Photography — Irene Lazaridis

A Brief Intermission Featuring Freestyle Love Supreme

The Public’s “A Brief Intermission”
Featuring Freestyle Love Supreme
Line Produced by Irene Lazaridis
Sept 6, 2023
The Delacorte Theatre
New York, NY

Celebrating the Delacorte Theatre’s 61-year history and upcoming revitalization, the evening featured the Tony-winning hip-hop, improv, musical comedy group Freestyle Love Supreme, conceived by Anthony Veneziale and created by Thomas Kail, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and Veneziale.

This one-night-only benefit performance by FREESTYLE LOVE SUPREME featured special guests Christopher Jackson aka "C-Jack" and creator Lin-Manuel Miranda aka "Lin-Man."

The cast included Utkarsh Ambudkar aka "UTK the INC," Andrew Bancroft aka "Jelly Donut," Richard Baskin aka "Rich Midway," Aneesa Folds aka "Young Nees," James Monroe Iglehart aka "J-Soul," Kaila Mullady aka "Kaiser Rözé," Bill Sherman aka "King Sherman," Chris Sullivan aka "Shockwave," and Anthony Veneziale aka "Two Touch."

Photo by Joan Marcus (c)

Postcards From

A unique art gallery experience by Sharone Halevy
Produced by Irene Lazaridis

April 12-29, 2023
St. John’s Lutheran Church
Greenpoint, BK

Having spent the summers of 2021 and 2022 in the north of Iceland and the southwest of Finland respectively, Sharone created three new bodies of work through residencies of thoughtful isolation and deep reflection. This gave Sharone a new appreciation for artistic and personal solitude, where she was able to explore these concepts through her paintings.

Postcards From is a multi-sensory exhibition that shares the paintings and photography created in both countries and the processes that led to their creation.

With paintings hung in the sanctuary of St. John’s Lutheran Church in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, audiences will be able to delve into the visual details of each work with an audio component narrated by Sharone.

Sharone Halevy is a New York City commission-based abstract expressionist. Her paintings are influenced by her and her clients' stories, inspirations, and hopes. Sound is foundational to Sharone’s process, so when creating a commission, she collaborates with her clients to provide music which informs the paintings she creates. Sharone is now creating work for clients all over the world: from New York to LA, Israel, London, Canada, South Africa, and Australia. Her work has been created live for audiences during original performance piece UNTITLED ’54 about the life of Helen Frankenthaler which was in residence at The New Ohio Theater as well live painting as various weddings in which she captured the heart and energy of the day at venues such as Handsome Hollow and The Kester Homestead. WOMXN IN POWER, Sharone’s original sketch series, was exhibited at the 14th Street Y in Manhattan. Her paintings have also been exhibited in the New York Art Fair, Teal Canvas, Gallery 104 in SoHo. As well as having created murals and collaborations for locations like Joe’s Coffee, Brooklyn Grange, The Ellington, Playwrights Horizons Downtown, Hosh Yoga, West Elm and more. www.artbysharone.com

Postcards From is created by Sharone Halevy with the production of the installation supported by Alek Deva, Irene Lazaridis, Mariah Leath, Ryan Ward. Presented at St. John’s Lutheran Church.

Photo by Paul Mandelbaum

Cosmic Cherry 2023

Produced by Make/Shift & This Is Akin
Lead Produced by Irene Lazaridis, Ruthie Ofrasio and Lizzy Jarrett

Feb 16-18, 2023
Parkside Lounge
New York, NY

An annual, all-inclusive celebration of femininity and gender nonconformity featuring the work of dozens of femme and genderqueer artists. This festival blends the magical creative energy our artists bring with a powerful punch of bad*ssery. This festival is meant to make our audiences feel sexy, empowered, and full of that cosmic creative goodness. These works include writing (film, theatre, narrative, poetry), performance art, visual art, video, movement, music, and comedy.

Photography by Joseph O’Malley
Photo features the band Granite Garden

HYPERFANTASIA & UNDERWORLD

By Tiresias the Oracle aka Evan Silver
Co-Produced by Irene Lazaridis & Evan Silver
2021-2022

Various venues throughout New York City including The Brick, The Tank, Ars Nova, 3Dollar Bill, and Purgatory

HYPERFANTASIA is a sci-fi fantasy drag cabaret about the proliferation of matter in the universe and life on planet Earth. Featuring original music and projections, this miniature epic draws on new evolutionary theories and ancient queer wisdom to dismantle the survival-of-the-fittest paradigm toward an ethic of abundance and extravagance. Hosted by Tiresias, the blind prophet of the Underworld, HYPERFANTASIA includes a reenactment of the Big Bang as a celestial orgasm, a heartfelt ode to our prehistoric unicellular bacterial ancestors, and a dance choreographed using movements of birds-of-paradise during mating rituals. With special guest performances by Pixel the Drag Jester, C'était BonTemps, Will Atkins, Tallulah Talons, Esther, Mizuho Kappa, J'royce Jata, Hodo Alien, Iodine Quartz, and Senerio.

UNDERWORLD is a chaotic nighttime spectacle and ritual celebration featuring weird and wild performance work inspired by myths, legends, folktales, and fairytales. Hosted by Tiresias, shapeshifting songbard oracle of the Underworld, the extravaganza will feature a menagerie of chthonic entities from Mothra to Mother Earth. Run amok with masked phantoms, puppet apparitions, mystic spirits, and drag monstrosities, UNDERWORLD is a Dionysian danse macabre you won’t live to forget.

Tiresias is the high priestess and prophet of the Underworld, serving queer visions for ecstatic new futures. Tiresias is the cosmogenic spawn of Evan Silver, a hybrid writer, director, composer and performer staging celestial encounters across theatre, music, video, and the literary arts. Raised in the vibrant city of Chicago by a banjo-playing printmaker and an architect, they developed a passion for multimedia storytelling from an early age. Tiresias gravitates toward stories of journey and transformation, drawing on ancient and contemporary myths, tales, tropes and archetypes to fabulate new ways of being and becoming in the world. They are fascinated by birds, gods, strangers, and the living universe, and have written and directed fifteen original theatre productions on three continents.

Featured press includes CultureBot, Greenpointers, and Thotyssey

Photo features Evan Silver as Tiresias

Secret's Out

Produced by Super Secret Arts
Lead Produced by Irene Lazaridis

June 23-25, 2023
Super Secret Arts
Gowanus, BK

SECRET'S OUT is a celebratory weekend of art and performance by and for the LGBTQ+ community during NYC Pride. This fabulous three day festival will cater to a broad spectrum of the LGBTQ+ community, featuring an exciting line up with a wide array of performances each night. The festival featured Catburet by Gemma Smith, Daphne Always & Friends, THEMME, Granite Garden, and Klondyke.

Photo by Sam Vartholomeos
Photo Features THEMME

Cosmic Cherry 2022

Produced by Make/Shift, This Is AKIN, and Super Secret Arts
Lead Produced by Irene Lazaridis & Ruthie Ofrasio

Feb 28-Mar 5, 2022
Super Secret Arts
New York, NY

An annual, all-inclusive celebration of femininity and gender nonconformity featuring the work of dozens of femme and genderqueer artists. This festival blends the magical creative energy our artists bring with a powerful punch of bad*ssery. This festival is meant to make our audiences feel sexy, empowered, and full of that cosmic creative goodness. These works include writing (film, theatre, narrative, poetry), performance art, visual art, video, movement, music, and comedy.

Photography by Joseph O’Malley
Photo features Michelle Kairuki as Curiosity Rover and Jack Peterson as Alien in Laura Galindo’s Happy Birthday, Curiosity Rover

Twelfth Night

By William Shakespeare
Directed by Irene Lazaridis
Aug 6-22, 2022

O’Hara Nature Center
Irvington, NY

Illyria is a magical world in which nothing is as it seems — and where love shows itself in a myriad of ways. This brand new, 90-minute, outdoor production of Twelfth Night highlights the rich history of Irvington through a genderqueer lens. Featuring a female-led creative team and live music from a Rip Van Winkle-inspired Feste, this tale of love, self-discovery, and survival hopes to spread a message of inclusivity.

Featuring: Dani Palmer (Olivia), Kat Quinones (Viola), Stephanie Moreno (Maria/Antonio), Sophia Metcalf (Feste), Sage Newman (Sebastian), Jack Saleeby (Orsini), Kamran Saliani (Malvolio)

Costume Design by Grace Jeon

Featured press includes The Hudson Independent, The Rivertowns Enterprise, I Love New York, The Scarsedale Inquirer, Broadway World, Rivertowns Patch and the River Journal.

Produced by Irvington Shakespeare Company, Irvington Theater, and Make/Shift

Photography by Nik Bucci
Photo features Kat Quinones and Dani Palmer

The House Our Families Built

A public art installation featured as part of PBS American Portraits.

The House Our Families Built was conceived and orchestrated by Caledonia Curry.

Performances developed by Jeff Stark and Irene Lazaridis.

Project management by Marshall LaCount, with fabrication by Orien McNeill and Zack Tucker.

Jan 31-Feb 28, 2021 in New York City

Caledonia Curry whose work appears under the name Swoon, uses intricate cutaways, painting, and performance to build a world that blends reality and wonder. As a roving, mobile sculpture, The House Our Families Built asks viewers to consider the legacy of ancestral histories - whether through traditions, trauma, or repeated narratives - and the ways in which they inform how we understand and talk about ourselves. Curry and her long-time collaborator, Jeff Stark selected a diverse range of stories to express through this sculptural work. These stories have been shaped into a 15 minute performance that transitions through emotions from humor to fear, tenderness to confrontation, encouraging people to ask where they’ve come from and what they can leave behind.

Featured press includes news12, wNYC, and the New York Times!

Cast includes: Annabel Capper, Oghenero Gbaje, Whitney McIntosh Joseph, Samy Nour Younes Figaredo, and Regina Ohashi.

Produced by PBS and Radical Media

Photography by Walter Wlodarczyk

Take Care

A new play by Austin Riley
With original music & lyrics by Cameron Noble
Directed by Irene Lazaridis

Dec 11-15, 2019
The Tank
New York, NY

Set to the acoustic music of Cameron Noble, Take Care jumps from present to past and back again as we piece together a broken relationship two lovers may never recover. Riley's witty writing guides us through this familiar tragedy and encourages us to believe in new beginnings. Noble's original music and lyrics convey the complicated truth that we've all experienced: love sucks (sometimes). Through the unraveling of their relationship, R and J learn that their love for each other might not necessarily mean that they are meant to be together.

Featuring Oscar Klausner as R and Sara Ornelas as J

Produced by Make/Shift, in association with The Tank
Photography by Kamran Saliani

June July August

A new play by Sinead Daly 
Directed by Heather Lanza
Lead Produced by Irene Lazaridis
Commissioned and Produced by Waterwell Drama Program

Apr 10-13, 2019
 Professional Performing Arts School 
New York, NY

June July August is a coming-of-age story set in the Junior Counselor Bunk at an all-girls summer camp that explores critical moments of no-turning-back that these teenagers experience as they transition from childhood to adulthood. The play explores the strength and resiliency of teenage girls, and how the layered relationships play out between them as they test their ideas of who they are and who they are becoming. The production is part of an annual commission by Waterwell that is written specifically for the actors in their senior year at the PPAS drama program.

The cast features the Waterwell Drama Program Students: Michelle Baum, Abigail Cooley, Melisa Escamilla, Andre Gulick, Skylar Harbour, Alexyss Hadden, Imani Hinnant, Jada Jackson, Eliza Koster, Victoria Morales, Arielle Moses, Fatou Niang, Thomas Padden, Ava Patino, Andrea Perez Espinoza, Violet Prete, Noa Solomon, Madai Williams, Miguel Batista, and Jasper Newell.

The production has scenic design by Bryce Cutler, costume design by Deanna R. Frieman, lighting design by Megan Lang, sound design by Ben Scheff, and prop design by Sonya Plenefisch.  

Photography by Ryan Jensen

Machinal

By Sophie Treadwell
Directed by Irene Lazaridis

Nov 14-18, 2018
Professional Performing Arts School
New York, NY

This 1928 play tells the deeply chilling story of a young woman’s inability to submit to the life path that society has laid out for her. When she decides to take her life into her own hands, the “machine” will stop at nothing to get her to submit to the very end.

Featuring the Waterwell Drama Class of 2020

Produced by Waterwell

Photography by Ryan Jensen
Photo features Jasper Newell as Husband & Sara Arce as Young Woman

The Clark Doll

New York City Premiere Production
Written by Liz Morgan
Directed by Tyler Thomas

Produced by Make/Shift & This Is Akin for SHE Creates 2019
Lead Produced by Irene Lazaridis

Feb 19-24, 2019
New Ohio Theater

Featuring Shelley Fort, Marion Grey, TanyaMaria

Stage Managed by Madison Burnes

Designed by Isabel Le (Scenic), Rashidah Nelson (Costumes), Attilio Rigotti (LX/Video), Christopher Stevenson (Sound), Karina Hyland (Assistant Designer)

Photo by Sam Vartholomeos
Photo Features Marion Grey

SHE Creates

Produced by Make/Shift, in association with This Is AKIN
Experiential Direction & Production Management by Irene Lazaridis

Feb 19-24, 2019
The New Ohio Theater

A week-long, all-inclusive celebration of womanhood and gender nonconformity featuring the work of dozens of female and gender-queer artists.

Photography by Sam Vartholomeos

Photo features artwork by Arlen Vanderline & Alexios Salas with Artcepted

Find the Fireflies

Experiential Design & Direction by Mikhael Tara Garver
Associate Direction & Production Management by Irene Lazaridis

July 14, 2018
Warwick, NY

Tentrr presents Find The Fireflies, a one-time-only immersive experience based on our mission to make surprising and delightful outdoor experiences. Find the Fireflies is designed by Mikhael Tara Garver and MTG Experiences.

Photography by Ted Maniatakos
Photo features Monica Rae Summers Gonzalez

As We Let Go

A new play by Claudia Rivera
Directed by Irene Lazaridis

Jun 29-Jul 1, 2018
The Baumann
41 Varick Ave New York, NY

Two women from different countries come to New York to follow their dreams. As their paths cross, they must come to terms with who they were and who they are now. Crazy, how a person can change your life forever.

CAST:
Damla | Merih Dilber
Gabriela | Claudia Rivera

CREATIVE TEAM:
Stage Manager | Victoria Preis

Produced by Make/Shift & Spiral Productions

Photography by Alejandra Rivera

Inherit the Wind

Written by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee
Directed by Irene Lazaridis

Jun 8-9, 2018
The Professional Performing Arts School
New York, NY

One of the most outstanding dramas of our time, Inherit The Wind is a courtroom drama based on the Scope Monkey Trial. When a science teacher is arrested for teaching evolution in a Bible Belt school, two lawyers will come head to head on religion, science and the right to be an independent, free thinker in America.

Featuring the Waterwell Theatrical Arts Class of 2018

Produced by the Waterwell Drama Program, Manhattan Youth & Professional Performing Arts School

Photography by Ryan Jensen Photography
Photo Features Katelynn Kennedy Staggs, Robert Dakwar, Anya Jimenez, Josh Feldman, & Greg Papadopoulos

The Cult Play

A New Play by Topher Cusumano
Directed by Irene Lazaridis

Jan 27-Feb 17, 2018
The Paradise Factory
New York, NY

Mama Pearl, an enigmatic woman with mystical powers and leader of a strange religion, fears she’s losing control after the defection of a longtime follower. In order to keep her parishioner’s belief, Mama Pearl prophesizes the second coming of their Goddess. Now she’ll do anything to make her great vision of the future a reality.

REVIEWS:

"The uncluttered terrain is aesthetically utilized by director Irene Lazaridis whose vigorous staging injects visual splendor, ever present liveliness and clarity to the production. -Theaterscene.net: The Cult Play

"The Cult Play provides a tragic view of life in a cult without shaming any of its characters. Cusumano and Lazaridis treat these characters with care so that they don’t turn into the kind of caricatures audiences have come to expect." -Theater is Easy: The Cult Play

"For the audience it's not a question of IF something wicked this way is coming. It's a question of WHEN." -Lavender After Dark: Cult of Clashing Personalities

"Director Irene Lazaridis maintains her company’s inspiration in playwright Cusumano’s bludgeon of a story. She uses her tight space wonderfully well and wisely, makes instant utility of Attilio Rigotti’s clever projections, of choreographer Madelyn Sher’s cult infused movement, Kevin McGuire’s fight direction, Debbi Hobson’s evocative costumes. Thus, in this small space is a large concept, complete fulfillment of their theme for the current Phoenix Theatre Ensemble’s season: Charismatics, their magic and their danger."- Eugene Paul, Rockland Review

Produced by the Phoenix Theatre Ensemble

Photography by Gerry Goodstein

Lola

A New Play by Niko Crawford
Directed by Irene Lazaridis

March 28-31, 2017
Studio Theater
721 Broadway, New York, NY

Lola - grandmother in Tagalog (term of address and reference)
Pasensya ka na. Ang tagalog ko ay mali.

CAST:
Lola | Chelsea Barker
Asuncion | Ruthie Ofrasio
Aron | Zach Lusk
Isabela | Gabriela Llarena

Presented by Playwrights Horizons Downtown

Photography by Sam Vartholomeos

Reindeer Games

A New Play by Jenna Rush
Directed by Irene Lazaridis

April 14-16, 2016
Studio Theater
721 Broadway, New York, NY

Penny Pickles gets the opportunity of a lifetime: to be the first dog to fly Santa's sleigh. But she doesn't quite fit in at the North Pole...

Presented by Playwrights Horizons Downtown

Photography by Sam Vartholomeos

Danny and the Deep Blue Sea

By John Patrick Shanley
Directed by Irene Lazaridis

Dec 3-5, 2015
Studio Theater
721 Broadway, New York, NY

An Apache Dance is a violent dance for two people, originated by the Parisian apaches. Parisian apaches are gangsters or ruffians.

"It could all be so simple. But you'd rather make it hard. Loving you is like a battle. And we both end up with scars. Tell me, who I have to be. To get some reciprocity. No one loves you more than me. And no one ever will." - Lauryn Hill

Two people meet in a bar.

CAST:
Roberta | Samantha Rose Hosi
Danny | Ethan Jovanovic

Presented by Playwrights Horizons Downtown

Photography by Sam Vartholomeos

Antigone

By Jean Anouilh
Directed By Irene Lazaridis

Aug 13-16, 2015
The Tank Theater
151 W 46th Street, New York, NY

Antigone is thinking: she is going to die. She would much rather live than die. But there is no help for it. When your name is Antigone, there is only one part you can play; and she will have to play hers through to the end.

Set in Baltimore, Maryland

Presented by Young Gotham Arts and the Tank

Dance of Zalongo

Devised By Irene Lazaridis
Produced By 9 Course Meal Festival

Apr 18-19, 2015
Robert Moss Theater
440 Lafayette St, New York, NY

When a group of Souliote women were trapped at the edge of a mountain on December 16, 1803 by a group of Ottoman soldiers intent on enslaving them, the women must make a choice: to surrender to the enemy or dance to their deaths. A devised piece based on the true story, the play explores their journey to find freedom and what it means to have a choice.

Presented by Playwrights Horizons Downtown

Photography by Sam Vartholomeos

Sinking Bloom

By Oscar Klausner
Directed By Irene Lazaridis

Jul 24-27, 2014
The Access Theater
380 Broadway, New York, NY

Sinking Bloom is a devised solo performance about a young man determined to explore the inner workings of his mind in order to achieve his creative potential. With poetic rhythms, philosophical inquiries, and lots of chalk, Oscar takes you on an adventure of mental exploration.

Cast:
Oscar | Oscar Klausner

Creative Team:
Lighting Designer | Matt Kresch
Sound Designer | Jamie Rosenfeld

Produced by Young Gotham Arts

Photography by Nia Ashley and Irene Lazaridis

A Brief Intermission Featuring Freestyle Love Supreme

Postcards From

Cosmic Cherry 2023

HYPERFANTASIA & UNDERWORLD

Secret's Out

Cosmic Cherry 2022

Twelfth Night

The House Our Families Built

Take Care

June July August

Machinal

The Clark Doll

SHE Creates

Find the Fireflies

As We Let Go

Inherit the Wind

The Cult Play

Lola

Reindeer Games

Danny and the Deep Blue Sea

Antigone

Dance of Zalongo

Sinking Bloom

Projects