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Event Program
Hosted by Madeline Cohen
THE READINGS
On Mondays by Marilyn Donnelly
Performed by Sonia Manzano
Agouti by Brenda Williams
Performed by Pascale Armand
Abandoned Farmhouse by Ted Kooser
Performed by Philip Estrera
All Summer in a Day by Ray Bradbury
Performed by Sonia Manzano
The Emperor’s New Clothes by Hans Christian Andersen
Performed by The Company
The Moment by Marie Howe
Performed by Pascale Armand
Pascale Armand appeared in Dominique Morisseau’s Bad Kreyòl at Signature Theatre last year. She previously 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 East New York, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Terror Lake Drive, 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 appeared in Dominique Morisseau’s Bad Kreyòl at Signature Theatre last year. She previously 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 East New York, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Terror Lake Drive, 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.
Philip Estrera is a NYC-based actor whose theater credits include Orphan of Zhao at La Jolla Playhouse and Monstress at the American Conservatory Theater. He appeared in the Sesame Street Thanksgiving special as Anton the bus driver, which introduced the first Asian American puppet to the series. He can be seen in episodes of Blue Bloods and New Amsterdam, and is active in the New York indie film community. Estrera is a graduate of the American Conservatory Theater’s MFA program.
Philip Estrera is a NYC-based actor whose theater credits include Orphan of Zhao at La Jolla Playhouse and Monstress at the American Conservatory Theater. He appeared in the Sesame Street Thanksgiving special as Anton the bus driver, which introduced the first Asian American puppet to the series. He can be seen in episodes of Blue Bloods and New Amsterdam, and is active in the New York indie film community. Estrera is a graduate of the American Conservatory Theater’s MFA program.
When you think of Sonia Manzano, you immediately think of children and television. Her most recent accomplishment was creating a children’s program, Alma’s Way, for PBS Kids. The series has won two Imagen Awards for Best Youth Programing, a 2022 Emmy nomination for Outstanding Writing for a Preschool Animated Program, and a 2023 NAACP nomination for an Image Award. But what Ms. Manzano is best known for performing the role of “Maria” on Sesame Street for 44 seasons, where her work affected the lives of millions of parents and children and garnered her two Emmy Award nominations in addition to the National Academy of Arts and Science’s Lifetime Achievement Daytime Emmy in 2016. As a writer for the show, she took home 15 Emmys. In 2022, Manzano was honored with the Beacon Award from PBS. She is also an author whose most recent Scholastic novel, Coming Up Cuban, set in 1959, follows the lives of four children who represent different intersections of race and class during the Cuban Revolution.
When you think of Sonia Manzano, you immediately think of children and television. Her most recent accomplishment was creating a children’s program, Alma’s Way, for PBS Kids. The series has won two Imagen Awards for Best Youth Programing, a 2022 Emmy nomination for Outstanding Writing for a Preschool Animated Program, and a 2023 NAACP nomination for an Image Award. But what Ms. Manzano is best known for performing the role of “Maria” on Sesame Street for 44 seasons, where her work affected the lives of millions of parents and children and garnered her two Emmy Award nominations in addition to the National Academy of Arts and Science’s Lifetime Achievement Daytime Emmy in 2016. As a writer for the show, she took home 15 Emmys. In 2022, Manzano was honored with the Beacon Award from PBS. She is also an author whose most recent Scholastic novel, Coming Up Cuban, set in 1959, follows the lives of four children who represent different intersections of race and class during the Cuban Revolution.
Madeline Cohen is the Director of Symphony Space’s adult literacy program, All Write! She held the position of Education Director at Symphony Space from 1989 - 2022, and has been working in arts education for 48 years as a teaching artist, staff development leader, administrator, and consultant at Lincoln Center Institute, United Federation of Teachers, and Teachers College, among others. She is a guest lecturer at Baruch College. In addition, she is a costume designer.
Madeline Cohen is the Director of Symphony Space’s adult literacy program, All Write! She held the position of Education Director at Symphony Space from 1989 - 2022, and has been working in arts education for 48 years as a teaching artist, staff development leader, administrator, and consultant at Lincoln Center Institute, United Federation of Teachers, and Teachers College, among others. She is a guest lecturer at Baruch College. In addition, she is a costume designer.
Hans Christian Andersen (1805–1875) was a Danish author. Although he wrote many plays, travelogues, novels, and poems, he is best remembered for his literary fairy tales. His most famous fairy tales include “The Emperor's New Clothes,” “The Little Mermaid,” “The Princess and the Pea,” and many more. Andersen's stories have inspired ballets, plays, and animated and live-action films.
Hans Christian Andersen (1805–1875) was a Danish author. Although he wrote many plays, travelogues, novels, and poems, he is best remembered for his literary fairy tales. His most famous fairy tales include “The Emperor's New Clothes,” “The Little Mermaid,” “The Princess and the Pea,” and many more. Andersen's stories have inspired ballets, plays, and animated and live-action films.
In a career spanning more than seventy years, Ray Bradbury (1920 – 2012) inspired generations of readers to dream, think, and create. A prolific author of hundreds of short stories and close to fifty books, as well as numerous poems, essays, operas, plays, teleplays, and screenplays, Bradbury was one of the most celebrated writers of our time. His groundbreaking works include Fahrenheit 451, The Martian Chronicles, The Illustrated Man, Dandelion Wine, and Something Wicked This Way Comes. He wrote the screenplay for John Huston's classic film adaptation of Moby Dick and was nominated for an Academy Award. He adapted sixty-five of his stories for television's The Ray Bradbury Theater and won an Emmy for his teleplay of The Halloween Tree. Bradbury was the recipient of the 2000 National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, the 2004 National Medal of Arts, and the 2007 Pulitzer Prize Special Citation, among many honors.
In a career spanning more than seventy years, Ray Bradbury (1920 – 2012) inspired generations of readers to dream, think, and create. A prolific author of hundreds of short stories and close to fifty books, as well as numerous poems, essays, operas, plays, teleplays, and screenplays, Bradbury was one of the most celebrated writers of our time. His groundbreaking works include Fahrenheit 451, The Martian Chronicles, The Illustrated Man, Dandelion Wine, and Something Wicked This Way Comes. He wrote the screenplay for John Huston's classic film adaptation of Moby Dick and was nominated for an Academy Award. He adapted sixty-five of his stories for television's The Ray Bradbury Theater and won an Emmy for his teleplay of The Halloween Tree. Bradbury was the recipient of the 2000 National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, the 2004 National Medal of Arts, and the 2007 Pulitzer Prize Special Citation, among many honors.
Marilyn Donnelly (1930–2018) lived in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She was a founding member of Madwomen in the Attic, Carlow University’s longstanding workshop that bridges the community to the university and develops the voices of women-writers. She was a great supporter of the arts and her community. Autumn House is proud to have published her work.
Marilyn Donnelly (1930–2018) lived in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She was a founding member of Madwomen in the Attic, Carlow University’s longstanding workshop that bridges the community to the university and develops the voices of women-writers. She was a great supporter of the arts and her community. Autumn House is proud to have published her work.
Marie Howe is the former poet laureate of New York. Her collections include Magdalene, The Kingdom of Ordinary Time, What the Living Do, and The Good Thief. The recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Guggenheim Foundation, and the Academy of American Poets, she teaches at Sarah Lawrence College and lives in New York City. Her most recent collection, New and Selected Poems, was published in 2024.
Marie Howe is the former poet laureate of New York. Her collections include Magdalene, The Kingdom of Ordinary Time, What the Living Do, and The Good Thief. The recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Guggenheim Foundation, and the Academy of American Poets, she teaches at Sarah Lawrence College and lives in New York City. Her most recent collection, New and Selected Poems, was published in 2024.
Ted Kooser, the United States Poet Laureate from 2004 to 2006, was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for his book of poems Delights & Shadows, and has been honored with the Pushcart Prize five times. He is the author of children’s books, several books of nonfiction, and over a dozen full-length volumes of poetry, including Sure Signs, The Blizzard Voices, Valentines, Splitting an Order, and, most recently, Cotton Candy: Poems Dipped Out of the Air. Kooser’s work has appeared in Poetry, Shenandoah, The Pushcart Prize anthology, The Writer’s Almanac, and numerous other publications and collections. He teaches at the University of Nebraska.
Ted Kooser, the United States Poet Laureate from 2004 to 2006, was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for his book of poems Delights & Shadows, and has been honored with the Pushcart Prize five times. He is the author of children’s books, several books of nonfiction, and over a dozen full-length volumes of poetry, including Sure Signs, The Blizzard Voices, Valentines, Splitting an Order, and, most recently, Cotton Candy: Poems Dipped Out of the Air. Kooser’s work has appeared in Poetry, Shenandoah, The Pushcart Prize anthology, The Writer’s Almanac, and numerous other publications and collections. He teaches at the University of Nebraska.
Brenda Williams, who was born in London and began writing poetry at the age of 11, studied English literature at Yale University and completed her M.F.A. in creative writing at Columbia University. She served as director of the Brooklyn-based John Oliver Killens Beginning/Intermediate Adult Writing program, and as a fiction instructor for the Gotham Writers Workshop.
Brenda Williams, who was born in London and began writing poetry at the age of 11, studied English literature at Yale University and completed her M.F.A. in creative writing at Columbia University. She served as director of the Brooklyn-based John Oliver Killens Beginning/Intermediate Adult Writing program, and as a fiction instructor for the Gotham Writers Workshop.
“On Mondays,” by Marilyn Donnelly, collected in Coda (Autumn House Press, 2010). Copyright © 2010 by Marilyn Donnelly. Used by permission of Autumn House Press.
“Agouti,” by Brenda Williams. First published in Essence (March 1994). Copyright © 1994 by Brenda Williams.
“Abandoned Farmhouse,” by Ted Kooser, from Sure Signs: New and Collected Poems (University of Pittsburgh Press, 1980). Used and performed by permission of the publisher.
“All Summer in a Day,” by Ray Bradbury. First published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction (March 1954). Copyright © 1954, 1982 by Ray Bradbury. Used by permission of Don Congdon Associates, Inc.
“The Emperor’s New Clothes,” by Hans Christian Andersen. In the public domain.
“The Moment,” by Marie Howe. Copyright © 2011 by Marie Howe. Used with permission of the author. All rights not specifically granted herein are hereby reserved by the Licensor.
The All Write! adult literacy program is generously supported by the Seedlings Foundation, Howard Gilman Foundation, The Shubert Foundation, Blanchette Hooker Rockefeller Fund, Cornelia T. Bailey Foundation, The New York Community Trust Judith and Stanley Zabar Fund, Charina Endowment Fund, Charles D. Fleischman Charitable Trust, Consolidated Edison Company of New York, PECO Foundation, Coastal Community Foundation of South Carolina, Michael Tuch Foundation, Vidda Foundation, Jody and John Arnhold and the Arnhold Foundation, The Grodzins Fund, and The Isambard Kingdom Brunel Society of North America.
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.
Floral arrangements are provided by PlantShed.
Kathy Landau Executive Director
Peg Wreen Managing Director
Isaiah Sheffer*
Co-Founder and Co-Artistic Director (1978-1990)
Artistic Director (1990-2010)
Founding Artistic Director (2010-2012)
Allan Miller
Co-Founder and Co-Artistic Director (1978-1990)
Lulu Fogarty Director of Education
Regina Larkin Manager of Education Programs
Madeline Cohen Director of All Write!
Jennifer Brennan Director of Literary Programs
Drew Richardson Lead Producer of Literary Programs
Vivienne Woodward Producer of Literary Programs
Mary Shimkin Director of Broadcast & Literary Initiatives
Matthew Love Consultant for Literary Programs
Magdalene Wrobleski Literary Assistant
Leigh Reid Literary Intern
Mia Testa 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
*in memoriam