Hello, my name is Chris Ikner, and I’m the playwright and director of Someone Else, an original new play premiering as part of the New York Theater Festival. I’m raising funds to support this production: An intimate, emotionally resonant story that explores identity, connection, and the ways we carry each other through life’s hardest moments.

Bringing Someone Else to the stage requires resources beyond what an emerging independent production can traditionally access. Your support will go directly toward essential costs such as rehearsal space, set and lighting elements, costumes, compensation for our incredible team of artists, and the technical needs required to fully realize this story.

We have an extraordinary cast, a brilliant creative team, and a story that is ready to step into the world with honesty, grit, and so much heart.

Now we’re asking for your support as we build this piece with the care, professionalism, and artistic integrity it deserves.

WHAT THIS PLAY IS DOING

Someone Else is a memory play told through movement, fractured timelines, and an ensemble of six actors who become every room, every echo, every version of a life unfolding. It’s intimate. It’s experimental. And it’s deeply human.

WHY WE'RE FUNDRAISING

Independent theatre does not exist without community.

In order to produce a show that honors the script, the actors, and the audiences who will walk into that room, we’re raising funds to support:

- Actor + Team Stipends (because artists deserve to be paid for their labor)

- Rehearsal Space & Scheduling

- Movement + Intimacy Direction

- Design Elements that transform a bare stage into a memory installation

- Marketing & Festival Costs to ensure this new work reaches the right audience

- Every dollar directly supports the artists making this premiere possible.

WHERE WE WANT TO GO

This festival production is the first step.

Our goal is to use this platform to give Someone Else a life beyond its premiere: future workshops, regional productions, and conversations with theatres who are seeking new work that takes risks, tells queer stories with nuance, and expands the idea of what a memory play can be.

We want this piece to grow.

We want these actors to be seen.

We want this world to breathe onstage and reach the audiences who need it.

HOW YOU CAN HELP

If this story resonates with you…

If you believe in new plays…

If you want to invest in artists doing their most vulnerable work…

Please consider contributing to our fundraiser and sharing it with others.

Support at any level, truly any level, brings us closer to building this piece with care, dignity, and craft.

Come with us as we create something honest and brave.

Something that honors the people we’ve been, and the people we’re still becoming.

Donate. Share. Spread the word.

We can’t wait to welcome you into the world of Someone Else.