UNCHILDING to Make World Premiere at DiMenna Center

Unchilding, the new performance piece conceived and directed by visual artist Joshua Kaufman and based on lost plays by John Walter Howley, will have its world premiere at the Benzaquen Hall at New York's DiMenna Center for Classical Music (450 West 37th Street). This one-night, two-performance only event will take place on Thursday, August 8, 2019 at 8:00 P.M. and 10:00 P.M.

In 1947, Boston University graduate student John Walter Howley wrote a collection of one-act plays exploring the tragedy of lost innocence and the heavy burden of responsibility. Uncovered more than 70 years later by visual artist Joshua Kaufman, two of these found texts now serve as the basis for an epic performance event conceived by Kaufman and featuring a sprawling ensemble of 27 performers. Unchilding immerses its audiences in an original audioscape that features adapted, manipulated, and recorded versions of Howley's plays, while a sequence of visually arresting, stylized vignettes unfold onstage. Equal parts eerie and evocative, Unchilding merges classic, mid-century dramaturgical sensibilities with David Lynchian surrealist expressionism and Gregory Crewdsonian use of tableau to create a visual/auditory artform uniquely its own.

The creative team includes Emily Grace Mays (Costume Design), Jessica Elliott (Lighting Design), Diwas Gurung, Sean Lewis and Singer Joy (Sound Design), and Sarah Bedrick (SFX Make-Up Design).

The ensemble features Ashley Trawinski, Benjamin Daniel Culpepper, Bradley Carrington, Brittin Ward, Bruno Giraldi, Corinne MacLean, Elise Ramaekers, Eric Novak, Francisco Raposo, George Brown, Hannah Carne, Henry Larsen, James Alt, Juanes Montoya, Justyna Kostek,Kwangmin Lee, Lana Abdo, Lisa Maciel, Michael James Fry, Mitchell List, Paige Barry, Paul Donovan, Sean Hazen, Serena Roan, Steve Humphreys, Tara Ellwood, and Thomas Tyler West.

Voice actors include Ainslie Caswell, Bill Weeden, Chazmere, Clem Richard, Daniel Damiano, Kirk Koczanowski, Trevor Forrest and Vince Philip.

Tickets, priced at $38.00, can be purchased by visiting unchilding.com/tickets. The piece runs approximately 60 minutes.