Off-Broadway's NewYorkRep and The Telling Company Join Forces

NewYorkRep and The Telling Company have joined forces, now to be known as the "new" NewYorkRep. Under the leadership of Producing Artistic Director Markus Potter and Executive Director Gayle Damiano Waxenberg, NewYorkRep produces new plays and musicals that inspire and compel social change by telling stories that expose the travesty and beauty of our humanity. By illuminating social and ethical questions through art, NewYorkRep strives to create provocative theater that promotes empathy, compassion, and inclusion.

"I am extremely excited that NewYorkRep is joining forces with the amazing people at The Telling Company," says Potter. "Executive Director Gayle Waxenberg is an incredibly smart, passionate, and brilliant visionary. The idea to merge came about while we were collaborating on the London production of Stalking The Bogeyman, where she revealed herself as a true genius both as an artist and fearless leader."

"The Telling Company has been very personal to me," says Waxenberg. "Markus' contagious passion to give voice to people's stories by sharing human experiences and making a difference through art makes NewYorkRep the perfect new venture for me. His talent as an artist is magical, his integrity unmatched, and, as a partner Markus brings extraordinary intellect, creativity and vision to everything we do."

The newly merged NewYorkRep launches with three productions, one now playing off-Broadway, one to premiere at the upcoming New York Musical Festival, and another in development for 2018:

CHURCH & STATE

Now playing off-Broadway at New World Stages

Three days before his bid for re-election in North Carolina, a Republican U.S. senator makes an off-the-cuff comment to a blogger that calls into question the senator's belief in God. As his devoutly Christian wife and liberal Jewish campaign manager try to contain the damage, this look at how religion, guns, and social media influence our political system is simultaneously funny, honest, heartbreaking, and uplifting.

Directed by Producing Artistic Director, Markus Potter, Church & State was previously produced by The Skylight Theatre in L.A. (Nominated for 3 Ovation Awards), JCC CenterStage in Rochester, NY, and New Jersey Rep. Visit www.churchandstatetheplay.com.

A WALL APART

At the 2017 New York Musical Festival

A Wall Apart is a rock musical featuring original music by Graham Russell of Air Supply and a book by Sam Goldstein and Craig Clyde. Three brothers in East Berlin face another as the Berlin Wall divides their city. One an officer, another an artist and the third caught in the middle, these brothers experience the building of the wall, each from a personal perspective. As the brothers strive to find their way together, three generations of family ties, brotherhood, love, marriage and parenthood are tested. What is the price of liberty? Will the wall divide or unite this family?

A Wall Apart is an official selection of the 2017 New York Musical Festival's Next Link Project. Go to NYMF.org.

LESS THAN 50%

Opening off-Broadway in 2018

Written by and starring actor and stand-up comedian Gianmarco Soresi, Less Than 50% chronicles the end of a five-year relationship. Gianmarco must navigate his neuroses and misgivings toward marriage, love and life. Armed with stand-up comedy and a shifting fourth wall, this play is a meta-exploration of contemporary romance in an age of cynicism, with an unforgettable twist.

Less Than 50% premiered in the 2014 New York International Fringe Festival, and was selected for Fringe Encores at The Soho Playhouse.

In addition to the three productions listed above, NewYorkRep plans to continue with two of its community-based initiatives. Their podcast series, "Chronic Briefs," features radio host Dan Malito taking a comedic and insightful look at living with chronic illness. Their community play reading series, "Thought Bubbles," explores important social issues inspired by true stories and will continue in the coming season. Both of these series are available to the community at large at no cost.

ABOUT THE FOUNDERS:

Markus Potter (Founding Producing Artistic Director). Markus is a New York based director and proud SDC member who works around the country and abroad. He recently directed the off-Broadway production of Stalking The Bogeyman, which received a New YorkTimes Critics Pick and the Outer Critics Circle Award nomination. His work at other theatres includes The Portland Stage Company, Weston Playhouse, New Jersey Rep, and London's Southwark Playhouse, where he received an Off-West End (Offie) nomination for best production and direction. As an actor, he worked at the Guthrie, Denver Center, Long Wharf, Berkeley Rep, The American Conservatory Theatre and many more. As commercial producer, he helped bring the Arena Stage production of The Velocity Of Autumn by Eric Coble to Broadway. The production starred Estelle Parsons, who received a Tony Award nomination for Best Leading Actress. Markus received his MFA from Columbia University in 2003, where he worked intimately with Anne Bogart and Kristin Linklater for many years. He is currently adjunct professor of Directing and Acting at Adelphi University's BFA program, and mentor to the MFA playwrights at The New Hampshire Institute of Art. Having long been inspired to tell stories that hit him in the gut, plays and musicals that have social, ethical, and political relevance, work that is complicated, curious, and provocative; work that makes us experience joy; stories that reveal truths about the universe; stories that expose the travesty and beauty of humankind; stories that promote empathy, compassion, and help us better understand the human condition, led Markus to create NewYorkRep with Gayle Waxenberg. He is from the San Francisco Bay Area, where he was raised by his mother who emigrated from Germany, and his step-father, a civil rights activist who was among the first African Americans to serve in the Marines, and was recently presented the CongressionAl Gold Metal for "outstanding perseverance and courage that inspired social change in the Marines." Markus lives with his wife and children in Manhattan.

GAYLE DAMIANO WAXENBERG (Founding Executive Director). Gayle's career began on Wall Street where she managed the marketing and corporate communications for a premier investment bank. During her 11 years there, she won a multitude of awards for the creative and strategic campaigns she directed. She later started her own marketing consulting firm, Waxenberg & Associates, working with advertising, public relations and direct marketing firms servicing the financial industry. A born advocate, she left the for-profit sector and committed herself to raising awareness for those less fortunate. Combining her extensive business experience and philanthropic work, she began giving "voice" to the different communities she served, and continues to serve; domestic abuse victims, hospice patients, substance abuse victims, immigrants, at-risk children and mental health patients. Gayle has been repeatedly honored for her service by the organizations she serves. Recognizing the power of the stories she captured, she launched the Telling Company in 2012 as a forum for telling real-life stories influencing social change through art. She has now brought The Telling Company to NewYorkRep, becoming a founding member with Markus Potter. Her first play, A Bitter Pill, premiered in 2016 at the Hudson Guild Theater, as part of the Venus/Adonis Theater Festival. Gayle also produced the multi-award winning film Influence, and the London production of Stalking the Bogeyman, which received an Off-West End (Offie) nomination for best production and direction. She produced a reading of Ben Elton's Olivier Award winning play, Popcorn, starring Sharon Stone and Stacey Keach. She is proud to have launched and produced a community based program of readings, Thought Bubbles, to bring newtheatrical work free to people who may not otherwise have access. Gayle is also a Founder/Past President and currently a Board Member of The Graham School Education Foundation, which serves New York City's most at-risk, underserved children, a Board Member of Danza Espanza, The American Spanish Dance Theater, and was an elected official. She is also a member of the Dramatists Guild of America, the Off Broadway Alliance, Theater Resources Unlimited and a member of the League of Professional Theater Women.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS:

OFFICERS

Markus Potter
Co-President
Producing Artistic Director

Gayle D. Waxenberg
Co-President
Executive Director

Sharon Axelrod
Treasurer

HONORARY BOARD MEMBER

Jerry Lewis

ADVISORY BOARD:

Erin Craig
Joshua Goodman
Jim Lawson
Deborah Mello
Susan L. Schulman

MEMBERS

Julie Auster
Bill Hofstetter
Araxi Macaulay
Gideon Rothschild
Amy Van Nostrand
Adam Richman
Ari Warshawsky
Benjamin Weisman
Sue Wolf

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