WHAT DO WE DO WITH THE DEAD Comes to the Cape Cod Theatre Project

The Cape Cod Theatre Project (CCTP) continues its 2023 season in its third of four weeks with playwright Fernanda Coppel's AYA and a special, one night only presentation of Stephen Belber's What Do We Do With the Dead. 

AYA will be directed by CCTP alum Carolyn Cantor, and feature actors Frankie Alvarez, Florencia Lozano, and Maria Elena Ramirez. Performances will run on Thursday, July 13, Friday, July 14, and Saturday, July 15 at 7:30 PM.

In AYA, Luis Diaz (Frankie Alvarez) is in the midst of a dark depression due to his divorce. So, he travels to the jungles of Peru to partake in ayahuasca, looking for a quick fix. However, his teacher and spiritual guide, Gloria (Maria Elena Ramirez), uses the indigenous tea to excavate Luis' pain over his failed marriage. When his soon-to-be ex (Florencia Lozano) arrives, Luis is left with a hard question: does he want to get over his ex-wife or keep running away from his problems?

Fernanda Coppel is a Mexican/American playwright and screenwriter. Her play King Liz received its world premiere at Second Stage Theatre in 2015 and was produced at The Geffen Playhouse last summer. King Liz was published by Concord Theatricals and has recently been optioned by ABC Signature studio and 42 for television. Fernanda will be penning the pilot. Her professional New York debut, Chimichangas and Zoloft premiered at the Atlantic Theater Company in 2012 and is published by Samuel French. Fernanda's received the New Play Commission from Williamstown Theatre Festival in 2015 where she wrote her latest play: AYA. She's currently working on a commission for La Jolla Playhouse of a new play entitled: Friendship Park. Fernanda's work has won the 2012 HOLA Award for Outstanding Achievement in Playwriting, the 2012 Helen Merrill Award. She's an alum of: The Juilliard School, NYU (MFA), and UC Santa Cruz (BA). Fernanda's also written for TV shows such as: Shonda Rhimes produced HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER, Jason Katim's RISE, USA network's adaptation of QUEEN OF THE SOUTH, among others. In feature film, Fernanda's co-wrote NO ONE GETS OUT ALIVE which was produced by Netflix and Andy Serkis' UK based Imaginarium Productions.

Carolyn Cantor is back at CCTP for the fourth time. NY credits include Sell/Buy/Date, Regrets and Pumpgirl (Manhattan Theatre Club); Indian Summer, Fly By Night, Great God Pan, After the Revolution, Essential Self Defense (Playwrights Horizons); Arlington (Vineyard); In a Dark Dark House (MCC Theater); Something You Did (Primary Stages); The Talls (Second Stage); Core Values (Ars Nova); Orange Flower Water and Stone Cold Dead Serious (Edge Theater), and EVE-olution (Cherry Lane). Selected regional credits include: Good Boys (Pasadena Playhouse), THEO (Two River Theater), Sell Buy Date and Rabbit Hole (Geffen Playhouse) and The Violet Hour (Old Globe), After the Revolution, Not Waving and King Stag (Williamstown Theatre Festival), Vera Laughed and Get What You Need (NYS&F), and Diary of Anne Frank (Papermill). Carolyn has an MSW from NYU and is passionate about the intersection of the arts with mental health and social justice. She is a graduate of Dartmouth College and the mother of two teenage daughters.

Frankie Alvarez TV (selected): Agustín in HBO'S LOOKING, THE BLACKLIST, NEW AMSTERDAM, L&O: SVU, THE BRIDES (pilot), THE GOOD WIFE. FILM: VANDAL (dir. JD Freixas), THE DRUMMER (dir. Eric Werthman), ROCKAWAY (dir. John J. Budion), LOOKING: THE FILM (dir. Andrew Haigh). NYC: Wet Brain (Playwright's Horizons/MCC). Regional: the titular role in Hamlet: Prince of Cuba/ Hamlet: Príncipe de Cuba (Asolo Rep); to the yellow house (La Jolla Playhouse), twenty50 (Denver Theatre Center); Bathing in Moonlight (McCarter Theatre); The Whipping Man (Actors Theatre of Louisville); 2011 company member, Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Education: BFA, FSU; MFA, The Juilliard School. Awards: Juilliard's Raul Julia Scholarship for Excellence in Drama. 

Florencia Lozano returns to CCTP after last season's The Janiad by Anna Ziegler. Selected credits: Wet Brain at Playwrights' Horizons (also Placebo), NYTW, Public, Shakespeare in the Park, LAByrinth, MTC, MCC, Clubbed Thumb, Movement Theatre Co., Second Stage, EST, Teatro IATI, Repertorio Español NETFLIX: Keep Breathing, Narcos TV: Bull, The Baker and The Beauty, Kevin Can Wait, Blacklist, Mysteries of Laura, Blue Bloods, Lipstick Jungle, Ugly Betty, Royal Pains, Law & Order (CI&SVU), Gossip Girl, One Life To Live. FILM: Life After You (she also co-wrote & produced), Faraway Eyes, The Ministers, Veronika Decides To Die. Upcoming: Crybaby Bridge. Her play underneathmybed was produced at Rattlestick and won HOLA's Best New Play Award. BA Brown, MFA NYU

Maria Elena Ramirez Broadway: Larry David's Fish in the Dark, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson. National Tours: Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, War Horse, both with The National Theatre of Great Britain. Off-Broadway includes: 72 Miles to Go (Roundabout), Little Women (Primary Stages), Mary Page Marlowe, Living Out (Second Stage), Important Hats (Manhattan Theatre Club), Somewhere Fun (Vineyard Theatre), The Thugs (Soho Rep). She has also worked regionally, most recently appearing in Torera, at The Alley Theatre. Film/TV: St. Vincent, The Women, “New Amsterdam,” ”Blacklist,” “The Other Two,” “Search Party,” “Defending Jacob,” “FBI,” “Elementary,” “Law & Order,” “Sopranos,” among others.

Additionally: WHAT DO WE DO WITH THE DEAD is  directed by Stephen Belber, and will feature Belber and Jennifer Mudge. The one night performance will occur on Sunday, July 16 at 7:30 PM.

In this two person soliloquy, Stephen Belber is a successful playwright, filmmaker and artist. Everyone seems to know this except Stephen Belber, whose friend Jenny is there as a live, onstage dramaturg of his life, while Stephen searches for something to hold onto amidst his follies, his failures, and his seemingly many dying friends.

Stephen Belber  is an American playwright, screenwriter and film director. His plays have been produced on Broadway and in over 50 countries. He directed the film adaptation of his Broadway play, Match, starring Patrick Stewart, (playing the Tony nominated role created by Frank Langella). He also wrote and directed the film Management, starring Jennifer Aniston, Steve Zahn and Woody Harrelson, and wrote the HBO film O.G., starring Jeffrey Wright. His stage play Tape was turned into a film by Richard Linklater, starring Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman, and was recently remade as a film in Hong Kong, to be released next year. Belber's latest film, What We Do Next (writer/director), recently opened in theaters nationwide, starring Corey Stoll and Karen Pittman. Belber was an actor and associate writer on The Laramie Project, (which later became an HBO film, for which he received an Emmy nomination), as well as a co-writer of and actor in The Laramie Project, Ten Years Later.

Jennifer Mudge can currently be seen on HBO's critical hit “Somebody Somewhere”. She has appeared on Broadway, in the West End, off-Broadway, and many regional theaters, and is a Drama Desk and Lucille Lortel Award nominee. In film and TV, she's worked with Martin Scorsese and Hal Hartley, starred in indies (one for Steve Belber!), and been on a lot of NY-based shows. She runs a production company with Liesl Tommy, Crocodile Eyes, where they have projects in deep development with partners such as Lynn Nottage, Disney+, Alex Dinelaris, Sister Pictures, Wagner Johnson Productions, and Paramount+, among others.

Cape Cod Theatre Project is focused on facilitating the playwright's developmental process. For four weeks from the end of June through the end of July, a new play is presented each week receiving three staged readings and featuring professional actors from Broadway, film, and television. Further development of the play is the goal, and performances include a post-show talkback in which audience's thoughtful feedback for the playwright, director and actors is solicited and encouraged.

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