SLACKJAWED: Horror-Comedy Workshop Comes to HERE Arts Center

Glori Dei Filippone and Party Girl Productions will present a workshop production of Nathaniel Foster's new horror-comedy play Slackjawed at HERE Arts Center (145 6th Avenue) from March 26-29. The workshop will be directed by Alex Tobey. The cast includes Glori Dei Filippone, August Gray Gall, Maeghan Mary Suzik, Blessid NiaYemi, and Christy Oberndorf.

Lizzie's boyfriend is dead, and something has to be done about his body. In Slackjawed, five friends must confront the moral status of the world and their role in it when an unfortunate accident threatens to ruin their perfectly polished lives.

The creative team includes scenic consultant Benny Pitt, lighting designer Elijah Thomas, special effects designer Caleb Seth Czuszak, fight choreographer Kaitlyn Farley, and stage manager Cassiel Fawcett.

The show is being presented as part of HERE Hosts, a performance series of new work from extraordinary artists, ensembles, and independent companies working in multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary form in which HERE engages artists who share values alignment and demonstrate high creative kinship. Slackjawed has previously been developed through readings at Mai House Studio and Brooklyn Stillhouse.

“It has been a dream to work on Slackjawed with this team for the last year and a half,” says playwright Nathaniel Foster.  “I love an ensemble that doesn't shy away when you tell them to sharpen their teeth. This play came out of a vicious necessity I had to scream and I'm thrilled that we are all finally going to be screaming together.”   

“What a pleasure it is to have my old friend and colleague Nathaniel putting up his play, with such an amazing team, at our theater.” said Jesse Cameron Alick, one of the three Co-Directors of HERE Arts Center “HERE remains a venue where the brilliant new generation of theater makers can experiment, and we are so excited to have this fresh, new and wild play in the building.” 

Nathaniel Foster is a New York City-based playwright and producer. He is a 2017 Kennedy Center New Play Dramaturgy Fellow, 2018 ASTEP Artist as Citizen Fellow, a 2018 Cape Cod Theatre Project New Play Development Fellow, and a 2019 New Play Development Apprentice at The Public Theater. He was a member of The Workshop Theater's Winter/Spring 2020 writers intensive. He was a 2020-2021 Art House INKubator playwright and a 2021 resident playwright at The Strides Collective. He was the recipient of the 2018 Kennedy Center Ken Ludwig Young Playwright Award. He served as an associate producer for Loading Dock Theatre's 2020 Forklift season and as an associate producer for Black Lives, Black Words 2020 Plays for the People series. He was a finalist for the 2024 Ojai Playwrights Conference and a member of The Kennedy Center's 2024 Black Playwrights Gathering Cohort. His plays have been seen or developed at The Kennedy Center, The Workshop Theater, New York Theatre Festival, The Brick, Permafrost Theatre, Fort Collins Fringe Festival, Southern Utah University, Pharmacy Theatre, Mirrobox Theatre, The Strides Collective, Live and in Color, The Hollywood Fringe Festival, and The Tank.