June 11-29, 2024
Tuesdays - Saturdays at 7pm (final Sat. 6/29 at 2pm)
At the Connelly Theater: 220 East 4th Street, NYC
Book, Music & Lyrics by Michelle J. “Micha” Rodriguez
Directed by Mei Ann Teo
Choreographed by William Carlos Angulo and U.J. Mangune
Produced in association with ¡Oye! Group and The Sol Project
With support from Musical Theatre Factory
FEATURING:
Manny Dunn (he/him), Michelle J. “Micha” Rodriguez (she/her), Sushma Saha (all pronouns), and Tieisha Thomas (she/her)
MUSICIANS:
Music Director / Band Leader: Liya Grigoryan (she/her), Percussions: Julián Pardo (he/him), Bass: Lolivone de la Rosa (she/her), Percussions Sub: Ohm Soni (he/him), Bass Sub: Alicyn Yaffee
CREATIVE TEAM:
Costume Designer: Hahnji Jang (they/them), Scenic Designer: Tanya Orellana (she/her), Co-Lighting Designers: Jeanette Oi-Suk Yew (she/her) and Christopher Wong, Props Designer & Scenic Associate: Mele Sabú Borges (they/them), Assistant Costume Designer: Aidan Griffiths (they/them), Dramaturg: Jesse Cameron Alick (he/him), Music Supervisor: Jason Liebson, Vocal Director: Michelle J. “Micha” Rodriguez, Production Stage Manager: Sarah Orttung (she/her), Assistant Stage Manager: Justin Allen (he/she/they)
Line Produced by Rula A. Muñoz (she/they)
Photo by Morgan Winston
ADDITIONAL STAFF:
Devin McCallion Fletcher (Production Manager), Jay Maury (Technical Director), Mele Borges (Box Office Manager & Captions Operator), Jen Williams (House Manager), Justin Allen (House Associate)
CREW:
Assistant Technical Director: Jen Leno, Production Electrician: Jacqueline Scaletta, Audio Supervisor: DJ Figueroa, Wardrobe Supervisor: Nai’ya Willis-Hogan, Lighting Programmer: Josh Healing, Sound Engineer Substitute: Joel Cruz
Lighting Crew: Emily LaRochelle, Sarazina Stein, Cody Lee, Finn Weeks
Audio Crew: Joel Cruz, Eliut Ortiz, David Vee, Iz Fuerter
Scenic Crew: Colleen Combs, Sandra Mhlongo, Jesse Santana, Michael DeCaul, Taylor Barfield, Joaquim Stevenson-Rodriguez, Ann Marie Dorr, Jacob Gonzalez
SUPPORT + DEVELOPMENT:
PRESENCIA is made with support from: The NYC Women’s Fund for Media, Music and Theatre by the City of New York Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment in association with The New York Foundation for the Arts; The New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature, and the Tow Foundation Playwright Residency Program.
PRESENCIA has been previously developed through a special Creative Residency at Williams College, and through residencies at BAM, Hubbard Hall, and a concert at Lincoln Center’s Summer for the City.
Michelle J. Rodriguez is a 2024-2025 Tow Playwright-in-Residence. The Tow Foundation was established in 1988 by Leonard and Claire Tow as a way to give back to the communities that shaped them. Its five primary impact areas are equity and justice, medicine and public health, arts and culture, higher education, and civic engagement. Grounded in its decades of work in Connecticut and New York and based in New Canaan, CT, the foundation supports visionary leaders and nonprofit organizations to find and enact innovative solutions to persistent inequality. It works to ensure people can become full participants in their communities, achieve transformative and lasting progress, and develop approaches that allow everyone to reach their full potential.
DRAMATIST’S NOTE:
Have you ever doubted yourself or your abilities?
Have you ever messed up so bad, you think there’s no coming back from it?
Have you ever hoped that a houseplant could solve your problems?
Have you ever been the sibling of anyone?
Have you ever wanted to measure up to your own idea of success, or wellness?
Have you ever said yes when you meant no? Or said no when you meant yes?
Have you ever wanted to belong?
Have you ever found it difficult to sit still?
Have you ever felt a calling on your life?
Have you ever run away from something?
Have you ever been too nervous to speak up for what you need?
Have you ever done the unforgivable?
Have you ever forgiven someone?
Have you ever found it difficult to forgive yourself?
Have you ever had to start your life over?
Have you ever believed in yourself?
Or not believed?
Have you ever had a friend help you out in a time of great need?
Have you ever felt like you were hearing voices?
Then this story is for you.
THIS STORY WAS WRITTEN FOR YOU. <3 xo, mjr
BIOS:
Michelle J. “Micha” Rodriguez (she/her) writes and performs in the worlds of music and theater. Raised in the Pacific Northwest and Kentucky by Puerto Rican parents, Michelle’s work explores kids-of-immigrants stories, divinity, queerness, intuition, joy-as-resistance, healing and spaces in-between. Michelle is a 2024-2025 Tow Playwright-in-Residence at the Bushwick Starr, a 2023-2024 Vision Resident at Ars Nova, the winner of the 2022 Helen Merrill Award for playwriting and the recipient of a 2022 grant from NYC Women’s Fund for Media, Music and Theater.
Musicals in development include PRESENCIA (composer/lyricist/book-writer/performer), which was most recently developed with a residency at BAM and a concert at Lincoln Center’s Summer for the City, HOMBRES (composer/lyricist) at Portland Center Stage with William Carlos Angulo and Isaac Gómez, RAIMUNDA (composer/lyricist) with Noelle Viñas, which was developed through Ars Nova’s Van Lier Fellowship and Maker’s Lab and at NYSAF. Her music project MICHA became a finalist for NPR’s 2018 Tiny Desk Contest with her song “Nena Nena Nena,” praised for a “bilingual set spanning laid-back southern soul and Latin pop flare” (NPR). Micha is based in Brooklyn, NY and when she isn’t writing music she enjoys surfing, reading and designing objects. BA, Williams College.
Mei Ann Teo (they/them) is a queer immigrant from Singapore making theatre & film at the intersection of artistic/civic/contemplative practice. As a director/devisor/dramaturg, they create across genres, including music theatre, intermedial participatory work, reimagining classics, and documentary theatre. Profiled in American Theatre’s Role Call: Theatre Workers to Watch, Teo’s work has toured the U.S. and internationally including Belgium's Festival de Liege (Lyrics From Lockdown, “Truly polished, meaningful and entertaining” -New York Times), Singapore Theatre Festival (Building A Character - Hit List of the Business Times, “Dynamic staging”), Edinburgh International Fringe (MiddleFlight, “Stunning” -Scotsman), M1 Singapore Fringe Festival (The Shape of a Bird, "Superb staging" - Straits Times), INFANT Experimental Theatre Festival in Novi Sad, Serbia, Beijing International Festival (Labyrinth - Top 8 in Beijing News), Dumbo Arts Festival, and the Shanghai International Experimental Theatre Festival (Official Selection - Caucasian Chalk Circle). They have directed and/or developed new work at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (Phil Killian Fellow 2015), Goodman Theatre, Public Theater, Berkeley Rep (Ground Floor), Crowded Fire, History Theatre and the National Black Theatre. They directed the world premiere of Dim Sum Warriors by Colin Goh and Yen Yen Woo, composed by Pulitzer Prize winner Du Yun at Stan Lai’s Theatre Above in Shanghai, which went on a national twenty-five city tour in China in summer 2018.
Teo was the director featured at the MIT’s Symposium Next Wave: The Future of Asian American Theatre and was the first cohort for the Hemera Foundation Tending Space Fellowship and ArtEquity Facilitator Training. They have served as the Producing Artistic Director of Musical Theatre Factory, the Associate Artistic Director and Director of New Work of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and is currently an Artistic Leader at Ping Chong and Company.
U.J. Mangune (they/she/he) born in 1990's Seattle, U.J. is a first-generation Filipino-American with Tagalog and Kampangpangan roots. Although steered away from the performing arts at an early age, U.J. instead spent a decade honing their physical abilities through Taekwondo until their cousins introduced breakdancing to them in sixth grade. Vocals would be practiced at the karaoke present at every Filipino party, and later at a karaoke bar called Rock Box.
Come high school, he would move an hour east to a rural town that was not his demographic. It .was here that dance truly became an escape as he found himself increasingly isolated and misunderstood. Instead of staying a party trick, dance availed itself to be the one outlet they could expose and let out the negativity of being confined to this environment. Four years of studying every dance tutorial on YouTube later, U.J. would go on to get rejected from multiple college dance programs because his ballet technique was not up to par.
This proved to be the catalyst for U.J. to fully commit to the arts. After heavy family arguments, U.J. would drop out of the business program he had been studying, and instead, commit to taking drop-in classes daily at Westlake Dance Center. Under the tutelage of Sheri Lewis, they would be introduced to musical theatre for the first time with a youth production of "West Side Story" in 2012. The next year, U.J. would join the cast of the world premiere of "Secondhand Lions" at the Fifth Avenue Theatre. Since then, U.J. has performed and joined directing teams all over the country generating both national and local accolades, namely a sold-out, four-city tour of "In The Heights" as Graffiti Pete, and receiving Seattle's 2019 BWW's Critic's Choice and the Gypsy Rose Lee award for their choreography in "Head Over Heels" at ArtsWest.
William Carlos Angulo (he/she/they) is a director, choreographer, playwright, and educator of South American descent, from Chicago, IL. Directorial credits include East o', West o'! at Steppenwolf 1700, Visions at The Public Theater’s Joe’s Pub, and Seussical! at Marriott Theatre. Choreography includes Ars Nova, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Goodman Theatre, Portland Center Stage, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Cincinnati Playhouse in The Park, Marriott Theatre, Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, Paramount Theatre, Timeline Theatre Company, Teatro Vista, and more. William won a Jeff Award for his original choreography for Paramount Theatre’s revival of West Side Story, and he was honored with an ALTA Award for his choreography in La Havana Madrid at Steppenwolf 1700 and The Goodman Theatre.
His documentary-style play about Jerome Robbins and Leonard Bernstein premiered at Court Theatre in 2018 and was directed by Charles Newell. His theatricalized iteration of Frank Ocean’s Blonde album received a developmental lab through Dance Lab New York (formerly known as Broadway Dance Lab). This season, he is set to choreograph Qui Nguyen’s Poor Yella Rednecks at Manhattan Theatre Club and create a musical through residency at Portland Center Stage.
William has served as a teaching artist and choreographer at Indiana University, Millikin University, and Northwestern University. He was a founding teaching artist and developed the curriculum for the first-ever musical theater training programs at Goodman Theatre’s Center for Education and The Arts Academy of Banja Luka, in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
He holds a B.F.A. in musical theatre and drama from Indiana University and trained on scholarship at Hubbard Street Dance Center and Ballet Chicago. He is a proud member of AEA and SDC and is represented by The Gersh Agency.
Manny Dunn (he/him) is a Tennessee born-native New Yorker and actor, singer, dancer. He is a 2016 graduate of The American Academy of Dramatic Arts and has studied with The National Black Theatre. Theater credits include About Love (The Sheen Center), Generation Rise (The New Victory Theater), Aida (Metropolitan Opera), Undesirable Elements: Secret Histories (Ping Chong and Company), The Revival: It Is Our Duty (The Shed), Midsummer Night’s Dream (The Gallery Players), Echoes of Ebola (Playwrights Horizon), A Christmas Carol (Origin Theatre). Television and Film credits include The Shade, Ezra, Night Music, Bad Education, Paterno, Bull, Impossible Monsters, and Dirty which won him awards from SXSW and other film festivals. He is currently performing in both Turandot and Fire Shut Up in My Bones at the Metropolitan Opera.
Sushma Saha (pronoun inclusive) Broadway: 1776 (Roundabout). Off-Broadway: Interstate (Theatre Row). Off-Off Broadway: 7 Minutes (Waterwell), Girlfriend (The Drama League). Regional: The Wolves (ATL), Little Shop of Horrors (Little Shop of Bools). Sushma Saha (pronoun inclusive) is a queer Indian-American artist based in NYC. They are an actor, singer, dancer, voice actor, model, & songwriter with a BFA in musical theatre from Ithaca College (Class of 2021). Her most recent/notable works include playing Judge James Wilson of Pennsylvania in the Broadway rival of “1776” and winning ‘Outstanding Performance in a Leading Role’ at New York Musical Festival for playing Henry in “Interstate” by Melissa Li & Kit Yan. They are currently working on their first EP “This Isn’t About You” to be released on all music-streaming platforms. IG: @sushmasahahaha
Tieisha Thomas (she/her) Black. Fem. Artist and Storyteller hailing from NYC. National Tour: 1776 the Musical (Abigail Adams /Reverend John Witherspoon) ELF the Musical (Jovie), Off-Broadway: Hercules (Melpomene), B-Boy Blues the Play (Michi), Chronicle X (Knowledge), Lost in the Disco (Angelina), Midnight Mugshot (Principal Gordon) Virtual: WILMAR (Ugbad /Hamdi) Getting There (Tanaysha)
Television: Only Murders in the Building (HULU), Let the Right One In (SHOWTIME), Skully and the Mole Crack the Case (NBC Peacock Kids), Teaching While Black. Film: B-Boy Blues (BET+) Whose Cheating Who (Dir:Wendy Raquel Robinson), Unlocked, ‘Istikhaara, New York’, Help Yourself.
“A woman’s gifts will make room for her”- Hattie McDaniel
Instagram: @officialtieishathomas GOD Thank you, for without you I am nothing.
Jason Liebson (he/they) Recent credits include Cambodian Rock Band (TheatreSquared), Pal Joey (New York City Center), RENT (Oregon Shakespeare Festival), 42nd Street (Ogunquit Playhouse), James and the Giant Peach (The Chance Theater), A Chorus Line, Cabaret (Gallery Players), Indecent (Waterwell Theater), Sweeney Todd (The Chapman Orchestra), and various musicals in development with Disney Theatricals, RCI Theatricals, and ForeSight Theatricals. As a pianist, he has held positions at NYU (Strasberg), The New School, Sarah Lawrence College, East West Players, Limon Dance Company, and Pacific Symphony. He holds dual BM Music Performance degrees in Orchestral Conducting and Collaborative Piano.
Liya Grigoryan (she/her) is an acclaimed NYC-based pianist who began her music career at a very young age. She started studying piano when she was just five years old and went on to win numerous international competitions and awards, including the Getxo Jazz Award and the Keep an Eye International Jazz Award. In 2018, she was selected as a semifinalist in the prestigious Thelonious Monk Competition. Liya actively performs in the United States and across Europe.
Julián Pardo-Valdez (he/him), known professionally as Don Pardo, is a Mexican-American singer songwriter and multi-instrumentalist hailing from Hermosillo, Mexico and currently based in Brooklyn, NY. Pardo attended Berklee College of Music and has performed with a wide array of musicians from Ralph Peterson jr., Jason Palmer, Donald Harrison jr. to Toto la Momposina and Alexander Acha among others.
Lolivone de la Rosa (she/her) is a guitarist, composer, producer and educator from Puerto Rico. Since relocating to New York City in 2021, she has rapidly ascended in the city's jazz scene, performing at prestigious venues and jazz clubs such as The Appel Room at Jazz at Lincoln Center, Birdland Jazz Club, Minetta Lane Theatre, Smalls Jazz Club, The Jazz Gallery, Bar Bayeux, Ornithology Jazz Club and the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC). She has also headlined jazz festivals such as the 2024 Cola Jazz Fest in South Carolina as well as the 2023 Washington Heights Jazz Fest in New York City.
De la Rosa has shared the stage with notable artists including Nona Hendryx (Labelle), Paquito D' Rivera, Terri Lyne Carrington and Jeff "Tain" Watts. Her two-year residency at Casa Mezcal NYC showcased her talent for curating musical experiences with renowned collaborators including Akiko Tsuruga, Pat Bianchi, John Benítez, Edsel Gómez, Pablo Menares and many more.
Focusing on her original compositions, de la Rosa leads an organ quartet featuring organist Brian Charette and tenor saxophonist Ned Goold. She has premiered her works at esteemed venues like the Berklee Performance Center in Boston.
Since 2021, de la Rosa has held the guitar chair in the Jazz at Lincoln Center (JALC) blues workshop band, directed by Seton Hawkins. She collaborates with numerous artists, including Willerm Delisfort, Roxy Coss and Goussy Celestine. Additionally, she has traveled to Chicago, Connecticut and Washington, DC to represent the JALC in its on-the-road educational program.
De la Rosa attended Berklee College of Music ('21) on a full-tuition scholarship. She is also an accomplished educator, having taught guitar fretboard harmony at Berklee College of Music and music theory at New York University's Tisch School of Arts. She has been invited to conduct masterclasses on jazz guitar, improvisation and rhythm section at institutions worldwide including the Puerto Rico Music Conservatory, Binghamton University and JAZZUV (México). Additionally, she is a member of the faculty at Jazz House Kids in NYC, where Christian McBride is the Artistic Director.
De la Rosa's talent for arts management was highlighted in her role as program manager of Next Jazz Legacy, a program supporting emerging women artists in jazz under the Artistic Directorship of NEA Jazz Master Terri Lyne Carrington. This initiative, with major funding from the Mellon Foundation, aims to provide opportunities and support for underrepresented voices in the jazz community.
With a bachelor’s degree in environmental engineering from the Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico, de la Rosa brings a unique perspective to her music career, blending her passion for both creativity and sustainability. Her contributions to the jazz community, both as a performer and an advocate, continue to shape the genre's future.
Jesse Cameron Alick (he/him) is a dramaturg, producer, poet, playwright, essayist, artistic researcher and science fiction expert. Born and raised Buddhist high in the mountains of Montana, Jesse is a first generation American born of Grenadian descent. He moved to New York City at 17, began working as a spotlight operator and over the course of his first three years in the city worked for a myriad of off off broadway companies doing everything from working as a box office manager, to lighting board op, to program folder, back stage crew, theater rental manager, and hip hop poetry teacher. Jesse co-founded the Subjective Theater Company at 19, moved on to become the company’s first resident playwright and then took the helm as Producer and Artistic Director. Jesse ran Subjective for 10 years and staged 15 full productions around Manhattan and Brooklyn.
Formerly Jesse was the Company Dramaturg at the Public Theater where he planned bespoke development paths for projects, from acorn to oak, managing commissioning program with over 20 ongoing projects, readings and workshops, production dramaturg, the Emerging Writers Group and Public Lab/Public Studio. He is currently the Associate Artistic Director of the Vineyard Theater in NYC, working in dramaturgy and artistic producing.
Jesse is an active freelance dramaturg at various off-Broadway theaters in the city, nationwide and in the UK, as well as a regular artistic consultant for the Sundance Institute. Jesse studied writing with Adrienne Kennedy and has lectured, taught theater courses, been a graduate responder and/or mentored students at a myriad of programs including Columbia, Fordham, Syracuse, Lewis and Clark, UT Austin, Primary Stages, Yale and Vasser. He currently teaches at NYU.
Jesse’s most recent field wide artistic research project EMERGING FROM THE CAVE, is an independent study commissioned by Sundance Institute on the future of theater and live performance. In 2021 the project became the basis for a nation wide conference by Theater Communications Group, where Jesse was the lead curator and speaker. Jesse has been invited to lecture and lead workshops about the study in places all the way from the Kampala International Theatre Festival in Uganda, to the Freiraum Pan-European Arts Festival, to private meeting of senior leadership and board of directors of various institutions. Read the study at www.emergingfromthecave.org
Hahnji Jang 장한지 (they/them/형) is a costume designer and stylist. Hahnji uses their passion for fiber art & printing techniques to upcycle garments and offer affordable styling outside the limiting gender and size binaries imposed by capitalism. They are on a continual journey to rematriate the closets of the individuals and institutions around them and last year created the Transcendent Punk Costume Closet to redistribute costume resources in an effort to make the costume industry more sustainable and accessible to the Queer community in New York. To support follow @transpunkcloset or find more info at Hahnji.com
Jeanette Oi-Suk Yew (she/her) is an Obie award recipient for Sustained Achievement in lighting design. She designs for theatre, dance, opera, musicals, music performances and large-scale immersive installation. NY Times described her designs as “clever” and “inventive”. This is her third collaboration with Mei Ann Teo since WALDEN (multiple CT Critics Circle Awards) and TRUE WEST (People’s Light). It is always an honor. Recent: THE THANKSGIVING PLAY (Second Stage), AN AMERICAN SOLIDER (PAC), MADAMA BUTTERFLY (BLO), Big Dance Group’s THE MARCH (PAC), MUNICH MEDEA (WP & PlayCo), THE CONNECTOR (Lortel & Drama Desk Nominations, MCC), TRAVELS (Ars Nova), ORATORIO FOR LIVING THINGS (Lortel Nomination, Ars Nova), MANAHATTA (The Public), SHADOW/LAND (The Public), THE NOSEBLEED (LCT3), YOUR OWN PERSONAL EXEGESIS (LCT3), GLORIA: A LIFE (Daryl Roth Theatre), and GOLDEN SHIELD (MTC). Additionally, Jeanette designs for immersive experiences like Nevermore Park: Home of Flyboy with artist Hebru Brantley and David Byrne’s Theater of the Mind. Upcoming: Emersive’s LIFE AND TRUST. NEA/TCG Career Development Program recipient. Instagram: @jeanette_yew | JeanetteYew.com
Christopher Wong (he/him) is a NYC-based lighting designer for live performance. Recent projects with: Sole Defined, American Theater Group, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Queensborough, Long Island High School for the Arts, Friends Seminary, amongst others. He has been associate or assistant designer on shows on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and regionally. Upcoming design work: A Christmas Story at Goodspeed Musicals later this fall. M.F.A. NYU, B.A. University of MD. Proud Member of USA-829. IG: @christopherwongdesign
Tanya Orellana (she/her) designs live performance spaces for theatre, opera, and immersive experiences. Her work has been seen in venues across the USA including The Kennedy Center, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, The Huntington Gardens, The Kirk Douglas, CalShakes, L.A. State Historic Park, The Getty Villa, and The Greek Theatre.
Her recent design collaborations include The Industry’s Sweet Land, a world premiere immersive opera directed by Yuval Sharon and Cannupa Hanska Luger, Fefu and her Friends directed by Pam MacKinnon, Oedipus directed by Jenny Koons, LA Opera’s On Gold Mountain directed by Jennifer Chang, Poor Yella Rednecks directed by Jaime Casteñeda, LEAR by Marcus Gardley directed by Eric Ting, and Rasgos Asiaticos written by Virginia Grise, a traveling scenic installation using sound, light, and objects to conjure narratives of immigration and migration in the U.S.–Mexico borderlands.
Tanya received her MFA in Scenic Design from CalArts and is the 2016 recipient of the Princess Grace Fabergé Theatre Award. She is part of the design team representing the US at the Prague Quadrennial 2023, a member of Wingspace Theatrical Design, and an organizing member of La Gente: The Latine Production Network.
Iz Fuerter (they/them) is a live sound engineer based in NYC. They have their Bachelor’s degree in Recording Arts from Mercy University. When they are not working in sound they can be found playing ice hockey with the New York City Gay Hockey Association or Trans Wave Ice Hockey, rock climbing, or reading a book in a park somewhere.
Jen Leno (she/they) is a Lighting Designer, Photographer, and multi-disciplinary theater maker based in Brooklyn, NY. She holds an MFA in Theater Design from Brooklyn College with a concentration in Lighting Design. They would like to thank the Bushwick Starr for the opportunity to collaborate on and trouble shoot the various technical elements of Presencia. You can check out her design and art work at jenlenodesign.com and on Instagram @jdl.lxd
Sarah Orttung (she/her) is a New York-based Stage Manager and is a recent graduate of the Juilliard Professional Apprenticeship in Stage Management. She is delighted to work with OSO for the first time! Recent credits include NYC: Juilliard; Proving Up, Choreographic Honors, How To Catch Creation, As You Like It. Regional: Opera Saratoga; Don Pasquale.
Justin Allen (all pronouns) is a multimedia artist focused on sharing stories through film and theater. Recent credits include Eight Tales of Pedo (Queens Theater), Mercedes(Oye Group)
Rula A. Muñoz (she/they) is a multi-hyphenate theater artist who works as a director, dramaturg, producer, and writer. As someone who strongly believes there is no single way to be a storyteller, Rula has been able to tell stories from various perspectives. Selected national and international theater credits include UNPACKING (Director / MCC Youth Company), MASK4MASK (Director / TOSOS), PEOPLE, PLACES & THINGS (Dramaturg / SpeakEasy), BLKS (Dramaturg / SpeakEasy), CONSTELLATIONS (Associate Producer / La Teatreria). She currently is directing Repertorio's Music Theatre Developing Series for Repertorio Español.
Rula holds a BFA in Contemporary Theatre from the Boston Conservatory at Berklee. She is also an Advanced Directing alumna from the National Theater Institute at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center and a PEN America DREAMing Out Loud Playwriting alum. Additionally, she was a 2021-2022 SpeakEasy Stage Artistic Fellow. Rula is a proud member of the Artistic Collective for the National Queer Theater. rulaamunoz.com
About ¡Oye! Group
¡Oye! Group is an Obie Award-winning multi-disciplinary arts organization with a foundation in boundary-pushing theater, poetry, and arts education. Our expansive repertoire includes theatrical productions, live art, music & performance festivals, and art therapy programs for both the youth and adults. From the community to the world, we present innovative and experimental new works that are genre-bending and spark conversation, healing, and impact.
About The Sol Project
The Sol Project is an Obie Award-winning national theater initiative dedicated to amplifying the voices of Latiné playwrights by supporting, nurturing, and advocating for fully realized productions of their work in NYC and beyond. Founded by Jacob G. Padrón and driven by an artistic collective, The Sol Project works in partnership with leading theaters to center Latiné dramatists and nurture a growing community of Latiné theater artists. With the writers we champion, The Sol Project aspires to create a bold, timeless, and kaleidoscopic body of work for the new American theater. The artistic collective includes Adriana Gaviria (Co-Artistic Director, SolFest Producer), Rebecca Martínez, David Mendizábal, Jacob G. Padrón (Co-Artistic Director), Julian Ramirez, and Laurie Woolery. Isabel Pask is the Artistic Producer. Brian Herrera is the Resident Scholar. Stephanie Ybarra is the Resident Dramaturg.
About Musical Theatre Factory
Musical Theatre Factory (MTF) is a creative community where innovative artists of all backgrounds at any stage of their career can be supported throughout their process. We develop changemaking new musicals in a joyous, collaborative community free from commercial constraints. We are committed to dismantling oppressive ideologies toward collective liberation, centering artists of excellence who exist in the intersections of underrepresented groups.
About the Connelly Theater
Director & General Manager: Josh Luxenberg
Theater Management Associate: Mele Sabú Borges
The Connelly Theater is a historic playhouse in the heart of NYC's East Village that serves as a home for adventurous independent theater productions. Past productions include: Max Wolf Friedlich’s Job (transferring to Broadway, Summer 2024), Kate Berlant’s Kate, directed by Bo Burnham, Jeremy Tiang’s Salesman之死 (Yangtze Rep), Talene Monahan’s The Good John Proctor (Bedlam), Sasha Velour’s Nightgowns: The Musical, The Crucible (Bedlam), Will Arbery’s Plano (Clubbed Thumb; Drama Desk-nominated), Mandy Patinkin in Concert: Diaries 2018 (New York Theatre Workshop), The Bengson’s The Lucky Ones (Ars Nova; Lortel and Drama Desk-nominated), Sinking Ship's A Hunger Artist (Drama Desk-nominated), Mac Wellman's The Offending Gesture (The Tank), Daniel Kitson's A Show for Christmas, The Lisps’ Futurity (Soho Rep. & Ars Nova; Lortel Award), Lyspinka! The Trilogy (TWEED), Mission Drift (The TEAM), Lucy Thurber's Monstrosity (13p), Anne Washburn's Apparition, and many others. The theater also serves as a location for film and television productions, including shows on HBO, Netflix, Amazon, FX, ABC, MTV, PBS, and many more. The building, originally an orphanage, dates back to the mid-1860s, and now consists of two performance spaces: the iconic Mainstage was once a choir hall, with the distinctive proscenium arch and raised stage added later. The Upstairs studio theater housed the Obie Award-winning Metropolitan Playhouse for 30 years.
The Connelly Theater is part of the Cornelia Connelly Center (CCC), a 501c3 non-profit organization that champions girls, empowering them to realize their full potential in middle school through college and beyond. Each year, the Connelly Middle School provides a full-scholarship to educate nearly 100 girls in grades 4-8, while the Graduate Support Program supports the financial, academic, and social-emotional wellbeing of our alumnae in high school and college.
All proceeds earned from the theater support CCC’s mission and programs. To learn more, visit www.connellycenter.org.
SPECIAL THANKS:
Matt Kaplan & Globetitles
COMMUNITY RESOURCES:
The Door
The Door’s mission is to empower young people to reach their potential by providing comprehensive youth development services in a diverse and caring environment.
Gleeful Wellness
Shlomit Oren & Gleeful Wellness LLC, specialize in uplifting services for children, adults and seniors. We understand the psychological and physiological necessities of every age group and gear our programs to meet their needs. By combining arts, wellness and counseling we bring a unique experience of self-expression and joy to every situation.
The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center (The Center)
The Center was established in 1983 at the height of the AIDS crisis to provide a safe and affirming place for LGBTQ+ New Yorkers to respond to the urgent threats facing the community. Over the past 40 years, The Center has grown to meet the changing needs of New York’s LGBTQ+ community, delivering services that empower people to lead healthy, successful lives.
The National Black Trans Advocacy Coalition
The National Black Trans Advocacy Coalition is the only social justice organization led by black trans people to collectively address the inequities faced in the black transgender human experience.
National Queer and Trans Therapists of Color Network (NQTTCN)
NQTTCN is a healing justice organization actively working to transform mental health for queer and trans Black, Indigenous and People of Color (QTBIPOC).
Puerto Rican Family Institute
Puerto Rican Family Institute is a non-for-profit, multi-program, family-oriented health and human services agency that provides culturally sensitive services to children adults and families in all of New York Communities.
QueerCare
QueerCare was founded by trans activists. The organization is currently led entirely by unpaid transgender volunteers and offers no-strings-attached financial support as well as free in-person post-op care to folks undergoing gender-affirming surgeries in SF and NYC. As many trans folks may face familial rejection and lack social support, QueerCare aims to fill that gap through community care.