ZACHARY ELKIND | work samples

Shakespeare’s
RICHARD II

Richard II / Willoughby / Second Gardener / Duchess of York: Susannah Perkins
Bolingbroke / Green / Ross / Gardener: Rajesh Bose
Mowbray / Aumerle / Bushy / Northumberland: Samanthia Nixon
John of Gaunt / Bagot / York / Hotspur: Annabel Capper

production stage manager: Rebecca Wilson
producer: Ali Sousa
costume designer: Alyssa Korol
lighting designer: Celia Frey
covid safety manager: Joana Tsuhlares

photos by Nina Goodheart

This production premiered at in NYC as the inaugural show by my company the Enemies.
It was later remounted at Luna Stage in West Orange, NJ (Ari Laura Kreith, AD) with the following cast: Giuliana Carr, Nathan Darrow, Darin F. Earl II, and Gabby Policano. The PSM was Michele Correggio; the lighting designer was Cameron Filepas; and the production manager was Courtney Labossiere.

PRESS:

“Taut, compelling, inventive […] a trail-blazing production […] What makes this powerful investigation of the dangers of unchecked power work so well is the vision of director Elkind and costume designer Alyssa Korol. Performed in the round on a stage adorned only by a floor circle of flowers , four talented actors […] switch roles easily by donning sunglasses, hats and knee pads, often while turning on a dime from one character to another.” — NJ Arts Maven

“Hits you like a whirlwind […] With its speed, its energy and its unconventional staging, this is a consistently engaging production — one that should be applauded by Shakespeare aficionados, but that also could serve as a good introductory Shakespeare experience.” —New Jersey Arts

MARY STUART

by Friedrich Schiller
adapted by Rachel Vail
from the translation by Joseph Mellish

This play emerged from the question it felt like a lot of the theater world had all been asking ourselves for a while: how do you make theater when you’re trapped in your apartment? And one answer we came to was, of course, make your apartment a theater. What if, we thought, we could get a couple people over to my actual Brooklyn fourth-floor walkup apartment and do a play in there? And then film each act of the play in a single take, so it feels like a live theatrical event?

And that’s when we thought of MARY STUART. The play is grappling with national questions while resolutely focused on the personal scale: is it possible to be a “good” ruler? can power be virtuous? or does being in charge inherently lead to abuses of power? and what is the cost of striving to be good in an inherently flawed political system?

Elizabeth / Hannah / O’Kelly: Shirine Babb
Mary / Talbot / Bellievre: Violeta Picayo
Mortimer / Burleigh / Melvil: Simon Schaitkin
Leicester / Paulet / Davison: Shaun Taylor-Corbett

Music by Hayden Kline
Lighting by Ezra Garey Levine

Part of Bedlam’s 2021 Virtual Season

PRESS

Audacious […] This “Mary Stuart,” adapted by Rachel Vail from the translation by Joseph Mellish, works a bold contrast between the aureate language and the home-cooked D.I.Y. vibe of the production, which has the same playful quality the scrappy and always inventive Bedlam is known for […]

The four actors give generous performances, directed by Zachary Elkind with a snappiness that allows for each to contain multitudes: speedy, minute costume changes (a scarf, a pair of glasses, a blazer, a baseball cap) create the illusion of a whole English court without even the briefest interruption of a scene.

— The New York Times

JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR

Inspired by the York Mystery Plays, Maggie Rogers, and the natural beauty of Maine, this production moved throughout Ghostlight Theater Camp — from a campfire singalong to the makeshift Golgotha at the top of the hill. The audience followed the guitar-playing company as the story progressed and the sun set — we equipped the entire crowd with flashlights, passing through every space on camp (the Last Supper in the dining tent; watching the Pharisees through the windows of the rehearsal studios; Jesus’ arrest by the garbage cans). With stripped-down, acoustic arrangements and kinetic, action-based choreography blurring the line between performer and audience, the production was a ritual as much as a musical, keeping the spirit of the pre-show rendition of “Imagine” by the fire alive through the whole journey.