this show was performed in 2021
What are we taught? What do we learn? How hard do we try to be good? The Cherry Artists’ collective is proud to present the explosively funny, strange and ultimately moving new play from the eccentric pen of Cherry favorite Iva Brdar. (Rule of Thumb, one-sixth of Felt Sad, Posted a Frog). A play of unbridled imagination and profound emotion, And What Happens if I Don’t is the winner of the 2021 Eurodram English-language Award. (Brdar’s plays have been twice short-listed for that award, as well as for Berlin’s famed Theatertreffen Stückemarkt.) The play is directed by beloved Ithaca theater artist and Cherry Collective member Susannah Berryman.
And What Happens… was presented in an innovative hybrid format, both in person as well as live-streamed for those who are unable to attend the performance on site. In-person performances took place at the Cherry Artspace, 102 Cherry St, Ithaca.
The show featured Adara Alston, Barbara Geary, Naandi Jamison, Elizah Knight, RJ Lavine, Elizabeth Mozer*, Jen Schilansky*, and Amoreena Wade. Design team includes Lesley Greene, (sound), Chris Brusberg (lights), Iris Estelle and Sasha Oliveau (costumes), and Greg Levins and Karen Rodriguez (live stream design).
Learn more behind the scenes with our live-streamed panel discussion that includes the playwright Iva Brdar, Director Susannah Berryman, the cast, and Cherry Director of Education Aoise Stratford.
Based in Berlin, Serbian playwright Iva Brdar has a Masters in theater studies from the Sorbonne Nouvelle and is the author of the plays Rule of Thumb (produced by the Cherry Artists’ Collective in 2019), Geraniums Can Survive Anything, Tomorrow Is (For Now) Always Here, and And What Happens if I Don’t… She has received the Brücke Berlin Award, the Sterija Award, and won Heartefact’s Competition for the Best Contemporary fFull-length Play. Her plays have been staged at the Schauspiel Stuttgart, Vienna’s Kosmos Theater, the Cherry Arts in Ithaca, and had readings at the New York Public Library, Paris’ Théâtre du Nord, and Berlin’s Deutsches Theater. Her plays are represented by Rowohlt Verlag.
Iva Brdar
Content warning: Audience members who are vulnerable to triggers may wish to be made aware of some material in And What Happens if I Don’t. Please contact info@thecherry.org for more information.
THANK YOU TO OUR UNDERWRITER FOR THIS PRODUCTION:
THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSOR:
Diana Riesman
And What Happens If I Don’t? Artist Bios
Adara Alston (she/her) Collective Member. Previous Cherry: The Fan, Trap/Door, and An Odyssey co-produced with Hangar Theatre. Some recent credits include Doubt: A Parable (Franklin Stage Company), The Skin of Our Teeth and The Inferior Sex (Hangar Theatre), Emmett and Ella: A Doggone Mystery (Fitz&Startz Productions), The One-Minute Play Festival (Kitchen Theatre), Katrina: A New Musical (Walking on Water Productions), and Pericles: Prince of Tyre and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Ithaca Shakespeare Company). Adara performs as a drummer and Drum Major in Broome County Celtic Pipes & Drums and is
delighted to be back with the Cherry Arts.
Barbara Geary (she/her) Collective debut. Recently: the Skriker in The Skriker produced by House of Ithaqua at the Cherry Artspace. Barbara has had a lively theatrical and film career spanning nearly 40 years. A graduate of the Dell’Arte International School of Physical Theatre, she has been performing and directing as well as teaching movement, mask, and devised ensemble theatre around the US and Canada since 1982.
Naandi Jamison (she/her) is a Junior acting major at Ithaca College. Previous credits include As You Like It (Duke Senior), Good Man Charlie Brown (Lucy), Antigone Project (Ensemble), Mary Jane (Amelia) and Trojan Women (Ensemble). This is her first production outside of school and she is very grateful and excited to be a part of this wonderful show at The Cherry.
Elizah Knight (she/her) is a Junior Musical Theater Major at Ithaca College. Her previous productions in Ithaca include: Sister Act, She Loves Me, and recently Doña Ana in House of Desires. Elizah is so excited to be making her professional debut with this play. She’d like to thank the whole cast and creative team for an amazing process!
RJ Lavine (they/she) is an actor and Managing Director at Hangar Theatre Company, helping to steer the company through a global pandemic and first ever outdoor season. A Community Arts Partnership grant recipient, R.J. has studied at the Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute, Actor’s Workshop of Ithaca, and Dramatist Guild. Recent roles include R.C. (Bug), Glinda (The Wizard of Oz) and Mac (You Can’t Take It With You). They are in love with the show and ensemble you are about to experience and hope you will be too!
Elizabeth Mozer (she/her) Collective Member. Previous Cherry: George Kaplan, Blank, Felt Sad, Posted a Frog, and Asylum – created and performed by Elizabeth and awarded “Best Drama” at the United Solo Theatre Festival (NYC). Elizabeth was in the original Broadway casts of Teddy & Alice, Dangerous Games and Victor/Victoria. She wrote and directed Castle on the Hill which premiered at Binghamton University where she is an Associate Professor. Additional directing credits include Everybody, A Chorus Line, and Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone. Additional acting credits include Tamara, Doubt, Ashes to Ashes, and Afterplay. Most recently, Elizabeth was the Movement Director for the Cherry Arts/Hangar Theatre An Odyssey co-production.
Jen Schilansky(she/her) Collective Member. Previous Cherry (as Stage Manager): Trap Door, Hotel Good Luck, The Fan, and Felt Sad, Posted a Frog. Jen has been the resident stage manager for the Kitchen Theatre in Ithaca since 2012. KTC production favorites include: A Boy and His Soul, The Royale, Ironbound, Brawler, Birds of East Africa, Hand to God, Peter and the Starcatcher, The Mountaintop, Paloma, The Whipping Man, and Brian Dykstra Selling Out. She just closed a production of Larissa Fasthorse’s The Thanksgiving Play. Jen has also served as the the Production Stage Manager for the Hangar Theatre’s Pride and Prejudice, Dégagé, and A Doll’s House Part 2. Prior to moving to Ithaca, she spent five years as the resident stage manager for Stageworks Theater in Hudson, as well as Stage Managing for Half Moon Theater in Poughkeepsie and Bard College. She is delighted to be back on the stage after 10 years of being behind the scenes, and is looking forward to her next big adventure as mother, which will happen any day now.
Amoreena Wade Collective Member. Previous Cherry: The Shoe, Felt Sad Posted A Frog, The Fan. Amoreena is thrilled to be returning to The Cherry Arts stage. Some of her fondest theatre experiences have included Reckless with 40th St Stage in Norfolk, VA, You Can’t Take It With You with Cider Mill Playhouse in Endicott, NY, and many shows with KNOW Theatre in Binghamton, where she also directed and performed in benefit performances of The Vagina Monologues, and for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf. She has studied at Upright Citizens Brigade in NYC and was a stand-up comic for many years.
Her mother would also like her to tell you she has appeared on The CW’s One Tree Hill.
Susannah Berryman Collective Member. Previous Cherry: A Day, On The Other Side of the Sea, Felt Sad, Posted a Frog. Susannah has been participating in theatremaking in Ithaca since 1980, as an actor, director, and teacher. Her main artistic homes have been the Cherry Arts (actor/director/member of collective), the Kitchen Theatre (actor/director), and the Hangar Theatre (actor/teacher/coach), and Ithaca College (teacher/director from 1980-2020). She has loved watching these theatres grow and is deeply grateful for the opportunities and collaborations they provide. Covid/retirement have offered an opportunity to engage in rewarding and productive zoom visits with wonderful alumni. With the encouragement of her marvelous friends, Susannah has also picked up a writing habit.
Iva Brdar is a Serbian playwright based in Berlin. Previous Cherry: Rule of Thumb, one Sixth of Felt Sad Posted a Frog. She has a Masters in theater studies from the Sorbonne Nouvelle
in Paris. Her plays have received the Brücke Berlin Award, the Sterija Award, the Eurodram English-language award, and Heartefact’s Competition for Best Contemporary Full-length Play. Her plays have been staged at the Schauspiel Stuttgart, Vienna’s Kosmos Theater, and the Cherry Arts, and had readings at the New York Public Library, Paris’ Théâtre du Nord, and Berlin’s DeutschesTheater.
Samuel Buggeln is the co-founder and Artistic Director of The Cherry Arts and Cherry Artists’ Collective, where over the last few years he has produced, directed, translated, and/or commissioned over a dozen productions from Ithaca-based and international writers. Before founding the Cherry, Sam directed over 20 productions at regional theatres; in NYC he has developed new work extensively at the Lark and other venues and is an Artistic Associate at the New Ohio Theatre. Among numerous works directed at the Ohio are the Drama Desk-nominated Cressida Among the Greeks and Hater, his unconventional translation of Le Misanthrope, which has since been published and produced twice more. A volume of his co-translations of Santiago Loza’s plays is forthcoming from Seagull Books.
Chris Brusberg Previous Cherry: Hotel Good Luck, On the Other Side of the Sea, and The Shoe. Chris is happy to be joining The Cherry for his fourth lighting design. Recent design
Credits Include: La Cenerentola (Annapolis Opera), Daffodils (New York Theater Festival), Man of La Mancha (ALD – Opera Saratoga), Time & Again (Lawson Dance Company). Upcoming
designs: La Boheme (Annapolis Opera), The Book of Will (Lyric Stage Company of Boston), Cyan/Green (BANDPoteir), and Die Zauberflote (Manhattan School of Music). Head to www.
ctblighing.com for upcoming design work or www.oowa.art to view his digital collaborations with other artists.
Karl Gregory Collective Member. Previous Cherry: Testosterone, A Day. Karl is an actor and private acting coach, and having done over 50 shows in Ithaca, he continues to make Ithaca his artistic home. Karl is a two time recipient of a SALT AWARD for “Best
Actor” as well as snatching the same title in the Ithaca Time’s “Best Of Ithaca” Awards.
Lesley Greene Previous Cherry: A Day, The Fan. Lesley is a sound designer, composer, choreographer, director, and writer. For the past twenty years, Lesley worked at the Kitchen Theatre Company, where her sound designs included Cry It Out, The Roommate, Ironbound, Hand to God, Mary’s Wedding, The Brothers Size, The Whipping Man, and many others. She has composed music for 9 musicals for young audiences with playwright/lyricist Rachel Lampert, including Physics Fair, Park Play, Winter Tales, and Emmett & Ella’s Big Apple Escapade.
Iris Estelle is originally from Louisiana where she grew up around a community theatre that started her passion for theatre and the arts. During the time that she was working towards a Fine Arts degree, Iris re-discovered costuming and fashion and started forging a new path in her undergrad work. Iris worked as a touring wardrobe assistant for 3 years and after the pandemic started, Iris made her way to Ithaca and is excited to work as a costume designer for The Cherry!
Maggie Lapinski Previous Cherry: The Fan. Maggie is an Ithaca College alum, graduating in 2018 with a B.A. in Theatre Studies, and has spent the last four years stage managing locally. She grew up in East Lansing, MI, and has to give credit to her older sister, Emaline, for introducing her to the world of theatre. Previous credits include: The Skriker and The Maids (The House of Ithaqua); and Richard III and Much Ado About Nothing (Ithaca Shakespeare Company).
Greg Levins graduated NYU with an emphasis in film directing, screenplay writing and video editing. Greg worked for a handful of casting houses in NYC, auditioning actors in countless
commercials, industrials, music videos and films. He’s directed two indie features, wrote a handful of screenplays and dabbled in music video and commercial production. Since moving to Ithaca he’s made a number of promotional videos for Ecovillage and is currently filming/archiving a weekly Gayogohó:nǫ’ language class taught by one of the few remaining native speakers. He’s thrilled to be a part of AWHIID, helping to expand the audience to include viewers at home with a live stream feed.
Sasha Oliveau Collective Member. Previous Cherry: costume design,The Shoe, A Day, Hotel Good Luck, and On the Other Side of the Sea; assistant costume design, The Fan, Testosterone and The Snow Queen (2018). Sasha is a fibers artist and designer from rural Northern Virginia. She learned to sew from her grandmother at 6 years old, and began teaching others as a young adult. She graduated from the Savannah College of Art and Design in 2018 with a Bachelors of Fine Arts in Fibers, and plans to continue her education in expressive art therapy. She works with slow, meditative processes to make one of a kind, abstract expressionistic objects and textiles that create therapeutic environments.
Karen Rodriguez is an Ithaca based filmmaker. She is the owner of Wind-up Pictures and producer and director of photography of the documentary Elizabeth Bishop and the Art of Losing. She previously designed the visual projection for Tenebrae: The Passion of Dietrich Bonhoeffer by Hugh McElyea. She has many film and television credits including on MURDER and Murder by Yvonne Rainier, American Orpheus by Rick Schmidt, Northern Exposure, and The Chanticleer by Becky Lane. Karen is a 2017 Fulbright Scholar and holds an MFA in Film and Video Production from the University of Iowa Graduate College.
Bailey Shea is a junior B.F.A Stage Management major at Ithaca College, originally from Orange County, California. Previous credits include Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime (PSM), Talking to Myself (PSM), Bright Star (SM), Throughly Modern Millie (ASM) at Fullerton College. Other credits include A Midsummer Night’s Dream (PSM) and Twelfth
working with the Cherry Arts for this production!
Daniel Zimmerman Collective Member. Previous Cherry: The Shoe, Testosterone, George Kaplan, and Loza Plays. Select Off-Broadway: Fashions for Men (Drama Desk nomination; The Mint); After the Blast and Kill Floor (Lincoln Center); Friend Art (Second Stage); Suicide, Incorporated (Roundabout); You Got Older (Page 73 Productions); Be a Good Little Widow (Ars Nova); New York: The Play Company, Clubbed Thumb, Cherry Lane, Colt Coeur, Lesser America, The Pearl. Regional: Arena Stage, Dallas Theatre Center, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Humana Festival of New American Plays, NYS&F, Cincinnati Playhouse, Baltimore Center
Stage, Trinity Repertory Company, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Playmakers Rep, Theatreworks Palo Alto, Pioneer Theatre Company, Portland Stage Company, Merrimack Rep, Geva Theater Center, The Kitchen Theater, The Hangar Theatre, and Eugene O’Neill Playwrights Conference. Daniel teaches scenic design at Ithaca College.