Special Thanks to this year’s Sponsors:
THEATER ACCIDENT
Eric Cotts
Tom Murphy
Imani Russell - Playwright
Imani Russell (playwright) is a born&raised&representing Brooklyn artist, who works in theater and music as an actor, singer, writer, and consultant. Through their writing, they explore the connections between time, space, family, religion, queerness, and death-- and all the magic that lies within. In 2024, Imani was selected for Breaking the Binary’s 3rd annual festival of new work, and their commissioned scene will be published alongside their fellow TNB2S+ writers this year by Broadway Licensing. They also write music under the name NANí and released their debut album Cowboy Song in May 2024. Imani creates and practices art as an act of love+community.
Marissa Joyce Stamps - Director
Marissa Joyce Stamps is a Black, Haitian-American NYC-born and based Afrosurreal writer, director, performer, and educator who’s often in dialogue with landscape dramaturgy and kinetics. Award/Honors: Princess Grace Playwriting Award, Yale Drama Series Prize Shortlist (selected by Pulitzer Prize-winner Branden Jacobs-Jenkins), MacDowell Fellow. Memberships + Affiliations: EST/Youngblood, Roundabout’s Directors Group, Lucille Lortel’s Alcove, The New Georges Jam. She was a member of Clubbed Thumb's Early-Career Writers Group, a Finalist for The National Black Theatre's I AM SOUL Playwrights Residency, and a Mercury Store Lead Artist. As a director, Marissa has directed and assistant directed the development of new work of playwrights and of herself through productions and workshops with The National Black Theatre, The Vineyard, BAM, New Dramatists, Brown University, Exponential Festival, Synecdoche Works, Mercury Store, Conch Shell Productions, The Brick, SFX Festival, Breaking & Entering Theatre Collective, NYU/Tisch, and more. MFA: Brooklyn College. marissajoycestamps.com
Alba Delia Hernández - INA
Alba Delia Hernández (www.albadeliahernandez.com) is an award winning writer, inspired by Puerto Rico, growing up in Bushwick, and revolutionaries. She dances in the hybrid forms of fiction, playwriting and poetry. She was chosen to present for the Bushwick Starr’s 2023 annual reading series and was awarded the winner of the 2022 One Festival for her one woman show, Juana Peña Revisited. She is a recipient of the Creatives Rebuild New York (CRNY) Award and the Bronx Council on the Arts First Chapter Award. Her writing was highly commended in the Aster(ix) Journal, A Gathering of the Tribes and other publications.
Kiará Lauren - AMINANI
Kiará Lauren is a NYC based actor with an artistic practice that centers empathic driven storytelling as a means to curating radical vulnerability, humanity, and truth for black & brown femmes. Select Acting Credits: Vámonos (INTAR Theatre), Bb Brecht (The Public Theater), Cadillac Crew (WAM), Black Mexican (Wayward Voices), and Every 28 Hours Plays (Long Wharf Theatre). Education: Spelman College For More: http://www.kiaralauren.com
Lara Lewison - ‘Cellist’
Lara Lewison is a violinist, painter, and creative coder living in Brooklyn. She graduated with a B.A. in Music from Columbia University, where she was the 2020 class recipient of the Louis Sudler Prize in the Arts, based on her combined portfolio of music, painting, and technical art. She is a member of Symphony in C and has participated in orchestral festivals such as Tanglewood Music Center and Lucerne Festival Academy. Lara often performs as a solo Bollywood electric violinist at South Asian events across the country. Currently, she is working on sound and music for an independent video game.
Reynaldo Piniella - EL HOMBRE
Reynaldo Piniella is an actor, writer and educator from East New York, Brooklyn. In 2021, he was in the acting company of two Broadway shows at the same time: Thoughts of a Colored Man and Trouble in Mind. His Off-Broadway acting credits include work at Signature Theatre Company, The Public Theater, the Working Theater, Theatre for a New Audience (TFANA), and Rattlestick Theater, regionally with Baltimore Center Stage, Syracuse Stage, Long Wharf Theatre, the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, Cleveland Play House, NY Stage and Film, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, St. Louis Shakespeare Festival, and Actors Theatre of Louisville, and internationally with the Sundance Theatre Lab in Morocco and NEAP Fest in Rio de Janeiro. TV credits include Reservation Dogs, Sneaky Pete, Law & Order: SVU, The Carrie Diaries, Flesh & Bone, Blue Bloods, Greenleaf, Louie, NYC 22, Us & Them,and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Film: Madeline’s Madeline (Sundance Film Fest, Showtime), Shadows (HBO Max) and Broken City (20th Century FOX). @ReynaldoRey. www.reynaldopiniella.com
Christina Pitter - CELIA
Cristina Pitter (they/she/respect) is a queer multi-spirit afro-indigenous artist, abolitionist, and alchemist who wants to burn all genocidal empires and plant liberation seeds in the fertile soil. They also have the best laugh ever. SERIOUSLY. Follow their antics at cristinapitter.com
Sophia Radix - GÜENDIS
Sophia Radix is an actor, stand-up comic, & director from The Bronx! Most recently, she co-directed & played [R]omeo in R + Jules, a queer immersive theatrical experience, at 3 Dollar Bill. Co-starred in The Good The Bad & Tio Umberto (Delia) which premiered at the New York Latino Film Festival. Sophia is in the original cast of In The Bronx Brown Girls Can See Stars Too [Gabriela] by Amalia Oliva-Rojas. Off Broadway: Classic Stage Company: The 24 Hour Plays Nationals 2024, WP Theatre: As I Was, Not As I Am (Laurel), & Players Theatre: Ectoplasm (Annette). She is a member of Intar’s Unit 52. She earned her B.A in Theatre from Hunter College and A.S in Performing Arts from SUNY Dutchess. Training: Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts and Stella Adler. See what else she’s got going on! IG: @sophucking.dope
Kayla Zanakis - Stage Directions
Kayla Zanakis is a Domini-Greek actor. BFA: NYU Tisch. INTAR Unit 52 Member. Off-Broadway: The 24 Hour Plays: Nationals (Lynn F. Angelson Theatre), you don’t have to do anything (HERE Arts Center). Select Theatre Credits: No Mercy (DR2 Theatre), heaven is a place in the sky (the Tank), Aztec Pirates (Chain Theatre), SWAY(Fled Collective at the Flea Theatre), Richard III (Shanghai Theatre Institute). She's performed at Radio City Music Hall, Primary Stages, Caveat, and more. www.kaylazanakis.com @kayla_zanakis
emily/BUBECK - Executive Producer
Emily (or Bubeck, whatever name is easiest for you) is a Queer, Catholic, Appalachian Theatre Fiber & Performance Artist. She’s a Co-Founder and Co-Artistic Director of Breaking & Entering Theatre Collective, and by day she’s the Development Associate at New Dramatists. Bubeck has been producing this series since 2019, and she’s so thrilled to have you here. emilybubeck.com
Michael Ortiz - Producer
Michael Ortiz (he/him) is an multi-hyphenate theater artist hailing from the state of Florida. He has been a resident with Breaking & Entering since the collective's inception, and he now serves as Co-Artstic Director alongside Emily Bubeck and Molly van der Molen. He is a co-founder of The Fled Collective and he currently produces and hosts SERIALS, an episodic late-night short play competition series. Michael is a firm believer in community building over networking and is passionate about the cultivation of new work and creating opportunities for underrepresented artists, particularly queer artists and artists of color. He is an avid gamer, a home cook, and lover of all things spooky. Hit him up if you ever want to talk D&D or learn to play the spoons!
Molly Van Der Molen -
Producer
Molly Van Der Molen (she/her) is a playwright, director and creative producer based in NYC and the SF Bay Area. She’s a proud Co-Artistic Director of Breaking & Entering Theatre Collective and the Company Associate at Shotgun Players in Berkeley, CA. Molly is dedicated to curating opportunities for emerging artists and envisions a sustainable future for theatre that is radically collaborative, equitable and doesn’t shy away from what’s true. She’s a graduate of Marymount Manhattan College and a die hard lover of ice cream.
Today’s Breaking & Entering Producers:
Alyssa Haddad-Chin, Henry Lombino, Karen Marulanda
SPECIAL THANKS TO TONY & THE TEAM AT THE YARD FOR HOSTING US THIS EVENING!
Learn more about THE YARD here
Special Thanks to THE MAKERS ENSEMBLE
for partnering with us on this series