Patrice Johnson Chevannes
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
Natalie Paul (Bean) is an award-nominated actress, writer, and director. After her critically acclaimed breakout in David Simon’s HBO series Show Me A Hero, her performance in the Sundance Audience Award winner Crown Heights earned her a NAACP Image Award nomination. In television, Natalie most recently played Gloria James in the Lebron James biopic Shooting Stars on Peacock. She has a played a variety of characters on such as The Sinner, The Deuce, YOU, The Blacklist, and led the Blumhouse thriller Delivered, among others. Her leading roles in short films “Suicide by Sunlight” (Sundance 2019; dir. Nikyatu Jusu) and “Evelyn x Evelyn” (HBO) showcase her range across genres. In theater, Natalie has led critically acclaimed productions Cry Old Kingdom (Humana Theater Festival) The Mountaintop (Portland Center Stage), and Romeo & Juliet (Classical Theater of Harlem). A first-generation Haitian-American, Natalie champions Haitian culture and voices, including narrating Raoul Peck’s documentary FATAL ASSISTANCE about the 2010 earthquake. She most recently starred in NEW YORK DAY WOMEN, a film adaptation of the short story by Edwidge Danticat. She is a graduate of Yale University and holds an MFA from the NYU Tisch Graduate Acting Program.
Phanésia Pharel
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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.
