From Nest To Kingdom
CO/LAB Theater Group is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing Creative Opportunities without Limits And Boundaries. CO/LAB offers individuals with developmental disabilities a creative and social outlet through theater arts.
CO/LAB’s newest full-length production FROM NEST TO KINGDOM uses multiple styles of puppetry and live-feed video to explore themes of home, belonging, and community. This multidisciplinary spectacle features original material, devised over the course of one year by a neurodiverse ensemble in our Puppetry Production class. This ensemble devised this original piece, focused on journeys of self, space, and other imaginary worlds internal and external.
Co-Directors and Teaching Artists are Collin Meath and Emily Bruner; Supporting Artists are Maddie Rostami and Mack Knapp; and the Spring Semester Teaching Artist was Jing Dong.
Updated: March 8, 2023
HERE is now a mask-optional space. All patrons attending HERE performances and events will no longer be required to wear masks.
We ask all audience members to please stay home if they have a sore throat, are feeling sick in any other way, or have been recently exposed to COVID-19, and to please contact the box office for refunds or exchanges.
All of our performers, technicians, and staff members are required to be fully vaccinated. Additionally, they are participating in an active testing regimen to keep everyone as safe as possible.
HERE reserves the right to revise protocols as the rate of transmission changes and in light of new scientific data that may present itself.
Fri at 7:00 pm
Sat at 2:00 pm
Sun at 2:00 pm
We understand the extreme challenges that our current financial climate presents. No matter your socioeconomic status, we want everyone to have access to groundbreaking art. There are ten tickets priced at $10 available for each performance on a first-come, first-served basis, for those in need of financial assistance. These tickets are available with the code ACCESS. Limit two tickets per patron. Subject to availability.
Runtime: 60 minutes, no intermission
About the artists:
Emma Wiseman (Puppetry Designer) is an artist interested in puppets and objects. As a puppeteer, puppetry designer, consultant, and collaborator, she has worked for and with Dan Hurlin, Jeanette Yew, Robin Frohardt, Sachiyo Takahashi, Nick Lehane, Derek Fourdjour, Alex Da Corte, the Kennedy Center, Swoon, CO/LAB Theater Group, and David Neumann, among others. Emma’s original work looks at relationships between humans and our spaces and objects, especially those that are considered boring or mundane. She and playwright Emily Zemba recently adapted their office supply puppet piece, Out Of Office, into a short film, which was an official selection of the Chattanooga Film Festival. Emma documents examples of particularly depressing plants in the built environment through the Instagram account @sad._.plants. emmawiseman.me
Andrew Murdock (Video and Projections Designer) is a designer, director, and performer. His work often bridges the tangible and digital by utilizing techniques in video, physical theatre, and puppetry. He holds a BFA dual major in Sculpture and Film, Animation, and Video (FAV) from RISD and an MFA in Theatre from Sarah Lawrence College. His work has been seen at New Ohio, La MaMa, Dixon Place, The Center at West Park, The Brick, and The Japan Society. Recent credits: video design for Embodied, created/directed by Jaime Sunwoo (New Ohio Theater, NYC), Creator, Performer and Designer of original production The Monarch Report (Recovery Lounge, Upper Jay, NY), and the Lead Designer at the 35th annual Children’s Circus of Middletown (Oddfellows Playhouse, Middletown, CT) Instagram: @amurdock_projects Website: www.AndrewMurdock.com
Vinny Mraz (Set Designer) is a playwright, teaching artist, and theatermaker in NYC. His work has been seen at the New Ohio, Object Movement Festival, The Tank, Dixon Place, Andy’s Summer Playhouse, Little Theater, The Dallas Solo Festival, Harlem Nights, the Secret Theater, New Short Play Festival, the PIT Solocom, and Sarah Lawrence College. From 2018 to 2019, he was an Artist in Residence with the Object Movement Festival where he developed an original puppetry piece called You Can See Nothing From Here, along with collaborator Chris Carcione. He is a 2022-2023 NYSCA Individual Artist Grant recipient and Arts Council for Wyoming County mini-grant recipient for his upcoming Dairy Farmer Project to be presented by Shake on the Lake in 2023. As a teaching artist, he has spent the last six years working with senior citizens in writing workshops, acting classes, and developing original show revues in senior centers and public libraries. He was a 2019 Artist-In-Residence for the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council’s Su Casa program. He is a teaching artist with Rehabilitation Through the Arts. He works with Lifetime Arts as a trainer where he leads workshops and seminars for artists and administrators on Creative Aging. He is an adjunct professor of theater at Manhattanville College. He studied theater at Sarah Lawrence College, where he got his MFA; Emerson College; The Kenyon College Playwriting Institute; the Cherry Lane Theater School; and The Second City in Chicago. www.vmraz.com
Dorian Lake (Sound Designer) is a vocalist, percussionist, composer, and arranger with broad experience in many styles, forms, and genres of music. His compositions range from popular songs for jazz and rock bands to works for concert band, choir, and solo voice. He has performed in major operatic works (such as Figaro in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro and Uberto in Pergolesi’s La Serva Padrona), in musicals (including two productions of Hair, both playing as Hud) and on the concert stage (such as solos in both the Brahms’ and Durufle’s Requiems), among many other performances. His wide range of interests and abilities have led to performances in divergent venues, from Carnegie Hall, the New Jersey Performance Art Center, and St. Patrick’s Cathedral to B.B. King’s, The Bitter End, and the former CBGB’s, as well as in tours all over the East Coast, Germany, Austria, Spain, and Costa Rica.
Collin Meath (Co-Teaching Artist and Director) is an actor, producer, and teaching artist based in Brooklyn, NY. Selected TV and film credits include Phinny Sears on Steven Soderbergh’s The Knick; Law and Order: SVU, The Blacklist, and the upcoming Gladiator: American Sports Story from EP Ryan Murphy, as well as the award-winning indie feature Ovum. Appearances onstage: Alabama Shakespeare Festival and Labyrinth Theatre Company. In addition to acting, he spends a lot of time on the other side of the camera, making movies with the incredible team at Keep or Destroy Productions. With a focus on projects that tell important stories, he approaches his work as a producer with a unique, DIY style and thrives on creative problem-solving. As a teaching artist, he’s proud to create theater with a variety of populations, including students in the NYC public school system, with CO/LAB Theater Group, and in various film and improv programs across the city. He’s an avid dog lover and dog dad to a rescue dachshund mix named Lionel.
Jing Dong (Co-Teaching Artist and Director) is a theatremaker focusing on creating research- and community-based interdisciplinary performances. She believes that theatre is a space for people to gather, share, and imagine a collective future. Jing developed her artistry in ensemble settings by taking multiple roles. She has initiated projects on the Lower East Side that investigate personal memories and social-historical context, and promote social justice and the well-being of community members. She was a 2019-20 Artist-In-Residence at University Settlement and an LMCC Creative Engagement Grantee in 2020-21.