Kev Berry (writer and performer, The Lottery of the Queen of Hearts)  is a New York-based playwright, drag performance artist, and creator of Gay mythologies. His work, both as a writer and a performer, has been seen at The Tank, Joe's Pub, 3-Legged Dog, Rattlestick, New York Live Arts, the New Ohio, The Duplex, the Dramatists Guild Foundation, Dixon Place, The Brick, Access, TinyRhino@Littlefield, The 9 Studios, Otto's Shrunken Head, The Cobra Club, and Skidmore College. He is an Associate Artist at The Tank, the September 2018 Artist-in-Residence at Judson Memorial Church, and a 2017 Artist-in-Residence on the Fresh Ground Pepper artists' retreat. Proud graduate of Skidmore College. @kevgoshdarn // kevberry.com

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Brysen Boyd (playwright, Mayday (Terrible Things)) is a playwright and essay writer originally from Seattle, now based in NYC. He is a second year MFA candidate at Columbia and enjoys writing plays that are big on subtext, little on dialogue and essays that are less than a page but say lots. His plays have been included in several festivals including the Boston Theater Marathon and Darkhorse productions’ ‘200 Miles Off-Broadway' festival. IG: @brysenboyd

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Marisa Brau-Reyes (actor, Why Don't They...) is an actor, comedian, and writer in NYC. She has developed and performed in plays with Columbia Stages, Theater for the New City, HERE Arts Center, InVersion Theatre Company and Off-Broadway as Titania in Offline Productions' A Midsummer Night's Dream. She writes and performs sketch and improv comedy all over the city and has trained at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre and The Peoples' Improv Theatre. Television and film appearances include: Mozart in the Jungle (Amazon), Billions (Showtime), and the upcoming film Bel Canto starring Julianne Moore. For the same information in a different format go to: marisabraureyes.com

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Toccara Castleman (playwright, I Choose You, Baby) is a writer/actress/closeted singer from Chicago who loves to tell stories in a variety of mediums including theatre, web, journalism and television; where Black women are central to the narrative. www.toccaracastleman.com Many thanks to Johnny, Rebecca and Will for another exciting opportunity to create.

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Aurelia Clunie (director, I Choose You, Baby) is a director, actor and teaching artist. Directing: Elder Play Project, The American Unicorn (Long Wharf Theatre), The Every 28 Hours Plays (reading, SUNY New Paltz), Breakdancing Shakespeare: Julius Caesar, Breakdancing Shakespeare: The Comedy of Errors, and The Burial at Thebes (Education at Hartford Stage) Acting: Pericles, Prince of Tyre and Romeo and Juliet (Capital Classics), Doubt (Chestnut St. Playhouse), Lest We Forget, Ebeneeza, and Meet Us Where We Are (Hartbeat Ensemble). As Education Associate at Hartford Stage, she facilitated the Write On Young Playwrights' Competition. Aurelia is currently the Community Engagement Associate at Long Wharf Theatre.

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Katya Collazo (actor, I Choose You, Baby) Theatre: Upcoming: Nurse Flinn/Sandra, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Playhouse on Park, West Hartford, CT; Other Credits: Catherine Donohue These Shining Lives, The Kraine Theatre, NYC; Lucy, Dracula, Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center, Waterford, CT; Grace, The Resolutes, Wyoming Theatre Festival; Negro-Sarah, Funnyhouse of a Negro, Actors Studio Repertory Company, NYC; Perdita, The Winter's Tale, South Dakota Shakespeare Festival; Film: Cecilia the Celibate (short); Daphne (short); Antithesis (short). Television: Dietland. MFA from The Actors Studio Drama School at Pace University. www.katyacollazo.com

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Dennis Ngoc Ho (production stage manager) is happy to return on WE READ BOOKS for a second time. He is a Vietnamese-American stage manager from Southern California, home to Disneyland and In-N-Out. He believes that stage managers are the foundation of theater productions and whose primary goal is to make dreams a reality. His most recent projects were Comfort Women: A New Musical produced by Dimo Kim Musical Theatre Factory, Die Fledermaus directed by Isabelle Kettle, How I Married Myself directed by Anna Rebek, Richard the Third directed by Nana Dakin, and The Seagull directed by Andrei Serban. More theatre credits include: Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson with The Chance Theatre, Cloud 9 directed by April Shawhan, and The Temptations of St. Antony with The Four Larks Company. University of California, Los Angeles BA grad. Columbia University Candidate 2020, MFA Stage Management.

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Rebecca LeVine (writer/director, Why Don’t They...) is one third of InVersion. She is interested in the intersection of the real and the virtual and has a soft spot for internet mysteries. The rest of the time, she works in publishing and sidelines in graphic design. rebeccalevine.co

 

Johnny G. Lloyd (playwright, Imagination (Something Like It, At Least))is a playwright, producer and narwhal from the Atlantic Ocean. Johnny is the producing director for InVersion Theatre for Narwhals. Favorite writing credits include OR AN ASTRONAUT NARWHAL PLAY, IN THE WOODS WE NARWHALS RETURN, and RUINARWHALATION. Johnny’s work has been developed at Judson Narwhal Church, 59Narwhal59, UglyNarwhal, and The Tank. Columbia Playwriting 2020z.

 

Josh Luxenberg (director, Mayday (Terrible Things))is a playwright and director, and is co-Artistic Director of the physical theater company Sinking Ship. Credits include: A Hunger Artist (Connelly Theater/The Tank, two Drama Desk Awards nominations, and winner of the Lustrum Award at the Edinburgh Fringe), Powerhouse (New Ohio, O’Neill Playwrights Conference Finalist), Ocean (Mabou Mines Residency), Flatland (EST/Sloan), there will come soft rains(FringeNYC). Josh is the General Manager of the Connelly Theater, and co-curator of the Flint & Tinder series at The Tank. Josh worked in the writers' office of HBO’s The Wire. Education: Baltimore School for the Arts and Oberlin College.

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Emily Mervosh (actor, Mayday (Terrible Things)) is an actor, playwright, and musician, and is so excited to be part of "Mayday (Terrible Things)!" Emily was most recently seen in Pass/Fail at The Brick's Trans Theatre Festival. Recent film includes Fried Eggs and Toast (Best Film - Hofstra Film Festival) and an upcoming leading role in a short indie thriller. Emily is especially interested in the intersection of arts and activism and was a 2017 Artist as Citizen Fellow with Artists Striving to End Poverty (ASTEP). IG: @emervosh

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Dara O'Brien* (actor, Five O’Clock in a Quiet Town) is a playwright and actress based in New York City. Her acting work includes the New York premiere of Gidion’s Knot by Johnna Adams, directed by Austin Pendleton at 59E59 Theatres, and Lady Capulet in “R&J” for Web Series Shakespeare; other appearances include FringeNYC, Urban Stages, Luna Stage, NJ Rep, and Ego Actus. Her plays have been presented or developed at The Cherry Lane Theatre, Urban Stages, the Abingdon Theatre Company, Resonance Ensemble, and HB Studio. She received the 2015 Thomas Barbour Playwrights Award for her play “Early Sunday Morning.” www.DaraOBrien.com

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Paul Pontrelli* (actor, Five O’Clock in a Quiet Town) Theatre: The Flick (u/s, Barrow Street), This Clement World (St. Ann’s Warehouse), House of Dance (Half Straddle), Donogoo (Mint Theatre Co), The Aliens, I and You (Chester Theatre Co) Look Upon Our Lowliness (The Movement), Captain Louie (The Little Shubert). Film: Fry Day. TV: Instinct (CBS). MFA: NYU Grad Acting. 

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Zoe Richards (actor, I Choose You, Baby) is a local theatre artist and MFA Acting student at Brooklyn College. Her recent acting credits include: New Voices, New Viewpoints (Theatre Horizon), Magnus Effect (The Greenfield Collective), Shrew! (Reject Theatre Project), Damned Dirty Apes (Renegade Theatre Co). Much love and gratitude to Aurelia and this amazing ensemble. 

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Kimberly Singh (actor, I Choose You, Baby) is an actor, performer, and producer. As a recent graduate of The Maggie Flanigan Studio, Kimberly is making her theater debut here at The Tank. Before committing to her dream of acting she worked for ABC News Good Morning America, 20/20, and Lincoln Square Productions. She also makes mentoring women who have recently come out of incarceration a personal priority and loves to dance ridiculously, alone her room after breakfast.

 

Will Steinberger (director, Five O’Clock in a Quiet Town) is InVersion's Artistic Director. Recent InVersion work includes the premiere of Johnny Lloyd’s In the Woods We Return and Gregor, an adaptation of Franz Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis.” He's developed new work with the Drama League, Berkshire Theatre Group, the Wilma, 59E59, Judson Church, The Tank, Passage Theatre, InterAct, FGP, Uglyrhino and several universities. Will has worked on the artistic staffs of Hartford Stage, the Wilma and Passage Theatre. He is an MTC Directing Fellow and LCT Directors Lab member. Thanks to this talented group of artists and to all the butts in the seats. @Willtoots, WSteinberger.com

 

Gina Stevensen’s (playwright, Five O’Clock in a Quiet Town) plays include THE COLONY (Semifinalist: Austin Film Festival Playwriting Competition, Off-Broadway Reading: Urban Stages, Finalist: The Kennedy Center’s MFA Playwrights Workshop), CRUEL SISTER (Semi-Finalist: O’Neill National Playwrights Conference), KIDS (Williamstown Theatre Festival), and BOOK OF ESTHER (Reading: Hartford Stage, Top Ten Finalist: Jewish Playwriting Contest, Semi-Finalist: Princess Grace Award). Gina is currently a nominee for the 2019 Mentor Project at the Cherry Lane Theatre. She teaches playwriting through Tribeca Performing Arts Center’s Writers in Performance Workshop and The Writer’s Rock. BFA Drama: NYU Tisch. MFA Playwriting: Columbia University. www.ginastevensen.com

 

*Member, Actors' Equity Association.