LEADERSHIP |
ADVISORY BOARD |
|
Nicole Lauren, Artistic Director
Emily Anne Tkaczibson, Literary & Managing Director |
Morgan Lynn Green
Marlene Solis and Courtny Greenough, Founding Advisory Board in memorium |
ARTISTS
PLAYWRIGHT, SPRING 2019
Diana Burbano, a Colombian immigrant, is an Equity actor, a playwright and a teaching artist at South Coast Repertory and Breath of Fire Latina Theatre Ensemble. Diana’s plays focus on female protagonists and social issues. Written work includes Policarpa (Living Room at the Blank 2018, Oregon Shakespeare Festival Brown Swan lab 2017), Fabulous Monsters (Latinx Play Festival, San Diego Rep 2017), Caliban’s Island (2017 Headwaters New Play Festival), Enemy|Flint which premiered in April at Rio Hondo College, and Linda, (in English and in Spanish), which has been seen all over the world.She was a writer on "Señor Plummer's Final Fiesta" which is currently wowing audiences in West Hollywood. As an actor she originated the roles of Ama de Casa in the Spanish version of Menopause the Musical, Thumb in Imagine, and Ana Guerrero in Jose Cruz Gonzales' Long Road Today/El Largo Camino de Hoy at South Coast Repertory. She was in Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s Latinx Play Project 2016 cohort. She is currently in Center Theatre group’s 2018-19 Writers Workshop, and under commission by Alternative Theatre Ensemble. www.dianaburbano.com
Diana Burbano, a Colombian immigrant, is an Equity actor, a playwright and a teaching artist at South Coast Repertory and Breath of Fire Latina Theatre Ensemble. Diana’s plays focus on female protagonists and social issues. Written work includes Policarpa (Living Room at the Blank 2018, Oregon Shakespeare Festival Brown Swan lab 2017), Fabulous Monsters (Latinx Play Festival, San Diego Rep 2017), Caliban’s Island (2017 Headwaters New Play Festival), Enemy|Flint which premiered in April at Rio Hondo College, and Linda, (in English and in Spanish), which has been seen all over the world.She was a writer on "Señor Plummer's Final Fiesta" which is currently wowing audiences in West Hollywood. As an actor she originated the roles of Ama de Casa in the Spanish version of Menopause the Musical, Thumb in Imagine, and Ana Guerrero in Jose Cruz Gonzales' Long Road Today/El Largo Camino de Hoy at South Coast Repertory. She was in Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s Latinx Play Project 2016 cohort. She is currently in Center Theatre group’s 2018-19 Writers Workshop, and under commission by Alternative Theatre Ensemble. www.dianaburbano.com
DIRECTOR, SPRING 2019
Sara Guerrero is a Southern California native. She’s the founding artistic director of the award-winning, Santa Ana-based Breath of Fire Latina Theater Ensemble, and has been recognized as one of the “People to Watch” by American Theatre Magazine, and “Best [Artistic] Director” and “Person of Interest” by OC WEEKLY. A CalArts alum, Guerrero is a professional versatile theatre artist whose mission is to model, share, and create theatre-making opportunities for and with her community. For more info visit: www.teatroguerrero.com/
Sara Guerrero is a Southern California native. She’s the founding artistic director of the award-winning, Santa Ana-based Breath of Fire Latina Theater Ensemble, and has been recognized as one of the “People to Watch” by American Theatre Magazine, and “Best [Artistic] Director” and “Person of Interest” by OC WEEKLY. A CalArts alum, Guerrero is a professional versatile theatre artist whose mission is to model, share, and create theatre-making opportunities for and with her community. For more info visit: www.teatroguerrero.com/
PLAYWRIGHT, FALL 2018
Rachel Lynett is an Arkansas-based playwright and theatre artist. Her recent playwriting credits include HE DID IT as part of UCF's inaugural Pegasus PlayLab (June 2018); GOOD BAD PEOPLE as a finalist for Artemisia, A Chicago Theatre (2018), a finalist for Henley Rose Award (2018), part of American Stage Theatre Company's 21st Century New Voices New Play Festival (2018), part of Jackalope Theatre's CIRCLE UP series (2017) and a finalist for Unicorn Theatre Plays In Progess (2018); WELL-INTENTIONED WHITE PEOPLE as the Downstage Left Residency with Stage Left (2017), part of Orlando Shakespeare New Play Festival (2017), and receiving honorable mention for the 2017 Kilroys for her play (2017. Her play, ABORTION ROAD TRIP received a workshop production produced by Theatre Prometheus as part of Capital Fringe where it won Best Comedy (2017) and then was later presented by Theatre Prometheus, as a part of the 2017 Kennedy Center Page to Stage Festival. Other recent credits include her play ABORTION ROAD TRIP credited as a semifinalist for The Bridge Initiative 2017, CHOOSING YOU as part of the CulturalDC Source Festival 2016, BREATHE ME IN as a semi-finalist for the O’Neill Playwright’s Conference 2016, and BREATHE ME IN as a finalist for the Kernodle Play Award (2016). WELL-INTENTIONED WHITE PEOPLE will have its world premiere with Barrington Stage Company in August 2018. www.rachellynett.com
Rachel Lynett is an Arkansas-based playwright and theatre artist. Her recent playwriting credits include HE DID IT as part of UCF's inaugural Pegasus PlayLab (June 2018); GOOD BAD PEOPLE as a finalist for Artemisia, A Chicago Theatre (2018), a finalist for Henley Rose Award (2018), part of American Stage Theatre Company's 21st Century New Voices New Play Festival (2018), part of Jackalope Theatre's CIRCLE UP series (2017) and a finalist for Unicorn Theatre Plays In Progess (2018); WELL-INTENTIONED WHITE PEOPLE as the Downstage Left Residency with Stage Left (2017), part of Orlando Shakespeare New Play Festival (2017), and receiving honorable mention for the 2017 Kilroys for her play (2017. Her play, ABORTION ROAD TRIP received a workshop production produced by Theatre Prometheus as part of Capital Fringe where it won Best Comedy (2017) and then was later presented by Theatre Prometheus, as a part of the 2017 Kennedy Center Page to Stage Festival. Other recent credits include her play ABORTION ROAD TRIP credited as a semifinalist for The Bridge Initiative 2017, CHOOSING YOU as part of the CulturalDC Source Festival 2016, BREATHE ME IN as a semi-finalist for the O’Neill Playwright’s Conference 2016, and BREATHE ME IN as a finalist for the Kernodle Play Award (2016). WELL-INTENTIONED WHITE PEOPLE will have its world premiere with Barrington Stage Company in August 2018. www.rachellynett.com
DIRECTOR, FALL 2017 & 2018
Jonelle Allen has directed for several theatres in Southern California, including The Blue Sphere Alliance, Gallimaufry Theatre Company, and Saddleback College, where she is currently an Adjunct Faculty member leading the New Works and Staged Reading projects. Jonelle writes and directs new work for the theatre, including Blackbird, a one-woman show developed with writing partners Stevi Meredith and David Jayden Anthony. Jonelle is also a seasoned performer on stage and screen. She has received awards from Drama Critics' Circle, Drama Desk, Theatre World, and Outer Critics Circle, as well as a Tony nomination for her role as Silvia in Broadway's 1971 rock musical Two Gentlemen of Verona. Her most notable screen roles include Grace on Dr. Quin Medicine Woman and recurring roles on American Crime Story: The People vs OJ Simpson and Shameless.
Jonelle Allen has directed for several theatres in Southern California, including The Blue Sphere Alliance, Gallimaufry Theatre Company, and Saddleback College, where she is currently an Adjunct Faculty member leading the New Works and Staged Reading projects. Jonelle writes and directs new work for the theatre, including Blackbird, a one-woman show developed with writing partners Stevi Meredith and David Jayden Anthony. Jonelle is also a seasoned performer on stage and screen. She has received awards from Drama Critics' Circle, Drama Desk, Theatre World, and Outer Critics Circle, as well as a Tony nomination for her role as Silvia in Broadway's 1971 rock musical Two Gentlemen of Verona. Her most notable screen roles include Grace on Dr. Quin Medicine Woman and recurring roles on American Crime Story: The People vs OJ Simpson and Shameless.
PLAYWRIGHT, SPRING 2018
Jacqueline Bircher is a playwright and screenwriter born and raised in New York City. Plays include Another Revolution (2017 Primary Stages ESPA*Drills winner), Webster's Bitch (Clutch Productions, Little Theatre of Alexandria) and The Rule of Thirds. Her short plays Reaction, Thin Ice, and Yesterday Somewhere have been produced in the Detention series at Primary Stages, and her screenwriting work has been featured at the WILDsound Film Festival and recognized by the Creative World Awards and WeScreenplay’s Diverse Voices competition. She studied creative writing and literature at Oxford University and Fordham College at Lincoln Center, where she was the recipient of the Ully Hirsch/Robert F. Nettleton Prize and the Margaret Lamb Prize for Fiction.
Jacqueline Bircher is a playwright and screenwriter born and raised in New York City. Plays include Another Revolution (2017 Primary Stages ESPA*Drills winner), Webster's Bitch (Clutch Productions, Little Theatre of Alexandria) and The Rule of Thirds. Her short plays Reaction, Thin Ice, and Yesterday Somewhere have been produced in the Detention series at Primary Stages, and her screenwriting work has been featured at the WILDsound Film Festival and recognized by the Creative World Awards and WeScreenplay’s Diverse Voices competition. She studied creative writing and literature at Oxford University and Fordham College at Lincoln Center, where she was the recipient of the Ully Hirsch/Robert F. Nettleton Prize and the Margaret Lamb Prize for Fiction.
PLAYWRIGHT, FALL 2017
Matthew Kelly studied playwriting at Brown University under the tutelage of Paula Vogel, Oskar Eustis, and Brighde Mullins. He completed graduate research in public health and earned a Ph.D. in the history of medicine from Columbia University. Matthew recently launched Transdemocracy: the Transgender Oral History Project, dedicated to chronicling reminiscences of transgender candidates for public office. Matthew is based in New York City. Playwriting credits include Homegrown Beginnings (Abingdon Theatre), Russian Tea (Metropolitan Playhouse), Turquoise and Cloves (Occupy Wall Street / Occupy the Empty Space), and Pastrami Apparitions (Makor Steinhardt Center). His musical Perfectly Victorian, for which he served as co-librettist and co-lyricist alongside composer Bryan Adam, will receive a production in in Chicago in 2018.
Matthew Kelly studied playwriting at Brown University under the tutelage of Paula Vogel, Oskar Eustis, and Brighde Mullins. He completed graduate research in public health and earned a Ph.D. in the history of medicine from Columbia University. Matthew recently launched Transdemocracy: the Transgender Oral History Project, dedicated to chronicling reminiscences of transgender candidates for public office. Matthew is based in New York City. Playwriting credits include Homegrown Beginnings (Abingdon Theatre), Russian Tea (Metropolitan Playhouse), Turquoise and Cloves (Occupy Wall Street / Occupy the Empty Space), and Pastrami Apparitions (Makor Steinhardt Center). His musical Perfectly Victorian, for which he served as co-librettist and co-lyricist alongside composer Bryan Adam, will receive a production in in Chicago in 2018.
