paint my eyes
An immersive play with fifteen lullabies
February 5–7 & 12–14, 2027
145 West 46th Street, New York
With two days left on his mission, Elder Garn navigates a crisis of faith as he struggles to reconcile his interactions with an atheist, a derelict, a Holocaust-denier, and a young Iranian mother looking for a sign. Inspired by a true story, this surreal dramedy explores grief, legacy, and what it means to believe.
Cast
Ephraim Birney (GARN) is a New York City–based actor and writer working across theater, film, and television. He starred in Chester Bailey at Irish Repertory Theatre, a New York Times Critics' Pick that earned him an Outer Critics Circle Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Performer in an Off-Broadway Play. His additional stage credits include The Good Person of Szechwan at The Public Theater, Admissions at Studio Theatre, and The Sound Inside at TheaterWorks Hartford. His screen work includes Strawberry Mansion (which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival), The Americans, Gotham, and Sylvio.
Stephen Cefalu (OLIVER/LEMUEL) is a New York City–based theater, film, and television actor. His stage credits include the Broadway National Tour of To Kill a Mockingbird, the world premiere of Tracy Letts' Mary Page Marlowe at Steppenwolf Theatre Company, The Cherry Orchard at Goodman Theatre, and Data at Arena Stage. His television credits include Shameless, Law & Order: SVU, and Evil. A graduate of the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale, he is known for his work developing and originating new plays with some of the country's leading theaters.
Brontë England-Nelson (LENORA/SCHNIEDER) is a New York City–based actor whose work spans Broadway, Off-Broadway, and regional theater. She made her Broadway debut in Three Tall Women and later appeared in the Tony Award-winning revival of The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window. Most recently, she originated the role of Emma in the world premiere of Ife Olujobi's Jordans at The Public Theater. A graduate of the Yale School of Drama, her additional stage credits include Acolyte at 59E59 Theaters and Henry IV, Part I with Santa Cruz Shakespeare.
Sahar Milani (AVA) is a Lebanese-Iranian-American actor, musician, and singer-songwriter working in theater, television, and music. Her recent credits include Fouad of Nazareth with Noor Theatre, English at Long Wharf Theatre and TheaterWorks Hartford, Hound Dog with Ars Nova/PlayCo, and The Visitor at The Public Theater, as well as television appearances in Daredevil: Born Again, The Endgame, Let the Right One In, and Law & Order. As a musician, she has performed at Sony Hall, Joe’s Pub, PAC NYC, Ars Nova, and The Sultan Room. She is also one half of Yeller Tooth, a genre-bending musical collaboration with Cameron Scoggins.
Creative Team
Jamie Erekson (playwright, composer, performer) is a NYC-based intermedia artist whose work spans a large-scale musical deconstruction of Shakespeare’s Richard II at Carnegie Hall, a 12′×12′×6′ kinetic sound sculpture at the base of the Rocky Mountains, and a 65-foot interactive portrait exhibited on the Manhattan Bridge. He has received commissions from the New York State Council on the Arts, the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, the Albany Symphony Orchestra, the Utah Division of Arts and Museums, Ballet West, the Barlow Endowment, and others. He lives in Washington Heights with his wife and four children.
Shadi Ghaheri (director) is an award-winning theater, opera, and film director and choreographer from Tehran, now based in New York City. Her recent Tosca with Heartbeat Opera was praised by The New York Times as “ambitious, agile, and daring.” A graduate of the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale (MFA in Directing), she has directed and choreographed for Signature Theatre, HERE Arts Center, Alliance Theatre, Bard Music Festival, Beth Morrison Projects, Heartbeat Opera, The Tank, Emruz Festival, The Brick, and NYU Tisch, where she now teaches directing.
Emily Erekson (music director, performer) is a New York City–based intermedia artist whose work explores voice, memory, ritual, and communal authorship. A passionately eclectic pianist, she has performed classical, jazz, and art-rock at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Utah Governor’s Mansion, the Utah State Capitol, and venues across Europe, and has opened for major acts including Neon Trees. Her work has received support from the New York State Council on the Arts, Ballet West, the Utah Division of Arts and Museums, the Salt Lake City Arts Council, and the Higher Ground Festival.
Haley Fragen (creative producer) is a Brooklyn-based theatermaker whose practice spans producing, directing, performing, and arts administration. A former Associate Producer at HERE Arts Center, her recent credits include Show Trial (The Tank and The Bohemian National Hall), Lottie and the Deep Blue Sea (Ars Nova ANT Fest), and Because the Grass Started to Breathe (Garden Level Theater Co.). She has worked with the Cherry Lane Theatre, What Will the Neighbors Say?, and Evamere Entertainment, and holds a BFA in Acting from NYU Tisch School of the Arts.
Kristin Perkins (dramaturg) is a Fulbright scholar and Ph.D. candidate in Theatre and Performance at Columbia University, where her research focuses on contemporary dramaturgies of religion, grief, and migration. Kristin’s dramaturgical practice combines rigorous scholarship with creative experimentation, helping artists translate abstract ideas into emotional architectures.