April Sigman-Marx is a neurodivergent, multi-regional actor, director, writer, devisor and educator with a BFA in Musical Theatre Performance, an MFA in Acting & Performance Pedagogy and a teacher training certificate from MICHA: The Michael Chekhov Association.  Additionally, she is an Intimacy Director/ Coordinator in training, a proud member of SAG-AFTRA, the Dramatists Guild, Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE), Association of Theatre Movement Educators (ATME) and Theatre for Young Audiences USA (TYA-USA.)  

 Fervent about individualized performance education, particularly amongst emerging artists—April formed youth performing arts academy & theatre company Take the Stage Productions (2012-2019), taught Acting and Musical Theatre at California State University, Long Beach (2016-2019) and is a Founding Artistic Director of Thumbprint Studios, a digital performance training program, artistic community and theatre company (2020-present)

Specializing in new work development, April has created/ written, directed, produced and performed in several original solo shows, web series, films, plays as well as virtual theatre productions--Many of which focus on social justice issues.  She is a strong believer in generating the work you are interested in verses waiting for someone to give you permission to create.

CeeCee is an amateur bookbinder, kayaker, and flea market queen! She holds BAs in communication studies and creative writing from the University of Denver, and is currently a master’s candidate at Weber State University. Corporate-banking number cruncher by day, she enjoys volunteering at the Salt Lake City Community Writing Center in her spare time (where she mentors the Salty Pond Poets—a CWC writing group she helped to establish). She has received awards for her poetry, prose, and nonfiction work—and is most proud of completing and placing in Utah Arts Festival’s 24-hour writing marathon, the “Wasatch IronPen Ultra” (with the help of a lot of caffeine!). CeeCee is passionate about artistic collaboration and finding interesting ways to incorporate writing with other art forms, promoting literature as a performative, immersive, and accessible experience. Her hope for 2022 is to continue making projects with her sisters and to also work with choreographers & dancers to create a newly devised performance set in time to rhythmic, spoken-word poetry.

Chuk Obasi is a New York-based actor, writer, and director. He is currently the Co-Director at TÉA Artistry, a Company Member with The Private Theatre, and a Company Member with the People’s Theatre Project. He is also an educator, having served as a Movement Project Director at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting, a Musical Theatre Adjunct Professor at Drew University, and a frequent guest teacher for LAByrinth Theatre among other engagements. Chuk has performed, written, or directed across disciplines, including theatre, film, television, dance, and live poetry performance.

Victoria (she/her) is an Indonesian-American, Seattle native, poet, singer-songwriter, composer-lyricist, playwright and Industrial-Organizational Psychologist. She spent the majority of her career working in HR Consulting helping drive positive organizational change before pivoting to theatre in 2020 to create art focused on positive global change. Her dual background in psychology and music have informed the themes of her art which focus on the tensions between self and other, local and global, and competition and cooperation. Her mission as an artist is to uplift and empower marginalized communities by inspiring humanity toward collectivistic ways of thinking and acting with her original, PNW-based poetry, musicals and songs. Ultimately, she longs to inspire her audience to help transform our society to have greater equity, inclusion and hope. Songs from her debut theatrical work, TREESON: AN ECO-MUSICAL, were featured in various theater showcases including London’s Union Theatre, the It’s Time Climate Festival, Tin Pan Alley 2’s Concert Series and Conversations in America. She is a resident of the Tyrone Guthrie Centre in Ireland (2022), and a finalist of the BMI Lehman Engel Workshop (deferred until Fall 2022). She also writes music with electronic music producer Mattias Gillis Winge Rudh of MoEoStAr Music and The Churning Mondays. In her free time, she provides vocals for other artists including DJ Jacob Didas’ tracks “Love” and “Stars” (2019). She is a member of the Dramatists Guild, BMI, Maestra Music and Mercury Musicals Development. She currently resides in Zürich, Switzerland.

Jasmine is a Hmong American theatre artist based in Fresno and Los Angeles California. She is a creator/performer and is currently working with Literature to Life as an understudy with their adaptation of Kao Kalia Yang’s “The Latehomecomer”. She currently works with Good Zoo studios as a teaching artist for Hmong actors and creators. Her work centralizes around creating more representation and recognition to the Hmong Community in the arts.

Lou Jones is a lyricist and script writer. Born in England, Lou Jones traveled a lot and experienced different cultures and languages, and is now a global citizen living on the island of Mauritius. She studied languages at universities in the UK and Paris and became a teacher of the Deaf and teacher of English and Drama, with a particular interest in inclusive education. 

Lou loves the theatre and was the first actor to star in White Rabbit Red Rabbit in Mauritius. Since a child Lou used to read a lot and always loved reggae music. “I used to write stories and poems and I had a vivid imagination. Song writing is just how my love of music and writing came together “ 

Influenced by the many cultures she encountered, Lou writes scripts, song lyrics and has musical collaborations with many diverse artists. She writes a lot of songs about real life, the environment, and social justice. Lou is proud to have been a top 10 finalist three times in the World Songwriting Awards with two of those songs composed by Berty Augustin. 

As well as collaborating as a lyricist on two American musicals, she also takes pride in having written the book and lyrics for Sea Shanty Shanti. This musical has 13 songs based on sea shanties and songs of the sea and is performed by a cast of Mauritian artists.

Chicago based multidisciplinary artist, Marcia Eastmond has been involved in storytelling for the past few years. She often uses poetry, photography, and theatre to explore themes of identity, mental health, and spirituality.

Ray Post grew up in the redwood forest making music and theater since they learned to walk and talk. They received their B.A. in Performance Studies from CSU Long Beach in 2020 where they performed several notable roles including Sally Bowles in Cabaret and Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet: Hard Way Home. Since graduating, they debuted their solo show A Very Ray Cabaret and moved to Chicago to continue pursuing their musicianship and performance goals. Ray is known for their self produced series Gender Roles, which explores how we cast roles in musical theatre and beyond. They have also been lucky enough to produce work with the Feminist Theatre Makers of CSULB and take part in the mentorship program not once but twice at Thumbprint Studios.

Sara Kay Godot is a Standup Comic, Actor, Writer, & Director based out of Long Beach, CA. She currently produces and hosts a monthly comedy show called THINK TANK. She has over ten years experience as a standup comic in both SoCal and Chicago. She was also the VP and a company member of Corn Productions in Chicago, and is one of the original "Original Improv Gladiators".

Victoria Melkonyan is a West Asian artist based in California. Through the lens of actor, director, and writer, Victoria actively pursues, uplifts, and creates stories for and by People of the Global Majority. They are an alumnus of California State University, Long Beach with a BA in Theatre Performance and have studied with the SITI Company. Through both their art and activism, they hope to increase visibility for SWANA (MENA) and all who are absent from the mainstream in various performance/storytelling mediums. They are very excited by the awakenings happening currently between the masses and hope to aid in bringing a sense of revolution and radicalization to the spaces they occupy.

As part of their tenure as Artistic Director of Theatre Threshold, Victoria produced many topical works such as LatinX, Out of Silence, Growing Up Gay, etc. as well as devising and directing 11.03.2020, and performing in Venus in Fur and devised piece Generation XYZ. Victoria also originated the role of Calypso in Take the Stage Productions’ Rover the Bear. Most recently, Victoria’s play CHEETOS, CHAI, AND CHANCE was produced by Streamlight Theatre as part of their Festival of Healing. Currently, they serve as the Director of Outreach & Education at Thumbprint Studios and curate the monthly play reading event Thumbprint Reads & Listens, focusing on expanding the canon and highlighting underrepresented voices. During the length of this pandemic, they turned to online platforms to organize/educate those within her reach about social justice. From the very beginning of their artistic career and education, Victoria has made it a point to face systemic issues head on and embraced the art of calling in and calling to action in everything that they do.

Bobby Haley (He/Him) is an actor and recent graduate from Western Illinois University. Some of his favorite roles were Malcom in Macbeth and Sir Robin in Spamalot. Bobby was most recently featured in Henry and Mae Kill a Cat, which was written by his lovely partner, Em, and was produced by Western Illinois University in the Spring of 2021. He lives in Chicago with his partner and their cat, Poptart.

Berty Augustin is a singer/songwriter with a rich history in music. Born in Mauritius, Berty grew up influenced by the diverse musical culture of his tropical island. Mauritius is a multi ethnic island bringing together different musical genres in the three national languages of Creole, French and English. He was also interested in classical music and trained as a classical violinist and choral singer. He is well used to the theatre stage having performed in many choirs and concerts. 

Berty has a very distinct, powerful voice and is a well known performer around the island, singing in the luxury hotels and in other venues. He initially sang well loved cover songs and then started writing his own songs to perform too. He was writing and composing songs in Creole and French and then he had a chance meeting with the British lyricist Lou Jones. They found they worked well together and they started to collaborate as a songwriting team, writing many songs in English on themes which matter to him, such as his ancestry (Bonded by Blood), positivity (Your Sky is not My Limit) and the environment (Mama Gaia Said). 

Berty is proud to have had two of his compositions awarded as top ten finalists in the World Songwriting Awards (Mama Gaia Said about climate change, and Between the Bars about freedom). He became involved in the musical Sea Shanty Shanti as a composer, singing artist and actor. He worked alongside Lou Jones to create many of the songs on the soundtrack album and helped to coach and encourage other artists.

Chris is a Long Beach Based Educator and Artist hailing from the Pacific Northwest. Chris is an international touring magician, clown, and actor. He has created original plays such as: The Excursionists 1 and 2, The Case of the Vanishing Crown Jewel: A Ziplock Holmes Mystery, The Fat Guy Show, More Bange for Your Buck!, Breaking Bange, and Not This Time!. He is also a lecturer in theatre at Cal State Long Beach, University of Southern California, and Long Beach City College, specializing in acting/clown/magic/mask work. Chris first became interested in magic at age 9 when his aunt taught him how to break a matchstick in half, then magically restore it. Since then, he has been hooked. Chris has gone on to receive many awards for his magic act, including The NW Magic Jamboree Best Comedy Magic Award, PCAM Stage Magic, and a special award in honor of the great vaudevillian, The Peter Rolston Comedy Award. He is happy that you are living and breathing and wants to remind you that you are all perfectly imperfect…and that’s the way it should be.

Emery Ann (She/They) is a writer and theatre artist. Some of their favorite roles were Olive Ostrovsky in ...Spelling Bee and Aaron Kreifels et al. in The Laramie Project. Their most recent play, Henry and Mae Kill a Cat, was produced by Western Illinois University in the Spring of 2021. They live in Chicago with their partner and their cat, Poptart.

Jaina Alexander (she/her) is a Chicago based singer, actor, and educator. A passionate advocate for meeting students where they are, she works towards cultivating confident, individualized voices. Her teaching encompasses tools to address physical, mental, and artistic health so that anyone who uses their voice can make fearless choices. She is the Co-Founding Artistic Director of Thumbprint Studios which strives to provide inclusive, embodied, empowered performance training and is currently open to all students online.

While her higher education was primarily focused on classical voice, Jaina has searched out further techniques to expand her training and now works the majority of time in musical theatre and as a chorister in many choirs around Chicago. She is a big proponent of collaboration across artistic genres and loves incorporating dance, circus, and spoken word performances into cabarets and recitals. She holds a degree in Music Performance with an emphasis in Classical Voicing, is an Estill Master Teacher candidate with Estill Voice Training, and is in process with her certification from MICHA: The Michael Chekhov Association. She is a proud member of the Voice and Speech Teachers Association (VASTA) and the Pan-American Vocology Association (PAVA).

She has been a singer with Lola Bard Holiday Carolers for the past 3 years. Has sung with the Illinois Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Sinfonietta, the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, the Defiant Requiem Foundation, and as a backup singer for the Rolling Stones.

Jye Bryant is a Sydney-based, Australian Musical Theatre Composer, Lyricist, Producer  and Author with a passion for Theatre, Education and Social Justice. Using a  combination of witty lyrics and hummable melodies, his work aims to inspire positive  social change through a unique blend of entertainment and education.  

Jye Bryant’s compositions are performed regularly on cabaret circuits all over the  world, where he has gained popularity as the composer of choice for many high profile international artists. In 2018, Jye released his book, Writing & Staging A New Musical - A Handbook, aimed at  supporting writers and producers to get their work out into the theatre world.  Although he trained as a Secondary School Music Teacher, he has spent most  of his adult life as a Youth Worker and Adult Educator using his diverse skill set to  better the lives of children and young people.  

Some of his work to date includes: The Things I Could Never Tell Steven (2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 & 2021), Captain Moonlite (2020), Sempre Libera (2019 & 2020) The Oldest  Profession (2016), The Velveteen Rabbit (2013), In Bed With Jye (& Friends) (2012), Rainbow  Tears (2007), Aladdin Goes To Africa (2007), Peter Pan (2006), Cinderella Meets Her Prince (2005), Sleeping Beautifully (2004) and many more.

Lauren is a theatre maker currently based in Michigan. With degrees in theatre, English literature, and writing, she has worked at several theatres in her area as an actor, dramaturg, and ASM. Passionate about vitality and theatre for social change, she is currently working on #thewaterproject, an original collaborative piece about local water crises and community engagement. Lauren works as a proofreader of scripts and audiobooks and plans to pursue a graduate degree in dramaturgy.

Myra Su is a storyteller, puppeteer, and puppet maker based in Chicago. Her primary medium is shadow puppetry but her work also includes experimentations with video, crankies, and other paper-based media. Most recently, she was a recipient of a Handmade Puppet Dreams 2020 Quarantine Film Micro-Commission grant. Her short puppet film, GOODNIGHT SHADOW, debuted in February 2021 and was made under lockdown conditions. She is currently teaching puppetry workshops online as well as designing puppets for an upcoming music video. In addition to her independent work, she is a touring performer with Manual Cinema, with performances worldwide. She is also a co-curator for a quarterly puppet slam, "Nasty, Brutish & Short."

LARDS is a brand new ensemble made up of Scotland’s finest physical comedians and visual theatre creators: L(ewis Sherlock), A(ndrew Simpson), R(uxandra Cantir), D(ylan Read), S(ita Pieraccini). LARDS draw on their unique combination of specialisms in clown, bouffon, character work and visual/physical theatre to create original live performances that are visually arresting, emotionally moving and of the highest artistic standards.

Projects by LARDS include: Draculala by LARDS, Drackattack, and more coming!

Tatiana Rivera has appeared in several film, television, and theatre productions in her 15 years of performing in Central Florida. Working with Encore Performance Group, Clandestine Arts, The Celebration Players, Walt Disney World, BMG Orlando and the historic Athens Theatre. Tatiana is also the owner of the award winning multicultural hair and makeup team Gad Artistry. She studied Dance at LaRai’s in north east Ohio and trained at The Academy of voice in Orlando, Fl. A native of Cleveland, OH, lives in Orlando with her 2 children and husband of 11 years. Their support makes everything possible.