nEW QUEER’S EVE

Conceived by Jason Phillips
Written by Abby Auman, Eli Hamilton, Mickey Poandl, and Jason Phillips
Directed by Dwight Chiles

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LEAD PLAYWRIGHT’S NOTE FROM JASON PHILLIPS

Each year I get excited for the holidays, especially Christmas and New Year’s. I love seeing classics like A Christmas Carol, Elf, and It’s a Wonderful Life in all of their stage and screen adaptations. I love holiday outings to see plays, movies, concerts, and Christmas lights. Yet, despite all this love for the season I haven’t always seen myself or my community fully represented in those theatrical outings. Don’t get me wrong, I am thankful we now get a holiday movie or two in the Hallmark genre (I’m looking at you Single All the Way) but I thought: why not add some more queer representation to the holidays? 

Hmmm…a holiday play, but is Christmas really where queer stories feel at home? It felt like New Year’s Eve was more representative of the queer community I came out in. High stakes, high drama, and usually a little relief from family tension made New Year’s a swell setting for an exploration of queer community. Maybe a bar, maybe in different decades, maybe staffed by one mysterious bartender acting as an anchor for the LGBTQ+ characters floating in and out as the years pass. I wanted to tell these stories from multiple perspectives in different times. So, I set out to enlist the talented group of writers who put the pieces together: Abby Auman, Mickey Poandl, and Eli Hamilton. They signed on to my concept and we initially set out to tell four separate stories, but as we worked our stories were linked by more than just location and the ever present Hal. 

These stories are separate but linked by our similarities and made exciting by our differences. They touch on some tough issues and difficult times in history but they all share a warmth and sharp sense of humor. I even added a prologue to give us a tongue in cheek look at the codes and signals we used to find each other in the past and a playful look at those films warning you of how deviant we are. Each playwright brings their own unique life experience to their work to tell a queer story. These stories represent just a tiny glimpse into the vast array of queer lives and experiences. I hope that no matter how you identify, no matter your sexual orientation or gender expression, you see a little of yourself in New Queer’s Eve. Happy New Year!

ABOUT THE CAST
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ABOUT THE PRODUCTION TEAM

ABBY AUMAN (Lighting Designer and Playwright) - Abby is the Technical Director of The Magnetic Theatre. She also works as a lighting designer in theaters all over WNC.

AMANDA BROWN (Scenic Designer) - I like making stuff with my friends.

DWIGHT CHILES (Director) - Dwight Chiles is excited to return to The Magnetic Theatre to book end their year! You may have seen them earlier this season in Happyland. Dwight is an Director/Actor/Designer in town and has worked with many companies all over WNC. Most recently, they directed The Tempest for Montford Park Players. Thanks for supporting The Magnetic and their effort to bring new works to life on stage.

KRISTI DEVILLE (Intimacy Coordinator and Choreographer) - Kristi DeVille has been working as a dance choreographer, director, and actor for the past 30 years. Locally, Kristi is the Resident Dance Choreographer and Social Media Manager for Montford Park Players, the Director of Movement for Different Strokes! Performing Arts Collective, an Artistic Associate for the Sublime Theatre, a company member of the Cardboard Sea, and is the Director of First Stage Youth Theatre, a program of the Madison County Arts Council. Kristi has taught at Warren Wilson College and Terpsicorps Academy of Dance. 

SARAH HAJKOWSKI (Dramaturgy) - Sarah Hajkowski is ecstatic to serve as dramaturg for New Queer’s Eve. She is a recent graduate from nearby Brevard College studying Theatre and English. Dramaturgy for NQE centers around the angles of uncovering some lesser-known queer history and making visible our LGBTQ+ forerunners with honor, affection, and in defiance of those who have striven against them. Excited by the constellatory nature of dramaturgy, Sarah also writes plays of their own, and dabbles in performance as seen in The Magnetic’s own One Act Play Festival in August 2023. Thanks to all for their energy and break those fabulous legs, cast!

ELI HAMILTON (Playwright) - Elias (Eli) Hamilton has spent an exorbitant amount of time doing theater and performing arts. They love every aspect of the art, but discovered a huge passion for writing in the last year largely thanks to New Queers Eve. After eleven years with the Moppets and other local companies, Eli took on writing alongside some amazing writers and humans, and learned tons. He looks forward to doing more of this writing thing in the future, and can’t wait to see what more this wonderful group of actors and crew will do! 

DAKOTA MANN (Stage Manager and Board Operator) - Dakota Mann is a local theatre artist within the WNC region, having worked on over 70 productions with theatres such as Haywood Regional Arts Theatre, Parkway Playhouse, Immediate Theatre Project, The Magnetic Theatre, and the Sublime Theater and Press, as well as performing overseas in Scotland at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. He received a B.A. in Drama from UNC – Asheville. This is Dakota’s thirteenth production with the Magnetic Theatre. Previous work with The Magnetic include Director of No More Waiting (as part of All Souls Cathedral’s 2022 Lenten Series), Everything Here is So Delicious (2022 One Act Play Festival) Three Rings, No Diamonds, and (Un)Scripted (2021 One Act Festival). Production credits include Stage Manager for The Frankenstein Rubrics, In the Middle of Nowhere, Kore, and The Sparrow and the Whippoorwill.

KAYREN MCKNIGHT (Props and Costume Designer) - Kayren McKnight had a wonderful four year adventure in Alaska, but now she is back! You can also see her work in Jeeves Takes a Bow at NC Stage and coming in February, Mary Poppins at Asheville School. 

JASON PHILLIPS (Lead Playwright) - Jason Phillips studied theatre at Southwestern University. He has worked in Austin, TX with the Rude Mechanicals and Vortex Theatre, and in Chicago with Lifeline Theatre. He has over 30 years experience as an actor, director, and writer. He co-wrote and directed something i cared about which The Magnetic presented on the Reed Creek Greenway in 2021. Recently, he directed the world premiere of Happyland and appeared on stage at Magentic as Uncle Ivill in The Splatter Play. He would like to thank his fellow playwrights for agreeing to join him in creating these queer tales and Dwight for agreeing to direct when it was still just a script-less concept. He’s super excited to be able to sit in the audience for this one with the awesome Cullen and Daphodil!

MICKEY POANDL (Playwright) - Mickey is thrilled to participate in his first Magnetic show! Since graduating American University with a degree in Theater Performance in 2013, Mickey has pursued a number of creative projects. They have directed plays and staged readings for the Capital Fringe Festival (The Conversion of Thais the Whore), the Kennedy Center Page to Stage Festival (Love Godfrey, Love George) and the Women's Voices Theater Festival. Mickey is a longtime arts critic (DC Theater Arts, Asheville Stages), co-founded the Asheville short form improv troupe Skipping to the Good Parts, and co-hosted the show Sweet Tea on Asheville FM. Earlier this year, Mickey made some TikToks and won a free trip to the "Masterclass of Happiness" in Finland, which was featured on ABC Nightline. They work in nonprofit communications and live in downtown Asheville with their sweet bobtail cat, Smokey Puss.

NICHOLE SUMPTER (Sound Designer) - Nichole Sumpter is excited for the opportunity to work with this wonderful cast and crew. Some of her favorite credits include: Tempest, All Shook Up, Death of a Salesman, Black Comedy, Children of Eden, Facility for Living, Hamlet, Lies, Newsies, Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, The Diary of Anne Frank, Three Musketeers, Treasure Island, Recycled Nuts, and Say Goodnight, Gracie.

SPECIAL THANKS TO…

Barbie Angell, Brian Kanutko, Kris Mann, and Amanda McLoughlin.

GALLERY
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BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Jason Phillips (he/him)
Josh Sullivan (he/him)
Eliza Heath (she/her)
George Awad (he/him)