The world premiere of Dante Fuoco’s bold solo work Blue Seal Blue Sea (or, gay boy grieves death of gay-hating dad) will début this fall. Directed by Clara Wiest, the production blends queer grief, family reckoning, and retro multimedia spectacle in a 15-performance run, November 6–23, 2025, at The Makers’ Space, 13 Grattan St. #408, East Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY 11206.
Jolted by the sudden death of his estranged father, a gay man ventures back into the closet, where his childhood camcorder, TV, and family home videos are gathering dust. A fateful huff of “VCR cleaner” transports him through a g00ning galaxy, all the way to a watery world governed by Y2K technology. His name is now F@gg’aught Flamé, and if he ever wants to get back home he has to play—and play with—VHS tapes from a forgotten past.
“Blue Seal, Blue Sea is for any queer person who’s ever felt like a stranger in their own family,” shared Fuoco. “My late father was amazing and loving and also could be cruel and homophobic. My goal with this show is not to vilify my dad, but to tell the truth about our dynamic. As I grieve his recent and unexpected death, I want to bring dignity to an undignified thing: being rejected by a parent.”
“Blue Seal, Blue Sea is a story about stepping into your truth, even when you maybe forgot what that could be,” said Wiest. “Dante beautifully and vulnerably excavates the delicate balance of destiny, choices, and a complex father-son dynamic at the center of both.”
The runtime is approximately 60 minutes with no intermission.
Performances are Thursdays and Fridays at 7:30 p.m., Saturdays at 6:00 p.m. and 8:30 p.m., and Sundays at 6:00 p.m.
General admission tickets are $28. “Pay-What-You-Can” on Sunday, November 9, 6:00 p.m., Friday, November 14, 7:30 p.m., and Saturday, November 22, 8:30 p.m.
For tickets, visit: seal.show/tickets
Designers for Blue Seal, Blue Sea include – Scenic Design: Hayley E Wallenfeldt; Costume Design: Hahnji Jang; Lighting Design: Sasha Finley; and Sound Design: Cat Ashley.
Meet the cast & creatives
Dante Fuoco (playwright and performer) [all pronouns] is queer educator, performer, and writer based in Brooklyn. A recent fellow at the Edward F. Albee Foundation, Dante has staged theater work at Dixon Place, Under St. Marks Theater, Stella Adler Studio of Acting, Players’ Theater, Moss Arts Center, Brick Aux, and elsewhere. As a poet, Dante also has writing published in several places, most notably Split Lip Magazine, DIAGRAM, Poets.org, and The Offing. His vast education work includes working as an elementary special education teacher in New Orleans and a restorative justice practitioner in New York City public schools. An avid swimmer, Dante teaches swim lessons to adults in the city.
Clara Wiest, (director) [she/they] is a director, movement director, intimacy coordinator and conceptual artist based in Brooklyn. Their work is experiential, experimental, and collaborative, exploring presence, process, and the dynamic relationship between performer and audience. Clara’s practice is driven by a deep curiosity about human expression and connection. Their work has been shown at:Denver Fringe, The Brick, Five Myles Gallery, Dixon Place, Mitu580, IATI Theater, Tribeca Film Festival (God’s Lonely Magician, dir. Walker Higgins) and elsewhere.
Xander De Luca (producer) is the founder of XDL Studios, an audience development firm specializing in arts and entertainment. He previously served on the audiences team at Shakespeare’s Globe in London, where he worked to connect new audiences with world-class theatre.
Hayley E. Wallenfeldt (scenic designer) [any pronouns] is a Chicago-born, New York-based scenic designer and artist. She has a passion for collaborative storytelling, new work, and creating worlds just on the edge of the fantastical. Their recent credits include Passion (Blank Theatre); The Tin Angel (Teatro Grattacielo); The Receptionist (Centenary Stage Company); 13 Suits and Haven (Outer Loop Theater); Waitress and Jersey Boys(Quincy Community Theatre); Love and War (The Glimmerglass Festival); and Be Mean to Me and The Snowy Day (Northwestern University). She is the 2025 recipient of the USITT Scenic Design Award, and a recipient of the 2025 Robert L.B. Tobin Director-Designer Prize. Hayley received their degree in design and archaeology from Northwestern University.
Hahnji Jang (costume designer) [They/them/형] Hahnji is an activist, costume designer, and stylist. As a trans and AAPI individual, they focus on crafting to empower people of the global majority. Hahnji also offers affordable styling outside the limiting gender and size binaries by upcycling and re-imagining used & unwanted materials. They are on a continual journey to rematriate the closets of the individuals and institutions around them. Hahnji is also available for intersectional & sustainable costuming consultations. They have collaborated with Broadway Green Alliance & consulted for institutions such as the National Theatre UK, Women’s Project Theater, the Dalton School, and the Sharjah Performing Arts Academy. Their current focus is the Transcendent Punk Costume Closet, a sustainability experiment started at Soho Repertory Theatre reallocating theatre costumes to the queer BIPOC community in an effort to make performance costuming and gender-affirming dressing more accessible to Trans and Gender non-conforming artists. Learn more @transpunkcloset on Instagram or at Hahnji.com.
Sasha Finley (lighting designer) [she] is a New York-based lighting designer. Her design credits include [ ] (ODC Dance), Legally Blonde(Pascack Valley High School), She Kills Monsters (Weehawken High School), Cabaret (Northern Stage) and In the Throes of Death (Curiosity Cabinet). She was the Lighting Design Intern at San Francisco Opera in the Fall of 2023 and was a 2021 participant in the ETC Fred Foster Mentorship. She holds a BA in English and Theatre from Smith College and an MFA in Lighting Design from Carnegie Mellon University. Follow her work at sashafinley.com.
Catherine Ashley (sound designer) [she] is a Brooklyn-based multimedia designer and performance artist working across sound, installation, performance, and moving image. With a background in film, projection, theatre, and object-making, she creates layered environments that explore gesture, memory, and systems of transformation, emphasized by auditory and visual experiences. Ashley holds an MFA in Digital + Media from RISD.catherinenoa.com
November 6-23, 2025 (15 Performances)
Thursdays and Fridays at 7:30 p.m.
Saturdays at 6:00 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.
Sundays at 6:00 p.m.
Opening Night: Friday, November 7 at 7:30 p.m.
The Makers’ Space
13 Grattan St. #408, Brooklyn, NY 11206
General Admission Tickets are $28.00.
Pay-what-you-can performances:
Sunday, November 9, 6:00 p.m.
Friday, November 14, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, November 22, 8:30 p.m.
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