This is a series of posts featuring our artists who are making things happen in and around our great borough of Queens. Please check back weekly for new posts.
Tracee Chimo (Astoria)
Title\Occupation Actor
Where were you born? Saugus, Massachusetts (a small town in the North Shore of Boston)
Which Queens neighborhood do you live in and for how long? Astoria. I’ve lived here off and on for 12 years. I’ve been in my current apartment now for 2 1/2. I’ve lived all over the Burroughs….but I always come back to Queens.
How did you get involved in theater? Hm. Well, I was a dancer and thought I’d be a choreographer one day. Truth be told, that wasn’t my dream. Dancing was just something I did well, like my Mom. She was a beautiful dancer. So I was 17 years old, and I was all set to go to Emerson College on a big dance scholarship, when I blew out my left knee in the middle of a performance. I had to undergo reconstructive knee surgery and I was looking at about a 2 year recovery time. I lost my dance scholarship, and my folks couldn’t afford to send me to Emerson without it, so I went to Salem State College and auditioned for their BFA program as an actor. I figured, “I can’t dance for 2 years, but I’d like to be on stage. So I’ll try this.” To make a long story short – I fell in love with acting when I was 18, and that was it.
What do you love most about Queens? I love coming home at the end of the day from the loud ass City to a quiet neighborhood with lots of artists and families. There’s something really cozy about Queens. I haven’t found that feeling in any other neighborhood of New York.
Do you have an “only in Queens” moment you’d like to share?
Every night I go to the deli on my corner and get a sandwich. And every night the owner (an old man in an apron) says, “You gotta work, right kid?! You gotta work to pay bills!” And every night I say, “I know! Thank God for work!” So one night he asks me what I do for a living, and I say, “I’m on Broadway”. There was this huge, awkward pause. And he blinked, about 10 times. Then finally he replied, “…the street?” I laughed and said, “Yes. I work over on Broadway.”
Current/Upcoming projects? Shooting season 3 of Orange is the New Black, and getting ready to go into rehearsals for LIPS TOGETHER, TEETH APART at Second Stage.
This is a series of posts featuring our artists who are making things happen in and around our great borough of Queens. Please check back weekly for new posts.
Amy E. Witting
Title\Occupation Playwright
Where were you born? I was born in the beautiful and underrated state of New Jersey.
Which Queens neighborhood do you live in and for how long? I’ve lived in Queens since 2008. Started in Long Island City and have been in Sunnyside for the past four years.
How did you get involved in theater? My family encouraged me to put my drama on the stage. Ha. Gratefully my parents enrolled me in a theatre group when I was in kindergarten after being cast as the Fat Cat in my preschool play.
What do you love most about Queens? It’s home. I lived in Brooklyn for many years with roommates, and when I looked to get a place of my own with decent space I could only afford Queens. It was a hard move from Brooklyn but now I can’t imagine living anywhere else. I have a nice community of friends in Sunnyside, and it really feels like a neighborhood where people have roots. Of course, living off the Bliss stop in Sunnyside I’m always happy.
Do you have an “only in Queens” moment you’d like to share?
Not sure if it’s an “only in Queens” moment but the first summer I lived in Sunnyside I went to the grocery store and came across a jazz festival underneath the big Sunnyside sign. People were dancing, laughing, and the performers were really talented. It was an eclectic group of folks listening to the music, dancing, and celebrating the life of Bix Beiderbecke. I had no idea who Bix Beiderbecke was but every year I have made a point to sit and listen to the music. It’s a real neighborhood event. Also discovered that Bix was a jazz legend who lived around the corner from my current apartment in the 1920s.
Your top Queens picks (food, entertainment, sights, etc)? The wonderful thing about my neighborhood is that you can find so many different types of restaurants you’ll never get board. Outside my neighborhood I love Gantry Park. It’s one of my favorite places to just sit and watch the world go by. They’ve recently expanded the boardwalk and you can have a picnic underneath the Pepsi Sign.
Current/Upcoming projects? I’m pretty excited to workshop my play Day 392 at The Kennedy Center in Washington DC in August as part of NNPN’s MFA Playwrights’ Workshop. I will also have a workshop production of Road Veins at TADA! in NYC this November thanks to the generous support of The Anne Freedman Grant.
This is a series of posts featuring our artists who are making things happen in and around our great borough of Queens. Please check back weekly for new posts.
Title\Occupation Playwright and Co-Director of the Ma-Yi Writers Lab
Which Queens neighborhood do you live in and for how long? I live in Sunnyside as of September 2012. I lived in Jackson Heights from February 2006 – September 2011.
How did you get involved in theater? My first real involvement in theater was with the Port Huron Community Theatre. I played Eeyore in The House at Pooh Corner. I had acted in a couple of Christmas shows in Catholic School prior to that, but it was playing Eeyore that got me really hooked on theatre.
What do you love most about Queens? I LOVE TO EAT. So the many food adventures in Queens are probably what I love the most.
Do you have an “only in Queens” moment you’d like to share?
I don’t have any “only in Queens” moments, but I love walking down blocks and seeing those buildings where there’s a Latin American lawyer’s office under a Filipino martial arts studio next door to a Turkish restaurant. It always blows my mind wide open.
Your top Queens picks (food, entertainment, sights, etc)? SweetLeaf LIC for coffee. Taqueria Coatzingo in Jackson Heights for Mexican, although vegans won’t want to miss out on vegan mole at De Mole in Sunnyside. Sripraphai forever for Thai food. Joju’s in Elmhurst only has so-so banh mi, but they do have an amazing invention called loaded kimchi fries (get it with the fried egg). If you’re a lazy Filipino vegetarian who doesn’t feel like cooking, Payag in Woodside is pretty much the only Filipino resto that will accommodate your veggie-ness. Zenon Taverna is my go-to for Astoria Greek food. Hop the N/Q further into Astoria and go to Martha’s Country Bakery for pie and cheesecake when your done. And, finally, the Xi’an Famous Foods in Flushing is WAY better than the one in the East Village if you don’t mind navigating through a sketchy underground food court.
Current/Upcoming projects? The Mysteries, including my short play Something in the Water, is currently playing at The Flea until July 14. A presentation of A Power Play; Or, What’s-its-name will be at the O’Neill Playwrights Conference July 16 and 17. We Have Cookies will be produced at the Yale Summer Cabaret August 14 – 17 as part of their Summer Shorts. My short play Some Other Kid is being presented throughout the U.S. as part of The New Black Fest’s Facing Our Truth: 10-Minute Plays on Trayvon, Race, and Privilege. And, finally, after all the terrible things I do will premiere at Milwaukee Rep in October 2014 before heading to Boston’s Huntington Theatre in spring 2015.
This is a series of posts featuring our artists who are making things happen in and around our great borough of Queens. Please check back weekly for new posts.
Kevin Christopher Snipes
Title\Occupation Playwright
Where were you born? Plantation, Florida. I’m Swamp Trash.
Which Queens neighborhood do you live in and for how long? I live right on the border of Woodside & Sunnyside. Technically my address is Woodside but I tell people Sunnyside because, frankly, I have yet to learn the consequences of lying.
How did you get involved in theater? I grew up in Central Florida where we had a pretty amazing regional theater called Seaside Music Theater. One of the first shows I remember seeing at SMT was Marsha Norman & Lucy Simon’s The Secret Garden, and it kind of changed my life. It was the first time I remember being completely transported to another world and being deeply affected by the power of theater. After that I started seeing theater regularly. I joined my school’s drama club. I started acting. I wrote plays. I stopped acting. I kept writing plays. And now here I am. (Incidentally, my childhood infatuation with theater via The Secret Garden has actually been turned into theater. Former Sunnyside playwright/composer Matt Schatz used my “theater awakening” story as inspiration for a song in his musical LOVE TRAPEZOID. The song is called, appropriately enough, “The Secret Garden.”)
What do you love most about Queens? I like that Queens keeps surprising me. I’ve lived here almost a decade and yet every year I discover something new to love about it. Some hidden gem of a restaurant. A museum. A park. Queens doesn’t really advertise itself so it’s up to you to find out what it has to offer. I like that it makes me put in the effort.
Do you have an “only in Queens” moment you’d like to share?
April 22nd was the 50th anniversary of the World’s Fair in Queens. To mark the occasion, the city briefly re-opened the long-neglected but still standing New York Pavilion. More than 6,000 people stood in line for (sometimes) more than five hours for the chance to go inside the historic structure for five minutes. Including me. That is some hardcore Queens love.
Your top Queens picks (food, entertainment, sights, etc)? In my opinion there is no greater restaurant in all of Queens that De Mole. It’s the most delicious, least expensive Mexican food I have ever had. They even make an insanely good cheeseburger. If you like tapas (and who doesn’t like tapas?), the chefs at Salt & Fat are endlessly inventive. I just had a dessert there that consisted of beet sorbet, chocolate “dirt,” and mint sprigs. It was so quirky and delicious I couldn’t stop smiling. The Queens Museum and Unisphere are amazing. They’re located in Flushing Meadows (the former site of the 1964 World’s Fair) and you could spend a whole day walking the grounds.
Current/Upcoming projects? In June I’ll be heading up to the Berkshires for the Berkshires Playwrights Lab’s 7th Annual Gala. My one-act THE AGE OF IRON will be part of an evening of short plays that are being staged to help raise money for BPL.
This is a series of posts featuring our artists who are making things happen in and around our great borough of Queens. Please check back weekly for new posts.
Which Queens neighborhood do you live in and for how long? I’ve lived in Astoria for over 4 years now! I’ve spent the last 2 years off of the Ditmars stop. And my first apartment in the city was by Steinway, next to the dearly departed Time Cafe, off of what was then the V train.
How did you get involved in theater? In 4th grade, I was in a class production of Oedipus (we had a very progressive teacher!) – I played the Oracle of Delphi and made a lot of crazy gargling sounds and have been hooked ever since. I majored in theatre at Skidmore College (with a stint abroad at the Moscow Art Theatre) and loved the ensemble-based approach. Immediately upon graduating from Skidmore, I co-founded No.11 Productions, a non-profit theater company dedicated to creating, developing and touring theatre as an ensemble (www.no11productions). As of this June, we will be at it 6 years and counting!
What do you love most about Queens? I love living off of an elevated train line!
Do you have an “only in Queens” moment you’d like to share?
When I was preparing to move to NYC, my roommate-to-be asked me where we should look for an apartment. Without hesitation, I declared “Astoria”. I had never been to Astoria (or to Queens for that matter), but I just knew that this was the place for me!
Current/Upcoming projects? We are remounting our original play-with-music Coosje this summer. In this whimsical love story, inspired by artists Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, two sculptors learn to collaborate in life and art. Meanwhile, a pear falls out of a fruit bowl, gains consciousness and travels the world. We’ll be bringing Coosje up to Saratoga Springs this June and then heading to DC for the Capital Fringe in July.
This is a series of posts featuring our artists who are making things happen in and around our great borough of Queens. Please check back weekly for new posts.
Dina Comolli (Astoria)
Title\Occupation Actress, Executive Director of Rising City Arts, Teaching Artist & Nia Green Belt Instructor
Where were you born? Trenton, NJ where “Trenton makes, the world takes”
Which Queens neighborhood do you live in and for how long? Last Stop, Ditmars. 13 years!
How did you get involved in theater?
As many of you theatre-folk will understand, the theatre kind of found me. I remember, in first grade, pining over the role of Mother Rabbit. I didn’t end up getting cast, but when the actress who did chickened out, I was called in to take the part. I was so elated during the whole process! I never turned back to ask if it was a reasonable way to live the rest of my life. I just had to have it.
Looking back, I am SO grateful for the arts programming in my elementary school and high school in PA. When I hit middle school though we had no theatre program and I seriously derailed with grades, relationships and authority figures. No doubt, puberty is a rough time, but I was clearly a student who flourished with the arts because as soon as started high school theatre, all was peaceful again. To this day, I am still equally as excited when I get cast. Being around the creative collaborative process, hearing or being the audience settling into their seats to witness a story unfold, sharing words, ideas, and feelings in a safe space, role playing, dreaming, laughing, singing, dancing. It is all such absolute pleasure to me.
Tell us about your organization Rising City Arts.
Yes! Rising City Arts is an Astoria based Arts in Education Organization and a unique place to explore and enjoy the craft of theatre. We serve children and adults of all ages with high quality, innovative theatre and acting-based classes, workshops and in-school residencies taught by some of New York’s finest Acting Teachers. We are dedicated to helping our students develop a greater awareness of self, community, confidence and artistic potential.
Rising City Arts launched in Astoria in 2010 with a big heart, years of experience in arts-based classrooms and a whole bunch of passion in the belief that now, in this technological age, is the ideal time to connect with our peers for some crazy fun and inspiring arts collaboration. The craft of acting teaches us to actually listen and look at one another, to have healthy dialogues about our thoughts and feelings, to move our bodies and to appreciate the importance of play.
Since launching, Rising City has proudly reached nearly 600 children each year with the joys of theatre making and acting. We are grateful to our 14 partner schools and community organizations (11 of which are in Astoria and LIC!!) who support the theatre arts in education. This spring we are so thrilled to present our premiere community ACTING CLASSES for kids and adults at Broadway Dance of Astoria! Check out details on our website: RisingCityArts.com
What do you love most about Queens?
It’s hard to choose most! But forced, I will choose the people. We are such a beautiful mix of personalities who know how to eat well, enjoy life and appreciate what our community has to offer. I have met so many wonderful people and lifelong friends here!
Do you have an “only in Queens” moment you’d like to share?
The sunsets from my rooftop are breathtaking. If I can’t post a photo here, you will have to believe me that my rooftop is one of the most sublime and uplifting places in all of NYC.
Sunset over Astoria from Dina Comolli’s rooftop
Sunset over Astoria from Dina Comolli’s rooftop
Sunset over Astoria from Dina Comolli’s rooftop
Your top Queens picks (food, entertainment, sights, etc)? I always enjoy dining at Kiklades, Watawa and Sparrow. The food at the Queens Kickshaw blows my mind. Dessert at Martha’s never disappoints. You will find me working off the delicious neighborhood cuisine at Yoga Agora and The Art of Fitness (where I teach Nia). And I love my local small businesses; Copycom, Inside Astoria, Buon Appetit, Space Salon and Wave Thai. If you have never shopped at Titan Foods, you should try it, it’s an adventure. And for a night of laughter and liquor, nothing beats our great bars like O’Hanlon’s, Dominie’s Hoek (LIC and Astoria), Café Bar and Mosaic. My favorite coffee shop to get a delicious lunch and work through the afternoon is Astor Bake Shop. Then maybe back to Ditmars for a quick jog in Astoria Park, kept beautiful by the wonderful folks at The Astoria Park Alliance.
Current/Upcoming projects? Happily, I am always busy as an actress; making commercials, performing in play readings or shooting various TV and film projects. But I am most excited by our upcoming Spring 2014 Rising City Arts community Acting Classes in Astoria for kids and adults! We have seven class offerings serving all ages – from Babies to Preschoolers, Tweens, Teens and Adults. We have gathered a powerful team of acting teachers (who are all Astoria residents) and can’t wait to share our love and joy for theatre arts and acting with our friends and neighbors in Western Queens! Full teacher bios and class details can be found at RisingCityArts.com. Register today before classes fill up!!
This is a series of posts featuring our artists who are making things happen in and around our great borough of Queens. Please check back weekly for new posts.
Kristine M. Reyes – Taken under the Hell Gate Bridge in Astoria Park
Title\Occupation Playwright. I’m an associate artist at Diverse City Theater Company and a company member at Leviathan Lab.
Where were you born? Born in Manila, Philippines, but raised in NYC since the age of seven.
Which Queens neighborhood do you live in and for how long? I moved to Astoria three and a half years ago, when I got married. The joke was, it must be true love for a native Manhattanite to move to Queens. No dig against Queens, of course, but New Yorkers are very borough/neighborhood-proud.
How did you get involved in theater? Theater was something in my life from a young age because my mom is a great admirer of the performing arts; she would take me to shows as a kid – everything from Broadway to shows in little run-down theaters. My elementary school (shout-out to P.S. 41!) also had a strong arts program, so I vividly remember chorus class and putting on our 6th grade production of 42nd Street (I was a chorus girl) with our music teacher Rayme.
So theater was always something I enjoyed, but more as an audience member than as a participant. I think I’m one of those rare playwrights who didn’t start out as an actor, but I’ve wanted to be a writer as long as I can remember. It didn’t occur to me to try my hand at writing plays until college. It was a screenwriting class that eventually led to playwriting, actually. I realized that all I wanted to do was focus on the characters and write dialogue between them. Something clicked, like an “a-ha” moment, and it’s what I’ve been doing ever since.
Tell us about the play you’re working on in the Propulsion Lab? It’s currently untitled and I’m still figuring things out as I write, but the play is about a conservative Asian-American woman who’s in her first relationship with a woman. She’s still very much in the closet, so it’s about how she navigates that double life and tries to maintain balance in all her relationships.
What do you love most about Queens? I love that Queens is the most diverse borough in New York City – we’ve got people from all over the world who’ve settled down and created their lives here. It’s a microcosm of the microcosm that is NYC – but more affordable and less pretentious.
Do you have an “only in Queens” moment you’d like to share?
It’s not so much a moment, but getting off the 7 train and stepping out onto Main Street in Flushing’s Chinatown gives me that feeling. I don’t know if there’s any other ethnic neighborhood in America where you feel like you’ve been transported to that country – the signs are in Chinese, the majority of the people walking around are Chinese, you hear people speaking Chinese – you really feel like you’re in, well, China. Manhattan’s Chinatown is such a tourist attraction, so it has a different vibe. But Flushing’s Chinatown feels like an “only in Queens” place to me.
Your top Queens picks (food, entertainment, sights, etc)?
Café Triskell is one of my favorite restaurants in the city, period. My husband and I love going there on date nights because it’s cozy, the food is excellent, it’s affordable, and the chef/owner and his wife are really nice. Another favorite is Sanford’s – it’s upscale American food at diner prices, and it’s open 24-hours. We also love that ramen has made its way to Astoria – Hinomaru is near us and, in my opinion, rivals most of the ramen joints in Manhattan.
Current/Upcoming projects? I’ve been developing a full-length play called Stage/Mother that I hope to have a reading of later this year. I’m also in the very early stages of working on some non-theater writing projects that I’m really excited about, but can’t discuss yet (ooh intriguing!).In the meantime, you can check out my website for updates and information about my plays: kristinemreyes.com
This is a series of posts featuring our artists who are making things happen in and around our great borough of Queens. Please check back weekly for new posts.
Christopher Diercksen
Title\Occupation New Play Director, Dramaturg, Development Producer\Baby Toy Salesman
Where were you born? Glenn Ridge, NJ though I grew up in West Caldwell.
Which Queens neighborhood do you live in and for how long? Astoria, 2.5 years
How did you get involved in theater? Through music, originally. Sang in church choir from the time I was 3. Every summer the little kids would put on a musical and the high school kids would tour a musical over winter break. It was the cool thing to do actually, a massive operation. I got to travel to London, Vancouver, Seattle, New Orleans, all over Texas, and Southern California with really good shows. My first real part came in 3rd grade when a 5th grader got the chicken pox leading up to the christmas pageant and they picked me to fill the void. Matthew The Lowly Shepherd Boy. I can still remember the song.
What do you love most about Queens? This is a hard question but i think a good answer is the wider sidewalks and shorter buildings. It means more visible sky and less crowding. Also the N train follows the perfect route through manhattan. Plus the population is so diverse.
Do you have an “only in Queens” moment you’d like to share?
So my Egyptian owned laundromat is run by mostly Spanish speaking ladies who all love to chit chat and watch telenovelas. One day I walked in on a jovial conversation between one of my favorites of the women and a man with a heavy Greek accent being translated by a Brazilian; Spanish to Portuguese accented English to Greek accented English to Portuguese accented Spanish. There was so much laughter. I really liked that.
This is a series of posts featuring our artists who are making things happen in and around our great borough of Queens. Please check back weekly for new posts.
Lisa Huberman
Title\Occupation Playwright
Where were you born? At my parents’ house in Youngstown, OH.
Which Queens neighborhood do you live in and for how long? I’ve lived at the border between Woodside and Sunnyside for two and a half years. I also lived in Astoria by the river in a tiny place near the Socrates Sculpture Park for a hot minute when I just needed to escape from Jersey City in a hurry.
How did you get involved in theater? Theatre is a part of my family’s heritage. It saved my grandpa from a life of juvenile delinquency in the 1930s and I grew up going to the local community theatre and being in shows there with my dad. I can hold entire conversations with the men in my Dad’s family composed of lines from Guys and Dolls, The Fantasticks, and The Producers. Though I have a mixed relationship to musical theatre today, something about those lyrics feel like home.
Tell us about the play you’re working on in the Propulsion Lab? Right now it’s called LIFE PLAY and it explores what happens when a woman’s private sexual fantasies begin to intersect with the identity she’s created in her current relationships. Not only do these desires seem to contradict her beliefs as a feminist, but her background in activism fighting sexual oppression and poverty. After her boyfriend confronts her with kinky material in her internet search history, they embark on a journey that pushes them to push many limits and face uncomfortable truths.
What do you love most about Queens? When I was trying to get out of Jersey quick, I was at first overwhelmed with the sheer number of options for housing in New York. But then I thought, you know what? I don’t know any jerks who live in Astoria. While I knew jerks in pretty much every neighborhood in the city, everyone I knew in Astoria was a wonderful person. And I’ve found that to be true in Woodside/Sunnyside as well. Maybe it’s being from the Midwest–but I like being able to smile at strangers on the street and not have people look at me like a weirdo.
I also love the food–not just globe-spanning selection of restaurants, but also grocery stores that cater to every culinary persuasion without making you fork over your entire . I kind of feel bad for Manhattanites for not having a lot of good grocery stores.
Do you have an “only in Queens” moment you’d like to share?
The “Vote Here” sign at my local polling station printed in English, Spanish, Chinese, Korean, and Hindi.
Your top Queens picks (food, entertainment, sights, etc)?
Grocery Stores: Homemade tofu at the H Mart on Roosevelt in Woodside, Patel Brothers in Jackson Heights, baklava at Parrot Coffee Grocery on Queens Blvd in Sunnyside, giant bags of dried chickpeas at Trade Fair.
Restaurants: Pita Pan (or Pita Hot) on 30th Ave., Vesta on 30th Ave. (get the warm banky for brunch) Tangra in on Queens Blvd., La Adelita on Roosevelt. 3E Thai in Astoria on Broadway.
Current/Upcoming projects? Working on getting a full reading of “Life Play” up sometime in the next two or three months. In the meantime ,you can purchase my plays “Under the Rainbow,” “High and Uptight” and Egyptology on the Monologues Database http://www.notmyshoes.net/monologues/. I’m also halfway through teaching a playwriting workshop with the kids at in the Theatre Program at the Middlesex County Vocational and Technical Schools in East Brunswick, NJ.
This is a series of posts featuring our artists who are making things happen in and around our great borough of Queens. Please check back weekly for new posts.
Which Queens neighborhood do you live in and for how long? Astoria. About 2 and a half years.
How did you get involved in theater? I’ve been in involved in theater since before I remember deciding to be involved in theater. It just kind of happened. If I look back and look for the moment I developed the crazy obsessive bug for it I would have to say it was when I was seven years old playing Clarence in the play A Kid in King Arthur’s Court at summer camp. I read the entire script (minus my lines) into a tape recorder, with breaks for my lines, so I could practice all the time. My drive while I was growing up was a little over the top.
What do you love most about Queens? I lived on the Upper East Side of Manhattan my first two years in New York and I have to say the thing I love most about living in Queens is that moment when you’re heading home on the train and it starts heading above ground at Queensboro Plaza. There’s just so much relief in that moment. You’ve emerged from the belly of the beast.
Do you have an “only in Queens” moment you’d like to share?
Steinway Street. That’s it. Just. Steinway Street.
Your top Queens picks (food, entertainment, sights, etc)? I love the movie theater at the Museum of the Moving Image. The acoustics in there are just insane. Let’s be real though. Queens is all about the food. I love Taverna Kyclades, JJ’s Asian Fusion, William Hallet, Sweet Afton, Seva, Brooklyn Bagel, Butcher Bar, and the list goes on and on.
Current/Upcoming projects? Up next I’ll be playing Valerie in The Unlikely Ascent of Sybil Stevens which is running February 6th through February 23rd at The Secret Theater in LIC, Queens. Tickets are available here.
Mission to dit(MARS) 