The Motor Company To Present RIVER WATCHERS, A New Play In A Canoe On Newtown Creek

The Motor Company presents limited run of RIVER WATCHERS created by Dina Vovsi, Dan Caffrey & Jens Rasmussen, running October 19-29 on Newtown Creek.

It's the near future and Silt and Marsh are embarking on a mission to save Newtown Creek. Are you willing to help? Be ready to paddle and persevere for this site-specific play in a 14-seat canoe on the water.

Conceived by director and theatermaker Dina Vovsi, and created in collaboration with playwright Dan Caffrey and performer and canoe consultant Jens Rasmussen, RIVER WATCHERS is a site-specific, journey-based theatrical experience on a 14-seat Langley canoe in Newtown Creek inspired by the waterway’s environmental challenges and resilience, and is being presented in partnership with the North Brooklyn Community Boathouse in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Audience members will board a 29-foot Langley canoe, which can accommodate up to 14 paddlers. In order for the play to move, the boat must move, and the audience - an essential part of the story - must work together to paddle.

A dangerous explosion in 1950 was the first indication of a massive oil spill in Newtown Creek. Since 1978, approximately 12.9 million gallons of oil have been recovered from its waters and the soils beneath Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Named a Superfund site in 2010, the Creek's cleanup has been delayed by the EPA to 2032.

Performances will take place on Thursday, October 19 at 8:30pm, Friday, October 20 at 7pm & 8:30pm, Saturday, October 21 at 7pm, Sunday, October 22 at 7pm, Thursday, October 26 at 7pm, Friday, October 27 at 7pm & 8:30pm, Saturday, October 28 at 7pm, and Sunday, October 29 at 7pm. Audience members will check in at the Greenpoint Beer & Ale Co. (1150 Manhattan Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11222). Restrooms will be available before and after the show. The closest subway station is the Greenpoint Avenue G. Admission is pay-what-you-can and tickets can be reserved in advance at www.themotorcompanynyc.com/river-watchers. 

The cast will feature Jens Rasmussen (Drama League nominated American Dreams with Working Theater; Underland at 59 E59) and Amanda Bruton (International tour of The Addams Family Musical with Stage Manager Emma Sonricker. 

Dina Vovsi (Creator/Director) (she/her/hers) is a New York-based director and theatermaker. She is a member of the 2022-2024 WP Theater Directors’ Lab and The New Georges Jam, and is a 2023 Brooklyn Arts Council Grantee and Puffin Foundation Grantee for RIVER WATCHERS. She has directed and developed new work with The Civilians, New Georges, Working Theater, Cape Cod Theatre Project, The Orchard Project, Dartmouth VoxFest, The Motor Company, and more. A New Georges Affiliated Artist, Dina was a member of the 2022-2023 Roundabout Directors Group, a 2022 & 2023 Brooklyn Arts Council SU-CASA Grantee, a 2021 Brooklyn Arts Council Grantee for the collaborative soundwalk EXITS, a Robert Moss Directing Fellow at Playwrights Horizons, a member of The Civilians’ R&D Group, the recipient of an SDC Foundation Observership, a member of the Lincoln Center Directors’ Lab, an O’Neill National Directors Fellowship finalist, and a Mass MoCA Assets for Artists Grantee. With co-creator Liba Vaynberg, she is a Working Theater 5 Boroughs 1 City Initiative commission recipient for THE BLUE PARTS, a play about the intersection of the Russian-speaking and Pakistani immigrant communities in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, which was awarded a 2023 NYSCA Grant. As an associate/assistant director, Dina has worked on Broadway, off-Broadway, and regionally with Roundabout, Playwrights Horizons, Spoleto Festival USA, WP Theater, Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, Ma-Yi, and more. Dina is a frequent guest director at universities, working with students at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, Rutgers University’s Mason Gross School of the Arts, Fairleigh Dickinson University, and Long Island University. She currently teaches directing at Playwrights Horizons Theater School at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. Born in Riga, Latvia, Dina immigrated to the United States from the former Soviet Union as a child in one of the major waves of Soviet Jewish migration. www.dinavovsi.com

Dan Caffrey (Creator/Playwright)  is a playwright, musician, and pop-culture critic who graduated from UT Austin's M.F.A. Playwriting program in 2020. Before moving to Brooklyn, he taught playwriting at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta. He's been a three-time O'Neill Finalist and six-time Semi-Finalist, Finalist for Princeton University and The Civilians' Next Forever project, Jerome Fellowship Semi-Finalist, shortlisted for the Alpine Fellowship's Theatre Prize, Semi-Finalist for the Princess Grace Awards, Semi-Finalist for The Civilians' R&D Group, Resident Artist at Tofte Lake Center, M.F.A. Scholar at the Sewanee Writers' Conference, and his work has been published in several anthologies by Smith & Kraus. His plays have recently been developed/produced by Think Tank Theatre, the Atlantic, Concord Theatricals, Hot Playwright Summer, The Workshop Theater, The Orchard Project, American Records, Mixily Presents, Greenbrier Valley Theatre, JOOK, Jarrott Productions, Kitchen Dog Theater, Hot Kitchen Collective, Genesis Ensemble, and UCF's Pegasus PlayLab. Dan also co-hosts The Losers' Club: A Stephen King Podcast and Halloweenies: A Horror Franchise podcast, in addition to recording music with Mae Shults under the name Methodist Hospital. Dean of American Rock Critics Robert Christgau hailed their debut album, Giants, as one of the best of 2018.

Jens Rasmussen (Creator/Performer/Canoe Consultant) is an award-winning actor, fight/movement designer, and theatre-maker. He is incredibly proud of his work in world premiers and ensemble-created productions such as the Drama League Nominated American Dreams. His work has also been seen at 59 East 59, La Mama, HERE, Know Theatre of Cincinnati, Studio Theatre, Folger Shakespeare Theatre, Cleveland Public, and many others. As an activist, he has built theatrical, headline-capturing actions for national and local movements like Save Bushwick Inlet Park, which forever changed the NYC map. He serves on the NYC Dept of Health’s Community Advisory Board for the Citywide Doula Initiative, is a founding board member, canoe instructor, and trip leader with the North Brooklyn Community Boat House, and is Co-Creative Director at Bechdel Project, a feminist arts incubator. Learn more at www.jensrasmussen.info

Amanda Bruton (Performer) is an NYC based actor-writer-comedian. She has said words on several TV shows including FBI, Manifest, OITNB and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. For awhile she was best known for playing Grandma Addams on the International tour of The Addams Family Musical. But now, her original sketch comedy character, Connie "Big Ballz" Bumbaloni has over 25K followers on TikTok which means she is fractionally famous in some parts of Jersey. She is currently writing and developing the comedic podcast, Preggo My Lesbo, about her journey to becoming a queer parent. Follow @theamandabruton on Instagram for updates.

The North Brooklyn Community Boathouse is a non-profit, volunteer-run community organization. Their mission is to enable access to the waterways of NYC for its residents and thus promote human-powered boating and environmental restoration. https://nbcboathouse.org/

The Motor Company is a Queens-based theater company dedicated to creating and producing site-responsive new plays that are accessible and community-oriented. Their aim is to heighten our relationships to our city and surroundings by using public spaces as the impetus for storytelling and theatrical events. www.themotorcompanynyc.com 

River Watchers is sponsored, in part, by the Greater New York Arts Development Fund of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, administered by Brooklyn Arts Council (BAC). 

River Watchers is made possible with funds from the Statewide Community Regrants Program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature and administered by Brooklyn Arts Council. River Watchers is also made possible with support from The Puffin Foundation. 

Actors and Stage Manager appear courtesy of the Actors’ Equity Association.