MIRROR/FIRE
CURRENT WORK
US
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About
Curated and directed by Asia Kate Dillon, US puts a magnifying glass to racism in the United States in an attempt to uncover the ideological system that continues to purposefully oppress and separate us from our humanity. US uses original text as well as found text, audio and footage to drive the #BlackLivesMatter conversation forward. #SayTheirNames
The performance is followed by a talkback moderated by Asia Kate Dillon and fellow 'Orange Is the New Black' cast members, Amanda Stephen and Miriam Morales.
With
Last performed by Alden Ford, Asia Kate Dillon, Brian Berrebbi, Christopher Hirsh*, Clare Edgerton, David Alexander, Devin Dunne Cannon*, Jake Levitt, James Nicholas Scully*, Matt Stango, Michael Axelrod, Sam Garber, Samuel H. Levine* and Tyler Gardella.
*This is an AEA showcase production, and these Actors are appearing courtesy of Actors' Equity Association.
ABOUT
MIRROR/FIRe
“We but mirror the world. All the tendencies present in the outer world are to be found in the world of our body. If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change... We need not wait to see what others do.”
– Mahatma Gandhi
MIRROR/FIRE productions is Asia Kate Dillon and Christopher Hirsh. Fueled by a passion for live performance and human connection, this collaborative venture is focused on creating socially relevant, reflective theater. MIRROR/FIRE productions’ dominant aesthetic eschews the 4th wall, bringing magnetic and imaginative theatrical experiences directly to the audience.
MIRROR/FIRE productions' goal in everything it produces is to support and uplift historically marginalized and historically disenfranchised people. MIRROR/FIRE productions eagerly answers the call to create work that challenges audiences, and performers alike, to be inquisitive and passionate in their pursuit of truth.
Asia Kate Dillon
{ they / them }
Asia Kate Dillon is an actor, writer and director residing in New York City. Recently cast in the role of Taylor, a non-binary gender identifying character in Showtime's Billions, Dillon is the first non-binary gender identifying actor to ever be cast in a major television series. In addition to Billions, they* can be seen playing Brandy Epps in the Netfilx series Orange Is the New Black.
Born and raised in Ithaca, New York, Dillon studied at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy (AMDA) in New York City, graduating from the Studio Program. They then returned to Ithaca to complete the Meisner training program at The Actor's Workshop of Ithaca (Dillon began during their junior year of high school at age sixteen, the youngest student ever admitted to the class). As an active alumni Dillon not only acted with the theatre company, but also served as a teaching assistant and stage manager.
In 2007 Dillon took the titular role of Rachel Corrie in My Name is Rachel Corrie. This role required Dillon to memorize over thirty monologues and play over seven alternate characters over the course of the one person show, which received rave reviews calling Dillon "absolutely magnetic."
Dillon returned to New York City and was chosen from nearly one thousand actors to participate in a Workshop at The Flea Theatre in Manhattan of fifty new plays by Tony and Academy award nominated and winning playwrights and directed by Ed Sylvanus Iskandar. This was followed by a featured lead role as Lucifer in The Mysteries, also directed by Iskandar. Following, The Mysteries, Dillon traveled to Washington, D.C. to perform in The Tempest at The Shakespeare Theatre Company.
These strong performances led to television roles in Orange Is the New Black, Master of None, Younger, and Billions. Dillon played the role of Albert Cashier in Good Men Wanted at Dixon Place, which would later host US- an evening of storytelling followed by a talkback of which Dillon is the creator, curator, and director. US puts a magnifying glass to racism in the United States using original and found text, audio and video footage to drive the #BlackLivesMatter conversation forward.
For up to the minute information on Dillon please follow them on social media @AsiaKateDillon on Twitter and @heeeysia on Instagram.
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*Asia Kate Dillon uses the singular they pronoun for non-binary gender identification.
Christopher Hirsh
{ he / him }
Christopher Hirsh is an actor, director and physical theater artist residing in New York City. Recently cast as Alexander McKay and John Colter in ASTORIA: Part 1 at Portland Center Stage, written and directed by PCS Artistic Director C. Coleman, Hirsh also served as movement director for this world premiere. ASTORIA: Part 2 will open at PCS mid-January 2018.
Hirsh was born on the west coast and grew up in Corvallis, Oregon. He holds a BA in Theater Arts from The University of Oregon and an MFA in Dramatic Arts from the University of Connecticut.
No stranger to regional theater, television and film, Hirsh has worked at Barrington Stage Company, Hartford Stage Company, Two River Theater and Long Wharf Theater as well as at the Great River Shakespeare Festival and the Illinois Shakespeare Festival. Hirsh also played Detective Milltown in Investigation Discovery’s ‘A Crime to Remember’ and Fozzie in ‘God of Love’ which won the Academy Award for Best Short Film (live action) in 2011.
As a director, Hirsh received rave reviews for a sold-out run of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ which was performed in a raw warehouse space in Gowanus, Brooklyn in summer 2015. As this Theatre Is Easy review put it, “The marriage of music and theater is no new conception, but this particular manifestation (by Hirsh) makes the idea feel novel, conflating performance mediums to make for a hip and welcoming event. One can only hope the summer lives up to such a lively ringing in.”
For up to the minute information on Hirsh please follow him on social media @thisishirsh on Twitter and @christopher_hirsh on Instagram.
Collaborators
Aden Hakimi
Aden Hakimi wears a few hats. As a director and editor his roster includes Google, MTV, Logo, TBWA\Chiat\Day, MLB.com, TEDx, Harmonix, Housing Works, and more. As an actor, he has worked with artists like Shirin Neshat, Saheem Ali, Casey Llewllyn, Adam Henry Garcia, and Jess Barbagallo. Aside from on-screen work, he has performed on stage at The Lescher Center for the Arts, Cedar Lake, Dixon Place, and BAX. He is the founder of Silver Crown, a Brooklyn-based production/creative agency.
Amanda Stephen
Amanda Stephen is an actress, writer and producer originally from Montreal, Canada. As a proud member of SAG-AFTRA & Actors Equity, she has worked on national and regional commercials, industrials, regional and Off-Broadway theatre. Her most recent credit is playing the role of "Alison Abdullah" in the Netflix Original Series, Orange is the New Black. Amanda currently serves as the Board Chair for Wide Eyed Productions; a New York City based theatrical company that exists to bring brave, bold and culturally relevant new texts to production. As a producer for "US," Amanda hopes to bring awareness, empathy and action for change towards racial injustice and police brutality within the black community in the U.S.
Miriam Morales
Miriam Morales is an alumnus of The American Academy of Dramatic Arts and Fordham University at Lincoln Center. A well trained and experienced theatre and film actor, she is constantly studying and focused on further refining her craft. Some credits include Law & Order: SVU (NBC), Unfaithful: Stories of Betrayal (OWN Network), and indie feature films True Story, To Be King and An Ornament of Faith. She can be seen as Ramon ‘Pidge’ Contreras on Netflix’s Orange Is the New Black.