1 CITY, 5 BOROUGHS, 17 DAYS, 55 EVENTS
Little Amal is a 10-year-old refugee from war-torn Syria. She is also a 12-foot puppet who has traveled 5,000 miles across Turkey and Europe to the UK in search of her mother. On her journey, she’s been welcomed by almost a million adults and children. Now, she comes to New York City in search of her Uncle Samir.
She will be welcomed by hundreds of artists, cultural organizations, community groups, schools and colleges in all 5 boroughs. The whole city is invited to take part in her 17-day traveling festival of art and hope.
Time Out New York’s Year in Review: The five best art exhibits we saw in 2022
The Process is a devised theater project based on Franz Kafka's The Trial and the experiences of immigrant women in the U.S. The piece juxtaposes the story of Josef K., arrested without explanation on his birthday, against the bureaucratic systems controlling immigration today. By alternating scenes from the novel and interviews with the cast, The Process highlights the human cost of migration and displacement with Kafkaesque humor and birthday cake.
Concept & Direction - Danica Selem
Script - Michael Landes, Eugenia Manwelyan, & Danica Selem after Kafka
Production Stage Manager - Eszter Zador
Producer - Cristina Gerla
Lighting Design - Shane Hennessy
Projection Design - Vivienne Shaw
Created with Ino Badanjak, Andrea Azomoza, N'dack Fleming, Katya Golvin, Mehaka Luintel, Kyra Moskowitz & Amita Sharma
The Theatre @ Schapiro, Columbia University - 2023
2030. A mother and her child tread water with a delivery person in a flooding Greenwich Village apartment during a category six hurricane.
2060. A group of rogue individuals struggle to find new identities and homes in the wreckage of once familiar landscapes.
2090. The firstborn of a self-governed settlement questions whether to follow his own will or the will of his people.
It Will Rise Soon Enough is a cross-generational work of speculative theatre that examines how we might be forced to rethink our relationships to labor and capital as it pertains to our identities as we face increasingly dramatic changes to our climate.
Playwright - Fiona Gorry-Hines
Director - Victoria Gruenberg
Assistant Director - Rachel S. Bass
Production Stage Manager - Gianna Durante
Dramaturg - Dylan Gurrera
Producer - Cristina Gerla
Scenic Design - Josh Oberlander
Lighting Design - Liz Schweitzer
Costume Design - Sofia Kapur
Sound Design - Caroline Eng
Projection Design - Vivienne Shaw
Cast - Lilla Brody, Maya Carter, Bodhi Foster, Sina Pooresmaeil, Logan Rozos, Meagan Sisler, Jules Talbot & Nick Turturro
Lenfest Center for the Arts, Columbia University - 2022
Based on Anna Maria Ortese’s Il mare non bagna Napoli
The Sea Does Not Reach Naples is a lively representation of everyday life in post-WWII Naples, Italy. In the building of the Granili – a grotesque emblem of Naples in the 50’s, the writerly persona of Ortese guides us through a child’s experience of receiving her first pair of glasses, a woman's inner struggle upon the life-altering return of her lost love, and a melancholic hope to hold together a family broken by the war. Traveling with Ortese in the inferno-esque reality of post-war Neapolitan society, we experience in each story the painful grace that evokes the cuore pensante (ever-thinking heart) within ourselves.
Concept & Direction - Elena Vannoni
Adaptation - Elena Vannoni & Marissa Holland
Producer - Cristina Gerla
Cast - Daniel Corica, Theodorus Elfaizy-Phillips, Emily Kleypas, Kelsey Malanowski, Valerie O’Hara, Luciana Siracusano, Jules Talbot, Octavio Lahiri Vourvoulias & Camilla Winter.
The Theatre @ Schapiro, Columbia University - 2022
The Group follows six men in a childhood sexual abuse survivor support group. Over the course of eight weeks, they embark on the healing process with unconventional exercises, puzzles, and LEGO bricks. Digging into their past to mend themselves isn’t easy, but each is held together by the community they create.
Playwright - DeAndre Short
Director - Josh Lak Kim
Lead Producer - Cristina Gerla
Lighting Designer - William Brown
Cast - Jesse Dylan Baxter, Ethan Fox, Danny Houk, Devin Patrick Irwin, Josh Lak Kim, Cito Mena & Wesley Tiso
Lenfest Center for the Arts, Columbia University - 2023
On February 21, 1965, two Bengali brothers have just opened a Halal butcher shop in Harlem. They have been hired to cater an event at the Audubon Ballroom at which the keynote speaker will be rising star of the Civil Rights Movement, Malcolm X. Inspired by the documentary "In Search of Bengali Harlem," The Halal Brothers is a layered portrait of Harlem in the 1960s, the cultural clashes and harmonies between its residents, and the push-pull immigrants feel between their new lives and old lives — all against the backdrop of this very pivotal day in Harlem and American history.
Playwright - Alaudin Ullah
Director - Goldie Patrick
Producers - Cristina Gerla & Dani Turner
Production Stage Manager - Mel Sparks
Lighting/Projection Design - Natasha Rotondaro
Costume Design - Liv Rigdon
Sound Design - Lucky Bommireddy
Cast - Adebowale Adebiyi, Sanskar Agarwal, Sitesh Dhar, Katherine George & Johnny Rivera
The Theatre @ Schapiro, Columbia University - 2021
The ongoing project debuts with nine different stories based at specific coordinates around Los Angeles, using existing locations as inspiration for fully produced aural journeys. Audiences can experience them in-person, on-the-go, or from the comfort of home. Keep an eye out for more content including films, 360 video, live events and other surprises.
https://www.coeurage.org/nomad-project
Created by Mark Jacobson
Produced by Cristina Gerla, Mark Jacobson, Katie Pelensky & Joseph V. Calarco
AR Coordination by Joseph V. Calarco & Katelyn Gault
Theatre Development Fund’s Passport Series and Marketing Assistant. Designed and administered TDF’s subsidized ticket reporting structure “Passport Series” for NY State’s New York City Musical and Theatrical Production Tax Credit Program. Created graphics and copy for biweekly marketing newsletters for TDF’s Passport Series.
Associate Company Manager for Bard Summerscape’s King Arthur and Bard Music Festival Nadia Boulanger and Her World.
Interim Museum Manager for Santa Monica History Museum.
After graduating from UCLA’s Ray Bolger Musical Theater Program, Cristina performed and collaborated with prominent equity and non-equity theatre companies in the Southern California region, including La Jolla Playhouse, Center Theatre Group, South Coast Repertory, Pasadena Playhouse, East West Players, A Noise Within, LAPhil, Independent Shakespeare Company, and PCPA Theaterfest. A three-time nominee for LA Stage Alliance’s Ovation Awards and LA Stage Alliance Ovation Voter from 2016 – 2019. Member of Actor’s Equity.
"Gerla has a stillness and emotional quality that recalls the young Lili Taylor" – LA Times
"Cristina Gerla, vulnerable perfection with rafter-reaching pipes" – StageSceneLA
