WORK SAMPLES FOR DANIELLA CAGGIANO
Work Sample #1: MAXA, THE MADDEST WOMAN IN THE WORLD
by Mika Kauffman & Thomas Jacobsen
MAXA is an epic horror musical capturing the life story of Paula Maxa, the famed French tragedienne who died thousands of deaths for the patrons who haunted the ghastly theater known as the Grand Guignol. In 1940's France, it becomes Paula’s strange destiny to carry the very same horrors of the Grand Guignol into her private life. Only then does she confront the very night that changed her existence forever. MAXA is a heartfelt, shrewd examination of the timeless struggle between trauma and healing,
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This is a music video of "Strange Power", one song from MAXA.
We were supposed to have a production slot in October 2020 at The Center at West Park but due to the pandemic, we used this opportunity to follow COVID Film&Television protocols and make this music video instead. |
Work Sample #2: VINEGAR TOM by Caryl Churchill
This production of Churchill's 1976 play juxtaposed the 17th Century British witch trials with a modern day feminist rock band. I collaborated with composer Teresa Lotz to set Churchill's lyrics to original Riot Grrrl style music. Actors changed time periods in front of the audience, as if shedding the chains of their witch ancestors.
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Work Sample #3: graveyard shift by Korde Arrington Tuttle
graveyard shift is a new play loosely inspired by the legacy of Sandra Bland. When Janelle relocates to Texas for the opportunity of a lifetime, she and her partner, Kane, are reminded that the consequences of being in the wrong place at the wrong time can be horrific. For three Waller County police officers, how might those same consequences manifest themselves along racialized and gendered lines? graveyard shift is a love story about collision, opposing ideologies, interests, truth, and how the characters in this play make sense of them. Or don't.
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Work Sample #4: Fun Home by Lisa Kron & Jeanine Tesori
A one-night-only benefit staged reading of Fun Home at Jewish Plaza Community Chapel
(aka a real funeral home!). Directed by Daniella Caggiano, this event starred Tony nominees Jenn Collela, Caitlin Kinnunen, Will Swenson, Kate Baldwin. Read more here. |
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Work Sample #5: A ROLLER RINK TEMPTATION by Catherine Weingarten
A Roller Rink Temptation is a coming of age dark comedy romp about six teenage girls who fall in love at a lesbian roller rink. Rootabega is confused about her sexuality and might be in love with from Hebrew school buddy, but luckily one of the rink’s employees, Lemonade, is ready to show her around. It's Poppy's 16th birthday and her and her BFF Clementine are super excited to celebrate; too bad a fat, scary, girly repressed secret threatens their friendship. Salmonella says she’s “straight” but a chance encounter with an awkward artist named Bluebell complicates everything.
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Work Sample #6: NOVAYA ZEMLYA, OR A STRANGE NEW LAND by Mila Golubov
This new play is a darkly comedic folktale about two siblings, Dascha and Serge, who live in an idyllic Ukrainian village oblivious to the outside world for over ten years. Many things happen in that time: the Chernobyl meltdown, the fall of Communism, and the fame of Roseanne Barr among them. As the Apartov children become aware of life beyond their dacha, they resolve to start a new life in America, no matter what the cost.
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