About

mission.

Notch Theatre Company creates community-responsive cultural work to drive change around the pressing issues of our time, offering communities nationwide a platform to tell their stories and be their own change makers.

Our work engages populations that brick and mortar theaters are not reaching, personalizes important social issues for people on all sides of a conversation, raises awareness in a compelling way, drives change on a national scale, and prompts meaningful, lasting engagement at a grassroots level.

see a full list of our values here

"Long ago, long ago. The simple things come back to us. They rest for a minute by our ribcages then reach in and twist our hearts back a NOTCH in our chest.”

- Colum McCann, Let the Great World Spin

history.

Notch is a 501(c)(3) organization founded in 2017 out of an Embark Fellowship Award for Social Innovation in Entrepreneurship from the Swearer Center for Public Service, in partnership with the Jonathan M. Nelson Center for Entrepreneurship at Brown University.

Notch's work has been featured on HowlRound twice, including once in their Theater in the Age of Climate Change series, on Playbill, Monument Lab, Medium, OnStage Blog, Broadway World for our Wild Home program and our Anna Karenina project, in N Magazine, and by the U.S. Department of Arts and Culture.

"Paired with Ashley Teague’s inventive direction, this declaration of Notch Theatre Company’s visceral, scintillating point of view is a force to be reckoned with as even the best of current day Broadway’s appeal to address modern themes pales in comparison.” -Natalie Rine, New York Associate Critic

Notch's programs and partnerships have presented at the Children’s Defense Fund Advocacy Conference, the National Performance Network's Conference, the U.S. Department of Arts and Culture's Citizen Artist Salon on Creative Strategies for Commemorative Justice, the Ubumuntu Festival in Rwanda, Arctic Fest in Fairbanks, AK, the Tagiugmi Music + Health Festival in Utqiagvik, AK, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, the Lewis Prize for Music's Institute, The Appalachia Studies Conference, Chautauqua Institute, The Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center, White Heron Theatre Company, Trinity Repertory Theater in partnership with Spectrum Theater Ensemble (a neuro-diverse company), Brown University, Live@Jacks in Denver, HB Studios, New Ohio Theater, La Mama Studios and as an Anchor Partner at the Flea Theatre in NYC, among others. Most recently Notch has been awarded a prestigious Map Fund grant and an NEA ArtWorks grant.

Click here to read our Anti-Racism and Anti-Oppression Community Guidelines

Before this I wouldn’t have thought I had any part to play in what the government was doing; but today made me realize I do have a voice, I can be heard. being able to come here and do the play was just truly a blessing."

– Roman Allen, High School Student, Sacramento, CA

artist advisory committee.

Sergio Mauritz Ang (he/him/siya) is a NYC bred Queer creative, actor and teaching artist originally from Manila Philippines. A former Undocumented Immigrant and DACA Recipient he is passionate about community- building, uplifting Immigrant and Underrepresented Communities to imagine an inclusive world. New York: Colman Domingo's The Brother[s] (Out of the Box Theatrics), Joker (National Queer Theater), Anna in the Tropics (The Gallery Players), Summertime (Between Two Boroughs) Regional: From Number to Name (East West Players), The Dalai Lama is not welcome here (Arizona Theatre Company | Bridge Initiative), The Skin of our Teeth, I am not Batman, Julius Caesar, Ragtime (PlayMakers Rep), Tomorrow will be Sunday (Chautauqua Theatre Company), Bruise & Thorn (PlayPenn), Peter and the Starcatcher (Kitchen Theatre Company), Mañanas de Abril y Mayo (Connecticut Free Shakespeare). MFA Candidate: UNC Chapel Hill/PlayMakers Rep. BFA Acting: Brooklyn College. Insta: yoizsergyo. www.sergiomauritzang.com

Anita Castillo-Halvorssen (she/her) is a queer Venezuelan-Norwegian actor, singer, and educator based in New York City. Originally from Colorado, she recently graduated from Brown University's MFA acting program at Trinity Rep. Anita is a faculty artist for the Beyond The Page program at Middlebury College and a Rhode Island Latino Arts teaching artist. She is a producer and ensemble member of the womxn's creative collective The Hive. Currently, you can catch her in Harlem (Amazon Prime), Law & Order (NBC), and The Good Fight (CBS). Anita has appeared regularly in Red Bull Theater's Off-Broadway readings of Spanish Golden Age plays. Anita has worked as a teaching artist for Brown University, the Young Actors’ Summer Institute, CUNY Creative Arts Team, and the Bread Loaf School of English. Additional training: British American Drama Academy, BA from Swarthmore College.

Nayib (nah-jeeb) Felix is a New York born Dominican-American actor. He is currently in his second year of the MFA program at The Juilliard School’s Drama division. Nayib has performed at the Public Theater’s Coriolanus at Shakespeare in the Park and understudied Belize in Angels in America Parts I & II at Actors theatre of Louisville. Nayib completed his apprenticeship at Actors Theatre of Louisville with the Professional Training Company, studied Meisner technique with James Price at The Acting Studio's Six Week Acting conservatory and holds a B.A. in Psychology from Penn State University. He continues his training at Juilliard. Most recently, Nayib could be seen in “Marvel’s Jessica Jones” on Netflix. He was in two productions in The Humana Festival of New American Plays at Actors Theatre of Louisville. He worked with former Artistic Director Les Waters in Evocation to a Visible Appearance and in the devised piece You Across from Me. Nayib could also be seen in Wax Lovers' Playlist which premiered at Martha’s Vineyard African American Film Festival. Nayib is fluent in Spanish and conversationally fluent in French. When he isn't on stage or camera, Nayib is the Director of Lyricism at TOE, an organization that collaborates with nonprofits providing unique artistic support. Nayib is also a poet and a writer with a passion for hip-hop. https://nayibfelix.com/

Eli Wassertzug (they/them) is an NYC-based actor and singer originally from Northern Virginia with a BA in Drama from Vassar College. In addition to working with Notch, they have recently appeared with Staten Island Shakespeare Theater, Milky Way Theatre Company, and Pinky Swear Productions, and trained with Hangar Theatre, Powerhouse Theater, and Synetic Theater. They aim to create inclusive, collaborative, and spectacular theater that challenges entrenched systems of power, especially gender.

Aaluk Edwardson is a multidisciplinary artist who was born and raised in Utqiaġvik, Alaska as an Iñupiaq/Norwegian daughter in George and Debby Edwardson's family. She writes, sings, directs, acts and produces culturally-rooted collaborative art with communities. Learn more about the work she does at www.brightshores.org and www.creativedecolonization.org.

Ashley Walden Davis is the Founder and Executive Director of Unlock Creative LLC. Ashley is a proven leader, change agent, and visionary. Ashley has fifteen years of experience in nonprofit management and community-based arts business administration. She is driven by authenticity and a love of people. Ashley is based out of Georgia where she enjoys life with her husband and son. Unlock Creative is a social enterprise whose mission is to nurture, grow, and sustain Black creative leadership. We work strategically to hold human connection and design systems and structures where Black people and people of color thrive personally and professionally, both within organizations and independently. We center joy, love, racial, and cultural equity in all our programs and services. She holds an MFA in Producing from California Institute of the Arts and a BA in Theatre Studies from Old Dominion University. Some selected honors include the Association of Performing Arts Professional (APAP) Leadership Fellowship, Theater Communications Group (TCG) New Generations: Future Leaders Grant, and Cornerstone Theater Company Paula Altvater Fellowship. (unlockcreative.org)

Isabel Pask is a Brooklyn-based, Texan-born actor, writer, and creator with Puerto Rican roots. She has worked with various theatre companies across the country, including Santa Cruz Shakespeare, Chautauqua Theatre Company, Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, Ashland New Plays Festival, and Quantum Theatre. Isabel is a contributing artist for the femme-millennial production company CNT Productions, for which she wrote, starred in, and coproduced the short film This is Not a Love Letter. Her work as a writer, producer, and actor has been recognized by Ms. Magazine, Glamour UK, USA Today, and SF Chronicle, as well as recognized by the NYC Indie Theatre Film Festival, Venice Shorts, the Vancouver International Women in Film Festival, and Women’s Voices Now (Best Experimental Short). As a member of the New York-based theatrical ensemble The Bellwether Project, Isabel is a writer for the webseries (In)alienable, and performed in Ars Nova’s All New Talent Festival. She is also currently the producing assistant for The Sol Project. Isabel earned a BFA in acting as well as a degree in creative writing from Carnegie Mellon University. She has a certificate in classical acting from London Academy of Dramatic Arts. She is represented by DGRW.

Nikomeh Anderson, also known as Nik, they/he is a BK/Lenape land based Multidisciplinary Performer + Content Creator, Teaching Artist + HolisticFacilitator, and Erotic Creative + Intimacy Captain. They are an Event +Creative Project Producer with their intentional healing justice Black, Trans+Queer, Neurodiverse+Disabled Artist Collective house: CommunityOasis Igniting Liberation or COIL. Their primary artistic mediums are movement, poetry, acting, music/singing (folk/rock bari-tenor), and energy work. Recent credits: Bethany Arts Community Poetry Residency-The Dystopia Of Normalcy; Shared Sentences, Houses on the Moon; Galatea, MJ Kaufman; The Civility of Albert.

Sinan Eczacibasi is the Co-CEO of Cinegryphon Entertainment, an American independent entertainment company specializing in film and television development, production and financing. He's originally from Istanbul, Turkey, received his BA in Theater arts and performance studies and International Relations from Brown University. Followed by an MFA in acting from Brown/Trinity Rep. Since then he has been working on numerous plays and films as an actor, director and producer. He is also the co-founder of Identity Crisis theater company.

Lennox T. Duong

Gabriela Saker is an actress, producer and writer, born in Cuba, and currently based in New York and Puerto Rico. She is the founder and artistic director of Teatro Público, a theater company seeking to contribute excellence, diversity and social transformation to the Puerto Rican theatrical landscape. She is a Creative Peacebuilder for the 2021 Cohort of The Peace Studio, and participated as actress and creator in the Ubumuntu Arts Festival 2019, in Kigali, Rwanda, in collaboration with Mashirika. She has also worked with Notch Theatre Company, The Acting Company, Repertorio Español and Tantai Teatro. She originated her role in José Luis Ramos Escobar’s Fear and Misery of the Third Millennium (2015), which she performed in Madrid, Barcelona and Santiago de Compostela. Her lead role in the short film Monserrate earned her the Best Actress Award at the Rincon International Film Festival 2018 and at the Lusca Film Festival 2020. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and Literature from the University of Puerto Rico (UPR), and worked as a journalist for Puerto Rican top newspaper El Nuevo Día, covering politics, education and social justice. The Overseas Press Club awarded her an Honorary Mention for Best Human Interest Work in 2017, and her play The Eye of Powder won her First Prize in Playwriting in the UPR Literary Contest 2015. She is a current MFA Drama student at The Juilliard School in New York, where she also works as a Diversity Advocate and is founder and president of the Alliance for Latin American Students.

Octavia Chavez-Richmond is a writer, actor, and storyteller known for Knives Out (2019), Free Guy (2021) and Lolita Express (2020). Her work has been featured at international film festivals and regional theaters. She holds an MFA in acting from Brown University/Trinity Repertory where she received the David Wickham Playwriting Award.

Karishma Swarup (she/her) is a creator and actor from Kolkata, India who runs an Instagram page @talkyounevergot to create content about sexuality education. She earned her undergraduate degree in geology-biology from Brown University in 2019, where she acted in many plays and short films. She has taught comprehensive sex ed to high-schoolers in the U.S. and in India, and spent last year teaching science to middle schoolers in New York. When she’s not acting or teaching, you’ll find her hiking, baking or writing poetry.

Sam Khazai is a NYC-based artist who transitioned into theater following a career in counterterrorism and US foreign policy. He is interested in telling stories that allow people to show up as themselves. As founding member of Peydah Theatre Company in NYC, Sam is committed to challenging conventional narratives and empowering marginalized communities. He has appeared on Law & Order SVU (NBC) & Madam Secretary (CBS). Recent theatrical credits include Anna Karenina: a riff (Flea Theater), Tosca Tehran (Atlantic Theater), Echo & Narcissus (Flea Theater), & City of No Illusions (La Mama).

Kathleen Mary Carthy is a NYC Based Actor. She has numerous Guest and Recurring Television credits and earned an Ovation Award Nomination for Best Featured Actress in ‘The Wreck of the Unfathomable’ at Theatre of Note in Hollywood. She most recently performed in Notch’s production of ‘Gerstl Took the Easy Way Out’ at The New Ohio. Select Regional: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (Arts Center of Coastal Carolina),The Scarlett Letter (Bay Street Theater), Free Man of Color (The Colony Theatre), Superior Donuts (Geffen Playhouse, U/S), Kill Me Deadly (Theatre of Note), Enchanted April (Sierra Repertory Theatre), Act a Lady (Sacred Fools Theatre), Sona, Tera, Roman, Hess (Lounge Theater), Recovery (Theater for the New City). Training: MFA - UCSD Acting Program. kathleenmarycarthy.com

Arielle Julia Brown is a creative producer, social practice artist and dramaturg. Emerging from her work and research around U.S. slavery, racial terror and justice, Arielle is committed to supporting and creating Black performance work that commands imaginative and material space for social transformation. She is the founder of The Love Balm Project (2010-2014), a workshop series and performance based on the testimonies of women of color who have lost children to systemic violence. The Love Balm Project was developed and produced at cultural institutions throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and Atlanta. More recently, Arielle developed The DoubleBack, a site specific performance about three enslaved Black women in Providence RI while in residence at the Center for Reconciliation. She is also the founder and creative producer of Black Spatial Relics, a new performance residency about slavery, justice and freedom. Arielle is a co-creative producer on Remember2019, a performance and residency project based in Phillips County, Arkansas. Arielle’s work and writing on Black political performance has been published in the anthology Revolutionary Mothering: Love on the Frontlines, ARTS.BLACK and Public Art Dialogue among others. Arielle was a 2017-2018 Diversity and Leadership Fellow with Alliance of Artists Communities. Arielle was a 2019 Monument Lab National Fellow and has recently joined the team as a Performance Curator. She has recently served as both the Public Programs Developer at the Penn Museum and as a cultural planning consultant for the Penn and Slavery Project at the University of Pennsylvania. Recent dramaturgical credits include Grounds That Shout! And Others Merely Shaking (Fist and Heel Performance Group, Partners for Sacred Places and Philadelphia Contemporary) 2019 and SaltPepperKetchup (InterACT Theatre) 2018. She received her B.A. from Pomona College and was the 2015-2017 graduate fellow with the Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice at Brown University where she received an M.A. in Public Humanities. To learn more about her work visit her website at ariellejuliabrown.com

Abigail C. Onwunali is a Nigerian-American actor and writer, currently studying at the Yale School of Drama for her MFA in Acting. In undergrad, at the University of Texas at Austin, she is one of the most accomplished performers in the history of forensics, having won 13 collegiate national titles across four different interpretation categories over her four year career. Her slam poems Mountaintop and My Co-Worker have been viewed worldwide and she has been a sacrificial poet for many events including Texas Grand Slam and Slam Mania hosted by Write About Now.

Anita Marie Mayo Harrison is a community organizer and cultural worker from Marvell, Arkansas. In her work with the Boys, Girls and Adults Community Development Center, Ms. Mayo has put on events and co-led oral history projects that highlight the power of Black communities in the Arkansas Delta. She is a contributing author and producing partner on Black Cypress: a Phillips County Survival Guide and she recently completed Remember2019’s callin’ down the road residency. Additionally, Ms. Mayo gathers community members to research the Black musical legacies of Phillips County. She sometimes describes her work as community service and feels it is important to help others who cannot help themselves. Ms. Mayo is strong willed and determined, a wife, mother, grandmother and friend who hopes to be remembered as an intelligent, kind and giving human being.

Lisa Jai started acting in commercials at age three, which led to television, radio, animation, and film. Lisa is also an activist and has been awarded The Unsung Hero Award for her work on behalf of differently-abled actors. Some credits include Nora Ephron's debut film This is My Life, guest spots on TVs Twice in a Lifetime, T&T, Kung-Fu: The Legend Continues, My Secret Identity, and her beloved recurring Guest Spot on CBC's Mr. Dressup. Lisa began voicing animation as Isabelle in Babar at the age of five and can be heard as Wanda Li in the original series Magic School Bus. Also among her animation credits are, Childlike Empress in The Never Ending Story, Yoko in Timothy Goes to School, Becky in Lil' Rosie, and Ashley in Stickin Around, as well as Video game credits in Capcom's the original Resident Evil 2 as Sherry Birkin and Paula in Dinocrisis. However, the theater is where Lisa has really found her home since her first credit at Toronto's Young Peoples Theater in Jacob Two Two & The Hooded Fang (Ensemble/Prisoner). Lisa is an active union member of ACTRA Toronto and is also a published poet. She has performed in NYC, LA, Italy (Dario Fo's We won't Pay!), and Swaziland SA. A full scholar of The Stella Adler Academy in Los Angeles where she went on to act and produce for stage and film, garnishing a 2015 Ovation Award nomination for Best Acting Ensemble in The Vagrancy Theater's West Coast Premiere of Maria Irene Fornes What of The Night (Birdie). At this time, Lisa spends her days focused on theater and the arts, continues advocating for equal rights, and mentoring young artists- especially those of different abilities. Having lived with Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis all her life, Lisa credits the arts and good people for her ability to live her best life, in peace.

Elinor T Vanderburg is a Black-American writer, performer and voice artist born in Washington, D.C. She writes plays for and about misfits, creating troubled chimerical landscapes to call her audiences to real-world r/evolutionary action. Recent: Zoetrope (Dirs. Tess Howsam and Porcia Lewis, Exquisite Corpse Company 2021); BLOODSHOT: The Call (Dir. Sanaz Ghajar, Exponential Festival/underlords 2021); Voices From A Pandemic (Dirs. Christopher Windom, Nigel Semaj, and Sanaz Ghajar, Notch Theatre Company); HMLT (Dir. Sanaz Ghajar, The Weekly Weekly); BLOODSHOT (Dir. Sanaz Ghajar, Exponential Festival/Target Margin Theater 2020); Dancing Girl (Dir. Jenny Beth Snyder, SheNYC 2019); Water, Water, Everywhere... (Dirs. Tara Elliot and Tess Howsam, Exquisite Corpse Company); K-A-A-R-O-N (FGP 2018); The Human Incubator (Dir. Martina Bonolis, SheNYC 2017). . Recent Screen V/O: Bread Barbershop (Choco, Sausage; Netflix); World of Winx (Aisha; Netflix). Elinor is a Co-Creative Director of Fresh Ground Pepper, the Art Director of SheNYC, and has been a writer-in-residence with Exquisite Corpse Company and The Shelter. She is one half of the illusory theater company, underlords, alongside her partner, Drew. Elinor lives and works in Bushwick, Brooklyn. // @raisehelinor

board of directors.

Alexis Green - EDIA Committee Chair. Alexis is a professional actor and director living in Chicago. Originally from Phoenix, Arizona, she earned a BA in Theatre Arts from Arizona State University with a minor in Communication and later an MFA in Acting from Brown University/Trinity Rep. Since graduating, Alexis has travelled around the country acting and directing for various theatres. Most recently, she was awarded the Chason Directing Fellowship at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Alexis is currently the Administrative Coordinator for Organizational Consulting for artEquity.

Chrisopher Windom (Director/Choreographer, He/Him) - Christopher recently choreographed the feature film RESPECT, starring Jennifer Hudson, premiering 2021. Christopher has directed or choreographed at The Vineyard Theatre, The Public Theater Mobile Shakespeare, Guthrie Theater, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Trinity Repertory Company, Signature Theatre, and Dallas Theater Center. Christopher choreographed Frozen: Live at the Hyperion for Disney Resorts. He was the Drama League Assistant Director for the Broadway production of Pippin, directed by Diane Paulus, and Associate Director for the national tour of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, directed/choreographed by Andy Blankenbuehler. Assistant director for Ruined directed by Liesl Tommy, (Berkeley Rep, Huntington Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse). MFA, Brown/Trinity Rep; BFA, Webster University. Member of SDC. http://christopherwindom.squarespace.com

Sharon Lee - Board Secretary. Sharon is a long-time patron of the arts, Sharon has always felt passionate about making connections and community-building, which has driven her to become an active member of her South Los Angeles neighborhood where she currently serves as the President of the MOMS Club of West Adams. Prior to becoming a busy mother of three, Sharon worked in the entertainment industry, in both Film/TV as well as co-founding a music library with Hurwitz Creative. You can now find Sharon volunteering at her children's schools, organizing community events, advocating for those in need, binge-watching Netflix or eating dumplings.

J. Richey Nash - Board Treasurer. Johh Richey Nash is an award-winning actor, writer, and filmmaker with over 20 years of experience in the entertainment industry. He co-founded the Tidemark Theatre Company in New York City, serving two years as its co-artistic director and managing producer, as well as performing on stage. In Los Angeles, Mr. Nash created Tall Tales Productions, a film venture whose work includes the feature Hitting the Cycle co-starring Academy Award nominee Bruce Dern. He now resides in NYC where he continues to work as a freelance actor, director, and educator. Mr. Nash is a graduate of Princeton University and a former professional baseball player.

Ashley Olive Teague - President

Nikki Hyde (she/her) is an Assistant Professor of Stage Management at University of North Carolina School of the Arts. For over 15 years, she has worked as a stage manager on productions ranging from staged readings of new work to world-premiere operas to community musical pageants with over 200 cast members. She is a longtime ensemble member of Cornerstone Theater Company. Nikki has stage managed all over the country, including at the Kennedy Center, LA Opera, San Diego Opera, the Hollywood Bowl, the Public Theater, South Coast Repertory, Wallis Annenberg Center, Ojai Playwrights Conference, Pasadena Playhouse, and Center Theatre Group. She proudly serves on the Board of Directors of Notch Theatre Company and the Stage Managers’ Association Foundation. Nikki has taught at California Institute of the Arts and University of California San Diego.

Moira Squier - Board Chair. Ms. Squier is a writer and creative consultant working in film, print, theatre, interactive entertainment, and themed entertainment. She previously served as Director of Creative Content and Communications for the “Harry Potter” brand at Warner Bros. Prior to that role, she served as a corporate attorney and an in-house general counsel for eight years.

Shannon Morzov is a filmmaker based out of Los Angeles. With her company Morzov Productions, Inc. she is currently working on a series of artists documentaries for the SFMOMA as well as consulting with Netflix on their publicity campaigns for original titles. She previously served as the General Manager of Hurwitz Creative where she produced content for the publicity/marketing campaigns for scores of titles including “The Hunger Games 1-4,” “Life of Pi,” “Prometheus,” “Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland,” and “The Fault in Our Stars.” A graduate of UC Berkeley, Shannon continues to work on her own films focusing on social justice issues.

staff.

Ashley Olive Teague
Founding Artistic Director

Teague is recipient of the Embark Fellowship Award for Social Innovation in Entrepreneurship. While with Cornerstone Theater Company she developed and produced Talk It Out, which traveled California creating community-engaged theater to change public policy around the school-to-prison pipeline crisis. As a creative content producer, Teague worked on such films as Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland, Tyler Perry’s For Colored Girls, Paul Haggis’ The Next Three Days, Gus Van Sant's Promised Land, and Tina Chism’s Peeples. Teague is a member of the New Georges Jam and has received numerous awards including Broadway World awards for Best Director/Choreographer and Best Musical. She has taught at NYU, RISD, UNC, FSU/Asolo Rep, Chautauqua Institute, Brown University, Wittenberg University, and the University of Redlands. Her writing has been published in Bedlam Magazine, in Theater Artists Making Theatre With No Theater, on HowlRound, and in HowlRound's Theater in the Age of Climate Change series. Current interviews with Teague can be found on Broadway World here and here as well as on Monument Lab. A full resume and portfolio images available at ashteague.com.

CARLOTTA HARLAN - Notch Executive

A writer, editor, and program manager based out of Los Angeles. Her day to day over the last five years has been primarily at the studios, in development at Paramount Pictures and Netflix. She has been with Notch for over a year, and simultaneously works as an editor in marketing post-production while attending school (remotely) at American University, where she is getting a Masters in Public Administration and Policy. When not a full-time student working two day jobs, she is traveling the globe with her partner, a professional percussionist currently on tour with Adam Melchor, and meanwhile just searching for her keys... has anyone seen those?

JACLYN BISKUP - Manager of Development

Jaclyn Biskup is a director and producer working in theatre, television, and film. She received an Emmy nomination and was a Peabody Finalist for her work on the digital series THE SECRET LIFE OF MUSLIMS and currently works as the interim associate artistic director at The Brick and as creative producer at New Ohio Theatre. She was the assistant director to Tony Award-winning director Anna D. Shapiro on the Broadway productions of THE MINUTES (Tracy Letts) and STRAIGHT WHITE MEN (Young Jean Lee) for Second Stage. Her work in the theatre spans nearly two decades. As the founding artistic director of The Mill, she has directed and produced over 20 productions including the Chicago premiere of VENUS (Suzan-Lori Parks) and THE PRIVATE OF LIVES OF ESKIMOS (OR 16 WORDS FOR SNOW) (Ken Urban). In NYC, work directed includes JOURNEY AROUND MY BEDROOM (Dianne Nora), WORSE THAN TIGERS (Mark Chrisler), NICHOLAS, MAEVE, MARIANNE (Matthew Stephen Smith) -- one of Indie Theatre Now's 20 Best of NYC Fringe, HOT STEAMS (Zach Wegner), IT’S JUST WEIRD NOW (Halley Feiffer) and DAYS OF RAGE (Hyeyoung Kim and Shoshana Greenberg.) Her work has been seen at New Ohio Theatre, MCC Playlabs, New Dramatists, Rattlestick, Dixon Place, Town Stages, and the NYC International Fringe Festival. She has assisted on productions at Steppenwolf, The Public, and The American Musical Theatre Workshop. Her digital projects include work for PBS NOVA, Vox, Delta Air Lines, Caltech, Harvard, and others. She is a New Georges affiliated artist and a first-generation college graduate with a BA in Theater from Northern Illinois University and an MFA in Directing and Theatrical Production from Northwestern University.

SAVANNAH RITZ - Communications Associate

Savannah is a playwright, actor, and producer born and raised in Austin, TX with degrees in Theatre and Business from Southwestern University. She also studied acting and musical theatre at the National Theatre Institute where she was awarded a Lin-Manuel Miranda Family Fellowship. She served as the Communications Intern for The Actors Centre in London and the Artistic Operations Intern for the Glimmerglass Opera Festival. She is currently the Administrative Associate for Anti-Racist Theatre. Her new play, The Village, explores queer women growing up in a religious community of South Texas and opened at The Tank in fall 2022. She is represented by TCA Management and Chamber 37 Entertainment. As a proud queer Latina, she dedicates her time to uplifting underrepresented voices and exploring the intersection of art and activism.

Jordan Powell - Communications Associate

Jordan Powell is an alumna from NYU Tisch School of the Arts studying Drama at Playwrights Horizons Theater School with a minor in BEMT and Applied Theater. She is a director, writer, film maker, designer, and educator. She is a Jamaican American from Georgia. She has recently written and directed a film, Cutie, that was developed in the Nine Muses Lab taught by Bryce Dallas Howard. She has recently directed a devised performance, alone in my room, at Playwrights Horizon Downtown about black women shedding the expectation from the boxes placed on them and becoming their own mirror.

support.

- Amy Aquino and Drew McCoy -
- Bill & Chloe Cornell -
- Shannon Morzov -
- Cotton & Julie Nash -
- Mauricio & Cindy Salgado -
- Bob & Toni Teague -
- W Trust -
- JKW Foundation -
- Distracted Globe Foundation -
- Cindy & William Horr -
- Jody Wagner -
- Sabrina Sikes Thorton -
- Moira Squier -
- Byron Gross & Ricky Tovim -
- Colin Walker -
- Sandy Mailliard -

Thank you to Darin and Colleen Anthony, Elizabeth Atwood, Julia Atwood and Morgan Bernhard, Paula Bailey, John Noble Barrack, Stephen Berenson and Brian McEleney, Stuart and Susan Berton, Kimberly and Clay Clement, Sinan Eczacibasi, Scott and Mindy Gillum, Nick Goldfarb and Tracy Gosein, Joshua Gordon, Addie Gorlin-Han, Alexis Green, Michael Grutza and Joann Nayer-Grutza, Lauren Hashian, Sam and Fernanda Hurwitz, Nikki Hyde, Thomas Jones, Jessica Kahkoska and Tom Casserly, Melissa Kievman and Brian Mertes, Sandy and Joseph Patrick Kimble, Genevieve Kingston, Larissa Kokernot and Karl Gajdusek, Sharon Chin Lee and Harrison Lee, Michelle Lema, Bill and Jan Mack, Michael Jennings Mahoney and Chris Stahl, Sandy Mailliard, Jennifer Miller, John Winn and Margo Miller, The Morrisseys, Tracy Nayer and Myron Tookes, Audrey Nash and Jason Lowery, David Navalinsky, Caitlin O'Connell, Laura Payne, Tali Pressman & Phillip Holmes, Jennifer and Matthew Rowland, Carlos Salgado, Mauricio and Cindy Salgado, Nicole Sills, Moira Squier, Daniel Stein, Mylan Stepanovich and Mandy Ellis, Ashley Teague, Bob and Toni Teague, Patricia and Ken Terrell, Sabrina and John Thornton, Lara and Anthony Vergnaud, Jody Wagner, Cathy and Colin Walker, Jake Loewenthal and Josh Cape, Adlyn and Ted Loewenthal, Jill and James Kahkoska, Richard Donelly and Phyllis Kay, Maggie Mason and Matt Trainer, Byron Gross and Ricky Tovim, Avrom and Janet Posner, Annie Scurria and Barry Press, Lamb (Caroline) Parker, Carol Turner, M. Scott Gibbs, Harry Miller, Michael Vitaly Sazanov, Eva Pinney, Jennifer Tyliszczak, Melissa Thomas and Margie Hiermer, Gregory Jones, Collette Wilson, Anita Castillo-Halvorssen, Liz Appel, Ginger Hahn, Amy Smith, The Thomas Family, Barbara Wendeborn Brandom, Ted Auch, Stanford Smith, Sarah Kantrowitz, Ashley Walden Davis, Sergio Mauritz Ang, Susan Bernfield, Brandon Cloyd, Julia Gelb-Zimmerman, Cindy Hennon Marino, Thomas West, Victoria Lewis, Arielle Julia Brown, Babs Seldon Dyer, Iliana Guibert, Ash Nichols, Colleen Mallen, John Rooney, Christopher Windom, Ann Kinnebrew, Elaine Brett, Mike Hyde, Kathleen Phillips, Barry Snyder, Kimberly Senior, Jennifer Paul, Teresa Lotz, Latina Taylor, Johanna Parker, Gaby Saker, Anne Kaufman, Lanae Gutierrez, Kendall Hailey, Janice Blanock, Christopher Brown, Kirsten Gavoni, Joanne Cregg Smith, Erica McCay, April Anderson Sasso, Margy Feldhuhn, Pia O'Connor, Larry Levine, John Squier, Maggie Baker, Kevin O'Connell, Tracy Wiu, Joshua Chelmo, Jonas Stolpe, Michelle Johnson, Bridget Akinc, Lorraine A. Fiore, Robert Freeman, Carolyn Smith

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