Cast
About
Tony-award nominee John-Andrew Morrison (A Strange Loop) takes on the title role of Medea in this rare revival of H.M. Koutoukas’ Medea of the Laundromat, an ancient Greek tragedy set in a laundromat that unfolds in a 1960s coffeehouse. This seminal work by the “Godfather of Off-Off-Broadway” is directed by Arthur Adair.
With a wildly surreal style of drama, H. M. Koutoukas (1937–2010) was a prolific playwright who wrote outrageously stylized characters, equipped them with arch dialogue and set them loose in outlandish situations. He obeyed no rules but those that one of his characters called “the ancient laws of glitter.” He produced at a furious rate, turning out three plays a year in the 1960s and 1970s. Many were presented on less than a shoestring at La MaMa and the Caffe Cino. Props and flats were scavenged from the street. Often the actors were, too.
“H.M. (Harry) Koutoukas was a Christopher Street legend,” remarked Harvey Fierstein in his 2022 memoir, I Was Better Last Night. “Pulling inspiration from the same catalog of Technicolor movies as filmmaker Jack Smith while adding a level of the Oscar Wilde aesthete, Harry created ebullient scripts that always began, ‘As the curtain rises…’ Sadly none of the Off-Off-Broadway venues producing his stuff ever had a curtain.”
Joining John-Andrew Morrison in this revelatory production is Jason Howard and Jenne Vath, fellow members of The Experimentals, a performance group that was founded by La MaMa Resident Director, the late George Ferencz (1947-2021), in 1999.
Learn more about H.M. Koutoukas’ Medea of the Laundromat in our study guide.
Performances of Medea of the Laundromat are made possible, in part, with lead support from Brigitte Vosse.
Arthur Adair (director): Original works of total theatre: Your War’try Grave; Manifest the Whale, the Teacup Destiny; S-s-s-tone-d-d-D: An American Oration; & Sound of the Sun. Classically-contemporized staged adaptations: Alfred Jarry’s Ubu Roi; William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream; Euripides’ Bacchae; Sophocles’ Oedipus; Eugene O’Neill’s The Emperor Jones; Anton Chekhov’s Three Sisters (translation); & Georg Büchner’s Woyzeck. Direction: Balls by Paul Foster & Chasing the New White Whale by Mike Gorman. As actor: notable directors, Rolando Macrini, Georgia McGill, Andrea Paciotto, Andrei Serban, Ellen Stewart, John Sullivan, Elizabeth Swados, Zishan Ugurlu, Deborah Warner, Mia Yoo, & Stefano Zazzera; notable venues, La MaMa, NYC; Theatro Petras Amphitheatre, Greece; National Theatre, Serbia; Civita di Bagnoregio, Italy; an island off of Dubrovnik, Croatia; Toyama Performing Arts Center, Japan; Carnuntum Ancient Roman Gladiator Pit, Austria; Campo de Fiori, Rome, Italy; The Totonac Pyramids of Tajin, Mexico; a monastery in Spoleto, Italy; Lincoln Center, NYC: The Sanctuary of Aphrodite, Cyprus: & the backyard of a hotel in Massachusetts, U.S.A. Awards: Set Design (Innovative Theatre Award/NYC) & Light Design (B. Iden Payne/ATX). At La MaMa: Great Jones Repertory Company member since 1997; Coffeehouse Chronicles, Technical Director (2002-2007), Education Outreach Coordinator (2013-20); & Artist-in-Residence (2001-07). Membership: SDC, AEA, DG. Associate Professor, Queensborough Community College/CUNY.
Corey Tut (Medea’s Theme Remix) is an international recording artist, songwriter and record producer. He is thrilled to be a part of Medea of the Laundromat as his first project upon return to New York City. More information can be found at www.coreytut.com
Sally Lesser is an award-winning costume designer of theater, television and dance. Her work has been seen in NYC, regionally and internationally. Work highlights include the original and Off Broadway productions of Little Shop of Horrors, national and international companies and tours; 20 years as Associate Designer on the soap opera One Life to Live, ( 3 Emmy Awards with eight nominations); 25 plays at La MaMa ETC, ranging from Greek epics and jazz operas, to rock ‘n’ roll theater; Return to the Forbidden Planet, off Broadway, the West End and UK tour; Co-designer of Josephine the Short-necked Giraffe for Mister Roger’s Neighborhood. She is also a skilled dressmaker and makes theatrical costumes with a specialty in flamenco dance wear in her Brooklyn studio. sallylesserdesigns.com
Dakota Silvey (Stage Manager) is a playwright, EMT, wildland firefighter, and Air Force veteran. Dakota recently made his Off-Broadway debut with his latest full-length The Maker (AMT Theater). His selected plays include: Torito (ASDS Rep), Flight Risk (Gene Frankel Theatre), Flaco (Hudson Classical) and Wildfire (Semi-finalist; O’Neill NPC, AITAF Bridge Award, Savage Wonder), based on his 5 years as a wildland firefighter. He is a Writer-In-Residence at Theatre East Writers Room, a member of Cut Edge Experimental Theatre Collective and a 2024 Sewanee Writers’ Conference Fellow. He has an M.F.A. in playwriting from the Actors Studio Drama School. Dakota is thrilled and honored to collaborate on a production that traces its roots to the height of the off-off-Broadway movement. Dakota is a proud member of Actors’ Equity and the Dramatists Guild. dakotasilvey.com
LUCILLE LORTEL THEATRE
Executive Director
George Forbes
Artistic Director of New Play Development
Caridad Svich
Artistic Director of New Musical Development
Michael Heitzman
Operations Manager
Zebulon Brown
Head Treasurer
Maya McCullough
Artistic Director of High School Playwriting Fellowship
Kimille Howard
Senior Director
Nancy Elaine Hurvitz
Senior Director
Jeffrey Shubart
Digital Designer
John Hayek
Press
John Wyszniewski, Everyman Agency
General Manager
Alana Canty-Samuel
General Manager
Mau Le Viness
General Manager
Karla Liriano
Marketing Associate
Rascher Alcasid
Development
Lynn M Stirrup, Stirrup Executive Advisory Services
Programs supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.
The Lortel Theatre’s programs are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
We gratefully acknowledge our Lucille Lortel Off-Broadway Champions.
PRODUCERS
Brigitte Vosse
BENEFACTORS
Cynthia & Herbert Fields
Ira Gilbert
Michael Hecht
Stephanie Rabinowitz
LEADERS
Anonymous (4)
Priscilla Almodovar & Eric Dinallo
Louis Antonelli
Eileen Begg
Leslie Bhutani
Kathleen Chopin
Rick Swift & Megan Flanigan
Friedman Family Foundation
Magalie Lussier-Valade
PATRONS
Anonymous (2)
Daryl Boren
Ana & Eric Cantor
David & Peri Clark
Cason Crane
Cathy Dault
Katharine English & Paul Wood
Roberta Garza
Kevin Hansen
William S. Hoover, MD
Gregory & Zainab Ahmad Jensen
Donna Karan
Michael Kors & Lance Le Pere
Diana Krall
Ann Miner
Sheila Nevins
Laura & Gerry Rosberg
Amy & David Scharlin
Ann Kottler & Richard Schindler
Michael Stern/The Bigwood Foundation Inc.
Wendy Vanden Heuvel
Christina Weiss Lurie
and many others!
LAND ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Our theatre lives on the island of Manhattan.
Manhattan has always been a gathering and trading place for many Indigenous peoples, where Nations intersected from all four directions since time immemorial. It was a place to gather and sometimes to seek refuge during times of conflict and struggle. The staff and trustees of New York Theatre Workshop, Lucille Lortel Theatre, Sinking Ship, and Theater in Quarantine pay respect to all of their ancestors past, present, to their future generations.
We acknowledge that our theatre, and our work, is situated on the island of Manhattan (Menohhannet— On the Island), traditional lands of the Munsee Lenape, the Canarsie, Unkechaug, Matinecock, Shinnecock, Reckgawanc and the Haudenosaunee Confederacy.
We respect that many Indigenous people continue to live and work on this island and acknowledge their ongoing contributions to this area.
We encourage each of you to honor the Indigenous communities that first inhabited the land on which you’re now standing.
We would like to thank Safe Harbors NYC for contributing to this statement.