Jessica Carmona Leads Diverse Cast Of PECKING ORDER At Virtual WHAM! Festival

Award-winning Latina actress Jessica Carmona leads a diverse cast in a virtual reading of PECKING ORDER by Robin Rice, a big city love story...with hawks, at Goddard Riverside's 6th Annual WHAM Festival on Wednesday, March 16 at 7:30pm, and streams through March 20 on the Goddard YouTube channel.

The family friendly PECKING ORDER tells the story of a pair of red-tail hawks with the nerve to build a nest on a ritzy apartment building in NYC. Their fate is paralleled with the fates of the building doorman and his sister, played by Jessica Carmona.

Jessica Carmona, star of the award-winning indie HBO film "Millie and the Lords," feels "deeply connected to my Puerto Rican heritage, and I feel strongly about social justice. I believe in the power of the Arts to affect social change." A playwright herself, her play ELVIRA-THE IMMIGRATION PLAY was featured at Strawberry One Act Theatre Festival 2019, the 2015 NYC Fringe Festival, and was recently produced in Dallas, TX.

PECKING ORDER pokes fun at some of the 5th Avenue building's rather famous tenants with opposing views of their feathered neighbors, played comically by Katrina Phillip (UGLY F*CKS: ONE WOMAN ONE ACT/Nyorican Poetry One Act Fest '19) as Paula Zahn and Gabrielle Maisels (TWO GIRLS, BONGANI) as Mary Tyler Moore.

PECKING ORDER cast members include Angel Gavillan, John Perez (American Stage Theatre Company), Isabella Martinez (co-host of the Not Music Experts podcast), and Cecilia Despres, a Jacksonville University BFA candidate.

Directed by Zachary Rivera, founder of the theatre collective Opus, a group of BIPOC playwrights and directors from across the U.S. with the mission to collaborate and advance the work of marginalized groups, and co-founder of Earworm Audio Theatre, a Podcast Theatre Company based in Florida.

ROBIN RICE (Playwright) is the author of over 70 plays (22 full length). Her plays have been honored, published, and produced from Off-Broadway to London, Mongolia to South Africa. Most recently, The Pharmacy Theatre presented THE BREAST MONOLOGUES and CLIMBING THE GOOD WALLS was in The Pittsburgh Playhouse's New Play Reading Series. Publishers include Samuel French (QUEEN FOR A DAY, EVENING PRIMROSE IN OHIO), Original Works (ALICE IN BLACK AND WHITE, PLAY NICE!), Blue Moon Plays (HUMANS REMAIN), and YouthPLAYS (HONEY'S SMILE). ADAPT OR DIE appears in "The Weirdest Plays of 2020" (available on Amazon).

The reading of PECKING ORDER is a joint presentation with 29PWC New Works Series of new plays. 29PWC is dedicated to developing the voices of emerging, mature playwrights, to fostering new work for the stage through public readings and workshop performances, and to supporting gender parity in theatre. 29PWC New Works Series is made possible in part with public funds from Creative Engagement, supported by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and administered by LMCC.

Tickets are available at Goddard.org/WHAM or on EventBrite: WHAM 2021 Pecking Order

There is a suggested $10 donation, however, audience members may contribute any amount.

All proceeds raised by Goddard Community Arts will go toward supporting its Performing Arts Conservatory summer program, which serves children 8-14 from the community. For more information on WHAM! (Women's History Artist Month) at Goddard go to https://goddard.org/wham/

*We wish to express our gratitude to the Performers' Unions: Actors' Equity Association, AMERICAN GUILD OF MUSICAL ARTISTS, AMERICAN GUILD OF VARIETY ARTISTS, SAG-AFTRA through Theatre Authority, Inc. for their cooperation in permitting the Artists to appear on this program.

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