Melis Aker
Melis Aker (Playwright) is a London-and New York–based playwright/screenwriter, actor, and musician from Turkey. Her plays have been developed and presented Off-Broadway and regionally in the U.S. and U.K. at Signature Theatre Company in New York ( Fish, LaunchPad resident playwright), Theatre503 (Murmurs, 503Five resident playwright), The Old Vic (Hundred Feet Tall co-written with Benjamin Scheuer), Ars Nova and PlayCo (Hound Dog), and Williamstown Theatre Festival (Indigo Dreams). She has received commissions from Signature, Atlantic Theatre Company (Middle Eastern Mixfest), and La Jolla Playhouse, and has been awarded the American Theatre Wing’s Jonathan Larson Grant (Azul), named on the Kilroy’s List (Field, Awakening), and recognized as a “Woman to Watch” by the Broadway Women’s Fund. Her short play Scraps and Things was recorded for Playing On Air starring Carol Kane, where she was also co-star and composer.
Aker’s short film Baba in Graceland was developed with support from the Sundance Institute’s Interdisciplinary Grant and was an official selection for the 2025 Izmir Short Film Festival. Her feature screenplay ARI [Bee] was accepted to Maison des Scénaristes at Cannes, Berlinale Script Market, and the Proof of Concept Film Festival at the American Cinematheque. She is currently adapting The Most Beautiful: My Life with Prince, Mayte Garcia’s New York Times bestselling memoir for Crazy Legs Features, and developing an immersive game project with Sinan Eczacıbaşı of Curious Gremlin.
Aker was a NYTW 2050 Fellow, an Ars Nova Play Group member, a DGF Playwriting Fellow, and a screenwriter for Morgan Freeman’s Revelations Entertainment. She has taught playwriting/screenwriting at The New School, and prose fiction at King’s College London. She holds an MFA in Playwriting/Screenwriting from Columbia University and is completing a PhD in Creative Writing at King’s College London. She is represented by CAA, Berlin Associates, and CURATE Management.
Tatiana Pandiani
Tatiana Pandiani (Director) is a New York City–based Latin American director, choreographer, and writer whose work spans theatre, film, and immersive performance.
Recent Off-Broadway projects include Torera (WP Theater/Long Wharf Theatre/Sol Project/Latinx Playwrights Circle) and Someone Spectacular (Signature, NYC). Her work has been seen at major regional theatres including Goodspeed Musicals, La Jolla Playhouse, Alley Theatre, Miami New Drama, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Long Wharf Theatre, Dallas Theater Center, Perseverance Theatre. Upcoming projects include WOMB 2.0 by Marisela Treviño Orta at the Alley Theatre.
Tatiana’s original bilingual musical AZUL received the Jonathan Larson Award, and she is the recipient of a Lucille Lortel Alcove Commission for her new play THE AUDITION. Her short film How to Fix Grief won the Film in Focus Award and the New York Film Academy Award in 2024.
Beyond traditional theatre, she has developed large-scale and immersive work for Warner Bros. Europe, RWS Global, and experiential projects including The Bluey Experience. She also conceived FOSSE VERDON: The Duet that Changed Broadway, a live dance documentary now running fleet-wide on Holland America Cruise Lines.
Tatiana holds an MFA in Directing from Columbia University and has taught at Yale, NYU Hofstra, and the Atlantic Acting School.
Alyssa May Gold
Alyssa May Gold (Libby) is delighted to return to WP Theater after appearing in the acclaimed world premiere of Our Dear Dead Drug Lord. Her notable work onstage includes the Tony-nominated Broadway revivals of How I Learned to Drive (MTC) and Arcadia, Queens (MTC), Pocket Universe’s Julius Caesar (set in an all-girls high school), Brilliant Traces (Art of Warr), Lemon Sky and Middle of the Night (Keen Company). Her film/TV appearances include Rebel in the Rye, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, Taking Woodstock, “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” and “Law and Order: SVU.” Alyssa is the founder of Pocket Universe, a theater company dedicated to reconsidering and reimagining classic stories and conventions, whose production of her play, The Girl You Talk To, was named one of NY Theatre Guide’s Top Theater of the Year. She is represented by Clear Talent Group. Proud Member: Team SMASHY. @heylyssamay || @universepocket
Sara Haider
Sara Haider (Isha) is SO excited to be channelling her full Muslim immigrant baddie for Isha! Ever grateful to Melis Aker, Tatiana Pandiani, WP Theater, and The Signature.
Singer and actor from Karachi, Pakistan, recent credits include Attorney Wendy Stratford on NBC’s Law & Order (Michael Pressman/Season 23); and The Curfew (Shehrezad Maher; Venice Biennale).
Stage work includes Gladys Mottram in Mint Theater Company’s Garside’s Career (Drama Desk–nominated); Jasmine Sharma’s Peachy (The Public); The Collectivists by Jaclyn Backhaus (Manhattan Theatre Club); And Scene! (New York Comedy Festival); The Good Ones by Sopan Deb (Ma-Yi/ART/NY);Mxx: The Dignity Project by Deepa Purohit (The Hermitag/Asolo Rep);That Girl by Ari Afsar and Rehana Lew Mirza (NMTC/The O’Neill); Wait Until Dark; Jackson Gay and Ms. Holmes & Ms. Watson – Apt. 2B, Aneesha Kudtarkar (Dorset Theatre Festival); ALAA Family Trilogy, Adam Elsayigh & Shadi Ghaheri (NYTW x Dartmouth); Partnership dir Jackson Gay (Mint Theater Company); Mahira Kakkar’s Draupadi, dir Danilo Gambini (Rattlestick/The Huntington); and shows at The Juilliard School.
In Pakistan, Sara is a touring musician and live performer. Best known for “Ae Dil Kisi Ki Yaad Mein” with Ali Zafar on Coke Studio Pakistan, featured in Seasons 7, 8, and 9.
AADA NYC (AOS); The Juilliard School (MFA)
Representation: Mark and Steve @ Principal Entertainment LA; Katie @ Buchwald
@sarahaiderlive
Kario Marcel
Kario Marcel (Jon) Originally from Aruba, Kario Marcel is an actor and writer passionate about multi-generational, multi-cultural voices and stories. MFA NYU Grad Acting. Theater: Troilus and Cressida (Public Theater), Romeo and Juliet (Commonwealth Shakespeare Company) Three Sisters (Living Room Theater Company). Television and Film credits include Chicago Fire, Tyler Perry’s A Jazzman’s Blues, Amazon’s Dead Ringers, Broad City, and more. He is currently developing his award winning pilot script Latte into a full comedy series. Love to Rana and Iah always.
Roxanna Hope Radja
Roxanna Hope Radja (Ceyda) Broadway: Torch Song, Frost/Nixon (Broadway and national tour), The Women, and others. Off-Broadway: Playwrights Horizons (Wish You Were Here) Manhattan Theatre Club (Ruins of Civilization, Dan Cody’s Yacht), Second Stage (Torch Song) Rattlestick (Horsedreams) Blue Light (Princess Turandot) and others . Regional: English (Guthrie, Goodman, and Denver Center) Hedda Gabler (Hartford Stage), Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Richard III, Pericles, and Julius Caesar (Shakespeare Theatre NJ); Tartuffe, Indian Ink, and Hecuba (American Conservatory Theater); Princess Turandot (Westport Country Playhouse), Huntington Theater, Kennedy Center, Williamstown Theater Festival, and others. Film/TV: “CIA,” “She Said,” “The Betrayers,” “Puncture,” “The Blacklist,” “Law and Order: SVU,” “Blue Bloods,” “The Good Wife,” “Law and Order,” “Law and Order: CI,” “Unforgettable,” and “All My Children.” MFA/The American Conservatory Theater
Yasmin Ranz-Lind
Yasmin Ranz-Lind (Karya) WP/Signature Theater debut! Yasmin is a NYC-based Moroccan-American actor. Off Broadway: Smile (J2 Spotlight), Regional: Hershel and the Hannukah Goblins (Actors Theatre of Louisville), Sherwood: The Adventures of Robin Hood (Theater of the Big Bend), NY Theater: Originating the role of Princess/Chambermaid in the workshop of Allerleirauh: A New Musical (Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre), Bad Jews (Off the Lane), Lost Sock Laundry (Up Theater). BFA Syracuse University. Endless thanks to this unbelievable creative team, her incredibly supportive family and friends, TLJ, Michele, Lisa, Totoro (the cat) and her mentors and teachers who remind her “it’s called a play for a reason.” @yasminranzlind, yasminranzlind.com
Emmie Finckel
Emmie Finckel (Set Designer) is a queer, Asian-American scenic designer. Recent credits include Nothing Can Take You from the Hand of God, In the Amazon Warehouse Parking Lot (Playwright’s Horizons), Animal Wisdom, The Watering Hole (Signature Theatre), Indian Princesses (Atlantic), I’m Not Even Half, Have You Ever Thought About? (Bushwick Starr), And Then The Rodeo… (Ars Nova), Comedy of Errors (Public Theater), 53% Of (2nd Stage), Torera (WP Theater), Business Ideas (Clubbed Thumb), Medea: Re-Versed (Red Bull), See What I Wanna See (Out of the Box), Indian Princesses, As You Like It (La Jolla Playhouse), Becoming A Man (A.R.T.), Problems Between Sisters (Studio Theater), Last Call…, She Loves Me (Long Wharf), The Snow Goose, Ragtime (Goodspeed), Hurricane Diane, The Hot Wing King (Hartford Stage), Sanctuary City (TheaterWorks Hartford). Emmie holds a BA from Wesleyan University and an MFA from the Yale School of Drama, and teaches at the Playwrights Horizons Theater School. www.efinckel.com.
Siena Zoë Allen
Siena Zoë Allen (Costume Designer) (she/her) is a New York based costume designer for theater and opera. Recent credits: Heathers the Musical (New World Stages), Jesus Christ Superstar (Goodspeed Opera House), The Eyes of the World (Carnegie Hall), November 1918: The Great War & The Great Gatsby (Boston Symphony Hall, PBS), Monte Cristo (Theatre at St. Jean’s), Goodnight, Oscar and The Lehman Trilogy (Maltz Jupiter Theatre, Carbonell nom.), someone spectacular (Signature Theatre), Savior (City Lyric Opera), Here Be Sirens (Mannes Opera), See What I Wanna See (Out of the Box Theatrics), The Shark is Broken (George Street Playhouse). MFA NYU Tisch. Princess Grace Award Winner. Zoë is represented by United Talent Agency. More at www.sienazoeallen.com.
Reza Behjat
Reza Behjat (Lighting Designer) is an Obie Award-winning lighting designer based in New York City. He began his career in Iran, collaborating with the country’s most prominent theater artists before transitioning to the United States. Broadway: ENGLISH, Off-Broadway: Atlantic Theatre, BAM, Signature Theatre, Public Theater, The New Group, MCC, Playwrights Horizons, Primary Stages, Audible, Page 73, Redbull Theater, Ars Nova, etc.
Regional: La Jolla Playhouse, Guthrie Theater, Steppenwolf, Theatre, Berkeley Rep, Old Globe, Milwaukee Rep, Seattle Rep, Hudson Valley Shakespeare, Milwaukee Rep, Wilma Theater, Arizona Theater Company, Actor Theater of Louisville, Geva Theater, Long Warf, Alabama Shakespeare, etc.
G Clausen
G Clausen (Sound Designer) is an award-winning sound designer and composer based in NYC. Some of his theatre credits include: The Fire This Time Festival (Victoria Theatres at The Apollo); Torera (Women’s Project); House of McQueen (Aurora Productions); A Freeky Introduction (Atlantic Theare Company); Syncing Ink (Victora Theaters at The Apollo); Twisted Melodies (St. Louis Repertory); Queen of the Night (Victory Gardens Theatre); 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). More info can be found at gclausen.com.
Emmarose Campbell
Emmarose Campbell (Properties Design) is a NYC-based designer, performer, and producer. She is thrilled to be returning to work with WP Theatre after designing The Waterfall. Other recent credits include The Loved Ones (Irish Rep), Music City (Bedlam), and Beau the Musical (OOTB). She is the co-creator of Chorus Girl Productions, a company that focuses on work for, by, and about women. Insta: @emmarosegcampbell
Judi Lewis Ockler
Judi Lewis Ockler (Intimacy Director) is a NYC based fight/intimacy director. Past collaborations include Imperial Theater (Chess, Broadway production) The Public Theater (Much Ado About Nothing, Mobile Unit), Classic Stage Company (Snow in Midsummer, Midsummer Night’s Dream), Westside Theater (Little Shop of Horrors!), Signature Theater (Hot Wing King, One in Two, Jasper) WP Theater (Hatef**k, Our Dear Dead Drug Lord, Dirty Laundry, Bite Me), Cherry Lane Theater (This Beautiful Future), St. Anne’s Warehouse (Weathergirl), New World Stages (Dracula, a Comedy of Terrors!), The Mint (The Rat Trap), Williamstown Theater Festival ( A Raisin in the Sun with Jeremy O’Hara, A Human Being, of a Sort, with Whitney White). She teaches/directs intimacy and violence in performance at NYU, NTI, Atlantic Theater School, AMDA, New School of Drama. judilewisockler.com
Atticus Orsborn
Atticus Orsborn (Dialect Coach) is a director and voice & speech specialist based in NYC. Trained as an actor at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting and then acquired an MA in Voice Studies: Teaching and Coaching from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. Recent credits include THE THREE LITTLE PROLETARIAT PIGS on Amazon Prime Video, and HONOR SHMONOR at The Tank NYC. His second feature film SOY BOY is premiering at the Dumbo Film Festival in November 2026.
Aisling Galvin
Aisling Galvin (Production Stage Manager) is thrilled to be working with WP Theater. Previous credits include MEAT SUIT (Second Stage), Pericles (Public Theater); Artificial Flavors, Sex Variants (The Civilians); MEMNON, Othello (Classical Theatre of Harlem); Gruesome Playground Injuries (Lucille Lortel Theatre); Passing Strange (Long Wharf); Mystic Pizza (Paper Mill Playhouse); Mojada: A Medea in Los Angeles, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf (Yale Rep); Paradise Ballroom (New York Stage and Film).
Morgan Grant
Morgan Grant (Assistant Stage Manager) is a NYC-based Stage Manager, and is thrilled to be working on Fish! Recently she has been working with the New York Philharmonic [Concerts in the Park] and The Vineyard Theater [Bughouse]. Morgan was the Production Stage Manager of Off-Broadway’s The Office! A Musical Parody for several years, as well as a Stage Manager on Friends! The Musical Parody and Singfeld! A Musical About Nothing!. Other credits include working with The Public Theater [PERICLES], The Classical Theater of Harlem [MEMNON], SoHoShakespeare [Second Murderer], David Dorfman Dance [(A)way Out of My Body Tour] and Broadway Bares: Hit The Strip!. Morgan graduated with her MFA in Stage Management from Columbia University. She wants to thank her family, her partner Gabe, and Ais Galvin for making this all possible :)
Signature Theatre
Signature Theatre (Co-Producer) is an artistic home for storytellers. Founded in 1991 in New York City by Jim Houghton as a theater devoted to artists across their bodies of work, Signature deepens the relationship between artists and audiences alike through their groundbreaking, and ever-evolving, residency and producing model that amplifies the resonances between an artist’s works.
Now under the leadership of Artistic Director Emily Shooltz and Executive Director Timothy J. McClimon, the organization continues to extend residencies to both playwrights and other visionary generative theater artists. Signature makes a singular—and extremely rare, in the theater world—commitment to its diverse cohort of Resident Artists by saying “yes” upfront to at least three productions. At Signature, it’s the storyteller who drives the conversation. That trust, in turn, yields incredible results from artists who are free to take chances and uncover new terrain in their work, while Signature provides holistic creative and professional support.
Signature audiences have gotten deep dives into the distinct visions of recent Resident Artists including Stephen Adly Guirgis, David Henry Hwang, Samuel D. Hunter, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Tony Kushner, Lynn Nottage, Anna Deavere Smith, Dave Malloy, Dominique Morisseau, Sarah Ruhl, Lauren Yee, and others; in 2025, the theater welcomed its newest resident, Heather Christian. Signature and its artists have been recognized with Tony Awards, Pulitzer Prizes, MacArthur “Genius” grants, and Lucille Lortel, Obie, Drama Desk, AUDELCO, and Artios Awards as well as the 50/50 Award for Gender Parity in Theatre, among many other distinctions. In 2014, Signature became the first New York City theater to receive the Regional Theatre Tony Award for its body of work and accomplishments as an institution.
By both supporting the development of new works and allowing artists to revisit previous work with fresh eyes, Signature residencies are tailored to artists needs and career trajectories, helping them to make lasting contributions to the American theatrical canon. Additionally, by building out its Launchpad Residency (supporting early career artists) and Legacy Lab (a development lab for alumni residents), the organization seeks to foster a multigenerational artistic community. In the words of Brendan Jacobs-Jenkins, “there is nowhere like [Signature] for a playwright to grow, experiment, and create.”
Signature’s devotion to its audiences is as strong as to its artists: the organization believes every New Yorker should have access to theater, and counteracts the trend of increasingly prohibitive ticket costs throughout the city with Signature Access, its robust ticket subsidy and community outreach program, made possible in part by Lead Partner Pershing Square Philanthropies. The program democratizes access to the arts and provides tickets at affordable rates for all audiences, with tickets starting at $20 for students, $30 for audiences under 30, and $40 for a range of other demographics for every Signature production.
In 2012, Signature Theatre moved into a permanent home: The Pershing Square Signature Center, the capacious and dynamic three-theater facility on West 42nd designed by Frank Gehry Architects. The Center supports and encourages collaboration and cross-pollination among artists, cultural organizations, and local communities, and serves as a meeting place and watering hole for the larger theater community.
In 2025, in anticipation of its 35th Anniversary Season, the organization made a bold move to accelerate further evolution, introducing a vision for its present and future with its $10 million Next Act Campaign. This plan ensures the organization stability and sustainability; embraces and evolves its residency model (including a return to presenting artists’ works in closer succession—nodding to the founding model of seasons devoted to single playwrights); introduces the Legacy Lab and expands its Launchpad program to multiple writers; and rethinks the identity of the Signature Center as a multi-company Off-Broadway complex, exploring ways to collaborate and thrive alongside other organizations.
New Light Theater Project
New Light Theater Project (NLTP) nurtures a Collective of artist-practitioners by presenting compelling stories across theatrical genres.
NLTP believes in the strength of ensemble work and is committed to fostering our Collective, composed of writers, actors, directors, stage managers, designers, and other artist-practitioners from diverse backgrounds. At least 50% of an NLTP production engages our Collective, while the rest of the production team consists of innovative artists with whom we hope to cultivate deeper relationships.
NLTP strives to provide sustained opportunities for our Collective. What started as a weekly Sunday gathering of friends over pancakes, coffee, and plays has evolved into a community of artists who care about the work we contribute to the theatrical makeup of New York City, and ultimately, seek to ensure a work environment that embodies a brave, communal spirit.
Since 2013, NLTP has been a twice Drama Desk-nominated company that has mounted over 50 full productions which have received critical praise including numerous Critics’ Picks, Best of Theater 2019 (The Stage + Slant Magazine), Best of Theater 2014 (The L Magazine), induction into Indie Theater Now’s People of the Year/Indie Theater Hall of Fame, and received residencies from 59E59 Co Op Resident Company, Theatre Row on 42nd Street, The Flea Theater’s Anchor Program, Woodstock Byrdcliffe Residency Fellowship, Chicago Dramatists Grafting Project, IRT 3B Residency, 13th Street Rep, Access Theater Residency Program, and the New Theater at 45th Street (now Davenport).
NLTP is proud to call NYC home, but our work has also been seen in London, Edinburgh, Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington D.C., Louisville (KY), East Hampton (NY), Saranac Lake (NY), Woodstock (NY), Ridgefield (CT), Sylva (NC), and Redlands (CA).
NLTP is a 501(c)3 organization.
Noor Theatre
Noor Theatre (Consulting Producer) is an Obie-winning company dedicated to supporting, developing and producing the work of theatre artists of Middle Eastern, Southwest Asian and North African descent. Noor was founded in 2010 in order to serve these artists; we develop and amplify their voices for diverse audiences. As New York City’s only company with this mission, we provide an important space for MENA/SWANA voices to be heard. In doing so, we counter negative stereotypes, share nuanced work that reflects the unique perspectives of our artists, and ensure that our communities are represented and celebrated in the larger theatre ecosystem.
