LAUREN SANDLER (Writer) is the award-winning and bestselling author of three books, including the 2020 New York Times Notable Book THIS IS ALL I GOT: A NEW MOTHER’S SEARCH FOR HOME, for which she spent a year reporting in a Brooklyn shelter and followed one woman through her trials to find a stable home. Lauren began her journalism career at NPR before shifting into writing essays and narrative. Her writing on gender, race,  inequality, and religion have appeared in dozens of publications including The New York Times, Slate, The Atlantic, Time, and  New York Magazine. Lauren has been a Poynter Fellow at Yale, and has received arts fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the MacDowell Colony, Virginia Center for Creative Arts, the James Merrill House, Loghaven, and the Maison Dora Maar in Menerbes, France.

KIRSTEN GREENIDGE (Book) Village Voice/Obie and PEN America/Laura Pels recipient Kirsten Greenidge is the author of THE LUCK OF THE IRISH, MILK LIKE SUGAR, as well as OUR DAUGHTERS LIKE PILLARS and COMMON GROUND: REVISITED, an adaptation of J. Anthony Lukas’ Pulitzer Prize-winning book about Boston’s desegregation efforts in the 1970s. A hallmark of Kirsten’s work is her focus on the nexus of race, class, and gender in the United States in the past and present. More recent work includes MORNING, NOON, AND NIGHT, commissioned by Company One Theatre as part of Kirsten’s Howlround/Mellon Foundation Theatre Residency; MATILDE: A FABLE, commissioned by Oregon Shakespeare Festival and the Lucille Lortel Theatre and presented at La Jolla Playhouse’s 2024 DNA Festival; and the adapted libretto for THE ANONYMOUS LOVER, an adaptation of the original by Joseph Bologne, which premiered at Boston Lyric Opera and was most recently presented at Opera Philadelphia. Kirsten is an associate professor of theatre at the School of Theatre at Boston University, where she oversees the playwriting track of study and also serves as the school’s director. An alum of New Dramatists, Kirsten attended Wesleyan University and the Playwrights Workshop at the University of Iowa, and is a resident artist at Company One in Boston. Upcoming commission work includes projects with Plays-in-Place and Boston Lyric Opera.

CRYSTAL MONEE HALL (Music and Lyrics) is a powerhouse singer/songwriter, actress, and vocal director/arranger/producer whose career spans roles on Broadway (RENT), TV (HBO’s HIGH MAINTENANCE and WALKER), movies (Disney’s WISH), and sold-out tours with Ben Platt and Mickey Hart (Grateful Dead). She has collaborated with an array of top artists, from providing backing vocals for Oleta Adams and Patti Austin, to performing with Thomas Rhett at Madison Square Garden and being featured in Cynthia Erivo’s PBS special. Crystal was named a 2025 Woman to Watch by the Broadway Women's Fund and was a recipient of The Lilly Awards’ “Go Write a Musical” award and the Black Theatre Coalition’s inaugural Composer Fellowship Award. Hall’s songwriting has been showcased in Kristin Chenoweth’s live concerts, and her latest EP IF YOU BREATHE has been praised by Billboard Magazine. Crystal is the composer of the new musical 3 SUMMERS OF LINCOLN, which premiered at La Jolla Playhouse in 2025. crystalmoneehall.com.

LORIN LATARRO (Director) Broadway: ONCE UPON A MATTRESS, TOMMY, THE HEART OF ROCK AND ROLL, INTO THE WOODS, WAITRESS, MRS. DOUBTFIRE; The Met: LA TRAVIATA; Other: PETER PAN, THE PRODUCERS (The Chocolate Factory).

TORYA BEARD (Associate Director) (she/her) Broadway: FUNNY GIRL (Assistant Director), WAITRESS (Assistant Director), THE LION KING (Swing, Dance Captain). Regional: DIARY OF A TAP DANCER, A.R.T. (Director); Educational: Sophisticated Ladies, University of Michigan (Co-Director/Choreographer), Pippin, Syracuse University (Director). Other: Baby Laurence Legacy Project (Director), Jesus Christ Superstar: Highlights from the All-Female Studio Cast Recording (Executive Producer), 2023 Bessie Awards (Creative Producer). 

Torya's creative partnership with Ayodele Casel has been a significant collaboration. Among the projects Torya co-developed and directed: Rooted for ALL ARTS' Past, Present, Future Film Festival, Bessie Award-winning dance film Ayodele Casel: Chasing Magic, Freedom... In Progress for Max Roach 100 and The Remix. Torya is the recipient of APAP's Inaugural CIPA Award for Outstanding Achievement in Creative Producing, Co-Founder of the social enterprise tall poPpy (with Darren Biggart and Jeanine Tesori), and sits on the boards of percussive dance company Sole Defined and Raja Feather Kelly's dance-theatre-media company, the feath3r theory (TF3T). toryabeard.com. @thatgirltorya

NATALIE BROWN (Music Assistant) is a composer, playwright, and scholar interested in blending music, theater, and history to amplify stories traditionally excluded from western narratives and catalyze social change. Her original works include FOR COLORED GIRLS, a full-length opera adaptation of the Ntozake Shange play, LITTLE WHITE LIES, an original musical that traces the legacy of racial passing through one American family’s lineage, and insomni/black, a chamber music piece commissioned by Carnegie Hall. Natalie graduated from Yale University in May with a double major in Music and African American Studies. Among other musical and academic awards, she has been honored as a Eugene O’Neill NMTC Semifinalist, Write Out Loud Finalist, and Yale Swensen Scholar in the Arts. nataliebrownmusic.com

BEN COVELLO (Music Director and Keys) is a New York Music Director, Pianist/Conductor, Guitarist, Orchestrator, and Collaborator. He is involved in the developmental processes of new projects in collaboration with BAM, Deaf West, Manhattan Theater Club, Guild Hall, the Athens Conservatoire in Greece, Lincoln Center, American Conservatory Theater, Ars Nova, Goodspeed Opera House, and others.

Ben was recently the Associate Conductor and Guitarist on Deaf West’s American Idiot revival at the Mark Taper Forum in LA. Ben currently is a substitute musician for The Outsiders on Broadway, where he also serves as a rehearsal pianist.

Ben strongly believes in the power of art and collaboration to challenge and advance the thinking of the masses. His approach is rooted in an undying desire to disrupt convention and tradition on both a microscopic and universal scale, and he is so grateful to always be surrounded by a community of artists, friends, and family that support one another unconditionally.

JESSICA FORELLA (Production Stage Manager)* (she/her) is delighted to be joining NYSAF for this season. Favorite past credits include: A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM, TWELFTH NIGHT, MALVOLIO (The Classical Theatre of Harlem); TWELFTH NIGHT, RICHARD III (Chicago Shakespeare Theater); FUN HOME, MIES JULIE (Victory Gardens Theater); THE POLAR EXPRESS (Rail Events Productions); THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES, JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH (Theatre-Hikes); NUMBERS NERDS (CPA Theatricals), MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET (Barter Theatre); BURN THE FLOOR (Norwegian Cruise Lines), THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME (RWCMD), A SMALL OAK TREE RUNS RED (Congo Square Theatre), and SONDHEIM ON SONDHEIM (Porchlight Music Theatre).

KLEO MITROKOSTAS (Assistant Stage Manager)* (she/her) is an NYC-based stage manager, actor, and producer. Off-Broadway: 59E59 Theaters, Theatre Row, A.R.T./NY Theatres. Regional: Pendragon Theatre, Shakespeare&Company, Sundog Theatre, New Jersey Repertory Company, The Broke People Play Festival, Cotuit Center for the Arts. She is a resident artist with New Light Theater Project. NYU Tisch. KleoMitrokostas.com @kleomitrokostas

NATHAN REPASZ (Drummer) is a New York-based drummer, vocalist, improviser, theatremaker, and Foley artist. He is a founding member of the experimental theatre company CHILD, which presented "1-800-3592-113592" in Spring 2024 and was included in The New Yorker's "Best Theatre of 2024" list. Recent/current projects, on drums: THE BEST YOU CAN, a new film starring Kevin Bacon; FOUAD OF NAZARETH by Fouad Dakwar; GOLEM OWNED BY A TROPICAL SMOOTHIE by Ethan Crystal + Garrett Poladian; and "Dirty Dancing in Concert" tour (US+Canada). As vocalist: WE DON’T NEED THE SEA TO DROWN by Coco Karol + Sxip Shirey; The Marble Choir (staff tenor). As Foley artist: SILENT NIGHT, an opera by Paola Prestini and the devised piece LONE WOLF (NYC and Luxembourg). As music director/multi-instrumentalist: THE FOUR LIVES by Theodora Skipitares. His solo language+percussion performance practice explores liminal spaces between sense/nonsense and groove/noise. He works as a choral singer, session/pit musician, theatre artist, and goat-cheesemonger in the NYC area.