Gail Thacker, Artistic Director of Gene Frankel Theatre & 24 Bond Arts Center.
Thacker, espousing her “life as art philosophy,” continues building a body of work about her experiences & people within the artistic community in Polaroid & Theatre.
Gail Thacker’s art is shaped by LGBTQ+ storytelling and questions of social change. In 2001, she became Gene Frankel’s assistant, an experience she describes as life-changing. When Frankel died in 2005, The Gene Frankel Theatre & Film Workshop closed.
In 2006, Thacker founded the Gene Frankel Theater at the same New York City address to continue Frankel’s mission of theatre with a strong social conscience and artistic excellence.
In 2016, she founded the 24 Bond Arts Center to support her community of LGBTQ+ artists and to collaborate with younger artists, including Lucky Peatro.
Thacker describes her mission this way: “We are looking to give a home to artists that cultivate a theater that speaks not only of a sociopolitical change — but a personal change, the only truly manageable change that can lead to a new and better social, political, economic world.”
Thacker is proud to present THE UNUSUAL CHAUNCEY FAUST and would like to thank Thomas Gordon for believing in us.
About the Play
Coni’s play follows an actor’s inner journey, where language and reality begin to bend in surprising ways. On his way to an audition, Chauncey is diverted by a psychiatrist and institutionalized in a psychiatric hospital. From there we follow him as he struggles to find his way back to that audition and to the life he imagines for himself. Influenced by the work and writings of Maria Olon, the play echoes the familiar Faust story, though Chauncey has little time to bargain away his soul. Instead, this surreal piece moves quickly through a philosophical search for purpose and identity.
Trying to describe the play is itself part of what our festival, 15MOF, is about: a human bond, a one-on-one interaction. The questioning of life and the search for what it means to be human become the art. Coni, like the other playwrights who submit to our festival, is seeking a place where work can take shape. Each year we try to form a new community around that process — plays that bring people together, artists meeting one another through the simple act of creating. There are no fees and no barriers. Everyone stands a chance. It is free, so stop worrying and make art.
In the end, the choice belongs to the audience. They vote for the winner. It becomes a collective effort — a room full of people in a small theatre, all searching together for the play that shines. The Unusual Chauncey Faust!
Playwright, Coni Koepfinger
Recently dubbed a "Person of Letters" by National League of American Pen Women, Coni Koepfinger is the winner of the 2021 Olwen Wymark Awardgiven by the Writers Guild of Great Britain. She has been a member of TYA, NAMT, Lifeboat Foundation, Dramatists Guild, a board member of the International Center Women Playwrights and a chair for the League Professional Theatre Women. Seen at Manhattan Rep; Cosmic Orchid; Pan Asian Rep; Harlem ME TOO project; Untold Stories of Jewish Women; The Producer’s Circle at the Players Club; PLAYBILL’S Virtual Theatre Festival 2020;American Theatre of Actors; Open Eye Theatre; Phoenicia Playhouse and Theater for the New City, Coni's work has great mass appeal. Here plays and commissions have been read and seen all over the globe, most recently in the Phillipines. Published plays can be found at Leicester Bay Theatricals and Next Stage Press.
Director , Aviva Katz
Aviva Katz is a director, arts administrator, and theatre educator specializing in new work and theatre for social change. She recently directed new plays Madylon at the New York Theater Festival and Generational at the Queens Short Play Festival, collaborating with playwrights throughout the development process. An Associate Member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, her work centers innovative storytelling that engages complex ideas with nuance, invites empathy and connection, and sparks meaningful thought and conversation. avivaruthkatz@gmail.com @a.vi.varuth
Cast Members
Chauncey Faust (3/18-3/26)
Sean Ricciardi is thrilled to be performing in The Unusual Chauncey Faust. Recent theater credits include a 4 week off-broadway run of Shining City by Conor McPherson at Paradise Factory Theater. He has also appeared in film/TV projects such as Leaving Yellowstone written and directed by Kayla Arend and produced by Spike Lee, FBI: Most Wanted on CBS and Powerbook II: Ghost on Starz. When not on stage, Sean enjoys swing dancing, bowling, and spending time with his beautiful Fiancée and her wonderful family. He thanks his friends and family for their constant support, and the writer Coni and director Aviva for giving him this opportunity.
Chauncey Faust (3/27-3/29)
Kenny Harmon has appeared with various companies and venues around the city including BAM, Joe’s Pub, the Blue Hill Troupe, Fusion Theater, dell’Arte Opera Ensemble, Regina Opera, St. Bart’s Players, Theater 80, and Lincoln Center New Works. Most recently: The Table Read (Fifteen Minutes of Frame 2024 -2nd Place), Vanya! A Musical (NY Theater Festival), MEDEA (Fusion Theatre), A New Brain (St. Bart’s Players), and The Visit (Columbia University).
Dr. Stanley Morgan
Will Lippman is thrilled to revisit this story in its full glory, after being a part of the original one-act play (winner of the 15 Minutes of Frame Theatre Festival). Recent credits include a drunken Macbeth in Drunk Macbeth (Kulturkanonen), Romeo & Juliet & A Man Called Paris (Kulturkanonen), as well as readings of grease my chin (Tier5) and Missy (Ghost Light). Will holds a BFA in acting from Central Washington University, with additional training in New York from Larry Singer Studios and Anthony Meindl Actors Workshop.
Ms. Candice Appleby
Emerick King (they/them) is a Non-Binary performer based in NYC. When they’re not tapping or working on the latest Defying Gravity riff, Emerick likes to read the Twilight Saga and study Paleontology.
Recent roles include Dr.Catastrophe in The Superhero Show (Dakota Players/Blackhills Playhouse) and Raptor Trainer at Jurassic Quest!
Dr. Maria Olon
Hilal Koyuncu is a New York–based actor originally from Turkey. She trained in method acting at the Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute in New York. She works across film, television, and stage while developing projects that bridge performance and emerging media.
Avery Mello / Musician
Kendra MacDevitt is a New York based Actor. When Kendra was an undergrad at NAU, her 10-minute play was nominated for a Kennedy Award. She did not win, but nonetheless moved to New York City to pursue a career in theater performance! Years later, she came to her senses and realized it was much more practical to be a free-lance violinist. But after performing in Brokeneck Girls: The Murder Ballad Musical, she couldn't resist treading the boards again and went on to play the title role in Michael Hagin's Rumplestiltskin in Fifteen Minutes of Frame. There she met Coni Koepfinger and the rest was destiny! She's very grateful for this golden opportunity.
Crew Members
Production Stage Manager
Bekah Lazar (they/them) holds a BFA in Theatre Production from the University of British Columbia and an MFA in Creative Writing from San Jose State University. Outside of the theatre, you can find their writing in EcoTheo Review, Gold Man Review, and others. As for inside of the theatre, their stage management professor, Collette Berg, taught them everything they know.
Scenic Designer
Joelle Gonzalez is a Brooklyn-based scenic and props designer working in live performance. Raised in Miami with a background in theatre and dramaturgy, she brings a practical, material-focused approach to building stages and properties. Her work spans plays, devised pieces, installations, and events, and she currently freelances in New York City as a designer and writer.
Sound Designer
Andy Cohen is a NYC Resident Sound Designer – WHTC credits: THISTLES, THREE BY TENNESSEE, BROKEN STORY, A CAVALIER FOR MILADY, A PERFECT ANALYSIS GIVEN BY A PARROT, YOU ARE PERFECT, EYES FOR CONSUELA, I CAN’T IMAGINE TOMORROW, and ‘NIGHT, MOTHER. Other recent credits include off-Broadway’s IN BED WITH ROY COHN, I KNOW WHAT BOYS WANT, and A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM (MasterWorks Theatre); THE AMERICAN SOLDIER (59E59, Edinburgh Fringe, Midtown International Theater Festival); LUCKY CHICK (Fringe NYC and FringeNYC Encores); IN VESTMENTS (2015 NYIT Award for Overall Production), UNMETIONABLES (2015 NYIT Nominee for Original Music), and many productions for T. Schreiber Theatre including SUMMER & SMOKE and HOT L BALTIMORE. Education: Oberlin and The Manhattan School for Music. www.andycomusic.com(link is external)
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Theme Song Composer
Joe Izen, renowned Singer/Guitarist and Songwriter, brings a wealth of musical history from his earliest days opening for Richie Havens and Joe Cocker, to playing with the great Bluesman Willie Dixon. He has recorded for B.M.I. , A.V.I. and Barclay International Records as well as having his original songs published by Warner Bros. He brings the best of the Blues, Soul and we'll known songs to his performances from the Greats he has met and worked with along the way. Joe is the Composer, Lyricist and Co-author of the Play "Eve of Beltane", "Schoolhouse" and "Kingdom Come," with Coni Koepfinger. "Eve of Beltane" was selected for the Broadway Bound festival along with several successful readings in NYC.
About the Real, Maria Olon
Maria Olon Tsaroucha is an Actor, Director, Writer, and Founder of Perceptual Acting and Directing (PAD) theory and method. She is Greek by origin, living in Astoria, New York. She is a free minded woman, a Researcher and Futurist and author of Supraconscious:
When I read Coni Koepfinger’s The Unusual Chauncey Faust, I felt immediate recognition. Beneath its wit lies a question of our era: who authors the dream we inhabit? Chauncey longs for elevation and is offered a shortcut—transcendence without awakening. The potion is symbolic: the temptation to outsource identity. Koepfinger reveals how fragile ambition becomes when rooted in validation rather than awareness. This is where the Supraconscious breakthrough matters—the inner witness that chooses identity consciously. In an age of engineered realities and curated personas, Chauncey’s dilemma is archetypal. The play doesn’t ask if the dream is real. It asks whether we are awake inside it.
Window Show: Adelle Yingxi Lin
Adelle Yingxi Lin is a Malaysian artist and Technologist whose work bridges performance, language, and emerging technologies. Through installations, rituals, and participatory systems, she explores how cultural memory, environment, and technology shape collective experience and meaning. Lin is a member of NEW INC and Onassis ONX and has presented work at SIGGRAPH, the New Museum, and the ChangWon Sculpture Biennale.
A Special Thanks To:
Gene Frankel Theater
Thomas R. Gordon
Jorge Clar
Production Assistant: Lelouche Hysteria
Material for the Arts
Theater for the New City
The Dramatist Guild
Rebecca Frank
Gene
15 Minutes of Frame 2026
August 20th-23rd
A Celebration of New Voices: 4th Annual 15-Minute Play Competition Returns this August 2026
This August marks the 4th annual 15-Minute Play Competition — an inspiring celebration of emerging playwrights and the vibrant theatre community that supports them.
Each summer, playwrights are invited to submit original 15-minute plays for consideration in this exciting and intimate competition. Ten outstanding works are selected to compete, submissions are completely free — removing barriers and opening doors for artists who may not otherwise have access to professional development and production.
The winning play, selected by audience vote, receives development and production, culminating in a presentation at the iconic Gene Frankel Theatre. Beyond the thrill of the competition, the festival serves a deeper purpose: giving artists a platform to have their work seen, staged, and experienced live — often leading to new collaborations, representation, production opportunities, and casting connections. At its heart, this competition is about community.
In a time when so much connection happens online, the festival brings artists back into a shared physical space — fostering organic conversations, spontaneous collaboration, and the irreplaceable joy of live theatre. It’s about less time scrolling and more time laughing, creating, and building something meaningful together.
15 Minutes of Frame remains intentionally small and intimate, cultivating a supportive environment where artists feel seen and audiences feel connected to the creative process. (While another larger festival that take place in August under new ownership of the space formerly connected to Gail Thacker, this competition remains a distinct and independent event with its own mission and structure.)
More than a contest, the 15-Minute Play Competition is a launching pad — a place where new voices are nurtured, bold ideas are celebrated, and theatre artists find real opportunities to advance their careers.
Gail Thacker