PROGRAM 4

Program #4* (4th Floor)

Just a Yellow Cab in New York City by Youlim Nam

Potholes by Luisa Tanno

Table by Kayla Hense

Where Voices Linger by Jeremy Rafal

*Shows in this block include Equity Members appearing with permission of Actor’s Equity Association without benefit of an Equity contract in this off-off Broadway production.

Cady McClain (Director) Directing credits include Paint Made Flesh by Howard Meyer at The Cell in New York City (with support from Sothebys); Never the Sinner by John Logan at Bethany Arts Community, Census by Susan Miller for the Glass Ceiling Breakers Festival and multiple staged readings for Axial Theatre including Danny and the Deep Blue Sea by Advisory Board Member John Patrick Shanley. Film: Seeing is Believing: Women Direct - Jury Award Newport Beach Film Festival, Audience Award for a Feature Film at the SOHO Film Festival, Best Documentary Pro-Action at the Artemis Women in Action Film Festival. Official Selection - St Louis Film Festival, Heartland Film Festival, Oxford Film Festival, Sedona Film Festival, and High Falls Film Festival. Short films: Burnt Feathers, Broken Wings Winner - Best Film, Best Ensemble, Best Screenplay at the Paramount Studios KITS Movie Awards, Best Impact Film: Santa Fe Film Festival, Best Short Documentary: Mystic Film Festival); The World of Albert Fuh (Best Comedy Drama Short at the Indie Gathering Festival, Honorable Mention for Best Director by the Los Angeles Film Review, Honorable Mention from the SaMo Indie Film Fest). Web Series: Venice the Series by Crystal Chappelle (two Emmy nominations) and Switch by Stavroula Toska starring Olympia Dukakis (Winner Best Pilot - Santa Fe Film Festival, Official Selection Hollyshorts, Dances with Pilots, and more). 

Youlim Nam (Playwright, Regina) is a Brooklyn-based actor and playwright from Seoul, Korea. Her works have been produced off-off-Broadway, including the experimental play a connected place at the Gene Frankel Theater, and was showcased in the Dramatists Guild's Friday Night Footlights® Program directed by Emmy-winner Cady McClain. As an actor, she performed in Never the Sinner, directed by McClain, with Axial Theatre, where she is an ensemble member, and appeared in numerous independent theater productions and films. She is a member of AEA and the Dramatists Guild, integrating postmodernist techniques like Six Viewpoints to explore innovative theater forms. You can see more of her work on youlimnam.com.

Hari Bhaskar (The Cab Driver) is a South Asian actor who has been residing in New York City since 2021. He graduated from the Stella Adler Professional Conservatory in 2022, and has done a variety of projects in theatre and film, in addition to numerous commercials. Notable works include Disgraced (Stella Adler Professional Conservatory), Comedy of Errors (Hip to Hip Theatre Company) and Love's Labour's Lost (Theatre 315: The Salvation Army) to name a few. You can follow his work on Instagram @bhaskarettan. 

Mike Boland* (Chris) is excited to perform Potholes for the Chain audiences. BROADWAY - An Enemy of the People; OFF-BROADWAY – The Orphans’ Home Cycle; NATIONAL TOURS - Twelve Angry Men, West Side Story; REGIONAL – Hartford Stage, Yale Rep, Playhouse on Park, ACT of CT, Stonc, MTC, Ivoryton, Westchester Broadway, Fulton, Judson, Engeman, Coastal Carolina and many others. AWARDS – Drama Desk (2010). TV – The Blacklist (recurring), FBI, Person of Interest, Zero Hour, Rubicon. Mike’s feature screenplay Yo Andrea is a winner of the Milan Indie Film Festival (2024), Southwest Film Festival (2024), 4theatre Film Festival (2024) and Miami Screenplay Awards (2023).

Elizabeth Simmons* (Tracy) is excited to be back at the Chain Theatre for Potholes. She was also in GoodBadUgly by Robyne Parrish in the one act play festival at the Chain. Previously she was nominated for a New York Innovative Theatre Award for her two woman show David's RedHaired Death. Select regional credits: The Miracle Worker/And Then There Were None (Judson Theatre Company) Sexy Laundry (Millbrook Playhouse), The Diary of Anne Frank (Playhouse on Park), To Kill A Mockingbird (Queen's Theatre in the Park) Brighton Beach Memoirs (Broward Stage Door Theatre) BFA Acting Point Park University/Pittsburgh Playhouse. MS Ed. Theatre CUNY City College of New York.

Andrea Lynn Green (Director) is delighted to make her Chain Theatre directing debut! This past fall, Andrea directed a concert staged reading of Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, for Theatre Artists Workshop, and has directed several plays for the Workshop since 2019. Andrea is co-artistic director of Greenwich Theatre Company where she directed A Christmas Memory (digital production) which was named one of the best professional productions in 2021 by late Connecticut Critics Circle member Jim Ruocco. Notable acting credits include Broadway: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? directed by Joe Mantello, several top regional theatres, T.V. and film.

Bryan Garbe (Original Score) is a composer and multi-instrumentalist specializing in drums, percussion, and steel pan. He has toured globally, recorded with Grammy-winning artists, and performed at renowned venues such as Madison Square Garden. Through his project, CASTOFF, Bryan composes for film and TV, blending creative steel pan with modern production. He is the winner of the 2023 BMI Pete Carpenter Fellowship and the selected composer for the 2024 ASCAP/Columbia Film Scoring Workshop. https://www.castoffmusic.com/

Luisa Tanno (Playwright) is writer of plays, songs, and personal essays. She is a member of Theatre Artists Workshop and has a BFA in Musical Theater from The New School, which she is proud to have earned at age 50. Luisa is a performing singer/songwriter with the acoustic duo Twice Around and has co-produced three CDs of original music. She is a teacher of joyful dance classes, a choreographer, and a yoga instructor and movement coach. She is always seeking to cultivate inspiration and finds it endlessly in theatre, and in the people around her.

* Equity Member appearing with permission of Actors’ Equity Association without benefit of an Equity contract in this Off-Off Broadway production. Equity Approved Showcase.

Kayla Hense (Playwright/Woman) is a writer and actor based in New York. After studying philosophy and art history at school, she trained at the Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute and has additionally attended various acting workshops under instructors from the Royal Shakespeare Company and Juilliard. As a writer, she has been published in online magazines and literary journals. Her play, Pastiche, premiered at the Chain Theatre’s 2024 Summer One-Act Festival in New York. As an actor, this will be her New York stage debut. She is immeasurably grateful to the cast and director, as well as the Chain Theatre, for making this production possible.

Megan Billings (Director) is an actress-singer-dancer in NYC. Previous credits include The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Titanic, The Music Man, The Polar Express, and Magic-A Ballroom Musical. www.meganbillings.com

Andrew Boszhardt (Host) is an actor, writer and producer primarily known for his work in independent film. Most notably, he wrote, produced, and starred in the psychological thriller Breed of Greed alongside Gina Gershon and Adrian Enscoe, which will be released this year. This past fall, he had his Off-Broadway debut in The Resurrection at the American Theatre of Actors. After working on such a heavy, dramatic play (The Resurrection is about the 1921 Tulsa race riot), he is excited to exercise his comedy chops in Table. 

Teddy Fischer (Guest) is a Brooklyn-based actor and comedian. Recent theater: New Oleanna (Whale Watch Reading Series), Three Sisters (Columbia University), On Secrets (Columbia University), Bread of Life (UP Theater Company). Recent film: Madame Mayor (NYU), One Night Only (Quinnipiac), Dark Limbo (Cinescape Pictures), The Glorbis (Rutgers). Teddy performs stand-up comedy nightly throughout NYC and is an ensemble member at The People's Improv Theatre. 

David Boldt (Man) fell in love with acting at Cornell where he performed in three plays including Man and Superman starring Jimmy Smits. His life took another direction, however, and he packed himself off to Southern Seminary where he was ordained in Louisville, pastored a church, performed three weddings and two funerals (all of whom are still married or dead) and got his Master of Divinity. When he returned to NYC, he studied with Michael Howard among others and did every Off and Off-Off Broadway play he could. He got married, opened an UES bar then sold it, became a NYC Teaching Fellow, taught fifth grade in Bed Stuy, had a daughter, got his master's in education and became the President of a small nursing school. Now retired and with his daughter thriving at college, his time to act has come. 

Jeremy Rafal (playwright) is a multi-faceted artist based in New York. Born in the Philippines and raised in Hawaii, Rafal's creative pursuits span writing, acting, music, filmmaking, and education. His playwriting credits include The Boy from Bantay (FringeNYC, Flying Solo Festival), Funhouse Funk (NY Theater Fest, Decent Company), and Waiting (Take 10 Fest). His current play Where Voices Linger was recently awarded third runner up out of 169 submissions at Kinsman Quarterly’s Holiday Playwright Contest. As a screenwriter, Jeremy’s film "Exit 15" garnered awards for Best Short Film and Best Screenplay at the Southeast Asian Film Festival and has earned official selection status at the SOHO International Film Festival, HAAPI Fest, and the All-Asian Independent Film Festival.

Dennis Yueh-Yeh Li (director) His works explore sexuality, power structure and diaspora experiences, culminating often in devised, immersive and participatory theatre which allows audiences to not only learn but experience stories. Dennis is especially interested in adapting rarely produced modern classics by connecting them with current socio political phenomenon and issues. His directorial portfolio spans across plays, musical theatre, dance theatre and opera. Dennis earned his MA in Performance Studies, New York University. Dennis is an alumnus of the New York Directing Fellowship of Drama League and the Institute Fellowship of Target Margin Theater. Dennis is also a member of Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab. Dennis worked with The Living Theatre and is one of the founding members of Al Límite Collective. Currently, Dennis is the Director of Performance, Storytelling & Community at the Museum of Chinese in America. www.dennisyuehyehli.com

Nina Zoie Lam (director) is first generation Chinese American and grew up in NYC’s Lower East Side/Chinatown. She has been in the theater and performing arts profession for over 40 years. She earned her BA in arts and theater arts from Brown University and is a founding member of National Asian Artists Project - a nonprofit organization that showcases the works of emerging Asian American playwrights and theatre artists through performance opportunities and educational programming. She last directed Lloyd Suh’s, The Heart Sellers at Cape Rep Theatre.

Jay Q. Green (stage manager) is graduating in the spring with a BA in English Literature, Culture, and Media from Pace University. He has worked previously as a sound technician and a dramaturg for various projects in Florida and New York, and pursues various hobbies such as embroidery and collaborative creative writing in his free time. 

Ariel Estrada (ANTONIO) OFF-BROADWAY: A Persistent Memory, MBL Productions (Jessi D. Hill, dir.); Double Falsehood, Letter of Marque (Andrew Borthwick-Leslie, dir.); Far East, Lincoln Center Theater (Daniel Sullivan, dir.); Shogun Macbeth, Cambodia Agonistes, Pan Asian Repertory Theatre. SELECTED INDIE/REGIONAL: Full Contact, Perseverance Theatre; Blended 和 (HARMONY): The Kim Loo Sisters; Theater Mu/History Theatre; My Anniversary, Theatre for One; Tartuffe (NYITA Nominee), Phoenix Theatre Ensemble; Made In China (NYT Critics Pick), Wakka Wakka (Gwen Warnock, dir.). TV/FILM: No Loss Here, Title VII, Future Folk, Don’t Let Me Drown; The Night Agent, Occupy White House Sprites, Tell Me A Story, Bull, Blue Bloods, The Americans, One Life to Live, Another World. His self-penned solo performance, Full Contact is a recipient of a 2024-26 NNPN Rolling World Premiere Award. www.arielestrada.com | www.leviathanlab.org

Julia Burnier (NURSE SCHMIDT) is a Brazilian actress and theater director based in NYC. Julia has worked consistently in theatre and on-screen, in both classical and contemporary/experimental projects. She co-founded the Brazilian theatre group Teatro da Peste, focused on new forms of storytelling through immersive theatre, serving as artistic director for over six years. She was also a member of the theatre group [Ph2]: estado de teatro, acting in its adaptations of the Oresteia and The Cherry Orchard. Key film credits include The Young Baumanns (Filmadrid, FICCI), Blood Drive (Soho Film Festival) and Terra Natal (by Lucas Manuel-Sheibe). Recently, Julia made her theatre debut in New York as lead in the play Saudades at JACK and in A Seagull in the Hamptons, directed by Tom Rowan.

“Fantasie Impromptu” music by Frederic Chopin, performed by Jeremy Rafal

“I’m Always Chasing Rainbows” by Harry Carroll and Joseph McCarthy, performed by Teresa Hui (soprano) and Jeremy Rafal (piano)

Graphic Design by Jenno Contreras