2015 Year in review
A lot can happen in a year, especially in Queens. Here’s a look back at what we accomplished in 2015:
Featured Artists
We featured ten new artists on our popular Featured Artists section. Click here to read up on their reasons for loving Queens and their favorite places to eat and drink.
Matthew J. Nichols (Astoria)
Tara Pacheco (Jackson Heights)
Katharine Lerner (Astoria)
Don Castro (Sunnyside)
Criena House (Elmhurst)
Kim Wong (Woodside)
Emily Herzlin (Astoria)
Kristopher Wettstein (Astoria)
January 2015
In January we featured a sold out Launch Pad reading of Kristine Reyes’ newest play LILY IN LOVE
March 2015
We continued our successful Launch Pad Reading series with Tyler Rivenbark’s new play THE HYDRA
June 2015
Going into our third year of producing an audience favorite, our night of excerpts from the Propulsion Lab ALL SYSTEMS GO: MISSION 3 was a huge success! Click here for more photos
Rehearsal for PERSEPHONE by Lisa Huberman
Propulsion Lab members (L-R) : Tyler Rivenbark, Jonathan Alexandratos, Tori Keenan-Zelt, Kristine M. Reyes, Lisa Huberman and co-founder Kari Bentley-Quinn
Cast of All Systems Go: Mission 3
August 2015
Co-founder Laura Pestronk peeking through one of the sculptures
The Poetry in Stone crew led by Emily Herzlin (far left)
Emily Herzlin leads a group discussion about mindfulness and writing
We continued our popular mindful writing series (lead by Emily Herzlin) with POETRY IN STONE at the Noguchi museum in Astoria.
October 2015
This year we held our first ever fundraiser! The evening was hosted at Sek’end Sun. There was lots of fun and lots of raffle prizes awarded.
Dave Shih wins the coveted prize of getting a character named after him in co-founder Kari Bentley-Quinn’s next play
Shaun Fauntleroy mingles with co-founders Kari Bentley-Quinn and Meredith Packer
Calling out raffle winners
Coordinating raffle entries
Co-founders (L-R): Meredith Packer, Kari-Bentley-Quinn, Don Nguyen, and Laura Pestronk
November 2015
And because we are crazy, we decided to hold another Launch Pad reading barely two weeks after our fundraiser! Our final reading for 2015 was Jonathan Alexandratos’ new play DUCK
Colleen Wilson and Scott Pestronk play sheep in DUCK
The cast watches Jennifer Tsay transform into Carl Duckett, a teenaged duck
Ava Eisenson and Jennifer Tsay
Jennifer Tsay and Mariana Newhard
November also kept us busy with a second reading of LILY IN LOVE, hosted by the New American Voices reading series at Queens Theatre.
December 2015
We closed out the year with a holiday party for our Propulsion Lab playwrights!
Kristine Reyes shows off her new mug!
Everyone swarmed around Kristine and Jason’s newest addition: Keilani
Scott Casper shows off his presents
Co-founder Laura Pestronk and Mariana Newhard
Mrinalini Kamath shows off her present
Co-founder and party host Meredith Packer shows off her beautiful cheese wheel.
Mission to (dit)Mars was created by four people who love Queens and it has been sustained throughout the year by all of you. Thank you so much for making 2015 such a productive and artistically rewarding year for us. We couldn’t have done it without you! We’ve managed to accomplish all of this with very little money. If you’d like to support us, click here to find out the best way to do so!
