NERO
NERO is a Shakespearean, five-act “streamplay” theatricalizing the history from George W. Bush’s War on Terror to our present day as the rise and fall of Nero’s Roman Empire. Set in 64AD in Rome’s Palace of the Frogs, this state of the nation tragicomedy exposes how the ruling class maintains control through warfare and state violence.
A five-part miniseries that asks audiences to imagine how they will intervene on behalf of society to overthrow the ‘imperialist, white-supremacist, capitalist [hetero]patriarchy’ in the words of bell hooks.
Nic Adams, The Exponential Festival
One of the most ambitious digital pivots I witnessed in the pandemic era.
NERO – Trailer
NERO
World Premiere
Kyoung’s Pacific Beat
June 17-30, 2024
Written, directed and edited by Kyoung H. Park
Produced by Kyoung’s Pacific Beat
Performed by
David Gelles, Claudia Acosta, Yadira De La Riva, Ariel Estrada, Zach Lusk, Ash Mayers, Sade Namei, Kaila Saunders, Imran Sheikh, and Ishmael Thaahir
Original Music, Scoring and Arrangements by Helen Yee
Lyrics by Kyoung H. Park
Assistant Music Production by Kaila Saunders
Production Design, Prop Master, Lead VFx and CG Artistry by Yoon Young Choi
Gaffer, VFx and Animator, Colorist and Composites by Marie Yokoyama
Costume and Puppet Design by Andrew Jordan
Assistant Costume Design by Iggy Soliven
Additional Costume Construction by Ariel Brickman, Emma Creekmore and Heath Stevenson
Hair and Make-Up by Sabrina De La Torre
Direction of Photography by Sanae Ohno
B Camera Operator: Ketak Dhiman
First Assistant Camera – A Camera: Gleydi M. Santana
First Assistant Camera – B Camera: Alvaro Nieto
Production Sound Mixer: JC Gorritti
Dialogue Editor, Sound Designer and Re-Recording Mixer: JC Gorritti
Sound Utility and Playback Mixer: Carsen Joenk
Boom Operators: Joshua Szeimberg, Noah Szeimberg
Choreography by Unkle Dave’s Fight-House / Sean F. Griffin
Dramaturgy by Jess Applebaum
Director of Accessibility: Claudia Alick
Community Engagement Strategist: Joe Tolbert, Jr.
Artistic Advisor: Betsy Theobald Richards
Executive Producer: Kyoung H. Park
Producing Director, Assistant Director: Ishmael Thaahir
First Assistant Director: Lindsay Darcy
Stage Manager: Sarah Samonte
Producing Consultant: Tiffany Vega-Gibson
Line Producer: Rachel Whelan
Production Manager: Shakira Hunter
Assistant Stage Manager: Lee Monahan
Driver: Michael Omatsu
Production Crew: Koffi Kavaly
Interns: Anais Aboab, Joyce Baez, Alyssa Gil-Pujols
Development History
The World Premiere of NERO was developed with support from Pregones/PRTT and its ASAP/Artist Space At Pregones initiative and with seed funding from the Ford Foundation, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and Mosaic Network & Fund. NERO received workshop screenings at Hillel Plaza – Flatbush Junction and at The Exponential Festival 2023 and 2024. NERO is a SAG-AFTRA approved new media production.
Production design support provided by the Edith Lutyens and Norman Bel Geddes Design Enhancement Fund, a program of the Alliance of Resident Theatres/New York (A.R.T./New York). Additional support provided by NYSCA-A.R.T./New York Creative Opportunity Fund (A Statewide Theatre Regrant Program) and A.R.T./New York’s Small Theatres Fund made possible with support from the Howard Gilman Foundation.
NERO is sponsored, in part, by the Greater New York Arts Development Fund of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, administered by Brooklyn Arts Council (BAC), New York City Department of Youth and Community Development, an Innovation Award from the NYC Office for the Prevention of Hate-Crimes and local Council Member Farah N. Louis.
Accessibility support provided by the New York Community Trust, Alliance of Resident Theatres/New York (A.R.T./New York) and NYSCA/TDF Tap Plus. Post-production support provided by the New York State Council on the Arts.
NERO was developed in partnership with GAPIMNY – Empowering Queer and Trans APIs, The Blasian March, Caribbean Equality Project, Asians 4 Abolition, Asians Fighting Injustice, PeoplesHub, The Exponential Festival and Pregones/Puerto Rican Traveling Theater. NERO’s workshop production was developed with generous support from the Howard Gilman Foundation, IndieSpace, Jerome Foundation, MAP Fund and Venturous Theater Fund of the Tides Foundation.
NERO received public readings with the Ma-Yi Theater’s Writer’s Lab (February 2015), Sol Project (February 2016), New Ohio Theater’s Producers’ Club (October 2017), supported by a 2019-2020 Dramatist Guild Fellowship and is based on research conducted at the George W. Bush Presidential Archives in Dallas.
KPB New York
PO Box 100976
Brooklyn, NY 11210
kpb@kpbny.org
(718) 285-6514