production of FREEDOM’S LAST STAND
Immersive Promenade Journey into Extremism
Clara as Washington and Others
by Barry Rowell
dir. Mia Y. Anderson
Produced by Peculiar Works Project
Presented at Target Margin
May 29 – June 30, 2025

Launch of “SHATTERED: Artists Inspired by Artists”,
a night of art, words, and solidarity—honoring
the resilience and courage of Ukraine. 🇺🇦
curated Romanian-Canadian artist Oana Maria Cajal
dir. Joan Kane (La Mama)
prod. Mia Yoo (La Mama)
Romanian Cultural Institute in New York / ICR New York

Inspired by the vivid and stirring works of Romanian-Canadian visual artist Oana Maria Cajal, the book showcases poems by talented women poets from Ukraine, Romania, Canada, the UK, and the US, including names like Ana Blandiana, Cristina A. Bejan, Natalka Bilotserkivets, Magda Carneci, Adina Dabija, Carmen Firan, @Author: Catalina Florina Florescu, PhD, Ioana Ieronim, Nora Iuga, Olena Jennings, Lyudmyla Khersonska, Ali Kinsella, Iya Kiva, Nina Kossman, Oksana Maksymchuk, Ruth Margraff, Mihaela Moscaliuc, Dzvinia Orlowsky, Ksenia Rychtycka, Claudia Serea, Adela Sinclair, Sylvie Simmons, Vera Slywynsky-Sirota, Lesya Ukrainka, Lyuba Yakimchuk, and Katherine Young, among others. Their voices—together with Cajal’s powerful visuals—offer a tribute to resistance, resilience, and the hope for a peaceful future.

We are pleased to partner with the Ukrainian Institute of America in support of the launching event of “SHATTERED: Artists Inspired by Artists”, a visually stunning, deeply moving collection of poetry and artwork responding to the war in Ukraine. Featuring works by women poets from around the globe—including Ukraine, Romania, Canada, the UK, and the US—alongside evocative visuals by Romanian-Canadian artist Oana Maria Cajal, the book is both a lament and a call to action. The event, hosted by La Mama Community Arts Space, brings together compelling poetry readings, a striking exhibition of picto impulses by Oana Maria Cajal – first presented at RCI New York in 2024 -, and live performances that bridge cultures and voices in the name of solidarity. Editors and contributing poets like Cristina A. Bejan, Olena Jennings, Ruth Margraff, and Claudia Serea will take the stage, along with actress Carla Francesca, to honor the courage and resilience of the Ukrainians.

MAKING MARX
by Clara Francesca
dir. Guy Masterson

photo credit Arron Macnamara Photography et al

Guy Masterson TTI presents in conjunction with Wild Tongues, Clara Francesca’s MAKING MARX
More coming soon https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/making-marx

• “Creative force of director Guy Masterson and Clara Francesca have given us… such beauty captured that it belies the ugliness of trying to negate her spirit… with pace and precision… I was marvelling!” ~ Donald Stewart FRINGE REVIEW
• “Excellent, thought-provoking play, remarkably performed. Clara acts with amazing intensity and range. Raises questions (at least to me) as to why certain historical figures are taught to posterity and others, for example Jenny Marx, are left on the scrap heap of history.” ~ Jon Foster, Audience Testimonial
• “Absolutely stunning. This is one of the most unique and beautiful shows I’ve seen on the fringe, one I will very much remember. Clara is a breathtaking actress and creator. The show was very intelligent and powerful. It really makes you think and ask questions, and at the same time completely let go of trying to understand everything and let it wash over you. I am very much looking forward to seeing more of her work.” ~ Alice Maghnezi, Audience Testimonial
  
• Money talks at the Edinburgh Fringe Reviewer Matthew Partridge
  The best money-themed shows at the Edinburgh Festival: “Neglected female economists and thinkers have found themselves back in the spotlight in recent years, and Making Marx, written and performed by Clara Francesca, is a worthy addition to the genre. Francesca argues that Jenny, Karl Marx’s supposedly “dull and pretty” wife, deserves to be recognised as an important figure in her own right. She supported the author of Das Kapital financially and emotionally, but also served as his editor. Francesca’s intense performance makes a good case for looking at Jenny again, as well as providing a less than complimentary view of a man the show portrays as feckless and self-centred – “…the Victorian equivalent of a hipster”. (Assembly Rooms, Venue 20, 11.35am, ends 25 August).”
  https://moneyweek.com/spending-it/money-talks-at-the-edinburgh-fringe?s=09
• Fringe Review Reviewer Donald Stewart 2024
  Daring Work!
  “Francesca is in full flow… such superb ability to work with a voiceover whilst matching her response perfectly to the words spoken and attitudes taken by the disembodied voice shows acute skill… There is so much of great value in Making Marx, which is added to by the ability of Francesca to not just interact with it, but also get across the footlights and engage with the audience… the rebellion is marked with pace and precision – would expect no less from either artiste [Francesca & Masterson]. I was marvelling at the originality
  https://fringereview.co.uk/review/edinburgh-fringe/2024/making-marx/
• British Theatre Guide Reviewer Keith Mckenna 2024
  “Clara Francesca’s bold, imaginative, surreal provocation… You are intrigued”
  https://www.britishtheatreguide.info/reviews/making-marx-assembly-rooms-23582
• “We… highlighted the brilliance of her performance and clever writing, simplified the title and created Making Marx – the story of the woman and brains behind Karl Marx, without whom, we might not have the ideal of socialism to contrast the corrupt ideals of greedy Capitalism!”
  https://getyourcoatson.com/2024/07/03/edfringe-talk-making-marx/
• Recommended!
  https://fringereview.co.uk/review/edinburgh-fringe/2019/manifesting-mrs-marx/
• ★★★★ “This show never pauses in its imaginative, engaging, often disorientating performance. You are never quite sure where it is heading, or what will come next. It never lost my attention for a moment and had me talking to people about it for hours afterwards.”
  https://www.britishtheatreguide.info/reviews/manifesting-mrs-paradise-in-aug-18041

FREEDOM SUMMER
by Toby Armour
dir. Joan Kane

photo credit Jonathan Slaff

• FREEDOM SUMMER by Toby Armour to be Presented at Theater for the New City in June
  Hosted a Freedom Summer Talkback with Vickie Donaldson (As a youth during Freedom Summer, Vicki worked with the Congress on Racial Equality (C.O.R.E.), and with the Freedom Riders who came to her hometown of Quincy, Florida. She went on to graduate from Rutgers Law School, serve as Newark’s Director of Homeless Services, and as a lecturer at Rutgers University.) and King Downing (moderator) (King is producer and host of the Good Morning Nueva York radio show/podcast on WBAI 99.5/wbai.org. He is a human rights advocate, founder of the Human Rightrs-Racial Justce Center and an assistant professor at Rutgers University Law School.)
• Featured on WBAI
  Interviewed with Clara Francesca and Arianne Banda on Monday, June 5th 2023 (timestamp we start around 35 minutes)
• Featured on PBS’ ALL ARTS Dispatch
  Suspenseful “Freedom Summer” Brings Civil Rights Movement to Stage
• Featured  on NYC VIBE
  “Freedom Summer,” a suspenseful play by Toby Armour at Theater for the New City
• ‘Freedom Summer’ tells story of key chapter in civil rights history June 22, 2023 by Claude Solnik
  https://thevillagesun.com/freedom-summer-tells-story-of-key-chapter-in-civil-rights-history

THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS
adapted & dir by Leo Lion

THE CELEBRATION (CHEKHOV)
ensemble devised with Clara Francesca, Broderick Ballantyne, Sophie Traub, Ali Kennedy Scott, Tim Carmello, The Chekhov Vaudevillettes!
THREE SISTERS (CHEKHOV)
directed by Maggie Cino, produced by Obvious Volcano, NYITA: Outstanding Revival of a Play, nominee
“When Chekhov works, it’s magic . . Cino’s production does an admirable job of bringing the audience into this world of the idle rich. The cast’s performances mine the often-overlooked comedy inherent in Chekhov, evoking an Arrested Development circa pre-revolutionary Russia .” – Time Out New York (Three Sisters)

Creative Reel

Archive Reel Australia

Killer Character Reel

Thriller Character Reel