Director and Playwright Incubator/Mentor Program

Alexandra Kronz is a Seattle based teaching artist whose own creative work spans playwriting, dance, choreography, drag and theatre. Their generative and pedagogical approaches are informed by their experience as a queer woman in the arts, their passion for social justice, and their academic background in Socio-Linguistics and the Psychology of bias. In addition to serving as TSGP’s Director of Education, Alexandra teaches online theatre workshops for LGBTQIA+ and allied youth at the Rainbow Center Tacoma, teaches freelance partner dance lessons, and is a member of the 2021 Teaching Artist Training Lab cohort. Their recent performance work includes: acting in Dacha Theatre’s interactive zoom play Secret Admirer, dancing for Lucille Jun in Velocity’s The Bridge Project, and writing/directing Wormwood, their original evening length play, at 18th & Union’s Springshot Festival.

Shana is a writer, educator, theater artist, and non-profit leader based in Seattle,WA. She has directed over 200 productions with youth ensembles and overseen over 120 professional productions. Currently she serves as the Producing Artistic Director of Penguin Productions, facilitating creative adventures in community arts to fuel the future with a focus on youth development and leadership, gender equity, and environmental justice. She is also a Fulbright Specialist, working internationally at the intersections of theater, social justice, and community building. From 2001-2018 Shana was Seattle Public Theater's Artistic and Education Director, a position she founded and an organization which she helped lead from community theater to national professional artistic recognition. She was a member of the ArtEquity cohort of 2016-17 and of the Leadership Tomorrow Class of '21, engaging with cross-sector leaders around regional issues through an equity lens. Through her facilitation and leadership, she strives to increase our capacity to connect, reflect, and create in order to make a more curious, compassionate and creative world. www.penguinproductionsseattle.org, www.shanabestock.com

Francesca (Cessa) Betancourt is a performer, intimacy director, producer, and educator/facilitator. Cessa is originally from the Southwest but is now based on the East coast. She has worked as an artist and facilitator in Ireland, India, the Philippines, New York, Washington, Wisconsin, Maryland, D.C. and Florida. She holds two BAs from Western Washington University in Theatre Arts and Sociology, and has trained in Applied Theatre at City University of New York. She identifies as mixed-race/bi-racial, Cuban/Latinx/Hispanic, white, cisgender, female, and queer. Cessa is the artistic director of a recurring storytelling event and podcast called "she is FIERCE: stories from the female and genderqueer perspective" and is a founding member of HERON Ensemble, an interdisciplinary theatre collective. Her work is based in social/emotional learning, trauma informed arts practice, social justice, compassion, access, autonomy, and physical storytelling.

Andrew’s (he/him) a Black storyteller and content creator, hailing from Seattle, Washington. He’s the creator of The Legacy Plays Project--a nine-play, multi-century-spanning meditation on the journey of Black Americans through pivotal moments of American History. Select Awards/Nominations: 2020 Semifinalist for the Ashland New Plays Festival (Riverwood), 2018 Gregory Awards People’s Choice Nominee for Outstanding New Play (JOURNEY WEST! The Legend of Lewis & Clark). He’s developed programming and networking events for playwrights through his work with theatre organizations The Scratch, The Dramatists’ Guild of America, and Rain City Projects. Andrew holds a BFA from Cornish College of the Arts.

Inda Craig-Galván is a Chicagoan who lives in Los Angeles, where it’s warm. Her plays include Black Super Hero Magic Mama (Geffen Playhouse), I Go Somewhere Else (Playwrights’ Arena), and a hit dog will holler (JAW 2021). Her work has been developed at the Eugene O'Neill National Playwrights Conference, Ojai Playwrights Conference, OSF’s Black Swan Lab, and recent honors include Kesselring Prize, Jeffry Melnick New Playwright Award, and Kilroys List. Current commissions in the works: Old Globe (San Diego) and Primary Stages (New York). Inda is also a TV writer on Demimonde, the upcoming HBO series created by JJ Abrams. MFA in Dramatic Writing, University of Southern California.

Jasmine Jamillah Mahmoud is a curator, playwright, and historian of art and performance. She is Assistant Professor of Arts Leadership at Seattle University, where she teaches courses including “Public Policy and Advocacy in the Arts” and “Black Lives Matter: Art Leadership, Theory, and Practice.” Her work engages performance studies, theater history, race, gender, policy, and geography. Her writing appears in academic and popular journals, including the South Seattle Emerald where she writes about BIPOC artists. Committed to arts advocacy, she serves as a Washington State Arts Commissioner, board president of Intiman Theatre, and a board member of On the Boards.

Amy Poisson is primarily focused on world premiere plays by female+ artists. Selected work includes 17 Minute Stories, Macha’s Livestreamed Season, The Fifth Wave by Jenn Ruzumna and Lisa Every; Blood Water Paint and Smoke & Dust by Joy McCullough; Sheathed by Maggie Lee (2019 Gregory Award winner for Outstanding New Play; 2019 Gregory Award nominee for Outstanding Actress in a Play); Happy, Happy, Happy… by Jenn Ruzumna and Lisa Every; Plays by Maggie Lee: The Flight Before Xmas at Macha and Seattle Public Theatre, A Hand of Talons, The Clockwork Professor and The Tumbleweed Zephyr produced by Pork Filled Productions.

Monique Aldred is an actor and singer. Her credits include Pygmalion, The Originals, Witch Prison, A Very Die Hard Christmas, and Avenue Q. Monique has also been a member of the Seattle Ladies Choir since 2012. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, cooking, and playing pub trivia. Her capacity for memorizing random facts was finally rewarded when she competed as a contestant on Jeopardy! in 2014.

Sarah Miri Daniels is a playwright, performer, and director from Atlanta, GA. She received her B.F.A in Theatre from Cornish College of the Arts. Sarah believes in the power of story as truth, and always seeks to create works that hold many kernels of truth. She is continually inspired by the surreal, magical, and odd. She recently had her play WANDERWOMAN produced by Cornish College of the Arts in their New Works Festival.

Sophe is a Seattle based director and educator originally from Colorado. She holds a MA in Education from Loyola Marymount University and a BA in Theatre from Chapman University. Most recently Sophe directed A Series of Small Cataclysms with The Shattered Glass Project. She directs both professionally and at an educational level as well as created and teaches a class at North Seattle College called Using Devised Theatre as a Catalyst for Social Change. Sophe is so excited to be returning to the TSGP cohort!

Helen T. Mariam is a director, screenwriter, and independent film producer. She is the writer and director of the short films Insufficient and Relationship Demons (Finalist, Best Filmmaker, Easter Seals Disability Film Challenge). The Noise Made By People, a short film she wrote and produced, screened at the Port Orchard Film Festival, the Burien Film Festival, and the Local Sightings Film Festival, where it won the Audience Choice Award.

Alison Kozar (they/them): Alison recently made their directing debut with All New Cells. Alison believes in healing the world, feminist science fiction, and radical self-worth. Alsion primarily stage manages, and has recently begun to take work in sound design. Recent productions: Loom (TSGP,) Black Bois (The Congregation,) Sheathed (Macha Theatre Works,) The Events (Intiman,) Is God Is (WET,) and The Christians (Pony World.) www.professionalmomfriend.com

Kit Lascher is a Seattle director, writer, and performer. Known for their distinctive “trash wonderland” style, they pride themselves on being able to make costumes and set pieces out of unusual materials and create entire worlds from unexpected places. They studied theatre at UCLA’s school of Theater, Film, and Television before moving to Seattle in 2016 and participating in the performance world ever since. They are passionate about theatre as a site for social change.

Alanah Pascual is a director, playwright, and performer from San Diego, California. She strives to tell stories that excite her, push the limits of what is usually seen on stage, and show all sides of humanity. Alanah is proud to be a Filipina Cuban American. She recently directed her first full length play, MoonWomb and is currently working on a project surrounding the women of Shakespeare. Alanah has performed with Pork Filled Productions, REBATEnsemble, and Cornish College of the Arts.

Natalie Schmidt is a Seattle-based actor and writer. Originally from Arizona, she holds a B.A. in Theatre from Arizona State University. Natalie’s short play Grid Unlocked premiered at Dacha ’Round the Clock. The Necklace, a short film she co-wrote, screened at the Seattle 48-Hour Film Project. She has acted on the stages of Hello Earth, Thalia’s Umbrella, Dacha, Burien Actors Theatre, Seattle Jewish Theater Company, and Arouet, as well as in several independent films.

Darby Sherwood is a playwright, adapter, and dramaturg currently studying at the University of Washington. Her plays have been performed at the University of Washington School of Drama, Horizon Theatre’s New South Young Playwrights Festival, Radial Theater Project at 18th & Union, NowHereThis Seattle, Gallery 7 Theatre’s Abby Theatre Festival, Metea Theatre, and Illinois Speech Performance in the Round. Her plays and short stories have been published in two Smith & Kraus anthologies (Best Women’s Monologues 2021 and Laughter is the Best Medicine), Fleas on the Dog Magazine, and The Headlight Review (published by Kennesaw State University). www.darbysherwood.com

Spencer J. Vigil is a Transgender playwright and poet from Seattle Washington. His work strongly focuses on disrupting canonical interpretations grounded in whiteness and bringing representation, understanding, and authenticity to contemporary theater in an imaginative and bold way. Vigil strives to bring light to underrepresented communities, as well as minority groups, in his writing. His most recent publications can be found in Allegory Ridge, and Washington’s Best Emerging Poets Anthology.