Kayla Amani
Kayla Amani is a director and storyteller from and based in NYC. Kayla is passionate about creating and uplifting work involving the intricacies of Black and Queer experiences, while also finding delight in seeking out the humanity and complexities within morally compromised characters. They are a company member and frequent director with PlayGround-NY, winning the season’s “People’s Choice Award” for their direction of @rudymocha has entered the chatroom. In addition, they’re a member of TAG, an artist-led collaboration cohort run through The Tank. Kayla has proudly assisted directors such as Lileana Blain-Cruz (Flex, White Girl in Danger), Caitlin Sullivan (The Keep Going Songs), and Tamilla Woodard (Weightless) among others. They have loved working with companies such as Second Stage, Lincoln Center and WP Theater.
Britt Berke
Britt Berke is a director whose work interrogates love, power, and how these entities are intertwined and revolutionized. She directed the world premiere of Betty Smith’s Becomes a Woman (Mint Theater Company), which received an Outer Critics Circle Nomination for Outstanding Off-Broadway Play. Recently: watch me (NYTW at Adelphi); Springtime (Chautauqua Theater Company); DOGS (Ground Floor at Berkeley Rep); Anne Carson’s Antigonick (Torn Out Theater); Promenade in concert (The Public Theater’s Fornes Marathon); I Don’t Trust Adults (Joe’s Pub); Scenes with Girls (TheaterLab); All My Sons (NYU Grad); workshops with Mabou Mines and La MaMa; and short films SHIPS and The Skin of the Water. Select assisting: The Skin of Our Teeth (dir. Lileana Blain-Cruz); Mud / Drowning (dir. JoAnne Akalaitis). Britt is an alumna of the Drama League Directors Project, Roundabout Directors Group, MTC Directing Fellowship, and Mercury Store Directing Intensive. BA, Barnard College of Columbia University. brittberke.com
Susanna Jaramillo
Susanna Jaramillo is a Queens-based director and stage manager hailing from Cranford, New Jersey. Artistically, Susanna believes in radical inclusion. She aims to create work that subverts our expectations of identity and uplifts voices that are often left out of the theatrical canon. Her work lives in a world of sensorial extremes and seeks to interrogate the ways that we do and don’t engage with the intersectional nature of identity and what that means for each of us. Recent credits include: The Memory Brigade (The Motor Company) the doctor will see you shortly (Keen Company), azn sad grl (Mercury Store) Myth of the Mountain (Open Jar), Jesus 2.0 (Workshop Theatre), Fucking A (PPAS), Best Life (JACK). Assisting credits include: Yellow Face (Broadway, Roundabout) The Ants (Geffen Playhouse), Wolf Play (MCC) Dom Juan (Bard SummerScape). Susanna is an alum of the Roundabout Director’s Group and the Drama League Directing Assistantship Program.
Alex Keegan
Alex Keegan is a director of new work, adaptations, and devised pieces. She’s a 2023 Drama League FutureNOW Directing Fellow, 2022/2023 Directing Fellow at Rattlestick Theater, New Georges Affiliated Artist, and on faculty at Wesleyan University. Recent directing: MANNING by Benjamin Benne (World Premiere, Portland Stage), MAIDEN VOYAGE by Cayenne Douglass (The Flea), WOLFCRUSH by Haygen-Brice Walker (Wesleyan), CHARLOTTE’S WEB (National Tour, TheaterWorksUSA), BIRDS OF NORTH AMERICA by Anna Ouyang Moench (Chester Theatre Co.), AFFINITY co-adapted with Ryan Adelsheim from Sarah Waters’ novel and UHURU by Gloria Majule (Yale Drama), AUNTIE VANYA by Reed Northrup (Ars Nova ANT Fest), and new work in development with Primary Stages, Ensemble Studio Theatre, and NYTW Adelphi Residency. Alum: Roundabout Directors Group, The Civilians R&D Group, Lincoln Center Directors Lab, Williamstown Directing Corps. MFA: Yale School of Drama, where she received the Julian Milton Kaufman Memorial Prize for Directing. alex-keegan.com
Mikhaela Mahony
Mikhaela Mahony is a Brooklyn-based director working at the intersection of theatre, film, and opera. She is a frequent collaborator with Ensemble Studio Theatre and the Obie-Award winning EST/Youngblood, and has developed work with New York City Opera, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Boston Lyric Opera, The Syndicate, The Lobbyists, City Lyric Opera, the Chautauqua Institution, Bard College, and Rutgers’ Mason Gross School of the Arts. Summer, Mikhaela’s debut as a film director, was an official selection at the Buffalo International Film Festival, Flathead Lake International Cinemafest, and FilmColumbia. She is the Director of Opera at Rutgers University, and serves on the faculty of Mannes School of Music at The New School. As an associate, Mikhaela regularly works alongside artists such as Lileana Blain-Cruz, Daniel Fish, and Anne Bogart. Mikhaela is a proud volunteer artist with The 52nd Street Project. MFA from Columbia University School of the Arts, BA from Barnard College. Mikhaela is a proud volunteer artist with The 52nd Street Project.