for TNT in PA, Pen Pals, Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey's Woman of Independent Means and Joanna's Husband and David's Wife at PPT in VA.

Linda Bartholomai (Dramaturg) is a freelance producer, translator and dramaturg.  She has worked for many years with The Play Company in New York City, where she developed and produced new plays from all over the world, including the Obie-award winning Swedish play INVASION! by Jonas Hassen Khemiri.  Currently she is the Literary Consultant for PlayCo.  She is also an Adjunct Lecturer at Barnard College, where she teaches New York Theatre and Dramaturgy.  Linda is a 2008 recipient of the Doris Duke, Andrew W. Mellon and TCG New Generations, Future Leaders grant.  She has a MFA degree from the Yale School of Drama.

Marjorie Ann Wood (Production Stage Manager)Off Broadway: King Lear, Much Ado About Nothing, The Taming of the Shrew, Absolution National Tour: The Merchant of Venice Regional: Barrington Stage Company: An Enemy of the People (PSM), On The Town, Clybourne Park (PSM), Kiss Me, Kate!, Romance in Hard Times, Much Ado, See How They Run, Fiddler on the Roof, The Game, Guys and Dolls, Absurd Person Singular, Art, Sweeney Todd, Cygnet: Hedwig (PSM), Lambs Players: Boomers! Thanks to God, M&D, G&G, and the fam!