Unresolved Rage Game

Public playtests as a part of Soho Rep’s Writer Director Lab for 2022-23. Presented the week of September 18-23rd, 2023. Realized by Risa Puno and Ran Xia. Lab co-chaired by Jackie Sibblies Drury and William Burke.

Unresolved Rage Game is a playable, theatrical experience about the creation of a tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG) designed as a tool for Asian femmes to access and express rage. These playtests encapsulate the creative processes of Puno and Xia, while also aiming to empower individuals with a similar cultural background to safely, openly explore and articulate their emotions.

System Admins played by John Racioppo, Ella Raymont, Antony Jenkins, and Samuel Reeder. NPCs played by Max Henry and Olivia Rose Barresi.

"Zero-Sum" by Joyce Carol Oates

To be published in mid-July 2023. By Joyce Carol Oates, with audiobook produced by Penguin Random House Audio. Read by Amy Jensen, Max Meyers, Linda Jones, Karissa Vacker, Cassandra Campbell, Robert Fass, and title story read by Olivia Rose Barresi.

Zero-sum games are played for lethal stakes in these arresting stories by one of America’s most acclaimed writers, the award-winning, best-selling author of Blonde. In these powerfully wrought stories that hold a mirror up to our time, Joyce Carol Oates has created a world of erotic obsession, thwarted idealism, and ever-shifting identities. Provocative and stunning, Zero-Sum reinforces Oates’s standing as a literary treasure and an artist of the mysterious interior life.

Available to purchase/listen here, through Penguin Random House.

Initiative

A reading of Else Went’s Initiative, developed as a part of the Public Theater’s Emerging Writers Group. Performing at the Public on both May 8th and May 9th. Directed by Emma Rosa Went. Featuring Carson Scott Higgins, Greg Cuellar, Jamie Sanders, Christopher Dylan White, Harrison Densmore, Andrea Lopez, and Olivia Rose Barresi.

Between first loves and first betrayals, the SAT and D&D, house parties and homecomings, it's a wonder any of us survive high school. Initiative is an epic microcosm, charting the fatefully intertwined lives of seven teens' struggle to grow up in and get out of Coastal Podunk, California, at the dawn of the new millennium.

RSVP for free - for either the May 8th (6pm) or May 9th (2pm) showing - on the Public Theater’s website.

Degenerates

A reading of Else Went’s post-digital play Degenerates, presented at Ars Nova, on April 21st 2023 at 3pm. Directed by Emma Rosa Went. Featuring Zachary Desmond, Tyler Nowell Felix, Christopher Dylan White, and Olivia Rose Barresi.

The boys are not doing so hot. In an obscure corner of the internet, they form a community on the bedrock of their shared and infinite miseries, offering each other proofs that the game is rigged against men. When an unexpected relationship shakes the foundations of their miserable incel fraternity, the consequences of their fatalism are revealed.

RSVP for free at Ars Nova’s website.

An Oxford Man

A reading of Else Went’s An Oxford Man at New York City Center, produced as a part of Manhattan Theatre Club’s Ted Snowdon Reading Series. Performance on March 27 at 4pm, directed by Emma Went.

Join us, dear audience, for a buoyant and raucous mythologization of the life and times of the first "modern" transgender man, Laurence Michael Dillon! Commissioned by MTC through the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, An Oxford Man is a witty, surprising, and tender theatrical rollick.

Featuring Han Van Sciver, Hari Nef, Zoë Goslin, Amy Jo Jackson, Rami Margron, Erin Noll, Sam Gonzalez, Tyrone Mitchell Henderson, and Olivia Rose Barresi.

Degenerates

A reading of Else Went’s post-digital play Degenerates, presented at New York Theatre Workshop. Featured as a part of NYTW’s Dorothy Strelsin Monday @ 3 Reading Series, on Monday November 21st, 2022. Directed by Emma Rosa Went. Casting by Claire Yenson.

In an obscure corner of the internet, a group of young men find community over their shared disillusionment with romance and dating. They gather to express their frustrations with society and to offer one another increasingly cynical proofs of the world's hatred for men. But, as one of their number seems to find some unexpected success in romance, hope shakes very foundations of their miserable fraternity.

Featuring Zachary Desmond, Joshua De Jesus, Tyler Nowell Felix, Christopher Dylan White, and Olivia Rose Barresi.

Mine

A short film, produced by Olivia Rose Barresi and Erin Noll. Screenwriter Matthew Minnicino. Directed by Dan Hasse, with Director of Photography Emily Barresi. Starring Olivia Rose Barresi as Jenny Green, and Erin Noll as Nell Long.

Jenny Green, mysteriously unwell, arrives at a remote lake for some personal “rejuvenation.” A threatening presence is in the wilderness with her, however - and seems to want for themselves everything that Jenny holds dear.

To be released in Spring 2023.

An Oxford Man

An internal workshop of Else Went’s An Oxford Man, commissioned through the Manhattan Theatre Club’s Sloan Initiative to support plays about math, science, and technology. Staged reading directed by Emma Rosa Went and presented on August 16th, 2022.

A play dramatizing the life and times of Laurence Michael Dillon, a British physician and the first trans man to undergo gender affirmation surgery in the early twentieth century. Featuring Han Van Sciver, Zoe Goslin, Chris Thorn, Sam Gonzalez, Amy Jo Jackson, Rami Magron, Erin Noll, Joslyn DeFreece, and Olivia Rose Barresi.

All's Well That Ends Well

A one-night-only staged reading performance on July 21st 2022, presented as a part of the Scranton Shakespeare Festival. Directed by Emma Rosa Went, and starring Olivia Rose Barresi as Helena.

Three day workshop of William Shakespeare’s globetrotting “problem play,” culminating in a one-night-only staged reading featuring the SSF 2022 Company and guest Olivia Rose Barresi as the lovelorn Helena.

Vampire: The Masquerade - Swansong

Narrative, triple A RPG video game developed by Big Bad Wolf, the latest in the legacy Vampire: The Masquerade series. Cross platform release on May 19th, 2022. Featuring Olivia Rose Barresi as Burgos The Archivist.

What if vampires were real? What if bloodthirsty predators lived hidden among us, engaged in a never-ending game of desire, conspiracy and betrayal? What if you became one of them?

In Vampire: The Masquerade - Swansong, you play as these alluring monsters in a world where the lines between the real and supernatural are always blurred. With its unique approach to gameplay, Swansong puts the emphasis on consequence. Analyze each situation carefully, the choices you make during the investigation, and your social interactions with characters can have a lasting impact on the fate of your heroes’ lives and the fate of the Boston Camarilla.

A Midsummer Night's Dream

The inaugural production of Playhouse On Park’s Connecticut Shakespeare Festival in West Hartford, CT, from July 7th through 17th, 2021. Directed by Emma Rosa Went, with Olivia Rose Barresi as Helena.

Magic blows into town as a Duke and a Duchess prepare for their wedding day, some amateur actors rehearse a play, and four young lovers run into the woods – where a kingdom of fairies emerges to enchant, transform, and entangle us in their dreams. Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night’s Dream – one of the most enduringly popular plays of all time – is a wild and whimsical celebration of love, nature, and the magic of theatre itself.

Featuring Olivia Rose Barresi, Kara Arena, Chris Bellinger, Jack Dillon, Robert Denzel Edwards, Zoë Goslin, Patrick Harvey, Tania Kass, Miss Sandra Mhlongo, Resa Mishina, Katrien Van Riel, Katie Brough, Isaac Kueber, Trishawn Paul, Bianca Day Feiner, Hallie Friedman, and Danny Kelly.

Prometheus Bound

A filmed performance of Howard Rubenstein’s translation of Aeschylus’ tragedy, premiering on CyberTank and available to stream from March 24 to April 11, 2021. Directed by Ran Xia.

This modern adaptation of the ancient tragedy examines the discrepancy between what is legal versus what is just, to dismantle the concept of injustice veiled as order. Prometheus Bound is fully designed and staged for an audience of no one in The Tank’s 98-Seat theater. It is captured for the screen by Iris Media Works as a purely cinematic experience, with mask, original music and deeply compelling performances of the late Rubenstein's visionary text.

Featuring Brenda Crawley as Prometheus - with Macy Lacenta as Io, Iván Hernandez as Okeanos, Juan Arturo as Hephaestus, Olivia Rose Barresi as Hermes, and Alice Marcondes, Chloe Simone Crawford, Kaila Wooten, and Sophia Aranda as Water Nymphs.

Gallathea

Livestream performance on March 15th, 2021 at 7:30pm EST. Tickets available now!

A benefit reading presented by Red Bull Theater and the Drama League, as a part of their DirectorFest 2021. Directed by Emma Rosa Went. Featuring Olivia Rose Barresi as Gallathea.

First performed in 1588, John Lyly's Gallathea is a queer love story set inside the landscape of classical myth. In order to avoid becoming dinner for a sea monster, Gallathea and Phillida are sent into the forest dressed as boys. Meanwhile, three shipwrecked brothers set out to seek their fortunes, Cupid stirs up his usual trouble, nymphs fall for mortals, and Neptune–God of the Sea–waits to make his move. This playful pastoral of love, desire, and finding yourself is an affirmation of identity–joyfully reclaimed for 2021.

This event will premiere live on Monday, March 15. A recording of the livestream will be available until 7:00 PM EST on Friday, March 19 26 – then it disappears!

"King John" and "Hamlet"

Full radio versions of Shakespeare’s “King John” and “Hamlet,” presented as a part of Tabling: The Podcast and the Radio Shakespeare Lab. Produced by the International Shakespeare Center and Ariana Karp.

Listen to “King John,” with Olivia Rose Barresi as The Bastard (Phillip Faulconbridge) here - and “Hamlet,” with Olivia Rose Barresi as Laertes, here. Subsequent acts and scenes are listed at the bottom of these pages!

As a part of both Tabling: The Podcast and the Radio Shakespeare Lab, the International Shakespeare Center is producing full radio versions of all of Shakespeare’s plays over the course of the next year. Two in the first of this series are history play “King John,” and tragedy “Hamlet.” For the Tabling podcast, each play will have five-six episodes of “table work” discussions. New discussion episodes are released on Mondays and Thursdays. For the RSL podcast, each play is voiced by actors from across the country and incorporates sound effects and original music. Scenes from the plays will be released Tuesdays and Fridays.

“King John” has been directed by Ariana Karp, and “Hamlet” has been directed by Emma Rosa Went. Find more about all of the actors involved here.

Henry IV

An radio play conflation of William Shakespeare’s Henry IV Part One, and Part Two, directed by Emma Rosa Went. Produced as a part of the Scranton Shakespeare Festival’s 2020 season. Featuring Olivia Rose Barresi as Hotspur and Silence.

Visit https://www.scrantonshakes.com/henry-iv to listen to the entire production for free!

England is on the brink of civil war. The crown beckons young Prince Hal to withdraw from a life of drunken revelry, and turn towards an honorable reign - and asks him to face his martial, charismatic Northern counterpart Harry Hotspur in the process. Will Hal answer the call before it’s too late?

An audio preview: Hotspur reads a letter with some distressing news (act 2, scene 3)…

Socially Unacceptable

Online performance of Matt Steinberg’s Zoom-based content moderation play, on Sunday May 31st at 6pm EST. Directed by Ran Xia, and starring Olivia Rose Barresi, Mieko Gavia, Suraj Paratha, Annie Hamilton, and Finn Kilgore.

Visit my VIDEO page, or https://vimeo.com/427756973, to watch the show in its entirety!

Read reviews for the show at HILOBROW!

Socially Unacceptable follows three Facebook content moderators who are hired to work remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic. Feeling lucky to have a job, these new employees spend their days in a virtual world, Zoom conferencing with teammates for full work days. As they screen the site's most violent and offensive posts, these content moderators begin to deal with the dangerous psychological effects of the job - and their lives become increasingly interconnected, on screen and off. Socially Unacceptable explores the growing conflicts between big tech and health, and the cost at which our digital world looks the way it does.

Female Nude Seated

Zoom performance of Carolyn Gage’s play on Saturday, May 16th, at 7:30pm.

Visit my VIDEO page, or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jh7rdWChzJY, to watch the performance in its entirety!

Read reviews for the show at Gay City News, GoMag, and Bi-Coastal Babble!

Award-winning lesbian-feminist playwright and activist Carolyn Gage teams up with counterclaim (c-c), a Brooklyn-based production company, to host an online reading of her latest work: Female Nude Seated, a one-act play about Irish painters Mainie Jellet and Evie Hone. c-c will host a talkback after the reading during which the audience may submit questions for Carolyn Gage and all other collaborators.

In the wake of World War I, Mainie and Evie meet in art school when Evie interrupts Mainie's attempt to drink a jar of paint thinner. Over a bottle of brandy, the two get to know one another as artists and as women who are struggling to make art in a field dominated by men. A story of female sexuality, trauma, and the demands of artistic ideals, Female Nude Seated shows two young women at a personal crossroads in a time of extraordinary change.

Featuring Morgaine Gooding-Silverwood and Olivia Rose Barresi. Directed by Emma Rosa Went. Assistant director Harrison Densmore, and assistant producer/dramaturg Abbey Joan Burgess.

Thank You

A short film from Good Raven Productions, written and directed by James Mentzinger. Coming in Spring 2020.

Starring Olivia Rose Barresi and Peter Pickering.

A romantic night of camping in the woods for Sarah and her boyfriend Zach turns into a tragic nightmare after he inexplicably disappears. Weeks later, Sarah is left alone to battle with her grief, her sanity - and something more sinister.

Socially Unacceptable

Written by Matt Steinberg, directed by Ran Xia.

Featuring Olivia Rose Barresi, Julia Larsen, Garrett Lyons, Dennis Kozee, Caroline Banks, and Christian Roberson.

Based on the real life reports inside Facebook's troubling working conditions, Socially Unacceptable is a dark comedy that follows three new employees at one of Facebook's global content moderation facilities. Tasked with screening the sites most violent and offensive posts, these eager new workers will try to survive as the psychological effects of the job become increasingly challenging.

At the Tank in NYC, on Saturday 9/21/2019. 3pm.

The Same Shirt Show, Part 2: Beckett Without Beckett

At the Drama League on August 9th at 8pm. Presented as a part of the First Stage Residency program and Festival.

The Same Shirt Show Part 2, Beckett Without Beckett: 'An Exploration of Masculinity and Existentialism Inspired by the Themes and Works of Beckett, but Containing No Actual Beckett, We Swear' is part vaudevillian, part existential cry for help, and part genuine exploration of gender, camaraderie, and loneliness. Sequel to The Same Shirt Show: 'An Exploration of Masculinity in the Western Canon, As Performed by Two Women Wearing the Same Shirt,' Beckett Without Beckett is devised by Emma Rosa Went, Julia Larsen, and Olivia Rose Barresi.

From the Drama League: 10 Directors. 10 Hours. 10 New Work-In-Progress Showings. The First Stage Festival is where new work takes its first steps. 10 directors will have 10 hours to focus, manifest, and present a particular moment or element of a new work for an audience. 10 work-in-progress showings will provide glimpses into the future of the American Theater.