sol 1: hilary bettis

hilary bettis
the playwright

Hilary Bettis writes for the theater, television and film. Her work includes: "Dolly Arkansas," "Blood & Dust," "The Ghosts of Lote Bravo," "The History of American Pornography," "Alligator," "Dakota Atoll," "Mexico" and "American Girls." A two-time recipient of the Lecomte du Nouy Prize from Lincoln Center, she is a 2015 graduate of the Lila Acheson Wallace Playwright Fellowship at The Juilliard School.

Bettis has received many fellowships and residencies at the O’Neill National Playwrights Conference, York Theatre Workshop, SPACE at Ryder Farm, La Jolla Playhouse, New York Foundation for the Arts, Playwrights’ Week at The Lark, Audrey Residency at New Georges, Two River Theater, Great Plains Theatre Conference, The Kennedy Center/NNPN MFA Workshop and more.

As a screenwriter, Bettis has written and produced two short films, "B’Hurst" and "The Iron Warehouse," which have screened at multiple film festivals across the globe. She lives in Brooklyn, New York, where she works as a staff writer for the TV series “The Americans” on FX. 

alligator
the play

Emerald and Ty are twin orphaned teenagers who live in the backwoods of the Florida Everglades and wrestle gators in a roadside attraction. Careening through encounters in their small tourist town, they meet self-destructive young locals looking for a future and desperate young wanderers looking for a home; all carry secrets under ever-present layers of desire. Alternately realistic and surreal, scored with gritty rock music, Alligator is a muscular, satisfying play about learning to tame our darkest impulses.

"This endeavor represents a fulfillment of the American Theater’s promise to be a space for all American stories."—Jacob Padrón

“The Sol Project model is so smart, and designed for maximum impact, on our field and on our art form." —Susan Bernfield, Producing Artistic Director, New Georges

new georges
the partner theater

New Georges, founded in 1992, is one of New York City’s premiere downtown theaters, a strategically small company with a national reputation as a home, a hub and a playground for some of the most adventurous theater artists (who are women) working today. Through productions of boundary-pushing new plays, several varieties of play development programs and our indispensable workspace, The Room, we support the largest ongoing working community of women theater artists in New York City and have launched an unprecedented generation of women playwrights and directors. Notable productions include Kate Benson’s 2016 Obie Award-winning "A Beautiful Day in November on the Banks of the Greatest of the Great Lakes," directed by Lee Sunday Evans; Marielle Heller’s "The Diary of a Teenage Girl," directed by Sarah Cameron Sunde and Rachel Eckerling; Eisa Davis’ "Angela’s Mixtape," directed by Liesl Tommy; Jenny Schwartz’s "God’s Ear," directed by Anne Kauffman; Heidi Schreck’s "Creature," directed by Leigh Silverman; Sheila Callaghan’s "Dead City," directed by Daniella Topol; and Lisa D’Amour’s "Anna Bella Eema," directed by Katie Pearl. 

elena araoz
the director

Elena Araoz  is a stage director for theater and opera. This season, in NYC, she directs Hilary Bettis’ “Alligator” (New Georges, The Sol Project), Octavio Solís’ "Prospect" (Boundless Theatre Company), Dipika Guha’s "Mechanics of Love," and will devise "She-She-She" with Virginia Grise and Hook & Eye (Ice Factory Festival, New Ohio Theatre). She will direct Naomi Wallace’s "The Retreating World" (Great Plains Theatre Conference) and "Two Arms and a Noise" (Bucharest International Theatre Platform, Romania) which she wrote and directed as a New York Theatre Workshop fellow.

Elena was named The Drama League’s inaugural Beatrice Terry Resident, where she wrote "Plastic Drastic," an eco-aware musical adaptation of "The Odyssey," and directed for the Rose Theatre. Other recent productions: "Architecture of Becoming" (Women’s Project), two Carl Djerassi plays (Off-Broadway), Li Tong's "The Power" (Beijing), "A Midsummer Night’s Dream" (Prague Shakespeare Company), Mac Wellman’s “Wu" and “Horrocks" (Sleeping Weazel, ArtsEmerson), Natalia Naman’s "Lawnpeople" (Cherry Lane Mentor Project), "La Traviata" (New York City Opera, BAM), "Lucia di Lammermoor" (Opera North), "Falstaff" (Brooklyn Philharmonic, BAM), "Latin Lovers" (Glimmerglass Opera), Monika Bustamante’s “Thirst” (HERE), Naomi Wallace's “The Fever Chart” (Underground Railway Theatre), Jaclyn Villano’s “The Company We Keep” (Boston Playwrights’ Theatre) and Araoz’s acclaimed operetta “War Music,” which she adapted from Christopher Logue's retelling of the “Iliad” and devised with six performers (Aurea, FirstWorks Festival, New York Institute for the Humanities, Chicago Humanities Festival, Chorus of Westerly, New England tour).

She has worked extensively with Sir Jonathan Miller as Choreographer and Associate Director, and with Sir Richard Eyre as Associate Director.

Araoz is a New York Theatre Workshop Usual Suspect, a Time Warner Foundation Fellow Alum of the Director’s Lab at Women’s Project Theatre, and a recipient of the Dr. David Farrar Opera Stage Director Grant. She holds her MFA in Acting from the University of Texas at Austin.

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with Dakota Granados, Lexi Lapp, Samuel H. Levine, Julian Elijah Martinez,
Talene Monahon, Bobby Moreno, Lindsay Rico
original music performed by Daniel Ocanto, Graham Ulicny & Sean Smith

sets: Arnulfo Maldonado costumes: Ari Fulton
lights: Amith Chandrashaker sound: Pornchanok Kanchanabanca
masks/puppets & animals: Jessica Antonia Scott
original music: Daniel Ocanto, Graham Ulicny & Sean Smith
props: Samantha Shoffner fight direction: UnkleDave’s Fight-House
production stage manager: Danielle Teague-Daniels
production manager: Matthew Cecchini line producer: Deadria Harrington
assistant stage manager: Genevieve Ortiz
casting: Kate Murray Casting graphic design: Jaime Vallés
dialects: Blake Segal press rep: Emily Owens PR

#AlligatorPlay   #AreYaReady
@newgeorges   @solprojectnyc

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highlights

2017 Drama Desk Nomination, Outstanding Music in a Play, ​Daniel Ocanto, Graham Ulicny & Sean Smith

Interview: Hilary Bettis
Works by Women | December 7th, 2016

A Conversation with Hilary Bettis
stage & CANDOR | December 5th, 2016

​Wrestling Alligators: Hilary Bettis with Kyoung H. Park
The Brooklyn Rail | November 1st, 2016