The Matter of the… TICKETS

previews begin

december 2nd

WELCOME HOME.
WE THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD.
STAY FOR DINNER?

En Garde Arts reunites with acclaimed director and longtime collaborator Seth Bockley (BASETRACK Live, Wilderness) for the world premiere of Bill Martin's The Matter of the Disappearance of Michael Anthony Smith Jr..

Bringing together some of New York's most celebrated theatrical designers, including Camilla Tassi (projection design), Josh Barilla (scenic design), Scott Bolman (lighting design), and Claudia Brown (costume design), this ambitious production transforms a seemingly ordinary family home into a world of shifting memories, and unsettling visions. Projections bring drawings and distant landscapes to life, while sonic design and live performance draw audiences into a story where the past is never quite past.

Featuring Claire Siebers, Ryan Czerwonko, Michael John Improta, Henry Alper, and Hend Ayoub, “The Matter Of…” brings together a dynamic ensemble of performers shaping New York's downtown theater landscape.

At the hear of this story is a presumed dead soldier walks back into his family's life. His wife has remarried. His son has grown up. And the man standing at the door is no longer the man they remember. What should be a miraculous homecoming quickly becomes something far more unsettling.

December 2–19

Theatre Row

For 40 years, En Garde Arts
has challenged expectations
of where theater happens & what it can be.

From traditional stages to city streets, public plazas, and unexpected spaces across New York, the company has built a legacy of daring theatrical storytelling.

Following a series of ambitious site-specific productions, En Garde Arts brings that same spirit of invention back inside the theater, where an intimate family drama opens onto a much stranger world.

Previews Begin: December 2nd
Opening Night: December 6th
Closing Night: December 19th

Theatre Row | Theater Four

410 W 42nd St, New York, NY 10036

EVERY Family HAS ITS GHOSTS.
THIS ONE RANG THE DOORBELL.


The Matter of the… TICKETS

PERFORMANCE CALENDAR

Meet Bill & Seth

  • Bill Martin (Playwright)

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  • Seth Bockley (directo)

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meet the team

  • SCENIC

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  • PROJECTIOn

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  • LIGHTS

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  • SOUND

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  • COSTUME

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  • PROPS

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  • StAGE MANAGER

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  • ASSIStANT STAGE MANAGER

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  • PRODUCTION MANAGER

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meet the CAST

  • Claire Siebers

    Suzie

  • Ryan Czerwonko

    Michael Anthony Smith Jr.

    Ryan Czerwonko is an NYC actor and filmmaker. TV: The Endgame, Chicago Med, Chicago Fire, The Blacklist (NBC), The Deuce, Watchmen (HBO), and many more. FILM: The Electric State (Netflix), Cherry (Apple+), Paint (IFC). THEATRE: Our Class (Arlekin Players/Igor Golyak), George Street Playhouse, First Folio Theatre, Orlando Shakespeare. Ryan is also the artistic director of Adult Film, a Brooklyn theatre and film group, where he acts, directs, and teaches. With AF, he has staged and performed in works by Chekhov, Strindberg, O'Neill, Williams, and Lanford Wilson. Currently, he is preparing to direct and play Lophakhin in The Cherry Orchard, featuring Austin Pendleton this September in NYC.

  • Michael John Improta

    Gabriel Torres

    Michael John Improta is a Brooklyn based Actor/Writer/Producer from a Puerto Rican and Italian family. He has been seen on stages in New York and across the world and most recently can be seen in the feature film Speed Demon. He is a long time Ensemble Member of the award winning New York Neo-Futurists. Y que viva Puerto Rico!

  • Henry Alper

    Mickey

    Henry Alper (he/him) is an actor, musician, and all-around theatermaker living in Brooklyn. Fresh out of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts with a degree in Drama, he's ecstatic to be joining En Garde Arts in helping develop Turtle Story. Recent credits include The Antipodes (Tisch TACT), Ape the Immortality (Foul Fiend Theatre Troupe), and Arden of Faversham (Green Lung Studio). His solo work explores the intersection between traditional acting methodologies and conceptual performance: last summer he presented Hamlet (2019), a 24-hour endurance reimagining of Hamlet, at the IRT’s ALab Theater Festival.

  • Hend Ayoub

    Farnaza

En Garde Arts

  • Anne Hamburger

    EN GARDE ARTS FOUNDING EXECUTIVE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

    Anne Hamburger (she/her) Founded En Garde Arts in 1985. As Executive Artistic Director, she is responsible for pioneering site-specific theatre in New York, using its streets and historic landmarks as her stage. Hamburger has produced the work of artists that are now internationally renowned: Anne Bogart, Charles L. Mee, Tina Landau, Jonathan Larson and Reza Abdoh, with large-scale predominantly outdoor work. As its Executive Artistic Director, her leadership model is highly collaborative and anti-hierarchical while leading the creative and strategic vision of the company.

    Anne is committed to nurturing a new generation of theatrical risk-takers, encouraging artists to explore and rigorously experiment with their creative practice. Her relationship with artists extends beyond the stage—offering mentorship, friendship, and a commitment to their creative and personal growth.  For her work, Hamburger has won 6 Obie Awards, 2 Drama Desk Awards, an Outer Critics Circle Award, Lee Reynolds Award and the Exceptional Merit in Media Award from The National Political Women’s Caucus. She graduated with a Master of Fine Arts degree from the Yale School of Drama and is the proud mother of two children Hannah and Owen Jenney.

  • EN GARDE ARTS

    PRODUCER

    Since 1985, En Garde Arts has turned unexpected places into unforgettable stages. New York City’s streets, piers, and hidden corners become sites where audience and architecture blur, and urgent, poetic, and political stories come alive. Born from the belief that art belongs everywhere and to everyone, En Garde launched the site-specific theater movement, redefining how audiences experience performance by collapsing the distance between space, story, and spectator.

    Now, as we approach our 40th anniversary, En Garde Arts is more alive than ever. We’re investing in tomorrow’s voices; artists who demand change, invent new forms, and hold space for stories too often silenced. Through our signature programs like Uncommon Voices, The Joan D. Firestone Award, and Playdate / Playdate FEST, we incubate 5–7 bold new projects every year. Recent works by artists such as Samora la Perdida, Irina Kruzhilina, Sarah Gancher, Aya Ogawa, and Jared Mezzocchi push boundaries and reimagine how theater can heal, unsettle, and transform.

    We believe in theater that is socially resonant, deeply rooted in a distinct place, and unafraid of the messiness of now. The city is our stage, and our craft is connection. Connection between artist and audience, site and story. As we step into the next decade, En Garde Arts remains dedicated to risk, reinvention, and making performance that speaks to the world as it is, and what it might become.


En Garde Arts’ programs are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

73 Seconds was developed as a part of En Garde Arts’ Uncommon Voices program, with generous support from the Dr. David Milch Foundation, the Howard Gilman Foundation, the Lucille Lortel Foundation, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, and the Venturous Theatre Fund, A Fund of Tides Foundation.

This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council


The Matter of the… TICKETS