We are so looking forward to being together. Feel free to arrive anytime after 12:30pm. There will be about 35 of us including members of The Lab team.
This will be an informal and intimate few hours as we connect/ reconnect with one another and draw inspiration from this amazing group.
We will reflect on the moment we find ourselves in, share some windows into projects and initiatives that may bring us closer together, and imagine forward together. We will move between some experiences on our feet a bit (nothing embarrassing we promise!), some time in small groups, and some time all together.
One question that will animate our time together is drawn from one of The Lab's signature projects, Remember This: The Lesson of Jan Karski
What can we do that we are not already doing?
S C H E D U L E O V E R V I E W :
Wednesday, January 8, 2025
12:30-1:00 PM Arrivals at La MaMa Etc. (74 East 4th Street, 3rd Floor)
Light refreshments will be provided and we encourage you to come a little early and mingle if you can.
1:00-5:00 PM Convening Program at La MaMa Etc. (74 East 4th Street, 3rd Floor)
Facilitated sessions hosted by The Lab with share-outs on inspiring projects and initiatives from participants, and opportunities to connect and imagine forward.
5:15-6:45 PM Celebratory Group Dinner (87 E 4th St, New York, NY 10003) Via Della Pace
7:00 PM Evening Performance of SpaceBridge (Ellen Stewart Theatre, 66 East 4th Street, 2nd floor, New York, NY 10003)
Conceived and Directed by Lab Creative Core Member Irina Kruzhilina
ERSIAN FRANÇOIS
GENERAL MANAGER / ASSOCIATE PRODUCER
A creative solution seeker and arts advocate with an international arts management background, Ersian’s experience as an artist and arts professional spans from Baroque opera to contemporary theatre. At The Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics, Ersian leads the daily financial and administrative operations, and manages a wide range of artistic projects at the intersection of arts and politics. She has served on the Civic Practice grant committee for Opera America; collaborated with The Folger Shakespeare Library, The Avalon Theatre, and the Bowie Center for Performing Arts to create communitycentric events; and is the co-creator of the acclaimed family program Opera Starts with Oh! Online. While living in Paris, Ersian worked with the Choir and Orchestra of Sorbonne Universities, Jérémie Rhorer’s Le Cercle de l’Harmonie, Raphaël Pichon’s Pygmalion, and co-founded the Karaïb Festival in Île-de-France. She holds an MA in Music Administration and Management from Sorbonne Université in Paris and was born and raised in Trinidad and Tobago.
DIRECTOR/ CO-FOUNDER
Dr. Derek Goldman is an award-winning international stage director, playwright, producer, festival director, adapter/ deviser, curator, and published scholar. He serves as Artistic and Executive Director of The Laboratory for Global Performance & Politics (The Lab), which he co-founded in 2012 with Ambassador Cynthia Schneider with a mission “to humanize global politics through performance.”
He is Professor of Theater and Performance Studies at Georgetown with a joint appointment in the School of Foreign Service In nineteen years at Georgetown, he has also served as Chair of the Department of Performing Arts, Director of the Theater & Performance Studies Program, and Artistic Director of the Davis Performing Arts Center.
He is director and co-author of the celebrated play “Remember This: The Lesson of Jan Karski. The play was created by The Lab and stars Oscar-Nominated actor David Strathairn, and has been performed to great acclaim Off-Broadway and at leading theaters worldwide. He also co-directed and co-authored the new feature film version (Remember This) which has received awards at numerous festivals and aired nationally on PBS Great Performances.
Goldman has directed over 100 theatrical productions and has worked regularly as an adapter/playwright at leading off Broadway, and international and regional theaters
He was honored to receive the prestigious President’s Award for Distinguished ScholarTeachers as well as the Provost’s Award for Innovation in Teaching for his work around the world on In Your Shoes, a groundbreaking approach he created to counter polarization by using innovative techniques rooted in theatrical performance, dialogue and deep listening. His In Your Shoes workshops have been shared with thousands of participants in diverse settings and contexts around the world, and the approach is now being scaled as part of The Lab’s In Your Shoes Research and Practice Center
RACHEL GARTNER
CO-DIRECTOR, IN YOUR SHOES RESEARCH AND PRACTICE CENTER
Rachel Gartner is a rabbi, dialogue facilitator, educator, and activist with deep roots in the work of performance for social transformation. She joined the core teaching team of In Your Shoes in 2019. Years prior, she served as Interim Artistic Director of TOVA: Theater of Witness for Social Change, through which she created and produced performances by members of Martin’s Run Life Care Center, PA and by teens of Yes! Theater, Media, PA. She is a dialogue facilitator and facilitation trainer for Resetting The Table, and holds certificates in dialogue facilitation from Sustained Dialogue Institute, DC and the Richmond Center for Conflict Resolution, IN. Rachel served as the Director for Jewish Life at Georgetown for 11 years, and is now the rabbi at congregation Shirat HaNefesh, Montgomery, MD. She is a past co-chair of T’ruah: Rabbinic Call for Human Rights, and works in various contexts in education and chaplaincy for those impacted by the US carceral system. In her rabbinic capacity, she has made multiple appearances on NPR’s 1A as well as one on CNN.
Rachel is a graduate of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, an alumni of the Marshal T. Meyer Rabbinic fellowship of B’nai Jeshurun, NYC, and of the CRR rabbinic internship of Congregation Beit Simchat Torah, NYC. She holds BA magna cum laude from Barnard College, where she focused her work and theses on gender, race, and class in post-modern and contemporary American dance
Rachel’s performance, dialogic and rabbinic work are all powered by her trust that each love-inspired, mindfully approached, and artfully taken step in the journey towards justice and wholeness brings us closer to both, to our best selves, and to each other.
EMMA JASTER ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR/ RESIDENT MOVEMENT ARTIST
Emma Jaster is an internationally trained director, choreographer, and facilitator based in the U.S. She has led projects with UTheatre in Taiwan, the Natanakairali Institute in India, Robert Wilson’s Watermill Center, LaMama’s Directors’ Symposium, and the Grotowski-based Teatr Zar in Poland. She has been granted artist residencies at ODC in San Francisco, HERE Arts and BAX in NYC, and artist fellowships from the DCCAH and the Asian Cultural Council. She has led workshops at IDEO, MoMA, Cornell Tech, University of Louisville, and Georgetown University in everything from body language to play. She is the founder and director of the international artist residency @mamaisamaker. Grounding her life practice in social justice and the cultivation of peace, she believes in the power of art to help us listen more deeply and love more openly.
IJEOMA NJAKA
SENIOR LEARNING DESIGNER FOR TRANSFORMATIONAL AND INCLUSIVE INITIATIVES
Ijeoma Njaka (she/her/hers) serves as the Senior Learning Designer for Transformational and Inclusive Initiatives at the Red House and the Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics at Georgetown University. In this joint position, she specializes in arts-based approaches to inclusive and anti-racist teaching, curricula, and faculty development. A co-recipient of the 2021 Provost’s Innovation in Teaching Award for her work with the Lab’s performance-based dialogue program In Your Shoes, she also teaches courses on Remember This: The Lesson of Jan Karski, critical speculative design, and arts and enduring meaning. Since 2022, Ijeoma has also received multiple individual fellowship awards from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities. Ijeoma holds an MA in Learning, Design, and Technology from Georgetown University as well as an AB from Brown University. Learn more at www.ijeomanjaka.com.
CYNTHIA P. SCHNEIDER CO-FOUNDING DIRECTOR
Cynthia P. Schneider, Distinguished Professor in the Practice of Diplomacy at Georgetown University, teaches, publishes, and organizes initiatives in the field of cultural diplomacy, with a focus on relations with the Muslim world. Ambassador Schneider co-directs the Los Angeles-based MOST Resource (Muslims on Screen and Television). Additionally, she co-directs the Timbuktu Renaissance, an innovative strategy and platform for countering extremism and promoting peace and development, which grew out of her work leading the Arts and Culture Dialogue Initiative within Brookings’ Center for Middle East Policy.
Cynthia teaches courses in Diplomacy and Culture in the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, where, from 1984-2005, she was a member of the art history faculty, and published on Rembrandt and seventeenth century Dutch art. She also organized exhibitions at the National Gallery of Art and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Cynthia publishes and speaks frequently on topic related to arts, culture, and media and international affairs, particularly about the Muslim world. Her writings range from blogs for the Huffington Post, CNN.com, and Foreign Policy to policy papers for Brookings.
From 1998-2001 she served as U.S. Ambassador to the Netherlands, during which time she led initiatives in cultural diplomacy, biotechnology, cyber security, and education. Cynthia has a Ph. D. and BA from Harvard University, and she serves on multiple Boards of Directors and Advisory Boards. http://cynthiapschneider.org/
MÉLISANDE SHORT-COLOMB COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT ASSOCIATE
Mélisande Short-Colomb began her relationship with Georgetown University in 2017 as a descendant of two families enslaved and then sold by the Society of Jesus in 1838 to ensure the solvency of the institution. Following the Working Group on Slavery, Memory, and Reconciliation recommendations and with the support of President Jack DeGioia, Mélisande was one of two undergraduate students accepted into the College. Beginning as a freshman, and continuing to this day, she has developed an ongoing relationship with the Laboratory for Global Performance & Politics. Under the direction of Derek Goldman, Meli has written, developed, and will be performing her one person show Here I Am.
Meli serves on the Board of Advisors for the Georgetown Memory Project, is a founding Council Member of the GU272 Descendants Association, and was on the GU272 Advocacy Team. She was a leading voice in the student referendum on the $27.20 reconciliation fee, which passed with overwhelming student support on April 11, 2019. She received the 2019 Fr. Bunn Award for journalistic excellence for commentary in support of the “GU272 Referendum to Create a New Legacy.”
Additionally, Meli serves as a Research and Community Engagement Associate for The Lab, a position for which she is very well qualified given her high media profile. Meli is frequently invited to speak on the subjects of the GU272 and reparations. Her talks vary from testimony before the InterAmerican Commission on Human Rights, to speaking at the Brooklyn Historical Society, to a TEDx talk. Meli has been featured in print in outlets from the Washington Post and The New Yorker to the AARP Journal.
A native of New Orleans, LA, she retired from a lengthy culinary career, most recently as Chef Instructor for Langlois Culinary Crossroads, to relocate to Washington to attend Georgetown University. Her family includes four adult children and much-loved grandchildren, and scores of newly identified GU272 extended family members.
P A R T I C I P A N T B I O S :
Nicole Albanese 1. Andrea Assaf 2. Fidaa Ataya 3. Jessica Bauman 4. Leila Buck 5. Yide Cai 6. Catherine Coray 7. David Diamond 8. Robert Duffley 9. John Eisner 10. Jamie Gahlon 11. Christopher Hibma 12. Genevieve Juras 13. Tommy Kriegsmann 14. Irina Kruzhilina 15. Michael Leibenluft 16. Roberta Levitow 17.
Kate Loewald 18. Todd London 19. Erwin Maas 20. Camila Madero 21. Raghad Makhlouf 22.
Pete Marra 23.
Megan McClain 24. Michael McGuigan 25.
Jim Nicola 26. Ronee Penoi 27.
28.Ben Pesner
29.Heather Raffo
30.Kathy Randels
31.Bill Rauch
32.Michael Rohd
33.Yura Sapi
34.Joanna Sherman
35.Sophia Skiles
36.Susan Stroupe
37.Meiann Teo
38.Brandice Thompson
39.Sara Zatz
NICOLE ALBANESE
NICOLE ALBANESE is a writer and performer based in Brooklyn, NY. She has written, devised, and performed theater for social change, working with Columbia University’s Directing MFA Program, Fort Point’s On With Living and Learning, and the Georgetown Lab for Global Performance and Politics. Nicole is also a founding member of New Relic Theatre, where she performs, generates new work, and engages the community around works that recontextualize the theatrical canon. She has worked extensively with other arts communities and nonprofits, such as Brooklyn Poets and Heartbeat Opera, which reimagines classical operatic works to speak to modern themes. She’s also a member of Moms Against Sketch Comedy, which performs regularly at Brooklyn Comedy Collective. Nicole holds a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre & Performance Studies and American Studies from Georgetown University.
ANDREA ASSAF
Andrea Assaf is a writer, director, performer, and cultural organizer. She is the founding Artistic Director of Art2Action Inc. and Co-Director of the National Institute for Directing & Ensemble Creation. Her original work, Eleven Reflections on September, has been featured at OSF as part of CAATA’s National Asian American Theatre Festival, La MaMa, The Apollo, The Kennedy Center, The Carver Center, and internationally. Awards include the 2024 Joyce Award for DRONE with the Arab American National Museum, 2021 Silk Road Film Awards Cannes (Director, Best Experimental Feature), 2019 NEFA National Theatre Project and NPN Creation Fund Commissions, 2017 Finalist for the Freedom Plow Award for Poetry & Activism, 2010 Princess Grace Award, and more. Andrea holds a master’s degree in Performance Studies and a BFA in Acting, both from NYU. She currently serves on the Board of the MENA Theatre-Makers Alliance (MENATMA) and the Executive Committee of Alternate ROOTS. https://www.art2action.org/artists /Andrea-Assaf
FIDAA ATAYA
Fidaa Ataya is a storyteller. Her grandmother, forcibly expelled from her home and homeland in Al Bourj Palestine in 1948, would tell her stories. As she listened, Fidaa would fly with her imagination across borders, across the occupation, to freedom. Traditionally, women in Palestine told stories in private, not in public. But Fidaa tells stories in public, using them as a tool for survival, to pass on the anthropology of her people, to prove their existence and resistance. She holds a bachelor’s degree in education and psychology, diplomas in drama and education and playback theatre, and an MEd in Integrated Arts from Plymouth State University (NH). Fidaa has produced and performed shows in Palestine, Europe, America, and the Arab world and performed in numerous festivals across the globe. She has founded or co-founded a number of groups including the Art and Activism Residency, Hakaya Group to revive traditional Palestinian storytelling, Women’s Theatre at Burj Al-Barajna refugee camp, The Rain Singer Theatre at Tulkarm refugee camp, and the Palestinian American Children’s Theatre (PACT), and heart Al Risan Art Museum (hARAM).
JESSICA BAUMAN
Jessica Bauman is a director and community-engaged theater maker based in Brooklyn, NY. Together with Mexican director Ramón Verdugo, she co-created and codirected The Frontera Project, an interactive, bilingual theater experience that uses theater, music, movement, and play to actively engage audiences in a compassionate and often joyous conversation about life on the US/Mexico Border. The Frontera Project has been performed at theaters and universities across the US and at Teatro Las Tablas in Tijuana, Mexico. Jessica also adapted and directed Arden/Everywhere, a retelling of Shakespeare’s As You Like It as a refugee story, produced OffBroadway with a cast of both professionals and nonprofessionals from refugee and immigrant communities in New York City. During the development of this project, she worked closely with refugee communities in the US and at Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya.
LEILA BUCK
Leila Buck is a Lebanese American writer, performer, facilitator, and educator who has used theatrical tools to foster expression, connection, engagement, and healing with students, educators, aid workers, community organizers, and UN delegates across the U.S., Europe, China, Australia, and 11 Arab countries. Her writing and performing credits include American Dreams (dir. Tamilla Woodard; Cleveland Public Theater, Working Theater, Round House, Marin Theatre Co, Salt Lake Acting Co, Hartford Stage, ASUGammage - Drama League nomination), In the Crossing (dir. Shana Gold; developed at The Public Theater, Culture Project, NYTW, Brooklyn Museum), and Hkeelee: Talk to Me (Mosaic Theater at Arena Stage; State Dept. Speaker Specialist tour in Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, and Lebanon). Acting credits include Aftermath (NYTW, international tour – Drama League nomination) and Scorched (Wilma Theater - Barrymore Award). Her writing has been published in American Theatre, Stages of Resistance, Innovation in Five Acts, Etching Our Own Image: Voices from the Arab American Art Movement, and Four Arab-American Plays. A TCG Fox Fellow and Usual Suspect at NYTW, she is also an adjunct professor at NYU.
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YIDE CAI
From Shenzhen, China, Yide Cai is a MFA in Playwriting candidate at Boston University, and a graduate of Emory University with a BA in Playwriting & German Studies. He is a poet, translator, and an award-winning playwright with plays that have been selected to festivals such as KCACTF, Kanini Fest, WTP Table Series, and NSYPF. He is a global fellow of the Laboratory for Global Performance & Politics, and a member of TPOC Producing cohort. He also works as a producer, director and dramaturg in productions worldwide such as with Prague Shakespeare Company, and the premieres of the Chinese version “Dead Poet Society”, “The Book Of Will”, and “Lydia & The Troll”.
CATHERINE CORAY
Catherine Coray has taught at the NYU Tisch School of the Arts since 1991, and has taught and collaborated with artists in Austria, Belarus, Chile, Cuba, Egypt and Lebanon. As an actor, she worked regionally and off-Broadway with directors such as Anne Bogart and Andre Gregory. She was the curator of the hotINK Festival at Tisch School of Arts and at The Lark, and Director of The Lark Middle East-US Playwright Exchange; she curated and co-produced Arab Voices: here/there/then/now (Abu Dhabi, 2016), Arab Voices: Stories of Palestine (Beirut, 2018), and Arab Voices: Three New Dramatic Texts from Beirut and Berlin, at the NYU Abu Dhabi Institute in NYC (2019.) She is currently working with Noor Theatre and the Foundation for Arab Dramatic Arts on the next iteration of Arab Voices, to take place in Beirut, Sept 2024. Catherine is a Producing Affiliate with the Noor Theatre, and serves on the advisory boards of several institutions, including The Georgetown Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics Think Tank, Golden Thread Productions in San Francisco, and the Artistic Advisory Council of Playwrights Horizons.
DAVID DIAMOND
David J. Diamond is Artistic Producer of the La MaMa Umbria International Symposia in Spoleto, Italy. He serves on the Steering Committee for Theatre Without Borders, which is engaged with the International Exchange among theatre artists. He co-produced conferences such as Socially Engaged Performance: A Global Conversation. He is a Founder and Trustee of the Barrow Group Theatre located in New York City. He is an author, professor, community activist, and Facilitator (“joker”) of Forum Theatre. As a Fulbright Specialist in Theatre, he had a residency with Dah Teatar in Belgrade, Serbia. He received two CEC ArtLink Residencies in St. Petersburg, Russia. Other international residencies include Erbil, Kurdistan and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, with Sundance Theater Project.
David is Founder and Director of Transformative Coaching for Theatre Artists, which provides individual and group coaching and presents workshops, including Directing Your Theatre Career at major universities, providing resources for navigating a career in the professional art world. His most recent publications are a chapter in Dah Teatar: A Sourcesbook, published in 2016, and the “Prenotazione” in Butta La Pasta: Cucina at La MaMa Umbria, published in 2017.
ROBERT DUFFLEY
Robert Duffley is a theater artist, editor, and teacher based in New York City. As a dramaturg, Robert partners with writers, directors, composers, collectives, and institutions to develop new plays and original stagings of classic work. He is particularly committed to international and interdisciplinary projects recent collaborators include biologists, poets, climate activists, magicians, and the archive. He serves as Dramaturg for LubDub Theatre Co and We Hear You A Climate Archive. Currently an Adjunct Lecturer at Georgetown University, Robert has taught previously at Harvard University and Emerson College.
JOHN EISNER
JOHN CLINTON EISNER is a stage director and producer of classic and contemporary work as well as a story consultant for theater and media. For 27 years, he served as Artistic Director of The Lark, a play development center think-tank for the theater based in New York City. Currently, he is President of Peacedale Global Arts, supporting theater makers through international and intercultural exchange, and Creative Producer in Residence at En Garde Arts, a national innovator in sitespecific, community-based theater. He has worked closely with hundreds of award-winning writers and is affiliated with three UTR projects this year: “Old Cock,” “Seagull Fcker,”* and “SpaceBridge.” He has dedicated his career to reducing structural barriers to the arts and encouraging inclusive pathways into theater and media careers through intercultural exchange, fellowships, increased artist compensation, and local artmaking.
JAMIE GAHLON
Jamie Gahlon (she/her/hers) is a cultural organizer, producer, and theatremaker. She is the Director and Co-Founder of HowlRound Theatre Commons, a free and open platform for theatremakers worldwide that amplifies progressive, disruptive ideas about the art form and connects diverse practitioners. Jamie also serves as Associate Vice President and Interim Senior Director of the Office of the Arts at Emerson College, where HowlRound is based. Prior to her work at HowlRound, she launched the American Voices New Play Institute and the NEA New Play Development Program as part of the Artistic Development team at Arena Stage. Jamie has also worked for New York Stage & Film and the New Victory Theatre. She holds a B.S. in Foreign Service with a focus on Culture & Politics from Georgetown University and an MA in Performance Curation from Wesleyan University’s Institute for Curatorial Practice in Performance.
CHRISTOPHER HIBMA
Christopher Hibma is an arts leader and advocate for meaningful cultural exchange, with an international career spanning theater, film, and social change. He is dedicated to creating spaces where art and politics intersect to inspire collective action and belonging. Christopher previously led the Sundance Institute Theatre Program, supporting global artists in the development of groundbreaking new work, and has collaborated with organizations such as Ettijahat –Independent Culture, Videos for Change, Cinereach, and the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative to amplify underrepresented voices. As Chair of the Board for Zoukak Theatre Company in Beirut, he partners with artists committed to global solidarity and determination. He is also the founder of The Enclave, an innovative global residency program connecting artists with spaces for deep creative exploration, and a member of the Guild of Future Architects, with work reflecting a commitment to equity, justice, and the transformative power of art and systems.
GENEVIEVE JURAS
Genevieve ‘Gigi’ Juras (she/her) is a North Carolina-bred and Brooklynbased choreographer and director with a background in dance, theatre, mathematics, and a fascination with the magic of the outdoors. A selfidentified forever-learner, she is interested in reimagining new works and rehearsal processes to more fully incorporate the innate physical intelligence of the human body. Her directing and choreographic work sits at the intersection of “pure movement” and drama, with a focus on bringing visibility to underrepresented expressions of gender and sexuality and creating a physical language when spoken language falls short. A multi-faceted theatre maker, she has experience in creative (direction, choreography, performance) and production (stage management, costume coordination and design, producing) roles. Her work has been shaped by collaborations with Soho Rep, Theatre Raleigh, Burning Coal Theatre, the American Dance Festival, La MaMa Umbria, and her closest collaborator, playwright Mya Ison.
TOMMY KRIEGSMANN
ArKtype / Thomas O. Kriegsmann (Producer) specializes in new work development and touring worldwide. His past work includes collaborations with Kaneza Schaal, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Peter Brook, Daniel Fish, Victoria Thiérrée-Chaplin, Yael Farber, Anna Deavere Smith, Annie-B Parson & Paul Lazar, Jessica Blank & Erik Jensen, Peter Sellars, Julie Taymor, and John Cameron Mitchell. Recent premieres include 600 HIGHWAYMEN’s A THOUSAND WAYS, nora chipaumire’s NEHANDA, Sam Green’s 32 SOUNDS with JD Samson (Oscar Shortlist), Bryce Dessner’s TRIPTYCH (EYES OF ONE ON ANOTHER) directed by Kaneza Schaal, John Cameron Mitchell’s THE ORIGIN OF LOVE, Kaneza Schaal & Christopher Myers’ CARTOGRAPHY, Sam Green & Kronos Quartet’s A THOUSAND THOUGHTS, Big Dance Theater / Mikhail Baryshnikov’s MAN IN A CASE, Toshi & Bernice Johnson Reagon’s PARABLE OF THE SOWER, and Nalaga’at Deaf-Blind Theater’s NOT BY BREAD ALONE. Ongoing collaborations include Bryce Dessner, Sophia Brous, 600 HIGHWAYMEN, Sam Green, Timothy White Eagle, Andrew Schneider, Big Dance Theater, John Cameron Mitchell & Amber Martin, and Compagnia T.P.O. He recently concluded the first citywide festival edition of UNDER THE RADAR. Upcoming premieres include Sufjan Stevens & Justin Peck’s ILLINOISE, Bryce Dessner & Kaneza Schaal’s UNTITLED OCEAN VUONG PROJECT, Sam Green’s UNTITLED TREES DOCUMENTARY PROJECT, and Penny Arcade’s autobiographical epic THE ART OF BECOMING. He is a founding member of CIPA (The Creative & Independent Producer Alliance). More information can be found at arktype.org.
IRINA KRUZHILINA
Irina Kruzhilina is a New York-based director, scenographer, visual dramaturg, experience designer, and educator, creating work that intersects visual art, live performance, and civic engagement. Her creative endeavors range from downtown theatre to large-scale parades, opera, and site-responsive installations. Since 2005, her work has been shown locally and globally at venues such as Times Square, Tokyo Disney, BAM, Prague National Theatre, the NY Philharmonic, the XXI Commonwealth Games, and the Barbican Center. She is the founder of Visual Echo, a multidisciplinary performance organization aimed at combating polarization by fostering genuine contact between people from diverse backgrounds. Recently, she created SpaceBridge, a live performance connecting Russian refugee children, who fled due to their families’ antiwar stance and now reside in NYC shelters, with American-born peers to build a more welcoming world where their new friendships can thrive. Irina is an associate professor at the New School of Drama, where she co-developed a new MFA program in Contemporary Theatre and Performance. She is a La MaMa resident artist and a Joan D. Firestone Fund Award recipient.
MICHAEL LEIBENLUFT
Michael Leibenluft (he/him) is an Obie Award-winning theater and film director whose work is rooted in collaborative storytelling, multilingualism, and cultural exchange. His theater directing credits include I’ll Never Love Again (a chamber piece) by Clare Barron at the Bushwick Starr (Obie Award for Direction, 2016; NYT and Time Out Critics’ Picks), Salesman 之死 by Jeremy Tiang, The Dancing Room by Yehuda Hyman, How I Learned to Drive by Paula Vogel with Drum Tower West Theater in Beijing, Lost Tribe by Agnes Borinsky at Target Margin, The Subtle Body by Megan Campisi at 59E59 Theaters and the Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center, and other projects with Ars Nova, New York Theater Workshop, Atlantic Theater Company/NYU, and several theaters in China and Taiwan. He currently serves as Artistic Director of Gung Ho Projects and is an Arts Consultant for the Yale-China Association.
ROBERTA LEVITOW
Roberta Levitow is a director, dramaturg, teacher, and producer who has directed over fifty productions in NYC, LA, and nationally. She is the cofounder and co-director of Theatre Without Borders, with a current focus on performance and the climate crisis, and co-initiated the Acting Together on the World Stage Project. From 2004-2019, she served as Senior Artistic Associate for the Sundance Institute Theatre Program’s East Africa and Middle East/North Africa initiatives. She is the co-creator, with Kenyan musician Eric Wainaina, of the Nairobi Musical Theatre Initiative (NBOMTI), in collaboration with faculty from NYU’s Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program. Roberta has been honored at the 2003 Cairo International Festival for Experimental Theatre and received the 1992 Alan Schneider Award. She has held Fulbright Specialist teaching assignments in Ethiopia (2018), Uganda (2007), Romania (2005), and Hong Kong (2003). Her work has been featured in The New York Times, American Theatre Magazine, Theatre in Crisis? Performance Manifestos for a New Century, Writing the World: On Globalization, and RoundUp (League of Professional Theatre Women in NYC). A graduate of Stanford University, Roberta has taught at UCLA and Bennington College and is part of the Think Tank of The Lab. More information can be found at robertalevitow.com.
KATE LOEWALD
Kate Loewald is the Founding Producer of PlayCo, where with her team she has produced 44 world, U.S. and New York premieres of plays from the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, South and East Asia, Central and South America, and the Russian Federation. She is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Columbia University School of the Arts, and has also been a faculty member at The New School, Fordham College, and New York University. She led the literary department at the Manhattan Theatre Club through the 1990s, overseeing programming and creative development, and was also Director of MTC’s acclaimed Writers in Performance series in 1998 and '99. Prior to MTC, she was the producing associate to Margo Lion on several productions on and off Broadway.
TODD LONDON
Todd London has been a leading figure in U.S. nonprofit theater for over 35 years and was the first recipient of Theater Communications Group’s Visionary Leadership Award for “an individual who has gone above and beyond the call of duty to advance the theater field as a whole.” He spent 18 seasons as Artistic Director of New York’s New Dramatists and served as Executive Director of the University of Washington’s School of Drama from 2014-18, where he held the Floyd U. Jones Family Endowed Chair. His many books include two novels, If You See Him, Let Me Know and The World’s Room; This Is Not My Memoir (with Andre Gregory); and theater books An Ideal Theater, Outrageous Fortune, The Importance of Staying Earnest, The Artistic Home, and Zelda Fichandler’s The Long Revolution (editor). He is the founding director of The Third Bohemia retreat and the director of the Legacy Playwrights Initiative.
ERWIN MAAS
Erwin Maas is a New York-based theatermaker, curator, educator, and international arts advocate from the Netherlands with extensive global experience across various creative and community contexts. A curious traveler, he prioritizes collaboration and embraces contemporary, interdisciplinary approaches with a vision that places culture and the arts at the center of society. He is the Co-Executive Director of the Pan-African Creative Exchange (PACE) and teaches at CUNY Brooklyn College’s MFA Performance & Interactive Media Arts Program (PIMA). His directions in New York have received multiple NYTimes Critic’s Picks. As former Artistic Director of the International Society for Performing Arts, Director of the Fellowship Program for the International Performing Arts for Youth, and Director of Performing Arts for the Cultural Department of the Royal Netherlands Embassy & Consulates in the USA, Maas has a vast knowledge and network in international cultural relations and policy. More information is available at www.erwinmaas.com.
CAMILA MADERO
Hola! I’m Camila Madero, an Argentinian-American playwright and performer based in Brooklyn, NYC. I was born in Philadelphia to a Jewish family, growing up in a swirl of Spanglish and a colorful mix of cultures. My life has taken me to places like Mendoza, Argentina; Bogotá, Colombia; and Montpellier, France experiences that have shaped not just my sense of self but also the stories I feel compelled to tell.
My work, inspired by In Your Shoes work, draws from recorded conversations with others, which I then weave into narratives mixed with magic and history. My play Our Dirty War started with long talks with my father about his past in Argentina before and after the dictatorship. What began as a way to understand him and our family history turned into a story about memory, intergenerational trauma, exile, and the pieces of ourselves we recover through connection.
I studied English and Theater at Georgetown University and trained at Stella Adler, HBO, and RADA. At the heart of everything I create is a desire to help people feel seen and hopefully a little less alone. (And if there’s room for a good laugh along the way, even better.)
RAGHAD MAKHLOUF
Raghad Makhlouf’s DC area credits include Agreste (Helen Hayes Awardnominated for Outstanding Ensemble) and Sonnets for an Old Century at Spooky Action Theater; Selling Kabul (Understudy) at Signature Theater; Timon of Athens (Understudy) at Shakespeare Theatre Company; In This Hope with The Welders; and Hamlet (Staged Reading) at Folger Theatre. In Vermont, she performed Hamlet and The Tempest in rep at Shakespeare in the Woods.
Her international credits include SYRIA: Wretched Dreams and AB negative at The Opera House; The Poster at The Russian Cultural Center; and Tactic at Alhamra Theatre in Syria. In Denmark, she performed in Venus Labyrinth at Masnedø Fort.
Raghad Makhlouf holds a B.F.A. from The Higher Institute of Drama in Syria and an M.F.A. in Classical Acting from the Shakespeare Theatre Academy at GWU. You can find her on Twitter at @raghadmakhlouf.
PETE MARRA
Peter Marra uses birds to help us define and understand broad environmental issues, tackling contemporary conservation challenges by addressing fundamental knowledge gaps at the intersection of ornithology, ecology, and conservation biology. His transformative work including quantifying the loss of 3 billion birds from North America, the impacts of climate change, the astounding ecological destruction of outdoor cats, and emerging diseases such as West Nile virus explores the interaction between humans and our environment and poses critical questions to humanity about the environmental costs of urbanization and globalization. His work spans biology, engineering, physiology, and biogeochemistry, and has helped ignite new research into the study of full life cycles of migratory animals while furthering technological advances, including the use of genetics, stable isotopes, and remote tracking technologies.
MEGAN MCCLAIN
Megan McClain is a NYC-based dramaturg and collaborative theater artist who co-founded Peacedale Global Arts to promote international and intercultural exchange through theater. As Artistic Director, she leads the company’s new play development initiatives in the U.S. and abroad, with ongoing collaborations in Portugal and Transylvania. She previously served as Second Stage Theater’s Literary Manager, scouting plays for Broadway and Off-Broadway venues. As the former R&D Program Director at The Civilians, she supported over 80 writers, composers, and directors creating new plays and musicals. Megan also worked at The Lark, a new play laboratory, for nearly seven years. Her additional dramaturgy and literary work includes collaborations with Goodman Theatre, Disney Theatrical, Playwrights Realm, Superhero Clubhouse, PlayPenn, and more. She holds an M.F.A. in Dramaturgy from UMass Amherst.
MICHAEL MCGUIGAN
Michael McGuigan is an actor, director, musician, and instructor for Bond Street Theatre (BST) since 1979, participating in the company’s projects, cultural exchange programs, and international performances in over 50 countries. He has been the Managing Director of BST since 1986. Michael is the playwright for several BST productions, including The Mechanical, The Pied Piper of Hamelin, and Law of the Jungle, and co-writer for Beyond the Mirror, Powerplay, and Cozmic Jazz. He also performs as a raconteur and drummer with the Shinbone Alley Stilt Band, seen at the Kim Tom Clown Festival in Shanghai, China, and the 600th Anniversary of Stilt Fighting in Namur, Belgium. Michael was a performer in the Public Theatre’s Delacourt Theatre and Broadway production of The Tempest, directed by George C. Wolfe, and a guest performer in the Acrobuffos’ NYC performances in the Big Apple Circus. His article “Can Laughter Set You Free” about theatre in Myanmar and the infamous Moustache Brothers was published in American Theatre Magazine.
JIM NICOLA
James C Nicola was the Artistic Director of NY Theater Workshop from 1988 to 2022. Prior to that, he was first a National Endowment for the Arts Directing Fellow and then Producing Associate at Arena Stage, with Zelda Fichandler. He was a Casting Coordinator at Joseph Papp’s NY Shakespeare Festival. He worked as a director or assistant Off-Off Broadway, and in London at the Royal Court Theater and The Young Vic Theater. He is a graduate of Tufts University, and was awarded a Special Tony Award and a Lifetime Achievement Obie Award.
RONEE PENOI
Ronee Penoi (Laguna Pueblo/Cherokee) is the Interim Executive Director of the Office of the Arts at Emerson College and the Director of Artistic Programming at ArtsEmerson, Boston’s leading presenter of contemporary world theater. Previously, she was a Producer with Octopus Theatricals, advancing the work of Cherokee artist DeLanna Studi (And So We Walked), Phantom Limb Company (Falling Out), Ripe Time (Sleep), and Homer’s Coat (including An Iliad by Denis O’Hare and Lisa Peterson), among others. In addition to her work at Emerson College, Ronee is Co-Lead at First Nations Performing Arts and serves on the board of the Producer Hub. She is a two-time recipient of the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities Individual Artist Fellowship and has received a Sundance Institute Interdisciplinary Program Grant. She also received commissions from Baltimore Center Stage and Pittsburgh Public Theater for her musical composing work with collaborator Annalisa Dias, notably The Carlisle Project, which was included in the 2024 Berkeley Rep Ground Floor season. Ronee has been an APAP Leadership Fellow, ISPA Global Fellow, and TISG Rising Leader of Color. She was the NNPN Producer-in-Residence at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company and has served as Senior Producing Fellow and Directing Fellow at Arena Stage. She also toured nationally with Anna Deavere Smith’s Let Me Down Easy. Her current anti-racism practice is rooted in a decolonization framework, emphasizing systems change as a key component of her work. Ronee graduated with honors from Princeton University with a degree in Music and certificates in Vocal Performance and Theatre & Dance.
BEN PESNER
Ben Pesner is the program director of Venturous Theater Fund, which supports the production of theatrically ambitious new plays at not-for-profit theaters, along with initiatives that foster creative growth and financial security for playwrights. A longtime advocate for dramatists and their work, he is the coauthor with Todd London of Outrageous Fortune: The Life and Times of the New American Play. He has worked as a writer, content producer, editor, literary manager, and more in both the commercial and not-for-profit sectors of the theater community.
HEATHER RAFFO
Heather Raffo is a multi awardwinning playwright and actress whose plays have been championed by The New Yorker as “an example of how art can remake the world”. She is the author and performer of NOURA (2018), Fallujah (PBS film, 2016), and 9 Parts of Desire (2003, PBS film 2023) which played across the U.S. and internationally for over two decades helping birth a whole new genre of Arab American Theater. An anthology of her work Heather Raffo’s Iraq Plays: The Things That Can’t Be Said (2021), brings together two decades of her contributions to shaping national and cultural conversations in the decades since 9/11. A recent Creative Capital, APAP and NPN grantee, Raffo is currently building an ambitious new theatrical platform following migration and the global economy which aims to be the first everevolving, multi-locational play.
KATHY RANDELS
Kathy Randels, born and raised in Bulbancha (New Orleans), founded ArtSpot Productions in 1995. She has written, performed in, and directed numerous original solo and collaborative group works for professional, student, and incarcerated ensembles in Louisiana and beyond. Her transformative work has been presented on four continents and in over 30 U.S. states. Kathy co-founded and codirects the Louisiana Correctional Institute for Women (LCIW) Drama Club in 1996 and The Graduates, a performing ensemble of formerly incarcerated women, in 2012. Current projects include The Road to Damascus (as Told by Grandmother to Little Red) with St. Charles Center for Faith + Action, ARCH (Arts, Racial Justice, Culture and Healing) with Bar None by Design and the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office at the Orleans Justice Center, See Me: Prison Theatre Workshops, and Love by Jan Cohen-Cruz, where she is a contributing writer. She is also working on a book titled The Unbreakable Queen, featuring and about Gloria “Mama Glo” Williams. For more information, visit ArtSpot Productions and Graduates Rising.
BILL RAUCH
Bill Rauch is the inaugural Artistic Director of The Perelman Performing Arts Center, currently under construction at the World Trade Center. His extensive career as a theater director has spanned the nation, with work ranging from community centers to Broadway, including the Tony Award-winning production of All the Way and its sequel, The Great Society. From 2007 to 2019, Bill served as Artistic Director of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the country’s oldest and largest rotating repertory theater. He is also a co-founder of Cornerstone Theater Company, where he was Artistic Director from 1986 to 2006, directing collaborative projects with diverse rural and urban communities across the United States.
MICHAEL ROHD
Michael is a theater-maker, educator, process designer, writer, and facilitator, with over 30 years of experience in civic imagination. His work spans multiple sectors, bringing cultural activities to public engagement, community planning, and cross-sector coalition building. In 1999, he co-founded Sojourn Theatre and served as its artistic director for 20 years, co-creating and directing nearly 30 devised, site-specific, and participatory theater works. In 2012, he co-founded the Center for Performance and Civic Practice, a collective of nine artist/facilitators working with organizations and agencies across the country on community research, transformational processes, and system change. He is currently the Civic Collaborations Director for One Nation One Project and the founding director of Co-Lab for Civic Imagination at the University of Montana.
YURA SAPI
Yura Sapi (they/them) is an interdisciplinary artist, educator, and social impact innovator committed to empowering artists and communities globally. As the creator and host of the Building Our Own Tables podcast, produced with HowlRound Theatre Commons, Yura amplifies conversations around collective liberation in the arts. They are a seven-time fellowship recipient and have developed transformative programs integrating storytelling, performance, and technology to inspire healing, amplify marginalized voices, and create meaningful change.
Yura founded LiberArte, a nonprofit supporting BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and underrepresented creatives, and cofounded Protectores de la Tierra, an initiative focused on fostering food sovereignty and prosperity in Colombia’s Black and Indigenous communities. With a BFA in Theatre Arts, an MFA in Performing Arts Management, and teaching experience at CUNY Baruch, Yura bridges artistry with advocacy to create liberated spaces for connection, growth, and systemic change.
JOANNA SHERMAN
Joanna Sherman is Artistic Director of Bond Street Theatre. As director, actor and musician, she has conducted theatre projects in 60+ countries. The company collaborates with local organizations using theatre as a means to bring information to communities and promote social equity.
Ms. Sherman received an Award from the League of Professional Theatre Women, the Otto Award for Political Theatre, and Public Service Award from Cooper Union School of Fine Arts. She served as Cultural Envoy in Myanmar and India. The company received a MacArthur Award for its intercultural programming. Ms. Sherman has a BFA in Art & Architecture from Cooper Union, and an MA in Theatre & International Studies from New York University. Notable projects: Created the first all-female theatre groups in Afghanistan, collaborated with Thukhuma Khayeethe In Myanmar on human rights campaigns, provided theatre training for Rohingya and Somali refugees in Malaysia, conducted women’s rights programs in Egypt, South Sudan and South Africa, collaborated with Fragments Theatre in Jenin, Palestine, and trained social workers in Thailand in theatre for victims of trafficking.
SOPHIA SKILES
Sophia Skiles (she/her) is a New York City-based stage actor, acting teacher, facilitator, and citizen -- purposefully blurring, disrupting, and bridging the boundaries of the stage, the classroom, and the public. She recently served as Cultural Advocate and Equity Facilitator for Here Lies Love Broadway. Sophia is the Head of Acting of the Brown/Trinity MFA Programs in Acting and Directing and Associate Professor of the Practice in the Theater Arts and Performance Studies department at Brown University. She is also a twice-elected Trustee of the New Paltz Central School District Board of Education. 2016 artEquity cohort and 2021 artEquity BIPOC Leadership Circle. www.sophiaskiles.com
SUSAN STROUPE
Susan Stroupe is the Legacy and Communications Manager for the Center for International Theatre Development (CITD), and a Baltimore-based theater maker who specializes in interdisciplinary, immersive, and devised works. Susan has worked in the Twin Cities, LA, NYC, Albuquerque, Baltimore and her hometown Atlanta as a director, performer, writer, puppeteer, teaching artist, dramaturg, and deviser in professional and community-based professional companies, collaborating with many kinds of artists, and actors and nonactors of many ages, cultural backgrounds, gender identities, and abilities. In Baltimore, Susan has worked freelance for many companies, and is a founding member and Core Creator for Submersive Productions. She is a long-time Teaching Artist for Baltimore Center Stage and Everyman Theatre, and adjunct professor and frequent guest director at University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC).
MEI ANN TEO
Mei Ann Teo, Director (they/them) is a queer immigrant from Singapore making theatre & film at the intersection of artistic/civic/contemplative practice. As a director/devisor/dramaturg, they create across genres, including music theatre, intermedial participatory work, reimagining classics, and documentary theatre. Teo works internationally, including premiering works at Belgium's Festival de Liege, Edinburgh International Fringe, Beijing International Festival (Top 8 of Fest in Beijing News), and Singapore Theatre Festival. They helmed Dim Sum Warriors the Musical by Colin Goh and Yen Yen Woo, composed by Pulitzer Prize winner Du Yun for national China twenty-five city tour. They have directed and/or developed new work nationally including at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Theatreworks Hartford, Playwrights Realm, Goodman Theatre, Public Theater, Seattle Rep, Berkeley Rep, Crowded Fire, Page 73, Philadelphia Theatre Company, and the National Black Theatre. Teo received the League of Professional Theatre Women’s Josephine Abady Award, the inaugural Lily Fan Director Lilly Award, and has formerly served in artistic leadership as the Artistic Director of Musical Theatre Factory and the Associate Artistic Director and Director of New Work at Oregon Shakespeare Festival. They are currently an artistic leader at Ping Chong and Company.
BRANDICE THOMPSON
Brandice is a self-generative artist and educator from the Pacific Northwest. Her creative process and training methods incorporate many facets of theatre including ensemble devising practices, physical theatre, cabaret, Commedia Dell'Arte, Stanislavski techniques, ritual theatre, somatic movement, and more. Currently, she resides in Baltimore where she creates original theatrical work and is pursuing an interest in Eastern European theatre through her role as General Manager at the Center for International Theatre Development (CITD).
SARA ZATZ
Sara Zatz is the Senior Director of Engagement of Ping Chong and Company and a member of the Artistic Leadership Team, where she leads the company’s community engagement programs. Since 2002, she has led the Undesirable Elements series, working with a wide range of partner organizations, and overseen the creation and implementation of arts education and training for artists and community members. Recent productions include projects with teens: Generation Rise and Generation NYZ (with Kirya Traber; New Victory) and projects focused on chronic illness and disability, (Un)Conditional (Profile Theatre) and Inside/Out: Voices from the Disability Community. She has spoken and presented workshops on communityengaged theater at many conferences and universities.
A Gathering in NYC 2025 is hosted in partnership with La MaMa Etc and made possible with the support of Venturous Theater Fund
