Last Catastrophist
Written by David Valdes
Directed by Sarah Gazdowicz
January 24 - February 8, 2020
Plaza Blackbox at the Boston Center for the Arts
Buy Tickets Online
$25 General Admission
Groups of 8 or more get $5 off tickets; email tickets@freshinktheatre.org for more information.
Marina, one of the last American climatologists, has hidden herself on the coast of Iceland to escape increasing threats from Eternal Sunshine, a shadowy cabal harassing climate scientists into silence. When Lucia, her one remaining peer, shows up unannounced, a cat-and-mouse game ensues. Are they allies? Enemies? Who works for whom? Drawing on climate science and real-world events, Last Catastrophist imagines life on the brink of extinction.
Please Note:
This show runs approximately 90 minutes with no intermission.
Special Events
Post Show Social following the performance on Saturday 1/25. Toast opening night with the cast and creative team!
Cheap Date Night on Wednesdays, 1/29 and 2/5 - Buy-One-Get-One tickets when purchased in advance with code BOGOLC
Playwright's Night on Thursdays, 1/30 and 2/6 - Half-Price tickets when purchased in advance with code DAVE50; Join us for a conversation with the playwright following the performance!
Pay-What-You-Want performances on Friday 1/24 and the Saturday matinee on 2/8. ($6 minimum, cash only at the box office window)
Show Dates and Times
January 24 - February 8, 2020
Wednesdays & Thursdays at 7:30pm
Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm
Tuesday, January 28 at 7:30pm
Saturday, February 8 at 3pm
CLICK HERE for directions to Boston Center for the Arts.
Cast and Production Team
Marina - Evelyn Holley
Lucia - Shanelle Chloe Villegas
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Playwright - David Valdes
Director - Sarah Gazdowicz
Dramaturg - Sarah Schnebly
Stage Manager - Sam O'Brien
Assistant Director - Francis Norton
Scenic Design - Andrew Kolifrath
Lighting Design - Read Davidson
Costume Design - Erica Desautels
Sound Design - Vinny Laino
Prop Design - Lauren Corcuera
Fight Choreography - Marge Dunn
Evelyn Holley (Marina) is delighted to make her production debut with Fresh Ink after having taken part in the initial reading of Last Catastrophist this past June. Previous Boston Credits include: Vicuña (Zeitgeist Stage Company), Everyman (Apollinaire Theatre Company), SHE DID ALL THAT- Betty Ford: Speaking Out, Saving Lives (Birch Tree Productions), Gay Shorts 2: We are Family & Slam Boston (Open Theatre Project). Previous NYC Credits include: Layer Cake (Looking Glass Theatre), Facing the Minotaur (Red Thread Theatre), Human Shield (Manhattan Theatre Source), Savage in Limbo (Gene Frankel Theatre) and Ana 3/11 (New York International Fringe Festival). Evelyn received her BA in Theatre from Middlebury College and has studied with the Atlantic Acting School in NYC. She currently serves on the Board of Directors for Open Theatre Project.
Shanelle Chloe Villegas (Lucia) is a Boston-based actor, playwright, deviser, poet and educator. A recent graduate from Boston Conservatory at Berklee’s first Contemporary Theatre program, Shanelle has been seen in numerous plays around Boston, including, most recently, touring with New Repertory Theatre’s Classic Repertory Company all throughout New England. Other credits include; Gabi in Yo Soy LOLA’s production of Las Que Sueñan, Nana in Speakeasy’s School Girls or; The African Mean Girls Play and Fleance/Angus in Actors’ Shakespeare Project’s Macbeth. Shanelle is beyond delighted to make her Fresh Ink debut and honored to give life to a new character.
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David Valdes (Playwright) has been produced across the US and abroad, most recently with Actor's Theatre of Charlotte, Mixed Blood, Borderlands, Milagros, and Boulder Ensemble Theatre Company. His plays have appeared in the Humana Festival, New York International Fringe Festival, Portland Stage Little Festival of the Unexpected, and New York Theatre Workshop Thursday Studio. Work in progress includes 2019 Eugene O’Neill Finalist Up the Ladder, Down the Slide and Downtown Crossing (the Boston Undocumented project) in collaboration with Company One.
Sarah Gazdowicz (Director) is delighted to be working with FIT again, having previously directed Chalk by Walt McGough and appeared in 1 2 3 by Lila Rose Kaplan. She is also thrilled to be working on a piece by Dave Valdes having previously had the honor of directing Bully Dance (Argos Productions). Sarah is an award-winning Boston-based director, performer and educator; directing credits include Peter and the Starcatcher (Hub Theatre), The Nether (Flat Earth Theatre), Penny Penniworth: A Story of Great Good Fortune (Titanic Theatre Company), Laura (The Greater Boston Stage Company) and The Farnsworth Invention (Flat Earth Theatre). As a performer, Sarah has worked with companies such as The Greater Boston Stage Company, Anthem Theatre Company, Moonbox Productions, imaginary beasts and is a proud ensemble member of the long-running, high-class entertainment, Sh*t-Faced Shakespeare. As an educator she has worked extensively with The Young Company at GBSC and recent credits in movement and fight work include The Curious Incident… (Apollinaire Theatre Company) and X (Flat Earth Theatre).
Sam O’Brien (Stage Manager) is so excited to be joining Fresh Ink for the first time! Recent credits include Assistant Stage Manager for Parade with Moonbox Productions and Production Stage Manager for She Kills Monsters with Greater Boston Stage Company's Young Company. Thanks so much to Sarah, Stephanie, the cast and crew, and everyone with Fresh Ink for such a wonderful process. Break legs everyone! Preferably not your own.
Francis Xavier Norton (Assistant Director) is thrilled to return to Fresh Ink Theatre to help tell such a well-crafted yet terrifying story. They are a Latinx theatre-maker, composer, visual artist, and educator with credits from Arlekin Players, SpeakEasy Stage Company, Greater Boston Stage Company, Actors’ Shakespeare Project, the 1-Minute Play Festival, Praxis Stage, Apollinaire Theatre Company, Boston Conservatory, MIT Shakespeare Ensemble, Rebel Shakespeare, Ridiculous Project, amongst others. They are also a teaching artist for the Lyric Stage/Citystage Spotlight program. They were a finalist for the KCACTF SDC directing fellowship in 2017, a KCACTF Dramaturgy nominee, a recipient of two Special Recognition awards, and a BFA in Theatre Performance from Salem State University.
Andrew Kolifrath (Scenic Design) is a Boston based designer and painter, and a graduate of Boston University’s BFA theater program. Over the last year he has some stand out experiences with Apollinaire Theatre Company, New York Deaf Theater Company, Central Square Theatre, and Lyric Stage. He would like to extend a special thanks to the company and creative team of Last Catastrophist for making the process so exciting and engaging. More about Andrew can be found at AKolifrathScenic.wixsite.com/portfolio.
Read Davidson (Lighting Design) is excited to be returning to work with the wonderful team at Fresh Ink again! Read is a Cambridge-based bookseller and freelance lighting designer. Zir recent lighting credits include Nosferatu: The Vampyr (Mosesian Center for the Arts), and Fresh Ink's production of La Llorona.
Erica Desautels (Costume Design) is a Boston-based costume technician and designer who is thrilled to return to Fresh Ink! Her technical work has been seen at Boston Ballet, Boston Lyric Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Disney Cruise Lines and many other large and small stages. Recent design credits include: X (Flat Earth Theater), Mountain Language (Theater on Fire), King of Shadows (FET), Peter and the Starcatcher and The Taming (Hub Theater Co.),The 39 Steps (Moonbox Prod.), Penny Penniworth (Titanic Theater Co.), Sense and Sensibility (Maiden Phoenix), Laura (GBSC), Dog Act (TOF), Citizens of the Empire (Boston Public Works), The Farnsworth Invention (FET), and Chalk (Fresh Ink Theatre), along with 10 youth theater productions with the The Walnut Hill School and the GBSC young company.
Lauren Corcuera (Prop Design) is fresh to Fresh Ink! She has been working as prop master, wardrobe technician and scenic painter for theaters around Boston. Lauren is now working at the Lyric Stage Company as their associate production manager and in-house prop artisan. Select prop credits include: Cabaret (Moonbox), the Agitators, Barefoot in the Park (Gloucester Stage), Circle Mirror Transformation (Brandeis Uni.), Breath and Imagination, Little Shop of Horrors, and the Cake (Lyric Stage).
Vinny Laino (Sound Design) Fresh Ink Theater: 2019 Ink Spot Festival. Regional: Flora and Ulysses, King Liz, Woe Be Gone, Urinetown, Emerson Stage; Roger’s & Hammerstein’s Cinderella, Charlotte’s Web, Wakefield High School; Leonard Bernstein’s Peter Pan, Bard College; Seussical, Les Miserables, Children of Eden, Our Town, The White Oak of Johnston, Standing Ovation Studios. Vinny holds a B.F.A.in Theatre Design & Technology from Emerson College.
Marge Dunn (Fight Choreography) is a Boston-based theatre maker. She has recently designed violence for Praxis Stage on their productions of Coriolanus and Henry IV, for Boston Theater Company productions of Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet, and for the Mrs Hawking steampunk serial. She has appeared as an actor with the Lyric Stage Company, New Repertory Theatre, Greater Boston Stage Company, Nora Theatre Company, and many more. Thanks to the Fresh Ink team for bringing me along on this Icelandic Journey!