2025 WORKSHOP PRESENTER BIOS
THEATRE
TH 1: ...And Justice For All, Angelika Menendez and Emily Weiner / Houses on the Moon
Angelika Menendez is a proud New York-based Latine actor/educator who graduated with her BFA from Emerson College. She is thrilled to be back at Stage the Change this year! Recent credits include Man of La Mancha (Antonia), For Carmen in San Sebastian, Do You See... (The REV); Before We Focus on Others (Teatro Chelsea), and other cabarets and new works in NYC. She is also a teaching artist with New York City Center, Houses on the Moon, and TADA! Youth Theatre. IG: @angelikamenendez | angelikamenendez.com
Emily Joy Weiner is the Co-Founder and Artistic Director of Houses on the Moon Theater Company. Since its inception in 2001, Emily has led Houses through the creation and development of multiple new works that explore our social climate and address the complex and sensitive issues of our time. In most recent years Emily wrote and performed in the Off Broadway premiere of SHARED SENTENCES that explores the lives of family members and loved ones of the incarcerated, directed THE SANTA CLOSET at Teatro Circulo, THE ASSIGNMENT at the ART/New York Theatres and the touring storytelling production of gUN COUNTRY. www.housesonthemoon.org
TH 2: Communicating Science Issues Through Theatre, Elizabeth Bojsza
Elizabeth (E-Beth) Bojsza (she/her) is passionate about community engagement, empowering voices, and asking good questions. E-Beth has worked as a dramaturg and director of community performance projects, empowering communities to tell their stories and foster dialogue. She taught Stony Brook University's Prevention Through the Arts class for many years. She also worked professionally as a literary manager, running the Young Playwrights Inc. national playwriting competition from 2008-2013. E-Beth is currently a curriculum designer and faculty member for the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science at Stony Brook University, the Program Director for the Academy of Civic Life at Stony Brook University, and an emeritus member of the Suffolk County Human Rights Commission.
TH 3: Creating a Scene: Staging a Flashmob, LIU Post
The School of Performing Arts enjoys a long and rich tradition of innovative professional training for dancers, choreographers, instrumentalists, vocalists, composers, actors, directors, theater designers, playwrights, script writers, teachers, arts managers and other performing artists. We believe in giving all students the opportunity to perform in major productions throughout their academic career. Our dynamic, award-winning faculty of practicing professionals are dedicated to serving our students as mentors inside and outside the classroom and to providing links for students to career opportunities in their fields. www.liu.edu/post
TH 4: Headlines Into Punchlines, Billy Recce
Billy Recce is an award winning, billboard charting composer/lyricist, playwright and performer living in New York City. Off-Broadway/NYC: Fowl Play (Book, Music and Lyrics), Four simultaneously running musicals in the '23-'24 season including FIVE: The Parody Musical (Music and Lyrics; Theatre 555), A Musical About Star Wars (Music and Lyrics; AMT Theatre/St. Luke’s/Theatre Row), Singfeld (Music and Orchestrations; Jerry Orbach Theatre), Lighthouse: An Immersive Drinking Musical (Music Supervision, Arrangements and Orchestrations, Soho Rep), Balloon Boy: The Musical (Book, Music and Lyrics; Youngest Writer ever selected for NYMF, International Thespian Festival). In development: the Heidi Fleiss musical Little Black Book (Book, Music and Lyrics; Billboard Charting Concept Album available everywhere.) Billy has written or co-written songs for Bernadette Peters, Mandy Patinkin, Laura Benanti, Jessica Vosk, Lillias White, Alice Ripley, Orfeh, Paige Turner, RuPaul’s Drag Race Finalist Rosé, and Tituss Burgess. Billy’s songs have been heard internationally and at The New Amsterdam, Broadway In Bryant Park, Cadogan Hall, The Tilles Center, Lincoln Center, The Kennedy Center, Ars Nova, Irish Rep, The York Theatre, The Signature Theatre, 54 Below, The Green Room 42, and the Edinburgh Fringe. He is a Two Time MAC Award winner, an Orchard Project Greenhouse member, a Relentless Award semi-finalist, a Eugene O’Neill Finalist, a NAMT finalist, a Two Time Wallowitch Award finalist, and a Jonathan Larson Grant Finalist. Billy is currently under commission with EST/Sloan Project, and several production companies. www.billyrecce.com
TH 5: *Is Speech Really Free?, Anna Mayta / Mayta Fusion Dance
Anna Mayta grew up in Chile and graduated from Empire State College in June 2001 with a BA in Dance in Education. She has been teaching and choreographing for over 20 years. Some of her signature programs include Spanish Language Through Movement; Fusion Dance, which blends African, Bharatanatyam, Flamenco, Latin, and Modern dance styles; and Transcending Linguistic Prejudice Through Movement. She has received grants from the CREATE Council on the Arts and the NYC Arts in Education Roundtable. Anna currently teaches throughout the Hudson Valley, NY, and directs Mayta Fusion Dance Company, a project-based company rooted in the Hudson Valley. www.maytafusiondance.org
TH 6: Moment Work, Brandon Anderson / Tectonic Theater Company
Brandon Anderson is an award winning singer/songwriter, writer, composer, devised theatre creator, and educator. He is the recipient of the ASCAP Foundation Frederick Loewe Award and the Kennedy Center ACTF Award for his writing in musical theatre. Brandon is also the Artistic Director and dramaturg of the Tisch New Musical Theatre Workshop at NYU, which produces readings and workshop productions of new musicals. Brandon also has extensive work in arts education as a master teaching artist for the Metropolitan Opera, and a member of the teaching faculty for the Tectonic Theater Project. www.brandonandersonmusic.com
TH 7: Own Your Story: A Playwriting Workshop, SMJ
SMJ (they/them) is a mixed-Latiné and non-binary playwright, theatermaker, and educator. They are the Co-Artistic Director of Andy’s Summer Playhouse and a former Dramatists Guild Foundation Fellow. Their work has been seen at Ars Nova, Lincoln Center, The Kennedy Center, Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, New York Stage and Film, as well as different theaters throughout the United States. SMJ has been a finalist for the 2024-25 Princess Grace Award in Playwriting at New Dramatists as well as a semifinalist for the O’Neill’s National Playwrights Conference (four times) and the 2022-23 Princess Grace Award in Playwriting at New Dramatists. www.smjwrites.com
TH 8: Staging Power & Rehearsing Change, Kea Trevett / Theatre for a New Audience
Kea Trevett (she/her) is a theater practitioner, filmmaker, and educator. As an actor, her NY theater credits include Roundabout, Classic Stage Company, Lincoln Center, Ars Nova, Ensemble Studio Theatre, The Sheen Center, New Georges, The Lark, Page 73, and Cherry Lane. Regional credits include Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater, The St. Louis Shakespeare Festival and The Hamptons Shakespeare Festival. Kea teaches playwriting and Shakespeare in performance for Theatre For A New Audience and Lincoln Center, and is a founding member of Apocalyptic Artists Ensemble. MFA: Columbia University. www.keatrevett.com
TH 9: *Stories That Break Free, Carmen Rivera
Carmen Rivera is a New York-born, Puerto Rican playwright and screenwriter. Her play, La Gringa, part of the OBIE Award Winning Series, New Voices, premiered in 1996 and is now the second longest-running play in Off-Broadway history, after The Fantasticks. Both English and Spanish versions are available at Concord Theatricals. La Caída De Rafael Trujillo (The Downfall of Rafael Trujillo) received an ATI Award for Best Production. Both the English and Spanish versions are available at Theatrical Rights Worldwide. For more information on Carmen, visit www.carmenrivera-writer.com.
TH 10: Telling Your Story: Defining Your Praxis, Fabian "Farbeon" Saucedo / The Hip Hop Re:Education Project
Fabian "Farbeon" Saucedo is a Brooklyn-based emcee, DJ, producer, and photographer who has performed on stages, panels, and in classrooms worldwide. He uses his unique brand of “edu-tainment” to create transformative, community-driven Hip Hop workshops, events, and performances. A modern-day griot, Farbeon is dedicated to preserving and advancing genuine Hip Hop culture and community, fostering dialogue, building understanding, and inspiring the next generation of young global ARTivists. He is the Founding Director of the Hip Hop Re:Education Project and teaches Hip Hop Theater at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. reeducate.org
TH 11: Voices of Change: How I Find Light in the Darkness, Oya Bangura and Elise May
Oya Bangura (she/her) is originally from West Africa, Sierra Leone. Her early dance training was received at The United Nations International School and as a scholarship student with Jacques d’Amboise and his National Dance Institute before heading to Boston University. Oya has appeared at Madison Square Garden’s Felt Forum, Avery Fisher Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center’s Outdoor Festivals, American Ballet Theatre, Brooklyn Academy of Music, and the Rodotto and Fenice. She has performed as the Principal choreographer/ dancer/actor in an Off Broadway production written, directed and produced by Jahidah Diaab. She is a proud PEACE Project Cultural Partner, supporting equitable and impactful arts education in Long Island schools through College, Career, and Civic Readiness (CCCR) and Culturally Responsive-Sustaining education (CR-S). Oya holds an MA in Dance Education from NYU Steinhardt, specializing in Dances of the African Diaspora, and is pursuing an Advanced Certification in K–12 Dance Education. She is also the Co-Founder of Project MOVE, an Arts in Education organization dedicated to nurturing future leaders and uniting communities through the arts. www.projectmoveny.org
Elise May, (she/her) an independent Teaching Artist, actor, singer, and writer, has performed and taught in the U.S. and internationally. Her original award-winning Arts-in-Education programs use theater arts for communication empowerment and community development with all populations. Elise is the Program Developer and Director of Storytime Theater, Expressive Elocution, Multicultural Voices, Creative Readers (winner of the 2017 National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award) Landmark Radio Theater, and Theater for Dessert. Currently President of the Board of Stage the Change, Elise has presented at many conferences including Lincoln Center's Curriculum for Change Conference, ITAC4, Arts for All Abilities Consortium and NYSTEA Educator and Student Conferences. www.storytime-theater.com
TH 12: Writing for the Stage and Screen with a Social Voice, Jim Hoare / Theatrical Rights Worldwide
Jim Hoare, Executive VP at Theatrical Rights Worldwide, has presented workshops across the USA and UK, and in 2011 received the New York State Theatre Education Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award. A member of the Advisory Board for the Educational Theatre Foundation, Jim is also the author of Your High School Improv Show Playbook (Theatrefolk, 2019) and Your School Theatre Director’s Playbook (TRW Plays, 2022). He was recently inducted into the EdTA Hall of Fame. www.theatricalrights.com
TH 13: You Are Your Instrument For Change, Nick Mayo / Broadway Cares/Equity Fights Aids
Nick Mayo is a graduate of Interlochen Arts Academy and continued his higher education at The Juilliard School where he received his BFA. He made his Broadway debut in Terrence McNally’s The Ritz. He continued his Broadway career with the Tony Award-winning revival of South Pacific followed by How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying starring Daniel Radcliffe, Nick Jonas, and Darren Criss. As a producer, Nick founded Pride Plays with fellow Juilliard alumni Michael Urie and entertainment lawyer Doug Nevin. Nick is Major Gifts & Planned Giving Officer at Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. broadwaycares.org
DANCE / MOVEMENT
D 1: Building Resilience and Hope Through Dance!, Marie Klepacz / Arts Ignite
Marie Klepacz is Arts Ignite’s Senior Program Manager and a former special educator. Marie served two years as an AmeriCorps volunteer and a Teach for America Corps Member, which propelled her to better understand the deep-rooted issues of inequity in education. This motivation led to her earning her M.Ed. in Curriculum & Teaching from Boston University. Marie’s professional philosophy is that building positive relationships based on trust and compassion is at the core of progress in education and nonprofit work. Marie has a lifelong passion for the arts and helping youth build agency and confidence through their self-expression. www.artsignite.org
D 2: Dance For Every Body: Movement Workshop, Urban Bush Women
Urban Bush Women is a groundbreaking Black women-led theatrical dance company and social activism ensemble. Founded in 1984 by visionary choreographer Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, UBW is an engine and amplifier for the stories of Black Women+. UBW combines radical performance, deep engagement, and ancestral knowledge from the African diaspora into a force that is urgent, forward-looking, and essential. UBW has defied expectations for over 40 years. The very bodies of its founding members – Black women of various shapes and sizes – changed the landscape of who could be seen on stage as a dancer. The work placed the concerns of such women center stage. UBW embraces radical storytelling to activate social change. Whether creating genre-defying work for the stage, guiding the development of Black Women+ choreographers and producers, organizing for justice through artmaking, UBW is an innovator, operating at the vanguard. www.urbanbushwomen.org
D 3: Dance Your Voice, Fritzlyn Hector / LIU Post Concert Dance Company
Fritzlyn Hector is a Bessie Award-winning director, performer, choreographer, and educator with a professional career spanning 22 years, and is currently the Director of Dance at LIU Post. She has performed and created work across prestigious stages, from Broadway theaters to international festivals, showcasing expertise in contemporary jazz, hip-hop, Afro-fusion, and street dance styles, African diaspora dances, body percussion, and percussion. As a cast trainer and performer, Fritzlyn has toured with STOMP nationally and internationally. Her wide-ranging credits also include The Jimmy Fallon Show, Harry Connick Jr. Show, Good Morning America, VH1 Hip Hop Honors, Netflix: Julie Andrews' Greenroom, Google Maps Live Wire commercial, New York City Center Fall for Dance Festival, international performances at the Artscape Theatre in Cape Town, South Africa, La Cigale Theatre in Paris, France, and the Adelaide Arts Festival in Australia. Film credits include principal roles in Amazon Prime's Musica and the upcoming Warner Bros. Pictures' The Bride. www.liu.edu/post
D 4: Embodied Resilient Voices, Theara J Ward
Theara J. Ward, “baby ballerina” with Dance Theater of Harlem. Broadway: Black and Blue; Crazy For You; original Ghost of Christmas Future, A Christmas Carol, (Madison Square Garden) Ragtime (Chicago). Regional: Ain’t Misbehavin’ (Cleveland Playhouse); The Love Space Demands with Ntozake Shange (Crossroads Theater). TV and Commercials. Belhaven College, visiting artist; Duke University, Dartmouth College, facilitator/panelist. Works with arts education programs: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater; Dance Theatre of Harlem. Teacher/Mentor: Creative Outlet, Brooklyn Contributing writer, re:Claiming Ballet, Dr. Adesola Akinleye, Editor. Theara penned her one woman show, From The Heart Of A Sistah: A Choreopoem.
D 5: Moving Together: Moving with Impact, Lynn Neuman / Artichoke Dance Company
Lynn Neuman, Director of Artichoke Dance Company, is a national leading eco-artists known for her multi-year program to mitigate plastic pollution on Coney Island. An Association of Performing Arts Professionals Leadership Fellow, Lynn is widely sought for teaching, speaking and cross-disciplinary performances and programs. Recently, she was artist-in-residence at Texas A&M and California State University, creating arts and sustainability projects. Her work has been presented nationally and internationally and she has been featured in Dance Magazine, on Citizen’s Climate Radio and on the Climate Check podcast. She spearheads an eco-arts activism training program for artists to infuse creativity with activism. www.artichokedance.org
D 6: TIKoRO Creative Dance Workshop, Clement Mensah / TIKoRO
Clement Mensah is a native of Ghana, graduated from CIOS and from The Amsterdam School of the Arts. He received a fellowship from The Ailey School in NY, and later earned his MA in Dance Performance at Trinity Laban School in London. Mr. Mensah has danced with Ronald K. Brown/Evidence, Elisa Monte Dance Company, Francesca Harper, and Limón Dance. He is currently working with Battery Dance as well with Reggie Wilson/Fist and Heel Performance Group. He has traveled extensively performing, teaching and conducting community projects throughout The Americas, Africa, Europe and Asia as a cultural ambassador with Battery Dance’s signature teaching program Dancing to Connect. www.tikoro.org
EDUCATION
E 1: Empowering Voices in Challenging Times, Joy Ferrara
Joy Ferrara has been an educator for more than 28 years. She taught in the Commack School District for 10 years and became an Assistant Principal at Hauppauge Middle School in 2003. Since 2010, Joy has been the Hauppauge High School Assistant Principal and has been an advocate for the Hauppauge Theatre program. Working directly with Ruthie Pincus, Hauppauge’s former Theatre Director, Joy has brought real-time school issues to the theatre students and charged them with creating relevant monologues and short vignettes to inform and engage the faculty and student body.
FILM
F 1: Filmmaking at Your Fingertips: Empowering Voices for Change, Makeba L. Ross / Reel Works
After falling in love with the film and editing process in high school, Makeba L. Ross would eventually leave her hometown of Newburgh, NY to study film at Brooklyn College. After graduating and spending 5 years in the corporate film world, Makeba declared an LLC and committed to her freelance business full time. Over the years she has produced, directed, shot and edited various projects for BuzzFeed, BET+, Elite Daily, Bustle, NYC H+H, and more. Her goal is simple: showcase the Black community in a positive and emphatic light, while encouraging young Black children to pursue their storytelling. Makeba is the proud owner of Problem Pictures, LLC, a Black and female owned production company based in NYC that is committed to showcasing the Black community in a positive and empathetic light while challenging reductive stereotypes and uplifting local artists. IG: @problempictures.llc
F 2: Short-Form Storytelling for Social Media, Gerson Legend / Reel Works
Gerson Legend is a skilled video editor and production assistant with over a decade of experience in film and post-production. A passionate storyteller, he studied Media and Digital Film Production at Bronx Community College. Gerson currently supports the creative team at Showtime, preparing and editing promos for original series and sports programming. His past work includes projects with Reel Works and Bronx Community College, where he produced and edited original content amplifying student voices.
TH 1: ...And Justice For All, Angelika Menendez and Emily Weiner / Houses on the Moon
Angelika Menendez is a proud New York-based Latine actor/educator who graduated with her BFA from Emerson College. She is thrilled to be back at Stage the Change this year! Recent credits include Man of La Mancha (Antonia), For Carmen in San Sebastian, Do You See... (The REV); Before We Focus on Others (Teatro Chelsea), and other cabarets and new works in NYC. She is also a teaching artist with New York City Center, Houses on the Moon, and TADA! Youth Theatre. IG: @angelikamenendez | angelikamenendez.com
Emily Joy Weiner is the Co-Founder and Artistic Director of Houses on the Moon Theater Company. Since its inception in 2001, Emily has led Houses through the creation and development of multiple new works that explore our social climate and address the complex and sensitive issues of our time. In most recent years Emily wrote and performed in the Off Broadway premiere of SHARED SENTENCES that explores the lives of family members and loved ones of the incarcerated, directed THE SANTA CLOSET at Teatro Circulo, THE ASSIGNMENT at the ART/New York Theatres and the touring storytelling production of gUN COUNTRY. www.housesonthemoon.org
TH 2: Communicating Science Issues Through Theatre, Elizabeth Bojsza
Elizabeth (E-Beth) Bojsza (she/her) is passionate about community engagement, empowering voices, and asking good questions. E-Beth has worked as a dramaturg and director of community performance projects, empowering communities to tell their stories and foster dialogue. She taught Stony Brook University's Prevention Through the Arts class for many years. She also worked professionally as a literary manager, running the Young Playwrights Inc. national playwriting competition from 2008-2013. E-Beth is currently a curriculum designer and faculty member for the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science at Stony Brook University, the Program Director for the Academy of Civic Life at Stony Brook University, and an emeritus member of the Suffolk County Human Rights Commission.
TH 3: Creating a Scene: Staging a Flashmob, LIU Post
The School of Performing Arts enjoys a long and rich tradition of innovative professional training for dancers, choreographers, instrumentalists, vocalists, composers, actors, directors, theater designers, playwrights, script writers, teachers, arts managers and other performing artists. We believe in giving all students the opportunity to perform in major productions throughout their academic career. Our dynamic, award-winning faculty of practicing professionals are dedicated to serving our students as mentors inside and outside the classroom and to providing links for students to career opportunities in their fields. www.liu.edu/post
TH 4: Headlines Into Punchlines, Billy Recce
Billy Recce is an award winning, billboard charting composer/lyricist, playwright and performer living in New York City. Off-Broadway/NYC: Fowl Play (Book, Music and Lyrics), Four simultaneously running musicals in the '23-'24 season including FIVE: The Parody Musical (Music and Lyrics; Theatre 555), A Musical About Star Wars (Music and Lyrics; AMT Theatre/St. Luke’s/Theatre Row), Singfeld (Music and Orchestrations; Jerry Orbach Theatre), Lighthouse: An Immersive Drinking Musical (Music Supervision, Arrangements and Orchestrations, Soho Rep), Balloon Boy: The Musical (Book, Music and Lyrics; Youngest Writer ever selected for NYMF, International Thespian Festival). In development: the Heidi Fleiss musical Little Black Book (Book, Music and Lyrics; Billboard Charting Concept Album available everywhere.) Billy has written or co-written songs for Bernadette Peters, Mandy Patinkin, Laura Benanti, Jessica Vosk, Lillias White, Alice Ripley, Orfeh, Paige Turner, RuPaul’s Drag Race Finalist Rosé, and Tituss Burgess. Billy’s songs have been heard internationally and at The New Amsterdam, Broadway In Bryant Park, Cadogan Hall, The Tilles Center, Lincoln Center, The Kennedy Center, Ars Nova, Irish Rep, The York Theatre, The Signature Theatre, 54 Below, The Green Room 42, and the Edinburgh Fringe. He is a Two Time MAC Award winner, an Orchard Project Greenhouse member, a Relentless Award semi-finalist, a Eugene O’Neill Finalist, a NAMT finalist, a Two Time Wallowitch Award finalist, and a Jonathan Larson Grant Finalist. Billy is currently under commission with EST/Sloan Project, and several production companies. www.billyrecce.com
TH 5: *Is Speech Really Free?, Anna Mayta / Mayta Fusion Dance
Anna Mayta grew up in Chile and graduated from Empire State College in June 2001 with a BA in Dance in Education. She has been teaching and choreographing for over 20 years. Some of her signature programs include Spanish Language Through Movement; Fusion Dance, which blends African, Bharatanatyam, Flamenco, Latin, and Modern dance styles; and Transcending Linguistic Prejudice Through Movement. She has received grants from the CREATE Council on the Arts and the NYC Arts in Education Roundtable. Anna currently teaches throughout the Hudson Valley, NY, and directs Mayta Fusion Dance Company, a project-based company rooted in the Hudson Valley. www.maytafusiondance.org
TH 6: Moment Work, Brandon Anderson / Tectonic Theater Company
Brandon Anderson is an award winning singer/songwriter, writer, composer, devised theatre creator, and educator. He is the recipient of the ASCAP Foundation Frederick Loewe Award and the Kennedy Center ACTF Award for his writing in musical theatre. Brandon is also the Artistic Director and dramaturg of the Tisch New Musical Theatre Workshop at NYU, which produces readings and workshop productions of new musicals. Brandon also has extensive work in arts education as a master teaching artist for the Metropolitan Opera, and a member of the teaching faculty for the Tectonic Theater Project. www.brandonandersonmusic.com
TH 7: Own Your Story: A Playwriting Workshop, SMJ
SMJ (they/them) is a mixed-Latiné and non-binary playwright, theatermaker, and educator. They are the Co-Artistic Director of Andy’s Summer Playhouse and a former Dramatists Guild Foundation Fellow. Their work has been seen at Ars Nova, Lincoln Center, The Kennedy Center, Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, New York Stage and Film, as well as different theaters throughout the United States. SMJ has been a finalist for the 2024-25 Princess Grace Award in Playwriting at New Dramatists as well as a semifinalist for the O’Neill’s National Playwrights Conference (four times) and the 2022-23 Princess Grace Award in Playwriting at New Dramatists. www.smjwrites.com
TH 8: Staging Power & Rehearsing Change, Kea Trevett / Theatre for a New Audience
Kea Trevett (she/her) is a theater practitioner, filmmaker, and educator. As an actor, her NY theater credits include Roundabout, Classic Stage Company, Lincoln Center, Ars Nova, Ensemble Studio Theatre, The Sheen Center, New Georges, The Lark, Page 73, and Cherry Lane. Regional credits include Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater, The St. Louis Shakespeare Festival and The Hamptons Shakespeare Festival. Kea teaches playwriting and Shakespeare in performance for Theatre For A New Audience and Lincoln Center, and is a founding member of Apocalyptic Artists Ensemble. MFA: Columbia University. www.keatrevett.com
TH 9: *Stories That Break Free, Carmen Rivera
Carmen Rivera is a New York-born, Puerto Rican playwright and screenwriter. Her play, La Gringa, part of the OBIE Award Winning Series, New Voices, premiered in 1996 and is now the second longest-running play in Off-Broadway history, after The Fantasticks. Both English and Spanish versions are available at Concord Theatricals. La Caída De Rafael Trujillo (The Downfall of Rafael Trujillo) received an ATI Award for Best Production. Both the English and Spanish versions are available at Theatrical Rights Worldwide. For more information on Carmen, visit www.carmenrivera-writer.com.
TH 10: Telling Your Story: Defining Your Praxis, Fabian "Farbeon" Saucedo / The Hip Hop Re:Education Project
Fabian "Farbeon" Saucedo is a Brooklyn-based emcee, DJ, producer, and photographer who has performed on stages, panels, and in classrooms worldwide. He uses his unique brand of “edu-tainment” to create transformative, community-driven Hip Hop workshops, events, and performances. A modern-day griot, Farbeon is dedicated to preserving and advancing genuine Hip Hop culture and community, fostering dialogue, building understanding, and inspiring the next generation of young global ARTivists. He is the Founding Director of the Hip Hop Re:Education Project and teaches Hip Hop Theater at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. reeducate.org
TH 11: Voices of Change: How I Find Light in the Darkness, Oya Bangura and Elise May
Oya Bangura (she/her) is originally from West Africa, Sierra Leone. Her early dance training was received at The United Nations International School and as a scholarship student with Jacques d’Amboise and his National Dance Institute before heading to Boston University. Oya has appeared at Madison Square Garden’s Felt Forum, Avery Fisher Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center’s Outdoor Festivals, American Ballet Theatre, Brooklyn Academy of Music, and the Rodotto and Fenice. She has performed as the Principal choreographer/ dancer/actor in an Off Broadway production written, directed and produced by Jahidah Diaab. She is a proud PEACE Project Cultural Partner, supporting equitable and impactful arts education in Long Island schools through College, Career, and Civic Readiness (CCCR) and Culturally Responsive-Sustaining education (CR-S). Oya holds an MA in Dance Education from NYU Steinhardt, specializing in Dances of the African Diaspora, and is pursuing an Advanced Certification in K–12 Dance Education. She is also the Co-Founder of Project MOVE, an Arts in Education organization dedicated to nurturing future leaders and uniting communities through the arts. www.projectmoveny.org
Elise May, (she/her) an independent Teaching Artist, actor, singer, and writer, has performed and taught in the U.S. and internationally. Her original award-winning Arts-in-Education programs use theater arts for communication empowerment and community development with all populations. Elise is the Program Developer and Director of Storytime Theater, Expressive Elocution, Multicultural Voices, Creative Readers (winner of the 2017 National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award) Landmark Radio Theater, and Theater for Dessert. Currently President of the Board of Stage the Change, Elise has presented at many conferences including Lincoln Center's Curriculum for Change Conference, ITAC4, Arts for All Abilities Consortium and NYSTEA Educator and Student Conferences. www.storytime-theater.com
TH 12: Writing for the Stage and Screen with a Social Voice, Jim Hoare / Theatrical Rights Worldwide
Jim Hoare, Executive VP at Theatrical Rights Worldwide, has presented workshops across the USA and UK, and in 2011 received the New York State Theatre Education Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award. A member of the Advisory Board for the Educational Theatre Foundation, Jim is also the author of Your High School Improv Show Playbook (Theatrefolk, 2019) and Your School Theatre Director’s Playbook (TRW Plays, 2022). He was recently inducted into the EdTA Hall of Fame. www.theatricalrights.com
TH 13: You Are Your Instrument For Change, Nick Mayo / Broadway Cares/Equity Fights Aids
Nick Mayo is a graduate of Interlochen Arts Academy and continued his higher education at The Juilliard School where he received his BFA. He made his Broadway debut in Terrence McNally’s The Ritz. He continued his Broadway career with the Tony Award-winning revival of South Pacific followed by How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying starring Daniel Radcliffe, Nick Jonas, and Darren Criss. As a producer, Nick founded Pride Plays with fellow Juilliard alumni Michael Urie and entertainment lawyer Doug Nevin. Nick is Major Gifts & Planned Giving Officer at Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. broadwaycares.org
DANCE / MOVEMENT
D 1: Building Resilience and Hope Through Dance!, Marie Klepacz / Arts Ignite
Marie Klepacz is Arts Ignite’s Senior Program Manager and a former special educator. Marie served two years as an AmeriCorps volunteer and a Teach for America Corps Member, which propelled her to better understand the deep-rooted issues of inequity in education. This motivation led to her earning her M.Ed. in Curriculum & Teaching from Boston University. Marie’s professional philosophy is that building positive relationships based on trust and compassion is at the core of progress in education and nonprofit work. Marie has a lifelong passion for the arts and helping youth build agency and confidence through their self-expression. www.artsignite.org
D 2: Dance For Every Body: Movement Workshop, Urban Bush Women
Urban Bush Women is a groundbreaking Black women-led theatrical dance company and social activism ensemble. Founded in 1984 by visionary choreographer Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, UBW is an engine and amplifier for the stories of Black Women+. UBW combines radical performance, deep engagement, and ancestral knowledge from the African diaspora into a force that is urgent, forward-looking, and essential. UBW has defied expectations for over 40 years. The very bodies of its founding members – Black women of various shapes and sizes – changed the landscape of who could be seen on stage as a dancer. The work placed the concerns of such women center stage. UBW embraces radical storytelling to activate social change. Whether creating genre-defying work for the stage, guiding the development of Black Women+ choreographers and producers, organizing for justice through artmaking, UBW is an innovator, operating at the vanguard. www.urbanbushwomen.org
D 3: Dance Your Voice, Fritzlyn Hector / LIU Post Concert Dance Company
Fritzlyn Hector is a Bessie Award-winning director, performer, choreographer, and educator with a professional career spanning 22 years, and is currently the Director of Dance at LIU Post. She has performed and created work across prestigious stages, from Broadway theaters to international festivals, showcasing expertise in contemporary jazz, hip-hop, Afro-fusion, and street dance styles, African diaspora dances, body percussion, and percussion. As a cast trainer and performer, Fritzlyn has toured with STOMP nationally and internationally. Her wide-ranging credits also include The Jimmy Fallon Show, Harry Connick Jr. Show, Good Morning America, VH1 Hip Hop Honors, Netflix: Julie Andrews' Greenroom, Google Maps Live Wire commercial, New York City Center Fall for Dance Festival, international performances at the Artscape Theatre in Cape Town, South Africa, La Cigale Theatre in Paris, France, and the Adelaide Arts Festival in Australia. Film credits include principal roles in Amazon Prime's Musica and the upcoming Warner Bros. Pictures' The Bride. www.liu.edu/post
D 4: Embodied Resilient Voices, Theara J Ward
Theara J. Ward, “baby ballerina” with Dance Theater of Harlem. Broadway: Black and Blue; Crazy For You; original Ghost of Christmas Future, A Christmas Carol, (Madison Square Garden) Ragtime (Chicago). Regional: Ain’t Misbehavin’ (Cleveland Playhouse); The Love Space Demands with Ntozake Shange (Crossroads Theater). TV and Commercials. Belhaven College, visiting artist; Duke University, Dartmouth College, facilitator/panelist. Works with arts education programs: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater; Dance Theatre of Harlem. Teacher/Mentor: Creative Outlet, Brooklyn Contributing writer, re:Claiming Ballet, Dr. Adesola Akinleye, Editor. Theara penned her one woman show, From The Heart Of A Sistah: A Choreopoem.
D 5: Moving Together: Moving with Impact, Lynn Neuman / Artichoke Dance Company
Lynn Neuman, Director of Artichoke Dance Company, is a national leading eco-artists known for her multi-year program to mitigate plastic pollution on Coney Island. An Association of Performing Arts Professionals Leadership Fellow, Lynn is widely sought for teaching, speaking and cross-disciplinary performances and programs. Recently, she was artist-in-residence at Texas A&M and California State University, creating arts and sustainability projects. Her work has been presented nationally and internationally and she has been featured in Dance Magazine, on Citizen’s Climate Radio and on the Climate Check podcast. She spearheads an eco-arts activism training program for artists to infuse creativity with activism. www.artichokedance.org
D 6: TIKoRO Creative Dance Workshop, Clement Mensah / TIKoRO
Clement Mensah is a native of Ghana, graduated from CIOS and from The Amsterdam School of the Arts. He received a fellowship from The Ailey School in NY, and later earned his MA in Dance Performance at Trinity Laban School in London. Mr. Mensah has danced with Ronald K. Brown/Evidence, Elisa Monte Dance Company, Francesca Harper, and Limón Dance. He is currently working with Battery Dance as well with Reggie Wilson/Fist and Heel Performance Group. He has traveled extensively performing, teaching and conducting community projects throughout The Americas, Africa, Europe and Asia as a cultural ambassador with Battery Dance’s signature teaching program Dancing to Connect. www.tikoro.org
EDUCATION
E 1: Empowering Voices in Challenging Times, Joy Ferrara
Joy Ferrara has been an educator for more than 28 years. She taught in the Commack School District for 10 years and became an Assistant Principal at Hauppauge Middle School in 2003. Since 2010, Joy has been the Hauppauge High School Assistant Principal and has been an advocate for the Hauppauge Theatre program. Working directly with Ruthie Pincus, Hauppauge’s former Theatre Director, Joy has brought real-time school issues to the theatre students and charged them with creating relevant monologues and short vignettes to inform and engage the faculty and student body.
FILM
F 1: Filmmaking at Your Fingertips: Empowering Voices for Change, Makeba L. Ross / Reel Works
After falling in love with the film and editing process in high school, Makeba L. Ross would eventually leave her hometown of Newburgh, NY to study film at Brooklyn College. After graduating and spending 5 years in the corporate film world, Makeba declared an LLC and committed to her freelance business full time. Over the years she has produced, directed, shot and edited various projects for BuzzFeed, BET+, Elite Daily, Bustle, NYC H+H, and more. Her goal is simple: showcase the Black community in a positive and emphatic light, while encouraging young Black children to pursue their storytelling. Makeba is the proud owner of Problem Pictures, LLC, a Black and female owned production company based in NYC that is committed to showcasing the Black community in a positive and empathetic light while challenging reductive stereotypes and uplifting local artists. IG: @problempictures.llc
F 2: Short-Form Storytelling for Social Media, Gerson Legend / Reel Works
Gerson Legend is a skilled video editor and production assistant with over a decade of experience in film and post-production. A passionate storyteller, he studied Media and Digital Film Production at Bronx Community College. Gerson currently supports the creative team at Showtime, preparing and editing promos for original series and sports programming. His past work includes projects with Reel Works and Bronx Community College, where he produced and edited original content amplifying student voices.
