July 10 – August 2
Run Time: 90 minutes
Adult language and situations
“Breath. Precious Life. Love. We can’t hold it and yet, we must hold it.”
What makes community? For this unlikely gathering of under-employed, under- insured dreamers on a New York street corner, it’s the communal need for a cigarette. They are as different as different can be–in gender and sexual orientation and relationship status, in their aspirations, vocations and avocations. But in this warm-hearted premiere by Pulitzer Prize-nominated playwright Lisa D’Amour, these characters come together to consume the chemicals that unite them: nicotine and the endorphins produced by friendship.
SPONSORED BY MINA GOODRICH & LAWRENCE DEAN
Getting to the Play
2026 – Interview with Playwright Lisa D’Amour
Meet Lisa D’Amour Lisa D’Amour is a playwright and interdisciplinary collaborator from New Orleans, Louisiana. She grew up in a world of ritual, activism, group spectacle and care, all of which continue to thrive in her work. Her plays have been produced across the globe, including at MTC’s Samuel J. Friedman Theater on Broadway, Playwrights … Continued
Team
Playwright + Director
Lisa D’Amour
Playwright
Lisa D’Amour is a playwright and interdisciplinary collaborator from New Orleans, Louisiana. She grew up in a world of ritual, activism, group spectacle and care, all of which continue to thrive in her work. Her plays have been produced across the globe, including at MTC’s Samuel J. Friedman Theater on Broadway, Playwrights Horizons (NYC), Steppenwolf Theater (Chicago), Woolly Mammoth Theater (Washington D.C.), The National Theater (London) Catastrophic Theater (Houston) and ArtSpot Productions (New Orleans)..Her play Detroit was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and Susan Smith Blackburn prize, and she’s received two OBIE Awards. Lisa’s company PearlDamour makes interdisciplinary, often site-specific works, most recently premiering Ocean Filibuster, a genre-crashing human-ocean showdown (American Repertory Theater + touring). She has also been honored with the Alpert Award for the Arts, the Steinberg Playwright Award and the Doris Duke Performing Artist Award.
Shelley Butler ‡
Director
Shelley Butler has over 50 Broadway, Off-Broadway and regional credits to date working extensively with writers on new plays and musicals at theaters across the country. Notable productions include the world premieres of Lucas Hnath’s A Doll’s House Part 2 at South Coast Repertory, Jake Brasch’s The Reservoir in a Geffen Playhouse, Alliance Theater and Denver Center co-production, along with The Reservoir’s off-Broadway premiere at the Atlantic Theater, and Kate Hamill’s The Scarlet Letter for Two River Theater. She has directed and developed over two dozen new works for theaters including: Contemporary American Theater Festival, Ars Nova, Atlantic Theater, MCC Theater, Primary Stages, E.S.T., WP Theater, La Jolla Playhouse, Geffen Playhouse, Alliance Theater, The Alley Theater, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Hartford Stage, South Coast Repertory, Denver Center Theatre Company, The Old Globe, Yale Repertory Theatre, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Pioneer Theatre Company, PlayMakers Repertory Company, Geva, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, New York Stage and Film, PlayPenn, New Dramatists, The Playwright’s Realm, Keen Company and the Lark.
Cast
Orlando Arriaga*
Roberto
ORLANDO ARRIAGA (Roberto) is pleased to appear at the Contemporary American Theatre Festival in The Smoker. Select theatre credits include The Lehman Trilogy (Stages Theatre Repertory), Private Lives, American Mariachi, and Lend Me A Soprano (Alley Theatre), Every Brilliant Thing (A.D. Players), Romeo y Juliet (Cal Shakes), Twenty50 (TheatreSquared), Quixote Nuevo (Hartford Stage), and Fade (Kitchen Theatre Company). Film credits include The Long Game, Do No Harm, and This Station Is My Father. Orlando is a recipient of the prestigious Lunt-Fontanne Fellowship and holds a BA from Lamar University.
Danielle Davenport*
Tonya
Theater: 7 Minutes (Waterwell), Men on Boats (Playwrights Horizons/Clubbed Thumb), Neighbors (The Public Theater), An Octoroon (Theater for a New Audience/Soho Rep), Adoration of the Old Woman (INTAR), Be the Death of Me (The Civilians), and others. Film and TV: Office Romance, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Master of None (Netflix); The Calling (Peacock); Blue Bloods (CBS); The Blacklist (NBC); Power (Starz); Sneaky Pete (Amazon); High Maintenance, Boardwalk Empire (HBO); The Breaks (VH1) and others. Education: BA Barnard College, summa cum laude. Co-founder of BEM, a Black food bookstore and culinary hub based in Brooklyn, NY (bembrooklyn.com)
Brad Fleischer*
The Smoker
Brad Fleischer is an Actor, Director and Producer with over 20 years’ experience in Theater, Film and TV. This is his CATF Debut. He starred on Broadway with Robin Williams in Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo as well as acting in Coram Boy, Golden Boy and Streamers. He originated Doug in Gruesome Playground Injuries, and is currently preparing to direct a feature film of the play. Brad’s TV and film credits include: The Walking Dead, The Equalizer, The Good Shepherd, Prison Break, Blue Bloods, The Unit, Law and Order, and Jericho. Brad received an M.F.A. in Acting from the University of California San Diego.
Vivia Font*
The Lady Who Walks/Sammy/Ruthie/Miranda
NYC: villa, Recent Alien Abductions PlayCo, PlayOn CSC, underneathmybed Rattlestick, Fernando The New Ohio. Select regional: Christmas Carol McCarter, The Art of Burning Huntington/Hartford Stage, Bad Dates Cincinnati Playhouse, The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window, Two Gentlemen of Verona, The Tenth Muse Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Richard III, As You Like It among others at The Old Globe, multiple works at the Denver Center. Film and TV: Law & Order, FBI: Most Wanted, For Life, “Motor City”, “Love, Repeat”, “Shallow End” and her own short, “Honk”. She teaches Acting and Theatre from Latin America at Princeton University, and just directed The Comeuppance there.www.viviafont.com
Regina Gibson*
Kim
\NYC: The Golden Bride (National Yiddish Opera Folksbiene), Leah in Leah, the Forsaken (Metropolitan Playhouse), Delta in the Sky (starring Austin Pendleton), Christmas in Hell (NYMF). Regional: Spring Storm (Mississippi Delta Tennessee Williams Festival), Daughters of Lot (Edinburgh Fringe), As You Like It (Connecticut Shakespeare), Charlotte’s Web (Theatreworks/USA). Film: First Rites (Tubi), Spiders (Cannes Festival). TV: Evil Lives Here (IDiscovery). Next up she will be touring her one woman cabaret, Divina, about the life of opera diva Maria Callas. For upcoming performances visit www.divinaonstage.com. BFA NYU TISCH Stella Adler. www.reginagibson.com.
Production Team
Michael B. Raiford †
Scenic Design
Regional: South Coast Repertory Theatre, City Theatre (Pittsburgh), Arizona Theatre Company, Playmakers Rep, The Alliance Theatre, Cleveland Playhouse, Ford’s Theatre, New Victory Theatre, The Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma, Antaeus Company, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Geva, Merrimack Rep, ZACH Theatre, Kansas City Rep, and New Shelter VG4 Theatre ( Mexico ). Also: Nevada Ballet, Ballet Austin, Oklahoma City Ballet, Kansas City Ballet, Royal Winnipeg, Hong Kong Ballet, Cincinnati Ballet, Colorado Ballet, Opera Boston, Central City Opera, Austin Lyric Opera. Director of Blast: The Music of Disney National tour of Japan. Visit: michaelraiford.myportfolio.com
Benjamin Gantose
Associate Scenic Design
Benjamin is thrilled to be making his CATF debut. He has designed lighting, sets, and projections for works spanning ballet and modern dance, scripted and devised theatre, musical theatre, opera, events and immersive installations. He is a Resident Designer at Cleveland Public Theatre, The Children’s Theatre of Cincinnati, and Sacramento Ballet. Recent and Upcoming: Annie (Lighting) at Zach Theatre; Septime Weber’s The Great Gatsby (Assoc. Design) Cincinnati Ballet, Kansas City Ballet; Sweeney Todd (Assoc. Design) Idaho Shakespeare; Kris and Martha (Scenery) B Street Theatre.
Lex Liang †
Costume Design
NYC/Off-Broadway: 50+ productions. Regional: Actor’s Theatre, Alliance Theatre, Asolo Rep, Cleveland Playhouse, Cincinnati Playhouse, Dallas Theatre, Denver Center, Geva Theatre, Goodman, Goodspeed, Guthrie, La Jolla Playhouse, Long Wharf, Old Globe, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Papermill Playhouse, Pasadena, Playhouse, Pioneer Theatre, Portland Stage, Portland Center Stage… www.LexLiang.com @MrLexLiang
Sydney Dufka Forchielli
Co-Costume Design
Sydney Dufka Forchielli is a visual storyteller and costume designer. She is interested in exploring the motivation of characters through the details in the clothing. Her work is rooted in research, and finding the silhouettes and shapes through sketching. Sydney believes art is a universal form of communication that is vital to humanity. Her designs have been seen regionally across the country. Sydney holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Costume Design from The Theatre School at DePaul University. Sydney is currently a Costume Design candidate in the Stage Design Program at Northwestern University.
Jeanette Oi-Suk Yew †
Lighting Design
CATF Debut. Broadway: Kimberly Akimbo, The Thanksgiving Play. Off-Broadway: The Connector (MCC), Wine in the Wilderness (CSC), Chinese Republicans (Roundabout), Richard II (Red Bull), Oratorio for Living Things (Signature), Manahatta (The Public), Regional: A Wrinkle in Time (Arena), Sally & Tom (Round House), Wizard of Oz (CTC), The Reservoir (DCPA, Alliance & Geffen), King Lear (STC), The Odyssey (A.R.T.). Other: Madame Butterfly (BLO), An American Soldier (PAC NYC), The March (Big Dance Theater), and David Byrne’s immersive Theater of the Mind (Goodman & DCPA). Awards: 2026 USA Fellow, Obie for sustained achievement in design, Henry Hewes Lighting Design Award, NEA/TCG. Jeanetteyew.com
Christian Frederickson
Sound Design
Christian Frederickson is a violist, composer, and sound designer specializing in performances with live music. At CATF: Side Effects May Include and Did My Grandfather Kill My Grandfather? Other theater: Trojan Women at BAM; The Thin Place at Playwright’s Horizons; American Moor at Tanglewood Music Center; 6 seasons of Humana Fest at Actors Theatre of Louisville. He was a founding member of Rachel’s, an instrumental band from Louisville, KY which released six albums on Touch and Go Records and toured widely in the US and Europe. Frederickson has been teaching at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology since 2019.
Esther Rose Chilson *
Assistant Stage Manager
Esther Rose Chilson is a graduate of Emerson College where she gained her BFA in Stage & Production Management. She is so excited to be back at CATF for her fourth summer! CATF Credits: Happy Fall (ASM), Tornado Tastes Like Aluminum Sting (ASM), The Overview Effect (PA); Off Broadway credits include: JESA (PA), Did You Eat? (PA) (The Public Theater); remini,scent (ASM) (Pa:nStori Productions); Regional Credits Include: B.R.O.K.E.N. code B.I.R.D. switching (PA), Songs for a New World (PA), Magic Treehouse (ASM) (Berkshire Theatre Group); Educational Credits Include: I Love XXX (Stage Manager), 16 Winters (Stage Manager), Cabaret (2nd ASM). Insta: @estherchilson
Deb Acquavella *
Stage Manager
CATF: 18 seasons, 33 productions dating back to 2005, most recently Kevin Kling: Unraveled. Broadway: Metamorphoses; Jane Eyre, The Musical; Master Harold… and the boys with Danny Glover. Opera: Boston Lyric Opera, 80th anniversary of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel in the Colonial Theatre; William Tell. Music: many events with Boston Symphony Orchestra and The Boston Pops. Theater: A Dream Like a Dream by Stan Lai, directed by Jay Scheib, at MIT; Ragtime, the Symphonic Concert with The Boston Pops at Symphony Hall; Kevin Kling: Unraveled and Spiritus / Virgil’s Dance at Merrimack Repertory Theatre; We Are The Land with the Mashpee Wampanoag Nation at ArtsEmerson; 15 seasons, 120 shows at Actors Theatre of Louisville; 4 seasons at Baltimore Center Stage; Playwrights Horizons; Manhattan Theatre Club; Huntington Theatre, etc. Recent: 19 years as Head of Stage and Production Management Program at Emerson College, since 2007.
McCorkle Casting, Ltd.
Casting Director
McCorkle Casting Ltd. is honored to continue its longstanding relationship with CATF, helping bring together actors, playwrights, directors, and producers in service of powerful storytelling. For more than four decades, the company has cast productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway, in regional theatres, and for film and television, with a commitment to discovering talent and fostering creative collaboration. Credits include Broadway productions such as On the Town, Amazing Grace, End of the Rainbow, and A Few Good Men; Off-Broadway productions including Tribes, Our Town, and Driving Miss Daisy; hundreds of regional theatre productions nationwide; and more than 100 film and television projects for HBO, Showtime, CBS, Disney, Hallmark, BET, and Paramount. Pat McCorkle has received an Emmy nomination and an Artios Award for excellence in casting. www.mccorklecasting.com
Shea-Mikal Green
Intimacy Director & Movement Coordinator
Shea-Mikal Green is an actor, director, and creator who holds an MFA in Devised Performance from Pig Iron School / University of the Arts in Philadelphia. Credits include work at The Kennedy Center, Studio Theatre, RepStage, Adventure Theatre, Chesapeake Shakespeare Company, Quintessence Theatre, FringeArts, Cumberland Theatre, and Maryland Ensemble Theatre, where she is a company member. She has developed and performed original work in the U.S. and internationally through residencies such as Cow House Studios in Wexford, Ireland and The Iron Factory in Philadelphia. Green is the Director of the Contemporary Theater Studies program at Shepherd University. www.shea-mikalgreen.com
Bradley Michalakis
Dramaturg
Bradley Michalakis is the Associate Artistic Director of Dramaturgy at the Alley Theatre in Houston, where he oversees the new work initiative, Alley All New. Before relocating to Houston Bradley worked as Director of Literary Development at the Foxboro Company, the producing office behind the recent Broadway productions of for colored girls… by Ntozake Shange, and John Leguizamo’s Latin History for Morons. His work as a dramaturg, playwright, and director has been seen at Contemporary American Theatre Festival, Alley Theatre, Theatre for a New Audience, The Acting Company, Resident Ensemble Players, Delaware Shakespeare Festival, Rec Room Arts, and Catastrophic Theatre.
*Actors’ Equity Association
†United Scenic Artists
‡Stage Directors and Choreographers Society