Event Program
All Write! 5-20
FRIDAY, MAY 20, 2022 | 11AM
HOSTED BY MADELINE COHEN
STORIES BY STUDENTS FROM
COMMUNITY-BASED LITERACY PROGRAMS
READINGS BY
Pascale Armand, Madeline Cohen,
Philip Estrera, and Dawn Akemi Saito
The Performers
Pascale Armand
Pascale Armand starred on Broadway in Eclipsed, for which she received a Tony nomination, and The Trip to Bountiful with the late Ms. Cicely Tyson. Additional stage credits include Love’s Labor’s Lost, Hamlet, A Raisin in the Sun, The Piano Lesson, Jitney, Gem of the Ocean, Ruined, The Convert, for which she received the 2012 Los Angeles Ovation Award for Best Leading Actress, Belleville, An Octoroon, and Relevance. Her screen credits include Chicago Med, Prodigal Son, The Blacklist, Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and Law & Order: Criminal Intent. Armand is an alumna of NYU’s Graduate Acting Program, core member of Quick Silver Theater, and creator of her one-woman show, $#!thole Country Clapback.
Pascale Armand starred on Broadway in Eclipsed, for which she received a Tony nomination, and The Trip to Bountiful with the late Ms. Cicely Tyson. Additional stage credits include Love’s Labor’s Lost, Hamlet, A Raisin in the Sun, The Piano Lesson, Jitney, Gem of the Ocean, Ruined, The Convert, for which she received the 2012 Los Angeles Ovation Award for Best Leading Actress, Belleville, An Octoroon, and Relevance. Her screen credits include Chicago Med, Prodigal Son, The Blacklist, Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and Law & Order: Criminal Intent. Armand is an alumna of NYU’s Graduate Acting Program, core member of Quick Silver Theater, and creator of her one-woman show, $#!thole Country Clapback.
Madeline Cohen
Madeline Cohen is the Education Director for Symphony Space’s Arts Education and Adult Literacy programs, as well as the director of Symphony Space’s Thalia Kids Book Club Camp. She has been working in arts education for over thirty years as a teaching artist, staff development leader, and consultant at the Lincoln Center Institute, the United Federation of Teachers, and Teachers College, among others. In addition, she is a costume designer.
Madeline Cohen is the Education Director for Symphony Space’s Arts Education and Adult Literacy programs, as well as the director of Symphony Space’s Thalia Kids Book Club Camp. She has been working in arts education for over thirty years as a teaching artist, staff development leader, and consultant at the Lincoln Center Institute, the United Federation of Teachers, and Teachers College, among others. In addition, she is a costume designer.
Philip Estrera
Philip Estrera is a NYC-based actor whose theater credits include Strangers in the Night with Hunger & Thirst Theatre, Monstress with the American Conservatory Theater, and Orphan of Zhao at La Jolla Playhouse. He was recently in the Sesame Street Thanksgiving special as Anton the bus driver, which introduced the first Asian American puppet to the series. He also narrated the short story “The Water That Falls on You From Nowhere” for Macmillan Publishing, and can be seen in episodes of Blue Bloods and the web series Characteristically. This spring he was featured in the new play Discus, as the god Apollo. Estrera is a graduate of the American Conservatory Theater’s MFA program.
Philip Estrera is a NYC-based actor whose theater credits include Strangers in the Night with Hunger & Thirst Theatre, Monstress with the American Conservatory Theater, and Orphan of Zhao at La Jolla Playhouse. He was recently in the Sesame Street Thanksgiving special as Anton the bus driver, which introduced the first Asian American puppet to the series. He also narrated the short story “The Water That Falls on You From Nowhere” for Macmillan Publishing, and can be seen in episodes of Blue Bloods and the web series Characteristically. This spring he was featured in the new play Discus, as the god Apollo. Estrera is a graduate of the American Conservatory Theater’s MFA program.
Dawn Akemi Saito
Dawn Akemi Saito is an actor, writer, director, and teacher whose credits include Insects in Heat, Suns Are Suns, Blood Cherries, HA, Knock on the Sky, Suicide Forest, Hiroshima Maiden, Arden/Ardennes, My House Is Collapsing Toward One Side, and Deshima. Her multi-disciplinary works have been performed at the Walker Art Center, Orpheum Theatre in Austria, the Whitney Museum, Dance Theater Workshop, New York Theater Workshop, LaMaMa, New World Theater, the Public Theater, and Aaron Davis Hall. Saito is an Associate Clinical Professor at Fordham University/Lincoln Center, is on the movement faculty at Juilliard, and serves as co-director of the Summer Theatre Devising Intensive at Bard College in Berlin, Germany.
Dawn Akemi Saito is an actor, writer, director, and teacher whose credits include Insects in Heat, Suns Are Suns, Blood Cherries, HA, Knock on the Sky, Suicide Forest, Hiroshima Maiden, Arden/Ardennes, My House Is Collapsing Toward One Side, and Deshima. Her multi-disciplinary works have been performed at the Walker Art Center, Orpheum Theatre in Austria, the Whitney Museum, Dance Theater Workshop, New York Theater Workshop, LaMaMa, New World Theater, the Public Theater, and Aaron Davis Hall. Saito is an Associate Clinical Professor at Fordham University/Lincoln Center, is on the movement faculty at Juilliard, and serves as co-director of the Summer Theatre Devising Intensive at Bard College in Berlin, Germany.
More Information
Brooklyn Public Library
Eastern Parkway Adult Learning Center
New Lots Adult Learning Center
CommonPoint Queens—The HUB
City University of New York
Borough of Manhattan Community College
Brooklyn College Adult Literacy Program
CUNY Language Immersion Program (CLIP)
Lehman College Adult Learning Center
New York City College of Technology Adult Learning Center
Family Health Centers at NYU Langone
Family Support Center
Project Reach Youth
Jacob A. Riis Neighborhood Settlement
Korean Community Service of Metropolitan New York, Inc.
New York City Department of Education
Mid-Manhattan Adult Learning Center
New York Public Library
Bronx Adult Learning Center
Tompkins Square Adult Learning Center
Washington Heights Adult Learning Center
Queens Public Library
Elmhurst Adult Learning Center
Jackson Heights Adult Learning Center
Peninsula Adult Learning Center
Shorefront YM-YWHA
Sunset Park Health Council/NYU Langone Brooklyn
SUNY Syracuse EOC
West Side Writing Group
Where I Am From by Daphnee Araujo
Lehman College Adult Learning Center
Performed by Pascale Armand, Philip Estrera, and Dawn Akemi Saito
Haiku by Vaniola Nuhndhi Louis-Jeune
Brooklyn College Adult Literacy Program
Performed by Philip Estrera
How to Wake Up to Our World by Marianela Sarda
Jacob A. Riis Neighborhood Settlement House
Performed by Dawn Akemi Saito
Caring Husband by Natia Mindeli
Family Health Centers at NYU Langone—Family Support Center
Performed by Madeline Cohen and Philip Estrera
Fleeing from Snorers by Sadie Bell
New York City Department of Education—Mid-Manhattan Adult Learning Center
Performed by Pascale Armand
My New Job by Judith Johnson
Brooklyn Public Library—Eastern Parkway Adult Learning Center
Performed by Dawn Akemi Saito
My Life in New York by Tomomi So
Queens Public Library—Peninsula Adult Learning Center
Performed by Pascale Armand
Coffee Break by Stevie Duncan
Brooklyn College Adult Literacy Program
Performed by Philip Estrera
Where I’m From by Kizzy Colon
Lehman College Adult Learning Center
Performed by Pascale Armand
How to Appreciate the Beach by Hamida Ben Salah Cohen
Jacob A. Riis Neigborhood Settlement House
Performed by Philip Estrera
What We Carry by Shyama Desilva
CommonPoint Queens—The HUB
Performed by Dawn Akemi Saito
Jamaica by Charvel Scott
SUNY Syracuse EOC
Performed by Pascale Armand
“Five W’s” Poem by Karina Sandigo
Jacob A. Riis Neighborhood Settlement House
Performed by Philip Estrera
Answers by Tanjin Yasmin
New York City Department of Education—Mid-Manhattan Adult Learning Center
Performed by Dawn Akemi Saito
The Farewell by Maria Aguirre
Brooklyn College Adult Literacy Program
Performed by Pascale Armand, Madeline Cohen, Philip Estrera, and Dawn Akemi Saito
Blue by Tashi Sherpa
CommonPoint Queens—The HUB
Performed by Philip Estrera
The Ocean by Maria Revelo
Queens Public Library—Peninsula Adult Learning Center
Performed by Dawn Akemi Saito
A Trip Postponed by Darina Zaslavskaya
West Side Writing Group
Performed by Pascale Armand
Alarming Essay by Tatyana Komolova
Shorefront YM-YWHA
Performed by Dawn Akemi Saito
Dear Diary by Uma Mangroo
Borough of Manhattan Community College—Adult and Continuing Education Program
Performed by Philip Estrera
Dear U.S. Government by Marco Natal
Borough of Manhattan Community College—Adult and Continuing Education Program
Performed by Dawn Akemi Saito
Bullying by Marawon Elsayed
Borough of Manhattan Community College—CUNY Langauge Immersion Program (CLIP)
Performed by Philip Estrera
If I Could... by Natasha Ware
Family Health Centers at NYU Langone—Project Reach Youth
Performed by Dawn Akemi Saito
Dear Literacy by Aileen Herrera
Family Health Centers at NYU Langone—Project Reach Youth
Performed by Pascale Armand
The Joy of Learning Science by Anthony Jackson
Brooklyn Public Library—Eastern Parkway Adult Education
Performed by Philip Estrera
I Remember Libraries by Krystal Hernandez
Borough of Manhattan Community College—Adult and Continuing Education Program
Performed by Pascale Armand
Little Ones by Lyania Natal
New York City Departmnt of Education—Mid-Manhattan Adult Learning Center
Performed by Dawn Akemi Saito
My “Idol” Mother by Ting Ting Wan
Family Health Centers at NYU Langone—Family Support Center
Performed by Pascale Armand
Is Being a Housewife a Job? by Xuehua Liu
Family Health Centers at NYU Langone—Project Reach Youth
Performed by Pascale Armand, Philip Estrera, and Dawn Akemi Saito
Bag Luck by Bian Jun Zhu
Queens Public Library—Peninsula Adult Learning Center
Performed by Pascale Armand and Dawn Akemi Saito
Books by Hsa Na
SUNY Syracuse EOC
Performed by Pascale Armand, Madeline Cohen, Philip Estrera, and Dawn Akemi Saito
The All Write! adult literacy program is generously supported by the NYC COVID-19 Response and Impact Fund in The New York Community Trust, the Howard Gilman Foundation, The Pierre and Tana Matisse Foundation, The Shubert Foundation, the Charina Endowment Fund, the Blanchette Hooker Rockefeller Fund, The Achelis and Bodman Foundation, the Henry Nias Foundation, the Consolidated Edison Company of New York, the Michael Tuch Foundation, the Vidda Foundation, the Lemberg Foundation, and The Grodzins Fund. This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. All Write! also receives support from an endowment established by the Steven Aresty Foundation. Symphony Space thanks our generous supporters, including our Board of Directors, Producers Circle, and members, who make our programs possible with their annual support.
Kathy Landau Executive Director
Peg Wreen Managing Director
Isaiah Sheffer*
Co-Founder and Co-Artistic Director (1978–1988)
Artistic Director (1988–2010)
Founding Artistic Director (2010–2012)
Allan Miller
Co-Founder and Co-Artistic Director (1978–1988)
*In Memoriam
Madeline Cohen Director of Education
Regina Larkin Manager for Education Programs
Jennifer Brennan Director of Literary Programs
Drew Richardson Lead Producer of Literary Programs
VivienneWoodward Producer of Literary Programs
Magdalene Wrobleski Program Assistant, Literary and Education
Matthew Love Consultant for Literary Programs
Antonio Brown Literary Intern
Mollie Gordon Literary Intern
LITERACY ADVISORY COMMITTEE
Teresa Bell NYC Department of Education–Mid-Manhattan Adult Learning Center
Madeline Cohen Symphony Space
Solange Farina City University of New York–Borough of Manhattan Community College
Mary Esther Malloy Consultant
It’s a truly extraordinary moment to be here for the 21/22 Symphony Space season! We are so grateful to the independent venue operators who banded together to initiate the Save Our Stages campaign, which became the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant. Through the leadership of Senator Chuck Schumer, and with bipartisan support from many Senators and Representatives, the creative community was bolstered by this special funding. All of us at Symphony Space extend our heartfelt thanks to each and every individual who recognized the unmistakable power and importance of the arts in this most critical moment.