Parity Productions Presents A Workshop of TURNING KRASNIQI: A NON-BINARY PLAY

Parity Productions, the New York based theatre company dedicated to producing new work and filling at least 80% of the creative positions (playwrights, directors, and designers) with women, trans, and gender-expansive artists, will premiere a developmental workshop of 2020 Commission Winner Jonathan Alexandratos' (they/them) play Turning Krasniqi: A Non-Binary Play at the newly renovated AMT Theater.

The workshop will have four performances: Thursday November 3rd at 3PM and 7:30 PM, Saturday November 5th at 7:30PM, and Sunday November 6th at 3PM. AMT Theater is located at 354 West 45th Street, New York, NY 10036 and is ADA accessible.

Tickets are free but a reservation is required. Click here to reserve your spot. We ask that audience members be vaccinated and wear masks for the duration of the performance.

"What you can expect to see from Turning Krasniqi is a presentation that has prioritized the humans involved, from accessibility needs to nurturing the voices of intersectional identities through practice and storytelling," says Turning Krasniqi Director Mika Kauffman. "You will experience an awe-inspiring coming-of-age story of a gender journey intrinsically tied to cultural reclamation and community care. You will witness a celebration of queer and trans joy, just as moving as it is hilarious. From Jonathan's original inception to the time and care they have spent in collaboration with Parity Productions paired with our spectacular team, we are thrilled to share this version of Turning Krasniqi."

Turning Krasniqi is the story of Hannah Krasniqi, a high school senior in a small, conservative Kentucky town who transitions to become a burrnesha, a gender in his ancestral homeland of Albania. There are several problems with this, of course. Hannah has never been to Albania. Hannah does not know anyone who has become burrnesha. And Hannah has barely spoken to anyone during his entire high school career, leaving him with a pretty weak support system. Can Hannah get the support he needs in order to overcome his transphobic principal and come out according to the ancient rules of the burrnesha transition? Turning Krasniqi finds the answer to this question buried in old Albanian traditions that blossom into modern, universal truths about being who you are.

Parity Productions identifies, develops, and produces new work exclusively by women, trans, and gender-expansive playwrights. At all phases of development and production, our creative teams are comprised of 80-100% women, trans, and gender-expansive artists. Our work unrelentingly centers the experiences of women, trans, and gender-expansive individuals onstage and off to provide urgent perspective to our audience and the industry, and to create greater momentum in achieving gender parity within the American theatre.

In concert with Parity's mission to see more women, trans, and gender-expansive artists employed in the theatre, Parity Productions awards two commissions per year to women, trans, or gender-expansive playwrights who have demonstrated a singular talent for storytelling, of which Jonathan Alexandratos was the 2020 winner for Turning Krasniqi. The selected playwrights receive $2,500 each, extensive development support from Parity, including at least one public reading, with an option for Parity to produce their work.

This workshop of Turning Krasniqi is directed by Mika Kauffman, featuring: Bowie Lance (they/them) as Hannah/Turning, Peri LeBlanc (she/her) as Krista, Stephanie Cha (any) as Christina, Kristyn Michele (they/them) as Mr. Wormsley, Dillon Yruegas (he/él) as Mr. Turning/Jorge Ramos, Ashley Lauren Rogers (she/her) as Mom/Allison Statter, Tobaron Waxman (they/them) as Olgi, Annie Conolly (they/them) as Liam/Sam, Jace n' Ziev (they/them, ziv) as Larissa/Alex, and Mattie Mariposa (they/them, she/her, he/him) as Julio/Jesse/That One Band Kid.

Costume Design is by Gylanni Carrington (they/them), Sound Design by Emma Hasselbach (they/them), and Projection Design by Jean Sonderand (they/them).

Production Stage Manager Becca Silbert (she/her), Stage Manager Dexter Warren (they/them), Assistant Stage Manager Schuyler Seitzsky (she/her).

Casting by Danielle Pretsfelder Demchick (she/her), CSA.

Jonathan Alexandratos (they/them) is a Non-Binary, New York City-based playwright. Their work lives at the intersection of ancient and modern Queerness, pop culture, and cathartic bonding. In addition to Turning Krasniqi (2020 Parity Commission winner), Jonathan's work has focused on superhero immigrants (We See What Happen, 2017 Greenhouse Award winner from Strange Sun Theater), Queer toys (TOYS 101, solo show in the 2019 So-Fi Festival), fleeing war with the help of magical realism (Words Cannot Describe This, 2018 Queens Council on the Arts New Works Grant) among others. Currently, Jonathan's work is supported by Parity Productions and Pipeline Theatre Company. Offstage, Jonathan writes academic cultural histories of toys, dolls, and Happy Meals, and that work has been seen in books (Articulating the Action Figure), film festivals (Billion Dollar Babies, the Tribeca Film Festival), TV stations (Story in the Public Square, PBS), podcasts (Build for Tomorrow, Is It Transphobic?, et al.), and elsewhere. They teach at Queensborough Community College and Sarah Lawrence College.

Mika Kauffman (they/them) is a queer, trans and neurodivergent musical theatre writer, director, dramaturg, performer and producer based in Brooklyn. They hold a BFA in Acting from Towson University and a Masters in Musical Theatre Writing from Tisch. They are affiliated with Musical Theatre Factory and Poetic Theater Productions; additionally, they are an Associate Member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society and a Member of the Dramatist Guild. Mika is also an educator, working as a queer and trans-affirming acting and movement teacher, as well as a gender and script consultant. Their musical, directorial and dramaturgical work has been performed at the Davenport Theater, The Kraine, Theater 80, the American Theater of Actors, Goodspeed, Laurie Beechman, Joe's Pub at The Public, Wild Project, and Green Room 42. Some credits include MAXA, The Maddest Woman in the World (book and lyrics), Tomato Republic (book and lyrics), 10 Days in a Madhouse (director) set to premiere Off-Broadway in spring 2022, #adulting, a millennial opera (director), The Great Cat Massacre (director), safeword. (associate director), Afterglow (assistant director, script consultant), Paranormative (book and lyrics), and We Are The Tigers (dramaturg). Mika is also the founder of the Trans Entertainment Guild, an organization dedicated to bettering working conditions for trans and gender expansive people in the entertainment industry. Instagram: @mikakauffman, @maxamusical, @trans_entertainment_guild

Ludovica Villar-Hauser (she/her) is the Founder, Artistic and Executive Director of Parity Productions. At Parity, her directing credits include the world premieres of Charlie's Waiting by 2017 Commission Winner Mêlisa Annis, Mirrors by 2018 Commission Winner Azure D. Osborne Lee and the award-winning She Calls Me Firefly by Teresa Lotz. Prior to founding Parity, Ludovica directed many critically acclaimed plays in the U.S. and the U.K., including Final Analysis by Otho Eskin (The Signature); The Countess by Greg Murphy (634 Off-Broadway performances and in London's West End); Leaves of Glass by Phillip Ridley (The Peter Jay Sharpe Theater); As It Is In Heaven by Arlene Hutton (The Cherry Lane); The Brightness of Heaven (The Cherry Lane) and This Will All Be Yours (The Barrow Group Theatre) by Laura Pedersen; and Long Day's Journey Into Night by Eugene O'Neill in London's West End. Ludovica was the youngest woman ever to simultaneously produce and direct in London's West End. In the New York theatre industry, she was also one of the few women to own and operate her own theatre - The Greenwich Street Theatre, which she ran for 17 years. She served on the Board of the League of Professional Theatre Women from 2009-2018 and is currently the Producer of its Oral History Project at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center.