Nairoby founded YOLO! Productions in 2011 and vowed to produce published and original works that enhance the visibility of women on stage, tv and film.
YOLO! is committed to a level of quality expected of organizations much larger. This adherence to excellence yielded YOLO!’s inaugural production—Sunday on the Rocks, a dark comedy by Theresa Rebeck. The play was performed with an all-female cast, asserting YOLO!’s goal to provide opportunities for women. Sunday on the Rocks dealt with issues ranging from day drinking to abortion and was a critical hit. Critics noted the performances and the direction of emotional complexities in such an intimate space. Sunday on the Rock's success led to YOLO! mounting the difficult, moving, and "simple and splendidly revived” two-person drama Danny and the Deep Blue Sea by John Patrick Shanley. YOLO! utilized the talents of Michelle Tattenbaum to direct Nairoby Otero—a “wondrous feisty spitfire.” The show opened with rave reviews at the famed Nuyorican Poets Cafe.
YOLO! along with The Great Griffon, revived Animals Out of Paper by Pulitzer Prize finalist Rajiv Joseph, earning YOLO! its third consecutive hit. Animals Out of Paper was an expansive production involving a site-specific, non-traditional location for a play: a church on the Upper West Side of New York City. Talo Kawasaki designed the intricate origami pieces for the production. He is best known as the co-designer of the annual origami Christmas tree at the Museum of Natural History. In fact, one reviewer—while reviewing an unrelated play—mentioned YOLO!’s quality work with Animals:
"I was eager to see this piece because I’d seen a recent production of Rajiv Joseph’s Animals Out of Paper in a church basement on the UWS and was blown away. I was stunned to see that level of work in such a modest venue. So, I had very high expectations for Gruesome Playground Injuries." - Kathleen Campion, The Front Row Center
YOLO! presented the New York City revival of the critically acclaimed A Kid Like Jake, written by Daniel Pearle. Experts in site-specific productions, YOLO! transformed a 2,000 square-foot raw space on Manhattan’s Lower East Side into a TriBeCa loft perfectly suited for yuppies Alex and Greg to raise their very precocious son. Under the direction of Michael D’Angora, A Kid Like Jake explored the realities of parenthood under pressure and what acceptance really means.
YOLO! produced its first original production, writer/performer Nairoby Otero examined the struggle, hope, and dignity of a Cuban family in ‘Til Sunday as part of the eighth annual Hollywood Fringe at Davidson/Valentini Theatre. As a result of this successful run, ‘Til Sunday was invited to present an excerpt at the Los Angeles Women’s Theatre Festival. Immediately following that presentation, ‘Til Sunday was invited by GableStage to perform a one-night-only performance to a sold-out audience. ‘Til Sunday was part of Southern Rep Theatre’s Summer Series.
YOLO! 's first film, A Second Embrace, directed by Jess Costa, had its international premiere at the Toronto Shorts International Film Festival and was screened at the Academy Award ® Qualifying, BAFTA Qualifying, and Canadian Screen Award Qualifying, LA Shorts International Film Festival.
YOLO! is slated to shoot its next short, More Than Words.
YOLO! PRESS
"My own page has been folded as I fell in love with these characters and I feel all the richer for having been welcomed into the world of YOLO! Productions’" TheatreScene for Animals Out of Paper
"YOLO! Productions and The Great Griffon have crafted a fantastic addition to the growing number of productions of Animals Out Of Paper. They have held dear raw talent, grassroots theatremaking, and simple, site-specific set design – all of the things that make this reviewer fall in love with the theatre time and again." The Public Reviews for Animals Out of Paper
" ...The circumstances in YOLO! Productions and The Great Griffon's production of the play feel entirely genuine." Broadwayworld for Animals Out of Paper
"This short play is now being simply and splendidly revived by YOLO! Productions at the Nuyorican Poets Café. It contains all of the trademarks of Shanley’s idiosyncratic worldview for which he has been celebrated.....With its vividly ingratiating performances this production sharply realizes John Patrick Shanley’s insightful, optimistic, and timeless work."
Theatre Scene for Danny and the Deep Blue Sea
"A site-specific play, Danny and the Deep Blue Sea is cleverly showing at the Nuyorican Poets Café; a bar setting inside an actual bar. The simple set and lighting design (Jerad Schomer) reflects the bleakness and coldness of these characters’ lives."
Stage Buddy for Danny and the Deep Blue Sea
"YOLO! Productions’ inaugural production of this well written, quick paced dark comedy by Theresa Rebeck soars mainly due to the stellar work of the female ensemble."
The Examiner for Sunday on the Rocks
"Sunday on the Rocks, the new dramedy by YOLO! Productions, goes down as smoothly as a single malt scotch. And hits just as hard."
Women Around Town for Sunday on the Rocks.