Is It Supposed to Last?

January 28–June 29, 2021
USAWorld Premiere
PlayCo presents William Burke’s Is it Supposed to Last?, an interactive performance co-directed by Burke and Bryn Herdrich and presented live in monthly installments.
Meet the Artists

William Burke (Playwright, Director, Curator) living in Brooklyn. He has had productions at The Bushwick Starr, JACK, Target Margin Theater, University Settlement and The Stahl Center at Stony Brook University. He has developed his plays/presented readings at The Black Swan Lab (Oregon Shakespeare Festival), The Bushwick Starr, University Settlement, HERE Arts Center, NACL, All For One Theater, Little Theatre (Dixon Place), The Prelude Festival (CUNY Grad Center), Barishnikov Arts Center, FEAST and CATCH. He’s currently developing and directing TAXLANDIA by Modesto “Flako” Jimenez which will appear at the Bushwick Starr in Sept 2020.

He is the Co-Chair of the Soho Rep Writer/Director Lab with Jackie Sibblies Drury, Co-Curator of the Starr Reading series at The Bushwick Starr and a co-curator for Little Theatre at Dixon Place (2017-1019). He studied playwriting at Brooklyn College with Mac Wellman, Anne Washburn and Erin Courtney. http://williamburke.net/

Bryn Herdrich (Director) creates live performance events and directs new theatrical work. Past collaborations with William Burke have included Variations on the Main (JACK), and Untitled American Flag Craft Project (The Brick). She has developed work at The Bushwick Starr, Clubbed Thumb, Williamstown Theater Festival, Ensemble Studio Theater, The Flea Theater, and Dixon Place among others. BFA NYU/Tisch, member of the Soho Rep Writer-Director Lab, Williamstown Directors Corps, SDC Observership Class of 2018-2019 and MTC Directing Fellowship.

Carolina Đỗ (she/her/hers) is the Community Engagement Manager at PlayCo. She is an actor, producer, writer and proud descendant of Vietnamese freedom fighters . She’s a community organizer and advocate for art that facilitates healing in marginalized communities. Co-founder and co-Producing Artistic Leader of The Sống Collective.

[BROADWAY] Linda Vista (u/s), Grand Horizons (u/s). [NY THEATER] PlayCo: Is It Supposed To Last? ; Adjusted Realists: The Refugees; Yangtze Rep: Stacey In The States, 410[Gone] [REGIONAL] Everyman Theatre: Dinner and Cake (world premiere) [PLAYWRITING] 2022-2023 Soho Rep Writer-Director Lab, 2022 Orchard Project Greenhouse Lab Resident Artist; JACK 2021 Residency; buried ruins: 2022 Princess Grace Semi-Finalist, 2022 Bushwick Starr Finalist.

Jehan O. Young, /juh•HAHN/, (Actor) hails from Stone Mountain, GA by way of California and is currently based in New York City where she continues to perform in countless esteemed basements with working pipes and a black curtain. Select credits: Behind The Sheet, Ensemble Studio Theater, Is It Supposed To Last, PlayCo, I'm Back Now, Cleveland Playhouse. Proud Alumna of Spelman College and Columbia University School of The Arts.

Carolyn Mraz has collaborated on over 70 world-premieres such as off-Broadway musicals, immersive events, performance art, and international tours, including some favorite design challenges: a magic show, a spaceship, a sexy lounge on a decommissioned ferry, a rock musical in a church sanctuary, and a collapsible performance tent. Carolyn is an associated artist of Target Margin Theater in NYC, and has earned 5 Hewes nominations. Carolyn lives in LA and teaches at Cal State Fullerton.

Cheyanne Williams is a theater maker, technical director, designer, and performer based in New York City, whose multi-disciplinary work seeks to expand traditional roles of making. Irreverent of predetermined roles of theater, Williams has acted in, technical directed, designed, and built shows. Most recently Williams collaborated with Kaneza Schaal as Technical Director for CARTOGRAPHY, a project that explores the commonalities of migration in disparate communities from high schoolers in Cleveland to domestic workers in Abu Dhabi. Selected upcoming work includes Technical Direction/Assistant Scenic Design for HUSH ARBOR, a contemporary opera premiering at The Momentary, and Scenic Design for QUAKE, commissioned by the French Cultural Council. BA: Wesleyan University, Theater.

Sugar Vendil (Composer) is a composer, pianist, and interdisciplinary artist based in New York.

Is it ok…if we just sit in the room by ourselves???????
no..


Ok. Then…let’s…at least decorate.

In this meditation on when the fun gets spoiled and the nurturing gets toxic,
two actors will wrap themselves in streamers and ask “What happens when we can’t take care of you?”


Written by

William Burke

Directed by

William Burke & Bryn Herdrich

Composer

Sugar Vendil

Featuring

Carolina Đỗ Jehan O. Young

Musician

Walter Aparicio (Iteration 1) Hajnal N. Pivnick (Iterations 4-5)

Production Design

Carolyn Mraz & Cheyanne Williams

Video Systems Design

Aaron Gonzalez (Iterations 1-3) Xavier Khan (Iterations 3-5)

Production Manager

Jenny Beth Snider (Iterations 1-3) Guillermo Contreras (Iterations 4-5)

Iteration 5 Venue

Carroll Hall 2 Vandervoort Place Brooklyn, NY