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THROUGH THE LEAVES
by Franz Xafer Kroetz
Directed by Brittney Brady
Behind the door of a small butcher shop, Through the Leaves scrutinizes the deep inner lives of Martha and Otto. Martha is an independent woman, a butcher, and a small-business owner. Fueled by a sexual attraction that borders on violence, Otto and Martha are locked in a battle balancing independence and partnership. Raw, ruthless, and reaching for beauty, Through the Leaves is an unflinching interrogation of brutality and loneliness.
From my notebook, November 2018:
Through the Leaves is a fable of brutality and loneliness.
At the beginning of Roger Downey’s translation of our play, he includes a Bavarian proverb: Wer durchs Laub geht, muss das Rauschen dulden. We are compelled to translate it this way: He who walks through the leaves, must bear the rustling. It also reminds us of another German proverb that resonates with the play: Wo gehobelt wird, fallen Spähne or where there’s wood planing, wood shavings will fall.. But back to walking through the leaves, it makes us think about pathways and what lies to the side of them. It asks us to consider what it means to go the road alone.
Lately I have been thinking a lot about loneliness and especially what Hannah Arendt said about it: “what prepares men for totalitarian domination is loneliness, once a borderline experience usually suffered in certain marginal conditions, like old age, has become an every day experience of the ever growing masses of our century.”
And then there is our play—siting square in front of us—this wild and simple and uncomfortable thing that stares at us, demanding we stare back.
Featuring
Juliana Alvarez and Samuel Garnett
Creative & Production Team
Production Stage Manager: Ethan Hollander
Production Manager: Ni Li
Technical Director: Mitchell Leitschuh
Scenic Designer: Songyi Park
Costume Designer: Edurne Fernandez
Lighting Designer: Christine Ferriter
Sound Designer: Bo Li
Scenic Artist: Rashi Jain
Composer: Evan Johnson
Video Designer: Christopher Jungwoo Kim
Director of Photography: Siru Wen
Fight Director: Steve Rankin
Asst. Lighting Designers: Christian Mejia & Euisun Yoon
Asst. Sound Designer: Jacenta Yu
Asst. Costume Designer: Selena Jin
Asst. Video Designer: Kathleen Fox
Assistant Technical Director: Francisco De Leon
Assistant Scenic Artists: Andrew Carey & Kato Lawton
Production Associate: Patrick Smith
Assistant Stage Manager: Gina De Luca
Assistant Production Manager: Jin Li
Assistant Scenic Designer: Tzu Hsiang
General Manager: Rui Xu
Marketing Manager: Sophie Blumberg
Digital Communications Manager: Jared Pixler
Line Producers: Xiaoyue Zhang, Alyse James
Resident Dramaturg: Changting Lu
Brittney Brady
brittneybrady.com
brittneybrady@alum.calarts.edu
EDUCATION
MFA Directing, California Institute of the Arts, 2020
BA English & Theatre, Florida Gulf Coast University, 2011
EXPERIENCE
Founding Producing Artistic Director, Ghostbird Theatre Company, Ft. Myers, FL, 2012-2017
PERFORMANCE WORKS
Directing
2023 Liminal Stories, and Where to Find Them, in development and collaboration with Katelyn Gravel, Ghostbird Theatre Company, FL
2022 One Island, in development and collaboration with James Brock and Kimberly Campanello,
supported by an Arts Project Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, Ghostbird Theatre Company and the University of Leeds, UK
2022 Republica de Sordos / Deaf Republic, a devised work based on text by Ilya Kamisky, in development and collaboration with Camilo Molina Ramirez, Sirun Bakrajain, Xiaoyue Zhang, Abel Zivaco, Carolina Vargas, Santiago, Chile
2020 King Lear, Walt Disney Modular Theatre, Valencia, CA
2019 Through the Leaves by Franz Xaver Kroetz, California Institute of the Arts, CA
3 by James Brock, Koreshan State Historic Site, FL
2018 The Tempest, California Institute of the Arts, CA
2017 The Chicken Play by Hanny Zuniga and James Brock, Happahatche Center, FL
2016 Tracing Ghosts, texts by Richard Foreman, FGCU Art Gallery, FL
Rockaby by Samuel Beckett, Ghostbird Theatre Company, FL
2015 Antigonick translated by Anne Carson, Unit A - Artist Marcus Jansen’s Gallery/Studio, FL
Snow by Maxence Fermine, adapted by Brittney Brady, Sidney and Berne Davis Art Center, FL
2014 The Bald Soprano by Eugène Ionesco, SBDAC, FL
Gruesome Playground Injuries by Rajiv Joseph, SBDAC, FL
Because Beauty Must Be Broken Daily by James Brock, SBDAC, FL
2013 Miss Julie by August Strindberg, SBDAC, FL
Endgame by Samuel Beckett, SBDAC, FL
2012 The Pumpkin Grower by James Brock, SBDAC, FL
Mud by María Irene Fornés, SBDAC, FL
2011 The Interview by Peter Swet, Laboratory Theatre of Florida, FL
Writing
2021 Liminal Stories, and Where to Find Them, in development and collaboration with Katelyn Gravel, Ghostbird Theatre Company, FL
2015 Snow by Maxence Fermine, adapted by Brittney Brady, Sidney and Berne Davis Art Center, FL
2012 Monty and the Bat Shaman, FGCU Theatre Lab, FL
2011 Paler Than Grass, FGCU Theatre Lab, FL
Dramaturgy
2021 Caucasian Chalk Circle, in development with Damian Lewis, California Institute of the Arts, CA
2020 Little Red Book or Plural Body by Xiaoyue Zhang, REDCAT NOW Festival, CA
Acting
Film
2019 Maggie – Lead – The Program – Dir. Miguel Mattias
2015 Sarah – Supporting – Emma’s Fine – Dir. Miguel Mattias
Theatre
2017 Narrator – No. 27 – Dir. Barry Cavin – Ghostbird Theatre Company
2016 Choir Director – The Perfect Island of Dr. Teed – Dir. Barry Cavin – Ghostbird Theatre Company
2014 S. Beckett – Wooden Mouth – Dir. Barry Cavin – Ghostbird Theatre Company
2013 Staged Reading – Spam Rants – by William S. Yellowrobe – The Rauschenberg Residency
Grandmother – Woyzeck – Dir. Barry Cavin – Ghostbird Theatre Company
2011 Chorus – Agamemnon – Dir. Barry Cavin – FGCU TheatreLab
2010 S. Beckett – Wooden Mouth – Dir. Barry Cavin – FGCU Theatrelab
2009 Liz – Orphan Bunko – Dir. Barry Cavin – FGCU TheatreLab
2008 Miss Julie – Miss Julie – Dir. Rebecca Ormiston – FGCU TheatreLab
Voice Over
2021 Creative Campaign - Tangible Matter
2016 Vogue México – March Issue Trailer – Tangible Matter
TEACHING
Instructor
2020 Institute Directing, California Institute of the Arts
Teaching Assistantships, California Institute of the Arts
2017-20 Survey of World Theatre: Text, Instructors: Bart DeLorenzo & Amanda Shank
2018-19 Transforming Text, Instructor: Janie Geiser
Material Performance, Instructor: Janie Geiser
2019 Collage for the Theatre Artist, Instructor: Lew Klahr
Training, Certificates & Memberships
2021 Immersee Pieter Performance Space
2020 Non-Violent Communication Conference
Double Edge Theatre, Winter Training Intensive, MA
2015 RYT 200 – Yoga Alliance Teacher Training
Voice – Kalean Ung
Movement – Julie Bour
Acting – Marissa Chibas and Daniel Passer
Awards, Grants & Recognition
2017-20 Lillian Disney Scholarship
2019 Florida Division of Cultural Affairs Special Project Grant
2017 Florida Humanities Council Grant
2017 The Seidler Foundation Grant
2015 Florida Division of Cultural Affairs Fast Track Grant
2014 Florida Division of Cultural Affairs Special Project Grant
2014 City of Fort Myers Individual Artist Grant
2014 Best New Play of 2013-14 Southwest Florida Season, Naples Daily News
2013 City of Fort Myers Individual Artist Grant Recipient
2010 First Place: Outstanding Achievement in Live Performance at FGCU 24-Hour Festival
2009 First Place: Outstanding Achievement in Live Performance at FGCU 24-Hour Festival
2008 First Place: Outstanding Achievement in Live Performance at FGCU 24-Hour Festival