Phanésia Pharel (Playwright) is a Haitian-American playwright from a dragon fruit farm in Miami. The daughter of an immigrant teacher and farmer, she writes to honor people. Her full-length plays include DEAD GIRL’S QUINCEÑERA, THE WATERFALL, R&B , LUCKY, and BLACK GIRL JOY.
She is the incoming playwriting fellow at Emory University where she will teach and have a new play produced through their repertory company. She has received commissions from the Atlantic Theater, Lucille Lortel (Alcove), La Jolla Playhouse, Miranda Family Fund, Hero Theatre, City Theatre Miami, and the Latinx Playwrights Circle.
Her honors include Kilroys List, five awards from the Kennedy Center, two-time Bay Area Playwrights Festival Finalist/Honorable Mention, Jane Chambers Finalist, A is For Playwriting award recipient and the Frank Moffett Mosier Fellowship for Works in Heightened Finalist Prize.
Phanésia is a member of the Obie-winning EST/Youngblood group and The Wish Collective. Her work has been developed by the Playwrights’ Center, New York Stage and Film, SolFest, Thrown Stone, Shattered Globe, and Echo Theater Company.
B.A, Urban Studies, Barnard College of Columbia University.
MFA, Playwriting, UCSD 25′.
Taylor Reynolds (Director) is an OBIE-award winning director based in New York, originally from Chicago. Her work centers around joyful collaboration and new play development. Selected directing credits: Primary Trust (Signature Theatre), The Sensational Sea Mink-ettes (Woolly Mammoth), Fat Ham (Studio Theatre, Helen Hayes nomination for Best Director), This Land Was Made (Vineyard Theatre), Clyde’s (Berkeley Rep/Huntington Theatre), Tambo & Bones (Playwrights Horizons/CTG), Man Cave (Page 73), The Most Spectacularly Lamentable Trial of Miz Martha Washington (Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, New York Times Critic’s Pick), and Plano (Clubbed Thumb, Drama Desk nomination for Best Director). Taylor has also worked as a director and collaborator with companies including The Movement Theatre Company, Keen Company, Ojai Playwrights Conference, Baltimore Center Stage, MCC, EST, and The 24 Hour Plays. She is a New Georges Affiliated Artist, 2021 LPTW Lucille Lortel Award recipient, 2017-2018 Clubbed Thumb Directing Fellow, and Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab alum. BFA, Carnegie Mellon University. Member of SDC.
Jorge Cordova (Don Rafael) Selected theater credits include Porto (Bushwick Starr, WP Theater/New Georges), Universal Robots (Gideon Productions/Sheen Center), Lady Day (The Little Shubert). A Doll’s House Part 2 (Long Wharf), and many others. Jorge’s television and film credits include Black Mirror, Billions, FBI: Most Wanted, City on a Hill, Tales of The City, Seven Seconds, East New York, and The Visit by M. Night Shymamalan. Jorge’s extensive voiceover work can be heard on numerous advertising campaigns as well as the animated series Mecha Builders (Sesame Street, HBO MAX) and theatrical podcasts with Marvel New Media, Gideon Media and Reflector Entertainment.
Christian Jesús Galvis (Dancer) is a New York City–based performer of Colombian descent, making his Off-Broadway debut. A proud New Jersey native, he holds a degree in the Arts from Montclair State University.
Theater credits include the international tour of West Side Story (Inca/Bernardo understudy), Carmen to Havana and Back (Escamillo), On Your Feet (Chris/ensemble), and Chicago at the Fulton Theatre (ensemble).
TV/Film appearances include Otra, Kiss of the Spider Woman, No Hard Feelings, Saturday Night Live, The Other Two, Godfather of Harlem, and And Just Like That.
Christian has always had a deep passion for performing and is incredibly grateful to be living out his dreams in New York City. He sends endless love and thanks to his family for their unwavering support. A huge thank you to his team at Clear Talent Group and his manager Joe Flowers!
Instagram: @christiano_jay
Jacqueline Guillén (Elena) is a New York based actor, ni de aqui, ni de allá, born and raised in border towns Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico and Brownsville, Texas. Guillen received her BFA in Acting from Texas State University and studied with the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford upon Avon before relocating to NYC. Her TV credits include, The Equalizer, Orange Is the New Black, Search Party, Blue Bloods, Bull, and The Good Cop. Theater credits include World Premiers : Torera (Alley TheatrE), 72 Miles to Go… (Roundabout Theater), I Wanna Fuck Like Romeo & Juliet (New Light Theatre Project), Mancave (Page73), Truckers & Then They Forgot About the Rest (INTAR). She currently voices Mrs. Martinez in PBS’s Almas Way! She has been a part of Torera from its first reading and couldn’t be more excited to FINALLY bring this back home to the audiences of NYC.
Robi Hager (Announcer) Broadway: Spring Awakening, How to Succeed…, Bye Bye Birdie and Doctor Zhivago. Tour and Regional: Spring Awakening, Fun Home, Night Side Songs, Jonathan in tick, tick…Boom!, Assassins, and others. As a composer, his musical Little Duende was accepted at the O’Neill Center for their ‘21 NMTC, ‘21 NAMT festival, Rhinebeck Writers Retreat, and Lortel 121 project. His other musical Siluetas was also accepted the following year at O’Neill Center’s 2022 NMTC and received a world premiere production with Power Street Theatre in Philadelphia June ‘24. @robihager
Elena Hurst (Pastora) Off-Broadway: Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 (Lucille Lortel Best Revival), Signature Theater; Summer and Smoke, Transport Theater Group; A Grave is Given Supper, New Ohio Theater; Regional: Billie Jean, Chicago Shakespeare Theater; Becoming a Man, American Repertory Theater; Love All, La Jolla Playhouse; Tina Modotti, Teatro Dallas; Andale Raul… (International Tour). TV/Film: The Changeling, Let’s Get Rolling with Otis, Homeland, Elementary, Tales from the City, Blue Bloods, Gossip Girl, HOME. Education: Bachelor of Science Radio, TV, Film, University of Texas at Austin. Elena is a voice over artist for the News and Sports Emmy Awards, Vh1, Pluto TV, video games, and national ad campaigns.
Jared Machado (Tanok) is thrilled to join the cast of Torera at WP Theater. He recently made his Off-Broadway debut in Buena Vista Social Club: The Musical with the Atlantic Theater Company. A proud Cuban-American and Dominican-American artist from Southern California, Jared is passionate about storytelling that reflects the richness and complexity of identity.
He is an alum of the Orange County School of the Arts and trained at the University of Arizona’s BFA Musical Theater program, with standout roles including Georg in Spring Awakening and the Prince of Morocco in The Merchant of Venice. Regionally, Jared has performed as Henry in Next to Normal, Johnny in American Idiot, and Mischa in Ride the Cyclone at Chance Theater in Anaheim.
Offstage, Jared is an educator, musician, and Dungeon Master who delights in building worlds and fostering imagination. He sends endless love and gratitude to his family for their care and support—and to his partner Emilie, for everything.
Andrea Soto (Dancer) is a first generation Mexican American movement artist. She grew up dancing in her hometown, Juarez, and decided to pursue a professional career in dance during her childhood. She received her BFA in Dance from California Institute of the Arts, where she performed in projects by mentors such as Sam Wentz, Julie Tolentino, Yusha-Marie Sorzano, Rosanna Tavarez and Dimitri Chamblas. She has studied in Europe and the UK with Hofesh Shechter, Judith Sanchez Ruiz, Ayelen Parolin and Theo Mercier. Her craft spans over dance, performance art, and physical theater. She is the recipient of the 2024 Barbara Ensley Award on behalf of the Merce Cunningham Trust, and has studied works by Cunningham such as Fielding Sixes, Fractions, and Roaratorio. Her last public piece, Multitude (1-2) was presented at MAK Center for Art and Architecture for the opening of VALIE EXPORT: EMBODIED, curated by homeLA in Los Angeles. She has performed in works by Yvonne Rainer, Toru Shimazaki, Annalee Traylor, Alexsa Durrans, Erick Benitez, Gerard & Kelly, among others.
She is grateful to continue performing on national and international platforms, and to be working as a maker, dancer, and movement director across Los Angeles, New York and London.
Monet Hurst-Mendoza (Playwright) is an NYC-based playwright from Los Angeles, CA. Her plays have been developed with The Alley Theater, Rising Circle Theater Collective, Astoria Performing Arts Center, American Academy of Dramatic Arts, Atlantic Acting School/NYU Tisch, The Flea, Institute of Contemporary Art Boston, Westport Country Playhouse, and Long Wharf Theatre, among others. Monet is an alum of the Emerging Writers Group at The Public Theater, R&D Group at The Civilians, Fresh Ground Pepper’s Playground Playgroup, WP Theater Playwrights Lab, and the Van Lier Fellowship at New Dramatists. She has been an artist in residence at The Watermill Center, MacDowell, Millay Arts, La Mama Umbria, Stillwright, The MITTEN Lab, and SPACE on Ryder Farm, where she now serves as a board member. Remezcla has profiled her as one of the “8 Most Exciting Latino Playwrights Making Work Right Now.” Monet was a writer/producer for seasons 21-24 of “Law and Order: SVU”. Episodes she co-wrote garnered multiple Imagen Awards nominations (and three wins) honoring positive portrayals of Latinos in media and a nomination for the Mystery Writers of America’s Edgar Allen Poe Award for Best Teleplay. She has guest lectured at Marymount Manhattan College, Columbia University, and Harvard University. Monet is a proud member of The Kilroys, The Dramatist Guild, and WGAE.
Tatiana Pandiani (Director and Choreographer) is a Latin American director & choreographer. Recent: Someone Spectacular by Domenica Ferraud (Signature Theatre, NYC), FISH by Melis Aker (Signature Theatre, NYC). Tatiana has worked all over the United States (Alley Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse, Cleveland Playhouse, Miami New Drama, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Westport Country Playhouse, Long Wharf Theatre, Dallas Theatre Center) as well as internationally. Her bilingual musical AZUL won the Jonathan Larson Award and many other accolades. Tatiana has also served extensively as an Associate Director on Broadway and National Tours, working along great directors such as Rachel Chavkin, Oliver Butler and Sam Gold, and is currently developing commercials projects in a variety of industries, theatrical and beyond. MFA: Columbia. For more information visit tatianapandiani.com
Emmie Finckel (Set Designer) is a queer, Asian-American scenic designer. Recent credits include In the Amazon Warehouse Parking Lot, Nothing Can Take You From the Hand of God (Playwright’s Horizons), Indian Princesses, As You Like It (La Jolla Playhouse), Becoming A Man (A.R.T.), Problems Between Sisters (Studio Theater), She Loves Me (Long Wharf), Medea: Re-Versed (Red Bull), See What I Wanna See (Out of the Box), Hurricane Diane, The Hot Wing King (Hartford Stage), Sanctuary City (TheaterWorks Hartford), Comedy of Errors (Public Theater: Mobile Unit), the ripple, the wave, that carried me home (Yale Repertory Theater), 53% Of (2nd Stage), The Watering Hole (Signature Theatre), In the Penal Colony (NYTW Next Door). Associate design credits include Mary Jane (MTC – Broadway) and many productions with Gabriel Evansohn (KPOP (Broadway), Empire Travel Agency) as a member of Woodshed Collective. Emmie holds a BA from Wesleyan University, an MFA from the Yale School of Drama and teaches at the Playwrights Horizons Theater School at NYU. www.efinckel.com.
Rodrigo Muñoz (Costume Design) is a NY based Costume Designer, Originally from Mexico City, recent credits: Sally & Tom (Drama Desk, Lucille Lortel Nominee), Plays for the Plague Year (The Public Theatre); Counterfeit Opera, Tune Up (Little Island); What Became of us (Atlantic Theatre): Bernarda’s Daughters (The New Group); Sorry for Your Loss (Minetta Lane Theatre); RENT (Paper Mill Playhouse); Divinity (Apollo Theatre); House of India (The Old Globe): La Rondine (Manhattan School of Music); Notes From Now (Prospect Theater Company); This Space Between Us (Theater Row); Preparedness (Bushwick Starr); Volpone, The Revenger’s Tragedy (Red Bull Theater); Mother Road (Berkeley Rep); The Bluest Eye (Huntington Theatre), Red Velvet (Shakespeare Theatre Company), Dial M for Murder, Torera (Alley Theatre); Cabaret; (Barrington Stage Company); The Palacios Sisters (Gala Theatre); Somewhere (Geva Theatre); How to Make an American Son (Arizona Theatre Company); Mushroom (People’s Light); Fall of the House of Usher (Boston Lyric Opera; Bad Dates (Portland Stage); Jazz Singer (Abrons Arts Center)
BFA in Scenography from The National School of Theatre and Arts (Mexico), M.F.A. in Costume Design NYU Tisch School of the Arts
www.rodrigomunozdesign.com
@rodrigomu.mo
Yuki Nakase Link (Lighting Designer) is an accomplished lighting designer for the performing arts. Previously with Tatiana Pandiani: Dial M for Murder at Alley Theatre and Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park; Torera at Alley Theatre; Our Town | Nuestro Pueblo at Dallas Theater Center; and Seven Deadly Sins at Colony Theatre / Miami New Drama and Lincoln Plaza.
Upcoming and recent: The Dinosaurs at Playwrights Horizons, Catch as Catch Can at Steppenwolf Theatre; Sleepers Awake at Opera Philadelphia; Vanessa at Williamstown Theatre Festival / Heartbeat Opera; Parsifal at San Francisco Opera; Così fan tutte at Detroit Opera; Rainbird at Mabou Mines; In a Grove at Pittsburgh Opera and LaMama / Prototype Festival; Madame Butterfly (a co-production of Cincinnati Opera, Detroit Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, Utah Opera and Lyric Opera of Chicago); EUROPERAS: 3 & 4 at Detroit Opera; Der Kaiser von Atlantis at New World Symphony; Fidelio at Canadian Opera Company and Lyric Opera of Chicago; Émigré at New York Philharmonic; Angel Island at BAM Harvey / Prototype Festival; Orpheus and Eurydice at San Francisco Opera; Blood Moon at Baruch Performing Arts Center / Prototype Festival; and I’m Assuming You Know David Greenspan at Atlantic Theater. https://yukinlink.com/.
G Clausen (Sound Design and Composition) is a sound designer and composer based in Brooklyn, New York. Some of his theatre credits include: Jeff Award Nominee for Queen of the Night (Victory Gardens Theatre); St. Louis Theater Circle Award Nominee for Twisted Melodies (St. Louis Repertory); A Freeky Introduction (Atlantic Theare Company); Syncing Ink (Victora Theaters at The Apollo); I Am Deliverd’t (Co-Pro Dallas Theater Center and Actors Theatre of Louisville); Crumbs From the Table of Joy, How I Learned What I Learned, Native Son, Skeleton Crew (Playmakers Repertory); PYG or The Misedumacation of Dorian Belle (Studio Theatre); Peter Panto (People’s Light); The 39 Steps, Member of the Wedding, Dirty Blonde, Fences, Don Juan, The Mystery of Irma Vep, And Then There Were None, A Christmas Carol, Two Wolves and a Lamb (Triad Stage); The Piano Lesson, Too Heavy for Your Pocket, How I Learned What I Learned, Intimate Apparel, A Raisin in the Sun, Hooded, or Being Black for Dummies (Pyramid Theatre Company).
RED Kadetsky (Lead Prop Designer/Fabricator)(he/they) is a theater maker and visual artist residing in Brooklyn, NY. RED received their undergraduate degree at New York University’s Steinhardt School of Music and their Masters in Theater at Sarah Lawrence College. He was recently a member of the virtual Joy/Grief Residency at Kolaj Institute with featured work at their gallery in New Orleans and corresponding magazine. He has performed at La Mama, Dixon Place, Radio City, and many other Off-Off Broadway Venues. He was awarded “Best Performance by a Last Minute Understudy” in 2016 (NYMF) under the direction of David Alpert. They have performed as Albert Cashier in THE VICKSBURG PROJECT (Mabou Mines) and was in THE BEAUTIFUL LADY (La MaMa) in 2023 under the direction of Anne Bogart. He has toured internationally as ASM and a Fabricator for Geoff Sobelle’s FOOD and HOME. His scenic and prop design and fabrications has been featured at Arts on Site, Theater MITU, La MaMa, Prototype Festival, LA Opera, HERE Arts, Under the Radar, Common Sense Festival, Abrons Arts Center, MomMA PS1 and BAM. RED makes original work with his partner Jeremy Kadetsky, in their performance duo: doxies.
Carter Gill (Co-Movement and Intimacy Coordinator)(he/him) is a movement director, actor, and educator based in New York and Dallas. He is Visiting Professor of Acting at SMU and has taught at Yale, NYU, Princeton, Marymount Manhattan College, Pace University, and Rider University. His teaching focuses on physical acting, movement, clown, and commedia dell’arte.
Stage credits include Sleep No More, Commedia dell’Artichoke, an original Off-Broadway commedia show co-created with Tommy Russell and Frances Black Projects, and work with Yale Rep, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Berkshire Theatre Group, and Telluride Theatre Company. Film and television credits include Harlan Coben’s Shelter, Evil, Turn, Younger, Law & Order, Banana Split, and a recent feature from Amblin/Universal, directed by an Academy Award–winning filmmaker.
His movement and intimacy direction includes Clue and Our Town (Dallas Theater Center) and Hamlet (Telluride). His directing work includes The Government Inspector; Chris Bayes and Steve Epp’s adaptation of The Servant of Two Masters, Mr. Burns, Small Mouth Sounds, Ubu Roi, A Flea in Her Ear, A Doctor in Spite of Himself and The French Play, a new work by Gonzalo Rodríguez Risco.
Training includes a three-year physical comedy and movement pedagogy apprenticeship with Christopher Bayes and clown study at École Philippe Gaulier. He is currently completing certifications in Miller Voice Method and Intimacy Directors and Coordinators (IDC). He holds an MFA in Acting from the Yale School of Drama and a BFA in Directing from SMU. www.cartergill.com | @carterpgill
Skye Bronfenbrenner (Co-Movement and Intimacy Coordinator)(she/her) is a fight and intimacy director currently serving as Visiting Assistant Professor of Theatre Arts with specialties in Movement and Theatrical Intimacy Education at Marymount Manhattan College. She holds an MFA in Theatre from the University of Houston where she was also taught Movement for the Actor in the BFA program. She has taught movement and stage combat for Houston Grand Opera’s Butler Studio and YAVA programs, Rice University, the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, and as a teaching artist for the Alley Theatre. As a fight and intimacy director her work has been seen at the Houston Grand Opera, Drunk Shakespeare, Heartbeat Opera, Catastrophic Theatre, Rec Room Arts, Marymount Manhattan College, the University of Houston, and Rice University; and as a performer she has toured with the national tours of Beauty and the Beast, Guys and Dolls, and the international tour of Shrek the Musical. She believes in making bold and visceral work safely and that theatre is above all a collaborative process.
Rodrigo Ortiz (Bullfighting Consultant) is a bullfighter from Mexico City. At the age of 7 he fought his first calf in public. He lived internationally moving around in 6 different t countries including: Thailand, China, USA, Brazil, Spain and Mexico. In 2015 he went to live in Valencia, Spain to attend the bullfighting school where his professional career started. He did two seasons in Spain and then moved to Mexico City to continue his training. In 2020 he fought in “La Plaza Mexico” Mexico’s most important bullring; cutting one ear. He currently owns an equine assisted therapy center where he works with horses to help people with disabilities.
Alexis Nalbandian (Production Stage Manager) is excited to work on this incredible production of the Torera. Selected shows include Broadway: MJ: The Musical (Sub), Purpose (Sub), The Cher Show (PA), Ain’t Too Proud (PA), A Beautiful Noise (PA). Off-Broadway: Weightless (ASM), Into the Woods (PA), Coal Country (Sub). Regional: Ain’t Misbehavin’ (PSM). Graduate of Columbia University’s MFA program for stage management, class of 2019, and Seton Hall bachelor of the arts in Theatre Studies with a double minor in business administration and economics in 2015. Thank you to my parents, family, and friends for all the love and support.
Laura Pilar Gutierrez (Assistant Stage Manager) (she/her) is honored to be working on Torera again! Thank you to my friends and family for always supporting me. Love y’all and enjoy the show! Past credits: ASM: Girl from the North Country Tour; Torera, Pictures From Home, The World is Not Silent, Dial M for Murder, December: A Love Years in the Making (Alley Theatre); Shrek the Musical (Slow Burn Theatre Company)
Ato Essandoh (Cheikh Malick Diallo) can currently be seen as a lead in the hit Netflix series The Diplomat opposite Keri Russell. Prior, he was seen as a series regular in the Netflix series Away opposite Hillary Swank for Matt Reeves, Jason Katims and Ed Zwick and in the Netflix feature Reptile opposite Benicio del Toro and Justin Timberlake which premiered at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival.
In film, Ato can been seen in Jason Bourne for Paul Greengrass and Django Unchained for Quentin Tarantino. Other credits include X-Men: Dark Phoenix, Get Him To The Greek, Blood Diamond and Hitch.
On the television front, Ato recurs as Dr. Isidore Latham on the NBC series Chicago Med. He was also seen as a series regular in the CBS series The Code, the Netflix series Altered Carbon and the HBO series Vinyl. Other credits include Tales From The Loop, Elementary, Copper and Blue Bloods.
Nedra Marie Taylor (Céza Depina) holds an MFA from the Actors Studio Drama School. Broadway: The Book of Mormon (Eugene O’Neill), Marvin’s Room (Roundabout). Off-Broadway: Good Bones (The Public), The House that Will Not Stand (NYTW), The Underlying Chris (2nd Stage), Mr. Burns, and A Life (Playwrights Horizons), Lost Lake (MTC). TV: Rose Callaway on Invasion (Apple TV+), Brilliant Minds, Elsbeth, NCIS: New Orleans, Orange is The New Black, Random Acts of Flyness, Jessica Jones and more. @nedramarietaylor
Nimene Sierra Wureh (Sami Monroe) is an NYU Tisch Drama grad and professional auntie. She speaks 4 languages (can you guess which ones?), has always known how to pose, and was a casting intern for the medical drama New Amsterdam on NBC. She has studied and performed improv at UCB Theater & Groundlings. She is a Story Pirate, who transforms stories written by kids, and turns them into sketch comedy and songs. As a Story Pirate, she is a producer, songwriter, and main cast member on ‘The Story Pirates podcast.” They have won many awards at Webby, iheartradio, and more for Best Kids and Family Podcast. She is the host of the new iHeartRadio podcast Historical Records produced by Questlove and Jonathon Glickman. nimene.com @nimenesierrawureh
P.S.- it’s pronounced “NIM-IN-KNEE” *insert Finding Nemo Joke here*
Broadway: Our Town, Mary Jane. Off-Broadway: The Apiary (Second Stage) TV: FBI: Most Wanted (CBS), That Damn Michael Che (MAX), Inside Amy Schumer (Hulu).
francisca da silveira (playwright) is a Cape Verdean-American playwright, dramaturg and TV writer. Current WP Theater TOW Playwright in Residence. Fellowships/Residencies: 2020-2021 Playwrights Realm Writing Fellow, The Public Theater’s 2020-2023 Emerging Writers Group, 2022-2023 Jerome Fellow with the Playwrights’ Center, The Apollo Theater’s New Works initiative 2023 Cohort, Winter 2024 MacDowell Fellow, 2024 Banff Playwrights Lab participant, 2024-2025 Tow Playwright-in-Residence at WP Theater. Plays : NOT-FOR-PROFIT (OR THE EQUITY, DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION PLAY) (La Jolla Playhouse 2021 DNA New Works Series); CAN I TOUCH IT? (2022/2023 Rolling World Premiere at Company One Theatre, Cleveland Public Theatre, Rogue Machine Theatre); PAY NO WORSHIP (2023 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize Finalist); MINOR·ITY (Colt Coeur Commission). TV: HBO’s Industry Season 3. BFA: New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. MSc: University of Edinburgh.
