enter at 200 6th St.
July 17-19 • 7:30pm
theresa.buchheister@gmail.com
GET TICKETS
enter at 200 6th St.
July 17-19 • 7:30pm
theresa.buchheister@gmail.com
GET TICKETS
Object Permanence
featuring
Sydney Chow
Mia Fowler
Carsyn Gekas
Marc Anthony Gutierrez
Healy Knight
Khali Sykes
Felix Teich
created and directed by
Nico Krell
with creative producer
Theresa Buchheister
and associate director
Ethan Eva Karas
at Kestrels, BK • July 17-19
Content Warnings
This performance includes portrayals of non-consensual bondage and light atmospheric haze.
Special Thanks
This presentation of Object Permanence was made possible entirely through the generosity of individual donors. Thank you to everyone whose confidence in these artists brought this show to life.
Additional thanks to
Alex & Lori Krell
Jesse Freedman
Jerry Lieblich
Public Assembly & Annabel Thompson
Kestrels & Katie Workum
IndieSpace & Randi Berry
from associate director Ethan Eva Karas:
START
with your feet, the part touching the ground. close your eyes and take a breath.
don’t worry. this program will still be here when you open them.
let your gaze travel up through your legs, torso, limbs, to the top of your head. you do not have to be still. listen to your chair as you shift. listen to both, what creaks, pops, cracks. close your eyes and listen again.
don’t worry. the chair will still be here when you open them.
look around now at the room, the lights, the window, the floor, the door.
listen to its hum, the people, the air.
for the last time, close your eyes, this time asking yourself,
while i’m listening, what changes have i missed?
how have i missed myself, the chair, the room shift?
how am i moving while trying to sit still?
open your eyes. the show will arrive soon. thank you for being here.
Questions for the Company
How would you dance if you had never seen someone dancing before?
Can you move quite-literally silently? Can you speak silently?
What is the most detailed conversation you can have without making a sound? Remember the prelinguistic world.
What gestures do people make when they’re lying? when they’re lonely? when they’re intimidated? when they feel superior?
What are three instincts or impulses you don’t have control over?
When did you learn that something you wanted to do was taboo?
Pick a room from your childhood home. What are three images you can see in that room? three stories you remember in that room?
What is a moment in life when you suddenly know how things actually are?
Do you remember when you thought magic was possible? When, exactly, did that end?
Do you have early memories of feeling wanted? of feeling not wanted?
What traits do you have now that you don’t plan to have by the time you die?
What traits do you judge in others because you’re afraid to take them on yourself?
Have you ever been split in two? What gestures do dogs make when fighting their instincts?
What are three moments in your life where you’ve retrained yourself?
If you could baptize yourself, what blessings would you give?
What in your life is permanent?
When buying dresses from Walmart in late 2017, what countries are most likely to be listed on the tags? How did those statistics change from 2007 to 2017?
Artist Biographies
Nico Krell (Creator & Director)
Nico Krell is an Uruguayan-American creator of plays, operas, musicals, performance art, and, once, a gastrotheatical adaptation of Medea. He served as a Lecturer in Theater at Princeton University and received the Louis Sudler Prize, Princeton's highest honor in the creative arts. As a playwright, Nico created the new translation for the North American stage premiere of Joseph Haydn’s L’anima del filosofo (U. Toronto/McGill), the original drag opera extravaganzas Slaylem and The Golden Cock (Heartbeat Opera), the dance-text time-capsule performance Nineteen/Ninety/One (The Brick), and the immersive 1,001 Nights adaptation When Dawn Breaks (Princeton University). As a director, his work has been seen at the wild project, Heartbeat Opera, The Brick, The Chain, U. Toronto, Princeton University, and Princeton Summer Theater; he has supported work at Soho Rep., Opera Philadelphia, Opera America, The Civilians, and Berkshire Theatre Group. nicokrell.com
Theresa Buchheister (Creative Producer)
Theresa Buchheister (they/them) is an artistic director, curator, venue operator, theater maker and voiceover artist. Theresa co-founded Title:Point, The Exponential Festival, Vital Joint, ?!:New Works and SalOn!. They received an OBIE for their time as artistic director of The Brick Theater and Brick Aux, was a collective member of DIY venue Silent Barn, was a manager at a bunch of bookstores (The Strand, The Drama Book Shop, Housing Works, The Unoppressive Non-Imperialist Bargain Book Shop) and has directed many audiobooks, cartoons and podcasts (How Music Works, Pokemon and The Last Days of Cabrini Green). www.theresabuchheister.com and www.titlepoint.org
Ethan Eva Karas (Associate Director)
Ethan Eva Karas (any) is a director, writer, and projection designer working in theatre, opera, and everything in between. Recent/upcoming work: The Future Show, Precipice (PROTOTYPE Fest), and the [home] project. Recently, Ethan served as the Playwrights Horizons Artistic Fellow for the 2025/26 season. Ethan likes ghosts and love stories. She thinks they're the same thing. For more work: ethankaras.com I @ethanevakaras I invitations
Sydney Chow (Performer)
Sydney Chow is a dancer originally from Los Angeles, California. She has worked with creators in NYC such as Chloe Crenshaw, Gabrielle Lamb, Gina Moxley, Rohan Bhargava, Ashley Chen, Troy Schumacher, and companies Yue Yin Dance Company and Gallim Dance Company. She enjoys collaborating with amazing humans, eating spicy chips, and making jewelry for her friends. She received her training from Los Angeles County High School for the Arts and NYU Tisch School of the Arts.
Mia Fowler (Performer)
Mia Fowler is a New York based actor and writer. Recent credits include: Off-Broadway: As You Like It (The Public Theater); Regional: cityscrape (Good Apples Collective), You Are What You Eat (Westerly Theatre Group), Much Ado About Nothing (Utah Shakespeare Festival), before the flood (The Chain Theatre), The Wolves (Colorado Springs FAC); TV/Film: Adults (FX), Dumb Money (Sony Pictures). Mia also maintains a Substack on books and theater. B.A. Yale University.
Carsyn Gekas (Performer)
Carsyn Gekas is a freelance dancer and choreographer based in New York. She graduated summa cum laude with a BFA in Dance and a concentration in Composition from the Conservatory of Dance at SUNY Purchase under the direction of Nelly van Bommel. Originally from Dallas, Texas, she received her early training at Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts and Dance Industry Performing Arts Center. She has performed works by Crystal Pite, Micaela Taylor, Peter Chu, Kyle Abraham, Martha Graham, James Finnemore, and Rodrick George, among others. Most recently, she performed with BalletCollective in works by Chloe Crenshaw and Troy Schumacher (New York City Ballet), with Chelsea Thedinga in a new evening length work, and with Mark Caserta’s BIGKID DANCE. Her choreography has been presented at Battery Dance Festival’s Young Voices in Dance and the 2020 Mobile Dance Film Festival.
Marc Anthony Gutierrez (Performer)
Marc Anthony Gutierrez (he/him) is originally from Sunnyvale, California, where he began his dance training with DACPAC under the direction of Cheryl Copeland and Dominique Lomuljo. He received his BFA from SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Dance as a scholarship recipient in 2022. Marc Anthony has attended intensives at San Francisco Conservatory of Dance (SFCD), Alonzo King Lines Summer Intensive, and Springboard Danse Montreal. Over the years, he has had the privilege of performing works by Sidra Bell, Andrea Miller, Kyle Abraham, Doug Varone, and Cindy Salgado. During his second semester of his senior year at Purchase, he began working with Andrea Miller, Premiering Blush at the Chelsea Factory. Since joining the company, he has assisted Andrea Miller in the process for a new commission on Kyle Abraham’s company, AIM. He also joined Doug Varone and Dancers for their new evening-length work To My Arms/Restore, which premiered at NYU Skirball in 2024.
Healy Knight (Performer)
Healy Knight has performed with Good Apples Collective (4044, Ex Tape), TwentySomethings (Gutbelly), AMT (Ze Follies Dorie), The Tank (Joan of Arc in a Supermarket in California), the 938 Collective (Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, No Exit), Mom’s Against Sketch Comedy, ChrubRub, and New Relic Theater (Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream). She thanks everyone involved please enjoy the show!
Khali Sykes (Performer)
Khali Sykes is a NYC-based award-winning multifaceted artist with an affinity for experimental and fantastical storytelling. Theater: Nine Nights (The Brick Aux), dead things (The Garret Theater), Joan of Arc in a Supermarket in California (The Tank NYC), The Little Mermaid (ZACH Theatre). Film: RATS!, House of Abraham. Directing: Current Assistant Director for MJ the Musical, Associate Director for Fabulation (Billie Holiday Theatre). Choreography: The Wizard of Oz (Impact Arts), Ann Reinking Choreography Fellow: Ragtime, Urinetown, Love Life, Wonderful Town (New York City Center). Austin, TX native and proud UT alum. Thanks to my village - grateful is an understatement! MMV Talent. KhaliSykes.com
Felix Teich (Performer)
Felix Teich thinks this is a truly special piece of work with amazing, remarkable artists, and they hope it reminds of the power of play and that it resensitizes you some to life. It’s only the beginning! Other credits this summer: Milo in Michael! with Garden Variety, Derek in Going Away Party as part of the ALAB Festival at IRT. Felix is a 2021 graduate of the MFA acting program at NYU, and a 2016 graduate of the BFA acting program at Emerson College. They're also a member of the acting company at the Mercury Store, a play development space in Gowanus. @felix.teich if u want to link and build, luv u!
Kestrels is a project run by artist Katie Workum and aims to provide flexibility and space resources for artists to create performances and practices, run workshops and rehearsals. kestrels.space