A charming tale in a future garden…
Derek and the Sheep is about community, time-travel, and siblings. It follows Derek, a young man thrown into the future, who finds his community has changed. There he meets Alice, a young girl, and Sheep, a… sheep(?). Derek tries to find a way back to the past to change the future, and Sheep revels in the idea of escaping her currently unhappy life. Will they make it into the past? Will the future stay the same? Music, Dance, and sheep tell a story about trying to go home
Part of the Motor Company’s 2015 Communal Spaces Garden Play Festival.
Production Photos
Shown: Koryna Flores, Marc Hem Lee*, Alison Shilling, and Christopher Dennison
Photos by Todd Brian Backus
Derek and the Sheep
a new play by Nora Sørena Casey | composed by Chris Dennison
directed by Todd Brian Backus
Featuring: Koryna Flores (Alice), Marc Hem Lee* (Derek), and Alison Schilling (Sheep)
*Member of Actors’ Equity Association
Who’s Who
Nora Sørena Casey (Playwright) is a playwright and dramaturg. Her plays include Take the Car (Williamstown Theatre Festival Director’s Lab); Not Afraid (PowerOut); and the site-specific Intimate Bar Plays and Absolutely Somewhere (The Motor Company). Dramaturgy projects include the development of The Universe is a Small Hat by Cesar Alvarez (Joe’s Pub, Prelude 2013); workshops of LYLAS by Jackie Sibblies Drury (Lark Studio Retreat); and contributing to The Civilians cabaret Holy Matrimony! (Joe’s Pub).
Chris Dennison (Composer) is a musician and composer. In the world of theater, Chris has previously composed music for a Fordham University production of Mary Zimmerman’s Metamorphoses and improvised scores for a series of plays that were improvised by the Rutgers-Newark/New Jersey Institute of Technology theater department. Chris is also a jazz pianist and scholar. You can often find him writing freelance/academic pieces about jazz and music in general. He’s excited to be involved in this project and had a blast adding music to Nora’s words!
Todd Brian Backus (Director) is a director/producer/illustrator/photographer and one day he’ll finish adapting a play or two. Directing credits include Let’s Play Play by Ben Ferber (GamePlay, FRIGID), The Shadow by Shannon Stockwell (PortFringe), For the Lulz by Ben Ferber (Portland Stage Studio Rep), Bystanders by Shannon Stockwell, and three installments of his staged reading series StageWhispers all with PowerOut. As an illustrator Todd has designed for LCT3, The NY Neo Futurists, and Portland Stage. He is a cofounder of the NYC-based PowerOut (poweroutnyc.com) and its webseries Hot Pepper Theater (youtube.com/hotpeppertheater) where he eats habaneros while reviewing theater (it’s just as idiotic as it sounds). Todd’s on at least a few government watch lists for his dramaturgical research alone. Follow his art rants just about everywhere @TBBackus
Koryna Flores (Alice) is happy to join Power Out for her first performance in New York. A Fine Arts graduate from Wisconsin, Koryna got her post grad career start with the Onomatopoeia Theatre Company in Manhattan as a stage manager. She currently works for Lincoln Center Education as a Tour Manager and the Bari Studio as a fitness trainer. Previous performances include A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Romeo & Juliet, The Actor’s Nightmare, Trifles, Mystery at Twicknam Vickarage, Avenue Q, South Pacific, and Dracula.
Marc Hem Lee (Derek) Training: Cornell, East 15, GITIS. Company member of the Improbable Stage. Member of the NYC-based A Cappella group Vocal Soulstice. Recent credits include: The New Trial, King Lear. When not on stage, he is the Co-Chair for the Science department and is an Earth Science and Technical Theatre Educator at the Urban Assembly School for the Performing Arts.
Alison Schilling (Sheep)is making her post-graduate debut with PowerOut and couldn’t be happier. She has just graduated from Skidmore College with a degree in Theater and Environmental Studies, and has just gotten back from a summer apprenticeship at the Williamstown Theater Festival. Some favorite credits include Stupid Fucking Bird (Mash), American Medea (Aegeus 2/Gossipy Neighbor), and Electra (Electra). Many thanks to this wonderful crew for the laughs!
PowerOut Theatre Company 