The 2018 Kickstarter Campaign Is Complete!
Thank you to every single backer, Muse Ambassador, Muse ally, volunteer staff member, and every single person who spread the word. Also, thank you to all our Muses and to Kickstarter. We exceeded our Kickstarter Campaign goal!
About The Campaign.
The Muse Project is partnering with The Flea Theater this fall to promote and feature the projects of phenomenal NYC actresses.
The Muse Project is partnering with The Flea Theater this fall to promote and feature the projects of phenomenal NYC actresses.
The Muse Project 2018. Photo by Erin Reynolds.
Our 2018 MusesVanessa Aspillaga - Jessica Frances Dukes - Lynn Cohen - Déa Julien - Kyra Miller Are Our 2018 Muses!
Chelsea Dee and Zainab Musa are our 2018 Muse Alternates! Vanessa Aspillaga (2018 Muse) has appeared on Broadway, Off Broadway, in television & in film. She is a New York Theatre Workshop Usual Suspect, and she is a member of LAByrinth Theater Company. She was nominated for a 2018 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play. Jessica Frances Dukes (2018 Muse) has appeared Off Broadway, regionally, in television & in film. She hails from Washington D.C., where she is a company member at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company. She is an Obie Award recipient, as well as a Helen Hayes Award nominee. Lynn Cohen (2018 Muse) has appeared on Broadway, Off Broadway, regionally, in television & in film. She is best known for playing Magda in the HBO series Sex and the City and Mags in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. Déa Julien (2018 Muse) has appeared in the Broadway National Tour of West Side Story, Off Broadway, and regionally. In 2012 she was a recipient of Glamour Magazine's Top Ten College Women Competition. Kyra Miller (2018 Muse) has appeared at Joe's Pub and an array of storytelling & music venues, as well as regionally. Kyra also narrates audiobooks. She was nominated for a 2018 San Francisco/Bay Area Critics Circle Award for Principal Actress in a Musical. Chelsea Dee (2018 Muse Alternate) is a multi-hyphenate creative of color. Since graduating from NYU/Tisch School of the Arts, she has pursued a multidisciplinary career in the performing arts: writing, performing, and directing new works of theater that challenge stereotypes and dominant narratives. Zainab Musa (2018 Muse Alternate) is a first generation Nigerian storyteller, she acts, writes and makes collaborative theater. Her stage and screen performances have spanned over a decade between Canada and the United States. Jocelyn Kuritsky (Creator of The Muse Project) is an actor and producer. She has appeared Off Broadway and regionally. She is the founder of the new initiative, Staging Film, and she is a founder and the resident performer of Woodshed Collective. Along with her colleagues at Woodshed, Jocelyn won the 2018 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Musical. |
The What & The Why NowWomen actors are, historically, the least empowered cohort on any given theatrical project. The traditional theater model asks women actors to fit themselves into roles overwhelmingly written by men and in service of men characters. Women - centric stories, when produced, are often still relegated to the second stage theaters, lower budget productions, and fringe scenes.
The Muse Project is an experimental project that upends the traditional theatrical structures. We're interested in flipping power. We wonder what will happen if we take the person with, traditionally & historically, the least amount of power and give them the torch. We know there’s a guarantee of a woman’s story when the person at the helm, from the outset, is an actress. And we know that more women's stories are necessary for the health and balance of the theatrical ecosystem. In fraught political times, leadership from unique angles and underrepresented communities is the key to our evolution. The Muse Project comes at a critical moment; there is no other model like it in the American theater (as far as we know!). Now, The Muse Project overtly propels women’s stories forward, and the world is hungry for them. We need you to join our mission so we can illuminate the profound power of approaching theater from an actress driven perspective, together. If all the world's a stage, we should not settle for women actors being mere players - we should rebuild the stage, make space, and ask women where they want to stand. 
The 2018 Muses: Vanessa Aspillaga, Kyra Miller, Lynn Cohen, Jessica Frances Dukes, and Déa Julien, with Jocelyn Kuritsky. Photo by Erin Reynolds.
2018's PlanThe Muse Project asks actresses, “What role have you always wanted to play? What story have you always wanted to tell? What do you need to create that role & tell that story?” With The Muse Project, actresses choose the role they want to play and the story they want to tell, and then a creative team is built around the actress’s vision. The Muse Project’s staff and volunteers work with the actress to discern which collaborators would best fit her project. Sometimes an actress is paired with a director, or a playwright, or a dramaturge, or all; sometimes she is paired with another actor, a musician, a choreographer. The team can vary enormously, depending on the project and the goals of the actress. Once initial collaborators are established, the actress and her team begin the process of fleshing out the actress’s ideas in a workshop format called the Mini Muse. The Muse Project plans to develop 5 Mini Muse projects this fall. Our work with our artists will culminate in a weeklong festival of presentations at The Flea as part of our Anchor Partnership, a resident program for small or emerging companies looking to up their game. Additionally, we are starting a community engagement program known as Tea-Times, where women actors will be able to gather and network with noted, veteran stage actresses and share experiences. Our first test of this program will happen at The Flea this fall. Our 2018 Muse AmbassadorsWhat is a Muse Ambassador? Our Muse Ambassadors are artists and professionals who went online throughout the campaign via Facebook Live to explain why they, personally, believe in The Muse Project. They are part of our army of allies.
Vanessa Aspillaga (Muse) - Teddy Bergman - Pepper Binkley - Geneva Carr - Lynn Cohen (Muse) - Alek Deva - Amanda Duarte - Jessica Dukatt - Sasha Eden - Jamie Effros - Jack Fellows - Alyssa May Gold - Bob Gower - Bob Jaffe - Jimmie James - Alexandra Jamieson - Landen Jones - Olivia Kasten - Libby Babbott - Klein - Zac Kline - Robert Emmet Lunney - Kyra Miller (Muse) - Zainab Musa (Muse) - Alfredo Narciso - Anna O'Donoghue - David Poe - Erin Reynolds - Duncan Sheik - Sheetal Sheth - Tony Speciale - Sherri Sutton - RJ Tolan - Joe Wang - Kim Yaged Special thank you to Crystal Arnette, Sam Hall Barickman, Ilana Becker, Susan Bernfield, Jamie Lehrer, Jessica Massart @ Kickstarter, Ian Morgan, Adenike Thomas, and Lanie Zipoy.
MORE UPDATES COMING SOON!Selections from our Facebook Live sessions from the 2018 Muse Project Kickstarter Campaign will be available shortly. Check back for updates.
Jocelyn Kuritsky's & Zainab Musa's Facebook Live Session For The 2018 Muse Project KSR Campaign. |