Laryssa

Laryssa Husiak is playwright and performing artist living in Minneapolis with roots in New York City. In January 2014, her original play She Is King premiered at the Incubator Arts Project. The show, in which she stars as Billie Jean King, will tour to Portland, Oregon in Spring 2015. She has written numerous short plays and solo performances that have been performed at venues throughout NYC, including La MaMa ETC, HERE Arts Center and Dixon Place. Laryssa has been awarded grants from the Iowa Arts Council, Art Matters and the Yip Harburg Foundation; and fellowships from the MacDowell Colony and Yaddo. She was a finalist for the 2014 Leslie Scalapino Award for her play The Forgettable Saga of Donna Wanna. Laryssa is a member of the Obie Award-winning theater company Two-Headed Calf and a founding member of their Dyke Division. She attended NYU’s Experimental Theater Wing and holds of Master of Social Work from Columbia University.

GRANTS: Art Matters (2012), Iowa Arts Council (2013), Yip Harburg Foundation (2013-14), Foundation for Contemporary Art Emergency Grant (2014)

RESIDENCIES: Yaddo (2014), MacDowell (2014)

PRESS

Billie Jean King ”seems to morph from tennis star to feminist hero before our eyes.”  – TheNew York Times

“Husiak, directed by Katherine Brook, is funny, entertaining, and sympathetic.”
– The New Yorker

“…underscore(s) how fresh nostalgia can be when served in the proper basket.” 
– Michael Musto (Out Magazine) 

“Husiak’s performance is pitch-perfect and Brook’s staging is crisp…” – The Village Voice

“Husiak is a wonder in the role…The production is a risk-taker, a rabble-rouser that believes in its content enough to take creative chances” The Andy Gram

Asbury Park Press 

NY Theater Now

“Utterly charming!” and “One crazy bitch!” – Edge New York (from Miss Lez)

“Just so good” – Gay City News

“Brilliant!” and “Stunned the audience” – Our Chart (from Miss Lez)

FEATURES

NY1 – Great TV interview about She Is King, January 2014

EDGE – Interview about the process and development of She Is King, January 2014

CALL ME ADAM – theater video blog interview, December 2013

Article in the Des Moines Register June 7, 2013


COLLABORATORS

THEATRE OF A TWO-HEADED CALF
(and it’s Dyke Division)

SUNITA PRASAD
Film and video artist

JONATHAN VAN DYKE
Visual artist

RED TERROR SQUAD

THE CABINET/NICK BROOKE