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Cohort 7


Leon Levy Roundabout Directors Group (RDG) was created to offer resources and provide career assistance to the next generation of directors for the American Theatre by providing them with a foundation on which they can build lasting careers in the industry.

RDG creates an artistic community for directors at similar stages of their work, fostering camaraderie, lateral mentorship, access to expanded professional networks, and insight into the workings of a large not-for-profit institution.

The RDG cohort meets monthly with established artists to offer mentorship and workshops on topics such as: transitioning from assisting to directing, directing for TV/Film, directing regionally, understanding SDC, self-producing, finding representation, and more. Most importantly, RDG serves as a connection point to find community between colleagues with the hope that our members leave RDG with a larger circle of industry connections, knowledge, and a close group of peers.

RDG is specifically focused on creating a launchpad for artists who have historically been denied equitable opportunities in the theatre industry. To that end, we actively encourage applications from underrepresented groups, inclusive of race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, age, veteran status, and disability status.

RDG members are selected annually for a season-long commitment that includes:

  • Monthly meetings featuring industry guests
  • Tickets to all Roundabout productions
  • Networking sessions with other early-career artist groups
  • Opportunities to form relationships with Roundabout leadership, Artists in Residence, and RDG alumni
  • Opportunities for feedback on website, portfolio, applications, etc.
  • Headshot session
  • A professional development fund to be used throughout their season for theatre tickets, research, theatre-related travel, or any other expense that may qualify as furthering their work as an artist.

Cohort 6

Cohort 5

Cohort 4

Cohort 3

Cohort 2

Cohort 1


Support for Roundabout’s Directing Programs is generously provided by The Tow Foundation.  

Support for the Directors Group and all of Roundabout’s Artists in Residence programming is generously provided by the Leon Levy Foundation. 

The Leon Levy Foundation, founded in 2004, is a private foundation created from the Estate of Leon Levy by his wife and Founding Trustee, Shelby White. The Foundation continues Leon Levy’s philanthropic legacy and builds on his vision. Since its inception, the Foundation has made grants totaling over $600 million. 

The Leon Levy Foundation supports the preservation, understanding and expansion of knowledge in the Ancient World, Arts and Humanities, Nature and Gardens, Neuroscience, Human Rights and Jewish Culture. 

Nick Browne

Nick Browne (they/he) is a director, producer, and arts administrator interested in weaving theatrical experiences that center queer voices, meditate on societal ills, interrogate systems of power, and invite collective reckoning through play, imagination, and care. Nick was the 2024 SDCF Directing Observer on Swept Away with Michael Mayer. Directing highlights include Midnight Coleslaw’s Tales from Beyond the Closet!!! by Joey Merlo (The Tank), Board of Ed by Richard Spitaletta (The Wild Project), Keynote at Necro-Con by Max Keane (The Brick), Ike Holter’s HIT THE WALL (The Stonewall Inn), Is My Microphone On? by Jordan Tannahill (The Center at West Park), Song of Joy by Carol Mazhuvancheril (The Tank), Platforms by Edison Ventura Diaz (LAByrinth Theater Co. Barn Series), and HIT THE WALL (NYU, A Streak of Violet). MFA in Directing from Brooklyn College. SDC Associate Member. www.nickjbrowne.com

Dante Green

Dante Green (they/she/he) is a Black, Queer, multi-hyphenate born and raised in rural Pennsylvania, based in Brooklyn. They are an alumnus of The Headlong Performance Institute as well as The University of the Arts with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Directing, Playwriting, and Production. Dante is the Founding Artistic Director of The Makers’ Ensemble, a member of the Network of Ensemble Theaters, a former Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble Fellow, and a former Wesleyan University Breaking New Ground Fellow. Dante is currently the Associate Director to former Soho Rep Artistic Director Sarah Benson, and has worked with her on TEETH (Playwrights Horizons, New World Stages) and THE WELKIN (Atlantic Theatre Company), both of which garnered Sarah an Obie Award for Excellence in the Theatre. Currently: Minor Music at the End of the World (Associate Director, Internationaal Theatre Amsterdam). Upcoming: The Elementary Spacetime Show (Lincoln Center, Montclair State University) Website: www.dantegreen.com | Instagram: @dantemgreen

Irvin Mason Jr.

Irvin Mason Jr., a St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands native, is a director, actor, poet, and teaching artist. His work combines expressive movement, live music, emerging technology, and Afro-Caribbean traditions to revitalize live storytelling. Irvin aims to create work that leaves residue — unapologetic theater that dismantles traditional foundations and opens space for new voices to tell their stories. He’s the current 2024-2026 Drama League Stage Directing Fellow. He recently assisted in developing new plays and musicals at the Playwrights’ Center, NYSAF, and Berkeley Rep’s Ground Floor. His recent directing credits include: Marcus, or The Secret of Sweet (Brooklyn College, upcoming); The Postman’s Daughter (Forager Theater), Short New Play Festival (Red Bull Theater) Ain’t Misbehavin, Pipeline (Gallery Players); Stuck (Chain Theatre) Associate/Assistant Directing: Co-Founders (ACT); Amerikin (Primary Stages); Two Trains Running (The Acting Company); Gin Game (Park Square Theater); Gospel According to Heather (AMAS). Directing Observer: The Wiz (Broadway); Little Shop of Horrors, Rent (MUNY, SDCF); Pup! A Chew Story (NAMT). @iirvinmason | irvinmasonjr.com

Bibiana Torres

Bibiana Torres (she/her) is a Puerto Rican director interested in new work, magical realism, and Latine stories. A Van Lier Directing Fellow at Repertorio Español, she is currently directing FUENTEOVEJUNA, having made her Off-Broadway debut there with LA PASIÓN SEGÚN ANTÍGONA PÉREZ last summer. Up next: i know why iris chang died by Esmé Maria Ng at IRT, via the Moxie Incubator. Bib has directed at 54 Below, the Keen Company, The Green Room 42, the Yale Repertory Theatre, and the Yale University Theatre. She is an alum of the New York Theatre Workshop 2050 Administrative Fellowship (22/23 Season); The 24 Hour Plays (Nationals and Broadway); “Reasons to Go Places,” Bartlett Sher’s TFANA directing seminar; Theatre Producers of Color (Cohort 3); and the Yale Dramatic Association (President 2021, Mainstage Producer Spring 2020). Bibiana was recently an SDCF Observer for Susan Stroman on SMASH (Broadway). bibianatorres.com

Chloe Chow

Chloe Chow is an NYC-based pluralistic Asian American performance and multimedia artist consistently inspired by family archives, folklore and ritual, food heritage, and her grandmother. She is invested in the education and growth of the Asian American theater community and seeks to generate immersive performance art powered by memory. Her projects challenge the definition of theater through site specificity, digital media, and deconstruction of space. In addition to independent work, past collaborations have included Pan Asian Repertory Theater, Ma-Yi Theater, Planet Earth Arts Festival, and the Humana Festival of New American Plays. Chloe was a member of the 2024-25 SoHo Rep Writer/Director Lab, Artistic Director of the Stanford Asian American Theatre Project, and currently programs diversity and inclusion initiatives for Disney Theatrical Group. Chloe holds a B.A. in Theater and M.A. in Multimedia Journalism from Stanford University. chloe-chow.com

Ares Harper

Ares Harper is a Director/Theatre-Maker from Columbus, OH. Their work explores the process of “meaning-making” in both artistic and cultural ecosystems, as they believe theatre to be their classroom, playground, and laboratory. Ares is dedicated to telling stories that foreground marginalized bodies/perspectives, stories that are as evocatively epic as they are intimate, AND stories that change people’s lives. Ares cultivates rooms built on collaboration with the foundational principle of prioritizing joy without sacrificing diligence or rigor. Ares is a founding member of Imperium Theatre Company: “a collective of trouble-makers exploring the depths of artistic merit through our dedication to cultural education, civic engagement, and social change.

Charlique C. Rolle

Charlique C. Rolle is a multidisciplinary artist and cultural strategist creating spiritually-rooted, embodied work at the intersection of personal healing and collective liberation. A native of the Bahamas, her work is grounded in the wisdom of Black womanhood and expansive in reach—an invitation into deeper universal truth, belonging, and joy. She weaves together performance, ritual, and community-rooted practice to create spaces of remembrance, restoration, and reimagination. For Charlique, art is sacred labor and spiritual offering—a way to bridge the individual and the communal, the ancestral and the emergent. She is deeply honored to join the 2025–2026 Roundabout Directors Group and looks forward to a year of shared vision, creative risk, and meaningful collaboration.

Marc David Wright

Marc David Wright (he/him) is a theatre director, performer, and teaching artist based in Brooklyn, NY. Co-Founder and Artistic Director of The Village Collective: developing Visual and Performance ‘artwork-in-progress’ and connecting emerging artists with New York audiences at thirteen sold-out Salon events and counting (iminthevillage.org). Theatre: The Children’s Hour (Fordham U), HAIR NOW: A Musical Concert for Palestine (Judson Church), Self Tape (Downtown Urban Arts Festival – Winner! Best Play 2024), Planet W: A Science-Fiction Musical (Eugene O’Neil MT Conference Finalist 2025, Ars Nova ANT Fest 2024, Cast Album Now Streaming), The Stella Show (IRT/The Village), Singfeld! A Musical Parody About Nothing (Now Playing Off-Broadway), Dark Play or Stories For Boys (Edinburgh Fringe). Fordham Theatre 2019.

Ghina Fawaz

Ghina Fawaz / غِنى فواز is a Lebanese-American director, playwright, and artist. Her work blends art and activism, drawing on folklore, oral histories, and creative resistance to amplify underrepresented voices. Past works include ألف ليلة وليلة (The Thousand and One Nights), a theatrical call to action weaving folklore, poetry, puppetry, and traditional Hakawati storytelling to resist against colonialism; Antlers, a play based on interviews with people from Southern Lebanon about their experiences with occupation and liberation, weaving history into a fantastical journey through puppetry; Three Sisters, an adaptation reimagining Chekhov’s Olga, Masha, and Irina as refugees trapped in an airport awaiting their flight to Moscow that never comes; and Watermelon Boy, developed in collaboration with Chaesong Kim and Anuka Sethi, part folktale, part documentary theatre, about a boy living under occupation who, after eating the seed of a forbidden fruit, transforms into a watermelon. Fawaz has also directed new works by Meg Ledford (Conservation of Matter), Andrew Reid (Here, Time Feels So…), and Dacyl Acevedo (From One Token to Another).

M Sloth Levine

M Sloth Levine (they/them/theirs) is a director, playwright, and designer in New York City. Sloth’s plays have been developed at thousands of coffee shops around the country, Roundabout Theatre Company, Company One, Theatre [Untitled], Sparkhaven Theatre, Central Square Theatre, Skidmore College, Tufts University, University of Massachusetts Amherst, and University of Wisconsin Madison. The Interrobangers premiered in Boston in 2024 with Company One Theatre + The Theatre Offensive and will be published in the third volume of The Methuen Anthology of Trans Plays. At Hotel MacGuffin was the 2021 Parity Development Award recipient from Parity Productions. Sloth has served as the Script Supervisor on Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Bad Cinderella. In 2020 their live web-series Tales from Camp Strangewood was produced with a grant from the Mayor’s Office of Boston. They graduated from Emerson College with a BA in Theatre Studies: Directing & Playwriting.

Neeta Thadani

Neeta Thadani (they/he) is a director, writer, performer, dramaturg, and disgrace to their South Asian upbringing. Their artistic and storytelling interests center the South Asian identity in America with a focus on queerness, caste privilege, and decolonization. They were a 2023 Workshop Theater Fall Writers’ Intensive Fellow, a Nine Muses Screenwriting Lab Fellow, and recently served as Head Writer and Dramaturg for The Episodic Theatre Project’s inaugural season, BARDCORE (2024). Recent directing credits include associate directing Josh Sharp’s ta-da! under Sam Pinkleton at Greenwich House Theater and directing/co-writing White Bitches in Delhi at Williamstown Theatre Festival.

Des’ree Brown

DES’REE BROWN is a director, community organizer, and theatre journalist from ancestral Piscataway land, colonially known as southern Maryland. She is currently the Assistant Company Manager of Titanique, and was recently on the road with the Broadway touring company of MOULIN ROUGE! The Musical. She has directed and assisted new works in institutions across the DMV, NYC, and California including Berkeley Rep, The Kennedy Center, National Alliance of Musical Theatre, Round House Theatre, Washington National Opera, The 24-Hour Plays, Rorschach Theatre, Downtown Urban Arts Festival, and Two Strikes Theatre Collective. She has worked in a variety of artistic and general management capacities at Maximum Entertainment Productions, Baltimore Center Stage, Classic Stage Company, and Shakespeare Theatre Company. She is an alumni of Jose Solís’s BIPOC Critics Lab, Black Theatre Coalition, and a recipient of the 2020 KCACTF SDC Fellowship.

Neal Gupta

NEAL GUPTA is a Brooklyn-based director, writer, & producer of theatre, film, & television. In his work, Neal mines for magic in search of the extraordinary. He disrupts the norm to create sustainable, inclusive practices while remaining rigorous and ambitious in his concepts and scope. Neal recently made his Broadway debut as Associate Director of Prayer for the French Republic (directed by David Cromer). He also directed the pilot of an episodic comedy he co-created and is in development for several episodic series. Neal has collaborated with artists such as Reese Witherspoon, Lucy Liu, Mira Nair, Bebe Neuwirth, Marisa Tomei, and Liz Garbus. He has worked as Associate Director at institutions such as Manhattan Theatre Club, Geffen Playhouse, The Public, Ars Nova, The BRIC, and Philadelphia Theatre Company. As of January 2023, Neal is a Creative Executive at Hypokrit Productions (TV/FIlm) & the Artistic Producer at Hypokrit Live Arts (Theatre), both of which develop and produce stories exclusively by global majority artists, especially those of the South Asian diaspora. Neal has taught at Rutgers Mason Gross, NYU Tisch, & ArtsBridge, and he trained at Rutgers University (Mason Gross), Shakespeare’s Globe, & Interlochen Arts Academy. www.nealgupta.com

Amiah McGinty

AMIAH MCGINTY is an emerging director, producer, and arts administrator based in New York City. Amiah left her hometown in Augusta, Georgia to attend the illustrious Howard University where she graduated summa cum laude in May 2023 with a BFA in Theatre Arts. At Howard, she dedicated herself to creating work and cultivating spaces that authentically represent the multitexture lives of Black folks’ and marginalized communities. This mission led her to spend her first summer post-grad in Los Angeles working at Monkeypaw Productions as the Podcast Development Intern. Following her internship, she moved to NYC where she had her producorial debut curating the HBCU Sing Series at 54 Below, she grew as an administrator as the Artistic Workshop Fellow at New York Theatre Workshop, and was honored to serve as the Directing Fellow for Broadway’s Hell’s Kitchen. In addition to her recent experience, her early career has included working with the National Black Theatre, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, and Shakespeare Theatre Company. IG: @_per.cep.tion_

Marissa Joyce Stamps

MARISSA JOYCE STAMPS (she/her) is a Black, Haitian-American NYC-born and based director, writer, and performer who creates vortexes that center, celebrate and amplify Black folks through an Afrosurrealist lens. She won the 2023 Princess Grace Playwriting Award and is a 2x O’Neill NPC Finalist (2024, 2022). Memberships and Affiliations: Clubbed Thumb’s EWCG, EST/Youngblood, Lucille Lortel Alcove, and a New Georges Affiliate Artist. She’s directed her plays Being Up in Here… (Exponential Festival 2024, Brick Aux 2022), Blue Fire Burns the Hottest (Exponential Festival 2022; Orchard Project’s 2021 Performance Lab), and deadbodydeadbodydeadbody (Ars Nova ANT Fest 2022). Additionally, Marissa has directed and assistant directed the development of new work by other playwrights and of herself with The National Black Theatre, The Vineyard, New Dramatists, Mercury Store, Conch Shell Productions, The Brick, Breaking & Entering Theatre Collective, NYU/Tisch, and more. MFA Playwriting: Brooklyn College. marissajoycestamps.com @marissajoycestamps

Zaina Yasmin Dana

ZAINA YASMIN DANA is a Palestinian director and organizer based in North Philadelphia. She is the Resident Director of Eat Purple Theater Co., a new theater-making collective in the city. Her recent production of American Fast by Kareem Fahmy at InterAct Theater was nominated for a Barrymore award for Outstanding Original Production. Previous world-premiere projects include Johann Johann: or thee wurst dinner partie, Facepaint, and R3TURN: A Palestinian Pop-Punk Musical. She dedicates the rest of her time to uplifting the plight of Palestinian refugees through her work with UNRWA and UNRWA USA as the Project Manager of the Gaza 5K walk/run for mental health. Recipient of “Al-Bustan Award for SWANA Artists”, catch her upcoming adaptation of Othello vs the Military Industrial Festival at this year’s Philadelphia Fringe Festival. Free Palestine.

김채송 / Chaesong Kim

김채송 / Chaesong Kim (she/they) is a theater director and performance artist wrestling with the concept of “kind rage.” It is a practice, tendency, and sentiment that recontextualizes inherited and embodied pain into taking care, allowing time, and creating braver and safer spaces. Within such communal, imaginative, and rebellious work, Chaesong seeks to share stories that fall through boundaries, and hopes to find joy and empowerment through togethering—utilizing somatic, dramatic and interdisciplinary practices. Currently, she is excited about directing Welcome to my room by Yeena Sung which will be at Edinburgh Fringe Festival this summer, and devising the eleventh iteration of an intermedia project in incessant development since 2017, She Walks the Air, with the support of LMCC Creative Engagement Grant. Recent credits: Alien Play by Carolina Đỗ (The Makers’ Ensemble Short Play Festival at The Tank), Other Utter Utters in Order with Anthony Sertel Dean (En Garde Arts), She Walks the Air I-X (Bearnstow, Seoul Dance Center, and EstroGenius Festival, and others), Lazarus 1972-2022 by Ping Chong (La MaMa), Ma, Go by Ariel Urim Chung (Playwrights Downtown), SERIALS! by the Fled (The Flea Theater). MFA: Columbia University. www.chaesong.kim

Samantha Toy Ozeas

SAMANTHA TOY OZEAS (she/they) is a Chinese American, Brooklyn-based director and playwright who earned their Bachelor of Fine Arts in Directing from Carnegie Mellon University. Her work uses fantasy to ask questions about civic engagement, discuss environmentalism, and investigate bureaucratic systems. They generate site-specific work that interacts with its environment, typically through socio-political thrillers. Samantha has developed work with Ma-Yi Theater Company, Audible Theater, Santa Cruz Shakespeare, SheNYC, The Tank, Dartboard Productions, Grassroots Artist Collective, Frank-Ratchye Studio for Creative Inquiry, Southern Plains Productions, and formerly served as a reading committee member at Project Y Theatre Company. Film directing credits include Can We Pretend (Hollyshorts Film Festival, New York Shorts International Film Festival, San Francisco International Film Festival, Dumbo Film Festival Semi-Finalist), SCHEJ (Miami Webfest, Toronto Webfest), STICKY, and Think. Samantha is currently the Screenplay Coordinator and a programmer for the Asian American International Film Festival by Asian CineVision. This summer, they will join the 24 Hour Plays: Nationals 2024 Company as a director. During university, she dedicated much of her time to ZAPI Artists, writing publications on AAPI history, current events, and culture. She has spent much of the last year teaching creative writing to elementary school students. samanthatoyozeas.com

Gregory Keng Strasser / 费铿铿

GREGORY KENG STRASSER/ 费铿铿 (he/him/his) was raised between suburban Michigan and urban Shanghai, so he’s equally adept at shoveling driveways and drinking hot tea on a summer day. He learned to love bridging cultures together, but also queering them in language and art. As a creator, Greg has directed and/or written works for theatre, opera, video games, and film and worked across the world but mostly in the Washington DC area. His credits include: INTERNATIONAL: Thailand: Doi Nang Non. Denmark: 4 untitled performances with Odin Teatret & Ikarus Stage Arts. NEW YORK: The Parsnip Ship: American Spies by Sam Hamashima; DC AREA: Rorschach Theatre: Sometimes the Rain, Sometimes the Sea by Julia Izumi, 410[GONE] by Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig; Shakespeare Theatre Company Academy: Pericles by ShakespeareHin und Zuruck by Hindemith, Les Mamelles De Tiresias by Poulenc (with Alison Moritz); 4615 Theatre Company: The Infinite Tales (self-authored). REGIONAL: American Stage: The Chinese Lady by Lloyd Suh; Opera Festival of Chicago: L’inganno Felice by Rossini; Shenandoah University: Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller (self-adapted); Brighton Center for the Performing Arts: The Odyssey translated by Emily Wilson (self-adapted) Flying V: Paperless Pulp vol. 2Dark City a four-episode video game. As an Assistant/Associate, Greg has worked with directors Ken-Matt Martin, Chongren Fan, Jennifer Chang, Ella Marchment, Carey Perloff, Molly Smith, Seema Sueko, and Derek Goldman. He has been commissioned by Arena Stage (contributing writing to films The 51st State and May 22, 2020), 4615 Theatre Company, Brighton Center for the Performing Arts, Shenandoah University, Adventure Theatre-MTC and others. His honors include the Allen Lee Hughes Directing Fellow at Arena Stage and being the recipient of the DCCAH Arts & Humanities Fellowship from 2020 to present. He is an alumnus of the University of Michigan. Connect at: gregorykengstrasser.com // @lil.scallion.pancake on IG

Maya Quetzali Gonzalez

MAYA QUETZALI GONZALEZ is a New York-based artist and arts worker. Her directing has been seen at The Brick and Nuyorican Poets’ Cafe, and she has developed choreography at UCLA’s Dancing Disability Lab. Associate/assistant work includes Three Houses (Signature), Bees and Honey (MCC), You Will Get Sick (Roundabout), and Macbeth (Broadway). Associate Member of SDC. Board member for IndieSpace. She also works with Jane’s Due Process, a reproductive justice organization based in Texas, where she grew up. BFA: NYU Tisch (MLK Jr. Scholar). mayaquetzali.com

“N” / Nicky Maggio

“N” / NICKY MAGGIO (they/them) is a new works director and theatrical curator for the disquiet. Experimenting with form, composition, and space, Nicky manifests theatrical worlds with an eye towards transition, discovery, and a gemini-like quality of intensity. They were a director for Mercury Store’s inaugural Director’s Intensive, Mercury Store Director’s Lab (Spring 2023) and Cultivate Theatre Lab’s inaugural cohort (Summer 2024). N has directed, assisted, and workshopped pieces for Clubbed Thumb, The Brick, The Tank, Atlantic Acting School, The Wild Project, The New Harmony Project, National Queer Theatre, Cherry Lane, Pipeline Theatre Company, The Drama League, The Wilma Theatre, The Public, The Lark, Boston’s Lyric Stage Company, Arts Emerson/Emerson Stage, Teatro LATEA, and ItalyTime. They hold a BFA in Theatrical Performance from Emerson College and a MFA in Directing from The New School. For current and upcoming projects visit www.nmaggio.com Instagram: @nickymaggio

Francesca Sabel

FRANCESCA SABEL is a Brooklyn-based director specializing in new play development. Her work aims to be ‘easy to enter and difficult to leave,’ emphasizing off-kilter rhythms, uncanny architectures, and structural surprise. In addition to directing new work at venues including the Atlantic Theater Company, Clubbed Thumb, Ars Nova, Studio Theatre, and New York City Center, she has assisted (mostly on world premieres) for directors like Knud Adams, Caitlin Sullivan, Steve Broadnax, Mack Brown, and Sam Pinkleton. She is a member of the Tank Artists’ Group for playwrights and directors, an alum of 24 Hour Plays: Nationals, and a reader for the Playwrights’ Center and Playwrights Realm. Previously, she led casting and community engagement as Studio Theatre’s Creative Producer.

Emily Abrams

EMILY ABRAMS (she/her) is a director, administrator, and silly human who creates community by putting audiences through one-of-a-kind experiences. Currently, Emily is the resident director of Spiegelworld’s THE HOOK and a New York Theatre Workshop 2050 Artistic Fellow. Her work is heavily influenced by the theatre of the ridiculous movement, camp, parody, clown, and midnight-cult-classic movies. Emily has worked for leading arts organizations, including Ars Nova, New York Theatre Workshop, Spiegelworld, Manhattan Theatre Club, Virgin Voyages, Studio Theatre, Asolo Rep, People’s Light, The Kimmel Center, The New Group, Life Jacket Theatre and more. She has assisted esteemed directors, including Cal McCrystal, Andrew Neisler, Knud Adams, Rory Pelsue, David Muse, Candis C. Jones, Sivan Battat, Josh Rhodes and others. She is an alum of Studio Theatre’s Directing Apprenticeship, Ars Nova’s Emerging Leaders Fellowship, and Asolo Rep’s Directing Fellowship. She holds a BFA in Directing from The University of the Arts and is an alum of the National Theatre Institute’s Advanced Directing program. While not directing, Emily cares for her very small—very fluffy—dog, and competes in Rubik’s cube speed-solving competitions. Find out more about Emily, her work, and her obsession with Tommy Wiseau by visiting EmilyAbramsDirects.com

Tramane Harris

TRAMANE HARRIS (he/they) Tramane is native Brooklynite by way of East New York. As a theater-maker and educator his work is interested in traditional and nontraditional spaces as well as communities often left out of the theatrical conversation. Through the reinvestigation of the African American canon and identity, and development of new and classical work, he’s driven to use stories to cultivate joy, resilience, and introspection. www.tramaneharris.art/home

Sanhawich Meateanuwat

SANHAWICH MEATEANUWAT – สัณหวิชญ์ เมธีอนุวัตร (he/they) is a queer Thai stage director/playwright based in New York City. They recently graduated from the MFA Directing Program at Illinois State University. Their directing work focuses on creating dynamic theatre that supports social movements and explores and asks questions that impact the larger society, especially in the context of cultural diversity. They’re committed to using their skills to uplift and amplify Thai voices in the American theatre community. They are a proud board member of the Thai Theater Foundation.

Their recent work was A Sisyphean Dream in Pan Asian Rep’s Nuworks 23 at Theatre Row. The show tells the story of Thai immigrant actor’s experiences in New York City.

In 2022, they received the National SDC Directing Fellowship Award at the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival. They worked as a Directing Fellow at the National Playwrights Conference 2022 at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center. This year, they have been selected to be part of The Drama League’s Directors Project as Directing Assistantships cohort. They also received the John Cauble Emerging Producer/Leader Award from the KCACTF/LORT ASPIRE Arts Leadership program.

Lucky Stiff

LUCKY STIFF (they/them) is a trans/nonbinary director, writer, and performer working in Chicago and New York. Their work in new play and musical development and nightclub culture-inspired performance art has been featured at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Goodman Theatre, Blue Man Group Chicago, Boy Friday Dance Company, Ensemble Studio Theatre and the McKittrick Hotel (Sleep No More NYC) among many others. They hold an MFA in Directing for Theater from Northwestern University where they received a grant from the Center for Interdisciplinary Research in the Arts for their original site-specific production BELOW: An Underworld Story. luckystiffdrag.com

Zahra Budhwani

ZAHRA BUDHWANI (she/he/they) is a queer Desi director, based in Brooklyn, NY. Select directing credits include Wasted (The Tank), Diwali Play (Prime Produce) and untitled sex show (Fresh Lime Soda Productions). Assistant directing credits at Rising Sun Performance Company, SheNYC Theatre Festival, Roundabout Theatre Company, Permafrost Theatre Collective, and Dixon Place. Zahra was a member of the inaugural Mercury Store Directing Lab and is a current Associate Artist at Sanguine Theatre Company and a director for the 24 Hour Plays: Nationals 2023. They teach and make theatre with students all over NYC with the New Victory Theatre, Arts Ignite, CO/LAB Theatre Group, The Moth, and Broadway Bound Kids. Zahra creates culturally-specific and participatory art for communities who have not traditionally seen themselves represented in the American theatre and utilizes play to cultivate moments of wonder and courage in and out of the rehearsal room. BFA, NYU/Playwrights Horizons.

Saki Kawamura

SAKI KAWAMURA is a NYC-based theatre/film director originally from Japan. As an immigrant artist, Saki is interested in challenging notions of traditional American theatre by combining non-traditional theatrical elements including butoh dance, visual arts, different languages, and devising. She aims to create theatrical experiences which will build bridges across cultures. Recent directing credit includes: Watcher in the Woods (Urban Stage), Alice by Heart (Trevor Day School), ICEBERG (Ren Gyo Soh), The Sugar Plant, Everest (Chain Theatre), Grown-ups, and The Giving Tree (Unfix NYC). Associate/Assistant credit includes: The Cher Show (1st National Tour), JOY: A NEW MUSICAL (George Street Playhouse), Clue (Paper Mill Playhouse, 1st National Tour), Mystic Pizza (Ogunquit Playhouse) and many more. Saki is currently the Associate Artistic Director of Ren Gyo Soh, an award-winning butoh theatre company in NYC. MFA Directing at Actors Studio Drama School at Pace University. A member of Roundabout Directors Group Cohort 5. www.sakikawamura.com

Amani Meliyah

AMANI MELIYAH is a multidisciplinary artist based in Brooklyn, NY. They create socio-political portraits of identity, faith, and community through live performance, movement, poetry, and video. Directing credits include several original devised works, In the Blood by Suzan Lori Parks and short films Parkside and Daughters. She is a Theatre of the Oppressed practitioner with Theatre of the Oppressed NYC and facilitates a residency for queer youth in transitional living at the Ali Forney Center. amani is a co-founder of Blue Lilith Productions and is currently in production for the film ROOFTOP JESUS (writer/director). In NYC amani has collaborated with Soho Rep, Experimental Bitch, Vainglory Theatre, Brunch Theatre, and The Tank. Education: Coastal Carolina University BFA in Acting / life lessons from many ancestors and aunties.

Moses Garcia

MOSES GARCIA (he/him) is a New York-based stage director, producer, and arts leader. Fueled by electronic music, he creates transformative theatrical experiences, transcending traditional American Musical norms to embrace a diverse audience. Moses fearlessly explores pressing topics shedding light on issues pertaining to mental health, digital culture, identity, and challenging taboos. By harnessing music’s immersive and emotive potential, Moses’ work aims to spark conversations, foster empathy, and challenge society’s preconceived notions. He has recently worked with Nederlander, The Public Theater, Atlantic Theater Company, The New Group, Center Theatre Group, and the National Alliance of Musical Theatre. Moses holds a Master of Arts Management and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Directing from Carnegie Mellon University and is a proud inaugural scholar of the Cody Renard Richard Scholarship Program. www.mosesgarcia.com

Aileen Wen McGroddy

AILEEN WEN MCGRODDY is a Chinese- and Irish-American theatre director, educator, and creator of live events. Her work is imaginative, inclusive, and playfully experimental, coming from a robust background in physical theatre and a deep commitment to hospitality. She became a person in New York; a theatre maker in Chicago; and a Master of Fine Arts in Directing at Brown-Trinity in Providence, RI. Currently, she is a co-artistic director of TUTA Theatre Chicago and an adjunct faculty member of Adelphi University. In the 2022-23 season, she was a 2050 Fellow at New York Theatre Workshop and the BOLD Resident Director at Northern Stage. Selected productions include: Sense and Sensibility (Northern Stage); A Christmas Carol (Trinity Rep); The Chinese Lady (Kitchen Theatre and Geva Theatre Center); Airness (Breckenridge Backstage Theatre); The Late Wedding, The Dumb Waiter, Summer and Smoke, and The Tempest (Brown-Trinity); Throwback Island, On The Y-Axis, Akira Kurosawa Explains His Movies and Yogurt (Writing is Live); The Glass Menagerie, Or, and Dani Girl (Winnipesaukee Playhouse); Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Musical and The Snowy Day (Emerald City Theatre); Montauciel Takes Flight (Lifeline Theatre); Ulysses (The Plagiarists); A Hero’s Journey, The Hunting of the Snark, Robin Hood, and The Pied Piper (The Forks & Hope Ensemble); The Whiskey Radio Hour, Wake: A Folk Opera, Kodachrome Telephone and Sign of Rain (The Whiskey Rebellion); and Gentle, The Edge of Our Bodies, Music Hall, The Anyway Cabaret (TUTA). She has directed readings at Clubbed Thumb, The Bushwick Starr, NY Classical Theatre, Rattlestick Theatre, and others.

Isabel Perry

ISABEL PERRY is a Brooklyn-based director of theatre and film. She has worked at Lincoln Center, Second Stage, Soho Playhouse, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Playwrights Realm, The Tank, New York City Center, and New York Theatre Festival. She has also worked regionally at Drury Lane, Bloomington Playwrights Project, and Victory Gardens. Isabel is a graduate of Northwestern University where she studied Theatre & Asian American Studies. www.isabelsloaneperry.com

Autumn Angelettie

AUTUMN ANGELETTIE (she/her) is a theatrical director, producer, playwright, and performer from Greater Philadelphia, based in New York City. As an abolitionist, feminist theatre maker and organizer, Autumn seeks to create and produce radically transformative art in an evolving industry. Her experience and expertise lie in curating and leading creative teams composed of members of the global majority, and developing new, social justice-oriented works. Autumn has been involved in the development of world premieres by NSangou Njikam (21 Strings: A Rhyme), Lady Dane Figueroa Edidi (Klytmnestra: An Epic Slam Poem, Helen Hayes Best Outstanding Original Play 2020), T.J. Lewis (blk thoughts (:you can redo?:)) and nearly a dozen other new Black theatrical productions, including her own, in the varied capacities of director, producer, playwright, and actor. She has been honored with experiences on and offstage at the Apollo Theater, Signature Theatre NYC, Mabou Mines, Joe’s Pub, Theater Alliance, Young Playwrights’ Theater, Lime Arts Productions’ 20 by 20 Fringe, Broadway Green Alliance, The Howard Players’ 8×10 Play Festival, Philly Young Playwrights’ Monologue Festival, Howard University, and with the Broadway Advocacy Coalition. Autumn earned her BFA in Theatre Arts in the inaugural class of the illustrious Howard University Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts. She currently serves as the Artistic Director of Lime Arts Productions.

James Bruenger-Arreguin

JAMES BRUENGER-ARREGUIN (he/him). Born in Los Cabos, Mexico, and raised in Denver, CO, James is an NYC-based Latino director and producer currently working in the Creative Development office at Disney Theatrical Group. He has worked and collaborated with the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Theatre Aspen, The 24 Hour Plays, and Southern Colorado Repertory Theatre (Associate Artistic Director). Recent Credits: Colorado Spring Fine Arts Center: Guadalupe in the Guest Room (2022 Henry Award Nominee – Best Director of a Play) and To Slay The Dragon. SCRT: The Last Five Years (Director), Evita (Director/Choreographer), Fly By Night (Choreographer), University of the Arts: Pop The Musical Exhibition (Director), and Momentos (Director). James is a current New York Community Trust Van Lier Fellow in Directing at Repertorio Español. BFA in Directing, Playwriting + Production from the University of the Arts.

Devin E. Haqq

DEVIN E. HAQQ (he/him) is a member of the Fiasco Theater Acting Company, an IFP alumni, and a Finalist for the HBOAccess 2020 Directing Fellowship. His feature film, Ambition’s Debt, won the 2017 Grand Jury Award for Best Narrative Feature at the prestigious American Black Film Festival (ABFF) and the 2018 Paul Robeson Award-Honorable Mention at the Newark Black Film Festival. Recently, Devin produced the short film Cupids, directed by Zoey Martinson, which had its world premiere at the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival as part of the 8:46 Films Initiative sponsored by Procter & Gamble (2022 NAACP Image Award Nominee). Cupids has since gone on to play at some of the top film festivals around the world, including Woodstock, Cambridge, Chicago International Film Festival (Gold Hugo Award Nominee), Riverrun, The American Pavilion at Cannes, and recently aired on CBS & BET networks. Devin was also a Finalist for the 2019 SAG Indie Fellowship at Stowe Story Labs and his short horror script, Wildin’ Out, was a Finalist in the 2019 PAGE International Screenwriting Awards Competition. His latest short film project, The Mark, was nominated for Best Horror at the Academy qualifying 2020 LA Shorts International Film Festival and won Best Narrative Short at the 2021 Atlanta Shortsfest. His feature script Malsumis was a Finalist in the 2021 ScreenCraft Sci-fi & Fantasy Screenplay Competition and is now optioned by Create Entertainment. Devin made his stage directorial debut in 2020 with a much-celebrated production of the critically acclaimed Pass Over by Antionette Nwandu at Luna Stage in West Orange, NJ. He has since gone on to direct workshops and staff as an associate director on productions for such organizations as The Public Theatre, The Folger, NYU Tisch School of the Arts, Fiasco, and the National Black Theatre.

Sarah Shin

SARAH SHIN (she/her) is a Schwenksville-raised Boston-trained, Brooklyn-based Korean American theatre artist dedicated to finding, gathering, and uplifting community. Recent directing credits include The Cradle Will Rock (Concord Academy), Manuka (Youngbloods @ EST), Final Contact (Central Square Theater), A Very Herrera Holiday (New Repertory Theater), The First Pineapple and Other Folktales (Central Square Theater), and Amputees (Boston University). Assistant Credits include My H8 Letter 2 the Gr8 American Theatre (Assistant Director, Public Theater, Ma-Yi Theatre/AYE DEFY), Much Ado About Nothing (Shakespeare & Co.), Endlings (Assistant Director, NYTW), Twelfth Night (Catskill Mountain Shakespeare), Moby Dick (Choreography Assistant, ART), and THE GIFT PROJECT (All For One Theater). She is the Co-Founding Artistic Producer of Asian American Theatre Artists of Boston (AATAB), 2020-2021 Asian American Arts Alliance Virtual Residency Cohort Member, and 2021-2022 National Queer Theatre Artistic Collective Member. She also performs, loves to sing, make music, and always dreamed of being in a band. BFA Theatre Arts Boston University.

Chari Arespacochaga

CHARI ARESPACOCHAGA (she/they) is a FilipinX, queer director and educator. She has done work in theatre, film, multi-media, special events and concerts; and is committed to the development of new work and new forms in performance. Her work is deeply rooted in theatre-making (and theatre-teaching) as an act of radical imagination and necessary cultural work. She cultivates inclusive, diverse and circularly-collaborative spaces that invite innovation, investigation, conversation, experimentation and multi-disciplinary expression to creating so we might expand our notions of performance, how we might create them, with whom and for whom.

Adam Coy

ADAM COY (he/him) is a Ukrainian-Tejano director, curator of vibes, and actor based in New York City, originally from San Antonio. He currently serves on The Fled’s leadership circle and is the Associate Artistic Director of The Egg & Spoon Theatre Collective. The 2021-22 Playwrights Horizons Robert Moss Directing Fellow, a TCG Rising Leader of Color, Theatre Producers of Color, SDC Foundation Observership class alum, and an SDC associate member. As a performer Adam has developed work with San Diego Rep, JACK, Northern Stages, Pipeline, Latinx Playwrights Circle, Chautauqua Theatre Company and others. The Theatre he seeks to create: honors the past by retelling it, pushes the boundaries of what can happen in a physical space, feels like a fairy-tale-and-the-internet-and video-games-and-a-rap-battle, mixes forms, makes my ancestors proud, and doesn’t alienate my friends that have never seen a play and would rather be on the block. I would have my audiences be conscious citizens of this terrible and beautiful world. Proud alumni of Syracuse University, BFA Acting.

Susanna Jaramillo

SUSANNA JARAMILLO (she/her) is a Brooklyn-based director and stage manager hailing from Cranford, New Jersey. As a director, Susanna believes in radical inclusion and aims to create work that subverts our expectations of identity, uplifts voices that are historically left out of the theatrical canon, and interrogates the societal structures that limit us. Recent directing credits include: Fucking A (PPAS), Best Life (JACK), Daddy (John Jay College). Assisting credits include: Dom Juan (Bard SummerScape), Wine in the Wilderness (Roundabout Theatre Co.), Bite Me (Roundabout Theatre Co.), African Caribbean MixFest (Atlantic Theatre Company). Select academic theatre direction includes: Yellow Face (Front Row Theatre Co.), Hedwig and the Angry Inch (iNtuitons Experimental Theatre), Little Shop of Horrors (Quadramics Theatre Co.), Mr. Burns: A Post-Electric Play (iNtuitons Experimental Theatre). Susanna is a proud member of the 2022-2023 Drama League Directors Project. Graduate of the University of Pennsylvania with a BSE in chemical and biomolecular engineering.

Dina Vovsi

DINA VOVSI (she/her) is a New York-based director and theatermaker. Recent projects include EXITS, an audio-theatrical journey through Fort Greene, supported by New Georges and the Brooklyn Arts Council, and Love is… [Kocham Cię], a 2022 Brooklyn Arts Council SU-CASA collaboration with Pete McGuinness Senior Center. She has directed and developed new work with The Civilians, New Georges, Working Theater, Cape Cod Theatre Project, Dartmouth VoxFest, and more. Dina is a New Georges Affiliated Artist and a Working Theater 5 Boroughs 1 City Initiative commission recipient, co-creating a play with Liba Vaynberg about the intersection of the Russian-speaking and Pakistani immigrant communities in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn. She was a 2021 Brooklyn Arts Council Grantee, a Robert Moss Directing Fellow at Playwrights Horizons, a member of The Civilians’ R&D Group, the recipient of an SDC Foundation Observership, a member of the Lincoln Center Directors’ Lab, and a Mass MoCA Assets for Artists Grantee. As an associate/assistant director, Dina has worked on Broadway, off-Broadway, and regionally with Roundabout, Playwrights Horizons, Spoleto Festival USA, WP Theater, Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, Ma-Yi, and more. Dina is a frequent guest director at universities, working with students at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, Rutgers University’s Mason Gross School of the Arts, Fairleigh Dickinson University, and Long Island University. A passionate advocate of new plays and playwrights, Dina was the Program Coordinator of PlayTime at New Dramatists from 2016-2019.

Britt Berke

BRITT BERKE (she/her) is a director whose work examines love, intimacy, and taboo through curiosity, honesty, and joyful theatricality. Britt has directed and developed work with New York Theatre Workshop (residency at Adelphi), The Public Theater, Mabou Mines, Torn Out Theater (aka “the Naked Shakespeare company”), The Mint, The Tank, Moxie Arts NY, and Origin Theater (Best Director Nom). She is the co-founder of November Theatre, a transatlantic collective telling heart-forward stories of identity. Britt is the assistant to Lileana Blain-Cruz and JoAnne Akalaitis. She is an alumna of the MTC Directing Fellowship, 24 Hour Plays: Nationals, and the NAMT & SDC Observerships. Britt and her work have been featured in The New Yorker, Time Out New York, and SDC Journal. BA, Barnard College.

Evan T Cummings

EVAN T CUMMINGS (he/him) is a director and playwright based in NYC. Recent directing: Trust by Steven Dietz at the Stella Adler Studio, An Evening of Short Plays for Lincoln Center’s Restart Stages, and his own play Emergency Planning for Roundabout Theatre’s Reverb Festival. He has directed workshops and readings with many companies including New York Theatre Workshop, Lincoln Center, The Private Theatre (company member), Fault Line Theatre, Queens Theatre, The Culture Project, Luna Stage, The Lark, and Geva Theatre Center. He has assistant directed with The Public Theater, LAByrinth Theater, Geva, Pittsburgh CLO and Dallas Theatre Center. He is a co-founder of the World Wide Lab, an international company that has created community-based director-driven theatre in New York, Athens, Taipei, Rome, and Berlin. Evan directs frequently with Queens Theatre and their “Theatre for All” initiative which showcases disabled artists’ voices through their New American Voices Series, and he is a teaching artist for the TFA Professional Actor Training Program. Evan was recently brought on as the director and coordinator of a new division within The Stella Adler Studio: the Division of Artistic Access and Inclusion. He is a graduate of The School of Drama at Carnegie Mellon University.

Margaret Lee

MARGARET LEE (she/her) is a theatre director based in New York. She has developed and presented work with Ma-Yi Theatre, 2G, IRT Theater, BRIClab, Breaking & Entering and recently directed three world premiere plays as part of the Moxie Arts Virtual Commission. She is currently the Associate Director of Scarlet Night (Virgin Voyages’ signature show) and she served as Associate/Resident Director of virtual immersive nightclub-theatre Eschaton. Past assistant credits include Kathleen Marshall, David Mendizabal, Ellie Heyman, Victor Malana Maog, and Marcia Milgrom Dodge at theatres such as MCC Theater, Long Wharf Theatre, New York Stage & Film, and The Old Globe. Margaret is a Drama League Directors Project alumna, a 24 Hour Plays: Nationals alumna, a Black Girl Theatre Magic Director’s Circle member, and SDC Associate Member.

Jason Aguirre

Jason Aguirre (he/him/el) is a New York-based Mexican-American director, bookwriter, and choreographer, specializing in new musical development and reinvestigating the traditional American book musical. He strives to be radically inclusive in his practices while delivering a theatrical Flintstone vitamin to audiences—a socio-political message served through candy-coated entertainment. @jasona57

Daniella Caggiano

Daniella Caggiano is a director and intimacy director committed to radically centering queer voices and women’s voices on stage. Her work challenges traditional power structures and explores taboo topics, inviting audiences to sit with discomfort and welcome empathetic vulnerability.

Emilia Lirman

Emilia (Emi) Lirman is a bilingual, first generation Argentinian American director. She believes that creating art is an optimistic impulse and thus is dedicated to creating theatre with compassion and joy at its core, because what’s one without the other? Her work engages with our contemporary cultural landscape and is deeply rooted in collaboration and conversation.

Borna Barzin

Borna Barzin’s work uses satire and multimedia to expose and reveal injustice and intimacy. His work centers immigrants, people of color, and queer people. It appeals to the outsider spirit, rejecting heterosexuality and whiteness as the norm. It is unapologetically queer and postmodern, challenging convention in every sense of the word.

Kevaughn Harvey

Kevaughn Harvey (he/him) is a first-generation Caribbean-American director and actor. The collision of cultures is the origination of his artistic joys, traumas, and idiosyncrasies. A central question in his art is “What is lost (and gained) from the mashup of ideas, cultures, and identities?” His work explores this through poetic language and rugged spectacle.

Andrés López-Alicea

Andrés López-Alicea looks forward to exploring, expanding, and physicalizing the essence of the text to highlight the character’s states of mind. López-Alicea’s work provokes the audience to submerge into the darkest and purest places of the psyches of each character and the play.

Mack Brown

Mack Brown is a big-hearted Brooklyn-based butch. Prioritizing the new work of their contemporaries, Mack builds vibrant worlds that center lesbians and trans people. They wield structure and safety to unlock rehearsal rooms that glow with mutual ownership, and love to develop bright new musicals.

Alex Keegan

Alex Keegan is a director of new work, adaptations, and devised theatre foregrounding women and LGBTQ+ stories. She often explores narratives of mental illness in her work, and is committed to creating investigative, collaborative processes. MFA Candidate: Yale Drama, where she’s co-adapting Affinity by Sarah Waters as her directing thesis.

Nicholas Polonio

Nicholas Polonio is a theater director based in Brooklyn, NY. Adapting satires and histories, he has developed productions including The Police, pov: u run joe biden’s tiktok, and Late Fame. Driven by a curiosity in theater as cultural criticism, Nicholas’s work investigates American entertainment and Gen Z mythologies.

Galia Backal

Galia Backal (she/her/hers) is a first-generation Mexican American director, choreographer, and collaborator. She is drawn to work that supports themes of diversity, inclusion, and intersectionality, specifically pieces that center women and Latinx stories. Galia received her BA in Directing from Pace University and is a part of the 2020 – 2022 Roundabout Directors Group Cohort. She is currently an Adjunct Faculty member at Circle in the Square Theatre School and is a 2022 Audrey Resident at New Georges. Galia was also a part of The Civilians 2020 – 2021 R&D Group. Recent directing credits include The Archive by Alisha Espinosa (Pace University), In the End (Pace University Devised Piece), EVERYBODY by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins (LIU Post Theatre Company), The Show Must Go On: Musical Revue (Bay View Music Festival), El Cóndor Mágico by Noelle Viñas (The Civilians R&D Group), Untitled Puppet Show by Daniella De Jesús (San Diego Repertory Theater), INÚTIL by Alisha Espinosa (Teatro LATEA), Canciones Project Workshop by Beto O’Byrne (The Sol Project), The End of Incorporated Filth by Chloe Hayat (The Chain Theater), West Side Story (Bay View Music Festival), and Latch by Tom Mularz (Samuel French OOB Festival).

é boylan

é boylan (they/them) is a NYC based director, creator, and composer developing new work towards trans liberation. Recent/Upcoming projects: “Soft Butter” (Ars Nova, MTF), “Waafrika 123” (National Queer Theater), “Container” (Trans Lab/WP/Public Theater, Rattlestick), “Femmebodys, or: the way we leave” (NAMT Award, MTF), “Memorial” (The Lark, LPAC), and “The Rite of Spring” (American Theater Company). é has incubated work with resident artists at LCT3/Lincoln Center, Manhattan Theatre Club, BAM, the O’Neill, Joe’s Pub, Birdland, Studio Theatre, and elsewhere. A graduate of The University of Chicago and NTI, é has served as 2019 Trans Lab Fellow, 2019-20 MTC Directing Fellow, and currently serves as a Resident Artist at Musical Theatre Factory and Lincoln Center Theater.

Danilo Gambini

Danilo Gambini is a New York-based director, originally from São Paulo, Brazil. Directing credits include the musicals Fun Home and The Who’s TOMMY, Shakespeare’s The Tempest and Noah Diaz’s Rock Egg Spoon. As the Co-Artistic Director of the Yale Summer Cabaret, he directed Euripides’s Bakkhai, and adapted and directed The Swallow and the Tomcat from the Brazilian children’s book by Jorge Amado. Other credits include Agreste (Drylands), Ni Mi Madre, Truck (Yale Cabaret); Opera: Don Giovanni, Ariadne Auf Naxos, Eugene Onegin (Theatro São Pedro). He has assisted directors including Laurie Woolery, Fernando Meirelles, Iacov Hillel, and Candace Evans. Danilo holds an M.F.A in Directing from Yale School of Drama, a B.F.A. in Film and Television (Curso Superior do Audiovisual) and an artist diploma as an actor from the School of Dramatic Art (Escola de Arte Dramática–EAD) both from the University of São Paulo.

Carsen Joenk

Carsen Joenk is a director, designer, and Brooklyn based Chicagoan. She primarily uses non-hierarchical methods of collaboration to create accessible, equitable, ensemble-driven, devised work that questions American history and morality. A staunch supporter of trash, glitter, and dance-pop, Carsen embraces stylized theatricality as a means of entertainment, conversation, and dissidence. She is the co-artistic director of Rat Queen Theatre Company, a resident artist with New Light Theatre Project, a 2020-2021 Roundabout Emerging Directors Group member, and a member of the 2019-2021 SDCF Observership Class. Carsen was the 19/20 Wingspace Theatrical Design Directing Mentee, a National Alliance of Musical Theatre 2018 Directing Observer, and a 2018-2019 resident artist at Access Theatre with Rat Queen. She has made work, assisted, and interned with the New Ohio, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Dixon Place, La MaMa ETC, New York Theatre Workshop, Juilliard, Soho Rep, the LARK, and more.

Julia Rufo

Julia Rufo is a director and devisor based in NYC. Their work is queer, ensemble oriented, and values emotional truth over hyperrealism. They create new work that allows us to reflect on and process our realities. Julia holds a BA from Sarah Lawrence College and is an alumn of the Moscow Art Theatre, Accademia dell’Arte, and SDCF Observership Program. They recently completed the directing apprenticeship at Actors Theatre of Louisville where they directed various projects with the Professional Training Company and assistant directed The Wolves, Measure for Measure, Grace, and Where The Mountain Meets The Sea. They are currently devising an untitled lady fight club play about love, friendship, and trauma.

Abigail Jean-Baptiste

Abigail Jean-Baptiste (she/her/hers) is a theatre-maker in New York City. Recently directed: Big Date by Cary Glitter (Wet Paint Festival), Olio Live! by Pulitzer Prize winner Tyehimba Jess (Audible Theater). Broadway: Jagged Little Pill (Assistant Director), King Lear (Assistant to Director); Off-Broadway: Anatomy of a Suicide (Atlantic, Assistant Director), Passage (SohoRep., Assistant Director) Upcoming: Proud Boys’ Girls (Corkscrew Theater Festival, Producer), Three Sisters (NYTW, Assistant Director). Currently developing: The Space Between, a play about interracial friendship; The Womb Abyss, a theatrical poem tracing The Middle Passage; Be White, a musical interlacing White Christmas with the legacy of black train porters. Abigail works to build empathetic modes of storytelling using theatrical forms that unsettle canonical expectations. She aims to disrupt conditioned routines of behavior and exclusionary accounts of history. Her art centers women-identifying folx, queer folx, and black communities. BA: Princeton University. Proud Lilly Award recipient.

Miranda Cornell

Miranda Cornell is a mixed-race, Japanese-American theater director, producer, and educator. She tells stories that are unabashedly sincere, messy, and deeply collaborative and strives for an American Theater that is radically inclusive and community oriented. Select directing credits include Head and Heart (NYMF), the North American premiere of Breach Theatre’s It’s True, It’s True, It’s True (Idlewild Theatre Ensemble), and more with The 24 Hour Plays: Nationals, Access Theater, FringeNYC, and Semicolon Theatre Company. Assistant directing credits at McCarter Theatre Center, the Experimental Theater of Vassar College, New York Stage and Film, and The TEAM. She is currently the Asian American Arts Alliance Van Lier Fellow in Theater and a proud member of the Roundabout Directors Group. Miranda graduated from Vassar College (Drama & Education) and has trained with SITI Company and Powerhouse Theater Training Program.

Raz Golden

Raz Golden is an East Coast-based theatre director of new and classic plays. His current work focuses on narratives that exist within shared cultural histories and myths, pushing the boundaries of speculative genres in the theatre, and centering people of color on the stage. Directing: Venus (Waterwell/PPAS), In The Same Space (Dixon Place), East of the Sun and If You Want My Heart (Come and Take It), (WTF Directing Studio) Assistant Directing: Richard II (dir. Saheem Ali), Merry Wives of Windsor (dir. Kevin Coleman), Cyrano (dir. Meredith McDonough), Long Lost (dir. Daniel Sullivan), Emma and Max (dir. Todd Solondz), and Crowns (dir. Regina Taylor). Upcoming: Director, Macbeth (Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival Summer Tour). He is a Resident Director at The Flea, a 2019 Drama League Classical Directing Fellow and Jonathan Alper Directing Fellow, and a member of the 2018 Williamstown Directing Corps.

Lamar Perry

Lamar Perry (He/Him/His) Is a Queer Black artist/activist who currently serves as the Artistic Associate at Tony-award winning theater The Old Globe, having formerly served as the Producing Associate at The Classical Theatre of Harlem. Most recently he’s directed the audio plays The Family Sound and Bunch Bowl Spaces for The Blindspot Collective/La Jolla Playhouse’s Walk of Life series. Selected Directing: Not Another Sidney Poitier (Diversionary Theatre/ Spark Festival), Watch Me (UCSD/Wagner’s New Play Festival), For MFA’s Who’ve Said Love When the Distance was Too Much (UCSD MFA). Assistant Directing: Hot Wing King (Signature Theatre) Detroit 67 (Chautauqua), Actually (San Diego Repertory Theatre), Father Comes Home From the Wars Parts 1, 2, 3 (Juilliard), A Raisin in the Sun (St. John’s University). Perry was recently featured American Theatre Magazines “Roll Call: People to Know” as well as Forbes and is an alum of the Schusterman Foundations REALITY Storytellers program (19’). He holds a Bachelor’s of Science from St. John’s University and is an alum of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.

Sivan Battat

Sivan Battat (she/her) is an Iraqi-Jewish theatre director, cultural worker, and educator who has developed and directed work with Ars Nova, the Atlantic, NYTW, Corkscrew, and more. As an assistant and associate, she has worked with directors including Sam Gold, Rebecca Taichman, Neil Pepe, GT Upchurch and David Muse. Upcoming projects include Noam Shuster’s COEXISTENCE MY ASS (Harvard/National Tour), Amahl Khouri’s SHE HE ME (National Queer Theatre at Dixon Place). Sivan works frequently with Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, and recently creative directed JFREJ Mimouna. She also leads ancestral storytelling workshops within various queer and SWANA communities. She completed the Dorot Fellowship, studying Mizrahi Feminisms and Arabic, and organizing for justice in Israel-Palestine. Sivan is the 2020-2021 Roundabout Directing Fellow, and the 2021 Drama League Leo Shull Musical Directing Fellow. BA Wesleyan.

Ryan Dobrin

Ryan Dobrin (he/him) is a queer and biracial New York-based director and producer. He is interested in work centering around otherness and emotional growth, told through stylized storytelling, spectacle, music, movement, and true human connection. Ryan is the Robert Moss Directing Fellow at Playwrights Horizons, the Associate Producing Artistic Leader of OBIE Award-winning The Movement Theatre Company, and the director of performance-making collective Those Guilty Creatures. He is an alumnus of the 24 Hour Plays: Nationals, the directing fellowship at Manhattan Theatre Club, the artistic fellowship at Ars Nova, and the directing observership program at NAMT. Past assistant/associate credits include Trip Cullman, Margot Bordelon, Shira Milikowsky, Miranda Haymon, and Seonjae Kim. Ryan graduated from Wesleyan University, where he received the Rachel Henderson Theater Prize and the Outreach & Community Service Prize in Theater.

Cara Hinh

CARA HINH (they/she) is an Indiana-born queer, fat, mixed Viet theatre maker currently based in Brooklyn. Recent select credits include Little Women at Perseverance Theatre, LASTHUNTER at INK’D Playwrights Realm, Buried Ruins with the Sống Collective, love you long time (already) at Atlantic MixFest, and Transfer direction of Sanctuary City at Arena Stage and Berkeley Rep. Cara has been a Drama League Hangar Fellow, part of the Roundabout Directors Group, a Directing Apprentice at Actors Theatre of Louisville, SDC Observer on Hadestown, and a Fellow at Baltimore Center Stage.

Jenna Rossman

Jenna Rossman is a Brooklyn Based Director. She has presented work at Williamstown Theatre Festival, Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center, Atlantic Stage 2, Playwrights Downtown, ART New York, TheatreLab, The Tank, and NYU. Jenna has worked as an assistant/associate for Leigh Silverman, Young Jean Lee, and Kimberly Senior among others. Jenna has participated in the Williamstown Theatre Festival Directing Corps, SDCF Observership class, and 24 Hour Plays: Nationals. BFA: NYU.

Cristina Angeles

Cristina Angeles is an Afrolatina director, writer, and theater maker who develops new plays, musicals, and socially conscious adaptations of classics that place women of color at the forefront. She has been awarded the 2020-21 Drama League Directing Fellowship, the 2019-20 Roundabout Directing Fellowship, and has assistant directed on and off-Broadway.

Today, Cristina is an Associate Artist at Roundabout Theatre Company and the Founding Artistic Director of Checkmark Productions, an NYC based company dedicated to artists of color and their stories. Recent credits include IN THE BLOOD by Suzan-Lori Parks at NYU and Shakespeare’s ROMEO & JULIET at the New School.

Esther M. Cohen

Esther M. Cohen (she/her) is a Philadelphia-grown, New York-based director-dramaturg. She makes plays – usually brand new, always unpretentious, and entirely driven by the brains, limbs, and hearts of the imperfect folks inside them. Recent projects include VACATIONS by Greg T. Nanni (The Balcony), STACY & MIA (World Premiere, The Tank) and THE COMMAND CENTER (World Premiere, ANDTheatre) by SMJ, and THE WOLVES by Sarah DeLappe (Quadramics Theatre Company). Esther has assisted at The O’Neill Center, The Drama League, and Yale Rep and has worked in the Artistic and Literary departments of Signature and Second Stage. She is a member of the 2019 Williamstown Theatre Festival Directing Corps. She is an alumna of the National Theater Institute and the University of Pennsylvania, where she studied Politics, Philosophy, and Economics. Esther drinks iced coffee year-round, binges science podcasts at an alarming rate, and has never met a dog she didn’t want to steal.

Santiago Iacinti

Santiago Iacinti (they/them) is a Mexican born queer femme nonbinary director, writer, choreographer. Their work is that of resistance, activism, and liberation; they want to dismantle the culture of elitism and inaccessibility in the theatre perpetuated by institutions that operate as primarily white, heteronormative, male spaces. They seek to end systematic erasure, decolonize the American canon, and develop original work that stages new futures for people of color and the LGBT community. Their interdisciplinary approach disrupts the safe, commercial, hyper-realistic landscape in the American theatre through the use of film, dance, and shadow puppetry. Lastly, as a bilingual artist, Santiago is determined to bring work in Spanish to the forefront. Their directing credits: The Great Gatsby (Milwaukee Rep), To Saints & Stars, Bees & Honey, Heridas Graves En El Parque De Juegos (San Diego Repertory Theatre). Iacinti has assisted May Adrales, Gaye Taylor Upchurch, and Jackson Gay. Assistant director credits include: In The Heights (Milwaukee Rep, Seattle Rep, Cincinnati Playhouse), Things I Know To Be True (Milwaukee Rep, Arizona Theatre Company), Kill Local (La Jolla Playhouse), The Blameless, tokyo fish story (Old Globe). Santiago Iacinti is an inaugural member of the Roundabout Directors Group, a former Directing Emerging Professional Resident at Milwaukee Rep, the first Artistic Literary Intern at the Old Globe, and an alumnus of Directors Lab West.

Aaron Costa Ganis

AARON COSTA GANIS (Raoul) has worked in theatrically New York at the LAByrinth Theater Company and Second Stage, regionally at Williamstown Theatre Festival, Berkshire Theatre Group, and internationally at the Oxford Playhouse, the Old Fire Station, and the Burton-Taylor Theater as a member of the Oxford University Dramatic Society.

Aaron can be seen in the films Lazy Eye, Monsters and Men (Neon), Set It Up (Netflix), Blood, Sand, and Gold, and Straight Outta Tompkins, and the upcoming indie First Love.

TV credits include “Jessica Jones” (Netflix), “Odd Mom Out” (Bravo), “House of Cards” (Netflix), “American Odyssey” (NBC), “Unforgettable” (CBS) and “Fridays” (Super Deluxe). He has also written and directed the upcoming film Health to the King.

Aaron wishes to dedicate this show to his mother and father, June and Rick, who always encouraged empathy and galvanized a love of art and civics in him, leaving him terribly poor but forever curious. Black Lives Matter. Immigrant Rights are Human Rights. Believe Her. Never Again.

Aaron hails from New Hampshire and was trained at NYU’s Graduate Acting Program, and studied at Brandeis and Oxford University.

Liza Couser

Liza Couser is a director and producer of new plays and musicals based in New York. Her work uses vulnerability, music and humor to nurture curiosity and capture the human condition. Recent projects: Oratorio for Living Things (Assistant Director, Ars Nova), Cowboy Face (Producer, Dixon Place), Casablanca on The Hudson (Director, Dixon Place). Liza has collaborated and presented work with 59E59 Theaters, The Tank, Theater for the New City, BRIC Arts, VOX Theater, and Dartmouth College. As a performer, her work has been seen at Northern Stage, the New London Barn Playhouse, the Flea Theater, and Playhouse on Park among others. Outside of the rehearsal room, Liza also works as a script reader and teaching artist. She is a proud member of the Roundabout Directors Group, a previous Artistic Fellow at Ars Nova, and an alum of the SDCF Observership Program.

Lauren Kiele DeLeon

Lauren Kiele DeLeon is a Miami born, Uruguayan-American director, poet, and intimacy director. Lauren’s work tends to focus on theatre for social change, new plays, climate change, and the female presenting body on stage. Selected directing and intimacy directing credits include City Theatre Next Generation (Adrienne Arsht Center), Men On Boats (SUNY Purchase), Austentation (SUNY Purchase), The One Minute Play Festival (INTAR), A Hannukah Carol (West of 10th), Playgrounds (The Lark), Serials (The Flea), Recipe for A Sellout (The Wild Project), Surely Goodness and Mercy (AD, Theatre Row), Stork (Hudson Guild Theatre), Tonantzin (Nuyorican Poets Cafe), Bad Penny (AD, The Flea), and Voices Inside (TheatreLab). Lauren recently left her position as the Development Assistant at The Lark Theatre to join Manhattan Theatre Club as their Individual Giving Associate. She is a Resident Director at The Flea Theatre and director for New Perspective Theatre Company’s current season. In the Fall, Lauren will be beginning her MA at NYU Tisch in Performance Studies.

Dominique Rider

Dominique Rider is a director and dramaturg based in Brooklyn, New York. They believe in l[i/o]ving like it is the end of the world. They have worked as a director, assistant, and collaborator at Ensemble Studio Theatre, The Haiti Cultural Exchange, MCC, The Old Globe, The Lark, Soho Rep, The Atlantic, The Bushwick Starr, Clubbed Thumb, Long Wharf, Flux Theatre Ensemble, WP, The Movement Theatre Company, and The Black Lady Theatre. They are the director in residence for the National Black Theatre through 2021, a NAMT 2019 observer, a member of Roundabout Theatre Company’s Directing Group, and a member of Mabou Mines’ Maker program.

Kathleen Capdesuñer

Kathleen Capdesuñer is a director of new works based in NYC. She is a 2019/20 The Civilians R&D Group Director, 2019/20 Manhattan Theatre Club Directing Fellow, 2018/2019 Roundabout Directing Fellow, 2017/18 McCarter Theatre Center Directing Apprentice, Latinx Theatre Commons Steering Committee Member, and The COOP Youth Advisory Board Member. Kathleen has developed work at: Roundabout Theatre Company, Yale University, Columbia University, Ensemble Studio Theatre, McCarter Theatre Center, Teatro LATEA, and internationally in the Fringe Festival circuit. She is a first-generation Cuban-American from Kissimmee, Florida and committed to making equitable change in this industry.

V Greene

V Greene (they/them) is a director, facilitator, and maker with a passion for new work development. They are dedicated to exploring the potential of queered practices in confronting power and control both in material as well as in their rehearsal room. They are drawn to spaces of limbo, moments of holding your breath, and the vulnerability of anger. They are a member of the inaugural Roundabout Directors Group, and their work has been seen at the Tank, Fordham University, the Playroom Theatre, Dixon Place’s HOT! Festival and as part of IRT’s 3B Development Series. V was a member of Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s 2017 FAIR program, and a recipient of Hampshire College’s Community Partnerships for Social Change grant. They have worked with the Voices Inside program, PEN International Voices Festival, the Singapore Literature Festival, and Cornerstone Theater Company, among others.

Marlee Koenigsberg

Marlee Koenigsberg is a New York based theatre director, deviser and storyteller known for her strong visual aesthetic and focus on inclusion in the arts. Marlee is drawn towards work that thematically examines otherness (whether it be culture, gender, race or ability) and stories that celebrate difference. As the daughter of a deaf adult, Marlee passionately strives to create innovative and accessible theatre for all. Selected directing credits include Silent Sky (Guest Director, Adelphi University), O’Neill & Williams’ Shorts (Guest Director, Adelphi University), The Signal Season of Dummy Hoy (New York Deaf Theatre), The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (New York Deaf Theatre), Tea with Vivien (United Solo & Estrogenius Festival), Bratton Late Night Cabaret (Chautauqua Theater Company). She is an Active Member of Underground Skills Exchange (U.S.E) where she workshopped an original reimagining of Cyrano De Bergerac as the inaugural Development Lab featured Artist and Director. Marlee received Directing Fellowships from Westport Country Playhouse and Chautauqua Theater Company where she worked season long as an assistant director, dramaturge and integral support to additional artistic programming. She has trained, assisted and/or worked with Lark Play Development Center, Powerhouse New York Stage & Film, Gia Forakis & Company and Our Voices. She earned a B.F.A in Theatre Arts from Adelphi University.

Kayla Stokes

Kayla Stokes is a director, playwright, and maker. She is passionate about creating and supporting weird, new or reinvented, multicultural, challenging, messy stuff! Recent work includes Dutchman (Carnegie Mellon), pato, pato, maricón (Ars Nova ANT Fest), Six Left Feet (The Black Box Project), 26 Pebbles (Princeton Day School, Scenography). Selected assisting/interning projects includes We’re Gonna Die (Second Stage), “Daddy” (The New Group/Vineyard), OSCAR at the Crown (The Neon Coven), Light Shining in Buckinghamshire (NYTW). Additionally, Kayla is dedicated to incorporating sustainable and equitable practices in and outside the theatre. Kayla is a recent graduate of Carnegie Mellon University where she earned a BFA in Directing.

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