Event

Possessed is a Verb

A New Play by Cherry Lou Sy
Featuring a performance by Michael Shayan

What does it mean to be in control? How do you know that what you are experiencing is real? What does it mean to be you when you are channeling someone elses words and experiences? Possessed is a Verb explores the ideas of spirit possession, ancestral lines, silence, trauma, ownership, authorship, appropriation and intertextuality through the lens of playwright Cherry Lou Sys childhood, young adulthood and the stories that shes told.

Possessed is a Verb is a cold performance piece. It is performed each time by someone who has never seen the play or read the script before.

Bios:

Cherry Lou Sy is a MFA Playwriting candidate at Brooklyn College. Her work has been developed/presented in La Mama Experiments, Rising Circle Theater Collective, The Letter of Marque, Brooklyn College, Primary Stages' ESPA, The Wild Project, The Brick, and the Classical Theatre of Harlem. She was a finalist for the 2018 Space on Ryder Farm Working Farm and the 2017 Bay Area Playwrights Festival and she has also been nominated for the 2018 Cherry Lane Mentor Project. She was also involved in Ping Chongs Undesirable Elements series.

Michael Shayan is an Iranian-American Jewish playwright and performer based in New York. His work has recently been presented & developed at La MaMa, The Lark, Dixon Place's queer HOT! Festival, and Lambda Literary, where he is a returning Fellow in Playwriting (2017-2019). His play Tricks was featured in The Advocate Magazine. He was also a member and performer at the Magic Castle in Hollywood, CA. He studied playwriting at Harvard, and is currently pursuing a Playwriting MFA at Brooklyn College.