Acting alumna Anya Banerjee ’20 and Playwriting alumnus Steven Gaultney ’11 both participated in The Will of the City, a public art piece going up alongside Theatre for a New Audience's upcoming season from September 27 through November 21.
The Will of the City features the world of over a dozen NYC writers who each submitted s a sonnet based on one of Shakespeare’s plays. The sonnets are performed on the streetside and outdoor screens at Polonsky Shakespeare Center on a bi-weekly basis.
Gaultney’s work, inspired by King Lear, premiered September 27 through October 10 and Banerjee’s work, inspired by A Midsummer Night’s Dream, followed from October 11 through the 24.
Anya Banerjee is a Kiwi-American actress/writer. Born in Wisconsin and raised in New Zealand, she completed a Masters in English Literature at University of Auckland. Anya turned her literary research on prostitute-actresses in colonial Bengal into Apologies to the Bengali Lady, her first play. The piece was workshopped at Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics at Georgetown University before playing at The Tank NYC and finally Edinburgh Fringe Festival where it received shining reviews from The Scotsman, British Theatre Guide, and The List.
Steven Gaultney is a Brooklyn-based playwright. His plays include A Thousand Ships at the Bottom of the Sea, Limb from Limb, Negligence, and Adam’s Dream. He is the resident playwright for The Theatre of Others, which has now produced two of his plays. His work has also been developed by Chautauqua Theatre Company and Theatre for a New Audience.