CHICKEN
Conceived by Charlotte Ford
Created by Jay Dunn, Charlotte Ford and Mikaal Sulaiman
Charlotte Ford (conceiver/writer/performer)
is a Philadelphia-based theatre artist who creates avant-garde slapstick performance art that celebrates sublime stupidity with joyful
abandon. She has devised original theatre with Geoff Sobelle (Flesh and Blood and Fish and Fowl: 2008 Live Arts premiere,
2010 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, 2011 London Mime Festival), Pig Iron Theatre Company (Welcome to Yuba City), Emmanuelle
Delpeche Ramey (Raymond), Lucidity Suitcase Intercontinental (Red-Eye to Havre de Grace, Flamingo/Winnebago),
Rainpan 43 (Machines Machines Machines Machines Machines Machines Machines: 2010 Obie award for design) and New Paradise
Laboratories (Don Juan in Nirvana). She has performed with 1812 Productions (Cherry Bomb, An Evening Without Woody
Allen), Theatre Exile (Red Light Winter, Mr. Marmalade, That Pretty Pretty, or the Rape Play), the
Lantern (Midsummer Night's Dream), the Arden, Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, the McCarter, and Brat Productions.
She is a recipient of the Philadelphia Theatre Initiative grant, the Independence Foundation fellowship, and the 2008 & 2009
Leeway Art and Change grant. She has been nominated for four Barrymore awards. She holds a BA from Bryn Mawr College and an MFA
from the London International School of Performing Arts.
Mikaal Sulaiman (creator/performer)
Born and raised in Rochester NY, Mikaal attended the University of the Arts as an acting major and then studied the Jacques Lecoq
approach to physical theatre at the London International School of Performing Arts. He has performed under the direction of Raelle
Myric-Hodges in the world premier of "Rust" at the Magic Theatre in San Francisco, Aaron Posner in "The Tempest" at the Folger Theatre
in D.C. and Dan Rothenberg in "Love Unpunished" with Pig Iron Theatre in Philadelphia, to name a few of the most memorable. In 2009
Mikaal also attended the Orchard Project with Emmanuelle Delpech Ramey. As a sound designer he has worked with The Flea Theatre,
Pig Iron Theatre, KOSOKO/perFORMance, New Paradise Laboratories, OMNiBUS, Theatre Exile, Azuka Theatre, Inis Nua Theatre, and PBS
feature films as well as others. salaam.
Jay Dunn (creator/performer)
is an actor, director, and teacher based in New York. Jay has performed original devised work with Pig Iron Theater Company (Hell Meets Henry Halfway),
Geoff Sobelle/Charlotte Ford (Flesh and Blood and Fish and Fowl: 2010 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, 2011 London Mime Festival), has worked with "renegade
absurdist" company rainpan43, co-created and performed an original clown piece for Clowns Without Borders in Haiti, and most recently co-created and
performed Handshake Uppercut/Only Two with John Leo (2010 NY Clown Festival, 2011 Triskelion Comedy in Dance Festival). He has performed
internationally in 5 countries and at Arena Stage (A Man's a Man), Folger Theatre (The Game of Love and Chance), Potomac Theatre Project
(now Off-Broadway – Arcadia, Plenty, Piaf, Somewhere in the Pacific, Lovesong of the Electric Bear) among many others
in the US. Jay has taught at the high school (Duke Ellington School of the Arts – DC, Friends School with Pig Iron – Philadelphia), college
(American University), and professional level (Woolly Mammoth Theater with Pig Iron – DC, Whistler in the Dark Company – Boston, The Center for
Movement Theater – DC & NYC) and continues to study Neutral Mask and Lecoq pedagogy as TA to Dody DiSanto at The Center for Movement Theater.
Jay received his B.A. in Theater from Middlebury College, completed his graduate training at L'Ecole Jacques Lecoq in Paris, and trained in Clown with
Giovanni Fusetti.
Geoff Sobelle (outside eye/director)
is a theatre artist dedicated to the "sublime ridiculous." He is the co-artistic director of rainpan 43, a renegade absurdist outfit
devoted to creating original actor-driven performance works. R43's shows include: all wear bowlers, Amnesia Curiosa,
and machines machines machines machines machines machines machines. He has been a company member of Philadelphia's Pig Iron
Theatre Company since 2001. Geoff was awarded an Independence Foundation Fellowship and grants from the Philadelphia Theatre
Initiative to create all wear bowlers, (Innovative Theatre Award, Drama Desk nomination), the rube-goldberg-inspired kinetic
junk play, machines machines machines machines machines machines machines (2010 OBIE Award for design), and most recently to
produce Flesh and Blood and Fish and Fowl, a doomsday clown show that just played the Edinburgh Fringe. He has been nominated
for three Barrymore Awards, including the prestigious F. Otto Haas Award for an emerging Philadelphia Theatre Artist and was named
"Best Theatre Artist 2004" in Philadelphia Magazine. Geoff received a 2006 Pew Fellowship in the Arts as a performance artist
and is a 2009 Creative Capital grantee. He is a graduate of Stanford University, and trained at Ecole Jacques Lecoq in Paris,
France.
James Sugg (sound designer)
is an actor, sound designer, composer and 10 year member of Pig Iron Theatre Company with whom he has created 10 original works.
He has also worked with Seattle Rep, Actors Theater of Louisville, Folger Theater, The Wilma, The Arden Theater, Headlong Dance
Theater, Rainpan 43 and Lucidity Suitcase Intercontinental amongst many others. His work has been recognized with two Obies
(Performance Chekhov Lizardbrain, Special Citation Hell Meets Henry Halfway),four Barrymores for Outstanding Sound
Design, and the F. Otto Haas Award for Emerging Theater Artist. He is the composer of the musicals A Murder, A Mystery And A
Marriage (an adaptation by Aaron Posner of the short story by Mark Twain), James Joyce is Dead and So Is Paris (Pig Iron
Theatre Co.), The Sea (a one man electric chamber opera) and Cherry Bomb (with writer Jen Childs).
Thom Weaver (lighting designer)
Designs in the area include: Arden Theater Company – Romeo and Juliet, Blue Door, My Name is Asher Lev.
Wilma Theatre Company – Scorched, Coming Home, Becky Shaw. New Paradise Laboratories – Mort.
People's Light – Snow White in Follywood. Lantern – The Breath of Life. Delaware Theatre Company –
The Foocy, It's a Wonderful Life, All the Great Books, The Diary of Anne Frank. Theatre Exile –
Shining City, American Buffalo. Two River Theatre – 26 Miles (also with Roundhouse), ReENTRY (also
at Urban Stages), A Year with Frog and Toad, Macbeth (also with the Folger), Bad Dates. Pennsylvania
Shakespeare Festival – Complete Works, A Midsummer Night's Dream. Other theatre credits include: Cal Shakes,
Vital Theater Company, Children's Theatre Company, CENTERSTAGE, Folger Theater, Syracuse Stage, Berkshire Theatre Festival,
Williamstown Theatre Festival, Signature Theater Company, Berkshire Opera, Lincoln Center Institute, Lincoln Center Festival,
York Theatre, Summer Play Festival, 37 ARTS, Spoleto Festival USA, City Theatre, Pittsburgh Public Theatre, and Yale Rep.
Awards include 2 Barrymore nominations in 2009, a 2010 Helen Hayes Nomination, and the 2007 AUDELCO Award for King Hedley II,
Signature Theatre. He is the artistic director of Flashpoint Theatre Company, and a member of Wingspace Design Group.
Education: Carnegie Mellon and Yale.
Melanie Leeds (stage manager)
is thrilled to be part of such an exciting show. Recently she stage managed Inis Nua's production of Bedbound, and was the
assistant stage manager for Amaryllis' Waiting for Godot. She was the assistant lighting designer for Language Rooms
at the Wilma and Waiting for Godot with Ego Po, and was the wardrobe supervisor for First Day of School with 1812.
She also freelances as a theatrical carpenter and electrician throughout Philadelphia. She was the Production Fellow at the Wilma
Theater for their 2008-2009 season. She is a recent graduate of Hamilton College.
Jebney Lewis (technical director/co-set designer)
is a jack of several trades who has logged time (in various capacities) with Headlong Dance Theater, Pig Iron Theater Company,
rainpan 43, and Lucidity Suitcase Intercontinental. He is very pleased to be joining Charlotte and her team on this endeavor. He
believes that the primary benefit of working with the wonderful artists that populate the Philadelphia performance community is the
opportunity to see the work spring to life from the best seat in the house.
Maiko Matsushima (co-set designer)
