A few months ago I was given another opportunity to work with David Adjmi– this time on Marie Antoinette for Yale Repertory Theater– which was (as usual) a real treat. Rachel Taichman directed David’s delightfully irreverent and emotionally raw script with humor and grace. It was a joy to work alongside Marin Ireland’s earnest and volatile portrait of Marie Antoinette. Marin’s the real deal. Her choices were exciting and inspiring–such a gift.
At the beginning of the summer I booked and shot a short film titled The Pressure with Astrolab Films. It’s a psychic thriller that’ll be released later this month. It’s my first sci-fi film and I hope it’s not my last, as I am (in general) attracted to scripts that stretch boundaries and the genre pretty much demands that. This also basically means that you get to do stuff that looks really cool and that you would otherwise never have the opportunity or ability to do. I was struck more than once by the fact that I was spending long hours with a creative and focused group of adults in a sweaty warehouse way out in Brooklyn playing dressup and pretend amongst buckets of fake blood. I love my job! For more information about the project feel free to checkout the Kickstarter campaign link below (there are two teaser videos):
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/thepressure/the-pressure-a-psychic-terror-thriller
In July I worked on Lauren Whitehead’s stunning, still at the Vineyard Arts Project with Colette Robert, Sheldon Best and Malcolm Madera. VAP is a wonderful (relatively) new artist development center on Martha’s Vineyard. The studios are bright, the houses are comfortable and the land is just beautiful. We spent our days listening to the play and pulling it apart. We spent our nights cooking family meals, looking at stars, playing games and sharing poetry, songs and whiskey. It was like an arts-intensive summer camp for adults! Fertile grounds for creativity. When Lauren arrived she had six scenes. By the time we’d given our last performance we’d discovered that she was actually writing a three act musical. She’s an incredibly brave and instinctual writer with a background in spoken word and so much heart. stunning, still is Lauren’s first play, so it was a real gift to have the time and space to work on it away from New York and everything else. The success of this magical place is due in no small part to the amazing team of women who run it. They are absolute gems and I urge you to click on the link below and take a look at some of the amazing artists they’ve had in residency.
http://www.vineyardartsproject.org/
This month I’ve been busy auditioning for both the big and small screen while rehearsing for the American premiere of Philip Ridley’s Tender Napalm. It’s about a young couple struggling to stay together while coping in the aftermath of a tragedy. The play itself is poetic, searing, fantastical, sensual and just so well made. It has not yet ceased to reveal new parts of itself to me. I’m excited to invite you to this production where I fight hard, play hard, and fall in love, with the smart and generous Blake Ellis. With only three weeks to rehearse this two-hander we’ve been lucky to have a wonderfully supportive director and a stellar coterie of coaches, designers, and creatives to help us meet the challenge. It runs from August 23rd until September 9th and seating is limited. For more information and/or tickets click the link below.
http://59e59.org/moreinfo.php?showid=88
Many thanks for your support and I hope to see you at the theater!
Amelia Workman 
