Nic Adams is an NYC-based playwright, director, producer, and theatre-maker.
Neck Down
"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.
Week 2 concludes with almost 30% of funding secured! In a week centered on gratitude, I deeply appreciate your belief in me and this play!
This week our production:
began staging with actors
took in design presentations from our talented creative team on lighting, costumes, sound, and more!
confirmed a venue for an upcoming fundraising party
and received promotional pictures from our photographer! Check out this one below for a sneak peek of what’s to come!
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.
WHEN + WHERE
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.
YOUR SUPPORT
With these cost-saving resources from Exponential secured, your donations will directly benefit a company of 14 artists working on this play:
Actors Cristina Pitter, Essence Lotus, Jack Dahill, and more to be announced!
Director Marissa Joyce Stamps, producer Melissa Mickens, lighting designer Andre Segar, sound designer Eden Segbefia, scenic designer Ettie Pin, costume designer Karen Boyer, stage manager Deniz Demirkurt, and carpenter Thomas Wagner.
IMPACT
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
THANK YOU
Support Nic as he brings the skills honed on others' productions and projects to bear on his world premiere play.
Rewards
Featured
Numismatic
Donate $250.00 or more
Amount is fully tax-deductible.
A commemorative coin based on art from the play, in addition to recognition in the play's program.
Shout Out
Donate $25.00 or more
Amount is fully tax-deductible.
Recognition in the play's program as a donor!
Producer Credit
Donate $1,000.00 or more
Amount is fully tax-deductible.
Below title producer credit on all outward-facing publicity, in addition to all other perks available.