Hatch: New Play Development Series

Supporting 21st Century writers is critical to our work.

Hatch is Eagle Project's program of readings, staged readings, and workshops designed to help develop original theatrical material that fits our mission statement. Its purpose is to support the playwright in their work, and thus the timetable and format of the presentation are based on where the writer is in their process.

Sometimes the work goes all the way to full production, as did our first production, Wood Bones by William S. Yellow Robe, Jr., our second production, Broken Heart Land by Vicki Lynn Mooney, and our third production Trail of Tears by Thomas J. Soto.

Over the past four years, Eagle Project has had the privilege of collaborating with the Public Theater, The Lark Play Development Center, Primary Stages, Nuyorican Poets Cafe, as well as the United Nations.

Waaxe's Law by Mary Kathryn Nagle at NYU Law School (October, 2012)

~ 2016 ~

Cornsoup by Vickie Ramirez

Directed by Ryan Victor "Little Eagle" Pierce

Featuring: Kahlil Gonzalez-Garcia, Frank Harts, Haskell King, Bradley Levine, Tanis Parenteau, Elizabeth Rolston

Monday, May 23rd 2016 at The Ellington Room 400 W. 43rd St., 2nd floor

~ 2015 ~

Hunka by Larissa FastHorse

Directed by Ryan Victor "Little Eagle" Pierce

Featuring: Carolyn Braver, Miriam Kulick, Michael Rehse, Madeline Sayet, Christopher Augustine

One night, a very pregnant teen, Kit, brings together her baby's grandmother, Laura, and the daughter Laura gave away. Nicole, in a desperate attempt to find something that means family for her and her child. For the first time in her life, Nicole, who was raised by white parents, had to face questions about her Native American father, and what being half Native means to her. Can you have a family by choice (hunka) or does blood somehow tie people together, even against their will?

In collaboration with Primary Stages Studios

Friday, September 11th 2015 at Primary Stages Studios

This Play Is Native Made by Ryan Victor "Little Eagle" Pierce

Directed by Ash Marinaccio

Featuring: Ryan Victor "Little Eagle" Pierce and Darleen Rae Fontaine

In response to the State of New Jersey's recent treatment of its indigenous people, a Lenape artist takes us on an odyssey of everything old still being new, and how the emancipation of this Nation of First Contact can lead to the freedom of all residents of the East Coast.

In collaboration with the Primary Stages Studios

Friday, September 4th 2015 at Primary Stages Studios

Mangled Beams by Dawn Jamieson

Directed by Ryan Victor "Little Eagle" Pierce

Featuring: Rory Clarke, David Fierro, Jake Hart, Frank Harts, Andy Lucien, Elizabeth Rolston and Albert Ybarra

In collaboration with the Lark's Studio Retreat Program

Tuesday, April 14th and Wednesday, April 15th 2015 at The Lark Play Development Center

Veritas by Betty Shamieh
Directed by Alex Mallory

Featuring: Ty Defoe, Joey Goldman, Kahlil Gonzalez-Garcia, Kenneth Heaton, Sera-Lys McArthur, Julia Morgantini, Ryan Victor Pierce*, Christian Ryan*, Eric Whitten and Katie Zaffrann*.

In collaboration with The Native American Council of Columbia University

*appearing courtesy of Actors Equity Association

Wednesday, April 1st 2015 at Columbia University

~ 2014 ~

Hunka by Larissa FastHorse
Directed by Ryan Victor Pierce

Featuring: Tiff Roma, Miriam Kulick*, Madeline Sayet, Michael Rehse, Giovanni Lemus
*appearing courtesy of Actors Equity Association

Monday, June 2nd 2014 at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe

~ 2013 ~

An American Noh by Phil Atlakson
Directed by Ako Dachs

Featuring: Albert Ybarra, Chris White, Ching Valdes, Kimbre Lancaster

Five short plays, comprising a traditional program of Japanese Noh, follow contemporary characters as they unwittingly collide with America's unresolved past, exploring the American experience from a timeless, eastern perspective.

In collaboration with Red Shirt Entertainment & Nuyorican Poets Café

Location: Nuyorican Poets Café

Monday, October 7th 2013

Remembrance Project: Indian Removal Act (Trail of Tears)
Arranged by Thomas Soto
Directed by Rajendra Ramoon Maharaj

Featuring: Daebreon Michelle Albert * Joe Froehlich * Ryan Victor Pierce * Kena Anae * Mariah Gladstone * Chetan Rao * Christian Lee Branch * Jonas Goslow * Casey Robinson * Hope Butler * Kubbi * Elizabeth Rolston * Bridget Carrow * Lauren Lubow * Kyle Sallee * Nic Casaula * Lorraine Mattox * Laurence Stepney * Julia Christgau * David Norwood * Arthur Toombs * Joe Cross * Turquoise Olezene * Erica Twis * Jon Demske * Nikki Padula * Matt Vorzimer * Myla Flores * Morgan Patton * Daniel Velez

A night of poetry, spoken word, music, and dance.

SPECIAL GUEST SPEAKER: Christine Funmaker-Romano, Executive Director of the American Indian Community House of New York City.

In collaboration with Red Shirt Entertainment (http://www.redshirtentertainment.com/) & Nuyorican Poets Cafe (http://www.nuyorican.org/)

Location: Nuyorican Poets Café

All ticket proceeds go to support the American Indian Community House of New York City. (http://www.aich.org/)

Monday, September 30th 2013

Hoop Jumper by Vicki Lynn Mooney
Directed by Ryan Victor Pierce

Featuring: Tyree Giroux, John Mazurek, Joe Cross, Anna Savant

A mixed blood Cherokee man is questioned by a Cherokee representative and a commissioner from the Department of the Interior to the Five Civilized Tribes on his place as a Cherokee.

Hoop Jumper is a co-presentation between Red Shirt Entertainment and Eagle Project, and is part of Red Shirt's Rooftop Play Reading Festival.

The Rooftop Reading Festival is an annual event dedicated to public readings of new ten-minute plays. Hailed by the New York Post as “Theater on high,” this dynamic festival not only presents art in a very unique setting, but helps to build strong community and bonds among the America Theater Artists who participate.

Location: 18 West 23rd Street, On the Roof! New York City (between 5th & 6th Avenues)

Saturday & Sunday, September 21st & 22nd 2013

Manahatta by Mary Kathryn Nagle
Directed by Kate Whoriskey

Featuring: Madeline Sayet, Darryl Tonemah, Kimberley Guerrero, Jake Hart, Bruce Sabath, Andrew Hovelson, Robert Stanton, T. Defoe

When a modern day Lenape woman returns to her ancestral land to work on Wall Street, she must reconcile all that her people have lost with what she now attempts to gain. MANAHATTA simultaneously tells the story of the Lenape Indians who lived on the island of Manahatta in the 1600s, when Peter Minuit and the Dutch claim to have purchased the island for $24. Written in The Public Theater's Emerging Writers Group, this play explores how the concepts of indigenous identity, ownership, and the entire system of American capitalism have made us who we are today.

This reading is a co-presentation between The Public and Eagle Project. It will be part of the Public's New Work Now Series and Eagle Project's Hatch Development Series of New Works.

Location: The Public Theater is located at 425 Lafayette Street, New York City (just below Astor Place). (212) 539-8500

Saturday, September 14th 2013

~ 2012 ~

In the Boneyard by Ian McDonald
directed by Ian McDonald and featuring Shawn Madsen, Emilie Bonsant and Ryan Victor Pierce*

In The Boneyard, focuses on the contentious relationship of two, middle-aged brothers in Northern, Maine. Years ago one of the brothers escaped his home, while the other was forced to stay behind and care for their sick mother. Now after years apart, they've come together to dig up her grave. The play explores issues of class, social mobility, and prejudice.

Animalbox by Liza Birkenmeier

directed by Katherine Brook and featuring Dominique Fishback, David Gould, Devin Norik*, Eric Berryman*, Bob Manus*, Carolina Reiter
With riverside wildlife, a craigslist scam, a failing housing project, a disturbing YouTube video, and a blue dress, Francis searches for a brand new purpose in a post-industrial era.
Friday, November 9th 2013

Waaxe's Law by Mary Katherine Nagle, based on Standing Bear v. Crook (1879), translations by Louis Headman directed by Ryan Victor Pierce and featuring Tyree Giroux*, Joe Cross, Madeline Sayet, Sam Lopresti, Dylan Carusona*, James Nugent*, Paul Pontrelli*, Christopher Randolph*, Christopher Romero Wilson, John Mazurek*, John Naughton, Ruis Woertendyke, Yan Kirichenko, Deidre Johnson
*denotes member of Actors Equity Association
75 years before the Supreme Court decided Brown v. Board of Education, a Ponca Indian Chief stood up in federal court and demanded that he be afforded the same rights as whites under the law. Based on actual historical events,Waaxe's Law tells the story of the forced removal of the Ponca Tribe to present-day Oklahoma, and Chief Standing Bear's subsequent journey for justice--a journey that resulted in the first federal court decision declaring Indians to be "persons" under the law.
Thursday, October 11th 2013
New York University School of Law
Tishman Auditorium

Broken Heartland by Vickie Lynn Mooney, directed by Tony White, featuring: Molly Callahan, Dylan Carusona*, Sam Lopresti, Margaret Champagne, Jara Jones, John Mazurek, Joe Cross *denotes member of Actors Equity Association
At the turn of the 20th Century, in Indian Territory, a young Cherokee girl learns of her strength and potential through rebelling against an arranged marriage made by her elders to secure tribal land.

Wednesday, April 25th 2013 at Studios 353

Wood Bones by William S. Yellow Robe, Jr. Directed by Bob Jaffe Featuring: Madeline Sayet, Joe Cross, Christopher Romero Wilson, Ryan Victor Pierce*, Matt Langer, Margaret Champagne, Freedome Bradley*, Veracity Butcher, Mike Callahan, Eden Sanaa Duncan-Smith* * denotes member of Actors Equity Association.

Wood Bones is the story of energies earthbound and held within a home. The home's entity, 121, requires freedom from its earthly existence. This haunting play explores exploitation of our young people, racism and personal greed vs. duty to community.

Thursday, March 7th 2013 at Playwrights Horizons

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