Written by Steve Burns & Matthew Freeman
Directed by Matthew Freeman
Featuring Steve Burns as Himself

Produced by Mechanical Raven Productions

Projections by Taylor Edelle Stuart

Sound by Lola Basiliere

Lighting by Maryam Sweirki

Production Management by Lisa McGinn

ALIVE Staff: Robert Feffer, Chloé Hayat; Press Rep: Emily Owens PR; Graphic Design by
La MaMa Staff: Filippo Capitani, Aaron Conover, Pearse Redmond

Special Thanks to Greg Lahkan, Pamela Grossman, Theresa Kraft at Howland Cultural Center, Drew Prochaska, Mia Yoo, Drake Creative, Think Big Picture

For mental health resources, please visit NAMI or call 1-800-950-NAMI (6264) or Text NAMI to 62640  or send a message to helpline@nami.org.

Help in a crisis is always available when you text, call, or chat 988 to connect with the 988 Lifeline.

Steve Burns is best known as the original host of Blue’s Clues, where he spent seven surreal years solving mysteries with a cartoon dog and a talking mailbox. Then he disappeared. On purpose. Since then, Steve has released indie rock albums, toured with The Flaming Lips, wrote the theme song for Young Sheldon, been a host and storyteller for The Moth and gone massively viral by quietly breaking the internet with a heartfelt message to a generation of now-grown-up viewers.

Matthew Freeman (Director) is a New Dramatists alum, where he proudly received the Joe A. Callaway Award. MacDowell Colony Fellow. Awarded the 2021 Kesselring Prize. His plays and monologues have been published by Samuel French, Applause, Smith & Kraus, NYTE, and Playscripts. Plays include The Ask (Drama Desk Nominee), Silver Spring (Kesselring Prize), That Which Isn't, Bluebeard, When is a Clock, The Listeners (Nominee: Best Production - Performance Art: New York Innovative Theatre Awards 2015), and Why We Left Brooklyn. His audio pieces, with David Greenspan, Jessi D. Hill, Moira Stone and others, have been a part of the HearNow Festival, New Dramatists Active Listening, Atlanta Fringe Radio, and released as podcasts by Theater Accident. Freeman is a graduate of Emerson College. He divides his time between Brooklyn and the Western Catskills with his wife, the magical author Pam Grossman. https://www.matthewfreemanwriter.com/

Mechanical Raven Productions was founded by Megan E Carter in 2024. Megan is a creative producer and dramaturg, who most recently led SITI Company, an award-winning theater ensemble, through a comprehensive legacy plan and finale season. Before joining SITI Company, Megan was the Producing Director of CalArts Center for New Performance in Los Angeles, where she produced shows with Polish director, Natalia Korczakowska; acclaimed Chinese director, Stan Lai; and Roger Guenveur Smith; at venues like REDCAT, the Huntington Gardens, the BRIC, the Wuzhen Festical, and Małopolska Garden of Arts in Krakow. She was Associate Artistic Director of WP Theater for 7 years where she led the Lab for Directors, Playwrights, and Producers. She has worked with Ripe Time, SITI Company, the Rude Mechanicals, Classic Stage Company, and TerraNova Collective.

Lola Basiliere

Chloé Hayat (Assistant Director) is a Lebanese-American playwright, dramaturg, and producer. Her work has been seen and developed as a part of Noor Theatre, The SWANA Writers’ Co-Op at Playwright’s Horizons and New York Theatre Workshop, Clubbed Thumb’s Early Career Writer’s Group, Dixon Place, Space on Ryder Farm, The Flea, The Fled Collective, Theater Accident, Ithaca College, Manhattan Film Institute, Young Playwrights Inc., and SUNY Purchase. She has stage managed and assisted hundreds of readings, workshops, and productions at New Dramatists, Clubbed Thumb, The Brick, SUNY Purchase, The Flea, Noor Theatre and the Howland Cultural Center. She currently serves as the Administrative Director of the SWANA Writers’ Co-Op at New York Theatre Workshop. She’s also a professional makeup artist, an amateur baker, and an aspiring burlesque performer.

Taylor Edelle Stuart (Video Designer). As Designer: Off-Broadway: Millennials are Killing Musicals (Out of the Box),  My Cousin Nelu is Not Gay (Ars Nova), Self Defined Circuits (HERE), RANSOM (Pinkhouse Productions), Orlando (Columbia Stages), among others.  Regional/Tour: The Outsiders (La Jolla Playhouse), Sunday in the Park with George (Santa Fe Playhouse), R.E.S.P.E.C.T. (Right Angle Entertainment), A Doll’s House (The Wallace Theater), The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime (Connecticut Rep).  Associate & Assistant Video/ Projection Design: Broadway: Floyd Collins, Water For Elephants.  Off-Broadway: Here There are Blueberries (New York Theater Workshop, McCarter, Wallis), Becky Nurse of Salem (Lincoln Center). Ballet: Crime and Punishment (American Ballet Theater).  Regional: Billie Jean (Chicago Shakespeare Theater).  Additionally, Taylor directs films, music videos, and plays. Film credits as director: Boy Shorts (2021), You Really Like Me! (2025). Proud member USA 829. ig: @tayloredelle

Maryam Sweirki

Bios