Stepping down from NewYorkRep

After eight years with NewYorkRep, I have made the difficult decision to step down from my leadership role to commit more deeply to my freelance directing and my work as Assistant Professor of performance at the University of Kansas. 

I am profoundly grateful to everyone at NewYorkRep for their commitment to telling stories that inspire and compel social change.  Serving as Co-President and Producing Artistic Director has been a gratifying experience, and I want to thank our board, staff, collaborators, and everyone in the community that has supported our organization's mission. 

"NewYorkRep" was christened on the fly while filling in the "company name" field of the NYC Fringe Festival application. It was 2012, and I was acting on a burning desire to direct David Don Miller's Why You Beasting?, a viciously honest comedy about the dysfunction of our urban public school system. NewYorkRep's impact and growth began just as quickly as it had been named. We became the first production to sell out its entire opening run at the Flamboyan Theater on the Lower East Side. When we transferred to The Players Theatre off-Broadway, we received a Time Out NY Critics' Pick and saw lines wrapped around the corner at every performance. 

In 2013, we carried this momentum into our next co-production, Eliza Bent and Dave Malloy's Black Wizard/Blue Wizard at the Incubator Arts Project. We were excited to hear Perez Hilton call the show "The closest thing we've ever seen to a stoner musical! And that's not a bad thing...blissfully surreal!"

A particularly triumphant highlight was our production of Stalking the Bogeyman, which developed in New York City, premiered at the North Carolina Stage Company, and enjoyed a critically acclaimed commercial run at New World Stages. This story about childhood sexual abuse and redemption inspired many to speak out when few were willing to do so. This outpouring illustrates the cathartic, healing power of storytelling that embodies NewYorkRep's mission to inspire and compel social change through theater.

The following year, we partnered with London producer David Adkin to bring Our Friends The Enemy: The 1914 Christmas Truce to Theatre Row. This partnership led to the production of Stalking the Bogeyman at the Southwark Playhouse in London in 2016, where we partnered with The Telling Company, setting the groundwork for our companies to join forces.  

The Telling Company had been, up to this point, a 501(c)(3) organization with an esteemed board of directors. They had produced a reading series, a documentary podcast about chronic illness and overcoming disability, a short film, and Gayle Waxenberg's play, A Bitter Pill, which explores the corruption of Big Pharma.

After the two companies came together, we have developed and produced deeply meaningful projects. Some highlights include our co-production of Jason Odell William's Church & State, a blistering examination of gun violence in America, led by lead producer Charlotte Cohn at New World Stages; A Wall Apart, a world premiere musical by Air Supply's Graham Russel at NYMF; and a co-production of Imagine: Yemen, in which nine playwrights created shorts about the humanitarian crisis in Yemen, staged at the Signature Theatre. For the last two years, we developed Paris Crayton III's stunning new play, Chasing Gods, which had a workshop production in collaboration with Kansas Repertory Theatre. We were slated to open the play this past fall off-Broadway until our world shuttered.

Since the shutdown, I have looked at my life, examined my priorities, and made the difficult decision to step away from my leadership role. 

Serving and sharing stories with NewYorkRep has helped me grow in ways that I never imagined. In the months ahead, I will continue to focus on developing new plays and musicals and will continue to engage communities around the country in dialogue about local, national, and global issues through innovative new works. I will continue to fight for an equitable American theatre that represents a daring, diverse, and inclusive body of work.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your unending support. I am eager to champion NewYorkRep's next chapter of growth and look forward to collaborating on a new animated short film of Stalking the Bogeyman later this year. 

For anyone that is used to communicating with me at my NYR email address, you can now contact me at Markus@MarkusPotter.com

With Love and Gratitude,

Markus Potter

The White Rose: We Defied Hitler - Coterie KC (2020)

KC Studio Review:
HUMS WITH RELEVANCE and will certainly bring to mind young people in the here and now. Climate activist Greta Thunberg and the gun-control advocates who emerged from Stoneman Douglas High School.
Directors Markus Potter and Jeff Church capture the tragic essence of this material, and they had help from a skilled design team.

Full review: http://kcstudio.org/the-coteries-the-white-rose-delivers-historical-drama-that-speaks-to-the-present/


Kansas City’s The Pitch review:
“It’s a serious work—talk-intensive, intelligent, absorbing, and ultimately moving. Iimaginative and affecting show”. Full review: https://www.thepitchkc.com/the-white-rose-at-the-coterie-uncovers-a-country-at-war-with-itself/

Red Speedo by Lucas Hnath (Center Rep 2019)

Reviews from National media

*San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle recommended production*
*Shellie Award Nomination for Best Direction

San Francisco Chronicle: 
http://www.sfgate.com/performance/article/Splashy-Speedo-a-poolside-triumph-12544233.php

“Masterful. A triumph. directed incisively by Markus Potter.
Equal parts comedy, drama and thriller, in a dazzling display of professionalism.
                  -Lily Janiak is The San Francisco Chronicle

 Note: The “little man” standing in his seat represents a rare 5-star review.

San Jose Mercury News: 
https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/02/02/review-red-speedo-will-keep-surprising-you-in-walnut-creek/
“marvelously compelling staging by director Markus Potter, the play is full of surprises”

NPR’s KQED Arts
https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/2018/02/15/red-speedo-is-a-terrifying-mask-of-despair-for-our-unethical-age/

“The fascinating American playwright Lucas Hnath’s Red Speedo, receiving its Bay Area premiere at Center Rep in Walnut Creek under Markus Potter’s scalpel-sharp direction, captures a strange quality about ethical thinking — it helps to not have any. Ethics, that is.”
“Daring, sharp, smart, complex, excellent.”

UK Premiere premiere of "Stalking The Bogeyman"

What's On Stage
★★★★

http://www.whatsonstage.com/london-theatre/reviews/stalking-the-bogeyman-southwark-playhouse_41291.html

"Authentic and searing new drama. Skilfully woven together and expertly played."

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Sunday Times
★★★★
“Brave and unflinching, Intense and tightly executed. A challenging and thought-provoking piece of theatre that needs to be told."

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The Reviews Hub
★★★★
http://www.thereviewshub.com/stalking-the-bogeyman-southwark-playhouse/

"A taughtly told story of catharsis and revenge."
"Unnerving energy with great performances"

"Presented excellently with great depth"
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London Theatre
★★★★
https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/reviews/review-of-stalking-the-bogeyman-at-the-southwark-playhouse


"Whilst many would argue that theatre's primary motive is to entertain, the best type of theatre, in my opinion, challenges the way you think and makes you see the world through the eyes of another person. Markus Potter and David Holthouse's gripping and harrowing drama Stalking The Bogeyman does just this."

"Stalking the Bogeyman is necessary and thought-provoking drama."

"Markus Potter's careful delivery and spirited direction, absorbs the audience and has each of the characters emerge from the auditorium to join the space in the frankest way possible. On a multi-functional playing space, he moves location effortlessly, balancing the realism within the text against an immersive expressionistic set that merges David's childhood bedroom and memories with his efforts to 'stalk' the bogeyman in order to find some solace."

"Potter's control of the performances is perceptive and responds exactly to the needs of the text. It's clear the cast have found an effective tone and rhythm to the piece, and all six performers are so firmly on the same page in their performance styles that it ensures the story is never lost in the histrionics."

"Stalking The Bogeyman is a challenging, thought provoking and vital piece of theatre that demands to be seen and proves not only the cathartic nature of art, but also the importance of storytelling as a vital tool in our emotional and psychological response."

-------------------
BBC radio London - Tim Arthur
★★★★

"EXTRAORDINARY.  The best piece of theatre I've seen in years. Beautifully constructed, highly recommended. "
            -BBC
--------------------------------

The upcoming - Luisa Kapp
★★★★
http://www.theupcoming.co.uk/2016/07/18/stalking-the-bogeyman-at-southwark-playhouse-theatre-review/

"It keeps the audience on the edge of their seats. It is a play that needs to be seen, a story that needs to be heard."
--------------------------------

Evening Standard
"An Eloquent production. Potter’s unflinching vision makes for deliberately uncomfortable viewing."

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Voicing CSA
★★★★
http://voicingcsa.uk/stalking-the-bogeyman-review/

"Stalking The Bogeyman is emotive, emotional and thought provoking. Powerful and spellbinding".

--------------------------------

Jonathan Baz Reviews
★★★★

http://www.jonathanbaz.com/2016/07/stalking-bogeyman-review.html?m=1

"Stalking The Bogeyman is a brave and challenging play. Well-crafted writing and performance, cleverly staged."

--------------------------------
Plays to See
★★★★
http://playstosee.com/stalking-the-bogeyman/


"A well-written and cleverly paced play…Powerful and precise. Thought provoking and witty piece with superb production values. A redemptive story."

-----------------------------

Musical Theatre Musings

★★★★
http://musicaltheatremusings.co.uk/stalking-the-bogeyman

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British Theatre Guide
★★★★
http://www.britishtheatreguide.info/reviews/stalking-the-bo-southwark-playh-13049

"Well constructed and very moving."

"Gripping staging"
"Stunning performances"

----------------------------

Boyz Magazine

★★★★
''Powerful riveting drama with twists and turns that the audience never sees coming, mainly because they are so staggeringly truthful. One of the most important plays you’re likely to see this year''

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London News Online
★★★★
http://www.londonnewsonline.co.uk/2097/four-stars-stalking-bogeyman-southwark-playhouse/

"A play that demands to be seen. Grippingly intense. Astonishing performances…Ultimately this is an incredibly important play – brutal and honest but with a message of hope."

----------------------------

West End Wilma

★★★★

http://www.westendwilma.com/review-stalking-the-bogeyman/

"This is an intense and heartbreaking production, sensitively directed by Markus Potter, and performed by an outstanding cast."

-----------------------------

Survivors Manchester

http://www.survivorsmanchester.org.uk/blog/review-stalking-bogeyman/

"The most beautifully inspiring experience In the theatre I have ever had."
"Markus Potter and David Holthouse have produced something that is more than a script, more than a play. They have produced an access point for the world to understand the true reality of being a male survivor, and intricacies and complexities of living with the biggest secret one can ever have".

Portland Stage: reviews and production photos for "Lost Boy Found In Whole Foods" at Portland Stage

Lost Boy Found In Whole Foods
by Tammy Ryan
irector: Markus Potter
Portland Stage Company
March 1-20, 2016

Broadway World review:
"Thought-provoking drama with excellent production values with stirring theatrical moments.
Markus Potter directs tautly and sensitively, managing the transitions from reality to imagination and those which cross global expanses with a fluid ease."

 

My work with the students and faculty at UAA (University of Anchorage, Alaska)

I was thrilled to work with UAA in their production of Stalking The Bogeyman.
During my time at UAA I taught several workshops and master classes, and consulted on their production which will also tour rural Alaska.  This project is a partnership between Theatre and Dance, Psychology, and Art, along with several community organizations. Performances of the play will be accompanied by talkbacks featuring a joint panel of artists and mental-health professionals, alongside multiple arts-based response projects for audience members to engage with. Throughout rehearsals and performances, Psychology faculty and graduate students are providing on-site mental health support for actors, crew, and audience members, and both the production and the audience response to it are being studied by faculty and graduate students in the Ph.D. program.

Full article here:
http://www.adn.com/article/20160207/hometown-u-uaa-gets-visitor-newyorkrep

Reviews for "Someone Else" at the North Carolina Stage Company

Asheville Citizen Times:

“Someone Else” sizzles with sensuousness and sexy dialogue — a witty and wise romp … great depth and substance … represents everywoman and everyman’s struggle — the human condition made manifest.”

“New York based director Markus Potter brings this world premiere to a fine conclusion as he’d done in a previous first staging at NC Stage a couple years ago. His “Stalking the Bogeyman” went on to be an off-Broadway NY Times Critics Pick and an Outer Circle Critics Award nomination. Potter’s track record here is good and he’d be welcomed back.”


Carolina Curtain Call:

“This charming and piquant world with blistering frankness, big laughs, and range of emotional dichotomies will resonate with audiences”

“In addition to the primed performances, NC Stage Company has solicited some incredible talent for this staging lead by the invisible touch of director Markus Potter. He helmed the company’s “Stalking The Bogeyman” in 2013 and the show ran Off-Broadway to much fanfare by New York critics. His gentle hand in “Someone Else” is unobtrusive, but fluid and flanked with laser-focused flair.

Mountain Express:

“Markus Potter makes a return to N.C. Stage where he premiered his 2013 production of Stalking the Boogeyman before taking the show to New York. He directs a tightly paced performance that inhabits the stage like a restless caged animal bidding its time, waiting for an escape that is likely to never come. There are no breaks between scenes, as lights shift and actors move, often changing wardrobe in front of the audience during the transitions. This keeps the audience intimately involved with the characters and story, even in moments that normally would not be shown to the audience. But this show is all about exposing inner fears and demons and debating them in often-unsettling ways.”

Playbill: Someone Else - Industry reading / NCstage

A private industry reading of Someone Else by Charlotte Cohn and Jason Odell Williams is presented in New York Oct. 8 starring Cohn (La Boheme) and Joel de la Fuente (The Man in the High Castle).

Williams is an Emmy-nominated writer and producer, whose play Handle with Care debuted Off-Broadway in 2013 and enjoyed a long engagement starring Tony nominee Carol Lawrence. His wife and collaborator, Cohn, was also featured in the production.

- See more at: http://www.playbill.com/news/article/someone-else-about-ukrainian-prostitute-with-sage-advice-receives-private-reading-366255#sthash.tL2SxlJV.dpuf

Tony Winner Lena Hall to Lead Industry Readings of New Play CEDAR STREET directed by Markus Potter

Tony Award winner Lena Hall will lead the cast at invitation-only industry readings of Cedar Street, a provocative new play by R. M. Cohen.  Directed by Markus Potter (Stalking the Bogeyman), the readings will take place on Thursday and Friday, March 5 and 6. David Vernon Lustig/No Filter Productions is developing the project.
 

Source: http://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Tony-...

Stalking the Bogeyman was named the 10 BEST PLAYS OF THE YEAR by the Bergen Record.

Stalking the Bogeyman has been named 10 BEST PLAYS OF THE YEAR by the Bergen Record along with, "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, The Cripple of Inishmaan, "Hedwig and the Angry Inch", Cabaret and others.

"Stalking the Bogeyman" – Staged with a simple directness, the drama by Markus Potter and David Holthouse told a devastating story of the aftermath of the rape by a neighbor of a 7-year-old boy."  “An intense drama presented with an unfussy simplicity and clarity”

Read full article here: 

Brooklyn Quarterly interview on the development of Stalking the Bogeyman and NewYorkRep →

 

Since Stalking the Bogeyman is your latest production—now playing at New World Stages—can you describe the process of taking the initial inspiration, scripting the play, and translating it to the stage? How long did it take? Were there any obstacles you faced along the way?

You know I had that pull-up-on-the-side-of-the-road moment with Stalking the Bogeyman. Several days after, the story was still with me so I reached out to the producers of “This American Life,” sent several notes. A few weeks later, David Holthouse, whose story Stalking the Bogeyman is based on, reached out to me and said “I’m intrigued, let’s talk.” The story had the option to be a film twice, but it never went anywhere. David had been approached by some big studios that wanted to do all of these Hollywood-type things, and he kept saying no. But I was fortunate that David liked my initial ideas about the project. So then we met in New York, had a few other meetings, and he gave me the green light.

I then started talking to a few big writers about doing the adaptation, and hit some major roadblocks with their literary agents. It was like three, four weeks would go by and I wouldn’t receive a response, so I’d have to reach out to them and say, “Hey, are you going to respond?” So I just sat down with Santino Fontana, Shane Zeigler, and Shane Stokes, and I said, “Let’s just blueprint this. Let’s just structure it as a directorial exercise. I’ll learn more about the story if we start to put it on paper somehow—still with the intention that I would bring another writer on.” And six months went by and we said, “You know we have something here.” And we decided to keep it in-house, as it were.
Read full article HERE

 

 

Playbill magazine feature - Stalking the Bogeyman

While Stalking the Bogeyman, David Holthouse Finds Healing Through Storytelling 

By Robert Simonson
30 Oct 2014 

David Holthouse finds catharsis behind anger in by sharing his traumatic childhood story Stalking the Bogeyman.

"Honestly, my original intent was to try and destroy the guy's life" with the story, Holthouse admits. "Because I could no longer get away with doing this guy harm. I couldn't shoot this guy anymore. But I could destroy his life." However, after meeting with the man who abused him, the revenge instinct subsided. He did not use his name.

Holthouse's traumatic story garnered new attention when he was invited to read it on public radio show "This American Life." That's when Potter heard it. He soon after tried to get in touch with Holthouse with a proposal to turn the story into a stage work.  Potter's vision immediately appealed to Holthouse. "He did not use the words 'dark thriller,' which everyone who approached me from Hollywood wanting the movie rights to the story had," he explains. "They were all saying 'dark thriller' or 'love interest' — the main character is going to need a love interest. The answer to that was not only 'No,' but 'Hell no.'"
Potter, in contrast, was interested in "the conflict between the instinctual desire for revenge versus the higher consciousness of forgiveness."
Read full article HERE

Playbill: Markus Potter to direct presentation of new musical...

A special benefit performance of the Broadway-aimed musical Song of Solomon will be presented Nov. 17 at 7:30 PM as part of The Actors’ Temple’s Annual Charitable Gala.

Markus Potter will direct the performance with musical direction by Eugene Gwozdz. The cast will be headed by Robert Cuccioli, Melissa O'Neil and Jesse Manocherian.

Created by Andrew Beall and Neil Van Leeuwen, Song of Solomon is described as "a touching, epic romance based on the biblical tale of the same name set in ancient Israel."

Read the full article HERE:

 

New York Times - Critics pick. Review of Stalking the Bogeyman

“Chilling. Heartbreaking. Breathtaking. Based on the riveting true story adapted for This American Life. The trip from page and airwaves to the stage has only deepened it.”
– The New York Times

“A riveting true story.”
-The New York Times

“Breathtaking.”
- The New York Times

Read the full article HERE:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/02/theater/stalking-the-bogeyman-based-on-a-real-victims-odyssey.html?module=Search&mabReward=relbias%3Ar%2C{%222%22%3A%22RI%3A17%22}&_r=0