Continuing its season based upon the themes of Connections and Caregiving, Passage is starting the new year off strong with a live online play reading of a cleverly intriguing dark comedy. Babel, written by Jacqueline Goldfinger and directed by Jill Harrison, will be available to stream online from January 23-26, 2021.

An intimate, subtle comedy set in the near future, Babel offers a dynamic world where two couples, and a talking stork, traverse infertility, prenatal genetic testing and the lengths they will go to for the love of their future children. The cast of Babel includes Tai Verley as Renee, Leah Walton as Dani, Dana Kreitz as Anne and Griffin Stanton-Ameisen as Jamie/Stork.

Verley is an actor, director and teaching artist living in Philadelphia, PA. With a B.A. from Vassar College and an M.F.A. from The New School for Drama, she has worked professionally all around the US (and some jaunts to the UK) with companies like The Arden Theatre Company, Delaware Shakespeare, Lean Theatre Ensemble, Philadelphia Artists’ Collective, Fusion Theatre Company and more. She is also a member of Actor’s Equity Association and SAG-AFTRA and is currently the Artistic Director of Revolution Shakespeare.

Walton is a versatile actor with varied experience. She has had training through the National Theatre Institute, Moscow Art Theatre, Michael Chekhov Association and MFA Temple University. Off-Broadway, she has been seen in Ars Nova with Berserker Residents. Regionally, she has worked with Walnut Street Theatre, Arden Theatre, Philadelphia Theatre Company, InterAct, Theatre Horizon, Lantern Theatre, Pig Iron, Montgomery Theatre, 11th Hour and Orbiter 3, among others. She is also a winner of the Philadelphia Barrymore Award in 2015 for Best Supporting Actress in a Musical and has been nominated for Best Leading Performer in a Play in 2018 and 2019. Currently, Walton works as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Acting at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia.

Kreitz (AEA/SAG-AFTRA) is a NYC-based actor, with roots and family in CA, Las Vegas and Philly. She’s been seen Off-Broadway (Rea in Romulus the Great) and regionally around the country (Cressida in Troilus & Cressida, Kim in Miss Saigon, Rosaline in Love’s Labour’s Lost, Ilse in Spring’s Awakening, Stephanie Kim in Luce). On-screen she can be seen on CW’s Katy Keene, CBS’ Blue Bloods and Wetlands on Amazon, with more projects coming up. She is also a founder of and active producer with Hapa Media, a film production company with a commitment to ethnically-diverse and gender-varied hiring in front of and behind the camera.

Husband to Kreitz, Griffin Stanton-Ameisen is an NYC based, Philly area born actor, writer, producer and teaching artist. He received his MFA in Performance from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, BA in Theatre from Temple University. Being a lover of Jackie and Jill’s work for many years, he is grateful to be helping “Babel” come to life in these tenuous times. Most recently, he’s been at home writing plenty of haikus, a new short film and co-writing a television series pilot with his wife Dana. Theatre wise, he was last seen in the new play “Loneliness” at Columbia University and presented his oneperson show “Free Space” at the studios at Primary Stages in NYC.

To provide a behind-the-scenes look into its reading of this compelling play, Passage will be releasing exclusive content and interviews featuring the artists across our social media platforms during the month of January.

In January, Passage’s Artistic Director C. Ryanne Domingues will resume her duties after her fall maternity leave. She announced her thoughts about the upcoming programming. “After taking a few months of maternity leave to care for my daughter, I look forward to rejoining Passage in the New Year,” she said. “Julia Bumke has done such a stellar job in helping us to prepare for our upcoming production of Babel, which will be helmed by our wonderful friend and director Jill Harrison.”

She continued, “As we say goodbye to 2020, we are incredibly grateful for the artists who joined us this Fall. Their time, talent and flexibility has allowed us to learn new things about online programming that will surely benefit all of our Spring offerings. It’s going to be an exciting New Year!”

Passage’s play reading of Babel will be presented as a pre-recorded video. Upon ticket purchase, audience members will receive a confirmation email including a link to view the video anytime from Saturday, January 23 at 7:00 p.m. until 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday, January 26. To view the play reading, $10 tickets can be purchased at www.passagetheatre.org. Passage’s 2020-21 Season Passport is also available to purchase on Passage’s website, which provides access to Babel as well as a host of other upcoming programming being offered this season at a discounted rate.

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