Broken Box Mime Theater to Present WITH WORDS Talk Back Series

Broken Box Mime Theater will present the With Words Series, as part of their World Premiere of Take Shape at the Jeffrey and Paula Gural Theatre at A.R.T./New York Theatres (502 West 53rd Street New York, NY 10019), April 1-May 1. BKBX's With Words Series will feature the performing cast plus one honored guest that is a leader in their field. They will talk about the show together, field questions from the audience, and find themes or questions that are resonant to all. The talkback event will take place directly after the scheduled performance and last approximately 20 minutes.

Friday, April 8 at 7:30pm - Nathifa Forde

Educator Night

Nathifa Forde is the Deputy Executive Director with the Young Men's Initiative. She is responsible for overseeing the ongoing operations and procedures for YMI, in addition to strategically developing policies, programs, and partnerships that support youth and young adults of color in eliminating disparities and structural barriers that continue to negatively impact their pursuit of a high quality of life. Prior to joining the team, Nathifa was the Assistant Director of Strategic Partnerships with the NYC Center for Youth Employment, where she focused on developing inclusive workforce strategies for special populations. She has also served as a National Urban Fellow, in which Nathifa was placed at the Annie E. Casey Foundation and utilized her extensive background as a youth developer towards incorporating youth voice into the grant-making process. She has had a decade-long career in the NYC non-for-profit sector in various roles, from a Performing Arts teacher to a Program Director.

Monday, April 11 at 7:30pm - Ty Jones

Industry Night

NAACP and OBIE Award Winner, Dr. Ty Jones is the Producing Artistic Director of the Classical Theatre of Harlem (CTH). He is a 2013 recipient of the Council of the City of New York Proclamation Award. Under Jones' leadership, the company has developed a template whose core of financial discipline, precision marketing, and exceptional programming, has resulted in CTH's growth and stability. Mr. Jones initiated Uptown Meets Downtown, a program comprising strategic partnerships with downtown theatres designed to share production costs and build artistic bridges between communities. He also led the inaugural Uptown Shakespeare in the Park, bringing free, outdoor, professional theatre to Harlem's Marcus Garvey Park for an extended run. He is a veteran of 5 Broadway shows: Judgment at Nuremberg; the Tony Award-winning production of Henry IV with Ethan Hawke and Kevin Kline; Julius Caesar with Denzel Washington, ENRON and most recently The Great Society. He won an OBIE Award for his portrayal of Archibald in the revival of the critically acclaimed off-Broadway production, The Blacks: A Clown Show. For CTH, Ty has received the Best Actor award and AUDELCO Nominations for his performances in Macbeth, Trojan Women, and Romeo and Juliet. As a writer, Jones' play Emancipation: Chronicles of the Nat Turner Rebellion, preceded the screenplay of the same title, that was selected as a finalist in The Sundance Institute Feature Film Program, was endorsed by the Southern Poverty Law Center, received Honorable Merit from the Writer Digest Screenwriters Association, and won the San Francisco Black Film Festival Screenwriting Competition.

Sunday, April 21 at 7:30pm - Ben Dworken

Relaxed Performance, Disability Communities

As an actor, writer, singer and producer living in New York City, Ben Dworken is a passionate advocate for Neurodiversity and inclusion and a strong supporter of organizations that nurture fellow artists with Autism. Ben has performed in several original one-act plays with

AMiOS (Art and Music in Our Souls). He is also a proud member of New Ambassadors Theatre Company. Favorite roles in other theater companies include Snug the Joiner in A Midsummer Night's Dream and Matt in Dog Sees God. Ben recently finished shooting Older Brothers, a film inspired by his relationship with his younger brother. He was honored to represent the Neurodiverse actor community on Able: A Series with Amazon Prime Video which features interviews with other inspirational performers like Tony-award winner Ali Stoker and Seinfeld's Danny Woodburn. When not on stage or filming, Ben is focused on building safe spaces in education, performance and socialization for people living with Autism. As a brand ambassador and volunteer for Actionplay, he supports a program where participants create their own musical, and is a tireless advocate for the company so they can grow and contribute toward a more inclusive world.

Sunday, April 24 at 2pm - Cassie Flynn

Activist/Advocate Night

Cassie Flynn is an internationally recognized expert on the treaty negotiations on climate change. She serves as the Strategic Advisor on Climate Change to UNDP's Administrator, while also the Head of the Climate Strategies and Policies Team and Head of the Climate Promise in 120 countries. She is the creator of Mission 1.5 and the Peoples' Climate Vote which used gaming to become the world's largest-ever survey on climate action. Previously, she served as a Senior Advisor to the Prime Minister of Fiji as COP23 President. Cassie gave a TED talk on connecting world leaders to climate activism in 2019 and has been a featured expert by CNN, BBC, Wall Street Journal, Le Monde, New York Times, and other publications. Cassie earned her Master's degree from Yale University and undergraduate degrees from Bowdoin College.

Friday, April 29 at 7:30pm - Caleb Teicher

Dance Communities

Caleb Teicher is an acclaimed NYC-based dancer and choreographer specializing in musically-driven dance traditions and interdisciplinary collaboration. Teicher began their career as a founding member of Michelle Dorrance's critically acclaimed tap dance company, Dorrance Dance, while also freelancing in contemporary dance (The Chase Brock Experience, The Bang Group), Lindy Hop (Syncopated City Dance Company), and musical theater (West Side Story International Tour and London). As a solo performer and collaborator, Teicher is known for choreographic collaborations with diverse musical talents: world-champion beatboxer Chris Celiz, composer/pianist Conrad Tao; the National Symphony Orchestra, and indie rock legends Ben Folds and Regina Spektor.

In 2015, Caleb shifted their creative focus towards Caleb Teicher & Company (CT&Co), a creative home for incubating new concert dance works from Teicher's unique perspective. CT&Co's engagements and commissions expand across the US and abroad including The Joyce Theater, New York City Center, the Guggenheim Museum (NYC and Bilbao), Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, and Lincoln Center Out of Doors. Caleb is the recipient of a 2019 New York City Center Choreographic Fellowship, two Bessie Awards, a 2019 Harkness Promise Award, the 2020 Gross Family Prize, and a 2019 NEFA National Dance Project Production Grant. Their work has been featured by the New York Times, NPR, Forbes, Vogue, Interview Magazine, on the cover of Dance Magazine and, most recently, on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert alongside Regina Spektor. Caleb continues to engage with dance communities as a teacher for international tap, swing, and jazz dance festivals.

Broken Box Mime Theater (BKBX) is a collaborative theater company that performs original, contemporary short plays entirely through movement. Based in NYC and founded in 2011, we reimagine French pantomime through the lens of contemporary US American theater. The diverse group of artists who call BKBX their artistic home believe in making innovative, provocative theater that erases the spoken language barrier and champions the power of simplicity in performance. Our short plays range from realistic to metaphorical, heart-wrenching to hilarious, and cinematic to intimate. Winners of New York Innovative Theatre Awards for Outstanding Movement/Choreography, Performance Art, and Ensemble. www.brokenboxmime.com