Alliance/Kendeda Week: The Reservoir
6:00 PM // Rehearsal Hall A – Third Floor
Alliance Theatre presents THE RESERVOIR, one of four free, staged readings during the 2024 Alliance/Kendeda Week.
The Reservoir
By Jake Brasch, The Juilliard School
Directed by Matt Torney
Josh is on medical leave from NYU. He’s come home to Denver to get his life together, but can’t manage to stay sober. Struggling with fogginess, memory loss, shame, and regret, he finds unlikely allies in his four hilarious grandparents. Desperate for camaraderie, Josh resolves to bring his grandparents along with him on the road to recovery. He overwhelms them with crossword puzzles. He drags them to Jazzercise class. He forces them to eat spinach by the handful. Eventually, he slams up against the limits of his conquest. When he can no longer help his grandparents, they begin to help him.
BIOS
Jake Brasch (he/they) is a queer, sober, Jewish Coloradan clown and a graduating playwriting fellow at The Juilliard School. Their work has been produced or developed by the Denver Center Theatre Company, The Ensemble Studio Theatre, New York Stage and Film, LAByrinth Theatre Company, The Farm Theater, ARThouse, Curious Theatre Company, The Recovery Project at Florida Studio Theatre, and others. He’s a proud graduate of EST/Youngblood and is under commission from the EST/Sloan Project and The Farm Theater. Jake moonlights as a pianist and composer for theatre and film. They also perform as a birthday party clown throughout the Greater New York Area. BFA: NYU Tisch (The New Studio on Broadway/Experimental Theatre Wing). jakebrasch.com.
Matt Torney [he/him]: Matt is the Artistic Director of Theatrical Outfit in Downtown Atlanta, where he has directed An Iliad by Lisa Petersen and Denis O'Hare, A Hundred Words for Snow, by Tatty Hennessy, and The White Chip by Sean Daniels. Originally from Belfast in Northern Ireland, Matt worked as a freelance director before moving to the US in 2006 to complete an MFA in directing at Columbia University taught by Anne Bogart. He has directed extensively in New York, regionally in the US, and internationally, and his work has been nominated for numerous awards. Before coming to Atlanta, Matt served as Associate Artistic Director at Studio Theatre in Washington, DC where he directed Doubt by John Patrick Shanley (nominated for three Helen Hayes Awards), If I Forget by Steven Levenson (nominated for three Helen Hayes Awards), MotherStruck! by Staceyann Chin (nominated for two Helen Hayes Awards), Translations by Brian Friel, The Hard Problem by Tom Stoppard, and a ballet based on The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock for Chamber Dance Co. Matt also has significant experience as an art director for photography, TV, and film, and has taught acting and design at NYU, the University of Maryland, and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. For more information, please visit www.matttorney.com.
