(VIBE CONTRIBUTOR, she/her) – Michelan “Mi·I·Mi” Le’Monier is an artist, administrator, and facilitator whose growth stems from giving as much into her environment and community as she receives. She found viBe Theater Experience in the year of 2012 and performed her first viBe show as a participant of the viBeSolos program. From there, she took part in many viBe performances and in the summer of 2017, became a dedicated employee; growing from intern to Administrative Apprentice in 2018. Gradually becoming the Operations Assistant in 2019, and becoming the first Programs Manager of viBe in 2020, and is now very proud to be viBe’s Operations Director.
(NARRATION; she/her) is a classically trained actress who has performed in theaters all over the country as well as in films and television. She is an ensemble member of the award-winning Sojourn Theatre. Soneela is an award-winning narrator with 250+ titles. She also narrates articles for publications including The New York Times and The New Yorker. She’s passionate about lifting up South Asian and Black experiences as part of her work both in and out of the studio. She has garnered 16 Earphone awards, and Audie and SOVAS nominations. Her audiobooks have been featured in Best Audiobooks lists by AudioFile Magazine (2016, 2019, 2020) and The Washington Post (2018, 2020). Most recently, Soneela was awarded the Golden Voice Lifetime Achievement Honor by AudioFile magazine.
(VIBE CONTRIBUTOR, she/her) Alexandria “Meena” Russell is a mother, author, playwright, and co-founder of Alstroemeria Studios. As a single mother, one of her many passions is speaking out for the stigmas that follow black and brown single mothers. When Meena’s not binge watching Blue’s Clues and You with her daughter, she’s either finding inspiration for her next piece, enjoying music from her favorite k-pop artists, or gaming. She’s currently working on her first book of poetry ‘Second Place, Half Best’.
(she/her) founded Monica Bill Barnes & Company in 1997 with a collection of solos that could be performed anywhere. The company has performed in venues ranging from Upright Citizen’s Brigade to The Sydney Opera House, and has been presented in more than 100 cities. Some of the company’s past projects include The Museum Workout, a guided exercise tour of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Happy Hour, an immersive office party dance show that ran as a recurring event for 3 years in New York City, Three Acts, Two Dancers, One Radio Host, a show that combines radio and dance in collaboration with Ira Glass that toured over 25 cities in America and abroad. Current collaborations between Barnes and Robbie Saenz de Viteri include The Running Show, Days Go By, Keep Moving the company’s first online show created in collaboration with 16 dancers from Hunter College in 2020, and It’s 3:07 Again which premiered online April 2021.
(he/him) began working in theater as an audio script assistant to Anna Deveare Smith. He has created performances and toured productions throughout the world with the Obie Award winning Nature Theater of Oklahoma. He has created, produced, and performed in Happy Hour, The Museum Workout, One Night Only, Days Go By, The Running Show, Keep Moving and It’s 3:07 Again with Monica Bill Barnes & Company. Some of his other favorite projects include producing This American Life Episode 528 “The Radio Drama Episode” live on stage at BAM, directing Rachel Bonds’s Michael & Edie, and creating and performing The Spiritual Life of Modern America, a collaboration in Norway based on the experiences of foreigners traveling in America Today.
(he/him) has been a Costumier for over 20 years. Danté graduated from the Fashion Institute of Technology in 2005. In 2006 Danté joined the wardrobe department for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre. In Autumn 2015 he relocated to London, England where he joined the Costume Department at The Royal Opera House and the Royal Ballet in 2016. In 2017 Danté became the resident Costume Designer and Wardrobe Manager for Ballet Central and the Central School of Ballet. When Danté returned to the United States in 2018 he joined the Costuming department at the Washington National Opera in DC before returning to Alvin Ailey in the Autumn of 2019 where he works currently.Dante’s design credits include “Uptown”, “Moan”, “Odetta”and “Testament” by choreographer Matthew Rushing; “Get On The Good Foot” at Showtime at the Apollo with Philadanco; “Chemical Water” by Yannick Lebrun; “Cinderella” by Christopher Gable; “Sleeping Beauty” by Matthew Bourne for Ballet Central; “Swan Lake” and “Romeo and Juliet” by Jenna Lee.
(she/her) is a Brooklyn based administrator, production associate and dance artist who has been working with MBB&CO in a variety of roles since 2017! As an administrative and production assistant Elizabeth has supported Happy Hour, One Night Only, The Museum Workout, and The Running Show, both in NYC and on tour. As associate producer Elizabeth has supported the company’s site specific work Days Go By, and digital shows Keep Moving, and It’s 3:07 Again. Elizabeth loves bringing the company’s work to new audiences be them near, far, or via the computer screen. As a performer Elizabeth creates worlds for distinct characters to inhabit. Her collaboration “once she lived on a 4th floor walkup” was part of the 2018 All Over Westbeth Site Specific Festival. Elizabeth holds a BA in Dance and English from Kenyon College.
(she/her) is a performer, movement director, and rehearsal director based in NYC. She has rehearsal directed and performed in Monica Bill Barnes & Company’s productions of The Running Show, Day’s Go By, Keep Moving, & It’s 3:07pm Again. She has also worked alongside Barnes as associate choreographer/dancer on the feature film Little Women (dir. Greta Gerwig). Flannery is the movement director of The Reality Show: NYU (created by Elizabeth Swados), staging performances at the Barclays Center, Radio City Music Hall, and NYU’s Skirball Center for the Performing Arts. She was as the assistant choreographer to Sam Pinkleton on the Broadway musical Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812 and the associate choreographer to Sonya Tayeh for Sing Street on Broadway. Born and raised in San Diego, Flannery got her BA in World Arts and Cultures from UCLA. She is thrilled to be dancing with MBB & Co.!
(she/her) is a Brooklyn-based dance artist, administrator, and creative producer. Born and raised in NYC, Mykel studied dance at Alvin Ailey for 14 years, where she was a fellowship student, and graduated from Dartmouth College with a BA in Film & Media Studies in 2016. Mykel re-engaged with movement through intensives with Earl Mosley’s Institute of the Arts, American Dance Festival, and Movement Invention Project, and has performed works by Bill T. Jones, Merce Cunningham, Robert Battle, and John Heginbotham, among others. She joined Dance Heginbotham in 2018 and has since performed in the Off-Broadway revival of Oklahoma! (dir. Daniel Fish, St. Ann’s Warehouse) and The Master and Form (Brendan Fernandes, Whitney Museum of American Art) at the Whitney Biennial. Mykel performed with MBB&Co for the first time in 2019 with Days Go By, It’s 3:07 Again virtually in April 2021, and is thrilled to return to live performance with the company at the WP Theater this summer! mykelmarainairne.com
(she/her) is a queer lighting designer, organizer and producer residing on unceded Wappinger and Munsee Lenape land. Barbara is invested in creating design-forward live events that prioritize generosity, equity, representation, and collaboration. Working nationally and internationally, Barbara collaboratively creates intimate and explosive lighting environments for new plays, opera and dance, aiming to unearth the human condition and consciousness of our surroundings. Barbara received Drama Desk and Lucille Lortel Award nominations for her lighting of the immersive sci-fi folk concert, Rags Parkland Sings the Songs of the Future (Ars Nova). She has designed for several OBIE award winning plays including Dance Nation (Playwrights Horizons), Great Lakes… (New Georges/WP Theater) and Grimly Handsome (minor theater). She served as the General Manager of OBIE Award-winning 13P from 2008-2012. In 2016, in addition to being a Target Margin Institute Fellow, The Interval named Barbara a Woman to Watch. Barbara holds a B.A. from Fordham University and an M.F.A in Lighting Design from NYU. Proud member of USA Local 829. New Georges Affiliated Artist.
(she/her) is a choreographer, performer, dance educator, and administrator. She has danced in Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and across the US. Indah earned a BFA in dance from Purchase College Conservatory of Dance in 2008 and an MFA in dance from NYU Tisch School of the Arts in 2014. As a choreographer, Indah Walsh was awarded a Creative Engagement Grant from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council in 2017. In 2020, Indah worked with Monica Bill Barnes and Company as Web Designer and Creative Consultant for Keep Moving, and performed in their online work It’s 3:07 Again in 2021. Indah was an Adjunct Instructor at NYU Tisch School of the Arts from 2019-2021 and was nominated for the David Payne Carter Award for Teaching Excellence in 2021. She is now a Visiting Assistant Arts Professor at NYU Tisch Department of Dance.
photo Credit: Corey Haynes
(she/her) is a set and production designer based in New York who is passionate about new forms of storytelling. She has worked across a variety of media including theatre, film, installation, AR and VR. She holds a BA, MFA and Ph.D. from Beijing’s Central Academy of Drama and is the first Mainland Chinese student to graduate from NYU Tisch Design for Stage & Film (MFA). Aoshuang is the Artist-In-Residence of NYU Future Reality Lab. Recent work includes multi-user XR experience Mary and the Monster (Assistant Art Director), The Outpost (Art Director) at NYU Future Reality Lab. The Empty Place, The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window, Recall and Alteration at NYU/Tisch, Global Gay at LA MAMA, and Patience at Corkscrew Theater Festival. She staged a ring screen performance of Hamlet Mirror at the 11th Shanghai Biennale Exhibition. www.aoshuangzhang.com
(PLAYWRIGHT, she/her) is a playwright and TV writer based in Brooklyn. Her plays include Behind the Sheet, Jump, form of a girl unknown, it’s not a trip it’s a journey, and more. Her work has been seen and/or developed with Ensemble Studio Theatre, The Lark, P73, The Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, PlayMakers Repertory Company, Chautauqua Theater Company, Salt Lake Acting Company, and others. She is a recipient of the Vineyard Theatre’s Paula Vogel Playwriting Award and the Dramatists Guild’s Lanford Wilson Award. She is a core writer at The Playwrights’ Center and this fall, she will begin her seven year residency with New Dramatists. Charly has a BA from Brown University, a master’s in Women’s Studies from University of Oxford, New College, and her MFA in Playwriting from Hunter College.
(DIRECTOR, she/her) is an award-winning director and Co-Founder/Associate Artistic Director of Company One Theatre in Boston, where she has directed more than 20 productions, including the world-premieres of Downtown Crossing and Leftovers; Wolf Play; Miss You LIke Hell (with OBERON at American Repertory Theatre); Wig Out! (with OBERON at A.R.T.); Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again; and An Octoroon and Colossal (2016 Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Director for both productions). Other credits include The Arboretum Experience at American Repertory Theatre, Daddy Issues at Salt Lake City Acting Company New Play Sounding Series, School Girls, or The African Mean Girls Play at SpeakEasy Stage Company, Smart People at Kitchen Theatre Company and Geva Theater; Barbecue at Lyric Stage Company of Boston (2018 Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Director); Bootycandy at SpeakEasy Stage Company; Intimate Apparel at Lyric Stage Company; the New England Premiere of We Are Proud To Present…; How We Got On; By The Way, Meet Vera Stark at the Lyric Stage Company; The Brothers Size and Marcus; Or The Secret Of Sweet (2012 Elliot Norton Award-nominated for Outstanding Production; 2012 IRNE Award for Best Play); Neighbors; Grimm; The Good Negro; Voyeurs De Venus (2009 Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Director); The Bluest Eye (IRNE and Elliot Norton Award nominated); The Last Days Of Judas Iscariot; Spell #7; Jesus Hopped The A Train (2004 Elliot Norton Award for Best Fringe Production); and Twilight: Los Angeles 1992.
(ODESSA) Off-Broadway: The Cake (MTC), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Mobile Unit), Teenage Dick, Miss You Like Hell (The Public); The Treasurer, Bella: An American Tall Tale, A Life, Far from Heaven (Playwrights Horizons); Sex of the Baby (Access Theatre); Obama-ology (The Juilliard School). Regional: Airness (Humana); A Doll’s House (Huntington); Three Sisters (Playmaker’s Rep); Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill, Intimate Apparel (Dorset Theatre Festival); Fairfield (Cleveland Play House). TV: “A League of Their Own,” “New Amsterdam,” “High Maintenance,” “Madam Secretary,” “Gotham.” BFA: Howard University. MFA: NYU Graduate Acting Program. marindaanderson.com
(ANGELA) is a native of Philadelphia who currently resides in Scotch Plains, New Jersey. Her New York City credits include an audio play Retreat (Constance) with National Black Theatre in Harlem, an interactive play In The Blue Hour (Emily) at La Maison d’Art Gallery in Harlem, Blacken the Bubble (Kanese) at Harlem School of the Arts, A Raisin in the Sun (Beneatha) at The Gallery Players and various festivals including The Fire This Time, 48 Hours in… Harlem, NY Fringe, and Samuel French. Regionally she’s worked at Chicago Shakespeare Theater as Juliet in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Two River
Theatre in August Wilson’s Seven Guitars (Ruby) and King Hedley II (Tonya), The Geva Theatre Center: The Magician’s Daughter (Miranda), The Portland Center Stage (Oregon) JAW Festival: three girls never learnt the way home (Edith), Baltimore Center Stage: Skeleton Crew (Shanita), The Guthrie: The Bluest Eye (Pecola), where she was named one of the Top 10 Actors of the Decade in The Star Tribune (Dec 2019), TheaterWorks Hartford: Sunset Baby (Nina), a co-production with La Jolla Playhouse and Berkeley Repertory Theatre: The Last Tiger in Haiti (Rose) [NAACP Theatre for Best Ensemble nomination] and Northern Stage: Its a Wonderful Life, a radio play (Mary) and The Mountaintop (Camae). Her TV credits include American Rust, The Blacklist, Eye Candy, and The Knick. For film she’s appeared in shorts “Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul” [which was featured on Issa Rae’s YouTube Channel for #ShortFilmSundays], “Everything Absolutely” and “But Rosita, I love you” to name a few. She received her MFA in Acting from The New School for Drama and her BS in Mathematics from Spelman College. www.brittanybellizeare.com
(JAMAL) is an artist and advocate originally from New York City, New York. He received both his bachelors and masters in theater. He has been featured in several TV shows including “The Blacklist,” “Madam Secretary,” “Elementary” and Netflix’s “Daredevil.” He has been a part of productions at Lincoln Center Theater, Playwrights Horizons, Berkeley Rep, La Jolla Playhouse and Studio Theater as well as the Grahamstown Theater Festival in Grahamstown, South Africa. Andy also wrote the article “Why I Broke Up with the American Theater” in which he details the permanent injuries he sustained performing in the show “The Rape of the Sabine Women by Grace B. Mathias.” In the years since this injury he has been a vocal proponent for actor safety and empowerment.
(ADAH) For almost four decades, her name, face, and distinctive voice have been known by audiences everywhere, thanks to her many award-winning works in television, radio, film, digital media, comedy, and her romance suspense novel, DESTINY LINGERS, which is endorsed by Dr. Maya Angelou. Most know her by one name, Rolonda, under which she launched her own internationally syndicated talk show (1994-1998), produced by King World Productions in association with her company, Watts Works Productions. Years before her talk show, Rolonda was an Emmy Nominated investigative news reporter, anchorwoman and producer for Inside Edition, WABC-TV Eyewitness News, WNBC, New Jersey Nightly News, and WFMY-TV. Ro’s deep, rich, and raspy voice is one of the most recognized in the VoiceOver business where she is also a top voice coach with her Voice Acting Master Class. Rolonda was the Announcer and Promo voice for Divorce Court (FOXTV), Judge Joe Brown (CBS), The Daily Helpline and Temptation, the game show. In animation, Rolonda voices the role of Professor Wiseman on Curious George (Universal), Mary Sinclair in LEGO City Adventures, Madagascar, King Fu Panda, Cannon Busters, and stars with Tyler Perry in his first animated movie, Tyler Perry’s Medea’s Tough Love (Lionsgate) In video games, Rolonda is the voice of Warrior Priestess Illaoi in League of Legends. In TV & movies, Rolonda stars in the new MCLyte sitcom, Partners in Rhyme on ALLBLK and guest stars as Adaline Palmer, Chunk’s mother, on BULL (CBS). Ro was recently seen on Lifetime TV’s Psycho Nurse and My Daughter’s Psycho Friend and played the recurring role of FBI Forensic Pathologist, Dr. Melissa Meyers, on Criminal Minds (CBS) In stand up comedy, Ro has headlined from NY at Caroline’s on Broadway to The Comedy Store in LA, The Ice House, Flappers, Ha! Ha!, The Comedy Union, The J Spot and more. The McDonald’s Corporation honored Ro as “a Broadcast legend.” Facebook & Business magazine calls her “the queen of all media.” There are official “Rolonda Days” in New York City and Newark, New Jersey Rolonda holds degrees from Spelman College and Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism and an Honorary Doctorate from Winston-Salem State University. Check out Rolonda’s podcast – Rolonda on Demand. Visit Ro’s website at rolonda.com. Follow Rolonda on social media @rolondawatts.
(MBB & CO. ARTISTIC DIRECTOR / CHOREOGRAPHER / PERFORMER, She/Her) is a choreographer, performer, and the Artistic Director of Monica Bill Barnes & Company. Barnes founded MBB&CO in 1997 with a collection of solos that could be performed anywhere. In 2013, MBB&CO gave itself the challenge to “bring dance where it doesn’t belong” and has been striving to follow this self-imposed motto ever since. The company has performed in venues ranging from Upright Citizen’s Brigade to The Sydney Opera House and has been presented in more than 100 cities throughout the US and internationally. Barnes has worked in film, theater, and set over 30 different works on college students all over the country. Recent company projects include The Museum Workout, a guided exercise tour of art museums made in collaboration with the author/visual artist Maira Kalman; Happy Hour, an immersive office party dance show; Three Acts, Two Dancers, One Radio Host, a show that combines radio and dance in collaboration with Ira Glass; and The Running Show, a new touring show inspired by the company’s award winning off-Broadway production that turns dance into a live sporting event. Within each of these new contexts and borrowed environments, the company’s work constantly find humor in our awkward, everyday triumphs and failures.
(MBB & CO. CREATIVE PRODUCING DIRECTOR / PERFORMER, He/Him) began working in theater as an audio script assistant to Anna Deveare Smith. He has created performances and toured productions throughout the world with the Obie Award winning Nature Theater of Oklahoma. He has created, produced, and performed in Happy Hour, The Museum Workout, and One Night Only with Monica Bill Barnes & Company. Some of his other favorite projects include producing This American Life Episode 528, “The Radio Drama Episode” live on stage at BAM, directing Rachel Bonds’ Michael & Edie, and creating and performing The Spiritual Life of Modern America, a collaboration in Norway based on the experiences of foreigners traveling in America today.
(PERFORMER) is a Colombian dancer and choreographer who uses traditional folk dance such as cumbia as well as street styles from the city where she grew up in, NYC. Her focus is her matrilineal ancestors and how she can tell the story of powerful women through movement. She has a degree in Performance Art and another in Social Justice from CUNY Baccalaureate School for Unique and Interdisciplinary Studies. She is an activist advocating for black and brown liberation through the medium of dance and community organizing. She is currently a dancer for Kim Elliott Dance.
(PERFORMER) is a Philadelphia-based dance artist from the East Village in Manhattan. She is currently a lead children’s teaching artist at University City Arts League, as well as a member of Poético Dance Collective. After receiving her Bachelors in Dance from Macaulay Honors College at Hunter College in 2019, Olivia has performed with professional dance companies including VLDC and Monica Bill Barnes & Co. Olivia’s perspective of dance is inspired by her training at Alvin Ailey, as well as by the somatic methodologies of postmodern choreographers Nancy Stark Smith and Trisha Brown. In her choreography and dance filmmaking, Olivia employs a meditative, site-specific approach to explore themes of nature, group dynamics, and Judaic culture. Olivia passionately believes that movement can be a transformative tool by which to radically imagine and embody positive change in the world.
(PERFORMER, She/They) is a 20 year old Dance Major at Hunter College, with plans to pursue “something dance related” when they graduate. They’ve had the pleasure of working with MBB&Co a number of times previously, including at New York City Center for Fall for Dance. Kai is currently trying to survive a global pandemic by finding space where there isn’t. They will be virtually presenting their original choreographic work early December 2020 at Hunter College, featuring bathtubs, showers, and lots of dancing.
(PERFORMER) is a dancer based in NYC, born in the Dominican Republic and raised in the Bronx. She is currently a junior in college studying dance and journalism. She has trained at the Martha Graham School, NYU Tisch Pre professional program, City Center and Broadway Dance Center. Some of her credits include: New York City Center, The Joyce, Kaye Playhouse. Anakeiry wishes to be part of a contemporary/modern company in the future while still using her passion for writing to be an advocate for the arts.
(PERFORMER) is performance artist and creative director based in Brooklyn. She is currently double majoring in Dance and Africana, Puerto Rican & Latino Studies at Hunter College. SarahIsoke has trained at Brooklyn High School of the Arts, Earl Moesely’s Institute of the Arts, and The Ailey School and has performed work by David Parsons, Kyle Abraham, Larry Keigwin, Obediah Wright, and Monica Bill Barnes & Company. In this season of her life, serving her community is her primary mission. She aims to use her talents to benefit differently abled communities such as the deaf and blind; creating visual and performance art that matters.
