Rebecca Martinez (Director) (she/her) is a director who focuses on new plays and musicals and uses adaptation to envision classic plays through a contemporary lens. Recent Off-Broadway credits: Public Theater’s Mobile Unit: Much Ado About Nothing; The Comedy of Errors (also co-adapter; Drama Desk Nomination, Outstanding Adaptation, LATA Awards for Outstanding Adaptation and Theatrical Concept). At WP: Dirty Laundry (WP Theater / Spark Theatricals), Bite Me (WP Theater / Colt Coeur), Sancocho (Latinx Playwrights Circle / Sol Project / WP Theater). Regional projects include: In Her Bones (Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center), Living and Breathing (Two River), Somewhere Over the Border (Syracuse Stage & Geva Theatre). Martínez has directed and developed new work with Signature Theatre, the O’Neill, Latinx Playwrights Circle, the Sol Project, NAMT, INTAR, Working Theater, The Playwrights Realm, among others. Affiliations: member of the Obie Award-winning Sol Project Collective, WP Directors Lab Alum, 2021 TCG Rising Leaders of Color, Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab, INTAR’s Unit52, New Georges Affiliated Artist, Drama League Directing Fellow, member of SDC. Commissions: Artist-in-Residence (Radical Evolution), SEED Directing Commission (Public Theater) Awards: Colorado Henry Award for Directing; four Portland, Oregon Drammy Awards; Lilla Jewel Award for Women Artists. rebeccamartinez.org
Jessica Kahkoska (Playwright) is a writer, producer, and dramaturg/researcher for theatre and TV. Theatre projects include WILDFIRE (Commissioned by/World Premiere by the Denver Center for the Performing Arts), STRAWBERRY SEASON (with Tommy Craword, commissioned by/World Premiere by Northern Stage Theatre), IN HER BONES (Commissioned by the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, World Premiere: Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center), LETTERS TO THE PRESIDENT (Goodspeed Musicals, The Cooper Union), AGENT 355 (with Preston Max Allen, New York Stage and Film, Chautauqua Theater Company, Signature Theatre), THE DEATH OF DESERT ROSE (with Elliah Heifetz, Rhinebeck Writers Retreat), and WILD HOME (Notch Theatre Company, NEA ArtWorks Grant). She was the Archival Researcher on GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK on Broadway (written by George Clooney and Grant Heslov), and is under new work commissions by Broadway Licensing, the Alley Theatre, and Hausman & Patino. In TV, Jessica has worked on series on CNN, Netflix, The Discovery Channel, Oxygen, and Max Originals. She has TV projects in development with Lighthouse Pictures, AGC Studios, Fifth Season, XTR, and HappyBad Bungalow. Selected Awards: National Archives Foundation’s Cokie Roberts Women’s History Fellowship, Marion International Fellowship in the Performing Arts, Dramatists Guild Foundation Fellowship. BA: Northwestern. MBA: SUNY New Paltz. www.jessicakahkoska.com
Emma Horwitz (Playwright) is a writer from New York City. Recent productions include: Two Sisters Find a Box of Lesbian Erotica in the Woods (written & performed w/ Bailey Williams, dir. Tara Elliott, w/ Rattlestick Theater and New Georges) and Mary Gets Hers (dir. Josiah Davis, w/ The Playwrights Realm, NYT Critic’s Pick). Page One Resident and Writing Fellow with The Playwrights Realm. Alum of Clubbed Thumb’s Early Career Writers’ Group. Audrey Resident and Affiliated Artist with New Georges. Recent residencies with: The Barn at Lee, North American Cultural Laboratory, the O’Neill National Playwrights Conference, and the William Inge Center for the Arts, among others. Alongside Lucas Baisch, she co-edited 53rd State Press’ The Occasional No. 3. With Bailey Williams, Emma co-hosts & curates The Ecstatic Peephole Play Club at Pete’s Candy’s Store (@ecstaticpeephole). Upcoming: Clubbed Thumb’s Winterworks 2025 w/ Hanna Yurfest. For more, visit: emmahorwitz.com.
Leigh Silverman (Director) has directed over 60 world premiere new plays and musicals including Jump/Cut and Bright Half Life for WP. She received Tony nominations for her direction of the musicals Suffs and Violet and received a 2011 Obie Award and 2019 Obie for Sustained Excellence. Broadway credits: Yellow Face (Roundabout), Suffs (Tony nomination), Grand Horizons, The Lifespan of a Fact, Violet (Tony nomination), Chinglish, Well. Select Off-Broadway: The Seat of Our Pants (Public Theater), Harry Clarke (Audible with the Vineyard (Lortel nom), Minetta Lane, Berkeley Repertory Theater and West End (Ambassadors); The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe (Shed, Taper), Soft Power (Public Theater; Ahmanson Theater/Curran Theater; Drama Desk nomination), Sweet Charity (New Group). Encores: Violet, The Wild Party and Really Rosie. Audible projects include Harry Clarke and Dykes to Watch Out For, which was named Best of Year for Audible and Slate.
Leah Nanako Winkler (Playwright) is an award-winning playwright from Kamakura, Japan and Lexington Kentucky. Her plays include God Said This, Two Mile Hollow, Kentucky, Hot Asian Doctor Husband, Thirty-Six and The Brightest Thing in the World as well as many short plays all produced Off-Broadway and regionally. Accolades and fellowships: Yale Drama Series Prize, Mark O’Donnell Prize from The Actors Fund and Playwrights Horizons, Audible’s Emerging Playwrights Fund, Jerome New York Fellow at the Lark, Francesca Primus Prize, a Steinberg Playwright Award and the 2025 Daryl Roth Creative Spirit Award, 2025 Will Glickman Award. She is published by American Theater Magazine, Nanjing University’s Stage and Screen Reviews, Yale University Press, Backstage, Smith and Krauss, Samuel French and Dramatists Play Service. TV credits include A24’s Ramy, where she along with the other writers won a Peabody Award, Love Life on HBO MAX, Schmigadoon!, The Summer I Turned Pretty, and Elsbeth. Upcoming: Memoirs of Amorous Gentleman with original music by Duncan Sheik and Crazy Rich Asians the musical. She is a proud alumnus of WP theater’s writer/director lab, EST Youngblood and Ma Yi Theater Lab.
May Adrales (Director) is a director, artistic leader, teacher, and mother; she has directed over 30 world premieres. Recent work includes: Manhattan Theatre Club (Rajiv Joseph’s Dakar 2000; Qui Nguyen’s Vietgone and Poor Yella Rednecks; Felicia Anchuli King’s Golden Shield, Second Stage (Rajiv Joseph’s Letters of Suresh); Yale Rep (falcon girls); Guthrie and Huntington Theatre (The Heart Sellers). She has directed at Signature Theater, LCT3, The Public Theater, WP, New York Theater Workshop, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Seattle Rep, Milwaukee Rep and South Coast Rep. Awards: Ammerman Award at Arena Stage and Theater Communications Group’s Alan Schneider award and Next Generation grantee; a finalist for the Zelda Fichandler SDCF award. She is a Drama League Directing Fellow. M.F.A., David Geffen School of Drama. She is currently an Assistant Professor and the Director of the Theatre Program at Fordham University. mayadrales.net
Patrice Johnson Chevannes (Emi) is an award-winning, Jamaican-American actress, writer, filmmaker, director, and executive producer of God-and-all-o-wee Productions and Ubigwitus Records. Broadway: The Crucible, dir. Sir Richard Eyre (Liam Nelson, Laura Linney). She played Desdemona opposite Sir Patrick Stewart in a photo negative production of Othello (Shakespeare Theater). Off Broadway: Tamburlaine I & II (Sir Michael Boyd/dir.); Pericles
(Sir Trevor Nunn/dir.); Coriolanus (Karin Coonrod/dir.)
Awards/ Nominations: 2025 Elliot Norton nomination The Grove (The Huntington); 2023 Lucille Lortel Award nomination Endgame (Irish Repertory Theater); 2020 Drama Desk and Drama League nominations runboyrun/In Old Age (NYTW); 2020 Audelco nomination for Halfway Bitches Go Straight To Heaven (Atlantic Theater); Audelco Award For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide…..(New Federal Theater).
TV/Film: POSE, SHRILL, EVIL, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, The Good Fight. Patrice has written and directed three award-winning films: Kings County, NY’s Dirty Laundry, and Hill and Gully. Patrice teaches MfA Acting at The New School; Public speaking at Columbia University to Obama Foundation Scholars; She collaborates with Columbia World Projects and The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation teaching public speaking to medical professionals in Africa from WomenLift Health. Patrice is a member of The Actors Center.
Natalie Paul (Bean) is an actress, writer, and director based in New York City. Her television credits include series regular roles in THE SINNER (Netflix) opposite Bill Pullman and Carrie Coon, and HBO’s THE DEUCE. She has recurred in YOU, THE BLACKLIST, MR. MERCEDES, and RANDOM ACTS OF FLYNESS. Film credits include the NBC Universal film SHOOTING STARS (Peacock) as Gloria James, and the Sundance Dramatic Audience Award-winning CROWN HEIGHTS, for which she received an NAACP Image Award nomination.As a writer-director, Natalie has created two short films, Everything Absolutely and Sweet Tea, and is developing her first feature, A Grand Design.
She holds a BA from Yale University and an MFA from NYU Tisch School of the Arts.
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.
Teresa L. Williams (Set Design) is a set designer originally from New Orleans, LA. Recent design credits include John Proctor is The Villain (Broadway), The Preacher’s Wife (Alliance Theater), Triple Threat (T32 Theatrical), The Cotillion (New Georges/The Movement), Ragtime (American Stage). MFA: NYU Tisch. www.tlwilliamsdesign.com
Venus Gulbranson (Lighting Design) is a proud Filipino lighting designer based in Brooklyn NY, and is thrilled to be making her WP Theatre debut. BROADWAY asst: New York, New York (St James Theatre). INTERNATIONAL DESIGN: Rituel (Philharmonie de Paris). REGIONAL DESIGN select: Lincoln Center, Signature Theatre, Woolly Mammoth Theatre, Ford’s Theatre, The Kennedy Center, The Wilma Theatre, Arena Stage, Nashville Opera, Oklahoma City Rep, New Studio on Broadway. INTERNATIONAL Lighting Director: Sydney Opera House, Dubai Opera House, Philharmonie de Paris, Müpa Budapest, Brisbane QPAC. She is a member of United Scenic Artists 829 and is an advocate for underrepresented artists in the industry. Venus enjoys a park day and is a below average volleyball player. Love to Kiera, family, and friends always. www.venusgulbranson.com
Kaileykielle Hoga (Co-Sound Designer) is a sound designer and audio engineer based in New York City. She approaches sound design with equal care for its creative and technical demands, centering storytelling and sound system design. She values collaborating with sound designers and exploring the countless ways to bring a story’s sonic world to life, most recently assisting on Second Stage’s Marjorie Prime at the Hayes Theater. Kaileykielle is grateful to Co-Sound Design this project with DJ Potts, whose support has been pivotal in the growth of her artistic voice.
DJ Potts (Co-Sound Designer) Off-Broadway: Traverse32: Triple Threat | PAC NYC: Icons of Culture, Refuge: A concert Series | The Shed: Open Call | The Drama League of NYC: The Bull Jean Stories, Hello Again | REGIONAL: Shakespeare Theatre Company: Kunene and The King | Chautauqua Theater Company: Fabulation, or The Re-Education of Undine | Vermont Northern Stage: King James. Education: The New School: Romeo & Juliet, Glass n’ Mirrors. | Rutgers: Angela Davis School for Girls With Big Eyes, Holy Week.
Emmarose Campbell (Properties Design) is a NYC-based Prop Designer, Producer, and artist. Recent credits include Beau the Musical Off-Bway (Asst. Prop Designer), Immediate Family @ Blumenthal PAC (Prop Designer), and the On Your Feet Nat’l Tour (Prop Designer). She is currently Head Props at The Play That Goes Wrong Off-Bway and she is a co-creator of Chorus Girl Productions, a small theatre company that strives to feature female stories and art. Insta: @emmarosegcampbell or @propsbyegc. www.emmarosegcampbell.com
Earon Chew Nealey (Hair Design) Wig, Hair and Makeup Designer. Broadway: Fat Ham; Mother of Exile, Potus (Berkeley Repertory Theatre); Almost Famous, Jersey Boys (ACT of Connecticut); Huzzah, Fat Ham (The Old Globe), Camelot, Blues for an Alabama Sky (Barrington Stage); Two Strangers, Diary of a Tap Dancer (A.C.T.); The Grove, Sojourners, Toni Stone, Fat Ham, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone (The Huntington); Bad Kreyól, Three Houses (The Signature); Table 17 (Makeup Design – MCC); Midsummer Nights Dream, Malvolio, Twelfth Night (Classical Theater of Harlem); Hamlet, The Harder They Come, Fat Ham, Cullad Wattah, Mojada (Public Theater); Dames at Sea, Kinky Boots (Bucks County Playhouse); Last Super (SOPAC); On Killing (Soho Rep); Little Girl Blue (Goodspeed, New World Stages); Meet Vera Stark, Matilda (Colorado University); On Sugarland (NYTW); Nina Simone: Four Women (Berkshire Theatre Group); Little Women (Dallas Theater Center); Oklahoma!, Patsy Cline (Weston Playhouse); Memphis, Dream Girls (Cape Fear Regional Theater); Cadillac Crew, Twelfth Night (Yale Rep).
Wynnie Lamour-Quansah (Dialect Coach) is an Educator with a focus on Language & Communication. She founded the Haitian Creole Language Institute of New York in 2013 and co-founded Jaden Timoun (Kreyòl for Kids) with Early Childhood Education Specialist Darnelle Champagne in 2017. Wynnie has a BA in Linguistics from Cornell University and an MA in Urban Affairs from CUNY Queens College. Wynnie’s philosophy of teaching is rooted in the idea of “Mindfulness”, which promotes community and connectedness, while establishing a sense of pride and respect for both the Haitian language and culture. Wynnie’s work includes “Rakontay Vèdi: Verite sou Tanbou nan Jaden Timoun” a co-authored collection of original short stories written entirely in Haitian Creole. She is a contributing editor to “The Haiti Reader: History, Culture, and Politics” and is currently a Clinical Assistant Professor of Haitian Creole at NYU’s Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies.
Amrita Ramanan (Dramaturg) (she/her) is a dramaturg, creative producer, and artistic leader who holds the values of anti-racism, anti-colonialism, equity, access, and inclusion at the core of her practice. She is the Director of New Work Development at the Public Theater and previously held the roles of Director of Literary Development and Dramaturgy at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Core Apprentice and Fellowship Dramaturg at the Playwrights Center, Associate Producer and Dramaturg at Double Edge Theatre, and Literary Manager at Arena Stage. Most recent dramaturgy credits include Sumo by Lisa Sanaye Dring, Sally & Tom by Suzan-Lori Parks, Manahatta by Mary Kathryn Nagle (The Public Theater), Elyria by Deepa Purohit (Atlantic Theater Company), and Did You Eat? by Zoe Kim (Ma-Yi Theater Company and Chuang Stage).
Kassi Wilson (Production Stage Manager) Past credits include Broadway: SIX, Hamilton, Hell’s Kitchen, Sunset Blvd and Smash. Off Broadway: Hell’s Kitchen (The Public Theater), Public Works’ The Tempest (The Public Theater), King James (Manhattan Theater Club), The Harder They Come (The Public Theater), Raisin In The Sun (The Public Theater), Fat Ham (The Public Theater), Our Dear Dead Drug Lord (WP Theater). Regional: The Scarlet Letter (Two River Theater Company). Other past live event credits include Broadway Bares, The Tony Awards and Afropunk. She is thankful to be back at WP supporting this process!
Nina Schatell (Assistant Stage Manager) is a New York based Stage Manager. Broadway: Maybe Happy Ending, The Last Five Years, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Off-Broadway: House of McQueen (The Mansion), Lowcountry (Atlantic Theater Company), Teeth, School Pictures, Amusements (Playwrights Horizons), H.M.S. Pinafore (NYGASP), Straight Forward (Theatre Row). She has also worked on projects with the Rhinebeck Writers Retreat, NAMT, New York Stage and Film, The Public, Dramatist Guild Foundation, BCEFA, Jazz at Lincoln Center, The National Asian American Theatre Company. BFA from SUNY Purchase College.
Thrown Stone Theatre Company (Co-Producer) Thrown Stone Theatre Company is the only professional theatre in Connecticut exclusively dedicated to new work. From commission to development to production, Thrown Stone empowers artists and audiences to engage with the important questions of our time. Founded in Ridgefield in 2016, the company has built a reputation for intimate, locally crafted premieres with national relevance. Thrown Stone’s collaboration with playwright Phanésia Pharel began with her first professional commission for the company’s 2021 season, “The Suburbs.” She conceived “The Waterfall” during Thrown Stone’s 068 Magazine Playwriting Fellowship in 2022 and received early development support through a 2023 workshop in partnership with The Old Globe in San Diego, followed by a 2024 workshop in Ridgefield, Connecticut, at the Keeler Tavern Museum and History Center. Now based at the Crystal Theatre in South Norwalk, Thrown Stone anchors its year-round season with professional productions of new plays. Additional programs, such as the CT Short Play Fest, commissions, and workshops, extend the company’s commitment to developing new work and cultivating the next generation of theatre artists and audiences in Fairfield County and beyond. More information is available at thrownstone.org.
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
