Worlds Elsewhere Theatre Company Presents:
The Space Between A WETC Workshop Production

Premiered

Worlds Elsewhere Theatre Company has always made an effort to explore all the opportunities granted to us by the virtual theatre medium, and in that spirit, we invite you to the live, public performance of the first WETC Workshop production: a new short play, The Space Between, written by Company Member Meredith Cook and directed by co-founder Kyle Kallgren.\n\n

A century into the future, Kore, a college student, is on an intergalactic journey to find her brother. At space station after space station, she meets the same mysterious stranger, whose business plans lead them on a journey that seems to be intertwined with Kore’s. Through a series of vignettes, they uncover more about each other’s secrets, and what stays constant as the galaxy changes around them.

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Company Artistic Statement

Theatre, given its nature as a medium made of people in space, has always been a first victim during times of plague.

When the COVID-19 pandemic spread through the world at the start of the year 2020, theatres closed, and millions were left unemployed.

Worlds Elsewhere Theatre Company was founded during this terrifying time. It is our mission to create theatre without a theatre — to create a space online that can serve as a theatrical one. Our company shall create an online space that serves the same function that theatre has served for millennia — as a place of catharsis and healing.

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This event is a pilot test of what we hope to offer as a valuable service to playwrights who want to see their work performed and directed by professionals in a virtual context.

We hope also that it is valuable to you — and if that is how you feel, one way you can tell us is by making a donation through Paypal, directly supporting future shows from Worlds Elsewhere.

All donations are appreciated!

We understand if you, like many people, are not in a position to offer your financial support at the moment; this is a difficult time. If that is the case and you would still like to support our mission, any of the following steps would be very welcome assistance:

About This Production

WoVulnerability is an important component of great theatre – and what could be more vulnerable than allowing an audience in on work in progress? In that spirit, we proudly welcome you to the first Worlds Elsewhere workshop production: The Space Between, written by Meredith Cook, directed by Kyle Kallgren.

A few weeks ago, the cast you’ll see tonight performed a “staged reading” of the play for a small, private audience – members of our company, as well as supporters from our 2020 Indiegogo and some special guests. This group provided feedback, some in a talkback, some in a survey, which Meredith used to guide her script revisions. After a week of editing, she sent the script back to Kyle and the cast, and it was off to the races.

And on , we present the new The Space Between – with not only an improved script and our already-excellent performers, but also enhanced production value, a live interview talkback after the show, and a separate behind-the-scenes video about the workshop process that will go live later in the weekend.

Upon reading Meredith Cook’s play, The Space Between, I was immediately fascinated by its setting. Not just the fact that it was in space in the far future, when interplanetary travel had become almost banal, but that it took place exclusively in spaces designed for mass transit. After a year of quarantine, a play exploring the connections made and missed while traveling seems oddly nostalgic. In this age of pandemic, one of the small things we’ve missed is the act of small talk: quick interactions and brief encounters of genuine social connections, all but forgotten after months of social distancing. Fitting too that both of the play’s lead characters, Kore and Mori, are terrible at small talk! Kore, because she never wanted to open up to strangers, and Mori, for reasons we will come to understand by the end of the play. Both have been endlessly rushing from one place to another, neither able to stop and connect.

Theatre is about connection; it’s one of the reasons WETC was founded in the first place. A play about connection — both the made and the missed, and the ones made in liminal spaces like train stations and airport terminals and spaceports — seemed like an excellent choice for us, especially as science and technology are allowing us a new reality, where vaccines can allow for some small amount of casual interaction once again. Seeing this new work blossom, watching new characters being created by such talented actors, has been an absolute professional joy. May we meet again.

~ Kyle Kallgren, Director

When I finished what I thought was the final draft of The Space Between back in 2019, I was certain it was only ever going to collect dust on my shelf. At the time, the piece was the final project in my college’s playwriting class. We weren’t given much of a prompt — just to pick a genre and have thirty pages before Thanksgiving break. I’ve always been enamored with sci-fi, especially the kind that can blend science and the supernatural, and I knew I wanted to write something in that vein. A story from Ray Bradburry’s The Illustrated Man, about a space captain on a Sisyphean search from planet to planet, was a huge inspiration and jumping off point, with other stories I’ve loved over the years — including The Penumbra Podcast, Neil Gaiman’s Sandman comics, Good Omens — influencing the direction I took with this piece.

Getting into workshops and getting feedback has been an incredibly awesome and humbling experience, and it is mindblowing to see everything come together. How surreal it is to see something that’s been bouncing around my skull for two years finally out of my head and on the digital stage! Working with the cast and getting feedback was so fulfilling and really changed how I viewed my own work — it’s not just a school project I got a B on anymore; this is a piece I’m truly proud to be a part of.

Ultimately, I wanted this to be a story about constantly being confronted with death and hardship and the worst in the universe, while still finding a way to live your life with moments of joy in between, because, at the end of the day, those moments are all you can hope for.

From the bottom of my heart, I want to thank everyone involved in bringing The Space Between to life.

See you at the next station.

~ Meredith Cook, Playwright

Cast and Crew

Performers

Jasmine Garcia (Kore; she/her) couldn’t be more thrilled to be part of Worlds Elsewhere’s first workshop, let alone being one of the leads in this brand new show. You might have seen her before in Lysistrata as the slightly unhinged Kallyki, or singing her heart out in three different numbers in last year’s 2020 Winter Cabaret. She’d like to thank this company for giving her all these opportunities, the cast and crew of the show for making this one of the best shows she’s ever been a part of, and her friends and family for always supporting her. Look for her on most socials as @FaeRiviera

Hilary Thomas (Mx Mori; they/them) is a media producer and voice actor currently living in Seattle. Past roles include Puck in Worlds Elsewhere’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Charity Stream; Frontier Brain Anabel in Pokémon: Battle Frontier; Nyx in Queen’s Blade; and Justine in the original off-off-Broadway musical Dogboy and Justine. They mostly spend their time behind the scenes as a producer for the Pokémon animated series and movies, but are thrilled to be playing Mx. Mori in The Space Between. It’s a literal dream come true. @airspaniel on Twitter

Katherine Rose Turbes (PA System; they/them) is a NYC-based cabaret performer, monologist, and actor. They’re thrilled to be part of their third show with Worlds Elsewhere Theatre Company! Previously, they performed in A Midsummer Night’s Charity Stream (narrator; cabaret performer: “Ophelia”) and the 2021 Summer Cabaret (“H<3ME”). Outside of Worlds Elsewhere, they’ve performed in a multitude of shows including Transpose, The Muse Exchange, QuaranTURNT, and their birthday fundraiser for Black Lives Matter. To see more of their work please visit their YouTube channel. (Katherine Rose Turbes on Facebook, @KatharsisRavyn on Twitter, katharsis_ravyn_turbes on Instagram)

DeBorah Elizabeth M (The Voice of the News; she/her) is a first generation American, a child of immigrants that came to America in the late 1960s; she is grateful to them for the sacrifice that they made and the principles that they taught. DeBorah Elizabeth does her best to remember the principles that were taught by her wonderful parents as she begins to focus on her artistic side through voice-over acting modeling and poetry. Her WETC debut was reciting her poem “Being Love”, for the 2021 Summer Cabaret. @ReelDeborahM is her social media handle across most platforms, and she can also be found on Backstage and at reeldeborahm.com.

High school Physics and Math Teacher by day, YouTuber by night, and first-time father at all points in between, Jacob Brode (Xeno; he/him) is thrilled to be a part of the first ever production of The Space Between! He’s spent over a decade in college and community theatre, with plenty of directing, writing, scenic design, and other production roles under his belt. You can see more of Jake on the Database Ranger’s Power Reviews YouTube channel, where he engages in adventure-filled Power Rangers meta-analyses alongside his wonderful wife, MJ. @DatabaseRanger on Twitter, Database Ranger’s Power Reviews on Facebook, DR Productions on Facebook

Justin F Bailey (Ads [Gravi-Core, Zero-G Ice Cream], Crew Member; he/him) made his Worlds Elsewhere debut in Julius Caesar (Soothsayer), then moved on to the crew side as Assistant Producer for the 20212 Summer Cabaret; he has never been afraid to try something new just because he’s never done it before. That’s what makes it new, right? The majority of his previous acting has been volunteer- or hobby-based, the most prominent of which is being a crew member of Haunted Overload in New Hampshire, which he has done off and on for over a decade. Special thanks to Marjorie Mersereau, for helping give him the acting bug in the first place.

Jack Nee (Ads [SmartNet, Knack Patch, Vesper 27]; no pronouns) retired from acting a long time ago, but keeps popping up from time to time. Teacher, labor union officer, theatre practitioner… all sorts of other odds and ends.

RJ Mayo (Ads [Starbright Cruises, Pluto Water]; they/them) is an actor in Toronto, Ontario, where they are in their second year of a three-year theatre program. They have previously appeared in Worlds Elsewhere’s production of Lysistrata as Nikothiki, the female Skythian, and the 2020 Winter Cabaret, singing “The Singing Sister”. Past credits with other companies include various roles in Love and Information, Assistant Director for As You Like It, Orsino in Twelfth Night, Helena in All’s Well That Ends Well, and Ophelia in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. You can find incredibly intermittent content on their Youtube channel, RJ Mayo.

Production

Kyle Kallgren (Director; he/him) has been creating online content for over a decade. He is the co-founder of Worlds Elsewhere Theater Company and is its current Director of Digital. He spent some time as a snail and once attempted to assassinate Mickey Mouse. He lives in Queens, New York, with his zero cats. KyleKallgrenBHH on Youtube, @KyleKallgren on Twitter

Ilana Greenberg-Sud (Producer, MC; she/her/they/them) is so glad that a dozen people were willing to go along with her/their slightly insane plan for this project, and is excited for you all to see the end results. She/they continues to be incapable of taking a break, but since she/they is Making Art, she/they can justify it to her/theirself. WETC credits include Co-Founder/Director of Theatre, A Midsummer Night’s Charity Stream _(Producer, Stage Manager), _Lysistrata (Director, Script Editor), 2020 Winter Cabaret (Producer, Stage Manager, “The Long Road to Shehecheyanu”), 2021 Indiegogo Gala (Director, Stage Manager, MC), Julius Caesar (Assistant Producer), 2021 Summer Cabaret (Director, Stage Manager), as well as the upcoming charity stream of She Kills Monsters. Non-WETC performance/public speaking projects include three productions of The Vagina Monologues and a year spent yelling at Seattle politicians to pass a workers’ rights bill (spoilers: it work). She/they doesn’t intentionally have a small social media footprint, but her/their continued hiatus from Twitter has been very restful.

Maciek Nowak / Wensleydale Cheddar (Technical Director, Narrator; they/them) is a stammering mess of a manga podcaster and video essayist from Poland. Telephone interpreter and animator by trade, they read through the sci-fi manga World Trigger volume by volume in their podcast Duckface Diaries. Look out for their animated fantasy series, Pengantar, coming out in 2022? Hopefully? Probably? Eh, don’t count on it. (@WensleyCheddar on Twitter, find their podcasts and video essays here: Youtube • Anchor • Spotify • Apple Podcasts)

Meredith Cook (Playwright; she/her) first started writing when she accidentally enrolled in a playwriting class at Fullerton College the fall of 2019. She fell in love with it and has since written five short plays; The Space Between is the first to premiere outside of the classroom! She is so excited for this premiere and grateful to all those who helped along the way. You may have seen Meredith as Caloniki in WETC’s production of Lysistrata and heard her sing in the 2020 Winter Cabaret (“The Christians and the Pagans”). Special thanks to Bill Mittler, Kyle Kallgren, Erika Dunning, Ilana Greenberg-Sud, and the entire cast and crew of TSB. @meredithinaflowercrown

Laura Crone (Video Editor; she/her) is a writer, producer, host, and editor of online video based out of Los Angeles. Fans of Worlds Elsewhere may recognize her work as an editor (“So I’ve Been Rewatching a Lot of M_A_S*H,” 2021 Summer Cabaret; “Seize the Day,” 2021 IGG Donor Gala), arranger (“What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve,” 2020 Winter Cabaret) and performer (Portia, Julius Caesar; Myrrhini, Lysistrata; Hermia, A Midsummer Night’s Charity Stream). You can find her talking about film and feelings at youtube.com/c/lauracrone and https://watchnebula.com/lauracrone. (@down_w_lcc on Twitter)

Company Staff

Executive Director - David Kowarsky
Director of Theatre - Ilana Greenberg-Sud
Director of Digital - Kyle Kallgren
Company Technical Director & Web/IT Manager - Adrianne Greenberg-Sud
Communications Manager - Laura Varela
Special Projects Manager - Nicole Lopez-Hagan
Social Media Assistant - Mia Lansdell

Attributions