sleeper

Written by Morgaine Gooding-Silverwood

March 8 - March 26, 2023

All performances of sleeper have been cancelled. The Tank’s Box Office will be reaching out about refunds. For any questions please email Boxoffice@thetanknyc.org

From the moment of birth until our last waking breath, humanity’s need for sleep is eternal; a vital force of nature, as inevitable as the rising and setting of the sun. Yet everyone has an opinion on how we could be sleeping better or should be sleeping less. Born from a desire to quiet this cultural static, sleeper turns up the noise and snuggles inside it. The play follows Sleeper, a millennial archetype of an every-person, who, from a self-imposed, bedridden exile ponders the imperative of a lived existence. Why wake up? What, or who, do we rise for?

Throughout what should be a quick nap, Sleeper encounters a shape-shifting cast of characters, both real and imagined, as they grapple with burnout and self doubt. Will our Sleeper ever escape (or accept) their somnolence? Can they draw back the curtains and let in the light? Ultimately, the key to Sleeper’s liberation hinges on a visit from their mother and a return to their Indigenous Chickasaw roots, where dreams have the power to unlock the relationship between parent and child, descendant and ancestor, body and earth. sleeper is a manifesto and a circus, a heartfelt appeal to the burnout generation to fall fully, wholeheartedly, and headfirst into sleep.

Content Warning: Partial/implied nudity, simulated sexual acts, mentions of sexual violence, colonization and slavery and suicide.

MORGAINE GOODING-SILVERWOOD
PLAYWRIGHT AND SLEEPER

Mo uses she/they/he pronouns, and encourages you to mix it up! Mo is a performer, playwright and educator living in Brooklyn, Lenapehoking, with ancestral roots on the Red River by way of Chikashsha Iyaakni'. Most recently, Mo was part of the 2021-2022 BRICLab cohort for performance in Brooklyn, New York. They have also had the opportunity to perform and produce work in London and New York City,  at the Queens Library, the Oklahoma Contemporary Museum and the University of Denver. Mo has trained with SITI company and Theatre of the Oppressed NYC, and received their MA in Text and Performance from RADA and The University of London. They hold a BA in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies from Columbia University.

ENETTE FREMONT
FOLLOWER 1/ENSEMBLE

Enette Fremont is a New York City based Theater, Film, and Television actor. She was born in West Palm Beach, FL to Haitian parents. Enette studied acting at The New York Conservatory for Dramatic arts, where she earned her AOS in Acting. As an artist, she is interested in telling stories that explore and create dynamic characters that reflect the human experience that can sometimes be complex, awkward, painful, funny, indifferent, radical, and always surprising. 

Credits Include: The Diagnosis, Portrait on the Wall and Bronx SIU. UPCOMING- The Refrigerator 

Ren King

FOLLOWER 2/ ENSEMBLE

REN KING (Follower 2/Ensemble) (they/them) is an actor and theatre maker hailing from Lilburn, GA. They’ve been involved in non-profit theatres large and small for 7 years, working in marketing, arts administration, and production. Upon obtaining two Bachelor’s of Arts in Theatre and Advertising from the University of Georgia, Ren joined the North American tour of “PAW Patrol Live! The Great Pirate Adventure” as Mayor Goodway. Coming up, Ren is excited to make their Los Angeles debut in the spring in A Transparent Musical directed by Tina Landau with Center Theatre Group. Past credits include: Twelfth Night (Sebastian) with Match:Lit Theatre Co., As I Was, Not As I Am (Jeanine) with Queens Theatre, and Jesus 2.0 (Probably God) with The Workshop Theatre. OFF BROADWAY: The Importance of Being Earnest (Miss Prism) with Gatehouse Entertainment & Write Act Rep. Ren King is currently represented by the Alexander White Agency.

CHE’LI
ENSEMBLE

Che’Li is the life-performance embodiment project divinated by healing artist, alyxandra ciale trinidad CHarfauros (they/them) living at the intersections of beauty, absurdity, and sensuality. In other words, they are a big baby. In 2021, they miraculously graduated from the University of Michigan with a BFA in Theatre Performance: Acting and two minors that are too long to name. They are currently training to become an Alexander Technique Teacher at Balance Arts Center in New York City and just published AntiCapitalism for Artist’s Inaugural Zine, “Capitalism’s Effect on the Artist’s Body”. Their favorite projects include Jess X Snow’s short film, “Roots That Reach Toward the Sky” and “Doo Indáyz”, a sexy clown ritual co-created in 2022 with dear friend, Jueun Kang. Learn more about their mess-making at www.cialikethey.com. 

AVIVA JAYE
TRICIA/ENSEMBLE

Aviva Jaye is a performing artist & composer primarily creating music, wielding voice, keys, harp, guitar & ukulele. She combines acoustic & electronic elements to unlock a portal for listeners to venture, exploring the dimensions of empathy, self-awareness, social justice & futurism. Her interdisciplinary work includes theatre, dance, paper arts & poetry.  As a youth advocate, she has co-created with students across NYC as Program Associate with Brooklyn Youth Chorus & as a teaching artist with Marquis Studios & The Wooster Group in the city’s public schools. 

Recent projects include mɔːnɪŋ [morning//mourning] by Gelsey Bell (HERE/Prototype Festival); We Can Change the Country by Darius Jones (Roulette); musical guest for Creative Mornings; featured artist for Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Summit; Oracular Recall by Ben Holbrook (The Motor Company); composer for the play LORDES (New Ohio Theater); live music for [GET WELL SOON] you black + bluised by Nic Kay (Abrons Art Center); music direction & performance for “Four Questions”, a Pride production (LaMama); featured artist at The Public’s Civic Salon series and Artist-In-Residence at Guildhall (East Hampton). Aviva is a band member performing with Arthur Moon, Dessa, Echo Bloom & Raia Was.

Katherine Bahena-Benitez
TWIN/ENSEMBLE

Katherine Bahena-Benitez (They/Them/Elle) is a Queer actor, poet, dancer, stage manager and model. Katherine is bicoastal, New York and California. Katherine studied at CSUS and has had the pleasure of performing with the American Conservatory Theater, 24 Hour Plays, the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center and Broadway Advocacy Coalition at Columbia University. Katherine is a Miranda Family Fellow, a LORT/ASPIRE Fellow and recipient of the John Cauble Emerging Arts Leader Award sponsored by Thoms Schumacher. Katherinehas had their poems ‘American Dream’, ‘La Morena’, and ‘Yo Ya No Rezo’ with Museum Guild and has been featured in Vogue and Apostrophes Digital Magazine ‘De La Tierra’. Katherine says, “Con Mucho Amor y Cariño I do this for our Gente, I do this for us.” For more of Katherine: https://linktr.ee/Katherinebenitez 

JACKIE RIVERA
ENSEMBLE

Jackie Rivera is a Puerto Rican queer, non-binary actor, theatermaker, and cycling advocate occupying Lenape land in Brooklyn. Recent credits: Helen. with The Supergeographics - EnGarde Arts, Bloom Bloom Pow - ART/NY, Fragments, Lists, and Lacunae (opposite Judith Butler) - New York Live Arts, and Diane in Hurricane Diane at KTC, Ithaca. Trained with SITI Company in Suzuki Viewpoints, they are a member of the queer, trans and women-led collective, The Syndicate. Many collaborations with Eco-theater, Superhero Clubhouse and toured the country on bikes with Agile Rascal Bicycle Touring Theatre. BFA in Acting from UF, MFA in Performance and Performance Studies from Pratt Institute. Their thesis film, Tiny Dyke; Van Life, a queer-clown and puppet-show imagining of their real-life journey living in their van is available to watch at www.jackie-rivera.com

AMARI FLYNN
FOLLOWER 2/ENSEMBLE

(Beginning March 7th)

AMARI FLYNN (she/ they) is overjoyed to be joining this incredibly and unapologetically queer cast! She is a native to the East Coast, born and raised in Upstate South Carolina, and has been pursuing a career in theatre since the age of eleven. She is a graduate of the American Musical and Dramatic Academy Musical Theatre conservatory program. She hopes to assist in the movement for representation of more black, queer art and performers in the future. Off-Broadway: The Importance of Being Earnestly LGBTQ+, The American I.D. Channel: Vol. 1. Amari is non-union and currently seeking representation in theatre. #BlackTransLivesMatter #ItsCalledaDip. IG: @artistamariflynn