THE GIRL WHO TURNED INTO A FEATHER Industry Reading Takes Place This Week

On May 1, 2025, Emerald Phoenix LLC will present an invitation-only industry reading of Kleban Award-winner Christian Duhamel's new play, THE GIRL WHO TURNED INTO A FEATHER.

The cast is led by Tony Award nominee and Obie Award winner Nikki Crawford (Broadway, Fat Ham) who is joined by Téa Guarino (Good Bones, The Public), Claire Kennedy (The Tempest, The Tank), and Mia Pak (Three Houses, Signature Theatre). Sound artist Carsen Joenk provides foley and music with Lauren Zeftel (My Six Therapists at Clubbed Thumb, Small Mouth Sounds directing. Ryan Kane (Broadway, Oh, Mary!) stage manages.

THE GIRL WHO TURNED INTO A FEATHER tells the story of Laurie, a successful architect and single mother raising her teenage daughter in Colorado Springs. Nestled against the magical mountains of Colorado, Laurie maintains her polished façade. But when her assistant begins inexplicably transforming into an inanimate object, her life starts to unravel, forcing her to face a transformation that hits much closer to home.

Christian Duhamel - Playwright - is a multihyphenate theatre artist and the recipient of the Kleban Award for most promising musical theater librettist and the BMI Jerry Harrington Award for Outstanding Creative Achievement in Songwriting. He has also served as a Songwriting Artist in Residence with Oriental DreamWorks (Pearl Studio). His other works include My 80-Year-Old Boyfriend (IRNE nominee, Best New Play); Miss Mayor (Puzzle Theatre Festival; B-Side Productions' New American Musical Award finalist); Reinventing Romance (Kennedy Center ACTF awards for music, lyrics, playwriting and direction; David Mark Cohen National Playwriting Award finalist); Worlds Apart (Music Theatre Ventures' Young Creators Award); X-Mas: A Merry Mutant Holiday Spectacular (The PIT-NYC, The Pocket-Seattle); Reeling (Exquisite Corpse Company); and The Uncivil Ones. A native of Kellogg, Idaho, Christian grew up in the Seattle area and is an alumnus of DePaul University, Wright State University, and the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop. He is a proud member of the Dramatists Guild of America, the Off-Broadway Alliance, AEA, NATS, and VASTA. www.Christianduhamel.org

Lauren Zeftel - Director - is a Brooklyn-based director who collaborates with those whose experiences defy simple expression. She directed the NYC premieres of plays by writers Kaela Mei-Shing Garvin, Haleh Roshan, and Addie Ulrey. Additional credits include MY SIX THERAPISTS by Julia Izumi (Clubbed Thumb Winterworks), SISTERS ON THE GROUND by Max Posner (NYU Atlantic), THE SKRIKER by Caryl Churchill (CUNY Brooklyn), and IN A WORD by Lauren Yee (WTF/PTP). Lauren served as Associate Director to Rachel Chavkin on the commercial run and national tour of Bess Wohl's SMALL MOUTH SOUNDS (Maximum Entertainment/Ars Nova). Lauren co-lead PLAYxPLAY over three years, producing the work of 15 playwrights, 23 directors, and 200+ performers. In 2022, she collaborated with social justice artist Kilusan Bautista, Queens Museum, NYPADB, SPCUNY, and the Helen Keller National Center on a mutual aid event for Deaf-Blind children and their families. Lauren is a former Clubbed Thumb New Play Directing Fellow, Playwrights Horizons Robert Moss Directing Fellow, a two-time Drama League Resident Artist, and an alumni of the LCT Directors Lab, the Mercury Store Directors Lab, and the Williamstown Directing Corps. She currently works with Musical Theatre Factory as a co-facilitator. MFA: Brooklyn College. https://www.laurenzeftel.com/

Casting by Whitley Theatrical

General Management by Mott/Fischer Productions