The Farm Theater's Bullpen Sessions

Pooya Mohseni is a New York based award winning actor, writer, and transgender activist, born and raised in Tehran, Iran. She has appeared on stage in New York and regional theaters, including Hamlet and Comedy of Errors at the Play On Shakespeare Festival, One Woman with United Solo Festival, Galatea with the WP Project, The Good Muslim at EST, White Snake at Baltimore Center Stage, Death of the Persian Prince with the Midtown International Theater Festival and the SAIPAF, A Touch of Forever with the New York International Fringe Festival and she recently appeared in the world premiere of English in an Atlantic Theater Company and Roundabout Theater co-production, which has been nominated for Outstanding Play, Outstanding Ensemble and Outstanding Scenic Design by the Lucille Lortel Awards. Her film and television credits include Law & Order: SVU, Big Dogs, Falling Water, Madam Secretary, Lucky, Terrifier and award winning film See You Then, available now to stream on VOD.  IG @ Pooyaland

James LeBrecht has over 40 years of experience as a film and theater sound designer and mixer, filmmaker, author and disability rights activist. LeBrecht co-directed and co-produced, with Nicole Newnham, the 2021 Oscar nominated feature length documentary, Crip Camp. Crip Camp received the 2020 Sundance Film Festival Audience Award for feature length documentary, the 2021 Independent Spirit award for Best Feature Documentary and a 2021 Peabody Award.  Jim began his career in the theater in 1978, working as the resident sound designer at Berkeley Repertory Theatre for 10 years. In 1996, LeBrecht founded Berkeley Sound Artists, an audio postproduction house. His film credits include Minding the Gap, The Island President, The Waiting Room, Audrie and Daisy and, of course, Crip Camp. Jim's work as an activist began in high school and continued at UC, San Diego, where he helped found the Disabled Students Union. Jim is currently a board member at the Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund. Some of LeBrecht's additional accomplishments include co-founding FWD-Doc, an organization that supports documentary filmmakers with disabilities and being a character consultant for Pixar Animation Studios for 2 of their films. Jim is a member of the Disability Futures Fellowship, an initiative of the Ford Foundation and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. He is also a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.

Sally Cade Holmes is a two time Tony Award-winning producer and thought leader committed to making challenging and innovative entertainment with broad appeal. She believes that brave, accessible, social justice-minded storytelling will make the world a better place. Her Broadway producing credits include Hadestown (Tony Award), The Inheritance (Tony Award / GLAAD Media Award), Terrence McNally's Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune (Tony nomination), and Anastasia. Her Off-Broadway credits include Little Shop of Horrors (Drama Desk, Drama League & Outer Critics Circle Awards) and Puffs. Past credits include Nubia (featuring the queens of RuPaul's Drag Race), Boy Gets Violent (Ars Nova's AntFest), Summer Valley Fair (New York Musical Theatre Festival), Ryan J. Haddad's Hi, Are You Single (2015 Hot! Festival and 2016 Under The Radar) and Here's Hoover (directed by Tony Award winner Alex Timbers). She spent the early part of her producing career as Associate Producer at Tom Kirdahy Productions (White Rabbit Red Rabbit, The Jungle, It's Only A Play) where she was mentored by Tom Kirdahy and the late Terrence McNally. Prior to that, she served as Producing Associate at Williamstown Theatre Festival where she worked on Broadway and off-Broadway productions of The Bridges of Madison County, Fool for Love, Living on Love, The Old Man and The Old Moon, and The Visit. Sally Cade holds a Masters Degree in Arts Administration with an advanced certificate in Arts Enterprise from Boston University. She received her BS in Theatre Studies with a minor in Religious Studies from the University of Evansville. Currently, Sally Cade is a Guest Teaching Artist at Furman University where she teaches an Advanced Seminar in Creative Leadership. She is developing several new theatrical works. @sally.cade | www.sallycadeholmes.com

Narelle Sissons (she/her) is an award winning scene and costume designer whose designs have appeared on Broadway and at major theatres and opera companies across the U.S. and internationally. She has been nominated for Drama Desk, American Theatre Wing, Helen Hayes and Kevin Kline Awards and is a winner of a Back Stage West Award and a Leon Rabin Award. Her design work includes Mabou Mines Dollhouse, directed by Lee Breuer, and many productions with Labyrinth, an intersectional theatre company. A native of the UK, Sissons graduated from the Central St. Martins School of Art and Design in London and earned her master's degree at the Royal College of Art. She has lived in the United States for 28 years and currently is a professor of scene and costume design at Carnegie Mellon University.

Rowen Haigh (she/they) is a freelance director, deviser, producer, and educator as well as an activist and organizer for gender parity in the theatre. She serves as the Director of Education & Outreach with Women's Theatre Festival, as chair of the Women in Theatre Committee for the Southeastern Theatre Conference (SETC), and as a board member for the Kentucky Theatre Association.  Rowen's areas of theatrical research and practice include collaborative, non-hierarchical creation models for gender equity, community building, empowerment, and new talent development focusing on EDIA, best practices for artist health and career longevity. Rowen holds an MFA in Directing/Theatre Arts from Towson University (Baltimore, MD) and a BA in Theatre from Reed College (Portland, OR). Rowenhaigh.com

Anthony Moseley (Artistic Director, he/him) has been the Artistic Director of Collaboraction since 1999, using theater as a tool of knowledge, empathy, dialogue and action. Through this work, Moseley has commissioned and collaborated with thousands of artists to build a more equitable future for Chicago through projects including Sketchbook Festival, Peacebook, Encounter and The Light youth theater festival. As a writer/director he created Crime Scene: a Chicago Anthology and its four sequels, This is Not a Cure For Cancer, Connected and A Blue Island in the Red Sea. In 2018, Collaboraction was honored with a Comcast/Ovation Stand for the Arts Award and an Otto Award for “ground-breaking political theater.” collaboraction.org

Crystal is a member of the Playwrights' Center and alumni of Orchard Project, The Civilians, Soho Rep, EST, and Women's Project. Plays include: NY Times Critic Picks' GEEK (Vampire Cowboys), CUT (Theatre Under St. Marks), OPEN (The Tank/AFO, Offest Nomination 2021 and PULP VÉRITÉ (Kilorys List). Recipient of NY Innovative Theater Award for Outstanding Play, Earth Matters on Stage Prize with RAIN AND ZOE SAVE THE WORLD, and Clifford Odets Ensemble Play Prize for PULP VÉRITÉ (Kilroys List). RAIN AND ZOE SAVE THE WORLD is currently running at Jermyn Street Theater with Drew and Dane Productions. Previous UK credits include BIRTHDAY at Waterloo East (Kibo Productions). Musicals include MARY AND MAX (Landestheater Linz, Theatre Calgary) with composer Bobby Cronin, winning several BroadwayWorld Austria Awards & Germany's MUT Prize. POSTCARD AMERICAN TOWN (Composer Lynne Shankel) premieres this April (SDSU New Musicals' Initiative). Audio drama includes KING KIRBY (Co-written w/Fred Van Lente, scored by Bobby Cronin) on the Broadway Podcast Network and THE MAGICIAN'S MAGICIAN. Work in comic books include Adventure Time & Marvel.

Eric Reyes Loo is a playwright and TV writer based in his hometown, Los Angeles. He has produced and developed work with local theatres such as Pacific Resident Theatre, Rogue Machine, The Blank, Moving Arts and Chalk Rep and other places around the country like The Inkwell, Lark Play Development Center, Manhattan Theatre Source, George Street Playhouse and Rattlestick. He's an alumnus of the Playwrights Union and part of the Producing Artistic Circle of Chalk Repertory Theatre. Eric has participated in Moving Arts' MADLab Development series twice, writing his play, LIKE A BOY, in 2019. In 2015, he developed THIS IS ONLY A TEST (upcoming production by Broken Nose in Chicago). Eric has an MFA in Dramatic Writing from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, which he attended on a full-scholarship and was awarded a scholarship from the National Hispanic Coalition for the Arts. Most recently, Eric was an Executive Story Editor on the series, A.J. AND THE QUEEN, currently on Netflix.

Hailed by critics as the most accomplished and renowned mime of his generation, Bill Bowers currently performs and teaches the art of physical storytelling throughout the world. His methods and exploration of universal truths transcend the spoken word to educate and touch audiences in countries as varied as Poland, The Netherlands, Scotland, Japan, Macedonia, Romania, Italy, Germany, Norway, Germany and Austria. An award-winning actor, Bowers has also performed in all 50 United States and Puerto Rico appearing on the stages of Broadway, The Kennedy Center, The White House, Steppenwolf, LaMaMa, Theatre for a New Audience, St. Anne's Warehouse, Urban Stages, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, Ensemble Studio Theater, Radio City Music Hall, HERE, and the New York International Fringe Festival. His Broadway credits include Zazu in The Lion King and Leggett in The Scarlet Pimpernel. He has also portrayed the great silent clowns: Charlie Chaplin in the world premiere of Little Tramp, Pierrot in the world premiere of Beethoven N Pierrot, and Petruchka with The Colorado Symphony. A passionate student and educator, Bowers studied with the legendary Marcel Marceau and currently serves on the faculties of New York University, Stella Adler Conservatory, and William Esper Studios. He is also presently a Visiting Professor at Williams College. He holds an MFA from Rutgers University's Mason Gross School of the Arts, and an Honorary PhD from Rocky Mountain College. www.bill-bowers.com 

David Anzuelo (Founder of Unkle Dave's Fight House) is a retired 2nd degree black-belt Taekwondo tournament fighter and the founder of UnkleDave's Fight-House stage combat company. He is the resident fight-director for Labyrinth Theater, INTAR, Your Name Here: A Queer Theater Company and The Dorset Theater. Broadway fight-director: Disgraced (Lyceum). Other theatre fight-direction credits: And I And Silence (Signature). Sticks & Bones; Intimacy; Clive; One Arm; Blood From A Stone; Rafta Rafta; A Brief History of Fire; (New Group). The Patron Saint of Sea Monsters; The (Curious Case of the) Watson Intelligence (Playwrights Horizons). Adoration of the Old Woman; Pinkolandia; American Jornalero (INTAR). Shesh Yak; Ode to Joy; The Hill Town Plays ; The Long Shrift; A Fable; Basilica; Post No Bills ; War (Rattlestick). The Muscles in Our Toes; Radiance; Guinea Pig Solo (Labyrinth). Othello, Macbeth (Epic Theater Ensemble). Whipping Man; Superior Donuts; Dial M For Murder; Deathtrap (Dorset Theater). Small Engine Repair (MCC). Macbeth 1969 (Long Warf). The Maids (Redbull). Film fight direction : Poor Behavior; Emoticon; The Ribbon; Palladium; Helen At Risk, as well as two music videos with rap artist Anonymous (And.On.I.Must). Acting credits for stage: Intimacy; Aunt Dan & Lemon (New Group); Points of Departure(Intar); Knives & Other Sharp Objects (Public/Lab); The Motherf*cker With The Hat (Kitchen Theater); 12 Angry Men (Northern Stage); Oedipus El Rey (Woolly Mammoth); September Shoes (Geva); Frost Nixon (Rep Theater of St. Louis); Stand-up Tragedy (Joseph Jefferson Award : best supporting actor); The Merchant of Venice (International Tour). Film acting: A Walk Among the Tombstones; Prime; Reservation Road; Remember Me; Brooklyn Heist; You Won't Miss Me. Television acting: Deadbeat; White Collar; Person of Interest; Law & Order; The Sopranos; Law & Order: SVU; NYC-22. He's a member of Labyrinth Theater Company, an associate artist at INTAR, and the associate artistic director of Your Name Here: Queer Theater Company. Dave has taught at NYU; Columbia University; Connecticut College; Queensboro College and the Abrons Arts Center. 

Sarah Nina Hayon is a bi-coastal actress, producer and entrepreneur. As an actress she has had the honor of receiving three Drama Desk nominations for her work on stage and her performances have been featured on annual top 10 lists in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles. She has performed and developed plays on and off Broadway with New York Stage and Film, Manhattan Theater Company, The Vineyard, New York Theater Workshop, Playwrights Horizon and many more. Her on-screen credits include 13 Reasons Why, Succession, Pose, Danny DeVito's Curmudgeons, Heirloom, Unforgettable, Are We There Yet, The Green (with fellow producer Molly Pearson), SATC, Law & Order, Avatar. Passionate about new works she has long been dedicated to the development of new plays both on and off Broadway. She was a co-founder and Associate Artistic Producer of The 24Seven Lab, a NY based developmental non-profit created to support and nurture new plays. The 24Seven Lab acted as an incubator for the early careers and works of many playwrights, most of whom are now household names.  

As Artistic Director of Boomerang, Tim Errickson has produced 60 full productions(including 19 outdoor Shakespeare productions)and overseen development workshops and readings for over 70 new plays. Tim has directed Boomerang productions of CANDIDA, HAMLET and BURNING THE OLD MAN, among others. In addition to Boomerang, Tim has been on staff at Lincoln Center Theater and New Dramatists. www.boomerangtheatre.org

NEIL TYRONE PRITCHARD is a Liberian-American, New York-based Actor/Singer/Teaching Artist. His most recent Acting Credits include: Halfway Bitches Go Straight To Heaven (LAByrinth Theater Company/Atlantic Theater Company), There's Always The Hudson (The Goodman Theatre) The Berlin Electric (Park Ave Armory/Trusty Sidekick), The Prizefighter of P.S. 217 (New Victory LabWorks), The Mendelssohn Electric (Park Ave Armory/Trusty Sidekick), The Stowaway (Classic Stage Company/Trusty Sidekick), Clover (La Mama), Queen Latina and Her Power Posse (Cherry Lane Theater), AT BUFFALO (NYMF). He has been a part of workshops and concerts at Sundance  TheaterLAB, Manhattan Theater Club, Dorset Theater festival, Joe's Pub, Bowery Poetry Club, Lincoln Center Theater, and Primary Stages. He is currently on staff at the Park Avenue Armory where he brings Arts Education to public schools throughout the five boroughs. A Proud New York City Public School Kid and A Member of LAByrinth Theater Company and Actors Equity.  

Madeline Barr is a theatre & film actor, writer, director, and educator. She got her BFA from NYU Tisch where she studied at the Experimental Theatre Wing. She has worked with LAByrith, EST, The Orchard Project, and The Public. Some of her favorite work includes: "Three", a play she co-wrote, about trios of sisters throughout time from King Lear's daughters to the Kardashians, "Night Witches" a play she helped to devise about the first ever all female fighter-pilot crew, and "Creative Dave", a new play work-shopped at The Farm by Youngblood writer Jake Brasch, which Madeline acted in at Alchemical Studios. She is currently guest-teaching and directing a play at Denver School of the Arts, performing improv with Red Thread Playback Theatre, writing a play in The Farm's New Play Development Workshop, and getting her 200 hour yoga teaching certificate. When she is not doing theatre, Madeline runs her own personal chef/catering business, "BarrsKitchen".

Rylie Butzbaugh-Patrick an actor and singer hailing from Madison Wisconsin. She is a graduate of Shenandoah Conservatory where she earned a B.F.A in Acting. In her time since graduating, she has been working with Cherry Lane Theatre, in NYC, as an artistic intern. Rylie can next be seen in the Featured Film, Cupid For Christmas - set to be released this upcoming holiday season!   Alia Shahid was born and raised in Fairfax Station, VA. Alia graduated with a BFA in Acting from Shenandoah Conservatory, where she found a deeper love and understanding for her craft, and honed newfound talents, such as playwriting and theatre production photography. In 2020, she had her off-Broadway/Zoom debut in Dipti Bramhandkar's Feet In The Forest Leave No Mark, and had her feature film debut in CUPID FOR CHRISTMAS, which is set to release this December on Hulu. She is currently living in Los Angeles, California to pursue film. When Alia isn't doom-submitting on Actor's Access, you can find her on the hunt for the best breakfast burrito in Burbank, rewatching Euphoria, or supporting local businesses. She's very grateful to be given the opportunity to chat with The Farm Theater about her experiences, and hopes to inspire other artists with her thoughts on moving forward during the pandemic.   Diana Smith is an actor, writer, and theatre educator who is currently completing a postgraduate year of service with an Americorps Program in Chicago, where she is exploring the improv and sketch comedy scenes. Since graduating from Centre College with degrees in English & Dramatic Arts, Diana has studied sketch comedy writing with Upright Citizens Brigade (L.A.) and written for and performed in “Moxie,” a virtual sketch lab produced by Magnet Theater (NYC). In the past year, Diana has also worked on a number of projects with DCSG Theatre, a group of talented creatives striving to create compelling theatre in the digital age.

Jose Solís is a Honduran critic based in NYC. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, TDF Stages, Backstage, American Theatre, 3 Views, America Magazine, and more. He's also the co-creator and co-host of Token Theatre Friends. He wanted to become a critic since he was 10 and became obsessed with classic Hollywood movies. He began writing professionally at age 16 when he started his first website. After moving to NYC he fell in love with theatre and sees around 300 shows a year. He's a member of the Drama Desk, the Online Film Critics Society, the Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics, and the Latino Entertainment Journalists Association.

Victor Almanzar, is a New York based actor who came from the Dominican Republic at an early age.  He appeared as Oswaldo in the Pulitzer Prize winning production of Between Riverside And Crazy in both The Atlantic Theater and Second Stage Theater (NYC) and the Steppenwolf Theater (CHICAGO).  He also appeared as Oscar at The Steppenwolf Theater production of Grand Concourse.  He has completed a lead role in the feature film 11:55 (INDEPENDENT), a recurring role in the series Homeland as lieutenant Wenzel (Showtime), a recurring role in the series Power as Arturo (STARZ), a recurring role in the series Empire as Big Heavy (FOX), a supporting role in the feature film Brawl in Cell Block 99 (XYZ FILMS), a guest star role in Blue Bloods (CBS), a guest star role in Chicago PD (NBC), a guest star role in High Maintenance (HBO), and a role in LFE (a pilot for CBS). Before turning his attention to acting, Victor was in the United States Marine Corp, where he served in Kosovo and Iraq.  Since then he has worked on the New York stage, Regional Theaters, and in London.  He was nominated for The Lucille Lortel Award for his role in Between Riverside And Crazy. Victor is a proud lifetime member of The Actors Studio.

Alice Kremelberg: Actor. Alice is currently shooting Season Four of The Sinner. She is in The Trial of the Chicago 7 for Netflix/Dreamworks. She recurred as 'Nicole Eckelcamp" on the last two seasons of Orange is the New Black. She was nominated for an Emmy for her performance as Kat in The Feels, which she co-wrote.  She can also be seen in Doomsday (ITV Fest, Brooklyn Web Fest + HollyWeb Fest winner of Best Series) On stage she originated the role of Reba in Dry Land at NYSAF + HERE and she played Cassandra opposite Austin Pendleton in Dress of Fire at the Abington. Alice trained at The Atlantic Acting Conservatory. 

Kelly AuCoin (Actor) Showtime series Billions, where he plays 'Dollar' Bill Stearn. Pastor Tim on FX's The Americans.  House of Cards, he played Doug Stamper's brother, Gary. AMC's TURN: Washington's Spies, playing Hercules Mulligan. Recently in Donald Marguiles' play, Long Lost, at Manhattan Theatre Club. It was directed by Daniel Sullivan and co-starred Annie Parise, Alex Wolff, and Lee Tergesen. I played Ted Caccioppi in HBO's The Wizard Of Lies.  Signature Theatre's The Wayside Motor Inn, which was honored in 2015 with a special Drama Desk Award for "Outstanding Ensemble." played Octavius Caesar opposite Denzel Washington in the Broadway revival of Julius Caesar.  He is from the great state of Oregon and is a RABID Portland Trail Blazers fan.

Abby Marcus is a producer, teacher, and consultant. Current projects: producer for The One You Feed, an immersive dance theater production with Witness Relocation; consulting producer for BigBlackOctoberSurprise by Paul Outlaw at REDCAT. Abby was the Managing Director/Lead Producer for the OBIE Award winning “geek theatre” company, Vampire Cowboys where she produced The Inexplicable Redemption of Agent G; Alice in Slasherland; Soul Samurai (GLAAD Media Award nominee); Fight Girl Battle World (NY InnovativeTheater Award nominee); and more. She has served as the Managing Director for the Orchard Project, General Manager/Interim Managing Director for the Playwrights' Center, the Managing Director for the Dramatists' Guild of America, General Manager for HERE Arts Center, Company Manager for LAByrinth Theater Company, and the Director of Finance for Baryshnikov Arts Center and St. Ann's Warehouse. She served as Chair for the Honorary Awards Committee for the NY Innovative Theater Awards and was a founding Board Member for the League of Independent Theatre, New York and re-envisioned the MFA Producing program for California Institute of the Arts.

MELISSA FRIEDMAN is co-Artistic Director of Epic Theatre Ensemble and has performed in numerous Epic Off-Broadway productions including Hannah and Martin with David Strathairn, Einstein's Gift with Aasif Mandvi, A Hard Heart with Kathleen Chalfant as well as Habitat, A More Perfect Union, Time and The Conways, Othello, Little Eyolf, Macbeth, and Born with Teeth. Other Off-Broadway & Regional credits include An Ideal Husband (Tennessee Rep), Last Night of Ballyhoo (Fulton Theatre), Much Ado About Nothing and Degenerate Art (Irondale), and Substance of Fire, Macbeth, and Henry IV directed by Jack O'Brien (Old Globe). MFA in Acting from the University of San Diego.  Other credits include AN IDEAL HUSBAND at Tennessee Rep, LAST NIGHT OF BALLYHOO at Fulton Opera, Beatrice in MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING with Irondale, a witch to Victor Garber's MACBETH and Lady Mortimer in Jack O'Brien's production of HENRY IV at the Old Globe. Melissa has directed 13 Shakespeare Remix productions for which, on behalf of Epic, she received the 2009 National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award from First Lady Michelle Obama at the White House. Before co-founding Epic, Melissa worked as a Lead Teaching Artist with many NYC theatres including Roundabout, BAM's Shakespeare Teaches program, and Theatre for a New Audience. She co-developed Epic's Citizen Artist curriculum and currently acts as a Lead Teaching Artist in Epic's partner schools and outreach programs. Melissa received her BA from Oberlin College and MFA from the Old Globe University of San Diego.

FRANCE-LUCE BENSON Playwright and Community Engagement Coordinator with The Fountain Theatre in Los Angeles. Named “Someone to Watch ” in 2019 by American Theatre magazine, she is a recipient of a Miranda Foundation grant (DETAINED), Alfred P. Sloan Foundation New Play Commission (DEVIL'S SALT), and a Princess Grace Award runner up (BOAT PEOPLE).   Additional honors include: Zoetrope Grand Prize (CAROLINE'S WEDDING); Dramatists Guild Fellow 2016-17, Sam French OOB Festival Winner, NNPN Award for Best Play, and three time Kilroy List Honorable Mention.  Residencies include Djerassi, the Camargo Foundation in France, and Instituto Sacatar in Bahia, Brazil. Her plays have had productions, workshops, and readings at Crossroads Theatre New Jersey, City Theatre of Miami, The Playwrights Center, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, City Theatre of Miami, Loyola Marymount University, Global Black Voices in London, and in New York The Lark, The Billy Holiday Theatre, and the Ensemble Studio Theatre where she is a company member. She's been published by Sam French and Routledge Press. She earned an MFA in Dramatic Writing from Carnegie Mellon University and a BA in Theatre from Florida International University. Teaching appointments include UCLA Extension, St. Johns University, Columbia University, Girl Be Heard, and P.S. Arts/Inside Out in L.A. She is a proud member of The Dramatists Guild, Inc.

Juan Francisco Villa is an actor, playwright and teaching artist currently residing in Los Angeles. He has worked nationally with both his acting and writing being performed in New York City, Los Angeles, Syracuse, and Chicago. His credits include numerous theatres, including New York Public Theatre, the Goodman, Rattlestick, television including Madame Secretary and The Blacklist, and film. He has been nominated for two Joseph Jefferson Awards, 3 New York Theatre Innovation Awards, won ITBA Patrick Lee Award, and performed in all three of Luis Alfaro's Greek trilogy plays Elictricidad, Oedipus El Rey, and Mojada. Juan's play, Empanada for a Dream, was named best show in Chicago and Los Angeles. Juan did VO for an animated pilot for FX called Little Demon with Aubrey Plaza, Danny Devito and Lucy Devito. He shot an indie called To Leslie with Allison Janney, Marc Marron, Andrea Riseborough, Andrea Royo, Stephen Root. I'm sure Fall of 2021 it will be released. Around that time. Maybe we can see it in theaters then :)

Purva Bedi A 2019 Drama Desk Award winner for her work in Dance Nation (Playwrights Horizons), Purva is an Associate Artist of Target Margin Theater and a member of the Actors Center.  New York theater credits include: Wives (Playwrights Horizons), Passage (Soho Rep), India Pale Ale (Manhattan Theater Club), An Ordinary Muslim (New York Theatre Workshop), Uncommon Sense (Tectonic Theater Project), The Idiot (Here Arts Center), Veil'd (Women's Project); Ten Blocks on the Camino Real, Reread Another, The Tempest, and Second Language (Target Margin); There or Here (Hypothetical Theater), The Rise of Dorothy Hale (St. Luke's); East is East (Manhattan Theater Club & New Group); and many others. She recently shot the NBC pilot One Of Us Is Lying.  Her guest and recurring appearances include Billions, High Maintenance, She's Gotta Have It, The Code, Madam Secretary, Person of Interest, Unforgettable, Nurse Jackie, The Blacklist, The Good Wife, A Gifted Man, Gossip Girl, House, Boston Legal, Alias,  Law & Order and Law & Order: Criminal Intent, The Drew Carey Show, ER, Strong Medicine, and The West Wing. www.purvabedi.com 

Florencia Lozano is an Actor and Writer. Florencia can be seen on Netflix's show Narco. She has worked extensively on T.V. and in theatre. She has worked at The Public Theater, New York Theatre Workshop, Manhattan Class Company, Manhattan Theatre Company, and LAByrinth Theatre Company. On T.V. she has been seen on numerous shows: Narco, Madame Secretary, Kevin Can Wait, The Blacklist, and What Am I Doing Here. She played Téa Delgado on One Life To Live. She is also a writer. Her play Underneath My Bed premiered at Off-Broadway Rattlestick Theatre. Her film that she stars in and co-wrote Life After You will be screening in festivals this upcoming season. Flor has an MFA from NYU and is a founding member of LAByrinth Theater Company.

Felix Solis (Actor) plays Ray Vera on Ozark and is currently filming season 4. He started booking Film and Television gigs starting with shows set in NYC such as New York Undercover, NYPD Blue and Third Watch and the film Empire (starring opposite John Leguizamo and Peter Sarsgaard). Soon Felix appeared in acclaimed television Shows such as The West Wing, OZ, Law & Order: SVU, The Sopranos, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Damages and Fringe (to name only a few); and numerous films such as The Forgotten (opposite Julianne Moore), Wes Craven's My Soul To Take, Man On A Ledge (opposite Sam Worthington and Ed Harris) and Arbitrage (opposite Tim Roth). With his roots in theatre, Felix has also continued to work on stage receiving the HOLA 2013 Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor for the production of Basilica at New York's prestigious Cherry Lane Theatre; a Connecticut Critics Circle Award in 2008 for Boleros For The Disenchanted and a Helen Hayes Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Passion Play in 2006. He is especially proud of a letter Al Pacino wrote him to thank him for his performance in the original production of Our Lady Of 121st Street with the LAByrinth Theatre Company of which he has been a member since 1999. In addition to acting, Felix co-created a film production company, Subway Token Films, where their first short film, TINTO, premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2014; their next short film, iHeart (which he directed), made its world premiere at the Hoboken International Film Festival; it won the Award of Merit at One-Reeler Short Film Competition.

Andrea Dymond is a Chicago-based freelance director, specializing in new work, Andrea was formerly Resident Director at Victory Gardens Theater. She directed 11 productions there, including 7 world premieres. Chicago credits include Tree, Year Zero, Blue Door, Free Man of Color, Shoes, and I Have Before Me a Remarkable Document…(Victory Gardens); Helen (Next); and Keep A Song In Your Soul, which she directed and developed with the Grammy Award-winning Carolina Chocolate Drops (Old Town School of Folk Music). Other regional credits include: the new musical, St. Heaven (Village Theatre) and Having Our Say (Madison Repertory). Recent credits include: Shepsu Aahku's Softly Blue (MPAACT) and Lynn Nottage's Mud River Stone, (Eclipse) In addition, Andrea's experience includes research and production dramaturgy, directing at new works festivals nationally; serving as thesis play advisor for MFA playwrights at Carnegie Mellon; and, directing at NNPN's MFA Playwrights Workshops, at the Kennedy Center. Andrea teaches directing, collaboration, text analysis, acting and new play development at Columbia College Chicago, where she recently directed a production of Blues for an Alabama Sky, by Pearl Cleage and Euripides's Hecuba, in the traditional style, with masks, and a singing and dancing Chorus.

LISA RAMIREZ (playwright/actor) Associate Artistic Director at Oakland Theater Project, Artistic Associate at Cherry Lane Theatre.  Roles include, The Angel in Angels in America at Berkeley Rep, Blanche Dubois in A Streetcar Named Desire at the Ubuntu Theater Project in Oakland. Lisa has performed extensively at theaters on both the East and West Coast such as the Cherry Lane Theatre, Atlantic Theatre Company, Working Theater, The Foundry, Ubuntu Theater Project, Magic Theatre, Berkeley Rep amongst others. Writing credits include, Exit Cuckoo (nanny in motherland) was first presented Off Broadway by the Working Theater (Colman Domingo- director) and subsequently toured in various theaters throughout the U.S. and Ireland; Art of Memory, a dance theatre piece, commissioned by Company SoGoNo and presented at the Ontological-Hysteric Theater and the 3-Legged Dog in New York (Tanya Calamoneri- director) Invisible Women-Rise, Foundry Theatre & Domestic Workers United; To The Bone, originally a Working Theater commission, was a finalist for the 2012 NPN Smith Prize, the O'Neill National Playwrights Conference and the Ellen Stewart Award; All Fall Down was conceived/written in at INTAR during the Maria Irene Fornés Hispanic Playwrights in Residency Lab; Contributing playwright for In Mother Words, presented at the Geffen Playhouse and various regional theatres (Lisa Peterson- director); In 2012/13 Lisa was part of the Mentor Project at the Cherry Lane Theatre where she wrote Pas de Deux (lost my shoe), (Bryan Davidson Blue- director); In September 2015, the Cherry Lane Theatre presented the world premiere of To The Bone (Lisa Peterson- director).

Victor Malana Maog was born in the Philippines, raised in the Bay Area, and is a graduate of New York University Gallatin School, with a concentration in Global Leadership and Performance Studies. A highly respected theatre director, educator, and arts leader with more than twenty-five years of experience directing projects, programs, and companies. He's directed and developed works at The Public Theater, Hartford Stage, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Signature Theatre Company, Mabou Mines, Working Theater, York Theater, Drury Lane, Connecticut Repertory Theate, New Dramatists & The Lark. He was the Artistic Director of Second Generation 2016-18, he served as Show Director for Disney Parks Live Entertainment creating and directing stage shows, large scale events, and spectaculars for millions of visitors. www.victormaog.com   

Elyzabeth Gregory Wilder's plays include Gee's Bend, Fresh Kills, The Flagmaker of Market Street, The Furniture of Home, White Lightning, Provenance, and Everything That's Beautiful.  Her plays have been produced at the Royal Court (London), Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Denver Center, Cleveland Play House, KC Rep, Northlight, the Arden, B Street Theatre, and Hartford Stage, among others.  Her one act Santa Doesn't Come to the Holiday Inn was featured in the Marathon of One Act Plays at the Ensemble Studio Theatre. Elyzabeth is the recipient of the Osborn Award given by the American Theatre Critics Association and is a graduate of the dramatic writing program at New York University. Elyzabeth is the current Tennessee Williams Playwright-in-Residence at Sewanee: The University of the South where she teaches playwriting.

Jessica Asch is a licensed Creative Arts Therapist (LCAT) and a Registered Drama Therapist (RDT). She holds a BFA in Acting and an MA in Drama Therapy from New York University. Jessica has worked in a variety of settings helping individuals with developmental disabilities, veterans struggling with complex PTSD, Holocaust survivors, adolescents in the juvenile justice system, adults struggling with substance abuse, and individuals living with chronic mental illness. www.jessicaasch.com

Celeste Lagrotteria is the Production Manager for Manhattan Theatre Club. At MTC she production managed My Name is Lucy Barton, Ink, Choir Boy to name a few.  She has also worked with Center Theatre Group, The Mark Taper Forum and The Kirk Douglas Theatre,  and Williamstown Theatre Festival. She has overseen productions at the highest level Celeste began her professional career at Kentucky Shakespeare Festival. She has an MFA in Production Technology & Theatre Management from Carnegie Mellon, and is a graduate of Centre College.

Jenni Werner is the Literary Director and Resident Dramaturg at Geva Theatre Center. In that role, she has served as dramaturg on 29 productions at Geva, including classics and world premieres by Wendy MacLeod, Deborah Zoe Laufer, Cass Morgan, Nora Cole, Jamie Pachino, Mat Smart, Gabriel Jason Dean, Keith Glover, Lila Rose Kaplan and Brent Askari. In 2015, Jenni co-produced Geva's blues festival celebrating the life and legacy of musician Son House, Journey to the Son. Jenni also produces Geva's new play programming, and has led the development of over 40 new plays during her tenure at Geva. Additionally, she directs Geva's commissioning of new plays through the Rochester Stories program. Previously, Jenni served as the Director of Programming at Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for the non-profit theatre field. From 2005-2011, she produced TCG's annual National Conference, curating the content and organizing the logistics for the largest national gathering of professionals in the non-profit theatre field. For six years, she was an adjunct instructor at New York University, and is now an adjunct instructor at the Rochester Institute of Technology. Jenni has an M.F.A. in dramaturgy from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and a B.A. in theatre and history from Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois. She also serves on the board of ImageOut, Rochester's LGBT film festival.

Kerry O'Malley is a wonderful actor who has worked on Broadway, Film, and Television. She is currently cast in the Broadway Revival of 1776 and can be seen on the new series Snowpiercer on TNT. Her theater credits include Broadway and National Tour of White Christmas, Into The Woods, On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, the original cast of How I Learned To Drive, for television Shameless, Boardwalk Empire, Brotherhood, and film credits include Terminator Genisys with Emilia Clarke and Arnold Schwarzenegger, Annabelle, Annabelle: Creation, the Disney feature Earth to Echo, Case 39 with Renee Zellweger, The Happening with Mark Wahlberg, Rounders with Matt Damon, and many others. She is also a huge Boston sports fan. www.kerryomalley.com

Stephanie Klapper (Stephanie Klapper Casting) is a New York-based Casting Director whose work is frequently seen on Broadway, Off-Broadway, regionally, internationally, on television, and on film. Projects she has cast have won numerous awards, including the Tonys, OBIES, Artios, Drama Desk, Pulitzer Prize, Sundance Audience Award, Cannes Prize Du Publique, and Comic Con awards. Frequent and long time collaborators include Primary Stages, Mint Theater Company, New York Classical Theatre, american vicarious, The Peccadillo, Masterworks, Resonance Ensemble, Hudson Valley Shakespeare Company, Cincinnati Playhouse, Capital Repertory Theatre, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Adirondack Theatre Festival, Ford's Theatre, Kansas City Rep, The New Theatre, as well as many more both in New York and regional theatres around the country.

Michael Stuhlbarg is a great actor. His films include Call Me by Your Name, The Post, The Shape of Water (all three nominated for an Oscar for best picture in the same year), Blue Jasmine, and A Serious Man. For Television: Boardwalk Empire and The Looming Tower. Theater: Michael played the title roles in Socrates at the Public Theatre and Hamlet in Shakespeare in the Park, and was on Broadway in Pillow Man for which he won a Drama Desk Award and was nominated for a Tony. He is currently in New Orleans filming the series Your Honor by Peter Moffat.

CHRISTINE BRUNO (actor/teaching artist/disability inclusion consultant) MFA — acting & directing, the New School. Member — The Actors Studio, NY Shakespeare Exchange; Advisory Company member, National Disability Theatre. Leadership — SAG-AFTRA NY Local Board; Chair, SAG-AFTRA New NY Local Performers with Disabilities (PWD) Committee; SAG-AFTRA National PWD, Actors' Equity EEOC. Theatre: Cost of Living, Glass Menagerie, world premieres — Bekah Brunstetter's Public Servant (Off-Broadway), The Maids (adaptation by Jose Rivera), The Good Daughter, musicals The Ugly Girl, Raspberry (UK tours). Film and TV: God Friended Me, Law & Order, Best Summer Ever, Hungry, award-winning features Flatbrush Luck and This is Where We Live. 

Estefanía Fadul, Director, stopped by and talked with us before the pandemic and social distancing. Estefanía Fadul is a Colombian-born, New Hampshire-raised, New York City-based director and producer. She loves working on new plays, musicals, and re-examined classics. Her work aims to connect diverse communities through inventive, visceral, and socially-conscious storytelling. Estefanía's recent directing work includes the world premieres of Christina Quintana's Azul (Southern Rep) and Scissoring (INTAR, off-Broadway), Stefan Ivanov's The Same Day (Sfumato Theatre, Bulgaria), James Anthony Tyler's Around 2 (KeenTeens), and the Spanish-language musical Óye Oyá by Rebecca Martínez and Rodolfo Ortega (Milagro).  Estefanía is a recipient of the Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center/NNPN's National Directors Fellowship (2017), the Foeller Fellowship at the Williamstown Theatre Festival (2017), the Drama League Directors Project's Fall Fellowship (2015) and TV Directing Fellowship (2016), and the Van Lier Fellowship at Repertorio Español (2014-15). She is a member of the New Georges Jam and The Latinx Theatre Commons steering committee, and a former member of The Civilians' R&D Group and the Lincoln Center Theatre Directors Lab.  

Join us as we talk with Centre College Theatre Chair Matthew Hallock about his enduring love for the theatre, working in academia and the lessons he's taken along the way. Padraic and Matthew have known each other since their high school days and have been working together ever since -- most recently on the Farm Theatre's College Collaboration, where Matthew and the students of Centre College play a pivotal role.

Bullpen Rerelease! Laura Jellinek was nominated for a Tony Award for her design of Oklahoma! She also designed the world premieres of The Wolves, Heroes of the Fourth Turning, Mary Page Marlow - along with many other wonderful groundbreaking productions. Laura won an OBIE for sustained excellence in design in 2013. She has an MFA from NYU.

Damon Kiely is a professional director and writer, as well as a full time professor of directing and acting for DePaul's Theatre School. He has directed for Next Theatre, TimeLine Theatre Company, A Red Orchid Theatre, American Blues Theatre, Chicago Dramatists and Route 66. His world premiere adaptation of Thieves Like Us was produced by the House Theatre of Chicago and the Theatre School. He served as the Artistic Director of American Theater Company from 2002 to 2007.  Prior to moving back to Chicago he produced, directed and taught in New York City. In New York he directed for the Public Theatre, New York Theatre Workshop, the Ontological Theater, Adobe Theater Company, PS122, Ensemble Studio Theater and New Dramatists. Damon also served as the Artistic Director for Real Time Theater and was a Producing Director at the Ontological-Hysteric Theater as well as the Associate Artistic Director for the Children's Theater of Maine. He is a winner of the 2000-02 NEA/TCG Career Directing Program, the 2000 Drama League Fall Directing Program and the 1997 Princess Grace Award. He lives in Edgewater with his wife Jennifer and their children, Isabella and Fi​nnegan.

Nicole Brewer is a director, actor, educator and facilitator. She is a passionate advocate for anti-racist theatre and is invited across the US and the UK to teach and speak about Conscientious Theatre Training. Her advocacy for the theatre industrial complex to replace racist and oppressive practice with anti-racist and anti-oppressive practices has appeared in both American Theatre and HowlRound.

Rajiv Joseph chatted with us over Zoom. Rajiv's play Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo was a 2010 Pulitzer Prize finalist for Drama and also awarded a grant for Outstanding New American Play by the National Endowment for the Arts. He has twice won the Obie Award for Best New American Play, first in 2016 with Guards at the Taj (also a 2016 Lortel Winner for Best Play) and then, in 2018, for Describe the Night.  Other plays include Archduke, Gruesome Playground Injuries, Animals Out of Paper, The Lake Effect, The North Pool, and Mr. Wolf. Joseph has been awarded artistic grants from the Whiting Foundation, United States Artists and the Harold & Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust.  He is a board member of The Lark in New York City, where he develops all his plays. He served for three years in the Peace Corps in Senegal and now lives in Brooklyn, NY.

Adam Szymkowicz, playwright, stopped by to talk with Padraic at the SETC. Adam's work has been presented or developed at such places as Portland Center Stage, MCC Theater, Ars Nova, South Coast Rep, Playwrights Horizons, LCT3, LAByrinth Theater Company, The Lark, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, Primary Stages and The New Group, among others. Published plays include Deflowering Waldo, Pretty Theft, Food For Fish, Hearts Like Fists, Incendiary, Clown Bar, The Why Overhead, Adventures of Super Margaret, 7 Ways To Say I Love You, Rare Birds, Marian Or The True Tale of Robin Hood, Kodachrome, Mercy and Nerve. His plays are published by Dramatists Play Service, Samuel French, Playscripts, Broadway Play Publishing, Original Works Publishing, and featured in New York Theatre Review, the Dionysian, NYTE's Cino Nights, Geek Theater, and numerous Smith and Kraus books. He's the Playwrights Program Manager at The Juilliard School. Adam has interviewed over 1000 playwrights on his blog.

Ashlee Latimer, TONY Award winning producer sat down to talk with Padraic at SETC. Ashlee is a producer and writer based in New York City. Co-producing projects include: The Inheritance (Broadway), Once On This Island (Tony Award), The Jungle (West End), and Be More Chill (Broadway, Off-Broadway). Currently, Ashlee handles creative development for Hunter Arnold's production company, TBD Theatricals. In addition to her work with TBD, Ashlee has assisted artists such as Andy Blankenbuehler (Hamilton) and Tim Federle (High School Musical: The Musical: The Series); worked with major NYC theatre companies in various capacities, including Roundabout Theatre Company, Disney Theatrical Group, and Broadway Across America; and most recently was the Brand Strategist for The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical.

Maegan McNerney Azar took time to talk with us during the SETC convention. Maegen is the new President of the Board of SETC. She is Associate Professor of Acting and Directing and Chair of Theatre Arts at Furman University. Maegan directed Kimberly Belflower's College Collaboration Project John Proctor is the Villain at Furman University. She also works and directs in the professional theatre of Greenville, South Carolina.

Playwright Chisa Hutchinson stopped by the studio to chat about her experience from her first play, She Like Girls, to her latest, Proof of Love, that was commissioned and produced by Audible. Chisa has worked with The Lark Play Development Center, New Dramatists, Keen Company, Penumbra, Primary Stages, Writers Theatre of New Jersey, NJPAC, and she's currently teaching creative writing at Delaware University and three film projects in development. Also, we had a special guest, her dog Smitty, you get to hear a little from him as well. 

Eric T. Miller is an NYC based actor. His theater credits include Mope (EST) rogerandtom (HERE Arts Center), Ever So Humble (Hangar Theatre), The Last Seder (Mint Theater), Safe Home (Royal Family Productions), Sweet Storm (LAByrinth/Alchemy Theatre Co.), Broken Hands (Fringe and Fringe Encore) and Betrayed (The Culture Project) with workshops and readings at New York Theater Workshop, New Georges, LARK, New York Stage and Film, LAByrinth, the Public, EST/Youngbloods and Rattlestick.  Television and Film include The Unusuals (ABC), Kings (NBC), Law & Order (NBC), Shame (Dir:  Steve McQueen), Reaching Home, Brewsie and Willy, Pieces, My Secret Friend and the upcoming Home (Dir:  Jono Oliver).

Director Taibi Magar stopped by the studio to talk with us today. Taibi is an Obie Award winning director and works Off-Broadway and at major Regional Theaters. In NYC she directed Is God Is at Soho Rep (Obie Award), Underground Railroad Game at Ars Nova, and Master at The Foundry. Padraic met Taibi over a decade ago when she was recommended to work with him and it has been a joy to watch her career - and it was a pleasure to catch up.  

Actor Liza Colón-Zayas stopped by the studio to chat with us about her journey. Liza is currently in Stephen Adly Guirgis's Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven at The Atlantic Theatre. Liza is an original company member of The LAByrinth Theater Company and has been in numerous of Stephen's plays, including Our Lady of 125th Street and the Pulitzer Prize winning Between Riverside and Crazy. She is a good friend and very generous in sharing her experience.