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Mauzy (May 14th)
May 14 @ 8:00 pm – 10:00 pm
Off The Lane’s next ColLab production is “Mauzy” by Derek Davidson: a haunting Appalachian musical folk tale inspired by the Noh drama “Matsukaze”. Set in the misty mountains of 1929, the play follows a traveling preacher who seeks shelter in a remote cabin inhabited by two enigmatic sisters. As stories are shared and the night unfolds, reality begins to blur with memory, myth, and ghostly longing. Blending bluegrass music, storytelling, and the supernatural world, “Mauzy” explores grief, desire, faith, and the stories we tell to survive. WE ARE SOLD OUT! IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN JOINING THE WAITLIST OR STANDING ROOM PARTIAL VIEW REACH OUT TO HELLO@OFFTHELANE.ORG
The production is being directed by Rachel Sabo-Hedges, associate directed by Anna Zheng, and features a stunning cast including Anna Grace Crawford, Tara Halpern, Miciah Wallace, Michael Kaczkowski, Jasmine Renee Pierce, Sarah Elizabeth Mesibov, and Jason Curtis Rivera.
Doors will open at 7:30pm, with the performance beginning at 8pm. The show runs approximately 90 minutes.
(Note: Alcoholic & Non-Alcoholic Beverages will be available to purchase – all proceeds will go to future OTL artists and projects)
Content Note / Trigger Warning: strobe lighting, discussion of racially motivated violence, death, grief, loss, psychological distress, supernatural elements.
WE ARE SOLD OUT! IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN JOINING THE WAITLIST OR STANDING ROOM PARTIAL VIEW REACH OUT TO HELLO@OFFTHELANE.ORG
THIS PRODUCTION IS SUPPORTED, IN PART, BY PUBLIC FUNDS FROM THE NEW YORK
CITY DEPARTMENT OF CULTURAL AFFAIRS IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE CITY COUNCIL.
DIRECTOR’S NOTE: “In June of 1920, a mob of thousands gathered in Duluth, Minnesota, and lynched three young Black men — Elias Clayton, Elmer Jackson, and Isaac McGhie. They were innocent. No one was convicted of their murders. For decades, their names were nearly forgotten.
This is not a distant history. It is a history that was buried, and burying is a choice.
Derek Davidson’s “Mauzy” asks us to sit with that choice. The play borrows its architecture from a 14th-century Japanese Noh drama, its music from the Appalachian mountains, and its moral weight from a real street corner in a real American city. What it builds from those materials is something I don’t think theatre does often enough: it insists that the unspeakable be spoken, that the buried be named, that the people we have chosen to forget be given back their full weight.
We are living in a current moment that keeps asking us the same question this play asks. I’ll let the play ask it in its own way. But I will say this: I don’t think any of us will leave unchanged. Elias Clayton. Elmer Jackson. Isaac McGhie.” – Rachel Sabo-Hedges (Director)
MEET THE COMPANY
ANNA GRACE CRAWFORD (Mauzy) (She/Her) is a Texas native and recent alumna from Long Island University Brooklyn in association with The New Group, where she studied acting with a concentration in music. As of March, AG wrapped principal photography for her short film directorial debut, MONTY (IG @themontymovie). Recent Credits Include: The Admirable Crichton, White Velvet, Horse Girls, The Tragedy of Romeo & Juliet, Spike Heels…She’s so grateful for her time in Appalachia with this wonderful cast and crew. IG @ag.crawford
MICIAH WALLACE (Isaac) is a young artist making his way in NYC. Originally from the Midwest, Miciah has embarked on a journey to shape his entertainment career as a performer in any way he can. Credits include Sternfeld Studios Into The Woods, National Black Theatre, Ocean City Theatre Company and others. Miciah is beyond proud to be telling and creating this story. @imiciahi
TARA HALPERN (Rainie) is a Chicago-born, NYC-based actor, singer, and voiceover artist. She holds a BFA in Drama from NYU Tisch. Recent stage credits include: Gray Mud (Frayed Knot Collective), Verona Falls (Flea Theater), A Girl’s Bedroom (Drama League), and Sweeney Todd (Columbia). Tara is especially passionate about developing new theater and is thrilled to be collaborating with Off the Lane! @tarahalpern www.tarahalpern.com
MICHAEL KACZKOWSKI (Sonny) is thrilled to be in his first production with Off the Lane. Most recently, he appeared in the “Best Production” winning Ghost Light at the New York Theater Festival. Television: Interior Chinatown (Hulu). Theatre: Four Witches (Black Cat Theatre Co.), Never is Now (Skylight Theatre Co.) Originally from Seattle, he moved to Los Angeles to attend the University of Southern California’s School of Dramatic Arts (BA). Special thanks to his parents and his partner. @michaelkaczkowski
JASMINE RENEE PIERCE (Villager/Musician) is a New York City-based performer. She’s excited to join Off The Lane for Mauzy! She has recently been seen in Alibi: An Agatha Christie Story (Bristol Riverside Theatre), singing in different venues across the city, acting in upcoming feature and short films, and can next be seen in the Off-Broadway show, Speakeasy, Die Softly (American Immersion Theater). Thank you for joining us for this beautiful story, and thank you to God, Jasmine’s family, and her friends for their steadfast love and support, for which she is so grateful. Enjoy Mauzy!
SARAH MESIBOV (Musician) is a musician and performer born and raised in New York. She is thrilled to be joining the cast of Mauzy as Musician. Sarah is a recent graduate from the Boston Conservatory at Berklee where she earned her degree in Classical Vocal Performance with a minor in songwriting. Some of her most recent credits include: Fairy in Britten’s A Midsummer Nights Dream, Chorus in Jodi Goble’s Whaling Women, and Vocalist in Acts of Love at 54 Below. Sarah currently works as a private music teacher and freelance songwriter in NYC. Break a leg to the cast and creative team!
JASON CURTIS RIVERA (Musician) is an NJ based composer, actor-musician and playwright known for his original works like C.U.L.T., Late Night: The Musical, Tales From The Arabian Mice and RAANAP: The Musical. As a performer he has lent his talents to productions such as A Charlie Brown Christmas Special Live! (National Tour), Local Singles (Off Broadway), Hootenanny Tonight!: A Folk Music Experience (Off-Off Broadway), Annie (Axelrod Performing Arts Center), and Million Dollar Quartet 5 times (Arizona Broadway Theater, Mill Mountain Theatre, Sierra Repertory Theatre, The Historic Savannah Theatre, Peterborough Players) as well as over 50 other shows across the United States.
RACHEL SABO-HEDGES (Director) (she/they) is a multi-hyphenate director, developer, and producer raised in Boone, North Carolina. She first connected with Off The Lane through their mentorship program during her senior year at Western Carolina University. After moving to New York, Rachel became the associate director for Tony Award nominee Hunter Foster. Since then, she has continued to associate direct while also directing and developing new work throughout NYC. Coming from a family of theatre artists and performers, Rachel was immersed in the industry from a young age as a child actor—storytelling runs in her blood. She gravitates toward work that centers hope and love, and she’s often found gathering artists to explore new scripts or uncovering the life stories of strangers. She’s drawn to theatre that is muscular, surprising, and a little bit magical.
ANNA ZHENG (Associate Director) (any) is a director, deviser, and writer interested in acts of adaptation—of stories, of bodies, to other people, to inhospitable environments—and the ways we change ourselves and our narratives to survive in new spaces. They use playful interdisciplinary collaboration, adapted texts, and physical theatre to create unexpected, visceral, joyful messes. Recent directing projects: Run all the way home (ODC Pilot 2025, San Francisco); Constellations by Nick Payne (Stanford IDA); Three States of Matter, a devised climate migration adaptation of Three Sisters; Man of God by Anna Moench (Asian American Theater Project). Anna is a New York Neo Futurist.
SOPHIE BRUBAKER (Executive Producer) (@sophiebrubaker) is a bubbly California-raised, NYC-based producer, performer and event host! Sophie graduated from the University of California at Davis with a BA in Theatre and Dance and a BS in Human Development, and there she also began an internship with Off The Lane. Since moving to New York City, she fell in love with creating imaginative, social spins on producing and performing in theatre. She started the ColLab program at Off The Lane in 2022, which specializes in developing interactive and interdisciplinary live performance work, and she is a co-founder of In Confidence, an organization that produced secret, interactive shows in unlikely places from 2022-2025. Sophie is also an actor in & Troupe Logistics Coordinator for The Murder Mystery Company (including Speakeasy, Die Softly Off-Broadway), and she performs in and hosts interactive events in NYC regularly. “Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it.” (Mary Oliver) www.sophiebrubaker.com
KARA MCGUINNESS (Costume Designer) is excited to be making her NYC costume design debut with OTL! Kara is a New York City–based costume designer and assistant costume designer. Favorite design credits include Accidental Death of an Anarchist (Boston College), Inherit the Wind (Boston College Dramatics Society), Our Town (Boston College), and Anne of Green Gables (Magic Circle Theater). She is currently an Assistant Costume Design Apprentice at The Juilliard School, where her credits include Hansel und Gretel, New Dances: Edition 2025, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and The Frogs. View her work at karamcguinnessdesign.com or on Instagram @karamcguinnessdesign.
LANA TLEIMAT (Puppet Designer) is a writer, fabricator. and puppeteer based in Brooklyn. She works as a sculptor in prop and scenic studios, working on projects for clients such as Disney, Macy’s, and the Water for Elephants national tour. She is also a freelance puppet designer and fabricator. In her work, Lana is particularly interested in exploring systems of inclusion and exclusion, inspired by her unique cultural upbringing. Her father is an immigrant from Syria, and her mother a white convert to Islam from rural Ohio.
Lana has been making puppets for the last four years, both for her own productions and for others. She designed the masks for the world premier of Froggy by Jennifer Haley at Center REP in Walnut Creek, CA, and has had her puppets performed in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and San Francisco International Arts Festival. This past summer she attended the O’Neill Puppetry Conference, where she studied mechanism building with Jim Kroupa and marionette construction with Kurt Hunter. She has studied hand puppetry with Chad Williams.