Ars Nova to Present THE CAMP BONFIRE SERIES, Four-Night Festival of New Comedy

Ars Nova has announced details for the third edition of The CAMP Bonfire Series, a four-night festival of new comedy works created by the organization's resident comedy artists. Running May 18-24, 2023, The CAMP Bonfire Series is the culmination of six months of peer support and artistic feedback facilitated by comedians Mahayla Laurence and Matt Gehring who direct CAMP, Ars Nova's development program for early career comedy artists. Ars Nova's CAMP program is supported in part by the Richenthal Foundation.

As part of its 20th Anniversary Season, Ars Nova has introduced the What's Ars Is Yours: Name Your Price ticket initiative. Audiences can name their price for tickets to in-person performances, which start at $5. All shows this spring will also be available to stream live and on-demand on Supra, Ars Nova's streaming platform, for $15 a month. All performances begin at 7 PM and take place at Ars Nova, located at 511 West 54th Street in Manhattan. Tickets for all of Ars Nova's May shows are currently on sale at www.arsnovanyc.com.

To learn more about CAMP and the Bonfire Series, visit www.arsnovanyc.com/CAMP.

Ars Nova's CAMP program is supported in part by the Richenthal Foundation.

Details for The CAMP Bonfire Series

May 18 at 7PM

Saturn Return
Created & Performed by Natalya Samee
Directed by Arpita Muhkherjee & Neal Gupta

Saturn Return is your astrological coming of age that happens in everyone's life between the ages of 27-30. It demands that you take full accountability for your choices, learn life's big lessons the hard way, and propels major life changing transformation. Natalya is ready to share the story of her Saturn Return in this one-woman show about love, loss, and finding your life force as the planets and stars align.

May 19 at 7PM

the care n keeping of u
Created & Performed by Sofia Dobrushin & Catherine Bloom

Sabina (Sofia Dobrushin) and Christina (Catherine Bloom), two semi-estranged half-siblings, have just received the devastating news that their father is sick. After traveling home to care for him, both grapple with reverting to childhood behaviors while processing their own latest traumas: Sabina was just broken up with by her polycule, and Christina leads a weekly candle-making workshop on zoom as a part of her RA responsibilities at her all-girls college, Barn-Yard. While cleaning their father's home and stumbling upon relics from their childhood- aka- a copy of the American Girl Doll Book "The Care And Keeping Of You," they reveal to themselves and each other all the things they wish they had known about growing up. Through the show we see how these sisters navigate caretaking, their own relationships to queerness and identity, and how their separate but similar upbringings shaped them. The tone is Broad City meets Christopher Durang.

May 23 at 7PM

MY DEAD WEDDING - A FUNERAL FOR MY WEDDING
Written & Performed by Chet Siegel
Directed by Emily Olcott

Comedian and easy cry, Chet Siegel, was dumped twice by her ex-fiance during season one of the pandemic, and now you're all invited to the funeral for her canceled wedding. In this immersive nervous breakdown, Chet grieves her broken engagement and tries to figure out if she can get over this or anything actually.

May 24 at 7PM

Bada Swing!

Created & Performed by Michelle Chan Bennett & Josh Nasser
Directed by Shem Pennant

Musical Direction by Andy Bell

The boys are back, baby! Michelle Chan Bennett and Josh Nasser are Bobby Bingus and Tommy Linguini, two 1960's crooners whose careers, livers, and opinions have seen better days. This once-in-a-lifetime reunion concert will treat the audience to the boys' greatest hits and iconic chemistry. Everything is sure to go perfectly. We guarantee it!

About the Artists

Natalya Samee is a writer, actor, comedian, and Libra based in Brooklyn. She is currently workshopping her one woman show, Saturn Return, at Ars Nova. She was recently an artist-in-residence in SFFILM's 2022 Filmhouse Residency for her project, DOHA GIRLS, an original TV series based on her adolescence in the Middle East. It was a Second Rounder in the 2021 Austin Film Festival Screenplay Competition, a distinction achieved by less than 20% of submissions. Previously, she was shortlisted in Eva Longoria and Lena Waithe's MACRO Episodic Lab competition for her original TV pilot, DOTHEADS. She performs improv at Brooklyn Comedy Collective, and stand-up around New York City.

Catherine Bloom is an actor, playwright, and comedian. She has shown original work via Second City, The Fisher Center, Williamstown Theater Festival, and more if you can believe. She is also 1/2 of the comedy duo MA'AM (The PIT, NYC SketchFest, Frigid NYC, NYC SketchFest) that will be premiering a new play "Spirit of Life" at The Brick Theater in June 2023. www.catherinebloom.org

Sofia Dobrushin (she/they) is an actor, director, comedian, musician, and only child which is why she does all of these things. She has acted in TV shows like Apple TV's WeCrashed and HBO's High Maintenance. Her theatrical work includes: On the Rocks production of Edelweiss at Ars Nova and César Alvarez' The Elementary Space Time Show. Some of their directing work has been official selections of Brooklyn Women's Film Festival, Austin Comedy Short Film Festival, New Filmmakers Festival, and Nobudge. To keep up with her projects and life you can find her on the app that runs our lives aka Instagram @_neonbabushka_ or her website www.sofiadobrushin.net

Chet Siegel (she/her) is an actress, comedian, and cook. Performing credits include - Uncle Peckerhead, Alternatino (Comedy Central), Search Party (HBO Max), Chicago Med (NBC), and many independent projects that have appeared in Sundance, SXSW, Palm Springs Film Fest, NY Fringe, ANT Fest and other really cool festivals. She directed, wrote, performed, and taught improv and sketch comedy at UCB theater and Magnet Theater, and was the artistic director of Magnet's Sketch Comedy program. She is the co-creator and co-host of the food podcast, Nibbles And Bits, available on Spotify and Apple podcasts!

Michelle Chan Bennett (she/her) is an NYC-based writer and actor whose work has been featured in Vulture, New York Sketchfest, Montreal Sketchfest, and Chicago Sketchfest. You may have seen her dancing in Ziwe's Pop Show or starring as "Cheryl" in the BIPOC murder mystery play, The Art of Killin' It. She was an actor on UCB's Maude Night and continues to perform around North America with the team, Yes Chef! She writes and produces digital sketch with Hatched NYC. She also performs original characters on Just for Laugh's Characters Welcome.

Josh Nasser is an NYC based stand-up comedian. His comedy has been featured on Comedy Central's YouTube Channel. Vulture and onmogul.com have both named Josh as one of the best up and coming comedians in NYC. Josh previously co-hosted the NYTimes recommended comedy show, "Oh, Such a Good Show, Oh!" Currently he's a member of the Webby Award winning writing team behind Story Pirates Podcast, which adapts children's stories into musical comedy sketches. You can find his previous work at joshnasser.com. And of course, his favorite food is plain cheese pizza. He knows that's a boring choice and he will work on it.

About Ars Nova

Ars Nova exists to discover, develop, and launch singular theater, music and comedy artists in the early stages of their professional careers. Our dynamic slate of programs supports outside-the-box thinking and encourages innovative, genre-bending new work. Dubbed by The New York Times as a "fertile incubator of offbeat theater," Ars Nova blurs genres and subverts the status quo. With our feverish bounty of programming, we are the stomping ground and launching pad for visionary, adventurous artists of all stripes. By providing a protective environment where risk-taking and collaboration are paramount, Ars Nova amplifies the voices of a new generation of diverse artists and audiences, pushing the boundaries of live entertainment by nurturing creative ideas into smart, surprising new work.

Ars Nova has been honored with an Obie Award and a Special Citation from the New York Drama Critics' Circle for sustained quality and commitment to the development and production of new work. Notable past productions include: three-time Lortel Award-winner Oratorio for Living Things by Heather Christian, directed by Lee Sunday Evans; "Outstanding Musical" Lortel Award-winner and The New York Times' "Best of 2018," Rags Parkland Sings the Songs of the Future, created by Andrew R. Butler, directed by Jordan Fein; The Lucky Ones, created by The Bengsons and Sarah Gancher, directed by Anne Kauffman; "Outstanding Musical" Lortel Award-winner KPOP, created by Jason Kim, Max Vernon, Helen Park, and Woodshed Collective, directed by Teddy Bergman; "Best New American Theatre Work," Obie Award-winner and "one of the best new plays in the last 25 years" (The New York Times), Underground Railroad Game by Jennifer Kidwell and Scott R. Sheppard, directed by Taibi Magar ; The New York Times' and New York Post's "Best of 2015," Small Mouth Sounds by Bess Wohl, directed by Rachel Chavkin; the Tony Award-winning smash-hit Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 by Dave Malloy, directed by Rachel Chavkin; the world premiere of the 2009 season's most-produced play boom by Peter Sinn Nachtrieb, directed by Alex Timbers; the show that put Bridget Everett on the map, At Least It's Pink by Everett, Michael Patrick King, and Kenny Mellman, directed by King; and Lin-Manuel Miranda and Thomas Kail's first New York production, Freestyle Love Supreme by Anthony Veneziale and Miranda, directed by Thomas Kail (Broadway 2019).

Please visit arsnovanyc.com to learn more.