Hi, Are You Single?
Join Ryan, a gay man with a high sex drive and cerebral palsy on his search to find love. Or a date. Or at least a hookup.
Ryan has a higher sex drive than you. He also has cerebral palsy. You can often find him on Grindr or at your local inaccessible gay bar. Join writer/performer Ryan J. Haddad on his search to find love. Or a date. Or at least a hookup. From encounters with drag queens to platonic lap dances, Ryan will guide you through the gay dating scene with his provocative take on intimacy, rejection, and judgment. His one request? Please bring an attractive male friend with you.
Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company
in association with IAMA Theatre Company presents
HI, ARE YOU SINGLE?
By Ryan J. Haddad
Directed by Laura Savia and Jess McLeod
Originally developed by Laura Savia
CAST
Ryan J. Haddad+
Creative Team
Laura Savia (Director)
Jess McLeod (Director)*
Lawrence E. Moten III (Scenic & Costume Designer)^
Colin K. Bills (Lighting Designer)^
Tosin Olufolabi (Sound Designer)
John Keith Hall (Project Manager)
Andrew Landon Cutler (Assistant Project Manager)
CONTENT TRANSPARENCY: Depictions and description of sexual content, explicit language, and discussion of ableism, racism, ageism, and the stigmatization of HIV status.
* Member, SDC // ^ Member, USA // + Member, SAG
In Loving Memory of Kevin Moore
“I was in Washington D.C. rehearsing for this digital production when I learned of Kevin Moore's sudden passing. Kevin was the Managing Director of my hometown regional theatre, Cleveland Play House, and he had previously served in the same position at Woolly Mammoth. I remember a warm conversation with Kevin during the closing night party for the New Ground Theatre Festival at CPH, where Hi, Are You Single? played in 2018. He expressed his gratitude for the representation my show had provided, not of disability, as I suspected, but of a gay character (the character being me, of course) in an LGBT-centric story. My play is meant to center disability and is ostensibly a critique of the gay community, so I was surprised and moved by Kevin’s reframing. He showed me that the story was more expansive than I imagined. I will never forget his generosity that night.
I’m glad l could perform this play in two places he loved so much - Cleveland Play House and Woolly Mammoth - this time; in his honor.”
- Ryan J. Haddad
Writer & Performer
Additional Special Thanks to Sally Cade Holmes & Patti Anne Miller, Dr. Ed Kahn, Tim Miller, Joan Lipkin, Ohio Wesleyan University, IAMA Patron of the Arts: Shonda Rhimes and the Rhimes Family Foundation, David Lee Foundation, Caplin Foundation, Emma Feiwel, Raj Raghavan, Amy Lipkin, Liz Norton, Audience Members: Emika Abe, J. Chris Babb, Colin K. Bills, Jacqueline Flores, Dwayne Lawson-Brown, Moss Madigan, Jim Martin, Lawrence Moten III, Tosin Olufolabi, Elynora Sapp, Scott Schreiber, Evelyn Schreiber, Inessah Selditz
Ryan J. Haddad
+ Bios
Ryan J. Haddad (Writer/Performer) is an actor, playwright, and autobiographical performer based in New York. His acclaimed solo play Hi, Are You Single? was presented in The Public Theater’s Under the Radar Festival and continues to tour the country. Other New York credits include My Straighties (Ars Nova/ANT Fest), Noor and Hadi Go to Hogwarts (Theater Breaking Through Barriers), and the cabaret Falling for Make Believe (Joe’s Pub/Under the Radar). Regional theatre: The Maids, Lucy Thurber’s Orpheus in the Berkshires (Williamstown Theatre Festival), and Hi, Are You Single? (Guthrie Theater, Cleveland Play House, Williamstown Theatre Festival). He has a recurring role on the Netflix series “The Politician.” Additional television: “Bull,” “Madam Secretary,” and “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.” Haddad is a recipient of IAMA Theatre Company’s Shonda Rhimes Unsung Voices Playwriting Commission and Rising Phoenix Repertory’s Cornelia Street American Playwriting Award. His work has been developed with The Public Theater, Manhattan Theatre Club, New York Theatre Workshop, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Noor Theatre, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, Primary Stages, and Pride Plays. He is an alum of The Public Theater’s Emerging Writers Group and a former Queer|Art Performance and Playwriting Fellow, under the mentorship of Moe Angelos. @ryanjhaddad and ryanjhaddad.com.
Laura Savia (Co-Director) is making her Woolly Mammoth debut. She is the Associate Artistic Director of the Tony Award-winning Williamstown Theatre Festival. For WTF, directing includes the world premieres of Shakina Nayfack’s Chonburi International Hotel and Butterfly Club (with Audible), James Anthony Tyler’s Artney Jackson, Lucy Thurber’s Once Upon a Time in the Berkshires and Orpheus in the Berkshires; other directing includes Lucy Thurber’s Unstuck (59E59/Throughline) and Bareknuckle (Vertigo Theatre), Ryan J. Haddad’s Hi, Are You Single? (The Public Theater and The Guthrie), James Lecesne’s The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey (City Theatre), and Jonathan Caren’s The Recommendation for IAMA (Ovation Award, Best Production). Alumna of Drama League and Northwestern University. www.laurasavia.com
Jess McLeod (Co-Director) specializes in new work about American otherness and recently served as Resident Director for Hamilton Chicago. Regional credits include Pride and Prejudice (Long Wharf) and Hype Man (ATL). Chicago credits include Wolf Play, Hang Man (Gift Theatre); Venus (Steppenwolf Next Up!); Do You Feel Anger?, Fulfillment Center (A Red Orchid Theatre, Ensemble Member); Landladies (Northlight); How We Got On (Haven), Short Shakes! Midsummer (CST), L-vis Live! (Victory Gardens), and Marry Me A Little (Porchlight Music Theatre). New York credits include work by Joyce Carol Oates and The Unauthorized Musicology of Ben Folds (NYMF Director of Programming, 2005-08). Jess was the Goodman’s 2017 Michael Maggio Directing Fellow and a 2018 Artistic Fellow at Victory Gardens, where she’ll direct Poor Yella Rednecks this fall. She has also developed operas with Chicago community groups (Lyric Opera) and musicals with incarcerated teens through Storycatchers Theatre and earned her M.F.A. from Northwestern University.
Lawrence E. Moten III he|him|his (Scenic & Costume Designer) is thrilled to be making his Wooly Mammoth Debut. Off-Broadway Credits include STEW (Page 73) How to Load a Musket, The White Chip (59E59), Behind the Sheet (Ensemble Studio Theatre). Regional: Gloria (American Conservatory Theater) Feeding Beatrice (St. Louis Rep) Native Son (Playmakers Rep) House of Joy (Cal Shakes); A Human Being, Of A Sort (Williamstown); The Royale, Shakespeare In Love (Capital Rep); Arcadia, A Raisin In The Sun, American Prom (THEATREWORKS Colorado Springs); Hype Man (Company One); Into The Woods (Dartmouth); Legally Blonde, Etched in Skin on a Sunlit Night (Princeton). He is the Resident Scenic Designer for the Eugene O’Neill National Playwrights Conference (2018,2019,2020). Proud member of Local USA 829 and Wingspace Theatrical Design. Lecturer: Princeton University. Adjunct: Rutgers Mason Gross. IG:@motendesigns www.motendesigns.com
Colin K. Bills (Lighting Designer) is a Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company Member and an active member of Woolly’s equity, diversity, and inclusion working group. He has lit over fifty productions at Woolly Mammoth, including Fairview, Gloria, Botticelli in the Fire, An Octoroon, Black Side of the Moon, Oedipus el Rey, Clybourne Park, and Dead Man’s Cell Phone. As a Conspirator with the devised theater company dog & pony dc, he collaborated in the writing, direction, and design of A Killing Game and Beertown. His designs have been seen at nearly every theater in the Washington, DC, region, as well as nationally and internationally. Colin has won three Helen Hayes Awards and is a recipient of a Princess Grace Fellowship in Theater. He is a graduate of Dartmouth College.
Tosin Olufolabi (Sound Designer) is designing at Woolly Mammoth for the second time. Her design credits include Lovers’ Vows (We Happy Few); My Barking Dog (Edge of the Universe Players 2); School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play (Round House Theatre); She Sings Light, Hatpin Panic, & Shakespeare’s Worst (Capital Fringe); Ties That Bind, Caucasian Chalk Circle & Antigone (Catholic University); Gloria (Woolly Mammoth); God is Dead & April is Getting Married (Three Muses); Peepshow (dog & pony dc); Abortion Road Trip & Soldier Poet (Theatre Prometheus); Lela & Co. (Factory 449); Blacktop Sky (York College). Assistant design credits include Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! (The Kennedy Center TYA); One Flew Under the Cuckoo's Nest & Baggage (Gallaudet University); Zomo the Rabbit: A Hip-Hop Creation Myth, Thumbelina, Anatole & Davy Copperfield (Imagination Stage); Still Life with Rocket (Theater Alliance); and Proof (Olney Theatre Center)
John Keith Hall (Project Manager) Previous Woolly credits: Shipwreck, The Peculiar Patriot, Gloria, Familiar, Hir, An Octoroon, and The Nether. His other DC credits include many productions at The Studio Theatre including: Bad Jews, Choir Boy, Water By The Spoonful, Tribes, Torch Song Trilogy, 4000 Miles, Sucker Punch, In The Red And Brown Water, The History Boys, Adding Machine: A Musical, and The Road To Mecca; Ain’t Misbehavin’, Soon, and West Side Story at Signature Theatre; The Producers, Mary Poppins, Sweeney Todd, Annie, The Crucible, On The Town, Elf The Musical, Matilda, Cabaret, and Singin’ In The Rain at Olney Theatre Center. Regional credits include several seasons as a Resident Stage Manager at The Barter Theatre in Virginia where he supervised over 40 productions, Shadowland Stages in New York, and Virginia Musical Theatre in Virginia Beach. A graduate of Virginia’s Longwood University, John is a proud member of the Actors’ Equity Association.
A NOTE FROM MARIA & STEFANIE & KATIE
With a tremendous amount of preparation and safety planning, HI, ARE YOU SINGLE? was filmed on November 8, 2020, a little more than a month away from the second wave of coronavirus lockdowns in our country. That marked the first time in which an actor set foot on Woolly Mammoth’s physical stage in Washington, DC since March 2020. This is still such a hard moment in our country for so many reasons. And it feels electrifying to finally get to share this incredible artist and his work with you.
HI, ARE YOU SINGLE? is an autobiographical solo show by the brilliant writer/performer Ryan J. Haddad that speaks directly to disabled representation in the gay community. Ryan exudes as much charisma onscreen as he does in person, as he hilariously recounts his experiences looking for love. His is a story that is not often heard in our mainstream media, including in the American theatre. It is disturbingly clear how representations (or the lack thereof) of those most underrepresented in our communities can have a direct correlation to the violence and harm they encounter in their lives. And Ryan is here to change that.
Woolly Mammoth and IAMA Theatre Company are deeply invested in Ryan. IAMA recently named Ryan as the 2020 recipient of the Rhimes Unsung Voices Playwriting Commission (yes, THAT Shonda Rhimes); and Woolly Mammoth announced the world premiere of HI, ARE YOU SINGLE? as a central production of the #NSFW Festival, which was supposed to take place in Summer 2020. And those of you who have been following his rising star know that he is one of the main reasons to watch THE POLITICIAN on Netflix! In other words, it felt like a no-brainer for Woolly and IAMA to team up on this film to share Ryan’s artistry with our audiences coast to coast.
This digital presentation would not have been possible without Laura Savia and Jess McLeod. These co-directors were absolute SHEROES amidst the complicated nature of making a play during a pandemic. Laura Savia has been an essential part of developing this piece with Ryan for many years, and Jess McLeod is a major reason this film was able to get over the finish line. We want to shout their praises from the rooftops, because this would not have happened without them.
Thank you for tuning in! Please stay safe and healthy, and we look forward to hearing what you think!
Xx,
MARIA MANUELA GOYANES
Artistic Director, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company
STEFANIE BLACK & KATIE LOWES
Co-Artistic Directors, IAMA Theatre Company
Filmed by
LOOKOUT production company
on November 8, 2020
Producer
Ian Fay
Director of Photography
Ryder Haske
Camera Operators
Shane Alcock
Camille Toussaint
Sound Recordist
Alan Brenner
Editors
Jonathan Kim
Dan Fipphen
Jon Bougher
Sound Mixer
Alan Brenner
Thank you to our sponsors
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+ Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company
Woolly Mammoth is “the hottest theater company in town” (Washington Post); priding itself on developing, producing, and making theatre that disrupts conventional processes and stimulates transformative experiences. For almost four decades, Woolly has held a unique position at the leading edge of the American theater, earning a reputation for staying “uniquely plugged in to the mad temper of the times” (New York Times). The co-leadership of María Manuela Goyanes (Artistic Director) and Emika Abe (Managing Director) is supported by a core company of artists that holds itself to a high standard of artistic excellence. Woolly is relentless in its desire to take risks, experiment, innovate, interrogate, and create a radically inclusive community. Located in Washington, DC, Woolly Mammoth stands upon occupied, unceded territory: the ancestral homeland of the Nacotchtank whose descendants belong to the Piscataway peoples.
Woolly Contributors & Funders
Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company remains more dedicated than ever to the evolution of the American theatre and we could not produce ground-breaking new plays and world class artistry without our fearless family of donors. We would like to thank the following contributors who made gifts of $75 or more from January 1, 2020 through January 1, 2021. Thank you!
(+) Recognizes donors contributing $10,000+ // (*) Recognizes in-kind contributions such as goods and services
+ IAMA Theatre Company
Designated by Playbill as “one of 20 regional houses every theater lover must know,” IAMA Theatre Company is an ensemble of artists committed to invigorating live performance for a streaming generation. Through cutting-edge, cool and hyper-modern stories, IAMA is invested in the immediacy of production and strives to bring audiences out of their personal space and into a shared experience. The Ovation award-winning company has seen many plays generated at IAMA travel to off-Broadway, Second Stage and the Roundabout Underground, then go on to be performed regionally and internationally. IAMA members have been featured in numerous critically acclaimed TV shows and films as well as in a vast array of theater and live performances all over the country, including off-Broadway and Broadway. IAMA has been dedicated to developing plays and musicals by new, emerging and established playwrights since 2007. IAMA is based in Los Angeles on the ancestral and unseated lands of the Gabrielino-Tongva people.
IAMA Contributors and Funders:
IAMA Theatre Company would like to thank the following contributors who made gifts of $50 or more from January 2020 through January 2021. It is through the support of our amazing donors that IAMA can continue to serve our community with programming that heals, inspires and connects us during this time and beyond.
IAMA BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Katie Lowes, Chair
Tyler Ennis, President
David Yanni, Secretary
Victoria Lerner, Treasurer
Jana Bezdek
Gracye Cheng
Mike Jackson
Katie Lowes
Melissa Romain
Graham Sibley
IAMA STAFF
Co-Artistic Director: Stefanie Black
Co-Artistic Director: Katie Lowes
Managing Director: Lara Myrene
Producing Director: Cymbre Sklar
Associate Artistic Director: Margaux Susi
Associate Artistic Director: Rodney To
Director of the Ensemble: Tom DeTrinis
Basecamp Director: Christian Durso
Director of Social Programming: Anna LaMadrid
Social Media Manager and Marketing Associate: Justin Sullivan
Grant Writer: Laila Ayad
IAMA ENSEMBLE
Anisha Adusumilli, Alexander Alchech, Tom Amandes, Laila Ayad, Deanna Barillari, Stefanie Black, Michelle Bossy, RS Buck, Jon Caren, Sheila Carrasco, Dean Cechvala, Parvesh Cheena, Deb S. Craig, Desi Dennis-Dylan, Tom DeTrinis, Christian Durso, James Eckhouse, Josh Epstein, Ryan Garcia, Chris Gardner, Jeff Gardner, Eli Gonda, Adrian Gonzalez, Josh Heine, Laura Holloway, Anna Rose Hopkins, Tina Huang, Bailey Humiston, Alexis Jacknow, Andria Kozica, Colleen Labella, Anna LaMadrid, John Lavelle, Sharon Lawrence, Katie Lowes, Laura Mann, Burl Moseley, Karla Mosley, Louise Munson, Lara Myrene, Melissa Jane Osborne, Brian Otano, Tim Peper, Geoff Rivas, Tim Rock, Devere Rogers, Kacie Rogers, Amy Rosoff, Emily Rowan, Adriana Santos, Mark Saul, Courtney Sauls, Micah Schraft, Brandon Scott, Sonal Shah, Adam Shapiro, Graham Sibley, Cymbre Sklar, Lexi Sloan, Melissa Stephens, Margaux Susi, Rodney To, Sarah Utterback, Keliher Walsh, Jamie Wollrab, Christine Woods