In 1965 James Baldwin and William F. Buckley, Jr. were invited to The Cambridge University Union to debate the resolution “The American Dream is at the Expense of The American Negro.” ERS re-creates their profoundly relevant confrontation in a work-in-progress showing of Baldwin and Buckley at Cambridge. Special thanks to Aaron Landsman and April Matthis for dramaturgical support.
John Collins (Director, he/him) founded Elevator Repair Service in 1991. Since then he has directed or co-directed all of the company’s productions while also serving as the company’s Artistic Director. ERS productions directed by John include Cab Legs (1997), Room Tone (2002), Gatz (2006), The Select (2011), Arguendo (2013), and fifteen others. The company’s work, under his direction, has been seen in over a dozen countries as well as in cities across the U.S. John is an experienced sound designer and has worked for Richard Foreman, Target Margin Theater, and others. He worked as a designer and technician for The Wooster Group from 1993 until 2008. Current projects include Baldwin and Buckley at Cambridge, a new adaptation of Chekhov’s The Seagull, and a new project based on James Joyce’s Ulysses. He is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, a United States Artists Fellowship, and a Doris Duke Performing Artist Award.
Maurina Lioce (Stage Manager, she/her) has worked with ERS on The Sound and the Fury; Arguendo; The Select (The Sun Also Rises) (tours); Gatz (tours); Fondly, Collette Richland; Measure for Measure, and Everyone’s Fine with Virginia Woolf. Other New York City Stage Management credits include Half Straddle, Adrienne Truscott, Jim Findlay, David Byrne, Sibyl Kempson’s 7 Daughters of Eve Theater & Performance Co., Andrew Ondrejcak, Mike Iveson, Erin Markey, Suzanne Bocanegra, and Young Jean Lee. She has been a member of Elevator Repair Service since 2014.
Gavin Price (Performer, he/him) has performed with ERS in Gatz; Everyone’s Fine with Virginia Woolf; Measure for Measure; The Select (the Sun Also Rises); The Sound and the Fury; Arguendo; Fondly, Collette Richland, and A Sort of Joy (MoMA). His other projects include the award-winning short film Boccamazzo Construction; The Return of Adam (Metropolitan Museum of Art); XX-ID (New Museum); Merce Cunningham Retrospective (MCA); Saint Fortune, co-founder. He has also performed and designed with CabinFever, Sibyl Kempson, Moises Kaufman, Mabou Mines, and Target Margin. From 2011-2014, he was Production Manager for Face the Music, the country’s only youth orchestra devoted to music by living composers. In 2016 he was awarded the New Music USA grant to record CabinFever’s companion album for MCA’s Merce Cunningham retrospective Common Time. Listen to his bands on Spotify & iTunes: The Witch Ones, The Tender Band, Black Elk Speaks, Cabin Fever.
Greig Sargeant (Performer, he/him) NYTW: Bonnie’s Last Flight, Fondly, Collette Richland, The Little Foxes, The Sound and the Fury. The Public Theater: Measure for Measure, The Sound and the Fury. The Vineyard Theater: Strictly Dishonorable. BAM/Next Wave Festival: The Parable Conference. Baryshnikov Arts Center: Go Forth/Please Bury Me. ERS: Gatz. Target Margin: Uncle Vanya. Regional: The Walker Arts Center, RedCat, Axial Theater, Johnny Carson Theater, Montclair State Theater, The Spoleto Festival. International: Culturegest – Lisbon, Vienna Festival, Amsterdam Festival, Adelaide Festival. Film: The Bad Infinity dir. by Graham Sack. Company Member: Target Margin Theater, Elevator Repair Service. Training: West Virginia University (MFA), William Esper.
Christopher-Rashee Stevenson (Performer, he/him) is a theater artist from Baltimore, Maryland. A current SUITE/SPACE (’20-’21) artist at Mabou Mines and an alum of Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab ‘18. His work as director and performer has been featured at The Performing Garage, The Tank, JACK, HERE Arts Center, The Actor’s Studio, American Repertory Theater, Millennium Film Workshop, Lincoln Center Education, LaMaMa, and the Eubie Blake Jazz Institute. He is currently working on a post-COVID chamber version of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, as well as an Afro-futurist mash-up on the vampire genre using everything from Stoker’s Dracula, Bill Gunn’s Ganja & Hess to Octavia E. Butler’s Fledgling, a piece on blood & survival.
