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Artists' LAB #7
Amanda Méndez's Art to: Please Saturday, May 31st, 2025 8 pm At Grace & St. Paul's Church
123 West 71st Street, New York Production Team:
Concept & Performance: Amanda Méndez Art Director: Sylmarie Santos Choreography Advisor: Jorge Luna Choreographer for “The Blade”: Alejandra Acevedo Script Supervisor: David Morrissey Music Producer/Composer of “Starving”: Nick Lotto Intro Singer: Dawn Somek Photographer: Alexander Quiles Lighitng Deisnger: Chase Kniffen Program Director: Saki Kawamura ABOUT THE SHOW:
Art to: Please explores the depths of people pleasing, and the heavy burden it takes on the individual. There’ a duality to performing an act in order to “be” agreeable; it can appear as if the person is collected, meanwhile their world is crumbling down. How far will someone go to disregard what their heart truly desires? Production Photos:
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Date & Time
Sat. May 31, 2025 8 pm VENUE Grace & St. Paul's Church (123 W71st, New York) RUN TIME 45 minuets TICKET INFO Suggested DONATION $15- |
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Amanda Méndez (Artist) is a Puerto Rican actress based in San Juan, PR. She started her acting career doing children’s theatre and poetry declamation. In 2013 she got admitted to University of Puerto Rico where she completed her BFA in Acting. Amanda is also a student in Ren Gyoh Soh, where she’s taken advanced courses of Butoh. She likes to explore experimental movement alongside the Grotowski method and Alexander technique. In her career she started in theatrical roles such as “Lis” in Fando y Lis (2019) , “herself” in a movement piece called Repetición, and “Marty” in Las Palancas (2022). But Amanda is not only a theatre actor, she’s made herself a name in the film industry; some of her most important roles are “Lizette” in Colapso (2025), Padres as “Lucia” (2024) “Juana” in Segregatio. She’s won 3 “Best Actress” awards throughout her acting career given by 48 Hour Film Project (2016) for “Amanda” in Lapso, and during 2020-2021 the European Film Festival and the International Moving Film Festival gifted her with her last two awards for “Juana” in Segregatio. Currently Amanda Méndez resides in New York and continues training in acting courses including butoh and is launching her first solo performance, called Art To Please.
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Nick Lotto is a Brooklyn-based singer, songwriter, and producer. He's collaborated with artists from all over the world as a producer and touring guitarist. He currently operates out of a studio space in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, and also runs a recording studio in Grenada, West Indies.
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Sylma Santos Santori is a multidisciplinary visual artist, art educator, and art director with over a decade of experience in the creative field. A 2011 graduate of the University of Puerto Rico, she has dedicated 13 years to teaching art across all grade levels, with a focus on middle school education. From 2016 to 2018, she served as the director and coordinator of the director and coordinator of the Integrated Arts Project at El Puente Beacon Leaders for Peace and Justice, leading community-based arts initiatives centered on youth empowerment. In addition to her work in the classroom, she has facilitated printmaking workshops for adults and has led educational workshops through El Museo del Barrio in New York. Her passion for art direction is reflected in her extensive experience designing sets for school productions, where she merges creativity and collaboration. Her personal artistic practice includes printmaking, painting, and graphic design, all grounded in visual storytelling and cultural exploration.
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Jorge Luna is an actor, director, photographer, filmmaker, and writer from San Juan, Puerto Rico. Directing- A Maze by Rob Handel (Siena College); FLORIDITA, my Love by Javier Antonio González (Union College); On The High Road by Anton Chekhov (Universidad de Puerto Rico). Performance- Off-Broadway/NYC Theatre- Breaking The Story (2nd Stage); Deathwatch (Drama League/ New Ohio); SHINKA (Ren Gyo
Soh/ Capital Fringe); FLORIDITA, my Love (IATI/ Caborca); Hamlet (Jersey City Theater Center/ Caborca); by wing, fin, hoof or foot (The Ume Group); Cymbeline (Chashama). Regional- BUST (Goodman/ Alliance); Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors (Irish Classical Theatre); Baipás (George Street Playhouse); Constellations (George Lindsey Theatre). FILM-The Week Of (Netflix); planet b234 (Vail); All the Beautiful Things (Sundance); papa y yoyo (EN: 2021); Untitled Fish (UNFIX NYC Film Festival). TV- Zero Day (Netflix); Law & Order; Law & Order: SVU; Elementary; The Blacklist. Training- Universidad de Puerto Rico- BA Theatre; RADA-Shakespeare; Brooklyn College- MFA, Acting. Luna is a recipient of an Individual Artist Grant from the Arts Center of the Capital Region (NYS). |
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Alejandra Acevedo born and raised in Puerto Rico, is an artist/performer based in New York City. With a BFA in Dance from Philadelphia’s University of the Arts (2017). As a dancer and a Caribbean woman, Alejandra is interested in how an experience can create movement. She defines herself as a multidisciplinary performing artist. Aside from dance, she works as a freelance Hospitality Coordinator and Stage Manager for different events around NY.
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Dave Morrissey Jr. is an award-winning producer, director, and actor with over a decade of experience across film, television, immersive theater, and branded content. He’s led multimillion-dollar campaigns for major tech and gaming brands, produced YouTube content for top publishers, and specializes in narrative-driven work that blends emerging tech with powerful storytelling.
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Dawn Somek is a Brooklyn-based musician, songwriter, and performer. Classically trained and composing since the age of seven, her work explores the intersections of emotional storytelling, mental health, and ethereal pop production, blending 80s influences with contemporary sensibility. With a background in working with children and a strong artistic presence, Dawn continues to develop her artistic voice both in New York and internationally.
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Alexander Quiles is a photographer who captures life as it unfolds—raw, unfiltered, and honest. Born and raised in Puerto Rico, he moved to New York in the late winter of 2023 in pursuit of new learning opportunities and deeper creative growth, focusing on analog, alternative and historic processes on photography.
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