What Do You Want To Be When You Give Up
A Play About Letting Go
A rehearsal between two actors turns into explosions of angst, politics, literature, motherhood, forgiveness, and love — with snatches of song, a handful of dances, rants about life, and impassioned appeals to both the moon and Jane Austen.
Upcoming Performances
Mark O’Donnell Theater, Actors Fund Art Center
Brooklyn, NY – Tentatively scheduled for April 2021
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Admission is FREE (donations welcomed), but seating is limited.
Cast and Creative Team
Billy Siegenfeld
Actor, Playwright, Director, Choreographer
Jordan Batta
Actor
Dawn Mora
Assistant Director
Tucker DeGregory
Assistant Director
Peter Anderson
Lighting and Sound Designer
Joshua Weckesser
Technical Director, Production Stage Manager
Suzanne Scott
Producer
Billy Siegenfeld and Jordan Batta have so much talent and electricity that it seems to spill out into the audience. Siegenfeld’s play, What Do You Want to Be When You Give Up?, is both a powerful and intimate piece that combines tender acting, beautiful singing, and explosive dance. To see two performers so magnificently attuned to each other is a delight. As the story unfolds, the drama grows from a simple disagreement in a rehearsal room to a thrilling exploration of what it means to be an artist in a world that seems to only get bigger and bigger. The play works its magic in a subtle and revelatory way; as the performers flit between delicate dances and riotous eruptions of funk and tap, so too does the conversation shift between the hilarious banalities of suburban life and the extraordinary potential for art to heal the broken parts of ourselves, especially in dark times. Do not miss an opportunity to see this show!
[This play] dares to tell – no, show – the struggles, frustrations, and needs of a woman trying desperately to reconcile her artistic self with her role as a mother and wife. I immediately thought to myself, “I know her.”…It is their constant moving in and out of sync with one other, as all of us do with our colleagues, friends, lovers, spouses, and children, that makes this play both powerful and refreshing.
Audience Reviews
The piece’s greatest strength lies in its transparency; these actors know what they’re talking about because they live it. ‘What Do You Want to Be When You Give Up?’ reads as a timely meditation on hopelessness and isolation, ultimately suggesting that we’re never as alone as we may feel.
Producers
Executive
Nancy Gidwitz
Ed and Helen Nicoll
Managing
Bernie & Sally Dobroski
Anna Marie Panlilio
Associate
Paul Edwards
William Griffith
Joy Javitz
Ray and Jane Neufeld
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