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 Brent Rollins
La MaMa Staff: Filippo Capitani, Aaron Conover, Pearse Redmond
Special Thanks to Zac Crowell, Pamela Grossman, Theresa Kraft at Howland Cultural Center, Greg Lahkan, Janine Papio and Think Big Picture, Drew Prochaska, Brent Rollins, Alex Tuller and Drake Creative, Mia Yoo.
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Bios
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.
Lisa McGinn (Production Stage Manager) Recent credits: Rheology (Misha Chowdhury, Bushwick Starr); A Knock on the Roof (NYTW, Oliver Butler, dir); Geoff Sobelle’s FOOD, HOME and The Object Lesson; On Beckett: An Evening with Bill Irwin (tour); Underground Railroad Game (Jennifer Kidwell, Scott R. Sheppard); Those with 2 Clocks (Wilma Theatre), Ocean Filibuster and How to Build a Forest (PearlDamour/ART); Detroit Red (ArtsEmerson); Love (Alexander Zeldin, Park Ave Armory) Compass and Sleep (Ripe Time Theatre); Chimera and The Wholehearted (Stein | Holum Projects); This is Reading (Lynn Nottage, Kate Whoriskey); LA Dance Project (European tour); Jacuzzi and The Light Years (The Debate Society); Revolt. She said. Revolt Again and Winners and Losers (Soho Rep).
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 (Lighting Designer) Mary (as her friends call her) is a NYC based Lighting Designer and Programmer. She is the Resident Lighting Designer of Born Dancing, Toured with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre as their Assistant Lighting Director in 2023. Four Go Wild in Wellies at The New Victory Theater (Designer) We Don’t Need the Sea to Drown at National Sawdust (Designer and Programmer) Rheology at The Bushwick Starr (Programmer) Mary spreads her time around NYC working at Bric Arts, British International School, National Sawdust, Alvin Ailey and New 42nd. She resides in Brooklyn with her dog, Henry.
Lola Basiliere (Sound Designer) is a sound designer for live performance based in New York City. Recent work: Romeo & Juliet (Catskill Mountain Shakespeare), Seagullmachine (GreenSpace), Friday Night Rat Catchers (Assistant, NYLA), I’m Repeating Myself (Associate, The Brick), Radio Downtown (Associate, 59E59), Stop Kiss (The Chain), Where Women Go (HERE Arts), Anxiety is the Dizziness of Freedom (NYU), Joan of Arc in a Supermarket in California (Associate, The Tank), Weasel Festival (The Brick). Upcoming: Shell (Edinburgh Fringe Festival). BFA: NYU lolabasiliere.com
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.