Beauty Freak

a new play by James Clements

directed by Danilo Gambini

in a co-production with What Will The Neighbors Say?

Performances begin April 24, 2026

Beauty Freak centers on Leni Riefenstahl during the creation and promotion of her magnum opus “Olympia,” a film about the 1936 Berlin Olympics commissioned by the Third Reich. Act I is set during the preparations for the Olympics, and Act II during her U.S. publicity tour in 1938, during which the events of Kristallnacht unfolded. As the regime that supports her artistic vision escalates their campaign of terror and commits increasingly flagrant atrocities, Riefenstahl and her colleagues are forced to reckon with their own complicity and responsibilities as artists.

Beauty Freak is a provocative, potent and prescient new work, aiming to make audiences think critically about their own choices in our current moment, and the fragility of democracy across the world.

featuring Baize Buzan*, Sam Hood Adrain, James Clements, Peter Coleman*, Luca Fontaine, Slate Holmgren*, and Keith Rubin*

scenic design by Suzu Sakai, costume design by Stephanie Bahniuk, lighting design by Yung-Hung Sung, sound design and original music by Liam Bellman-Sharpe, prop design by Samantha Tutasi and Emily Mustillo, stage management by Isabel Criado

*Appearing courtesy of Actors' Equity Association

special thanks to Jessica's Petals (400 W. 23rd St.)

special performances

OC Open Captioning  Performances: May 6 at 7:30 PM and May 16 at 3:00 PM

Pay What You Can Sundays: May 3, 10 and 17 at 3:00p

Student & Senior Pricing: Any performance--please contact info@wwtns.org to secure your discounted ticket

about the artists

James Clements (Playwright) (he/him) is a Scottish actor, theatermaker and educator based between New York and Scotland. Clements has performed at venues including La Mama, BRIC, HERE and MITU580, and has written and directed projects at the Public, Rattlestick, the 92nd Street Y, Culture Lab, Mercury Store, The Colony Theatre (Miami), Woolly Mammoth Theatre (Washington D.C), Centre Theatre (Los Angeles), Dundee Rep (Dundee) and the Stockwell Playhouse (London). His acting has been called "impressive...incredibly compelling...excellent" (BroadwayWorld), "deft" (TheatreMania) and "magnetic" (The Scotsman). His plays, including "The Diana Tapes" (2016), "Four Sisters" (2017), "MEDEA/BRITNEY" (2019), "Ellis Island" (2021), "Brothers in Arms" (2023), "GUAC" (2024) and "The Burns Project" (2025), have been described by critics as "searing" (New York Times), "magnifying" (TimeOut), "compelling" (The Guardian), "intricate" (BroadwayWorld), "affecting" (Playbill) and intellectual" (Theatre is Easy). His latest play, "The Burns Project," will tour the U.S. in Spring 2026, while his documentary play “GUAC” was revived at The Centre Theatre in Los Angeles in October 2025 with an encore run scheduled for Spring 2026. He is a Professor at NYU Tisch School of the Arts and Co-Artistic Director of What Will the Neighbors Say?

Danilo Gambini (Director) is a NYC-based director of Theater, Musicals and Opera. He is originally from São Paulo, Brazil, and a graduate of the Yale School of Drama. As a Producer, he served as Studio Theatre’s Associate Artistic Director for three seasons. Prior to Studio he was the Associate Artistic Director at Rattlestick, as well as part of the 20/21/22 Roundabout Directors’ Group. Recent credits include: “A Case for the Existence of God” by Samuel Hunter at Mosaic Theater; “The Heart Sellers” by Lloyd Suh and “Wipeout” by Aurora Real de Asua, both at Studio Theatre; the operas “Iolanta” by Tchaikovsky and “The Rake’s Progress” by Stravinsky at Yale Opera/Shubert Theatre New Haven; “Ni Mi Madre” at Rattlestick (Obie Award Winner; Drama Desk Nom., Drama League Nom., Outer Critics Nom., NYT Critic’s Pick, TheaterMania Editor’s Pick); “Agreste” by Newton Moreno at Spooky Action Theater; and the new musical “Sabina,” by Willy Holtzman, with music by Louise Beach and lyrics by Darrah Cloud, co-directed with Daniella Topol at Portland Stage in Maine.

Suzu Sakai (Set Design) is an NYC based freelance scenic & production designer originally from Tokyo. Recent productions include: “TRASH” (PAC NYC), “Club NVRLND” (Edinburgh Fringe), “The Brothers Size” (Geffen Playhouse, LA & The Shed, NY), Opera: “The Rake's Progress” (Shubert Theater, CT), Musical: “Lizard Boy” (NYC Off Broadway premiere & OSF production, Drama Desk nom.), and “Million Dollar Quartet” (Playhouse on Park, CT), including festival shows in New York as well as space design in the digital art & media industry in Tokyo. She has assisted Broadway and Off-Broadway designers in set & lighting.

Stephanie Bahniuk (Costumes) is a Ukrainian-Canadian scenic and costume designer of theatre, tv, film, opera and dance. She is originally from Edmonton, Canada and now resides in Brooklyn, NY. Stephanie is a graduate of the Masters of Fine Arts in Design program at the Yale School of Drama and a recipient of the Jay Keene and Jean Griffin Keene Prize in Costume Design. Stephanie is also a Sterling Award winner and was recently nominated for a Connecticut Critics' Choice Award. Select credits include “Dance Nation” (Skirtsafire Festival), “Ragtime” (Goodspeed Musicals), “Carmen” (Opera Theater Rutgers), “Once on This Island” (Theatre Raleigh) and “Kohkom's Babushka” (Pyretic/Punctuate). Her work as an Associate Costume Designer has included “BUG” (MTC/Broadway) and “Girl, Interrupted” (The Public Theatre, upcoming). In addition to her theatre work, Stephanie has contributed to Broadway and Off-Broadway productions as a costume shopper and has lent her expertise to major TV productions, including “The Gilded Age” and “And Just Like That.” She is a proud member of USA Local 829. www.stephaniebahniuk.com

Yung-Hung Sung (Lighting) Yung-Hung Sung, a New York based lighting and scenic designer originally from Kaohsiung, Taiwan. His work has appeared at major venues in Taiwan and festivals/events worldwide, including National Theater of Taiwan, National Taichung Theater, and Weiwuying; the Edinburgh Festival Fringe (UK), Proyector Festival (Spain), Beijing Dance Festival, Shanghai International Arts Festival (China), Migration Matters Festival (UK), ChangMu Festival (Korea), and Avignon Off (France). His lighting design work, “Panta Rhei,” was nominated for Emerging Lighting Design at World Stage Design 2017, and “Ten Lines of Poetry to NK” won Bronze in 2022. He holds an MFA in Design from Yale School of Drama (DGSD) and has received multiple scholarships and Taiwan’s Government Scholarship for Study Abroad. He believes scenography exists only when it helps tell a story better. yhslightingdesign.com | @yhsung.design

Liam Bellman-Sharpe (Sound) is a US-based Australian composer, sound designer and engineer, writer, and multi-instrumentalist working in theatre, music, film, dance, installation, and hybrid forms. Recent theatrical credits include “The Smuggler” and “The Beacon” (Irish Repertory Theatre), “SUMO!” (The Public Theatre), “The Matchmaker” and “Octet” (Hudson Valley Shakespeare), “Song of Rome” (The Spoleto Festival), “The Age of Innocence” (Arena Stage Company), “Babbit” (Shakespeare Theatre Company), and “Escaped Alone” (Yale Repertory Theatre). Recent film credits include the score for “Mothers and Lovers” (dir. Danica Selem, 2025) and music and lyrics for “Parallel” (dir. Alexandre Prod’homme), which won first place in the 2024 Sci-Fi London 48 Hour Film Festival. Liam holds a Master of Fine Arts in Sound Design from the Yale School of Drama, and a Bachelor of Music with First Class Honours from the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music (University of Melbourne).

Samantha Tutasi (she/her) (Co-Props Designer) is an Ecuadorian-American theater artist. Most recent collaborations include: RHEOLOGY (Bushwick Starr); minor•ity, Dirty Laundry, Munich Medea: Happy Family (Women’s Project); Golem Owned A Tropical Smoothie (The Tank); B*TCHCRAFT: A Musical Play, Coping Mechanism (Wild Project). She collaborates with Design Action on their immersive theatrical design program, Springboard To Design. BFA: State University of New York at Purchase, 2022. samanthatutasidesign.myportfolio.com

Emily Mustillo (she/her) (CO-PROPS DESIGNER) Emily Mustillo is a Scenic and Props Designer from Brooklyn, New York. This is her first production with What Will the Neighbors Say?, and she is so thankful for the opportunity to work with such a talented group of artists. Past design work includes collaborations with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Stella Adler Studio of Acting, NxtGeneration Theatrics, New York City Children's Theater, and Nickelodeon. emilymustillodesign.com

What Will the Neighbors Say? (Co-Producer) is an investigative theatre company that provokes questions through untold stories. Led by a collaborative cohort of international artists, the Neighbors present overlooked social, cultural and historical narratives that challenge the audience to reflect on the current moment. Through a combination of original plays, arts education workshops and dynamic community gatherings, the troupe incites rowdy and rigorous debate at the theatre and throughout the Neighborhood. Since its inception in 2016, the company has premiered 11 original plays in 6 cities in 4 countries on 2 continents, and co-presented a further 27 new works. Over the course of these projects, the Neighbors have created jobs for over 375 artists - 75% of them non cis-male identifying and 50% of them members of the global majority or immigrants. What Will the Neighbors Say? is led by Founding Co-Artistic Directors Sam Hood Adrain and James Clements. What Will the Neighbors Say? has received funding from a number of grantors including the the New York State Council on the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, the Foundation of Contemporary Arts, Americans for the Arts, the Howard Gilman Foundation, A.R.T./NY, the Brooklyn Arts Council, the Dumbo Improvement District, Off-Broadway Angels, IndieSpace, Rhode Island Foundation, Actor’s Equity Association, the Bel Geddes Fund, the Leon Levy Foundation, the Puffin Foundation and the Network of Ensemble Theatres. The company has been selected for residencies with NYU’s Espacio de Culturas, the Goethe-Institut New York, the Brooklyn Arts Council’s Six Foot Platform, Catskill Mountain Shakespeare, IRT Theatre's 3B Development Residency, MITU580's Gowanus Affordable Arts Initiative and Artists-at-Home Program and BRIC's BRIClab Performance Residency. The Neighbors have collaborated with partners including the Brooklyn Public Library, the Queens Public Library, El Puente Presente, the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Puerto Rico, the Queens Memory Project, the Queens Historical Society, the Queerly Festival, Pregones/P.R.T.T. and THE CITY newspaper.

the cell (Founding Artistic Director Nancy Manocherian and Artistic Director Kira Simring) is a not-for- profit dedicated to the incubation and presentation of new work across all artistic disciplines that mine the mind, pierce the heart and awaken the soul. Founded in 2006 as a “21st century salon”, the cell has provided a developmental home in the heart of Chelsea for the performing arts, food artists, cyborg theatre artists, musicians, installation artists, choreographers and more. Past performances include “The Trojans” with Loading Dock Theatre, “Sheltered,” “cryptochrome,” “Communion,” “I’m Gonna Marry You Tobey Maguire,” “PROPHET$,” “Words of the Prophets” and “The Smallest Sound in the Smallest Space: with The Why Collective, “What Kind of Woman,” “when the blossom passes, what remains?,” “The Final Veil,” Elizabeth Swados’ “Nightclub Cantata,” “What Keeps You Going?,” “Fruma-Sarah (Waiting in the Wings)” (starring Jackie Hoffman), “Persou” by Ellpetha Tsivicos and “Camilo Quiroz-Vazquez,” “Tolerance Party,” “Found,” “Hoard” (co-produced with Off the Wall), “The Evolution of Mann,” “Bastard Jones” (a Drama-Desk Award nominee), “Crackskull Row,” “Hey Jude,” “Rady & Bloom's Peter/Wendy,” “The McGowan Trilogy,” “Horse Girls,” “Hard Times: An American Musical” (now the Tony-Award Winning “Paradise Square”) and “Dinner and Delusion.” Work developed at the cell has been seen on Broadway, Irish Repertory Theatre, MCC, Rattlestick, New World Stages, Cherry Lane Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Portland Stage, Toyohashi Arts Theatre, Southwark Playhouse, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Carnegie Stage, Carnegie Museum of Art and Art Basel Miami.

*If the ticket price is a barrier to entry please contact thecelltheatre@gmail.com and we are happy to provide you with a complimentary ticket, pending availability