Aliens With Extraordinary Skills

The Women’s Project, NYC

2008

Directed by Tea Alagić
Written by Saviana Stanescu
Featuring Shirine Babb, Seth Fisher, Gian Murray Gianino, Kevin Isola, Jessica Pimentel, Marnye Young

Set Design: Kris Stone
Lighting Design: Gina Scherr
Costume Design: Jennifer Moeller
Original Music & Sound Design: Sarah Pickett

Photos by Carol Rosegg

About the Work:
Aliens with Extraordinary Skills, by Saviana Stănescu, follows Nadia, a young clown from Moldova who arrives in New York on an artist visa, hoping to build a new life in America. When her immigration status is threatened, she must navigate Homeland Security, unstable work, unexpected love, and the fragile promise of the American Dream.

Inspired by true immigration stories, the play combines fantasy and clowning with the realities of displacement. Tea Alagić directed the 2008 world premiere at Women’s Project Theater, exploring the fear of deportation, the search for belonging, and the contradictions of starting a new life in a foreign country.

TEA ALAGIĆ STUDIO

REVIEWS / PRESS

Saviana Stanescu’s “Aliens With Extraordinary Skills” is an enchanting piece of theater, a paean to New York that just happens to include balloon animals…directed with great zeal by Tea Alagić.
– New York Times

The more Tea Alagić and her charming cast convince us of the sweetness of their tale, the more we feel its painful underpinning. Lurking in the woods is an immigration system that gorges itself on the undocumented. Sleep tight, everybody.
– TimeOut New York