What now?
She’s obsessive. He’s gay. The faucet’s still leaking. And baby makes three.
Oh. And they’re nine.
See what happens when these youngsters play a twisted game of house in Working it Out.

The Cast and crew

New York Theatre Credits include: ANIMALS (NY Fringe 2007), The Art of the Pick-Up (Riant Theatre), and War in Paramus (HB Playwrights Foundation).  He has appeared in readings and workshops of ANIMALS at the George Street Playhouse, and Class Mothers '68 at Luna Stage, directed by Tony Award winner Priscilla Lopez.  This past Spring, Michael received a BFA in Acting from Rutgers University.  Rutgers Credits include: Tom in Fat Pig, Claudio in Much Ado About Nothing (performed at Shakespeare's Globe in London, England), and Bobby in the world premiere of Mrs. Henderson's Cat.  Special Thanks to Russ Lyster, Vince Maggio and my family for all your support. For Robyn.

Jennie Sheffield* (Susie)

New York Theatre Credits include: BEN (Romeo and Juliet), (Petrolab Productions), The Children (Here Theatre), Animal Magnetism (Mabou Mines), and Sock Puppet Showgirls (Harvey Finkelstein Productions). Regional Theatre Credits: Tartuffe, Little, and Bedtime Stories (Actor’s Gang); Campus Girls (The Groundling’s), Raining in Chelsea (Gardner Stages) To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday (Stella Adler Theatre), A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Twelve Dancing Princesses (So. Coast Repertory). Film includes: Heads or Tails, Gloss Your Lips, Lobster House, White Oleander, I am Sam, and Borrowing Chekhov. Jennie graduated with a BFA from NYU Tisch School of the Arts. She is a member of the Screen Actors Guild and the Actors’ Equity Association. 

Helena Gleissner (Director) received her MA in theatre from MSU, BFA in theatre from Shorter College.  NYC directing credits include Lobster Tales, Rumple Who, Burning Man, Pow'r in the Blood at 13th St. Rep, scenes for Peculiar Work East Village Fragments.

Jeff Belanger (Stage Manager, BTC) is NOT one of the leading authors and experts on the paranormal, ghosts, and the supernatural. That's some other Jeff Belanger.  This one does a bunch of theater stuff.  He doesn't know a whole lot about ghosts at all.  Maybe you should ask the other Jeff Belanger if you have a question about that.

The Company

Sean Kenealy, Jeff Belanger, and Amanda Sage Comerford met in the Dramatic Writing Conservatory at SUNY Purchase, and upon graduation came together to form the International Brain Transplant Committee.

Past productions that the three have worked on together include: Home and Away: An Evening of New Writing (Signature Theater); Go, Plays, Go: An Evening of One-Acts by Jeff Belanger and Sean Kenealy; and Through: A Reading of Two One-Acts by Amanda Sage Comerford.

They will be putting up their first productions as a company this winter, including: Artificial by Sean Kenealy (Impact Theater Winter Festival); What Cheer, Iowa by Jeff Belanger (The Riant Theater’s Strawberry One-Act Festival); and Working it Out by Amanda Sage Comerford (FRIGID New York).

Behind the BTC

The International Brain Transplant Committee has its origins with the creation of “City of Camden Cranial Interest Group” (CCCIG) which formed on November 21st, 1877 in the wilds of Camden, NJ by world renowned brain surgeons: Dr. E.A. Holstein, Dr. Perry Shanks, and Dr. Gates M. Helms. They were the foremost practitioners of cutting through people’s skulls and touching all up in their brains. They would perform these feats in alleyways and tar paper shacks in the woods. They would meet regularly to discuss the finer points of their craft – like how much they would touch up brains before attempting to resuscitate their volunteers OR how much they disliked really wet brains (Dr. Helms and Holstein always made sure to point out that Dr. Shanks would usually bring this subject up insisting wet brains to be tawdry. “It shined like a worn out lady of the night” as he would put it, breathing heavily into a blood stained handkerchief soaked with ether).

CCCIG remained virtually unknown until October 4th, 1885 when Dr. Holstein was approached with the request to see her “Brain Surgery” in action and was willing to exchange either cash or liquor for entry. Holstein told Helms and Shanks at their next meeting and the three decided to open their procedures (now called Performances) to the public. Thus, the earliest forms of theater were born. People came in herds, more than willing to pay the at the time ridiculous entry fee of twenty dollars.

As they grew in popularity, the three grew bored simply with sawing people’s heads open and feeling their brains or scratching dirty limericks in the upside of their skulls. They then made the decision that would forever shake the blossoming art scene to its core: they wanted to take OUT the brain and PUT it somewhere else. So they changed their name to the now familiar International Brain Transplant Committee. They began training legions of performers to assist, study, and refine brain transplanting techniques.

Unfortunately, Dr. Helms, Shanks, and Holstein were all murdered by a bear one night. They stopped transplanting brains because they were all dead after that.

And that’s why we have this company. We’re very sorry.