WHO IS Going To Tahiti Productions?
THE COMPANY
Going to Tahiti Productions (GTTP) was founded in 2008 with the goal of giving more opportunities to women in the entertainment industry. The company focuses on development and production of original works including Within Arm’s Reach adapted from the novel by Ann Napolitano, Bella’s Dream, a play with dance written by Dana Boll, Jane Austen’s Persuasion adapted by Laura Bultman, In the Ebb and Skin Flesh Bone, original plays by Camilla Ammirati, a GTTP adaptation of the Mary Doria Russell novel Dreamers of the Day, the New York debut of Ruth McKee’s one woman play Full Disclosure, and a developmental production of Carrie Keskinen’s solo show, Cat Lady Without a Cat. In 2014-15, GTTP branched into television with a production of a one hour dramatic television pilot, Farm Story. We are currently in pre-pre-pre-production for the full length play, Physics From My Father, written by GTTP founder, Jessica Ammirati. And in (just normal) pre-production for the short film Meet Cute in the CCU (filming Memorial Day Weekend, 2025). Although the company does not have a standing ensemble, casts and crew for all of their shows are drawn from a mixture of GTTP regulars and newbies.
Beatrice, the creation of GTTP Graphic Designer, Christine Diaz, was born in late 2010. Christine gave us several options for our identifying logo, but from the beginning it was clear that only Beatrice captured that sense of strength, and feeling of adventure that we feel exemplifies the spirit of GTTP. Beatrice not only represents our company, but she changes her look to represent GTTP’s current project. Examples of some of her various looks are above.
Jessica Ammirati – Founder, Artistic Director
Jessica has been a storyteller all her life, though it wasn’t until after college that she turned that “storytelling thing” into a directing career. She started Going to Tahiti Productions in 2008 with the hope of providing more opportunities for women in the entertainment industry. During its eight years in New York City, the company had successful runs of a dozen original works. In 2016, Jessica left New York City and the company shrank from an ensemble to a solo artist, though she has big dreams of bringing it back again, bigger and better than ever at some location to be determined later. Through GTTP and separately, Jessica has directed and produced theatrical productions (the majority of them original plays) off-off Broadway, a music video, the short film Skin Flesh Bone, which the GTTP ensemble later adapted into a play, the web-series The Jane Games, and a sixty minute long, independent, dramatic television pilot, Farm Story. She has recently completed writing her first original play, Physics From My Father, and is deep into grant and fellowship applications with the intention of mounting a full production of the show soon. After Physics From My Father went through extensive revisions, Jessica couldn’t entirely let go of a scene she had cut from the play. She hung onto the scene and turned it into a short film called Meet Cute in the CCU, which will be filmed on Long Island, Memorial Day Weekend of 2025. In addition to being a director and producer, Jessica has been a bartender, an office administrator, a Licensed Massage Therapist, a DONA Certified Birth Doula, and a Lamaze Certified Childbirth Educator, and most recently the Lead Store Associate for a natural foods grocery store in the North Country of New York State – but that’s another story entirely. Jessica currently resides in the aforementioned North Country with her husband, no kids and no pets, but she does have a beloved Moose stuffed animal named Moose De Moose who “lives” with her year round and a frisky metal-framework, light-up, articulating reindeer named Noelle 2 who graces her living room every Christmas season. For more info: JessicaAmmirati.com
