"Neck Down" is a new play by Nic Adams, premiering as part of the 2025 Exponential Festival at We Are Here, an event space and production studio, in Brooklyn.
Thanks to all 71 of you who contributed to this fundraising campaign, and the dozens of others who wished us well, showed up to our benefit, and amplified our message…we did it!
This week we:
finished rehearsals for the year (we start brush-ups on Jan 3)
took measurements with our costume designer, Karen Boyer
visited Materials for the Arts with our scenic designer, Ettie Pin, and director Marissa Joyce Stamps
and posted the show on a couple dozen events listings websites
For those of you who claimed perks through this campaign, I will be in touch soon! But first: a moment to savor your belief in me...followed by a nap! Thank you!!!
Week 4
Yesterday we made a big announcement: this campaign has been given a matching grant of $2K! All donations will be doubled until our final day!
With that, week 4 ends just under 70% funded! Thank you for making this production possible!
In addition, last week we:
held a spirited benefit at Brooklyn Artery! Here's producer Melissa Mickens and shop owner Meredith Jacks and I following the event:
was led on a 3D tour of our set by scenic designer Ettie Pin
and continued staging the play at the Mercury Store!
Thanks for following along! Big finish this week! Wish me luck!
Week 3
With two weeks left to go, we are over 40% funded! Thank you all for your contributions. Your support is felt most keenly when I'm in rehearsal with our (growing) group of collaborators, watching them find their groove and knowing it wouldn't be possible without your help.
This week our production:
announced the lineup for our benefit onMonday night, including musicians Angel Desai and Jack Adams, and interviewer Miller Pyke
received even more promotional pictures from photographer Lee Rayment, like this one:
Your support makes all the above (and so much more) possible. Thank you!
Week 1
Thanks to your donations, we are ending week 1 of this campaign over 20% funded! Thank you for your generosity! Your faith is so encouraging.
This week our production:
read through and discussed the themes of the play with the ensemble
took in a presentation from our director, Marissa Joyce Stamps, on her goals and vision for the play
discussed promotional materials with our photographer and planned for a photoshoot
visited the theater to take measurements and inventory of the equipment
and dove into "archetype work" with the actors to establish a foundation of characters' dreams and fears
Your support makes all the above (and so much more) possible. Thank you!
THE PLAY
It’s the morning before an ancient coin auction in NYC and early-career artist Ciel is stuck working yet another menial temp assignment. An old money collector arrives early to inspect the legal tender upon which he plans to bid. So begins a daydream about lottery winnings, caskets, sex fantasies, delulus of grandeur, Sergei Diaghilev, and Big Oil Banks. The physical characters onstage duet with the voices in their heads, mounting a tragicomic class stand-off and a toast to the relentless spirit of artists living on the brink of precarity.
Directed by Princess Grace Award-winner Marissa Joyce Stamps, with a cast led by Cristina Pitter and Essence Lotus, Neck Down will receive its world premiere as part of the tenth-anniversary Exponential Festival from January 9 - 12 at Bushwick event space and production studio We Are Here.
By partnering with The Exponential Festival, Neck Down will receive vital support in the form of free videography and photography, insurance, a small commission, and press representation.
This is Nic's first production since graduating from Brooklyn College. In the years since his last world premiere (2021's comedic pilot Corona Cam Show for the digital Exponential Festival), Nic:
established The Exponential Festival as a 501c3
received his MFA in playwriting, studying with Haruna Lee, Dennis A. Allen II, and Elana Greenfield
helped relaunch Brooklyn College's Weasel Festival as an independently-produced and financed endeavor
directed Lane Dombois' NO ONLY, a site-specific, immersive album release and design showcase set in and around a solar-powered shipping container on Governors Island
edited a book chronicling the first decade of The Exponential Festival, Fucked and Jolly, published by 53rd State Press
