A NationalSawdust+ evening of performance and conversation exploring the essential in composing, writing, and creating recipes—and the concept of zero waste.
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In what we keep, what we throw away, NationalSawdust+ gathers together four celebrated creators to reflect on ideas of efficiency and elegance in their distinctive practices. Pulitzer-Prize winning artist Caroline Shaw, who recently scored the Broadway production of Death of a Salesman, will perform and talk about intention with Sarah DeLappe (The Wolves; Bodies Bodies Bodies), who will present excerpts of her highly musical work, which has spanned stage, TV, and film. Acclaimed chef Shenarri Freeman, whose vegan restaurant Cadence made waves in New York City, and best-selling cookbook maven Melissa Clark will take us inside the process of culinary creation.
The program will include the opening scene from DeLappe's The Wolves, read by The Heights Players, following their recent performances in Brooklyn. This unusual program, hosted by NS+ curator Elena Park, continues artistic inquiry into For Nature themes such as compost and regeneration.
About NationalSawdust+
Often topical and always imaginative, NationalSawdust+ is a lively performance and conversation series, curated by Elena Park, in which artists and thinkers share their passion for music and explore timely ideas, making surprising connections. Since October 2015, NS+ has been a home for intimate stories and unexpected artmaking, blurring boundaries between genres and disciplines. This season, NS+ For Nature continues to investigate the interplay and collision between the natural and human worlds, featuring musicians, artists, writers, and activists working to preserve and restore the environment. Recent programs have focused on ocean and riverkeeping, decarbonization and regeneration, and indigenous wisdom.
Tapping luminaries from theater, film and visual art, literature, science, technology, and beyond, NS+ guests have included Jad Abumrad, Laurie Anderson, Tenzin Choegyal, Catie Cuan, Ava DuVernay, Gandini Juggling, Tiokasin Ghosthorse, Vicky Takamine Holt, Susie Ibarra, Yo-Yo Ma, Domingo Morales, Nico Muhly, Ellen Reid, Isabella Rossellini, Carl Hancock Rux, Caroline Shaw, Gabriella Smith, Patti Smith, and esperanza spalding. The NS+ team includes Avery Leigh Draut and Ras Dia, with creative input from Peter Zuspan.
NationalSawdust+ For Nature is made possible by the generous support of the Wescustogo Foundation.
Please join us for other programs in our NS+ Series:
This is a seated performance. If you require accessibility accommmodations, please email boxoffice@nationalsawdust.org.
Event image credit: Excerpt from Caroline Shaw's Partita for 8 Voices
Caroline Shaw
Caroline Shaw is a musician who moves among roles, genres, and mediums, trying to imagine a world of sound that has never been heard before but has always existed. She works often in collaboration with others, as producer, composer, violinist, and vocalist. An NS+ favorite, she has explored themes ranging from juggling to compost. Shaw is the recipient of the Pulitzer Prize in Music, an honorary doctorate from Yale, four Grammys, and a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship. She has written and produced for iconic artists and ensembles across the musical spectrum, including Rosalía, Renée Fleming, Yo-Yo Ma, Tiler Peck, Nas, Kanye West, the LA Phil, the NY Phil, and others. Recent TV/film/stage scoring projects include Leonardo Da Vinci (Ken Burns/PBS), Julie Keeps Quiet (Leonardo Van Dijl), Fleishman is in Trouble (FX/Hulu), The Sky Is Everywhere (Josephine Decker/A24), vocal work with Rosalía (MOTOMAMI), The Crucible (Lyndsey Turner/National Theatre), Partita (Justin Peck/NYC Ballet), Moby Dick (Wu Tsang), and LIFE (Gandini Juggling/Merce Cunningham Trust). Current touring projects include shows with Sō Percussion, Ringdown, Attacca Quartet, Roomful of Teeth, Graveyards & Gardens, Gabriel Kahane, and Kamus Quartet. Her favorite color is yellow, and her favorite smell is rosemary.
Sarah DeLappe
Sarah DeLappe is a writer based in Brooklyn. Her play The Wolves (Pulitzer Prize finalist, the inaugural Relentless Award) has been produced at Lincoln Center, the Goodman, Stratford East, and at high schools and colleges all over the world (along with professional theaters). Film: Bodies Bodies Bodies (A24). TV: The Regime (HBO).
Shenarri Freeman
A 2x James Beard Award Nominee, Chef Shenarri Freeman is a graduate of the Institute of Culinary Education's plant-based Health-Supportive Culinary Arts program. Chef Greens is a Richmond, VA native committed to creating innovative plant-based dishes that highlight local and seasonal ingredients while pushing culinary boundaries. Chef Shenarri has been named a Forbes 30 Under 30 recipient, and has been recognized by Esquire, The New York Times, Michelin, and Vogue, amongst many more. Previously, Chef Greens was the Executive Chef to the well known Cadence in New York City and Ubuntu in Los Angeles. During her tenure, Cadence became a New York City staple for vegans and non-vegans alike, her most notable dish being her Southern Fried Lasagna. She is currently a private chef consultant, connecting and collaborating with hospitality entrepreneurs to help build their brands.
Melissa Clark
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Melissa Clark is a best-selling cookbook author and food columnist for The New York Times, where she writes the popular column, A Good Appetite, and has starred in over 100 cooking videos. She’s written 46 cookbooks, including the award-winning Dinner, Changing the Game. Her latest book, The Big Book of Dinner, will be published in November. Clark attended Barnard College, and Columbia University, where she earned her Master of Fine Arts in Writing. Born and raised in Brooklyn, she lives there with her family, and is a frequent NS+ guest. She loves anchovies, radishes, chicken feet, and lox but not in that order.
The Heights Players
The Heights Players’ April 2026 production of The Wolves, directed by Dorea Slagle, offered a focused portrayal of the complex social dynamics within a high school girls' soccer team. By presenting Sarah DeLappe’s innovative script on a thrust stage, the production positioned the audience on three sides of the action. This immersive configuration, combined with Gary VanderPutten’s environmental set design—featuring a full-stage net and realistic indoor turf—eliminated the traditional distance between performers and observers. The result placed the audience directly within the team’s practice environment, effectively eavesdropping on the players’ fears, dreams, and relationships.
Under Slagle’s direction, the production’s complex staging balanced the technical, rhythmic demands of the play’s overlapping dialogue with the story’s emotional arc. Notably, the staging also incorporated authentic soccer drills taught by the production’s dramaturg and soccer coach, Pierce Ducker. The production earned recognition for the quality of its ensemble cast, whose performances reflected the lived-in familiarity of a long-standing team.
Together, the cast and creative team delivered a literal and metaphorical "close-up" of the resilience required of young women in day-to-day life. The characters executed synchronized athletic drills while navigating the challenging, rapid-fire shifts in conversation that define DeLappe’s mesmerizing script. Ultimately, the production moved beyond adolescent tropes, focusing instead on the specific, nuanced layers that define the experience of competitive girlhood.
The production's cast members who appear in this NS+ program include Bex Key (#00), Fae Hartt (#2), Evangeline Heflin (#7), Mia Roth (#8), Arista Detter (#11), Molly Minter (#13), Clara McKennitt (#14), Maggie Ewing (#25), and Rocket Claman (#46).
Elena Park
Award-winning filmmaker, producer, and NationalSawdust+ curator Elena Park has moved freely through the worlds of arts, culture, and media throughout her colorful career. The daughter of Korean immigrants, she founded Lumahai Productions to embrace opportunities for artistic collaboration and social change with artists, thinkers, and communities as well as institutions, large and small.
Her first hour-long documentary, Eun Sun Kim: A Journey Into Lohengrin (2024), earned her a second regional Emmy directing nomination as well as a nod for outstanding arts/entertainment program, following multiple KQED broadcasts of the San Francisco Opera film. Visual Cavafy (2023), seen at NYC’s New Museum and abroad in Athens and Alexandria, showcased the talents of Taylor Mac, Julianne Moore, Caroline Shaw, and Carl Hancock Rux with Daniel Bernard Roumain, Bora Yoon, and Jeffrey Zeigler, among others.
Additional Director/Executive Producer credits: eight In Song short films, featuring artists including Pretty Yende and Jamie Barton; Cleveland Orchestra’s In Focus programs, conducted by Alan Gilbert and Jane Glover; Vân-Ánh Võ for Stanford Live; and Jake Heggie's Intonations for the Cabrillo Festival. For the Metropolitan Opera, she is Executive Producer of the Saturday radio broadcasts and was Supervising Producer for the first 140 shows in its worldwide Live in HD series. Selected roles: Curator for San Francisco Opera's Instigators; Supervising Producer for San Francisco Symphony's MTT25: An American Icon; Special Advisor for …(Iphigenia); Artistic Consultant for the Kennedy Center; Executive Producer for WNYC Radio; and Strategic Advisor for Cambodian Living Arts and Meyer Sound. TV/film credits: Bel Canto, Amazon's Mozart in the Jungle.