Cara Hinh, Jo Ellen Pellman, Natalie Duncan, Sam Hamashima | NYSAF 2023 Summer Season | Photo Credit: Emilio Madrid
ABOUT OUR COMPANIES-IN-RESIDENCE INITIATIVE
NYSAF was founded in-part to support artistic process and promote collaboration between artistic peers. Throughout our 38 year history, NYSAF has often provided residency opportunities to colleague organizations, so that we may share our resources and invite compelling creative relationships as a result of sharing space within the overall NYSAF community. In 2023, NYSAF built off of this historical practice and invited four companies to be in residence for the full year, offering committed residency time within the 2023 Summer Season, tailored administrative support, amplification within NYSAF’s communication portals, and access to the wider NYSAF community.
SUPPORT OPPORTUNITIES
The 2024 Companies-In-Residence will each receive committed time within the 2024 Summer Season in Poughkeepsie, and may be supported by administrative resource sharing for their respective needs, amplification within NYSAF’s communication portals, and access to other community gatherings to connect them to a larger network for peer support.
In 2023 Companies-In-Residence were invited to bring between 4-6 artists to Poughkeepsie as a part of their Summer Season residency. For additional information about the range of support made available to individuals in residence with the 2023 Companies-In-Residence, click here.
*Previous parameters regarding number of individuals supported/etc, are subject to change for 2024, as we are open to considering the scope of residencies based on the applications we receive and the differing needs of each organization.
ELIGIBILITY
NYSAF is aiming to support organizations with modest budgets (less than $750,000), for whom access to at least a week of in-person residency time within our annual Summer Season would significantly impact their mission-driven activity. NYSAF is eager to engage with colleagues who have a clear vision and who resonate with our values and how we are trying to evolve as a community.
Ideal applicants are organizations:
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Without a brick & mortar space
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Within 3-4 hours of New York City
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With a clear mission and vision for what they are hoping to accomplish, and how they hope to support the artists that they aim to uplift
HOW TO APPLY
Applications are now closed.
Any questions can be sent to info@newyorkstageandfilm.org
The 2023 Companies-In-Residence each receive committed time within the 2023 Summer Season in Poughkeepsie, tailored administrative support for their respective needs, amplification within NYSAF’s communication portals, and other community gatherings to connect them to a larger network for peer support.
Breaking The Binary Theatre
Breaking The Binary Theatre is a new work development and community building hub wherein transgender, non-binary, and Two-Spirit+ (TNB2S+) artists come together to reclaim our artistic license and liberty on our own terms in spaces built by and for us. Breaking the Binary Theatre hosts a number of programs and initiatives, including our flagship artistic event each October: the all-TNB2S+ Breaking the Binary Theatre Festival. @BreakingTheBinaryTheatre on Instagram. www.btb-nyc.com.
GARRETT ALLEN | Director
Garrett Allen (they/them) is a Black, queer and trans interdisciplinary artist and director working primarily in performance, video, and installation. Their work navigates the recent, dramatic changes in the ways that we consume, perceive, process, and empathize. They explore stories and creations of Black, queer folks in all their multiplicities and expansiveness. They are dedicated to ethical and equitable collaboration alongside challenging and dismantling white (and cis, able-bodied, hetero, and man) supremacy. Their recent projects include a new adaptation of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare (Yale Drama), a workshop of Esme by Doug Robinson (Yale Drama), Everybody by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins (Yale College), body100 created with Nazareth Hassan (Prelude Festival), BLK MLK (blackmilk) created with Kyle Carrero Lopez (Spectrum NYC). They are the co-founder of LEGACY: a production collective created for and by Black, queer and trans artists. They are currently pursuing their MFA in Directing at the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale. www.garrett-allen.com
ZACHARIAH EZER | Dramaturg
Zachariah Ezer is a dramaturg whose work animates theoretical quandaries through theatrical forms. He has served as the Dramaturg-in-Residence for the Workshop Theater and the project dramaturg for The National Black Theatre's IAMSOUL Directing Residency. He has also performed dramaturgical work for Merde, The Cohen New Works Festival, foolsFURY, and Awoye Timpo.
He is also a playwright whose work has been developed/produced by Playwrights Horizons, American Conservatory Theater, The Playwrights Center, The Lark, The Fire This Time Festival Theater J, Fault Line Theater, Hi-ARTS, and more. MFA: UT Austin.
DOMINIQUE RIDER | Playwright
Dominique Rider is a Brooklyn-based director and curator whose work seeks to answer the question: “What is a world unmade by slavery?” while attempting to analyze the layers of anti-blackness that maintain the world we live in. Deploying theatre and performance as tools of Afropessimism, Dominique has developed and staged work with The Park Avenue Armory, Audible, The New Group, NYTW, Roundabout, The Atlantic, Princeton, Rattlestick, BRIC Arts, Two River, Portland Center Stage, and more. Past fellowships/residencies include Hi-Arts, The National Black Theatre, TheaterWorks Hartford, NYSAF, BRIC Arts, Roundabout, and NAMT. Dominique is a producer with CLASSIX.
GEORGE STRUS | Founding Artistic Director
George Strus (they/them) is a trans non-binary Latiné artist based on the unceded ancestral lands of the Munsee Lenape people (colloquially known as New York). They founded Breaking the Binary Theatre: a new work development and community building hub for transgender, non-binary, and Two-Spirit+ theatermakers. In addition to their role as Founding Artistic Director of Breaking the Binary Theatre and their freelance producorial and dramaturgical work, they also currently serve as Artistic Producer at The Sol Project, Seasonal Producing Manager at The Public Theater, and Theatre Scout at Curate Management. Previously, they held positions at Second Stage Theater, A3 Artists Agency, Manhattan Theatre Club, Pride Plays at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, Playbill, Stacey Mindich Productions, Alchemation, Telsey + Company Casting, Paper Mill Playhouse, and Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. www.georgestrus.com @GeorgeStrus
The Latiné Musical Theatre Lab
The Latiné Musical Theatre Lab is an organization that develops and advocates for new Latiné-written works of musical theatre in order to radically change who gets to tell musical stories on stages across the country. Founded in November 2021, the Lab's free programs have helped Latine writers develop more than 24 different, new musicals in its first year alone. www.latinemtlab.org
MARJUAN CANADY
Marjuan Canady is a Broadway Producer and an award-winning Caribbean-American artist, entrepreneur, educator, and literacy advocate. A native Washingtonian, her work spans theater, film, television, children’s media and literature. Named as a "2023 Woman to Watch on Broadway'' by the Broadway Women's Fund, Marjuan's Broadway credits include Death of a Salesman (Co-Producer), and The WIZ (Co-Producer). She is currently Lead Producing and Co-writing a new musical that is in development, entitled, Tap In. Ms. Canady was the 2021-2022 inaugural Front Row Productions Fellow / Adjunct Research Scholar at Columbia University MFA Theatre Management and Producing Program. Her original work has been seen Off-Broadway, at The John F. Kennedy Center, Sesame Street, The Smithsonian, The Lincoln Center for Performing Arts, The National Theatre and the Miami Book Festival. She is the CEO/ Author and Creative Director of the children's media brand, Callaloo Kids. She has held fellowships at The Schomburg Center, the DC Commission on the Arts, the Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute, Lincoln Center, Harlem Stage, and the Anacostia Arts Center. Ms. Canady is the Founder of her production company Sepia Works and non-profit, Canady Foundation for the Arts. Canady is a graduate of Duke Ellington School of the Arts and holds her BA in Theatre and Africana Studies from Fordham University and her M.A. in Arts Politics from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. She is a member of the Producers Guild of America, Actors Equity Association, Dramatist Guild, and the Parent Artist Advocacy League. Marjuan is the proud mom of her three year old daughter, Savannah.
CHRISTIN EVE CATO
Christin Eve Cato is a playwright, dramaturg, and performing artist from the Bronx. She holds an MFA in Playwriting from Indiana University and completed her BA in Political Science and Philosophy at Fordham University. Cato is also a graduate of Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School for Music and Art and the Performing Arts. She is affiliated with NYC theater companies, Pregones/PRTT (ensemble member & former Resident Dramaturg), INTAR Theatre (UNIT 52 ensemble member), and the Latinx Playwrights Circle. She is also a playwright in the WP Theater 2022-2024 Pipeline Lab. Cato's artistic style is expressed through Caribbean culture and the Afro-Latinx diaspora, honoring her Puerto Rican and Jamaican roots. Recent productions include the Off-Broadway sensation, Sancocho (co-produced by The Latinx Playwrights Circle, The Sol Project and WP Theatre), and The Diamond (The Peoples Theatre Project/Pregones Theatre). Publication/Contributor credits include: We Are Not Neutral (Amazon Books) and, Latinx Actor Training (Routledge). She is repped by WME Agency and 3 Arts Entertainment. www.christinevecato.com
RYAN MORALES GREEN | Producing Artistic Director
Ryan Morales Green is a Boricua-Italian actor, producer, and arts advocate based in NYC, and the Producing Artistic Director of the Latiné Musical Theatre Lab, a home for the development and advocacy of new works of Latiné written musical theatre. His mission is to advocate for diverse works of musical theatre that challenge and expand the art form, while providing a voice to underrepresented artists on the musical stage. He works to champion new forms of musical development that eliminate systems of privilege in the kinds of work that get produced regionally, in New York, and on Broadway. The goal: revolutionize the world of musical theatre. Under his leadership, the 14-person team of the Lab has helped to develop over 30 new Latine-written musicals in its first eighteen months alone, and is set to become a force for change in our industry.
His work as an actor includes the national tour of Flashdance the Musical, numerous readings and workshops of new musicals, and dozens of contracts at regional theatres around the country throughout his decade-long career in the arts. BFA Musical Theatre, Shenandoah Conservatory. www.ryanmorales.me @ryanmoralesgreen
JUJU NIETO
Juju Nieto (she/her) is a Los Angeles based, Mexican and Colombian-American dramaturg, writer and emerging entertainment professional. Having seen firsthand the power representation had on her own family, Juju strives in all of her work to bring specificity, nuance and authentic representations of marginalized communities to the stage and screen.
Juju has been privileged to have had opportunities facilitating BIPOC theatermakers in bringing their vision to the page and stage through Carnegie Mellon University (The Kennedy Plays, this old haunt, Whispers of my Sister), her time freelancing for New York City based playwright SMJ (No Mercy, Untitled Raccoon Play, SWAY), and working for non-profit theatres across the United States (Center Theatre Group, Fort Salem Theater).
Juju recently graduated from Carnegie Mellon University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dramaturgy and is looking forward to continuing her time at Carnegie Mellon by pursuing her Master of Entertainment Industry Management.
This summer, Juju is beyond excited to continue both her entertainment and theatre career this summer through working for UnbeliEVAble Entertainment and continuing her freelance work with SMJ.
SMJ
SMJ (they/them) is a mixed-Latiné, Trans non-binary, and NYC-based playwright & musical theater writer, originally from Mount Vernon, OH. They are a 2022-2023 Dramatists Guild Foundation Fellow. They are currently creating work with Ars Nova, Lincoln Center/National Queer Theater, The Road Theatre Company’s Under Construction Playwriting Group, Latiné Musical Theatre Lab, The Orchard Project, and Andy's Summer Playhouse. Their work has been seen in various forms throughout the US including the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, The Fled Collective at The Flea Theater, Live Arts, The Tank, DR2 Theatre, Carnegie Mellon University, Otterbein University, and Wright State University. SMJ has been a semifinalist for the O'Neill's National Playwrights Conference, Princess Grace Award at New Dramatists, Van Lier New Voices Fellowship, and The Civilians R & D Group as well as a Finalist for Write Out Loud Contest, 5th Avenue Theater's First Draft Commission, and the Doric Wilson Playwright Award. Graduate of Otterbein University and NTI at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center. Member of the Dramatists Guild and Ring of Keys. www.smjwrites.com
The Movement Theatre Company
The Movement Theatre Company creates an artistic social movement by developing and producing herculean new works by artists of color. Under the leadership of David Mendizábal, Deadria Harrington, Eric Lockley, and Ryan Dobrin, our work engages a multicultural audience in a rich theatrical dialogue, enlightens communities to the important issues affecting our world, and empowers artists to celebrate the many sides of their unique voice. Founded in 2007, The Movement has established itself as an artistic staple in the NYC theatre community and was awarded a 2019 Obie Award Grant. Our 2018 production of WHAT TO SEND UP WHEN IT GOES DOWN by Aleshea Harris, directed by Whitney White, received critical praise and recognition (2019 Drama Desk Award nomination), increased the visibility of those affected by racially-motivated violence, and challenged the limitations of a theatrical experience. Additional past production successes include Harrison David Rivers’ AND SHE WOULD STAND LIKE THIS, choreographed by Kia LaBeija, and LOOK UPON OUR LOWLINESS, both directed by David Mendizábal, and breakout NYTimes lauded production of BINTOU by Koffi Kwahulé, translated by Chantal Bilodeau, directed by David Mendizábal.
RYAN DOBRIN
Ryan Dobrin (he/him) is one of the Producing Artistic Leaders of The Movement Theatre Company, the associate director of MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG on Broadway, an Embodying Antiracism Initiative Fellow at Wesleyan University, and the director of Those Guilty Creatures. Fellowships include The Drama League, Playwrights Horizons, MTC, WTF, Roundabout Directors Group, and Ars Nova. Associate/assistant credits on and off-Broadway with directors including Maria Friedman, Sam Gold, Billy Porter, and Christopher Ashley. Ryan graduated from Wesleyan University, where he received the Rachel Henderson Theater Prize and the Outreach & Community Service Prize. Ryandobrin.com.
SAM HAMASHIMA
Sam Hamashima - Described as “serious whimsy” in The Washington Post, Hamashima creates theater with an emphasis on spectacle, surprise, and design. Full-length plays include American Spies (Washington, D.C., The Hub Theatre, Helen Hayes Recommended, 2018 Kennedy Center Undergraduate Playwriting Award and the University of Michigan Hopwood Award in Drama, Dennis McIntyre Prize, and Roy Cowden Fellowship), Supposed Home (TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, Bay Area Playwrights Festival, Seattle Public Theater), Shoyu Tell (Lexington Children’s Theatre), Possessing the Resurrected (San Francisco Playhouse). Hamashima’s work has been presented and/or developed by the Kennedy Center, Stanford University, National Queer Theater, Lyric Stage Boston, the Workshop Theater, and the Japanese American Citizens League. They are the 2nd recipient of Seattle Public Theater’s $10,000 Emerald Prize and are currently under commission from Chicago Children’s Theatre. Hamashima is a graduate of the University of Michigan’s Musical Theater program Rep: DGRW and United Talent. samhamashima.com @samhamashima
DEADRIA HARRINGTON
Deadria Harrington (she/her/hers) is a New York City based creative producer and Producing Artistic Leader/Managing Director at The Movement Theatre Company. With The Movement, she has developed and produced numerous new works by emerging artists of color, most recently The Cotillion written and directed by Colette Robert, What To Send Up When It Goes Down by Aleshea Harris, directed by Whitney White and And She Would Stand Like This by Harrison David Rivers, directed by David Mendizábal and choreography by Kia LaBeija. Select producing credits include: The Architecture of Becoming (WP Theater); At Buffalo (NYMF, UB Buffalo Creative Arts Initiative, CAP21, TED 2019 Conference participant); Alligator, Sound House/This Is The Color Described by The Time, and Leap And The Net Will Appear (New Georges); and AFROFEMONONOMY // WORK THE ROOTS with Eisa Davis (Performance Space New York/New Georges). Harrington was a Time Warner Foundation Fellow of the 2012-2014 Producers Lab at Women’s Project Theater, a Next Generation Leader of Color at the 2014 Latinx Theatre Commons National Convening, has participated in artEquity’s National Facilitator Training, and has consulted with artEquity and SITI Company. She is an Associate Director/Producer at New Georges, Board Co-Chair of the Alliance of Resident Theatres/NY and a Vassar College graduate.
ERIC LOCKLEY
Eric Lockley is an OBIE and AUDELCO award-winning writer, actor and producer. Passionate about the value of diverse representation on and off-stage, Eric is a founder of and produces with The Movement Theatre Company and Harlem9. Eric’s plays and solo shows include, Blacken the Bubble, Without Trace, Last Laugh and Asking for More. As an actor, on-screen and stage credits include: The Inheritance, Luke Cage, Choir Boy and a number of commercials. Lockley’s recent solo show, We The People (Not the Bots) received acclaim and a feature in The New York Times and his mythical Afrofuturistic triptych, Sweet Chariot, has had developmental sharings supported by New York Stage & Film and The Public Theater.
MARCO ANTONIO RODRIGUEZ
Marco Antonio Rodriguez is a Dominican-American, bilingual writer. Named Top 50 Figure in LatinX and Latin American Theatre by Routledge. Double MFA-acting/television and screenwriting. Acclaimed plays Ashes of Light and Barceló on the Rocks performed all over the world. Both published by NoPassport Press (available on Amazon.com & lulu.com). Stage adaptation-Junot Díaz' The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao-celebrating four years of performances-Off-Broadway’s Spanish Rep. Recent play, Bloom-acclaimed run at New York’s IATI theatre. Winner - New York Independent Theatre Award (ATI) for outstanding achievement in playwriting. Horror screenplay, Suffer the Children, named Finalist-Fresh Voices Screenplay Competition and Creative World Awards. Half-hour dramedy pilot, Our Friendly Neighbors, will be released as a short film by DominiRican Productions this summer. National Hispanic Media Coalition Scriptwriters Program Fellow. The Movement Theatre Company x Black List Playwriting Commission winner. Space on Ryder Farm Residency. Currently voices “Uncle Nestor” in Emmy nominated PBS Kids animated series, Alma’s Way. www.marcoantoniorodriguez.com
The Recovery Project
The Recovery Project wants to change the narrative of the public health crisis that is addiction in our country. By being of service to artists--who both need support and create the stories that form our understanding of the world—and the general public, we hope to shatter the stigma of asking for assistance, thereby saving lives. The Recovery Project is an initiative of Florida Studio Theatre (FST). Florida Studio Theatre (FST) is Sarasota’s contemporary theatre. Founded in 1973, FST has grown to a village of five theatres located in the heart of downtown Sarasota. FST is the largest subscription theatre in the state of Florida and among the largest in the country, serving more than 200,000 live attendees each year across its diverse programs: Mainstage, Cabaret, Stage III, Children’s Theatre, The FST School, New Play Development, and FST Improv. Under the leadership of Producing Artistic Director Richard Hopkins, FST develops theatre that speaks to our living, evolving, and dynamically changing world.
JAKE BRASCH
Jake Brasch (he/they) is a writer + actor + composer + clown and a fellow in Juilliard's Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwrights Program. He's a finalist in the Alliance/Kendeda National Graduate Playwright Competition. They're a proud member of Ensemble Studio Theatre’s Youngblood. His play The Reservoir was commissioned by the Ensemble Studio Theatre/Alfred P. Sloan Science & Technology Project and was presented at the 2023 Colorado New Play Summit at the Denver Center. Their plays have been developed in New York by The Ensemble Studio Theatre, The Farm Theater, ArtHouse Inkubator, Letter of Marque, Eden Theatre Company, and LAByrinth Theatre Company. He is currently under commission from the EST/Sloan Project and The Farm Theater’s College Collaboration Project. As a composer, Jake has written music and lyrics for several films, plays, and podcasts. He works as a birthday party clown in the tri-state area. BFA: NYU-Tisch (Experimental Theatre Wing/New Studio on Broadway).
SEAN DANIELS | Associate Director/ Director
Sean Daniels is an internationally known theater director, writer, and Artistic Director, known for new work and innovative community-based leadership. He is a person in long term recovery, who has been a public advocate for change in the arts field. His play, The White Chip, a NYTimes Critics Pick, has been performed around the world as a catalyst for community conversation and connection.
Sean has been named “one of the top fifteen up & coming artists in the U.S., whose work will be transforming America’s stages for decades to come” & “One Of 7 People Reshaping and Revitalizing The American Musical” by American Theatre magazine. As a director and playwright his work has been seen in Scotland, England, Estonia and across the United States.
He is currently the Associate Director/Director of the Recovery Project at Florida Studio Theatre in sunny Sarasota, Florida. https://linktr.ee/seanddaniels
ALEXIS HAUK
Alexis Hauk is thrilled to be included among this year's creative braintrust! As a journalist, Alexis has written and edited for daily newspapers, alternative weeklies, trade publications, arts and culture blogs, and national magazines, with a particular passion for the performing arts. Her work has appeared in TIME, the Atlantic, Mental Floss, Uproxx, Washington City Paper, Bitter Southerner, Atlanta Magazine, ArtsATL, and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, among others. Alexis holds a bachelor’s degree from Emory University in English/Creative Writing and a master’s degree from Emerson College in Publishing and Writing. She currently resides in Atlanta, where she grew up, but has also lived in Boston, Washington, D.C., New York City, and Los Angeles. But not to worry, she was absolutely not "on the lam" during all of those back-to-back moves. In addition to her freelance writing, she also works full-time as communications director for Emory Heart & Vascular Center. She considers Captain Quint from "JAWS" to be a kind of spirit animal.
ANA BESS MOYER BELL
Ana Bess Moyer Bell is a master's level clinician, drama therapist, and playwright. She is the Executive Director of 2nd Act, a national non-profit, with the mission to change the way people and communities respond to the impact of substance use through film, theatre and drama therapy. Ana Bess has practiced and taught drama therapy nationally and internationally, most notably with the US Embassy in Ukraine to support refugee youth. Her second play, Act II, a story about the complexity of addiction recovery, was commissioned by Trinity Repertory Company and produced by the Rhode Island Department of Health in 2019. She is currently a senior advisor to Rhode Island Governor Daniel J. McKee on substance use, harm reduction, and recovery. Her first play was utilized by Sen. Elizabeth Warren in Congress to support youth treatment legislation and RI Gov. McKee noted it as a reason why he signed the Nation’s first Overdose Prevention Site bill in the fall of 2021.
BRANT RUSSELL
Brant Russell (he/him) is a writer, director, and educator based in Cincinnati, Ohio. He is the AB, Dolly, Ralph, and Julia Cohen Chair of Dramatic Performance and Associate Professor in the Acting program at the College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) at the University of Cincinnati. He is artistic director of the CCM Playwrights Workshop and drama editor for the Cincinnati Review. His short play Besties was produced by Human Race Theater for its Art in the Park event in August, 2022; his site-specific play Children of the Corn Maze: In Search of the Greenville Ghost was produced by Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park in October, 2022; his play Bankers premiered at Know Theater of Cincinnati in April 2023. He recently directed the world premiere of Gracie Gardner’s Malvolios at the Playground Theater in London, a pair of Ellen McLaughlin’s adaptations of ancient Greek plays for CCM, the US premiere of Aisha Josiah’s Dickless at the Know, and a new musical adaptation of As You Like It for Cincinnati Shakespeare Theater. He is a proud member of SDC, AAUP, and the Lincoln Center Directors’ Lab. www.brantrussell.com
GWYDION SUILEBHAN
Gwydion Suilebhan is a cultural critic, journalist, and playwright. With co-author Steven Gimbel, he writes about comedy, politics, and philosophy for Salon, Moment, 3 Quarks Daily, and JewTh!nk, among other publications. Together, they are currently working on a social history of Jewish American comedy. As a playwright, Suilebhan’s writing has been noted for its “dexterous theatricality and unexpected pleasure” (Washington Post).
A lifelong arts advocate, Suilebhan serves as both the Executive Director of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation and the Project Director of the New Play Exchange for the National New Play Network.
A founding member of The Welders, a Helen Hayes Award-winning playwrights collective in Washington, DC, Suilebhan previously held the position of Director of Brand and Marketing for Woolly Mammoth. Earlier in his career, he worked as a brand and communications consultant for arts and culture organizations.
Suilebhan currently serves on the board of the Alliance for Jewish Theatre. From 2017-2020, he was a member of the Council of the Dramatists Guild of America. He speaks widely on the intersection between the arts and technology in the 21st century.