a Cherry Collective production
sponsored by David Kramer
with the support of the Québec Government Office in New York
The Weight of Ants
The Québec writer David Paquet is one of the Cherry’s favorite collaborators, and he won the “Canadian Pulitzer” for this outrageously funny and deeply moving play about two teens at “one of the worst high schools in the country”. Joan and Olivier couldn’t be more different—except they both feel like they’re the only ones upset that the whole world is going to pieces. When the fates bring them together, they decide to take matters into their own hands. The play offers many laughs but no easy answers, as it dives fearlessly into the urgent question of what individuals can do in a time of crisis.
Schedule
- Fri Oct 17 7:30PM Opening Night
- Sat Oct 18 7:30PM
- Sun Oct 19 2:00PM
- Thu Oct 23 7:30PM
- Fri Oct 24 7:30PM
- Sat Oct 25 2:00PM
- Sat Oct 25 7:30PM
- Sun Oct 26 2:00PM Closing
Video Gallery
Cast
Sylvie Yntema
Sylvie Yntema
Previous Cherry: Baba Yaga, Rosa and Blanca, Peter and the Wolf, As You Like It, Voices of Ukraine, The Wetsuitman, Pursuit, An Odyssey, Trap Door, A Day, Felt Sad Posted a Frog. Other local credits include: Ms. Holmes & Ms. Watson Apt 2B, Snow White (Hangar Theatre); The Thin Place (House of Ithaqua); The Turnaway Play (The Kitchen Theatre); A Great Wilderness, From the Mississippi Delta, In the Next Room or The Vibrator Play (Homecoming Players); Delia Divided, On the Corner (Civic Ensemble); A Case for the Classics (Fitz&Startz Productions). Sylvie studied BFA Acting at The Mason Gross School at Rutgers University and is a graduate of the Actors Workshop of Ithaca.
Jacob Garrett White*
Jacob Garrett White*
Previous Cherry: George Kaplan, White Rabbit Red Rabbit, and Rule of Thumb. Jacob is an actor and social worker. His NYC theatre credits include: The Barrow Group’s Pentecost, Lobby Hero, and The Faithful, TFANA’s Julius Caesar, and The Public Theatre/NYSF’s Cymbeline. Regionally he has performed in: The Old Globe & Goodman Theater’s Floyd Collins, NJ Rep’s Panama, Color of Flesh, and Emil, Axial Theater’s Lost in Paradise, and the Ensemble Theater of Cincinnati’s Keeping the Faith. Locally, Jacob has performed with Homecoming Players, Civic Ensemble, and the Hangar Theatre.
*member, Actors’ Equity Association
Mike Chen
Mike Chen
Mike Chen recently played the Hare in the Cherry’s Rosa and Blanca. Other roles in Ithaca include John in House of Ithaqua’s Marjorie Prime and Launce in Ithaca Shakespeare’s Two Gentlemen of Verona. He is a member of one of Third Place Theater’s improv teams, performing regularly at Liquid State Brewery. He teaches Study Skills at Cornell and lives in Lansing
David Studwell*
David Studwell*
An original member of the Cherry Artist Collective, David last appeared on the Cherry stage
in Testosterone. He played Scrooge in A Christmas Carol for two seasons at the Hangar. Other
representative stage credits include First American Tour, The Band’s Visit (Avrum),
Off-Broadway: Applause! (Bert, City Center’s Encores!). Regional: A Christmas Carol and Little
Shop of Horrors (Scrooge, Musnik, The Denver Centre), The Lehman Trilogy (Henry), Maltz
Jupiter Theatre), Sweeney Todd (Sweeney, Ensemble Theatre, Santa Barbara INDY award,)
Man of La Mancha (Quixote, PCPA, INDY award,) Fiddler on the Roof (Tevye, Portland Center
Stage, Drammy award,) Red (Rothko, Hangar Theatre), 1776 (Franklin, Engeman Theater),
Titanic (Isidor, Westchester Broadway), As You Like It (Oliver, Goodman Theatre), Falsettos
(Mendle, Alliance Theatre.) Much love to Kathleen!
*member, Actors’ Equity Association
Meg Elliott
Meg Elliott
Creative Team
David Paquet
David Paquet
David Paquet won the Governor General’s Award for French-language drama and the Michel-Tremblay Prize for his play Porc-épic (Porcupine), which has since also been produced in Germany, Mexico, Austria, France, and Belgium. His play 2h14 (2:14) toured in Quebec, France, Mexico, Germany, and Switzerland, received the Sony Labou Tansi Prize, and was one of five finalists for the grand prize in dramatic literature of France’s Société des auteurs et des compositeurs dramatiques. His play Appels entrants illimités has been performed over 100 times in Quebec and France. Other plays include Le brasier and Papiers mâchés. The French-language production of Le Soulier (The Shoe) won Vancouver’s 2019 Jessie Richardson award for Best New Play. He is a graduate of the playwriting program of the National Theatre School of Canada and works regularly as a theater translator, dramaturg, and playwrights’ mentor.
photo credit: Guillaume Boucher
Leanna Brodie
Leanna Brodie
Dean Robinson*
Dean Robinson*
Previous Cherry: White Rabbit Red Rabbit, George Kaplan, Felt Sad Posted a Frog, as well as voicing Storm Country, The Missing Chapter, and The Fan. Also in the Ithaca area, Dean has appeared in plays including The Cripple of Inishmaan, Swimming in the Shallows, The Chairs, Circle Mirror Transformation, Nora, Tribes, and The Children. Other area performances include Sirens, Perfect Crime, and Dancing at Lughnasa. Regionally, Dean has performed at A.C.T. (San Francisco), Trinity Repertory Theatre, American Southwest Theatre, Mark Taper Forum, and New York’s Public Theatre as well as performed in the international tour of Robert Wilson’s The Black Rider. He is a founding member of the critically acclaimed The Actors’ Gang where he directed and acted in multiple plays. Dean is a graduate of the Academy for Classical Acting at George Washington University; he is currently an assistant professor of theatre at Ithaca College, where he teaches voice, movement, and acting.
*member, Actors’ Equity Association
Iris Estelle
Iris Estelle
Iris Estelle is originally from Louisiana and grew up around a community theater that started her passion for theater 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 graduated from Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, LA with a degree in Fine & Graphic Arts with a concentration in Fiber & Textiles. She also had a scholarship with the costume shop where she built and designed costumes for performances throughout the year. Iris wants to constantly share her creative spirit in all aspects of her work, including fashion, art, and theater. Iris worked as a touring wardrobe assistant for three years, and after the pandemic started, she re-entered into the theater world. Eventually, she made her way to Ithaca and seeks to continue her work in costume design.
Stephen St. Francis Decky
Stephen St. Francis Decky
Stephen St. Francis Decky is a multimedia artist and writer whose work has appeared in an array of festivals, collections, and museums, including The New Britain Museum of American Art and The Museum of Fine Arts, Nagoya, Japan. As a projection and video designer, he has worked on operas, musicals, and video installations with Mountain Time Arts in Bozeman, Montana, IlluminArts Miami, and Beth Morrison Projects, along with many other arts organizations. Stephen has taught Animation and Film classes at several schools, including Ithaca College and Tufts University, and his films have screened at festivals internationally, including the Camden International Film Festival and the VOID International Animation Film Festival in Copenhagen, Denmark. His first novel—Werewolf Movie —will be published this Fall by Frayed Edge Press.
Rosalina Maassen
Rosalina Maassen
Rosalina Maassen Rosa is a Wells College alum, who is super grateful to continue to be working on Cherry Arts productions. Recent works include Rosa and Blanca and La Cerise Noire. Rosa can also be found at The Hangar just up the street!
Saoirse Ellis
Saoirse Ellis
Conor Mulligan
Conor Mulligan
Christine Fanourakis
Christine Fanourakis
Christine has been working as a stage manager in the Ithaca area since 2019. Some recent local credits include Mother In a Box (Homecoming Players), The Thin Place (House of Ithaqua), Marjorie Prime (House of Ithaqua), Cabaret (SUNY Cortland). Christine is a production technical assistant for the Middlebury Town Hall Theater in Vermont, and a proud attendee of the NYC SM Tech Fridays Webinars. Excited to be back in Ithaca for another production at The Cherry!
Raid Lyerla
Raid Lyerla
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