Next Friday, October 9th - tickets going fast!!!
Join us for a benefit reading of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Martyna Majok's Sanctuary City, starring Lola Tung, Daniel Bravo Hernandez, and Kyle Beltran, directed by Caitlin Sullivan, at New York Theatre Workshop. The benefit will raise money for RAICES (an organization on the front line fighting for immigrant families) and is modeled after our Dry Land benefit reading last year which raised over $18K for the New York Abortion Access Fund. We are once again partnering with Level Forward.
Tickets now on sale for our 2026 Bash!
CoCo welcomes new staff & Board members
Colt Coeur is excited to announce that Bryanna Cuthill will be joining their staff as their new Development and Marketing Manager. “As a 24 year old who graduated high school in a global pandemic, and graduated college in an age where empathy and integrity are no longer requirements from our leaders, I’m exceptionally determined to have a positive impact in my community by creating opportunities for productive discourse and meaningful gathering,” said Bryanna Cuthill. “I’m so grateful to be a part of this team and work and develop under these powerhouse women leaders!”
Colt Coeur is also pleased to welcome Noreen Major, Liz Rutgersson, and Maya L. Smoot to the CoCo Board.
Additional info below.
Bryanna Cuthill (Development & Marketing Manager) is a producer, arts administrator, performer, and a proud Canadian currently living in New York City. She caught the theatre bug at seven and never looked back, ultimately earning her Bachelors of Music in Music theatre from Baldwin Wallace University graduating magna cum laude.
Bryanna was formerly the associate producer at Obie Award-winning company The Sol Project, working across artistic producing, new work festivals, and readings/workshops alongside playwrights, performers, and theatres including Monet Hurst-Mendoza, Chris Gabo, Cusi Cram, Anthony Ramos, Kara Young, 59E59, WP Theater, and The Public Theatre. She has been fortunate to freelance with numerous theatres and arts organizations across the country and assist with their overall growth; overseeing multiple benefit concerts and assisting with numerous marketing campaigns. At the beginning of 2026 Bryanna was a part of launching a new performing arts coalition, The Dot Productions, based in Toronto with the goal of providing an outlet for emerging and established performers alike, bringing audiences and performers together in experiences that are live, personal, and connected. She now spearheads their New York chapter.
Noreen Major (Board Member) is a senior advancement executive and consultant with more than 20 years of experience building philanthropic programs, leading major campaigns, cultivating principal and major gifts, and helping arts and cultural organizations grow their contributed revenue. Noreen is Principal of HGHP, LLC, where she advises arts, cultural, educational, and social-impact organizations on fundraising strategy, campaigns, major and principal gifts, donor engagement, and organizational growth. Through HGHP, she has worked with organizations including Colt Coeur, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Portland Public Library, and other nonprofit and cultural institutions across the country. Previously, Noreen held senior advancement roles at American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) at Harvard University and Shakespeare Theatre Company. During her six years at A.R.T., she helped lead a $260 million comprehensive campaign supporting the theatre’s artistic ambitions and plans for a new home in Allston. At Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, D.C., she directed a $30 million capital campaign, secured multiple seven-figure gifts, and helped significantly expand philanthropic support. Her career has also included development leadership with the Martha Graham Dance Company, Paper Mill Playhouse, and The New York Botanical Garden.
Throughout her career, Noreen has been drawn to organizations that make ambitious art possible and create meaningful opportunities for artists and audiences. She is thrilled to join the Board of Colt Coeur and continue supporting a company whose commitment to artists, new work, and community she deeply admires. A graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University, Noreen holds a BFA in Performance with a minor in World Religions. She also holds a Master of Liberal Arts (ALM), Extension Studies and a graduate certificate in Sustainability from Harvard University.
Liz Rutgersson (Board Member) is CEO of the market-leading advertising agency, Assembly Global. In this role, Liz advises world-leading brands on marketing, media, and digital transformation. With 20 years of marketing experience, Liz has built expertise in brand building, brand strategy, digital media, and search optimization. Liz has held US and international leadership roles at iProspect and Merkle, achieving consistent, high value growth. She serves on industry advisory boards for the IAB, Ad Council and ANA. Liz has two elementary aged boys and loves exploring Central Park and travelling with them. She is passionate about yoga, European travel, NYC restaurants, and color theory. Liz is honored to support the further development of Colt Coeur given her lifelong love of theater.
Maya Smoot (Board Member) is an actor, educator, and theatre artist originally from the Bay Area. She holds an MFA in Acting from UC Irvine and has worked as an actor regionally and in New York City, where she is a proud member of SAG-AFTRA. She was recently appointed a position as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Theatre and Speech at The City College of New York. She has also taught acting, voice, speech, scene study, and Shakespeare at Chapman University, Stella Adler Art of Acting LA, Crash Acting Studio, Encompass Collective, and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in NYC, and was a guest teacher at Yale. She has worked as an Artistic Associate at the New Swan Shakespeare Festival and is currently a candidate for Fitzmaurice Voicework certification, with completion expected next year. Maya previously served as Director of Education & Outreach at Colt Coeur, where she ran both the Education Initiative and the Mentorship Program. Under her leadership, the program saw record-breaking enrollment and a high rate of returning students. Maya is thrilled to continue her service to Colt Coeur by joining the board, and to keep investing in the artists and students Colt Coeur exists to serve.
CoCo Residency Open Call
CAMPING TICKETS ON SALE!
OPEN CALL FOR PROPOSALS!
Colt Coeur Open Call for Beacon Commission Proposals (April 2026)
Colt Coeur is thrilled to partner with Shea Theatricals on the Beacon Commission, a new annual opportunity for women and nonbinary playwrights making work that aims to combat the erasure of history. We invite all artists who identify with this open call to submit proposals to be reviewed by Colt Coeur’s Artistic Programming Committee. If selected, artists would receive $8k, with an additional $4k allocated towards development.
At such a pivotal moment in our nation’s history, Colt Coeur maintains a steadfast commitment to telling stories that illuminate and uplift our complex history, rather than burying it under layers of fear, prejudice, and discrimination. In partnership with Shea Theatricals, this initiative will continue over the next four years, building a sustained pipeline for bold, necessary new work.
Colt Coeur and Shea Theatricals support collaboration with a director, actors, and a designer, and provides for a multi-day workshop, which culminates in a public presentation. For more information about the commission’s conception, please click here. While the events that inspired this commission are grave, we encourage artists to propose projects that use humor, irreverence and theatricality to illuminate the individual(s) or event(s) their plays tackle. (For example, check out plays like Anna Ziegler’s Photograph 51, Katori Hall’s The Mountaintop, Tina Howe’s Pride’s Crossing, or Theresa Rebeck’s Bernhardt/Hamlet.
Our Committee convenes in early May, so please submit proposals by Monday, May 4th at 5pm by email to Colt Coeur at coltcoeur@gmail.com. All proposal submissions will be acknowledged, and we will reach out to finalists in mid-May.
Part A: 1-1.5 Page Proposal
Describe the project for which you are seeking support, including the creative or development work to be done in 2026-2027. (Feel free to share what this piece reminds you of or is wholly different from!)
Provide a statement describing your distinctive vision, stylistic, and thematic qualities to be expressed in the proposed work, as well as your approach to research and development Include specific context about how the proposed project builds on related work in the field.
Describe the work sample’s (see below) relationship to the proposed project, noting any stylistic or technical elements that are directly related to the proposed project. Be sure to articulate why this work sample is being included in the application. If the proposed project represents a new direction or departure from your past work, as demonstrated in the work sample, this should also be discussed.
Identify potential collaborators (directors, dramaturgs, designers, actors) and identify whether or not you are already in communication with these collaborators. (All artists must be NYC-local.)
Share where you are in your process and what your ideal timeline for creating a first and second draft would be.
While Colt Coeur and Shea Theatricals are commissioning these projects - we do not have the capacity to produce every play we commission. Consider your ideal audience/producing partner for this work and articulate any novel approaches to public engagement with regards to the public presentation of the proposed project.
Share why you are interested in collaborating with Colt Coeur specifically, articulating how CoCo’s values, mission, and ethos align with your artistry and practice
Part B: 5 Page/5 Minute Work Sample
Sample can be an excerpt from your proposed project or past work
Your name must not appear anywhere on your materials. Talya and Adrienne will know who you are - but no one else on the committee will know.
Please feel free to reach out to talyab.coco@gmail.com with any questions!
Colt Coeur Mission Statement
Colt Coeur is a Brooklyn-based theatre company founded in 2010. Our original, story-driven, visceral theatre embraces the power of intimate live performance—it pulls you close and doesn’t let go. Our community of artists nurtures and invests in diverse perspectives to produce work that challenges the boundaries between tradition and experimentation. We embrace the ambivalence, terror and exhilaration of our time with theatre that is an antidote to the pervasive cultural illness of loneliness. We explore themes of coming-of-age, individual and collective identity, nostalgia and history, public versus private, love, lust, and loss.
Through our unique collective process, every theatre artist—actor, playwright, designer—takes part in shared invention and collaborative creation; creating heart- and mind-opening audience experiences unlike any other. We nurture the next generation of theatre artists by providing access, education and a professional pipeline, while amplifying voices and perspectives that have historically been sidelined.
About Colt Coeur
Our 41-member ensemble of actors, designers, playwrights, and directors incubates the next generation of theatre artists through the development and production of new plays—which we create from scratch. Over 15 years, Colt Coeur has produced 19 world premieres, two New York premieres, developed over 50 plays, and provided free arts intensives for over 250 students. We pride ourselves on being a laboratory for exploration while also nurturing the work of emerging artists and providing them a launch pad for their visions. Highlights from the past 15 years include Dry Land by Ruby Rae Spiegel, Empathitrax by Ana Nogueira, Eureka Day by Jonathan Spector and most recently, The Surgeon and Her Daughters by Chris Gabo.
Colt Coeur has a tremendous reputation among artists and audiences alike. The company is renowned for its high artistic standards, and artists who work with Colt Coeur have gone on to contribute to and excel in every level of the entertainment industry. Colt Coeur has helped launch the multi-faceted careers of Timothée Chalamet, Ato Essandoh, Betty Gilpin, Steven Levenson, Ana Nogueira, and Joe Tippett, among many others.
DANCE MOMS by Ying Ying Li // WORKSHOP SHARING
Colt Coeur presents a reading of
DANCE MOMS by Ying Ying Li,
directed by Adrienne Campbell-Holt
movement consultation by Juri Onuki
featuring: Betsy Aidem, Mary Bacon, Cindy Cheung, Ariel Estrada, Stella Everett, Vanessa Kai
Date: Thursday, April 16, 2026
Time: 1:30pm
We hope you can join us!
ABOUT THE PLAY: It’s heady times for the Slotted Spoons, a dance troupe of four late-middle-aged moms. The mayor’s retirement celebration will be the biggest show of their lives, but the moms need a new choreographer, and they need one fast. Fortune upon fortunes, their fearless leader, Jenny Hu, has secured the services of an exquisitely, hauntingly, unconventional young woman named India (no relation to the country) who soon has the Spoons whipped up into some kind of a… a… well, it’s not a dance, exactly? There’s a lot of soul-baring. Maybe too much. And a huge bag of what they’re told is just sweet, sweet, candy.
Announcing our inaugural Beacon Commission: Alex Lin!
We are thrilled to announce our newest annual commission,
in partnership with Shea Theatricals:
The Beacon Commission
With the Beacon Commission, Colt Coeur is excited to commission plays by women and nonbinary artists that combat the erasure of history.
A beacon can be defined as a light or other visible object that serves as a signal, warning, or celebration. In times of political turbulence, we often turn to theater as a beacon. The stories we see onstage serve both as a warning of what history has taught us, as well as a celebration of what the world could be. With theater, we shed a light on voices too often marginalized by history, forging a path paved in empathy, discovery, and artistry through the darkness.
In addition to the traditional artist fee, the Beacon Commission will offer the artist two workshops, the second of which will culminate in a public reading, and support collaboration with a director, actors, and a designer.
The Beacon Commission is made possible through a partnership with Shea Theatricals.
This year, Colt Coeur is thrilled to announce our inaugural Beacon Commission awardee: Alex Lin!
Alex is an alum of the Colt Coeur Residency program. Her plays Laowang: A Chinatown King Lear (Primary Stages at 59E59) and Chinese Republicans (Roundabout Theatre) premiere this year off-Broadway.
Alex Lin's The Translator is inspired by the story of Tye Leung–the first Chinese-American woman to vote in a U.S. election. The play is a meditation on freedom and its limits, told through the eyes of a woman caught between two cultures, two generations, and two definitions of duty. By interrogating who gets to define liberation–and at what cost–we can finally reckon with the complexity of cultural inheritance in the All-American promise of self-determination. Alex will be collaborating with director Cara Hinh on The Translator.
The Beacon Commission was inspired, in part, by an Executive Order released by the current administration on March 27, 2025 entitled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.” In the order, the President condemned several American museums for addressing the nation’s history of racism and sexism, deeming this history “a distorted narrative driven by ideology rather than truth,” and specifically criticizing exhibits from the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the National Museum of African American History and Culture, and the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum. The President made provisions to “remove improper ideology” from Smithsonian properties, as well as to identify and restore any public monuments, memorials, statues, and markers that have been removed or changed “to perpetuate a false reconstruction of American history.”
The current administration’s attempt to distort history and control national discourse has made terrifying waves throughout the arts world, as evidenced by Trump’s takeover of the Kennedy Center, their slashing of NEA funding, and the pressure tactics they’ve exerted upon entities as varied as universities and media conglomerates.
At such a pivotal moment in our nation’s history, Colt Coeur maintains a steadfast commitment to telling stories that illuminate and uplift our complex history, rather than burying it under layers of fear, prejudice, and discrimination. With the Beacon Commission, Colt Coeur is excited to commission plays by women and nonbinary artists that combat the erasure of history.
Alex Lin (Playwright) Alex Lin is just a girl from Jersey. Plays at: Roundabout, 2ST, NYTW, MTC, O'Neill, South Coast Rep, New Harmony, Two River, Playwrights Realm, Atlantic Theater Company, and many more. As an actor: NYTW, Actors Theatre of Louisville, New Victory, HVSF, Ma-Yi, Fault Line, Two River, and Commonwealth Shakespeare. Blackburn finalist, Stavis Award winner, two-time Kennedy Center Paul Stephen Lim Award winner. Colt Coeur, Rattlestick, Working Theater, and BMI residencies. TV: The Audacity on AMC. Forbes 30 under 30. Juilliard.
Colt Coeur is a Brooklyn-based theatre company founded in 2010. Our original, story-driven, visceral theatre embraces the power of intimate live performance—it pulls you close and doesn’t let go. Our community of artists nurtures and invests in diverse perspectives to produce work that challenges the boundaries between tradition and experimentation. We embrace the ambivalence, terror and exhilaration of our time with theatre that is an antidote to the pervasive cultural illness of loneliness. We explore themes of coming-of-age, individual and collective identity, nostalgia and history, public versus private, love, lust, and loss.
Through our unique collective process, every theatre artist—actor, playwright, designer—takes part in shared invention and collaborative creation; creating heart- and mind-opening audience experiences unlike any other. We nurture the next generation of theatre artists by providing access, education and a professional pipeline, while amplifying voices and perspectives that have historically been sidelined.
Our 41-member ensemble of actors, designers, playwrights, and directors incubates the next generation of theatre artists through the development and production of new plays—which we create from scratch. Over 15 years, Colt Coeur has produced 19 world premieres, two New York premieres, developed over 50 plays, and provided free arts intensives for over 250 students. We pride ourselves on being a laboratory for exploration while also nurturing the work of emerging artists and providing them a launch pad for their visions. Highlights from the past 15 years include Dry Land by Ruby Rae Spiegel, Empathitrax by Ana Nogueira, Eureka Day by Jonathan Spector and most recently, The Surgeon and Her Daughters by Chris Gabo.
Shea Theatricals is dedicated to fostering stories that authentically amplify the voices of traditionally ignored communities. Utilizing years of experience and a deep understanding of the climate of the entertainment industry, Shea Theatricals produces, co-produces and invests in compelling musicals, plays and films that are exciting additions to the current zeitgeist and that drive social change. Prioritizing radical producing models and championing artists who think out-of-the-box, Shea Theatricals aims to democratize the industry and challenge norms.
Recent/current includes Little Dancer (West End), All of Me (West End, upcoming), Every Brilliant Thing (Broadway), Merrily We Roll Along (Broadway), Danny and the Deep Blue Sea (Off-Broadway), How to Dance in Ohio (Broadway), and Strange Loop (Broadway).
Shea Theatricals was founded by Jana Shea who co-founded Seaview Productions (All In/All Out, Romeo + Juliet,Once Upon a Mattress, The Last Five Years, Good Night and Good Luck, Stereophonic, An Enemy of the People, Slave Play, POTUS, A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder). In the film space, she is a producer on the upcoming feature film "The Coldest Winter Ever" as well as the new Whitney Houston biopic, "I Wanna Dance With Somebody". Other credits include the upcoming film adaptation of "Our Dear Dead Drug Lord", the documentary "She Started It" about young women tech entrepreneurs, and the Peabody Award-winning documentary "India’s Daughter". Jana is Vice-President of Legacy Theatre in Branford, Connecticut, which is a premier professional repertory venue on the Connecticut shoreline. She currently serves on the board- of The New Group Off-Broadway nonprofit theater and was a previous board member of Women Moving Millions.. She is also co-owner of Aware Recovery Care, an in-home addiction rehabilitation program located in 9 states that boasts a 60% success rate for clients after one year.
THE SURGEON AND HER DAUGHTERS cast announcement!
The cast will feature Brian D. Coats (Oh Happy Day! at The Public; On the Levee with Lincoln Center), Liza P. Fernandez (La Paloma Prisoner with Signature Theatre; To The Bone at Cherry Lane Theatre), Yadira Guevara-Prip (Bow Lion on See, Apple TV; Street Children with Vertigo Theater Company), Eden Marryshow (INK with MTC; Seven Guitars at Arena Stage), Johnny Sánchez (Sonnets for an Old Century with The Barrow Group; ‘Til the Break of Dawn at Abrons Arts Center), and Kana Seiki (Don’t Pitch It, Do It at A.R.T./New York; Peach Boy with Pan Asian Rep).
Announcing our 2025-2026 Resident Artists
Congrats to our 2025-2026 cohort (from left to right, top to bottom): Amita Sharma, Jahquale Mazyck, Sarah Mantell, Sheila Bandyopadhyay, Jasmine Sharma, Ashil Lee, Attilio Rigotti, Elliot Connors. Click here to learn more about this year’s Residents.
2025-2025 Resident Artists:
actor and director Sheila Bandyopadhyay (she/her)
playwright Elliot Connors (he/him)
actor, playwright, director and sex educator Ashil Lee (they/he/she)
playwright Sarah Mantell (they/them)
playwright Jahquale Mazyck (he/they)
theatremaker, technology artist, and videogame designer Attilio Rigotti (he/him)
writer and actor Amita Sharma (she/her)
and performer, writer, and activist Jasmine Sharma (she/her)
Now in its 9th year, artists are selected from an Open Call, which yielded nearly 350 applicants this past summer. The Artist Residency provides an intimate group of early and mid-career playwrights, directors, producers, dramaturgs, and designers with the invaluable resources of community, space to work, and a stipend; and is especially vital at a time when developmental opportunities are reducing their programming and/or shuttering completely. Artistic Director Adrienne Campbell-Holt and Artistic Associate Talya Braverman meet with Residents quarterly with an emphasis on forging authentic creative collaborations and amplifying these artists' voices. Luminaries from the field are invited to join the group for panel discussions, conversations and networking.
Past residents have included Jeremy O’Harris, Danya Taymor, Will Arbery, Whitney White, Tara Elliott, Portia Kreiger, Sarah Blush, Lizzie Stern, Brittany K. Allen, Natalie Margolin, Lia Romeo, Liba Vaynberg, Corey Umlauf, and more.
Benefit tickets now on sale!
ANNOUNCING OUR NEXT WORLD PREMIERE!
THE SURGEON AND HER DAUGHTERS
BY CHRIS GABO
DIRECTED BY ADRIENNE CAMPBELL-HOLT
PREVIEWS START NOV 23, 2025
Click here for info & tickets
This fall, we’re thrilled to launch our 15th Anniversary Season with The Surgeon and Her Daughters by Chris Gabo, directed by Adrienne Campbell-Holt. Chris and Adrienne first workshopped this play in the (beloved and sadly shuttered) Cherry Lane Mentor Project in 2016. After a talkback following a performance of Still in February, Adrienne and (Surgeon actor and Colt Coeur company member) Eden Marryshow were talking about the state of the world and how compelled we feel as theatre artists to tell stories that hold and interrogate the socio-political tensions of our time; and how much that feeling had us thinking about Surgeon. We reached out to Chris - and here we go!
With the recent passing of our friend, Surgeon actor and visionary generative artist Zaza / Diana Oh, we feel even more compelled to tell this story now. Our production will be dedicated to their memory.
A 21st-century Les Miserablés, The Surgeon and Her Daughters is an epic and intimate play about family, grief, and how we stay afloat amidst seemingly insurmountable odds. Diving unflinchingly into the ‘melting pot’ that is New York City, the play explores the slipperiness of truth and justice, the thorniness of honor and redemption, and the sensation of being a crab at the bottom of the barrel.
With a cast of six and an original score, The Surgeon and Her Daughters is also the ‘largest’ play Colt Coeur has produced since our 2019 premiere of Eureka Day.
✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦
One star for each year of original, hauntingly resonant, and fiercely tender theatre that has launched careers, deepened community, and challenged the boundaries of traditional storytelling!
REFORMER reading May 28
Colt Coeur presents
a staged reading of
Reformer
by Rachel Herron
directed by NJ Agwuna
Featuring: Marié Botha, Pooya Mohseni, Madalyn Pedone, Nedra Marie Taylor, Allison Siko, Maya Smoot, Ava Yaghmaie
stage managed by: Caren Celine Morris
movement consultation by: Juri Onuki
Sunlight Studios, May 28 2025
Reformer was commissioned by Colt Coeur with a grant from the New York State Council on the Arts.
Special thanks:
Jenna Segal and Gatherer Enterprises
minor·ity extends through May 4th!!
The reviews are in and people are loving minor·ity!
Get your tickets now! Must close May 4th!
BENEFIT READING OF DRY LAND
Cast announced & tickets on sale!
STILL is back!
Colt Coeur’s acclaimed production of
Still
by Lia Romeo
directed by Adrienne Campbell-Holt
returns January 28-March 23, 2025 at the Sheen Center - starring Melissa Gilbert and Mark Moses!
2024: A Defining Year for Colt Coeur
Unforgettable Milestones:
• Transformative Workshop - We partnered with griot Alim Kamara to workshop Francisca Da Silveira’s minor.ity, building momentum for its much-anticipated premiere in April 2025.
• 15 Years of Free Arts Access - Our annual Education Initiative served NYC students for the 15th year, opening doors for the next generation of creative thinkers and storytellers.
• Commercial Success - Our acclaimed production of Still by Lia Romeo, featuring Jayne Atkinson and Tim Daly, is now set for a commercial transfer in early 2025—bringing Colt Coeur’s vision to even larger audiences.
• Supporting New Voices - With nearly 200 applications, we handpicked nine Resident Artists through our Open Call, cultivating the talent that will define tomorrow’s theatre.
• Mentorship that Lasts - Our internship and mentorship programs have never been stronger, connecting emerging artists with experienced mentors for real-world growth and professional success.
• Record-Breaking Benefit Bash - This year’s Benefit Bash, our most successful yet, celebrated honourees Juliana Canfield & Deborah DeCotis and raised essential support for our mission.
• Growing Our Team - We welcomed Maya Smoot as our new Director of Education & Outreach and expanded our company with 13 new members, enhancing our capacity to serve and inspire.
Because of you, 2024 marked a new chapter for Colt Coeur.
Thank you for being a part of it. Together, we are transforming the landscape of American theatre!
Learn more about Colt Coeur!
BENEFIT AUCTION NOW LIVE!
Our online auction is live now through October 13th with unique offerings from theatre tickets to one-of-a-kind experiences and travel opportunities!