Hudson Classical Theater Company

W.A.G.G.
(Writers-A-Go-Go)

One-Act Festival, March 21 & 22, 2026, at 2pm
At The Field House in Riverside Park

Susane Lee, Founder & Supervising Director of W.A.G.G.
Whitney Dearden, Director of Public Programming
at Riverside Park Conservancy

Plays in order of appearance

Let’s Talk Sex
by Robin Rice
Directed by Susane Lee
Cast: Bruce Barton* as Sir David Attenborough
Ben Brock as Luigi
Parmeet Singh* as Darryl
Katrina Thornell* as Mary

A Doorway Parable
by Luisa Tanno
Directed by Annette Fox
Cast: Linda Elizabeth* as Grace
KoDee Martin* as Tom

The Weak Sister
by John Moss
Directed by Nicholas Martin-Smith
Cast: Dixie Carroll as Gail Gestwick
Dan McVey* as Detective Cronjager
Becky Rusch* as Betsy Gestwick

Rain Delay
by Jerry Slaff
Directed by Nicholas Martin-Smith
Cast: Bruce Barton* as James B. Harrison
David Palmer Brown* as Charlie Chesterfield

Good Boy
by Emmy Kuperschmid
Directed by Joe Hamel
Cast: China Pharr* as Ash
Olivia Martin* as Cassie

The Invincible Eddie Vincent
by Matthew J. Kaplan
Directed by David Palmer Brown
Cast: Anna Cody as Ruby Goodall
Michael Lewis* as Eddie Vincent

Last Shot
by Matt Matros
Directed by Susane Lee
Cast: Bill Funt as Bill
Matthew Harmon as Matt
Maya Small* as Charisse
Katrina Thornell* as Lizzie

Eulogy
by Jeff Stolzer
Directed by Annette Fox
Cast: Bryan Bryk* as Gray Suit
Fever Hawk Brown* as Dark Suit

Actors’ Equity Association Logo * Equity Member appearing with permission of Actor's Equity Association without benefit of an Equity contract in this Off-Off Broadway production.

Introducing W.A.G.G. Playwrights

Let’s Talk Sex

Robin Rice is the author of 28 full-length plays and countless shorts and one-acts. Produced worldwide - most recently in Ukraine, Australia, and Off-Broadway at 59E59 Theatre and The Tank. Awards include Jane Chambers, Goshen Peace Play, American Bard and O'Neill semi-finalist. Publishers include Original Works, YouthPlays, Concord Theatricals, Next Stage Press. Memberships: designated Lifetime Member Dramatists Guild, LPTW, ICWP, Honor Roll! New Ambassadors, Oracles, ShopTalk. www.RobinRicePlaywright.com

A Doorway Parable

Luisa Tanno is a playwright, performer, and teacher of joyful dance classes. Her one-act Potholes has been performed at Chain Theatre (NYC) and Play With Your Food (Fairfield County), and she recently directed her short play Rain Date for Theatre Artists Workshop’s Festival of New Works (CT). Luisa is a performing singer/songwriter with the acoustic duo Twice Around and has a BFA in Musical Theater from The New School, which she is proud to have earned at age 50. When not writing or performing, you’ll find her behind the scenes as producer, stage manager, assistant director, or overall champion of the creative process!

The Weak Sister

John Moss is an actor, voice actor and newly minted playwright. Tennessee Williams called him one the best to play the Duenna in the author's Camino Real. Contemporarily, screening at The Globe Theater in London, he has performed the film of Sonnet 37 for the Shakespeare Exchange, Alan Stewart’s Lullaby for Winnie at Manhattan Theatre Club and Sue Yocum’s Tinder is the Night on Radio Six. Bara Swain’s If You See a Hyena and Barry Malawer's Michael and George at The Chain, Miranda Jonte's St. Francis, John Minigan's Easter at the Entree Gold for the Sam French Festival at the CSC, the NY premiere of Jane Anderson's The Quality of Life. Regional: Bellomy in The Fantasticks for PA Centre Stage, Arthur Freed in What a Glorious Feeling, Hank Williams: Lost Highway (Fred Rose), Steve Martin's Picasso at the Lapin Agile (Sagot) Showboat (Capt. Andy) at The Depot. Off Bway: MacBeth at the McGinn/Cazale, Mamet’s Edmond, DiMaggio (Casey Stengel, Henry Kissinger), Our Town (Mr. Webb), King Lear (Albany) Film: Marty in Edward Burns’s “No Looking Back,” “It Could Happen to You,” Alex Russek’s “The Disorganized Man.” TV: “The High Life,” “The Dana Carvey Show.” Graduate Temple University (Alumni Award).

Rain Delay

Jerry Slaff was born in Brooklyn before it was a brand and has been writing plays since the Carter Administration. His full-length play Lies was a semifinalist for the 2019 O’Neill Theater Center’s National Playwrights Conference, has had multiple productions and readings around the country, and was awarded the grand prize in the 2019 Writer's Digest Writing Competition. Now that he has conquered the theater world, he is working on his first novel. #COYG.

Good Boy

Emmy Kuperschmid is an NYC-based playwright and actor. Her plays include Estbayiendsfray (Hudson Valley Theater Festival), Magical Girl Play (LakehouseranchDotPNG, Ghostlight Players, Special Interest Theater), comment below (Backstage selection - “Top Monologue for Teen Girls”), and Zoom Zoom I’m in Love!! (Whiskey Theatre Factory). She has performed and developed work at theaters including New York Theatre Workshop, Adirondack Theatre Festival, Fresh Ground Pepper, the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center, and Pipeline Theatre Company. Emmy was a member of the 2024-2025 Playwrights Cohort at PlayPenn, a two-time Eugene O'Neill NPC Semifinalist, and is a member of the Dramatists Guild and Actors Equity. She lives in Queens with her cat, Tombo.

The Invincible Eddie Vincent

Matthew J. Kaplan is a Brooklyn, New York-based writer, filmmaker, musician, and actor. The Invincible Eddie Vincent is Matthew's second play at the Writers-A-Go-Go One-Act Festival, and his tenth New York City production. His full-length play The Shomer is currently in development. Matthew’s short films include “It’s Time For Tea” and “You Can Trust Your Neighbor.” He’s a songwriter and bass player with indie-rock bands The Bright Spots, and Misery Loves Company. www.MatthewJKaplan.com

Last Shot

Matt Matros is a writer, actor, and poker player. His work has appeared in The Washington Post, Electric Literature, Chicago Review of Books and various other places, and he has appeared in the flesh in six mainstage productions with The Heights Players in Brooklyn. He lives down the street from that theater with his wife Ivy and son Clarence. Last Shot is his first produced play. Miss you, Dad.

Eulogy

Jeff Stolzer’s full-length plays include Survivors (Arts Club of Washington National Playwriting Award); Unsportsmanlike Conduct (Woodward/Newman Drama Award finalist; Detroit New Works Festival winner); Storage Locker (IATI Theater Mainstage); The New Abnormal (Segora Play Prize; Adelaide Fringe Festival) and A Special Relationship, co-written with Tim Marriott (Theater at the Tabard, London; 59E59 Brits Off Broadway). His short plays have received multiple productions in New York City, across the United States and in Europe. BA, Brown University. MFA, University of Southern California. Member: Dramatists Guild of America; Writers Guild of America, East; and PEN America. www.jeffstolzer.com.

CAST (in order of appearance)

LET’S TALK SEX

Bruce Barton* as Sir David Attenborough

Bruce Barton is very pleased to be making his first WAGG appearance and twelfth show for HCTC, having appeared in HCTC’s 2025 summer season as the title role in Julius Caesar and Henry Dashwood/Thomas in Sense and Sensibility. Previously he was in, among others, The Winter’s Tale (as Leontes), Coriolanus, The Three Musketeers, Henry V, Hamlet and The Merry Wives of Windsor. An HCTC company member since 2014, Bruce has also performed with Gorilla Rep, Jean Cocteau Rep, Riverside Shakespeare, and the Blue Coyote Theater Company, as well as numerous regional theaters. He was also featured in the independent film “Paradise East.”

Ben Brock as Luigi

Ben Brock is excited to join WAGG and work with Hudson Classical Theater Company again after performing Sense and Sensibility with them last summer. Other credits include NBC’s Law & Order and his improv troupe, Shoehorn (@shoehorn.improv). You can follow him on his website benbrockactor.com or @the_ben_brock on Instagram.

Parmeet Singh* as Darryl

Parmeet Singh is a New York-based actor and graduate of the American Musical and Dramatic Academy, trained in classical and on-camera performances. Parmeet played Willoughby in HCTC’s production of Sense & Sensibility last summer. His stage work also includes roles such as Romeo in Romeo and Juliet, Lysander in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Laertes in Hamlet. He is a resident acting company member with Hamlet Isn’t Dead and has also appeared in multiple short films. His training also includes improv and clowning.

Katrina Thornell* as Mary

Katrina Thornell (AEA) is an actor from not-so-sunny Michigan, where she received her BA in Theatre from Hope College. Some recent favorite roles include Cecily in The Importance of Being Earnest (Hudson Classical Theater Company), Pamela in The 39 Steps (Script Club NYC), and Hilda in The Lady from the Sea (Hudson Classical Theater Company).She is also a regular performer with Puppetsburg, and her voice has been sent to space on a flash drive.

A DOORWAY PARABLE

Linda Elizabeth* as Grace

Linda Elizabeth is thrilled to return to Riverside Park for Hudson Classical Theater Company's WAGG One-Act Play Festival! Select Hudson Classical Theater Company credits include Twelfth Night (Feste), Antony & Cleopatra (Caesar), Merry Wives of Windsor (Fenton), and Love’s Labor’s Lost (Maria). Select acting / production credits: Off Broadway: Imagining Madoff (Theatre Row, NLTP); Off-Off Broadway: Miranda in The Tempest (Theater2020), Hermia in Midsummer (Gene Frankel Theatre); Regional: Elma in Bus Stop (Bristol Riverside Theatre). Film/TV: “Gossip Girl,” “The Perfect Murder,” national Super Bowl commercial for Chevrolet, national internet campaign for eBay, and award winning webseries “Plant.” Training: SUNY Geneseo College; Oxford University; The Barrow Group. Thank you to Annette and Hudson Classical Theater Company for bringing me on board and for all of your incredible work! To KoDee, “I would not wish any companion in the world but you.”

KoDee Martin* as Tom

Kodee Martin is honored to be a part of Hudson Classical Theater Company’s WAGG One-Act Play Festival. Previous Hudson Classical Theater Company’s credits include Twelfth Night (Sir Andrew Aguecheek), Pride & Prejudice (Charles Bingley), and Love’s Labor’s Lost (Ferdinand). Other favorite credits include Off-Off Broadway: Jules in Wronged (The Chain), Ferdinand in The Tempest (Theater2020); Regional: Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing (Hawaii Shakespeare Festival), Henry in Next to Normal (Chaminade University Theatre Festival), Courier in 1776 (Paliku Theatre), and Johnny Goto in Allegiance (Manoa Valley Theatre). Thank you to Annette and Hudson Classical Theater Company for inviting me to be a part of such a special and amazing experience! To Linda, “I do love nothing in the world so well as you.”

THE WEAK SISTER

Dixie Carroll as Gail Gestwick

Dixie Carroll is excited to be back with Hudson Classical Theater Company, having last been seen as Charlotte Palmer in last summer’s production of Sense and Sensibility. Other stage credits include In the Hot Seat and The Wayward Women, semi-finalist and finalist respectively at the 2025 Queens Short Play Festival; Helen of Troy in Trojan Women; and Arthur in King Arthur: A British Panto. She was a featured soprano soloist in Handel’s Messiah and Bach’s Cantata No. 21, and sings regularly with Holy Trinity in Lincoln Square. TV credits include “Diabolical” and “Trapped.” When not performing, she’s probably running to train for a race. @DixieCarroll

Dan McVey* as Detective Cronjager

Dan McVey is thrilled to be working with Hudson Classical Theater Company again after appearing as Casca in last year’s production of Julius Caesar. Other stage roles include Billy in Pretty Babies (13th Street Rep) for which he received a New York Innovative Theater Award for Best Supporting Actor, Ed in Halftime with Don (NJ Rep), and Francisco/Bernardo in Elsinore County (Theater Row) among others. Film work includes roles in “Maybe Next Year,” “On the Table,” “Amateur City,” and more. Dan trained at the William Esper Studio in New York.

Becky Rusch* as Betsy Gestwick

Becky Rusch recently appeared as Margaret in Hudson Classical Theater Company's production of Sense and Sensibility. Other stage credits include: Heroes of The Fourth Turning (Theresa), Everybody (Girl/Time), The Tempest (Swing). Film Credits include Ariana in “Visa”and a Dancer on “Complicit.”

RAIN DELAY

Bruce Barton* as James B. Harrison

David Palmer Brown* as Charlie Chesterfield

David Palmer Brown is a proud company member of Hudson Classical Theater Company. Appearing in many roles with the Company, these include Junius Brutus in Coriolanus; Duncan and Siward in Macbeth; Porthos in The Three Musketeers 20 Years Later and The Man in the Iron Mask; the title roles in King Lear and King John; Polonius in Hamlet; and de Guiche in Cyrano de Bergerac. Elsewhere in New York, he has appeared as Judge Brack in Hedda Gabler; Sir George Crofts in Mrs. Warren’s Profession; and Pugachov in The German Bitch; among others. Thanks, Nicholas and Susane, for the chance to direct The Invincible Eddie Vincent and to perform the role of Charlie Chesterfield in Rain Delay.

GOOD BOY

China Pharr* as Ash

China Pharr is an actress, musician, and movement artist based in NYC from Long Beach, CA. LB Renaissance High School for the Performing Arts, UC Davis BA Creative Writing, The Stella Adler Studio of Acting. Barn Play, UP Theater Company, Imbroglio, As You Like It (understudy), Great River Shakespeare Festival, No Pants in Tucson, The Anthropologists. “The Drops” by Brooke Baltimore. This is her second time performing with W.A.G.G.

Olivia Martin* as Cassie

Olivia Martin is a NYC-based stage manger, actor, director, and designer. She has a passion for big musicals, classical works, and innovative comedies. She wants to be Bob Fosse when she grows up. Her recent acting credits include Slaps (3Jokers Entertainment); “CRUSH Music Video” (3Jokers Entertainment); “Pinky’s Village Spa,” (Monkey Make Movie Productions). Her recent PSM credits include Bum Bum (Epic Players); Miss Julie/Venus in Fur (Katonah Classic Stage); Seussical (EPIC PLAYERS); Critters (NCTC); Boxers & Briefs (ANDtheatre); The Tempest (Smoking Mirror Theater Company); Romeo & Juliet (Boomerang Theater Company). She recently received her BFA in Drama from NYU Tisch School of the Arts.

THE INVINCIBLE EDDIE VINCENT

Anna Cody as Ruby Goodall

Anna Cody Anna played Prudence in Beyond Therapy, appeared in Henry IV with John Goodman at the Old Globe Theatre, and played Helena in A Midsummer Night’s Dream with The Shakespeare Theatre in Washington and the Shakespeare Festival of St. Louis. Her additional credits include Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde at Cleveland Playhouse and Abigail’s Party at Two River Theater. Anna extends heartfelt thanks to David Palmer Brown for this wonderful opportunity to play.

Michael Lewis as Eddie Vincent

Michael Lewis: NYC: Brooklyn Academy of Music, Primary Stages, NY Theater Workshop, the Transport Group, the Vineyard, The Signature, as well as featured acting roles at the Metropolitan Opera (including the 2020 Grammy-Award winning Porgy and Bess). He originated the role of Carson in Horton Foote's Pulitzer-Prize winning Young Man from Atlanta. Television: “The Black List,” "Blue Bloods," "Unforgettable," "Law and Order(s)," "You," "Billions," "Broad City." Film: "Darrow" and "Signs of Life." He and his partner Kate have run the Killington Shakespeare Workshop in Vermont for more than 25 years.

LAST SHOT

Bill Funt as Bill

Bill Funt returned to the stage after a long break last summer in Hudson Classical Theater’s production of The Lady from The Sea and is very gratified that the company asked him back for this production. Prior to the aforementioned long break, Bill appeared in productions of Greater Tuna, The Foreigner, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Comedy Of Errors, and Of Thee I Sing.

Matthew Harmon as Matt

Matthew Harmon is a New York based actor, trained at Circle in the Square Theatre School. He has performed with Hudson Classical Theater Company in the past, playing Young Clifford in Margaret: Shakespeare’s Warrior Queen. Other credits include Coriolanus in Coriolanus (Galileo Theatre Co.), Feste in Twelfth Night (Clementine Players), King Leontes in Winter’s Tale, and Saturninus in Titus Andronicus (Scranton Shakespeare Festival).

Maya Small* as Charisse

Maya Small is an actor from the beautiful mountains of New Hampshire. She focuses her career on classical theatre and film. It is here where she found her love for acting. Some of her recent roles include Elizabeth Bennet in Pride And Prejudice, Thea Elvsted in Hedda Gabler, and Bolette in The Lady From The Sea (her first show with Hudson Classical Theater Company!) Maya is delighted to collaborating with Hudson Classical Theater Company again!

Katrina Thornell* as Lizzie

EULOGY

Bryan Bryk* as Gray Suit

Bryan Bryk is overjoyed to be taking part in the WAGG festival for the second year in a row. Last year he performed in the play Flacco for the WAGG festival. Bryan has been a company member of Hudson Classical Theater Company since 2021 and has been in recent productions including playing Young Richard in Margaret: Shakespeare's Warrior Queen and Malcolm in Macbeth. Off-Broadway: Breathing (TBTB), Merry Wives of Windsor (Stag and Lion Theatre Co). Film/TV: "Quest For The Missing Scripts," "Mr. Marmalade" Training: Upright Citizen's Brigade, The Neighborhood Playhouse. Love to family, friends, and Aya.

Fever Hawk Browne* as Dark Suit

Fever Hawk Browne is a New York based actor with but one goal in mind and that is to build an impressive body of work. He is thankful for his family, friends and all those who practice the craft of acting in all of its many wonderful forms. Fever is currently in production in the Dennis Mitchell television series "Pressure" slated for release later this year. He was in Hudson Classical Theater Company's production of William Shakespeare's Coriolanus in 2024 & Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility in 2025. Fever has also participated in the 2025 WAGG production of Past Creep and is a member of AEA.

DIRECTORS

David Palmer Brown, The Invincible Eddie Vincent David Palmer Brown is a proud company member of Hudson Classical Theater Company and has directed for the company many times. He directed for the Valentine’s Day Monologue Festival for several years, as well as for last year’s WAGG One-Act Festival where he directed two plays. David has acted with the company for more than twenty years, as well as all around New York and regionally.

Annette Fox, A Doorway Parable and Eulogy Annette Fox is excited to direct two plays for WAGG this year! Since 2018, she has performed for Hudson Classical Theater Company as: the Duchess of Gloucester, in Margaret: Shakespeare’s Warrior Queen; Madame de St.Marins/Heloise in in The Count of Monte Cristo; Queen Anne of Austria in The Man in the Iron Mask; and Mrs. Dashwood in Sense and Sensibility. Other favorite roles are Dr. Gina Presson in Heroes of the Fourth Turning for TAG (The Actor’s Gym) at The Chain Theater; Hannah, in American Mu$cle, by Fred Jay Gordon, at Teatro Latea; Louise in Call Me by Carolyn Boriss-Krimsky for the Gallery Players Annual New Play Festival; Storyteller for Hope Lives at Joe’s Pub, for Generation Women.us, www.annettefoxactor.com, @annettefoxactor SAG-AFTRA, AEA.

Joe Hamel, Good Boy Joe Hamel has acted (mostly) and also adapted text and directed and co-directed for Hudson Classical Theater Company, off and on, for 20 years. Selected other credits include Off Broadway: Machiavelli’s The Mandrake at the Pearl Theatre. Regional: Our Town, Henry VIII, Love’s Labour’s Lost at Shakespeare Theatre of NJ. Other NYC: Austin Pendleton’s Orson’s Shadow directed by Taibi Magar at Queens Theatre, and the title role of Cyrano in his own adaptation for Hudson Classical Theater. His modern verse adaptation of Tartuffe was a semi-finalist for the National Playwrights Conference and he directed Chekhov’s Three Sisters for Modern Theater Project. He is the author of a book of poems entitled “The Gate of Play.”@hamelhistory

Susane Lee, Let’s Talk Sex and Last Shot Susane Lee is the Executive Artistic Director of Hudson Classical Theater Company and founder of W.A.G.G. (Writers-A-Go-Go). She has directed for HCTC, including Pride & Prejudice, Lyisisarah, His Girl Friday, and Co-Directed Emma, all plays she also adapted for the stage. She has also directed for the Writers Guild of America, East Film Series, directing screenplays at Lincoln Center. She directed Lucy Wang’s one-woman show, The Silver Menace, as well as for the 365 Women A Year Playwrights Festival, and received Best Director Finalist, twice, for the Take Ten Theater Festival. Susane has adapted many classics for the stage, adding to the list six Alexandre Dumas novels, three Jane Austen novels, and embarking on her next project, The Dancing Men, a Sherlock Holmes Mystery, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Susane began her career in television where she worked at WGBB/NOVA for several years, then at Channel 13 in NYC, where she traveled to more than 100 cities across the U.S., writing and producing one-hour documentaries for prime-time PBS. She’s a Lifetime member of the Writers Guild of America, Esat and a member of SAG/AFTRA. She has received numerous grants for her writing and published a memoir in MORE magazine. She was a finalist for the Artistic Achievement Award given by the League of Independent Theater in 2024.

Nicholas Martin-Smith, The Weak Sister and Rain Delay Nicholas Martin-Smith founded Hudson Classical Theater Company in 2004 and has directed countless productions for the company, among then, an original adaptation of Cyrano, adapted by Joe Hamel, Romeo & Juliet (twice), as well as the award-winning Margaret: Shakespeare’s Warrior Queen, an adaptation he created from Shakespeare’s Henry IV trilogy. He also had the pleasure of directing the world premiere of a new adaptation of Dumas’s The D’Artagnan Romances, including The Three Musketeers, The Three Musketeers: 20 Year Later, The Man in the Iron Mask, and also The Count of Monte Cristo, all adapted by his long-time collaborator Susane Lee

W.A.G.G. (Writers-A-Go-Go) was created in 2011 to workshop & showcase the plays of our contemporary playwrights. To date, we have had 9 play readings, a full production, & produced several Valentine’s Day Monologue Festivals. This is our 2nd One-Act Play Festival in partnership with Riverside Park Conservancy.

Hudson Classical Theater Company's 23rd Summer Season

Uncle Vanya (May 28 – June 21)
By Anton Chekhov
Adapted & Directed by Joe Hamel

Hamlet (June 25 – July 19)
By Wm. Shakespeare
Adapted & Directed by Nicholas Martin-Smith

The Dancing Men, a Sherlock Holmes Mystery (July 23 – Aug 16)
By Sir Athur Conan Doyle
Adapted by Susane Lee
Directed by Nicholas Martin-Smith

Thurs-Sun at 6:30pm, no tickets required. Show up by 6:10pm for a seat.

Riverside Park, Behind The Soldiers' & Sailors' Monument on W 89th & Riverside Drive.

instagram @hudsonclassicalnyc venmo Hudson-Classical

Thank you Whitney Dearden, Director of Public Programming at Riverside Park Conservancy, for giving us the opportunity to be a part of your arts vision at The Field House.

A huge thank you to our fantastic W.A.G.G. Readers: Bruce Barton, David Palmer Brown, Bryan Bryk, Annette Fox, Tanuka Ghosh, Aya Ibaraki, Aya Ibaraki, Roxann Kraemer, Nathan Mattingly, Austin Reynolds, Paul Singleton, Roger Stude, and Susane Lee.

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