Limited Off-Broadway Engagement
December 1 - 23, 2023
Theatre Row
410 West 42nd Street, NYC
The Inheritance of a Long-Term Fault
written by Mêlisa Annis
directed by Vanessa Morosco
with staging and additional direction by Mêlisa Annis
While presenting the keynote at a high-profile conference, Me, a successful geologist in her field, asks her peers: what is our creation story? The Inheritance of a Long-Term Fault takes an explosive look at the generational impact of societal structures created by colonialism, and how these original sins continue to shape our world today; physically, linguistically, spatially, and spiritually. Interrelated scenes over space and time reveal the friction between what Me wants and what she’s inherited. Only a tectonic shift will allow her to hear the echoes from a mythological past, and explore new possibilities of what comes next.
Creative Team & Actors
MÊLISA ANNIS' plays have been developed and presented at and with BMG Music, Rosalind Productions, Primary Stages, Clutch Productions, Parity Productions, Rattlestick Theater, The Lark with Dorset Theater Festival at the Theresa Rebeck Writers Colony, Parsnip Ship, The New School, ESPA*Drills, The Lark, The National Arts Club NYC, The Playground Experiment, Tangent Theater, And ToTo Too Theatre Company, RAL, Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, and The Wales Millennium Centre. Fit For A King was illustrated and published by Fourth Wall Magazine, Aberfan, a short play for voices, was published by Clockhouse Literary Journal.
Personal essays and other writings have been published by Contemporary Theatre Review (October 2023), The Western Mail, American Scholar Magazine, Howlround, Cara Magazine and Salon.
TV and Commercial writing include; Jessy & Nessy (Amazon Studios & Jam Media), Trader Joe's Frequent Flyer segments (Bon Apètit), South Africa Tourism campaign (Condé Nast), commercial segments about NYC for the Accor Hotel group. Mêlisa has also been a script editor on numerous TV and film projects for BBC Wales and S4C.
Mêlisa was lead writer for award winning radio series For Spacious Skies, a twelve episode series awarded the True West Award, CO. Mêlisa's short play for zoom,"Beginnings" was awarded the Spirit of The Festival Award, 2021, Ireland. Mêlisa’s radio play Love Letters Home is currently in development (details coming soon).
Mêlisa is a frequent contributor to the BBC, BBC Wales, BBC Radio, Radio Cymru and S4C. Fun fact, Mêlisa was once a character in Welsh language soap opera Pobl Y Cwm. Mêlisa also teaches at the NYU Tisch in the Dramatic Writing program. She is a proud fluent Welsh speaker.
VANESSA MOROSCO § (she/her) is a New York based multi-hyphenate theatre practitioner who focuses on the intersectional spirit of collaboration through an ethical framework. As a director, she has created productions for several theatres, including the American Shakespeare Center, Harlem Shakespeare Festival, Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, Colorado Shakespeare Festival, Historic Cultch Theater (Vancouver), Gateway Playhouse, Playhouse on Park, The Tank, and Palm Beach Dramaworks. She is an ongoing collaborator with Clutch Productions in New York, and is deeply committed to developing new plays by women-identifying playwrights. She is currently developing and directing Kaytlin Bailey’s one-woman show Whore’s Eye View. Vanessa represents one half of the 50/50 SHAKESPEARE PROJECT, which seeks to create gender equity in the workplace of Shakespeare’s plays, and she directed the world premiere of Hamlet 50/50 at Shakespeare Notre Dame in 2023 (5050shakespeare.com). As the co-founder of iMPACT DRAMA, she consults for multinational corporations to create drama-based content for use in training and development, focusing on global diversity and inclusion, unconscious bias, power harassment, and cultural awareness. (impactdrama.net) Vanessa is a member of AEA, SDC, and holds an M.A. in Ethics from Yale University. (vanessamorosco.com)
staring
GINA FONSECA*
CHRISTIANNE GREIERT*
GABRA ZACKMAN*
and
CRAIG WESLEY DIVINO*
scenic and property design
JESSIE BONAVENTURE
costume design
IZZY FIELDS †
lighting design
ELIZABETH M. STEWART
sound design
ANGELA BAUGHMAN
intimacy director
JUDI LEWIS OCKLER
production stage manager
KRISTINE SCHLACHTER*
assistant stage manager
CHELSEY SCOTT
vocal consultant
SARAH MATTEUCCI
assistant line producer
LAURA SIMPSON
props assistant and house manager
OLIVIA MICHEL
* These Actors and Stage Manager are appearing courtesy of Actors’ Equity Association.
† The Designer is a member of United Scenic Artists, Local USA 829.
§ The Director is a member of the STAGE DIRECTORS AND CHOREOGRAPHERS SOCIETY, a national theatrical labor union.