(PERFORMER) is a striving performer. She graduated from Hunter College with a bachelor’s degree in Dance and a minor in music. Currently, Lina intends on continuing Graduate School to pursue a degree in Dance Education at Hunter College. She had the opportunity to work with Monica Bill Barnes Company in three performances, at Hunter College, Brookfield Place and the 2019 Fall for Dance Festival. She is a Dance Choreographer/mentor for her community church. She aspires to become a professional dancer/Dance Educator. Lina is a new choreographer and hopes to continue this phenomenal journey and hopeful to see what lies ahead.
(PERFORMER) is originally from Laurel, MD and currently pursuing her Masters in Dance Education at Hunter College. She holds a BFA from the Ailey/Fordham BFA Program in New York City, where she graduated summa cum laude with a double major in Dance and Psychology. Ms. Son found her passion for teaching at The Ailey School as a creative movement instructor in the First Steps program and a Horton instructor in the Junior Division program. As an artist, she has performed works by Jamar Roberts, Stefanie Batten Bland, Christopher Huggins, Jae Man Joo, Jacqulyn Buglisi, and Alvin Ailey. Professionally, Ms. Son was a dancer with Mook Dance Company in 2017-2019 and is currently performing with Monica Bill Barnes & Company.
(WEB DESIGN & CREATIVE CONSULTANT) 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 a 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. Indah is currently Adjunct Faculty at NYC Tisch School of the Arts.
(First Assistant Director, He/Him) is based in the San Francisco Bay Area, CA. Born in Chicago, IL and raised in the East Bay Area, his passion for filmmaking began at a very young age and followed him throughout his life. Day graduated from San Francisco State University in 2012 with a degree of Bachelor of the Arts in Cinema, as well as a minor in Africana Studies. After college, he began to work professionally in the AD Department on feature films, television shows, commercials, and music videos.
Day works primarily as a 1st Assistant Director. Fluid communication between departments is his top priority whenever he is working on a project. In pre-production, Day is diligent and thorough in establishing a detailed script breakdown and realistic shooting schedule. On set, his duties are to keep the entire crew safe and the production on schedule, all while working to ensure every shot is executed with precision. Day has worked on several feature film and television productions including ‘Sorry To Bother You’ 2018, ‘The Last Black Man in San Francisco’ 2019, and ‘Black Bear’ 2020.
(Sound Editor, He/Him) is a multidisciplinary collaborator in the performing and fine arts with decades of production, composition, sound and visual design credits. He collaborates on diverse projects for opera, theater, dance, multimedia, and contemporary music performances. Recognition includes the Isadora Duncan Award for S.F. Ballet’s Ballet Mori (2007, Goldberg/Packer), and the Lucille Lortel Award for Rinde Eckert’s Horizon (2008, dir. David Schweizer.) He also served as Production Manager for SFJAZZ (2013-15) and Director of Production for Kronos Quartet (2015-17.) Recent premieres include World’s On Fire by ODC (Weare/Way) and Iron Shoes (Kitka/Shotgun Players.)
(Title Design, She/Her) is an award-winning set and video designer for opera, theater and any form for live performances based in LA. Recent design works include The Fall of the House of Usher (Boston Lyric Opera/ Opera Box.tv), Close Quarters (Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra), Ghost Gun (Goodman Theatre), Legacy Land (Kansas City Rep), Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, Aubergine, The Canadians (South Coast Rep), Black Super Hero Magic Mama (Geffen Playhouse), Sweat (Mark Taper Forum), Bordertown Now (Pasadena Playhouse), Mother of Henry, Members Only (Latino Theater Company), Citizen: An American Lyric (Kirk Douglas Theatre, Fountain Theater. Since 2020, she has been creating digital content and video art for the San Francisco Symphony, Boston Lyric Opera, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, LA Opera On Now, Goodman Theatre, Ma-Yi Theatre Company, The Movement Theatre Company. She is currently working as one of the production designers of Close Quarters with Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. Yee Eun has multiple nominations for LA Stage Alliance Ovation Award and is a winner of LADCC Theatrical Excellence for CGI/Video in 2020. She is a member of United Scenic Artists, Local 829. MFA in Theater Design at UCLA. BFA in Design and Metal Craft at SNU in Seoul, Korea. Portfolio: www.yeeeunnam.com
(Cinematographer, She/Her) Born and raised in the Philippines, Peggy at age 23, migrated to San Francisco in pursuit of living a creative life. There she earned an MFA in Motion Pictures from the Academy of Art University, fell more deeply in love with cinema and discovered her love for flying cameras. She is now a certified Steadicam Operator, one of the very few women practitioners in the industry world-wide. As a cinematographer, her work is distinct for its heart, energy and perspective. Every project she dives into becomes an opportunity to discover, create and inspire. She was awarded Best Emerging Filmmaker by SF International Women’s Film Festival in 2005. Since then, she has continued to be a trusted collaborator of many directors, shooting projects funded by organizations like San Francisco Film Society, Danish Arts Council and French National Center of Fine Arts. Her works have screened in film festivals around the globe including the Rotterdam International Film Festival & Busan International Film Festival among others. In 2013, she received a Cinematography Special Jury Award from the LA Asian Pacific Film Fest for lensing the documentary Harana. A New Color, her 2nd feature documentary, premiered at the 2015 Mill Valley Film Festival. Both feature documentaries won Audience Awards in various film festivals and have aired on PBS. She is passionate about telling stories that amplify alternative voices. She believes in the power of cinema to not only entertain but to also challenge our ways of seeing, thinking and feeling. She continues to thrive as an artist in San Francisco, a city she’s proud to call her second home. In 2019 she embarked on an indie feature called This Is Your Song, a cinematic feat that challenged her to light and shoot a 97 minute handheld oner.
(Production & Costume Designer, He/Him) is an internationally renowned, scenic, costume, and exhibit designer, as well as the Obie Award–winning costume designer of Punchdrunk’s Sleep No More (Boston, New York and Shanghai). His celebrated theatrical designs have been featured at The Finnish National Ballet, La Jolla Playhouse, The Old Globe, American Conservatory Theater, Portland Center Stage, American Repertory Theater, Arena Stage, Seattle Repertory Theater, among many others. Reynoso is the founder of OPTIKA MODERNA and the creator of Portaleza (2020), Las Quinceañeras (2019) and Waking La Llorona (2017). His scope of work extends beyond theater/film to include designs for globally recognized theme parks and companies such as: Meow Wolf, 13Exp and The San Diego Museum of Us. www.davidreynoso.com.
(WRITER Words for a rising sun, she/they) writes, directs and performs with The Peoplehood (the-peoplehood.com). A Princess Grace Award and O’Neill National Playwrights Conference finalist and Kilroys List honorable mention, Jaisey is a recipient of the Emerging American Playwright Prize from Marin Theatre Company, and of Judge’s Choice/Featured Play from the Oklahoma City Native American New Play Festival.
(PERFORMER, she/her) is born into the Grey Streaked Ends Clan and born for the Red Running into Water Clan. Her Maternal Grandparents are the Zuni Pueblo Clan and her Paternal Grandparents are the Water’s Edge Clan. As a young Diné girl growing up on the Navajo Reservation, Natalie’s first dance studio was the land she was surrounded by, which taught her movement embedded in cultural re-connection and storytelling. She is also a self-taught hip hop dancer. Natalie attended Fort Lewis College where she earned a BA in theatre – Performing and Directing in 2010 and was a first generation college graduate in her family. She performed dance professionally for 7 years with Dancing Earth Contemporary Dance Company and also led youth workshops for Native youth throughout her time with the company. Natalie performed the lead role of Dory in the Navajo dubbed version of Disney/Pixar’s Finding Nemo and directed/choreographed the production I’m Native And… for Fort Lewis College’s inaugural Indigenous Arts Festival, which was then invited to the Los Angeles Kennedy Center for the Arts’ Regional College Theater Festival in 2019. In addition to performing, she works as the Indigenous Programs Coordinator for Girls Inc. of Santa Fe. She is also co-founding a mixed media storytelling company, Tse’Nato’, where she hopes to continue sharing stories through dance, theater, and film. She was recently awarded the Senator John Pinto Native American Filmmakers Fund in 2020 to direct a short film entitled “Mother’s Day”.
(PERFORMER/COLLABORATING WRITER, she/her) is a theatre maker, professor and arts advocate rooted in the Champaign-Urbana community. Past directing credits include Cabaret, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime and No Child (Illinois Theatre), Dreamgirls (KCPA), Men on Boats, Fun Home, Sleep Deprivation Chamber (The Station Theatre), Top Dog/Underdog (Hattiloo Theatre), Otherwise Occupied and Lost Recipes (Jump Start Performance Company) and Spell #7 and Betrayal (The Renaissance Guild). Her interest in storytelling extends beyond traditional plays and musicals with interests in social justice and the environment. Projects include: co-producer of The Gun Play(s) Project with Nicole Anderson-Cobb, PhD; The Water Project, devised with eight local community members and Journey to Water, connecting African Americans with regional water sources, a collaboration with Prairie Rivers Network through a Catalyst Initiative Grant from the Center for Performance and Civic Practice. Recently she engaged in an interdisciplinary devised project about the quantum world with Smitha Vishveshwara, PhD, Quantum Voyages that premiered on campus, traveled to Boston for the American Physical Society Conference and collaborated in a Zoom production with UC San Diego. She co-directed This is the Ground for Opera on Tap NYC with Jerre Dye at the Old Stone House in Park Slope, Brooklyn. Latrelle received her MFA in Directing from The University of Memphis, is a TCG Young Leader of Color and an Associate Member of Stage Director’s and Choreographers Society.
(PERFORMER) (Keesuty8ee Elm, Mâseepee Wôpanâak) is from Roxbury, MA. Performance credits include Suzan-Lori Parks’s The America Play at the American Repertory Theater, The Emancipation of Valet de Chambre (premiere) at Cleveland Play House, Studs Terkel’s American Dreams: Lost and Found (premiere) with the Acting Company, and several seasons with Commonwealth Shakespeare Company. Currently at the Wôpanâak Language Reclamation Project, she is the Lower Elementary Lead Teacher at Weetumuw Katnuhtôhtâkamuq on the ancestral homelands of the Mashpee Wampanoag. The former Associate Director of Education at Citi Performing Arts Center in Boston, she began her work at The Wang Theater as a teaching artist, and has also taught with the Strand Theatre, Actors’ Shakespeare Project, nationally with the Acting Company and internationally with The Mama Project. A Montessori certified teacher, she also holds a bachelor of fine arts degree in performing arts and African American studies from Emerson College. Siobhan is a graduate of the American Repertory Theater Institute for Advanced Theater Training at Harvard University.
(AUDIENCE GUIDE/COLLABORATING WRITER, she/her) is an NYC Youth Poet Laureate, author, and writer from New York City, raised in Trinidad and Tobago. She has performed at the Apple Store, The UN, The Apollo, The Public Theater, The Brooklyn Museum, and many more. Her Poems explore women’s rights, self-love, and Black rights. You can find out more about her via her website- www.camrynbruno.com
(PERFORMER, she/her) is a former Miss International Two Spirit and the co chair to the Central Oklahoma Two Spirit Society. Shawnee, Ponca, Otoe, and Lakota Sioux.
(SOUND DESIGN, he/they) is a New York based interdisciplinary artist. (Select Sound Credits): Fly Away (Petzel Gallery), Chicken & Biscuits (Queens Theater), Black Exhibition (The Bushwick Starr), Waafricka 123, Drowning in Cairo (Criminal Queerness Festival), The Hole (New Ohio Theater), Neptune (Dixon Place, Brooklyn Museum). Chris has also served as assistant to designers Dan Kluger, Lee Kinney, and Kimberly O’Loughlin at Playwrights Horizons, Theater for a New Audience, The Atlantic and Long Wharf. BFA Pace University. Wingspace 2019-2020 Sound Design Fellow. www.darbassiedesign.com
(PERFORMER, he/him) is a founding member of Sojourn Theatre. He is also a member of two Los Angeles based classical companies Porters of Hellsgate and Method & Madness. Recent roles include Iachimo in Cymbeline, Palamon in Two Noble Kinsmen (Porters of Hellsgate), Lucio in Measure for Measure (Method & Madness), and in the ensemble of Miss You Like Hell (Baltimore Center Stage). He holds a BA in Theater Arts from Virginia Tech.
(LIGHTING DESIGN, she/they) is a Chinese New York City-based Lighting Designer for theatre and dance. Select designs have been seen at Lincoln Center Education, Long Wharf Theatre, Flint Repertory Theatre, Detroit Public Theatre, The Know Theater Of Cincinnati, Gibney Dance, HERE Arts Center, Portland Stage, The New School For Drama, Bates Dance Festival, NCPA Beijing, José Peón Contreras in Mérida, Flynn Space, Ars Nova, Luna Stage, Company One Boston, New Repertory Theatre, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Theatre At Monmouth, among others. Jennifer holds a BFA in Theatrical Production Arts from Ithaca College. www.jenfok.carbonmade.com
(PERFORMER, he/him) is a counselor and performing artist in Beaverton, Oregon whose work is grounded in personal transformation, self-expression, and Latino Queer identity. He holds a passion for producing cultural events that honor Latin American heritage and Latino Gay culture. In June of 2019, he released UNIVERSO, an electro-pop album that pays homage to his coming-of-age as a gay man. He is the oldest son of the Lopez family who for twenty years has run La Bonita Mexican restaurants in the Alberta Arts District, Overlook Neighborhood, and SE Division Neighborhood in Portland. Joaquin runs a counseling private practice specializing in men’s issues, personal development, and the bicultural Latino experience. When not at the office, Joaquin spends time reading, walking, playing the guitar, singing, and writing poetry. He enjoys time with friends and family, especially his nieces and nephews who keep his spirit young.
(PERFORMER, she/her) is an organic farmer, memory keeper, and artist. She is Yonsei, a fourth generation Japanese American, and gets to touch the same soil her great-grandparents worked in California where Masumoto Family Farm grows organic nectarines, apricots, peaches and grapes for raisins. She activates her facilitation, leadership, and creative skills as a performer and leader in the following organizations: co-founder of Yonsei Memory Project, team member of Center for Performance and Civic Practice re-imagining group, member of University Advisory Board (CSU Fresno) board of Trustees of Western States Arts Federation, board of directors of Art of the Rural, and perennial volunteer change-worker. Her most cherished value is courage and most important practice is listening.
(PERFORMERS) Founded in 2005 by Bessie Award winning choreographer, Joya Powell, Movement of the People Dance Company is dedicated to addressing sociocultural injustices through multidisciplinary immersive Contemporary Dance. Their work explores active-isms under the lens of Africanist expressions. Performance engagements include: BAM, Lincoln Center, SummerStage, La Mama, The 92nd St Y, The Bronx Museum of the Arts, Movement Research @ Judson Church, BAAD!, and The School of Contemporary Dance & Thought (Northampton) among others. Recognition include: 2020 Bodies in Motion Residency, 2020-2021 CUNY Dance Initiative Residency; 2019 Certificate of Appreciation – Manhattan Borough President: Gale Brewer, 2018-2019 EtM Choreographer Residency, 2017-2018 Women in Motion Fellowship, 2016-2017 Dancing While Black Fellowship. MOPDC facilitates community engagements nationally and internationally, and they hold an annual Free Day of Dance and acclaimed Winter Intensive. On the indigenous land of the Munsee Lenape, also known as Canarsie Brooklyn, Brittany Grier is an interdisciplinary artist who utilizes movement to build empowered communities. It has come through the intersection of dance, social justice, as well as storytelling; that honors legacy/traditions. The space continues to be heightened through her service as a dancer, community liaison, educator, choreographer and rehearsal director. She is grateful for Movement Of The People Dance Company, where dance is the vehicle that helps drive connections between individual narrative and collective response. “It is the nourish•me[a]nt for a creative being whole. Megan J. Minturn is a dancer, choreographer, and educator. She is honored to be a member of Movement of the People Dance Company; the people and movements in the company have nourished and helped her grow for the past 10 years. Her company, MJM Dance, performed at the 92nd St Y, Dixon Place, the Ailey Citigroup Theatre, Mark Morris Dance Center, HERE Arts Center, and Miami University of Ohio among others. Megan dances with MOPDC and Catherine Gallant Dance. Awards include Fund for Teachers Fellow (2019), Don Quixote Awardee (2019), NY State Dance Education Association’s Outstanding Educator of the Year (2016), Education Update’s Educator of the Year (2015), and BAC Grant (2013).
(VIRTUAL DESIGN AND MANAGEMENT, she/her) is a Chicago-based theatre artist. She designs, facilitates, and manages virtual events ranging from small informal gatherings to full productions, with a focus on participatory structures. She is a company member with Sojourn Theatre, currently engaged on Sojourn’s Don’t Go. Sara is a puppeteer with Manual Cinema (MC) most recently an original cast member of Mary Shelley’s FRANKENSTEIN (Lord Byron). She tours internationally with MC in LULA DEL RAY (Lula’s Mother); MEMENTOS MORI (Lady); and ADA|AVA. Past projects include work with: NetherRealm Studios (cinematic performance capture); For Youth Inquiry (performer & director); Actors Gymnasium (Youth Circus co-director and writer); & one step at a time like this in collaboration with Chicago Shakespeare Theater (performer).
(PERFORMER, she/her) is a citizen of the Mohegan Tribe and Executive Director of the Yale Indigenous Performing Arts Program. For her work as a theater maker she has been honored as a Forbes 30Under30, TED Fellow, and recipient of The White House Champion of Change Award from President Obama. Her solo performance piece “Where We Belong” is a part of Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company’s current season. www.madelinesayet.com
(PERFORMER, she/her) DO, MPH, is Diné/Navajo from Chimney Butte, Arizona. After 7 years of extensive and diverse medical training in Florida, New York and New Jersey she returned home. Dr. Tom is a Board-Certified Family Medicine physician. She has been working on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic since March 2020 on the southern region of the Navajo Nation which at one point was the #1 in the world of COVID-19 cases per capita.
(PERFORMER) is Iñupiaq from Nome, Alaska, with family roots in Mary’s Igloo. She currently serves as the Staff Attorney at Kawerak, Inc., providing legal services to the tribes of the Bering Strait region. Sigvanna’s partner is Michael Hoyt, a high school social studies teacher, and together they have two dogs and two cats that they love to bring on adventures qayaqing and camping around the region.
(PERFORMER, she/her) Born in Jalisco, Mexico, and currently based in Portland, Oregon, Edna Vazquez is a fearless singer, songwriter, and guitarist whose powerful voice and musical talent transcend the boundaries of language to engage and uplift her audience. Her original music crosses the genres of alternative rock, folk, pop, and r&b seamlessly and delivers a message of light, love, and cultural healing. Her passion for music and education have led her to empower youth and the community through workshops and projects with bravo Youth Orchestras, Young Audiences, and The Lullaby Project by Carnegie Hall through the Oregon Symphony. After releasing her album Sola Soy, Vazquez began to perform at venues nationwide including Lincoln Center and the Kennedy Center. She has also performed at the MGM in Las Vegas in a special performance with Latin Grammy Award-winner Flor de Toloache and Natalia Lafourcade. Vazquez received the Most Influential Latina Award in 2019 and is regularly touring with Pink Martini as featured guest vocalist. Pink Martini’s album with Vazquez, Bésame Mucho, was released on October 4, 2019.
