The Stand In
By Crystal Finn
Directed by Emily Young
From the beginning, Fiasco Theater has approached old plays as if they were new, allowing our artists and audiences to experience classic works with a sense of revelation, freshness, surprise, invention, and passion as if those shows were hot off the press. Starting with Crystal Finn’s The Stand In, we were thrilled to begin flipping that script by developing home-grown new plays and treating them with the detail, scope, wisdom, and ambition of the old classics we built our company around.
It was a joy to begin this journey on The Stand In with our longtime collaborator Crystal Finn, whose voice is entirely unique and yet blends beautifully with the Fiasco ensemble.
THE STAND IN
by Crystal Finn
directed by Emily Young
March 28-29, 2025
Best friends, Claire and Claudia, try to make it BIG in the movies. But is there room for two stars? Or will one of them always have to be just…. “The Stand In?” An absurdist romp through the madness of the artist’s journey and the toll it can take on what one holds dear.
Featuring Noah Brody, Tina Chilip, Gibson Frazier, Kelly McAndrew, and Kristin Villanueva.*
Production Stage Manager: Frank Lombardi
Assistant Stage Manager: Joanne Au
Designer, Lighting Design: Raphael Mishler^
Consultant: Robert Thaxton-Stevenson
Production Manager/Technical Director: Jade Chew
Consultant, Costume Design: Ali Caruso
Production/Design Assistant: Katie Pelensky
*All performers in this workshop are members of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States. ^ Member of United Scenic Artists Local 829
A Without A Net presentation. Photos by Toby Tenenbaum.
WHAT IS WITHOUT A NET?
This initiative values process over product, placing attention on the text, the actors, and their relationship with the audience. Our goal is to give ourselves what we need (chiefly, prop and costume elements and a live audience) in order to learn what it is like to do this show; to learn what we’re making by making it. The short rehearsal period challenges the creators to make big, bold choices, while also allowing Fiasco to consider possibilities for a full production. We invite the audience into the process earlier than usual in order to help us learn how the show is landing creatively, and to give theatergoers the opportunity to see a staged production in its most essential form—as actors leap into the act of creation “without a net.”