october 2024

October 11 - 27 at The Brick Theater, 579 Metropolitan
Wed-Sat at 7 pm, Sun at 5 pm
Sliding Scale $25-50

LIVE STREAM on Oct 20th at 5 pm ET
TALKBACK on Oct 20th following the 5 pm performance featuring Katie Walker, Talkback Facilitator and NYC Metro-Regional VP for Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas, and Jennifer Wilson, Staff Writer for The New Yorker, PHD in Slavic Language and Literature. Her review of Lucky Breaks can be found here.

A woman who runs a flower shop vanishes suddenly and no one asks questions.

Another can’t seem to escape her broken umbrella.

Another decides she can walk no further and becomes a living monument.

Darkly comic, haunting, and surreal the extraordinary stories of Lucky Breaks depict the effects of the 2014 Russian invasion of Ukraine on the lives of ordinary women. An expressionistic physical score accompanies the poetic language of each brief story, bending reality into a series of movements and gestures, creating evocative imagery that defies the typical war narrative and exposes the mundane, horrific, and absurd.

Lucky Breaks by Yevgenia Belorusets
Translated by Eugene Ostashevsky
Adapted by Jaclyn Biskup & Sara Farrington
Directed by Jaclyn Biskup
Additional Choreography by Oksana Horban
Production Stage Manager Sam Kersnick
Scenic Design by Nora Smith Marlow
Lighting Design by Jackie Fox
Sound Design by James Worth Bennett

Featuring Katie Broad*, Hanna Datsko, Monica Goff, Jennifer McClinton, and Kara Jackson*

*these Actors are appearing courtesy of Actors' Equity Association

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Jaclyn Biskup (Adaptation and Director) is a Chicago-born, NYC-based director and producer with over two decades of experience working in theatre, television, and film. She received an Emmy nomination and was a Peabody Finalist for her work on the digital series The Secret Life Of Muslims and currently works as the Interim Managing Artistic Director at The Brick. She was the assistant director to Tony Award-winning director Anna D. Shapiro on the Broadway productions of The Minutes (Tracy Letts) and Straight White Men (Young Jean Lee). As the founding artistic director of The Mill, she has directed and produced over 20 productions including the NYC premieres of The Employees (Olga Ravn), Come Here to Me (Dianne Nora), Worse Than Tigers and the Chicago premieres of Venus (Suzan-Lori Parks) and The Private Of Lives Of Eskimos (Or 16 Words For Snow) (Ken Urban). Her work has been seen at New Ohio Theatre (where she also served as Creative Producer), Theaterlab, MCC Playlabs, New Dramatists, Rattlestick, Dixon Place, Town Stages, and the NYC International Fringe Festival. Jaclyn has assisted on productions at Steppenwolf, The Public, and The American Musical Theatre Workshop. Her digital projects include work for PBS NOVA, Vox, Delta Air Lines, Caltech, Harvard, and others. She is a New Georges affiliated artist and a first-generation college graduate with a BA in Theater from Northern Illinois University and an MFA in Directing and Theatrical Production from Northwestern University. www.jaclynbiskup.com

Sara Farrington (Adaptation) Writer of traditional/non-traditional plays, Foxy Films theater co-founder w/ Reid Farrington. MFA: Brooklyn College w/ Mac Wellman. Publications: The Lost Conversation: Interviews with an Enduring Avant Garde (53rd State Press/TCG), A Trojan Woman, Mickey & Sage (both @ Broadway Play Publishing). Plays nominated for 2 Drama Desk Awards (Casablancabox). Plays include: A Trojan Woman (Luna Stage & w/ tours to Attikos Alsous Theater in Athens, Greece & The Mac Theater, Belfast Ireland), Dora Maar (Mercury Store & Brick Aux), Casablancabox (HERE Arts), Leisure, Labor, Lust (Tank & The Mount, Lenox MA), Brandoncapote (Tank), The Return (commissioned/performed @ Metropolitan Museum of Art), Honduras (Phoenix Theatre Ens. + 10 regional tours), Near Vicksburg (Incubator Arts), Mickey & Sage (Incubator), The Rise & Fall Of Miles & Milo (FringeNYC winner: Outstanding Playwriting). Film: MENDACITY, official selection 2023 NY Indie Theater Film Festival. Residencies: Mercury Store, HARP @ HERE, Tank, Brick Aux, Now-In-Process @ New Ohio, AFO Solo Collective. Plays have toured nationally & internationally. Sara is an audiobook narrator and voice actor, fiercely anti-fascist, an original Immigrant Families Together mom, #MeToo champion.

Oksana Horban (Additional Choreography) is a dance artist originally from Kyiv, Ukraine. In Kyiv, she studied Pantomime at the Academy of Circus and Variety Arts where she graduated with honors, and also worked with Bingo Circus-Theatre and director Mykola Baranov. In 2017 she moved to California to pursue dance and became part of the NCA cheerleading team at Palomar College. She graduated from Montclair State University in New Jersey in 2022 with a BFA in Dance. She has performed works by Moses Pendleton, Alexander Anderson, Ohad Naharin, Paul Taylor, Bradley Shelver, Larry Keigwin, Maxine Steinman, Fredrick Earl Mosley, Elizabeth Streb and Romeo Castellucci. Oksana has performed with ARTS BY THE PEOPLE in New Jersey, Streb Extreme Action Company in Brooklyn, and Yara Arts Group at La Mama Theatre in New York, and has presented her own choreography at the Koresh Artist Showcase. Currently she dances with MOMIX dance company. It her first time working with Jaclyn Biskup and she is beyond grateful to be contributing to choreography of  Lucky Breaks.

Katie Broad (Performer) recently made her Broadway debut in the Tony-nominated An Enemy of the People at Circle in the Square. Credits include: Oblivion (Westport Country Playhouse), Karen O’s Stop the Virgens (St. Ann’s Warehouse, Sydney Opera House), Complicity (New Ohio Theater), Animals & Plants (NY Premiere). Katie hails from Huntsville, Alabama and is a proud graduate of Circle in the Square Theatre School. www.KatieBroad.com

Hanna Datsko (Performer) is from Lviv and received a BFA in acting from Lviv National University. In Lviv, she worked with Kurbas Theatre and Lesia Ukrainka Theater and performed at festivals internationally. Now, she lives in New York and is the lead singer for Barva Band and performs with Ukrainian Village Voices. She is a part of Yara Arts Group at La Mama theatre. 

Monica Goff (Performer) is an actor and artist from Campbell, CA. Selected credits: Specially Processed American Me (Dixon Place, BRIClab), The Truth (Ma-Yi), In the Heights (Pioneer Theatre Company), Two Noble Kinsmen (OSF Play On!), Blue Beard (GSL Fringe), co-founder of Who’s Louis? (Edinburgh, Minnesota, GSL Fringe Festivals). Training: Linklater Center, HB Studio, LAMDA, the Barrow Group. BFA Acting, University of Utah. monicagoff.com

Kara Jackson (Performer) is thrilled to be back in this production, working with this talented cast and crew! TV work includes “Law and Order”, “Bull” and “FBI” and working opposite Tom Selleck in “Blue Bloods”. Training: AADA and the Royal National Theatre, among others. Theatre: Regionally in Washington, DC (Keegan Theatre, Roundhouse)  and NYC “The Boom” at Theater for the New City.

Jennifer McClinton (Performer) is an actor with a love of both film and theatre. Originally from California, she graduated with BA in Theatre from Cal Poly and now resides in New York City. She currently trains under Josh Pais in his Committed Impulse program and is represented by Prestigious Models & Image Powerhouse.

James Worth Bennett is a sound designer and multimedia artist residing in Lenapehoking. He hails from Tsalaguwetiyi and S’atsoyaha land in North Alabama. James received his BFA in Theatrical Design from the University of Montevallo. He is driven by a desire for collective liberation and healing through art and tries to envision and manifest a better, more equitable and magical world through art, music, and dance. James' current professional homebase is New York Live Arts and the Bill T. Jones Arnie Zane Company. His sound design and composition has recently been heard in Bill T. Jones' solo piece Memories at Harlem Stage, Titanic Depression by Jibz Cameron, and Come Here to Me at Theater Lab. It's always such a joy to work with Jaclyn and this lovely team of creative folks. More about James at jamesworthbennett.com.

Nora Marlow Smith (Scenic Design) is a Brooklyn-based scenic and costume designer, scenic painter, educator, and performance artist, working predominantly in Chicago and NYC. She teaches Design at the University at Albany (SUNY) in the Department of Music and Theatre. She received her MFA in Stage and Costume design from Northwestern University, as well as a BA in Set Design and English Literature from Mount Holyoke College. She also holds a Teaching Certificate from the Searle Center for Teaching and Learning at Northwestern University. Nora is a member of the Communications Honor Society Lambda Pi Eta and the 2022 recipient of the Michael E. Merritt Award for Excellence in Design and Collaboration. www.noramarlowsmith.com

Kristy Leigh Hall (Costume Design) has worked in Chicago, Washington, DC, New York, and regionally. She is the Costume Director with Chicago’s Definition Theatre Company. Her previous designs include: An Octoroon (Goodman Theatre and Definition Theatre), The Play About My Dad (Raven Theatre), I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change, Tosca and The Wizard of Oz (Skylight Music Theatre), The Who and the What and Pipeline (Victory Gardens), Byhalia, Mississippi, (Steppenwolf Theatre Company), Stick Fly, This and Apartment 3A (Windy City Playhouse), Pygmalion (Joseph Jefferson Award Winner), Frankenstein (Joseph Jefferson Award Nomination) and Howards End (Remy Bumppo Theatre Company). Off-Broadway designs include Woody Harrelson's Bullet for Adolf, Feather: A Musical Portrait and I Forgive You, Ronald Reagan at Theatre Row. In Washington, DC, she has designed: The Illusion (Forum Theatre), Minnie the Moocher (Pointless Theatre), Genesis Reboot (Synetic Theatre), and That Face with the Studio Theatre. Her designs have been seen internationally in the Czech Republic and Brazil. She designed the film Holy Irresistible with Local Cinema Studios. Upcoming design: Catching the Moon with Children’s Theatre of Charlotte. Kristy has been featured in American Theatre Magazine and holds degrees from Northwestern University and the University of Maryland. www.kristyleighhall.com

Jackie Fox (Lighting Design) is a Brooklyn-based artist and lighting, scenic, and projection designer. Jackie has designed both regionally and internationally. She earned her MFA in Stage Design at Northwestern University where she was awarded the Merritt Academic Prize and the John Woodbridge Award. Selected credits include The Who and The What (The Juilliard School), The Wolves (McCarter Theatre Center), Dear Jack, Dear Louise (Northlight Theatre), Comedy of Errors (Wagon Wheel Theatre), Untold (PARA/MAR Dance Theatre), Sister Act (Mercury Theater), re: CLICK (American Music Theatre Project). Select scenic credits include: House of Desires and Do You Feel Anger (Grinnell College), Pride and Prejudice, and Comedy of Errors (Wagon Wheel Theatre). www.jackiefoxdesigns.com

Sam Kersnick (Production Stage Manager) is a NYC-based stage manager originally from Colorado. She graduated from The University of Northern Colorado in 2019 with a BA in Theatre Design and Technology. Some of her credits are as follows: 2022-23 season ASM at Northern Stage, ASM for The Dastardly Thornes v. The Town of Goldhaven by Ben Holbrook and Nate Weida, PSM for Jar of Fat by Seayoung Yim, Bonefruit by Leah Plante-Wiener, and The Employees by Jaclyn Biskup and Lauren Holmes.

Lucy Breaks is sponsored, in part, by the Greater New York Arts Development Fund of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, administered by Brooklyn Arts Council (BAC).