Who We Are
We are a collective of experimental theatre writers in New York City, pushing the edge of what live performance does. We develop work that pushes at the boundaries of normative theater in some way.
We meet twice monthly: once in person to workshop freshly-minted plays, and once via Zoom for a salon on subjects pertaining to experimental writing for performance.
Cut Edge Collective Ten Minute Play Festival
Tank Theater, 312 W. 36th Street, NY, NY
February 9-11, 2023
Thursday, Feb 9 at 7pm
Greg Nanni
Album Liner
A musician that plays every night speaks in rectangles, attempting to say why he plays. From the full length vignette play, RECTANGLES.
Musician: Greg T. Nanni
Monte Monteleagre
Diner Booth Fracture
Written and Directed by Monte Monteleagre
A middle-age man and a young girl are together at a diner booth while a short scene between them changes, mutates, and fractures revealing a dark destiny waiting for them.
Tom Block
Mollie and Harry
Written and Directed by Tom Block
At the end of their lives, Harry visits Mollie, his one and only true love from high school who he hasn’t seen in nearly 70 years, to see if he can rekindle what has been lost. But Mollie has slipped into dementia: Harry is too late.
Mollie: Laurie Sammeth
Harry: David Baker
James Bosley
Apple Picking with Buddha
by James Bosely
Director: TBD
Caste TBD
Synopsis: A Buddhist husband and father strays from the Eightfold Path, jeopardizing his practice and his family. Enlightenment ensues.
John Zoitos
Dinner after a Tragedy
Written and Directed by John Zoitos
A couple argues about love, over dinner.
Cast: TBD
Friday, Feb 10 at 7pm
Serena Norr
Cut Out Fam
Written and Directed by Serena Norr
Sue’s secret to creating the perfect family is simple: cut them out of magazines and pretend they are real. As she retreats to her world of play to escape the chaos of her real world, she loses a grasp of reality, finding it harder to tell her real family from the one she created.
Greg Nanni
Album Liner
By Greg T. Nanni
A musician that plays every night speaks in rectangles, attempting to say why he plays. From the full length vignette play, RECTANGLES.
Musician: Greg T. Nanni
Libby Heily
Inspired By True Events
Written and Acted by Libby Heily
Director: Serena Norr
The best horror movies are based on true stories. But what happens to the real people involved?
Tom Block
Mollie and Harry
Written and Directed by Tom Block
At the end of their lives, Harry visits Mollie, his one and only true love from high school who he hasn’t seen in nearly 70 years, to see if he can rekindle what has been lost. But Mollie has slipped into dementia: Harry is too late.
Mollie: Laurie Sammeth
Harry: David Baker
Sophia Heinecke
What Makes Us Feel Alive
Written by Sophia Valera Heinecke
Directed by Madeline Wall
This lively and interactive workshop helps us plan, connects us to choice, and asks us to honestly inventory our existence for the best future without us!
Saturday, Feb 11th at 3pm
Serena Norr
Cut Out Fam
Written and Directed by Serena Norr
Sue’s secret to creating the perfect family is simple: cut them out of magazines and pretend they are real. As she retreats to her world of play to escape the chaos of her real world, she loses a grasp of reality, finding it harder to tell her real family from the one she created.
Monte Monteleagre
Diner Booth Fracture
Written and Directed by Monte Monteleagre
A middle-age man and a young girl are together at a diner booth while a short scene between them changes, mutates, and fractures revealing a dark destiny waiting for them.
Libby Heily
Inspired By True Events
Written and Acted by Libby Heily
Director: Serena Norr
The best horror movies are based on true stories. But what happens to the real people involved?
James Bosley
Apple Picking with Buddha
Written by James Bosely
Director: TBD
Caste TBD
Synopsis: A Buddhist husband and father strays from the Eightfold Path, jeopardizing his practice and his family. Enlightenment ensues.
Sophia Heinecke
What Makes Us Feel Alive
A Workshop by Sophia Valera Heinecke
Directed by Madeline Wall
This lively and interactive workshop helps us plan, connects us to choice, and asks us to honestly inventory our existence for the best future without us!
John Zoitos
Dinner after a Tragedy
Written and Directed by John Zoitos
A couple argues about love, over dinner.
From Our Writers
“Being a part of a group interested in stretching the fabric of theater to the near breaking point has helped me grow as an artist as well as introduce me to new theories and approaches to playwriting.”
– Libby Heily
“Our cohort of writers leaves me continually inspired to think critically about the many containers available to tell stories. The work we do at Cut/Edge brings together artists with wildly different goals and lived experiences, but always brings me back to the joys and practicalities of experimental performance work.”
– Sophia Valera Heinecke
NYC Playwrights have included:
Tom Block Founder
Kevin Kautzman Founder
Zizi Azah 2020, 2021
James Bosley 2022
Brynn Hambley 2021, 2022
Libby Heily 2021, 2022
Sophia Heinecke 2020, 2021
William Hugel 2020
Nick Jonczak 2021, 2022
Matthew Macca 2020
Grayson May 2021
Monte Monteleagre 2020, 2021, 2022
Gregg Nanni 2022
Serena Norr 2021, 2022
Judah Skoff 2020, 2021, 2022
Lily Welsh 2022
Brett Wolfe 2022
John Zoitos 2021
Accepting Applications to Our NYC Group
We are accepting applications to join the NYC group from writers in experimental theatre, for playwrights who would like to participate in monthly workshop readings, as well as monthly salons.
Writers’ application deadline is December 1, 2022
(Final decision by December 15)
Please send a writing sample (10 pages), artist statement and resume to: Cut Edge Collective @ cutedgecollective@gmail.com
Join us in 2023 in NYC for our fourth season.
We meet twice monthly, on the second and third Tuesdays of each month (except July and August).
On the second Tuesday of each month, we will hear the work of a single writer out loud (read by professional actors) and discuss this writer’s work.
On the third Tuesday of each month, we will engage in a moderated philosophical discussion about where we’re at in terms of style, form, the direction of theatre/art today etc. Each accepted writer will have the chance to suggest a topic for the monthly salon, and lead the discussion. (Past discussions have included what makes a theatrical production experimental; from what/where do we draw our inspiration; censorship in theater; mysticism in theater; differences in ideas of catharsis between East and West; gender issues in written theatre roles; when is spectacle essential to theatre; repetition and play in storytelling, etc.)
PLEASE NOTE: ALL SESSIONS WILL BE IN PERSON, WITH NO ZOOM OPTION, TAKING PLACE IN THE PENN NEIGHBORHOOD (NEAR 36TH STREET AND 8TH AVENUE).
PLAYWRIGHTS MAY ONLY MISS FOUR SESSIONS TOTAL (TWO EACH FROM THE WORKSHOP AND SALON). AFTER THAT, THEY WILL NOT BE ASKED TO PARTICIPATE IN THE WRITERS RETREAT OR 10-MINUTE PLAY FESTIVAL.
The Dirt
Upon invitation, the rate is $125 for the year. This covers space to meet for an entire year and a modest stipend for the actors who’ll read our words during the workshop meetings. Additionally, it will help defer costs for our annual 10-minute play Festival, available to all accepted writers (Cut Edge provides TD, SM, free rehearsal space options and all marketing). Lastly, the fee helps underwrite our 5 day, western Maine writers retreat, taking place in September — exact dates TBD in conjunction with the 2023 writers.
(Our 2022 cohort will be presenting their 10-minute plays this February 2023 at the Tank, 312 W. 36th Street, on Feb 9 & 10 at 7pm and Feb 11th, at 3pm).
The Breakdown
To participate, you must be an experimental theatre writer. What do we mean by this? You must write for live performance and you must be in the process of creating something that isn’t “conventional.” This departure from normative theatre can include dialogue, structure, staging, character and/or character development, format, passage of time or any other manner of pushing at theatrical boundaries. Teach us something.
The Cut Edge Collective currently has only a few available slots. Playwrights will be selected based upon the quality of the work submitted and experimental nature of the work.
If you’re in New York City and able to commit to two events monthly in Midtown, and write experimental work for theatre, please send a sample, segment or example and tell us why you want to be a part of the collective.
And So Who Is This For
Experimental Theatre Writers
Able to Commit to Twice Monthly Meetings in Midtown Manhattan, through 2023
With Compelling Samples
$125 for Space, Actors and Ten Minute Play Festival (early 2024). The writers workshop will occasion another $20/day fee ($100 total), which will include transportation, room and board (but not alcohol, coffee and meals out, local t-shirts and other swag, etc.)
Questions? Reach us at cutedgecollective@gmail.com.