About Us
Lively Productions
Lively Productions presents new work for the stage by emerging artists, and seeks to create innovative theatrical opportunities in a world increasingly defined by real time interactions and new technologies. Through the cultivation of new work, initiation of projects based on current events and trends and exploration of new media, we expand the definition of performance today.
Lively Productions is a not-for-profit organization run by co-Artistic Directors Allison Goldberg and Jen Jamula and was founded in 2007 by Lisa Siciliano and Allison Goldberg with its inaugural performance, "Everaftering and Other Tales", an evening of short new plays. Past projects include "The Panda Is Not My Friend," a cabaret of new musical theater works; "Paper Dolls" (Patrick Huguenin, 2008 NY Fringe Festival, Winner: Best Ensemble Award); "Episcus and Edendus" (Lyrics: Greg Edwards, Music: Ron Barnett); "Apples" (Greg Edwards); "Diplomatic Relations" (Greg Edwards); and more recently a developmental reading of the new musical The Rivals (Book & Lyrics: Greg Edwards, Music: Jonathan Breit). Currently, Lively Productions is a finalist for a major arts grant that would enable the company to develop a new piece based on first-hand interviews conducted across the country. The company is also continuing to facilitate the development of new work by company playwright Greg Edwards, and maintains a vlog, WhyAreYouOnMyTrain.com, which features weekly interviews with New Yorkers.
Lively Productions' work has been featured in The New York Times, NY1, Broadwayworld.com, The New York Daily News, and The New Yorker, among others.
Allison Goldberg, co-artistic director, co-founder
Allison Goldberg is a Co-Founder of Lively productions and is currently a Co-Artistic Director with Jen Jamula. Allison and Jen have been working together since their time at Yale and, in addition to their stage endeavors, recently launched a vlog together (whyareyouonmytrain.com) in which they interview strangers together on the New York City subway. Allison has performed in and produced many of Lively Productions’ Manhattan-based productions, including the award-winning Fringe Festival hit "Paper Dolls." Other credits include Revolution on the Roof (FringeNYC), Macbeth (OTE, Theater Row), Writers’ Colony (Fresh Fruit Festival), Cinderella’s Mice (Vital Theatre Company), and the Hoop Dee Doo Revue (Disney). Most recently, Allison played the role of Patti in a new play based on the NYC Department of Education re-assignment centers. She has also performed in several projects with Artistic New Directions, Lively Productions’ fiscal sponsor, and briefly worked for The Commercial Theater Institute and Above the Title Entertainment with producer Jed Bernstein. Allison graduated cum laude from Yale University with degrees in Theater Studies and Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations and has been a member of Actors Equity Association since 2006.
Find out more about Allison at www.allisongoldberg.com
Jen Jamula, co-artistic director
Jen Jamula is a theater artist and yogi. She recently became Co-Artistic Director of Lively Productions, directed her first play (Diplomatic Relations) with the company, and launched the vlog, http://whyareyouonmytrain.com, with partner, Allison Goldberg, with whom she has been working for eight years. Acting credits include: Paper Dolls (Claire), NY Fringe Best Ensemble Award; A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Helena) with Friches Théâtre Urbain, Paris; Only We Who Guard The Mystery Shall Be Unhappy (Laura Bush) at Yale; and The Motherf**ker With The Hat (Victoria), a reading of Stephen Adly Guirgis’ new play with Maggie Flanigan directing at the 2010 LAByrinth Theater Company Intensive Ensemble. Most recently, she played Gabby in 233a Play, a theatrical happening in a Brooklyn brownstone that joyfully explored the artist/audience relationship and use of non-traditional spaces for creating theater. She studies singing with Jane Olian and Linklater voice with Jordan Dann. Jen graduated from Yale University in 2005 with distinction in Theater Studies and is a proud member of Actors Equity. She teaches yoga privately in NYC (www.doyogawithjen.com).
Lisa Siciliano, co-founder
Lisa Siciliano, co-founder, is an actress, director, writer, producer, and educator. For Lively Productions, Lisa has directed Everaftering by Greg Edwards and starred in Apples also by Greg. She has produced Everaftering and Other Tales, The Panda is Not My Friend cabaret, Paper Dolls by Patrick Huguenin, winner of the 2008 New York International Fringe Festival award for Outstanding Ensemble, Episcus and Edendus, and Apples. Since moving to the Windy City in the fall of 2008, Lisa has taught with Lifeline Theatre, American Theatre Company, ARCC Ballet, Emerald City Theatre, Lasalle Language Academy, the Swedish American Museum, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and with the Columbia College Summer Arts Camp. She also served as the Cleveland Coordinator for the national arts collective, SLIGHTLYaskew Theatre Company, and as the associate artistic director of the Cleveland Shakespeare Festival. Currently, Lisa is the Education Coordinator at Emerald City Theatre. As an actress in Chicago, she's worked with Stockyards Theatre Project (Three Card Memory), Hubris Productions (Red Noses), Rascal Children's Theatre (Tam Lin,Annalee Jones and the Meanie Jeanie), American Theatre Company (Big Shoulders Festival), and Point of Contention (The Wonder: A Woman Keeps a Secret). She graduated cum laude and with distinction in the theatre studies major from Yale University in 2005.
Learn more about Lisa at www.lisasiciliano.com
Greg Edwards, resident playwright
Greg Edwards is a Manhattan-based lyricist and librettist, essayist, and adventure game designer, as well as the resident playwright for Lively Productions. His plays, musicals, and songs have been performed across the country, including at a White House dinner for the President and fifty governors; and he placed second for the 2010 Fred Ebb Award for Musical Theatre Songwriting. Representative musicals include The Rivals (BMI, Lively Productions), "Taking the Plunge" (New York Musical Theatre Festival), "Episcus and Edendus" (BMI, Lively Productions), and several songs with Marvin Hamlisch (White House, Mr. Hamlisch's Holiday Tour). His plays include A Crowded House (State Theatre of Chicago), "Diplomatic Relations" (Lively Productions), "Everaftering" (Lively Productions), and "Home-Cooked: A Cautionary Tale" (Jimmy's No. 43). His computer game Jessica Plunkenstein and the Dusseldorf Conspiracy was published internationally and received acclaim from such arbiters of adventure gamely taste as the New York Times and PC Gamer UK. His Roman-themed game The Judgment of Quintus is currently in development. Greg graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Yale University with a B.S. in Theater Studies and Computer Science. He’s now a member of the Dramatists Guild and the advanced BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theater Writing Workshop.
Consider stalking him at www.greged.com.
