Meet the Women Artistic Directors of D.C.!!!

1/25/2013

Welcome to the Women Artistic Directors of D.C. Series! Over the next several days, you'll be introduced to a remarkable range of women artistic and associate artistic directors, who are as diverse and varied in their artistic visions as they are in their approaches to leadership. Among these women are leaders at the beginning their careers, boldly defining their artistic visions; mid-career leaders who are challenging and changing the discourse of theatre in the D.C. area and beyond; established leaders who've achieved national recognition and critical acclaim; and theatre legacies who revolutionized the field and have made lasting impressions on the community.

Each and everyday with every choice they make, these women are making an indelible impact on the landscape of American Theatre. If you feel that the work you're doing speaks to any of their artistic visions and creative passions, then by all means, get in touch with them. Make a theatre date and change the world. With so many brave, talented, intelligent, savvy, and hardworking women artists and leaders in one city, there's no reason gender parity in the theatre can't be achieved in our lifetimes!

Now, as with the Women Playwrights of D.C. Series and Women Directors of D.C. Series, it is my hope that these interviews will serve to inspire, inform, and motivate others who are making their way as artistic leaders in the Nation's Capital, and perhaps beyond. Stay tuned, everyone, and please enjoy!

KATHLEEN AKERLEY

Kathleen Akerley is the artistic director of Longacre Lea, a small, professional theater company founded in 1998 and devoted to creating physical productions of cerebral works with an emphasis on absurdism and magical realism. As a freelance director she has also worked with Baltimore Shakespeare Festival, Solas Nua, Rorschach Theatre, Theater Alliance, Forum Theatre, WSC Avant Bard and Studio Second Stage; as a playwright she has worked with Sideshow Theatre (Chicago), eXtreme eXchange, Source Festival, The Hope Operas, had several plays commissioned by Round House Theatre's Heyday Players, adapted Kurt Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle for the stage in 2010 and had readings of her plays Only Angels at Theatre J's 5x5 series and The Hungry Dry at Boston Center for the Arts; as an actor she has worked with Catalyst Theatre, Theater Alliance, WSC Avant Bard, Washington Stage Guild and Olney Theatre. She is a recipient of the Mary Goldwater Theater Lobby Award for acting and directing, and a member of the playwriting collective Lizard Claw.

KATHLEEN ALVANIA

Kathleen Alvania is the founder and Artistic Director of The Disreputables, a theatre company aimed at giving voice to the unheard, the misjudged, and the misrepresented. She is a graduate of the Theatre Lab Honors Conservatory and holds a B.M. in Vocal Performance from Kent State University. She has worked with Repertory Opera Theatre of Washington, Active Cultures, Greenbelt Arts Center, McLean Community Players, and The Inkwell. Since forming the Disreps, she has produced David Mamet's Boston Marriage and Lucy Alibar's Gorgeous Raptors, both at Capital Fringe, and the SLUT Staged Reading Festival. She has also directed Theresa Rebeck's What We're Up Against as part of DC SWAN Day.

CATHERINE ASELFORD

Catherine Aselford began her professional career performing in Bus Stop at the Source in 1982, graduating with a BFA from Catholic University two years later. She and four other artists founded The Georgetown Theatre Company (now Guillotine Theatre), in order to present classic texts as exciting, visceral entertainment. She has acted or directed at Horizons Theatre; Cherryred Productions; The Shakespeare Theatre; Adventure Theatre; The Center Company; New Works Theatre; Washington Theatre Wing; Notorious Women Productions; and The Georgetown Theatre Company. Catherine founded DC SWAN (Support Women Artists Now) Day in 2008; DC SWAN Day is one of the largest SWAN Days in the country. She frequently directs staged readings of new work. She has taught theatre in public and private schools, as well as in after school summer programs for 23 years. She has appeared in John Waters' A DIRTY SHAME, Cherryred's silent movie TRAPPED BY THE MORMONS (Google it -- it's real!), West Wing, Unsolved Mysteries, America's Most Wanted and numerous television commercials. Plays she has directed for The Georgetown Theatre Company include John Middleton's The Changeling, Milan Kundera's Jacques and His Master, Carlo Goldoni's The Servant of Two Masters and John Morogiello's BUSHWA, Jack The Ticket Ripper, and Gianni Schicchi. She has directed or produced at least one Capital Fringe Festival show each year from 2006-2011.

CARLY J. BALES

Carly J Bales is an actor, producer, media designer, and generally multi-disciplinary artist residing in the District. She is the Artistic Director of EMP, a multimedia arts collective and theatre space in downtown Baltimore. “A hub of artistic activity” that was voted Best Arts Collective in 2012 (Baltimore CityPaper), EMP has been lauded as one of the boldest “visions to change Baltimore” (Baltimore Magazine). As an artistic director, her focus lies in new work development and devised performance for the theatre. From post-apocalyptic wastelands to nightmarish dreamscapes to immaculate rabbit conception, her work at EMP isn't afraid to "go weird".

JESSICA BURGESS

Jessica Burgess is the founding Artistic Director of The Inkwell, Washington DC’s resource for new plays and new play development. Her directing credits include productions at Active Cultures (Constellation, Petri Dish Circus), Actors Theatre of Louisville’s Humana Festival (Clarisse and Larmon, Mr. and Mrs.), Adventure Theatre (The Snowy Day, The Ugly Duckling), Catalyst Theater Company (The Flu Season), the DC Beckett Centenary Festival (Come and Go, Rough for Radio II), Forum Theatre (The Language Archive, Kid-Simple: a radio play in the flesh), Hatchery Festival (Snow Falling Fast, Playing House), Round House Theatre’s Kitchen Series (Cherry Smoke), Rorschach Theatre (The Beard of Avon), Solas Nua (The Drunkard, Portia Coughlan), Theater Alliance (Here’s to the Ladies), Theatre Lab (To Kill a Mockingbird, The Cherry Orchard), and The Inkwell (OK). She has directed developmental workshops and staged readings at Active Cultures, Texas State University’s Black & Latino Playwrights Conference, Catalyst, eXtreme eXchange, Hatchery Festival, The Hub, Theatre J, Woolly Mammoth’s PlayGround, Washington Shakespeare Company, Young Playwrights Theatre, and The Inkwell. She has worked as a Teaching Artist at Theatre Lab, Imagination Stage, and Duke Ellington School of the Arts. She has held staff positions at Round House Theatre, Olney Theatre Center, and Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company. She has sat on the Board of Directors of Active Cultures Theatre, on Forum Theatre’s Artists’ Council, and on the Round House Theatre Artists’ Roundtable. She is a proud alumna of Middlebury College and the 2005 Lincoln Center Directors’ Lab.

CECILIA CACKLEY

Cecilia Cackley is the founding Artistic Director of Wit's End Puppets, a DC company devoted to telling stories through puppetry. Cecilia has been experimenting with string, shadow and hand puppets for more than ten years. As a puppeteer, she has worked with GALA Hispanic Theatre, the O’Neill Puppetry Festival, the Avignon Off and the Source Theater Festival. Cecilia has directed for the Capital Fringe Festival, Young Playwright’s Theater, Rorschach Theatre and The Inkwell. She taught third grade in the public schools for six years and currently works as a teaching artist for Young Playwright's Theater, The Theater Lab, Encore Stage and Studio and Imagination Stage. Cecilia holds a BA in Interdisciplinary Studies and Elementary Eduaction from the College of William and Mary. She is a proud company member of GALA Hispanic Theatre and Young Playwright’s Theater.

DANIELLE A. DRAKES

Danielle A. Drakes previously directed Breath, Boom and Miss Evers' Boys with the Department of Theatre Arts. Ms. Drakes is a two-time Theatre Communications Group Nathan Cummings, Young Leaders of Color Award recipient and Founder & Producing Artistic Director of theHegira Theatre Company. Professional acting credits include: Ford's Theatre, Arena Stage, Baltimore's Center Stage, The Contemporary American Theatre Festival, The Kennedy Center, Round House Theatre and African Continuum Theatre, Imagination Stage, Discovery Theatre, and Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company. Currently, Ms. Drakes is the full time Education Outreach Coordinator at the Folger Shakespeare Library. Prior to her joining the Folger she worked as an artist/educator at American University, Bowie State University, Howard University, Montgomery College, The Baltimore Shakespeare Partnership, The Drama Learning Center, Round House Theatre Education & Outreach, The Theatre Lab, and Young Playwright's Theater. She is a Helen Hayes Awards judge and has joined theatreWashington's newly formed Education Advisory Panel. She received her BA from Goucher College and MFA from The Catholic University of America and is a proud member of Actor's Equity Association and the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society.

JENNY MCCONNELL FREDERICK

Jenny McConnell Frederick is the co-Artistic Director of Rorschach Theatre. She founded the company in the summer of 1999 with Randy Baker. For Rorschach, she has directed Voices Underwater, Dead City, This Storm is What We Call Progress, Rough Magic, The Arabian Night, The Scarlet Letter, Master and Margarita, A Clearing in the Woods, The Illusion and the Helen Hayes nominated God of Vengeance. She has also directed at the Source Theatre Festival and at Virginia Commonwealth University. Jenny has produced dozens of plays, readings and special events for Rorschach Theatre. She’s a member of the Cultural Development Corporation’s Mead Theater Lab Advisory Panel and The Hub Theatre’s Advisory Board. She produced Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company’s Size Matters reading series for three seasons as well as the theatre component of 2003′s Art-O-Matic. Jenny was a nominee for the Women’s Information Network’s Young Women of Acheivement Award in 2001. Jenny grew up in Northern Virginia and graduated cum laude from Virginia Commonwealth University with a BFA in Theatre. She is married to sound designer Matthew Frederick and is currently the Producer for Cultural Development Corporation’s Source Festival and Mead Theatre Lab Program.

ALLYSON HARKEY

Allyson Harkey is Co-Artistic Director of Pinky Swear Productions, a theatre company that produces modern plays with strong, engaging women’s roles where people talk to each other and things happen. An actor and singer, Allyson has performed in numerous Pinky Swear productions, including Killing Women, Carol’s Christmas, Be Here Now, Freakshow, Cabaret XXX: Love the One You’re With, and audience favorite Cabaret XXX: Les Femmes Fatales. She has also worked with Taffety Punk, Factory 449, the Library of Congress, Venus Theatre Company, Rorschach Theatre, Cherry Red Productions, and Landless Theatre Company, among others. Originally from Atlanta, Allyson studied at the University of California, Berkeley, DeKalb College, and Mary Washington College. She has lived in Washington, DC, since 2000 and thus dreams of a time when she can winter in the Caribbean.

NICOLE JOST

Nicole Jost is the Artistic Director of Young Playwrights’ Theater (YPT), the only professional theater in Washington, DC dedicated entirely to arts education. Nicole is a playwright, teaching artist, producer and director. She has worked locally with The Inkwell, dog & pony dc, Forum Theatre, City Artistic Partnerships, Madcap Players and Roundhouse Theatre. Her play The Terror Fantastic was read as part of the inaugural DC Queer Theatre Festival in 2012, featured in The Inkwell’s “Evening of Inklings” (April 2012) and “Through a Glass, Darkly” showcase (December 2012) and recognized as a finalist for the 2013 Source Festival. She received her BA in Theater and Cultural Politics from the University of California Santa Cruz, Phi Beta Kappa. In 2011, Nicole was recognized by The Washingtonian as one of ten “Women to Watch.” She is an alumna of DC Public Schools and YPT’s In-School Playwriting Program.

CHRISTINE LANGE

Christine Lange is the Artistic Director of Grain of Sand Theatre. She has been active in DC theater for over a decade as a director, performer, and stage manager. Recent productions include - Directing: Raising Cane (2012 Capital Fringe Festival), The Fairy Tale (staged reading, Grain of Sand Theatre), Four Dry Tongues (2011 Madcap Winter Carnival), The Bacchae (2008 Capital Fringe Festival), The Ghost Sonata, Anne of the Thousand Days, The Trestle at Pope Lick Creek, and James Lapine's Twelve Dreams. Acting: You Can't Get a Decent Margarita at the North Pole (Rita), Socrates the Lover(Heraklides/Chorus), Frankenstein (Elizabeth), The Underpants (Louise), Oleanna (Carol), Richard III (York), The Taming of the Shrew (Bianca), and Romeo and Juliet (Benvolio/Apothecary). Film: Shotgun Mythos (Avery). Christine holds a BA in Theater from George Mason University.

KAREN LANGE

Karen Lange is an actor, singer, improviser, and Co-Artistic Director of Pinky Swear Productions. Selected credits: Cabaret XXX: Love the One You’re With, Killing Women, Carol's Christmas, Cabaret XXX: Les Femmes Fatales, Be Here Now and Freakshow (Pinky Swear Productions), Romeo and Juliet (Red Eye Gravy Theater Company), Life with Father (American Century Theater), House of Blue Leaves (Dominion Stage), Wonder of the World (Port City Playhouse). Karen has been performing with Washington Improv Theater's iMusical, since 2006, performing in over 150 shows. She is also part of the DC/NY musical improv troupe Vox Pop, who can be seen in festivals around the country. Karen is a graduate of the Studio Theater Conservatory. She teaches improvisation and musical improvisation at Washington Improv Theater and Studio Theater.

SABRINA MANDELL

Sabrina Mandell is the founder, manager and Artistic Co-director of Happenstance Theater. She has written, produced and performed prolifically since the company's founding in 2006. Works include Prufbox, The Seven Ages of Mime, FarFar Oasis, Look Out Below!, Vaudeville's Late Bloomers, and 3 versions of Cabaret Macabre. Capital Fringe Festival hits have included Low Tide Hotel (voted Best Comedy 2007), Manifesto! (2008 Capital Fringe with a subsequent run at the New York Clown Theatre Festival); Cabaret CooCoo (Best Comedy, 2009), and Handbook for Hosts. Sabrina performs regularly with the Big Apple Circus’ Clown Care Program in DC and Baltimore, and at the Maryland Renaissance Festival. She is also a visual artist and poet.

JENNIFER L. NELSON

Jennifer L Nelson is currently Director of Special Programming at Ford’s Theatre. Prior to this appointment she was the founding Producing Artistic Director of the African Continuum Theatre Company, Washington D.C.’s only professional black theatre company. During that eleven year tenure, she produced twenty plays, multiple readings and other events. Ms. Nelson is a commended playwright and published poet. Her musical play Torn from the Headlines was awarded the 1996 Helen Hayes/Charles MacArthur Award for Most Outstanding New Play. Her three-minute telephone play Somebody Call 911 was commissioned by and featured at the 2001 Humana Festival at the Actors’ Theatre of Louisville. Her latest full-length play 24, 7, 365 was produced by Theatre of the First Amendment. Her full-length musical Hubert & Charlie was honored by the 2003 Larry Neal Writers’ Awards and was subsequently produced by the African Continuum Theatre. She has received several commissions to write issue-oriented plays for young audiences, most recently by Ford’s Theatre to bring to life historical character Elizabeth Keckly (2011 Washington Post Helen Hayes Theatre Award). She has also been commissioned to write short plays for the Theatre Lab; Active Cultures as part of their Sportaculture Festival; the Cultures-in-Motion Program of the National Portrait Gallery; the Education Department of the Corcoran Gallery; the Kennedy Center Program for Families; and Round House Theatre’s HeyDay Players. She is a three-time grantee of the DC Commission on the Arts Individual Artist program, and a recipient of the Mayor’s Arts Awards for Excellence in an Artistic Discipline. As a director, her recent productions include Raisin in the Sun at Everyman Theatre in Baltimore;Necessary Sacrifices at Ford’s Theatre; The Whipping Man at Theatre J. Upcoming productions include: 9 Circles for Forum Theatre and Top Dog/Underdog for Everyman Theatre.

HELEN PAFUMI

Helen Pafumi is the Artistic Director and co-founder of The Hub Theatre. Since the Hub's inception Helen has produced several world premier plays, multiple area premiers, an annual free staged reading series and commissioned original work from area artists. Her original plays have been produced by The Hub, and been seen at the Kennedy Center's Page to Stage Festival. In addition to her role at The Hub, Helen works as an actor in many DC area theatres, including Folger Theatre, Woolly Mammoth, Theatre J, Forum Theatre, Theatre Alliance, Rorschach Theatre, Keegan Theatre, The Inkwell, the Source Festival, and the Beckett Centenary Festival. She has appeared in numerous independent films and area commercials. Helen also does dialect coaching for George Mason University’s theatre program and coaches acting and public speaking. Helen holds a BA in Theatre from Virginia Tech. She has been nominated for a Helen Hayes Award in Outstanding New Play for her co-adaptation of Wonderful Life. She is the recipient of the Puffin Foundation Award and the Washington Canadian Partnership Award.

MARY RESING

Mary Resing, the artistic director of Active Cultures Theatre, is a playwright, director & dramaturg. The Maryland State Arts Council recognized her in 2012 with an Individual Artist Award in Playwriting for her signed/spoken musical Visible Language. Her work has been seen around the country at Actors Theatre of Louisville, Hartford Stage, Ann Arbor Rep, Empty Space, New Dramatists, Arena Stage, Woolly Mammoth, and Source Theatre Company. A proud alumna of Michigan-Ann Arbor (Ph.D.Theatre), NYU (M.A. Performances Studies) and Spring Hill College (B.A. Humanities), Dr. Resing was a 2005-2006 US Fulbright Scholar to Armenia. She has served on panels for the Theatre Communications Group, Fulbright/CIES and The Rockefeller Foundation. Dr. Resing received a 2009 Individual Artist Award in playwriting from the Prince George’s Arts Council and 2005 Offstage Award in Dramaturgy from the League of Washington Theatres. She is the COO and co-owner with Tim McKeown of the highly successful startup firm ResingMcKeown, Inc. She believes local theatre is fresher, tastes better and is good for the local economy.

SUSAN MARIE RHEA

Susan Marie Rhea is the Associate Artistic Director of The Keegan Theatre, where she is also a company member and sits on the Board of Directors. During her tenure at Keegan, Susan has directed All My Sons (opening November 2012), The Crucible, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Elizabeth Rex, A Man for All Seasons, Agnes of God, and True West. Working alongside her husband, Keegan’s founder and artistic director Mark A. Rhea, Susan has co-directed the musicals Spring Awakening, National Pastime (a world premiere), and RENT, which was nominated for five Helen Hayes awards, including Outstanding Direction and Outstanding Resident Musical. As a member of Keegan’s acting company, Susan’s credits include Barbara in August: Osage County, Valerie in The Weir, Lorna Moon in Golden Boy, Belinda in Noises Off, Maggie in Dancing at Lughnasa, Carla in Lincolnesque, Maire in Translations (Helen Hayes nomination, Outstanding Ensemble), Stella in A Streetcar Named Desire (Ireland/U.S.), Maggie in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Ireland/U.S.), Laura in The Glass Menagerie (Ireland/U.S.), and Beth in A Lie of the Mind, among many others. Through Keegan’s outreach programs, Susan has worked with local youth on theater productions for more than a decade, raising money for Habitat for Humanity and other community projects. Susan received her post-graduate theatre training at Circle in the Square (NY/NY).

SHIRLEY SEROTSKY

Shirley Serotsky is the Director of Literary and Public Programs at Theater J, where she directed the 2011 production of The History of Invulnerability; The Moscows of Nantucket; Mikveh (which received two Helen Hayes Nominations for Best Actress); and The Rise and Fall of Annie Hall (which received a 2009 Helen Hayes Nomination for Best New Play). She works as a freelance director in the DC area and beyond, and is particularly interested in the development of new work. Recent directing credits include: a 21/24 Signature Lab Workshop presentation of The Break (Signature Theatre); Working: The Musical(Keegan Theatre); Blood Wedding (Constellation Theatre); Birds of a Feather (which won the 2012 Charles MacArthur Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding New Play—at The Hub Theatre); Juno and the Paycock (Washington Shakespeare Company); a staged reading of Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo for the National New Play Network at Arena Stage; This is Not a Timebomb (The Source Festival); Reals, Five Flights and Two Rooms (Theater Alliance); Crumble (Lay Me Down Justin Timberlake) and We Are Not These Hands (Catalyst Theater); References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot (Rorschach Theater, for which she received a 2007 Helen Hayes nomination for outstanding direction); Sovereignty (The Humana Festival of New Plays); Cautionary Tales for Adults and the Many Adventures of Trixie Tickles (2007 CapFringe); LUNCH (2007 New York Musical Theater Festival & 2006 CapFringe), Titus! The Musical. (2009 Capfringe and Source Theatre). Training: BFA, North Carolina School of the Arts. Shirley was a member of the 2002 Designer/Director Workshop with Ming Cho Lee; the 2003 Lincoln Center Director's Lab; and was a 2001/2001William R. Kenan, Jr. Fellows at the Kennedy Center.

MOLLY SMITH

Molly Smith has been instrumental in leading the reinvention of Arena Stage, focusing on the creation of the new Mead Center for American Theater as well as major artistic changes. Arena Stage is a center for the production, presentation, development and study of American theater. Ms. Smith has been a leader in new play development for 30 years while at Arena Stage for the past 14 years and at Perseverance Theatre in Alaska, the theater she founded and led for 19 years. She is a great believer in first, second and third productions of new work and has championed projects like Next to Normal, How I Learned to Drive and Passion Play, a cycle. Ms. Smith has directed for Arena Stage Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, How I Learned to Drive, Hot ‘N’ Throbbing, All My Sons, The Great White Hope, Coyote Builds North America, Agamemnon and His Daughters, A Moon for the Misbegotten, South Pacific, An American Daughter, Camelot, Orpheus Descending, Anna Christie, Passion Play, a cycle, Damn Yankees, Cabaret, The Women of Brewster Place, Christmas Carol 1941, Legacy of Light, Light in the Piazza, Oklahoma!, The Book Club Play, and The Music Man. She has worked alongside playwrights Sarah Ruhl, Paula Vogel, Tim Acito, Karen Zacarías, John Murrell, James Magruder, Barry Lopez and many others. Ms. Smith’s directorial work has also been seen at the Shaw Festival in Canada, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Trinity Repertory Company, Tarragon Theatre in Toronto and Centaur Theatre in Montreal.

JANET STANFORD

Janet Stanford has helped transition Imagination Stage from a community-based arts organization to a nationally significant regional theatre for young audiences and arts education program. She has commissioned dozens of American and international playwrights whose plays and musicals have gone on to receive awards and be produced all over the country. Janet travels widely on grants to Europe, South America and Canada seeking artists to work with Imagination Stage. Most recently, she has introduced Theatre for the Very Young to the USA with funding from the Theatre Communications Group and has helped devise two new pieces for the program as well as bringing in other TVY artists from Italy, England and Germany. Janet is also a playwright whose The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe, created in collaboration with The Washington Ballet, broke all box-office records this past summer. As a director she was pleased to be nominated as Best Director for her recent production of Dr. Dolittle.

ALLISON ARKELL STOCKMAN

Allison Arkell Stockman is the Founding Artistic Director of Constellation Theatre Company, which performs at Source, 1835 14th St. NW. She has directed 16 of their productions including Metamorphoses, The Ramayana, The Green Bird, Taking Steps, Women Beware Women, Three Sisters, A Flea in Her Ear and The Arabian Nights. She will direct Gilgamesh this coming spring. Locally, Allison has served as an Assistant Director at the Folger Theatre and Shakespeare Theatre Company. She has directed readings and workshops for Theater J and the Kennedy Center. A Drama League Directing Fellow and a member of the Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab, Allison holds an MFA in Directing from Carnegie Mellon School of Drama and a BA in Comparative Religion from Princeton.

MARY HALL SURFACE

Mary Hall Surface is a playwright and director specializing in theatre for families and multi-disciplinary collaborations. A DC theatre community member since 1989, her producers include Round House Theatre, Arena Stage, Folger Theatre, the National Gallery of Art and over 15 productions at the Kennedy Center. Internationally her work has been featured in productions and festivals in Germany, Canada, Japan, Peru, France, Taiwan, Sweden and Ireland. Nominated for four Charles MacArthur Award for Outstanding New Play and five Helen Hayes Awards for Outstanding Direction, she received the 2002 award for her musical, Perseus Bayou. She is the artistic director of INTERSECTIONS: A New America Arts Festival at the Atlas Performing Arts Center. She received the Charlotte Chorpenning Award, presented by the American Alliance for Theatre and Education for an Outstanding Body of Work as a Playwright, May 2006. She was a finalist for the 2011 DC Mayor's Arts Award for Service to the Arts.

CARMEN C. WONG

Carmen C. Wong is the founding Artistic Director and agent provocateur of banished? productions, an avant-pop performance collective that plays with narrative while creating immersive art experiences. Her projects have been fueled by awards such as the Creative Communities Fund (2012), TCG Global Connections (2011) and the DCCAH's Young Artist Award (2010). Current projects and concepts include the devised dance collage Into the Dollhouse; a sensory gastro-art-performative series that has spun Tactile Taste of Helsinki / Tactile Dinner Morsels / Tactile Dinner Car / A Tactile Dinner; the ballades mechaniques installation series of story-telling machines, and the banished? footsteps series of alternative art audiowalks. Carmen first got her start in interdisciplinary performance in Berlin, working on Constanza Macras’ & Dorky Park’s “Back to the Present” in 2003. She currently sits on the Board of Directors of CityBlossoms, an urban gardening organization, and is on the Board of Governors for Theatre Washington which runs the annual Helen Hayes awards in Washington, DC. When not busy making works that defy easy categorization, she secretly enjoys picking up languages just to make untranslatable puns.

JOY ZINOMAN

Joy Zinoman (Director) Joy Zinoman is the Founding Artistic Director of The Studio Theatre, where she directed over 70 productions, including A Number by Caryl Churchill for which she received the Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Direction. She also received The Washington Post Award for Innovative Leadership in the Theatre Community. Last year she directed Sounding Becket at CSC Rep in New York and is about to direct 4000 Miles at The Studio Theatre. She received the Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Director for Tom Stoppard’s Indian Ink, and has lead The Studio theater through 178 productions which have garnered 225 Helen Hayes Nominations. Ms. Zinoman has received nine Helen Hayes Award Nominations for Outstanding Direction. Recent credits include Moonlight, The Year of Magical Thinking, Rock ‘N’ Roll, The Road to Mecca, The History Boys, Shinning City, Pillowman and American Buffalo, her final production before retiring as Studio Theatre’s Artistic Director. Her numerous honors include the Mayor’s Art Award for Excellence in an Artistic Discipline and the Washingtonian of the Year Award. She is Founder and Master Teacher of the Studio Theatre Acting Conservatory, now in its 38th year, along with Studio’s 2nd Stage program for emerging theatre artists.

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Meet the Women Artistic Directors of D.C.!!!

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