"Banya", A New Play: Artist Fair Wage Fund

In “Banya,” we are allowed to witness two strangers, Brian, who is lovable yet perpetually bewildered, and Darlene, who is decisive yet mercurial, attempt to relax. They’ll reveal their darkest secrets and strangest desires, toeing the line between superficial transaction and genuine connection.

“Banya” brings a comedic and compassionate lens to the nuances of millennial despair, paradoxically born of self-absorption and shame. Gardner’s masterful writing uses dark humor and stirring insights as a gateway to exploring a generation's propensity for self-indulgent self-flagellation. Why do we do it? Are we horny for fear?

WHY YOUR SUPPORT MATTERS:

Plain and simple. We want to pay our team a fair wage. We strive to not only meet but exceed industry standards for industry showcase compensation, setting an example that even the smallest of projects can compensate artistic labor in a way that acknowledges their expertise, years of training, and countless hours of work in and outside of rehearsal hours. Artists deserve a livable wage, and just because “starving artist” is a well-known trope that holds truth doesn’t mean it’s acceptable.

We love this play more than you know, and it's an opportunity for us to showcase work that matters to us and plays to our strengths in a field where you have to make work to get work. Donating to our project involves investing in high-caliber artists whose medium and trade have limited, highly competitive public and private institutional support resources. You’re a patron of the arts! Go ahead and change your last name to Medici!

$2000, our goal, funds wages for our actors for 3 weeks of in-room work, meaning rehearsals daily + performances. $3000 funds both of our actors and our production stage manager. $4000 covers our actors, PSM, project manager, and designers.

We here at the “Banya” team don’t personally know any billionaires, or millionaires for that matter, so this is where you come in! Every contribution, big or small, brings us closer to our goal. Thank you for being a part of this incredible journey!

***No raffles, sweepstakes, giveaways, or returns on investment are offered in exchange for any donations made to this GoFundMe.***

MEET THE TEAM!

THE PLAYWRIGHT - Gracie Gardner

Gracie Gardner is an American playwright. Her play Pussy Sludge was selected for Theatertreffen Stückemarkt in Berlin, and previously received the Relentless Award; it was developed by Less Than Rent at HERE Arts Center, and The Old Vic in London. Her play Athena (New York Times Critics’ Pick) was presented by The Hearth at JACK. Gracie is the recipient of the Theater of the Future Fellowship, McKnight National Residency and Commission, an Ensemble Studio Theater Sloan Foundation Commission, the James E. Michael Award, the James Stevenson Prize, and she is a Samuel French OOB Festival winner. She’s a proud member of New Dramatists, Ars Nova Play Group, Youngblood, and she has received commissions from Clubbed Thumb, Manhattan Theatre Club, and the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. She’s also worked as a video game writer for Annapurna Interactive.

THE DIRECTOR- Claire Pruett

Claire Pruett (UNCSA, BFA Acting 2019) is an early career director who is compelled to explore the forces we fear: societal, cultural, and personal, the ways in which we cope, change, and tackle them in pursuit of safety, and where these efforts connect, overlap, and fracture. She debuted as a director with Elizabeth Egloff’s “The Swan”. With a specialty in theatrical movement, she is summer faculty at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, where she’ll ask you to be an electric tomato or lemonade shrimp.

"BRIAN" - David Gow

David Gow is NYC based actor with a BFA from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. He’s appeared in TV shows Madam Secretary, The Good Fight, Jon Glaser Loves Gear, The Girls on the Bus and in Apple TV’s upcoming The Savant. Onstage he’s performed at The Duke on 42nd St, Workshop Theater, Capital Rep, Soho Playhouse, 14th St Y, The O’Neill Center, Shakespeare & Company, Luna Stages, Hollywood Fringe Festival, Great Barrington Public Theater, 4th Wall Theater, and A.D. Players, as well as two shows at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

As a producer, he produced and starred in multiple theatrical productions in NY and LA including the U.S. premiere of Decky Does a Bronco. He’s also the creator of the web series The Lip Sync Fables on YouTube and actor/producer of short film Candice, one of 6 films nominated for a Jury Award at Austin Film Festival.

“DARLENE" - Anna Tullis

Anna was born in California and raised in Colorado. She is a graduate of The Juilliard School of Drama where some of her credits include Usher/God in Branden Jacob-Jenkinsen’s play Everybody directed by Danya Taymor and Cassandra in Trojen Women directed by Ellen Lauren. In addition to her studies in New York City, she has toured internationally in the award-winning play Why Do You Stand There In the Rain?, was seen as Petruchio in Chautauqua Theater Company’s production of The Taming of the Shrew and studied Shakespeare at the British Academy of Dramatic Arts.