Do you believe in time travel? Do you believe in ghosts? Do you believe in... science?
What if you could listen to the voices of the past as easily as you listen to your favorite podcast? Join us for this unique theatrical demonstration - the unveiling of visionary scientist Dr. Carolyn Blau's Mechanical Wave Reassembly Hypercardioid Sequencing Module.

The Tank's World Premiere production of The Séance Machine is the brainchild of collaborators EllaRose Chary and Brandon James Gwinn, an award-winning musical theatre writing team specializing in stories that take a fresh look at the queer community with cutting-edge music. Together they also curate Tank-aret, a monthly cabaret series at The Tank featuring underrepresented artists.

Featuring Jonathan Cruz, Ilana Gabrielle, Lisa Lamothe

Co-produced by Kim Hyacinthe

The Séance Machine is eligible for the NYIT Awards!! Vote for us here!
The IT Awards were organized to bring recognition to the great work being done in Off-Off-Broadway and help create a community base for the estimated 40,000 artists working in the Off-Off-Broadway venue.

THE CAST

Lisa Lamothe is an Actress, Singer, and Educator, specializing in Restorative Justice. Lisa is thrilled to bring The Séance Machine to life! Off - Broadway: Incredibly Deaf Musical (Diva) Additional Theater: Ragtime (Sarah), All Shook Up (Lorraine), Romeo & Juliet (Balthazar). An Avid supporter of new works, she has also performed in: How Green Was My Valley (soloist) at the Actors Studio, Blood Puddin (ensemble) at New Dramatists, as well as 29Lives (featured singer), Bloom! By Melvin Tunstall III, The Goddess Wheel (Persiphone/Penelope), The Restoration of Sight (Denise), and others. Commercial work – Loews (‘mother’ Fathers Day Promo), Education Connection (EC Singer, recurring). BFA: Pace University. Ps111:10. This is for mommy. Follow Lisa @LisaLaDiva.

Ilana Gabrielle Favorite Credits- Mary Magdalene in the special engagement tour of Jesus Christ Superstar, Sophie in Mamma Mia! on RCCL's Allure of the Seas, Wednesday Addams in The Addams Family (JWT), and in Elf: The Musical (Jovie), Footloose (Ariel), Yesterday's (Janis Joplin) with Prather Entertainment Group. In the New York area, she played Alex Patterson in Small Town Story (ATG), Magda in Coming: A Rock Musical... at FringeNYC, and co-created/starred in It’s a Man’s World with Lindsay Lavin. Berklee College of Music graduate. Favorite People- xo’s to Mom & Dad and gratitude to The Mine! Favorite Cause- Planned Parenthood. Favorite Social Media- www.ilanagabrielle.com @ilanagabrielle 

Jonathan Cruz is thrilled to be a part of this production of The Seance Machine. Growing up in New York, he attended the “Fame!” school (Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School) where he studied theatre. Recent credits include a television appearance on Evil Lives Here (Investigation Discovery) and the national tour of The Hollywood Special Effects Show;. Jonathan would like to thank his loving family, friends, and the entire Seance Machine team. Follow Jonathan @yesiamjonathan.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

ELLAROSE CHARY is an award-winning New York based writer and an advocate for inclusion in media. Musicals: COTTON CANDY AND COCAINE (Theater C), TL;DR: Thelma Louise; Dyke Remix (Rhinebeck Writers Retreat, The Tank), PATCHWORK (Prospect Theater Commission), QUEER. PEOPLE. TIME. (Catwalk Residency), THE LORIKEET (The Flea Theater Commission), THE DOLL MAKER’S GIFT (The Rose Theater), and the Malaysian musical MARRYING ME (BOH Cameronian Arts Award Winner). Other projects: THE LAKE AND THE MILL (Drama League; Judson; Finalist, Kernodle New Play Award; Great Plains Theatre Conference 2019), SIX MONTHS IN NEW HAMPSHIRE (Harvard Residency), PATRIETTES (The #Fword Finalist), THE SEANCE MACHINE (The Tank), and The Civilians’ Lobby Projects at City Center (Encores! Off-Center).

She is an activist and advocate for inclusion in musical theater both on and off stage, and to that end wrote “Is The Pipeline A Pipe Dream For Emerging Women In Musical Theater?” (Lilly Awards Blog), “Women Making Musical Theatre: Institutions Hold the Power to Effect Change” (HowlRound), “’You Might Make A Killing’...If You Don’t Starve First” (Musical Theater Today, Volume 2), "Is It All About Popular? Unpacking Populism in Musical Theater" (Musical Theater Today, Volume 3) was on NYMF’s Expanding Representations of Gender Identity and Sexuality on Stage panel and co-curates Tank-aret. She frequently writes songs for Honest Accomplice Theatre.

EllaRose is an Dramatists Guild Fellow, Ars Nova Uncharted resident, The Civilians R & D Group alum, Musical Theater Today Contributing Editor, NYFA Fellowship Playwriting/Screenwriting Finalist, Kleban Prize Finalist, a BOH Cameronian Arts Award Nominee (Best Lyrics), Theatre Arts Guild Nominee (Outstanding New Work), recipient of the Anna Sosenko Grant and a NAMT grant, and a proud member of ASCAP and the Dramatists Guild. BA: Brown University; MFA: NYU Tisch. www.ellarosechary.com

BRANDON JAMES GWINN is a singer-pianist, composer-lyricist and producer lauded "one hell of an entertainer" by the Bistro Awards. His debut EP NOT TOO LATE is now available on iTunes. He toured 65 cities in the US and Canada promoting the EP on a LiveNation backed tour. He produced and performed on TWO BIRDS & ONE STONE the first and second albums released by Trixie Mattel (Winner of RuPaul's Drag Race Allstars 3), which debuted at #1 on the iTunes Top Albums chart and the Billboard Heatseekers Albums Charts. Brandon also directs and produces music for Alexis Michelle (Drag Race Season 9) and produced her debut album LOVE FOOL for Broadway Records. He composed theme music for George Takei's web series IT TAKEIS TWO. He co-wrote the title track on the album LEIDO for Colombian-American pop artist WINSTAR. He can often be found entertaining crowds all over the country at piano bars and supper clubs and backing up some of the country’s best music and cabaret talent. He is a staple at NYC’s famous piano bar Marie's Crisis. 

Brandon is the composer and co-lyricist of TL;DR. THELMA LOUISE; DYKE REMIX (Rhinebeck Writer’s Residency, The Tank), THE THINGS I DON'T SAY, COTTON CANDY & COCAINE (Theatre C), QUEER.PEOPLE.TIME. (Dramatist Guild Fellowship), and UNDERWEAR: A SPACE MUSICAL (2008 New York International Fringe Festival, 2012 American College Theatre Festival). His music and lyrics for MATCHMAKER MATCHMAKER, I’M WILLING TO SETTLE premiered at the American Repertory Theatre in Boston and the 2011 New York Musical Theatre Festival. He wrote songs for The Civilian’s Lobby Project musicals before (and based on interviews about) the City Center Off-Center productions of SONGS FOR A NEW WORLD and WORKING. Brandon is also the composer and co-lyricist of the New York Theatre Barn Commission SMALL TOWN STORY which received the National Alliance of Musical Theatre Writer's Residency Grant, was a finalist for the Richard Rodgers award, was featured in the Village Theatre New Musicals Festival in Seattle, and received its World Premiere at American Theatre Group in Spring 2018. He has been an artist in residence at Ars Nova and was a 2015-2016 Dramatists Guild Fellow. 

A critically lauded singer-songwriter and music director, he has arranged and played shows for multi-Emmy nominee Tituss Burgess, 12-time MAC Award Winner Karen Mason, Tony Winner Daisy Eagan and more. He has worked in Beijing, LA, San Francisco, San Diego, Miami, and in New York at Feinstein's, Birdland, Joe's Pub, Les Poisson Rouge, 54 Below and on Fire Island. Proud NARAS Grammy Voter and ASCAP Member. MFA from NYU’s Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program.

Kimberly Hyacinthe is a native of Westchester County, Kimberly Hyacinthe has always had a fascination with the arts as an avid illustrator and graphic designer.  She always looking for experience in new creative outlets and mediums. Kimberly attended Brown University, where she earned her BA in Ethnic Studies and Political Science while dabbling in oil painting, multimedia sculpture, and woodworking at RiSD. In 2017, she graduated from an international MBA Program at Shidler College of Business at the University of Hawai’i, where she studied non-profit finance.  She also spent six months in Tokyo, studying Japanese start-up culture at Waseda’s Business School. Kimberly currently works as a project/program manager for a for-profit contracting entity that represents a Behavior Health Care Collaborative.

JULIA SEARS straddles the world of art and activism to create communication across disparate sectors with similar goals for social justice. Selected Directing: Shakespeare in Love (Opera House Arts), Hamlet (The Horse in Motion) Bullet Catchers (Clutch Productions), The Merry Wives of Windsor (Opera House Arts), Unequilibrium (HERE Arts), The Life Model (On The Boards), Artaud Artaud(Signature Theatre), Kit & Dabney (Live Source @ La MaMa), Three Sisters (Barn Arts Collective),The Human Incubator (The World Egg), Liliya, Wives Tale (Exquisite Corpse Company), Bitch: A Play About Antigone (Capital Fringe Festival). She is a member of the Society of Directors and Choreographers and a resident artist with Exquisite Corpse Company. In addition she works as an intimacy and fight director. She has trained with the Shakespeare Theatre Company, Folger Shakespeare Library, American Shakespeare Center, Synetic Theatre, The Shakespeare Forum and is graduate of the University of Washington. www.juliasears.org

Susannah Hyde is a New York-based set designer and graduate of Yale University. Most recently, she served as the Scene Design Supervisor at the Williamstown Theatre Festival. Select design credits include: Single Rider (Off-Broadway), Queen (Off-Off Broadway), #yourmemorial and Mary Stuart (NYC), Orlando, Damsels, and Blue Ridge (Williamstown), Too Heavy For Your Pocket and Sassy Mamas (Hattiloo Theatre, TN). Other assistant/associate credits include: Hadestown (Broadway), Hurricane Diane, The Climb and We Are The Tigers (Off Broadway), Tell Me I’m Not Crazy, Dangerous House, and Moscow, Moscow… (Williamstown). susannahhyde.com

Annie Garrett-Larsen is a NYC based lighting designer. Select design credits: The Seagull (Cleveland Play House), Virgin (Ars Nova), A Shared Evening of Dance (HERE Arts Center), Spring Awakening, And Then There Were None & Assassins (The Secret Theatre), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (New York Shakespeare Exchange), Cabaret (The Gallery Players), Hell is You (Alchemical Studios), CRACKED (Theatre at 14th St. Y), Sexy Laundry (Peterborough Players), Hi, Are You Single?(Cleveland Play House), MAIDS & These Young Men and Women (Fisher Center for the Performing Arts), and How to Eat the Thing that Eats You  (Dixon Place). She holds a BA from Bard College. Anniegarrett-larsen.com