Christina Anderson (Playwright) is a 2022 Tony Award nominee for Outstanding Book of the Broadway musical for Paradise Square. She is a playwright, screenwriter, educator, and creative. Plays include How to Catch Creation, pen/man/ship, Blacktop Sky, and Good Goods. Her work has appeared at the Goodman Theatre, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, The Public Theater, Yale Repertory Theatre (Good Goods, world premiere, 2012), Kansas City Repertory, and other theaters in the United States and Canada. Awards and honors include: 2022 Arthur Miller Award, 2022 Horton Foote Prize, 2021 Prince Prize, 2020 United States Artists Fellow, MacDowell Fellowship, Lily Awards Harper Lee Prize, Herb Alpert Award nomination, Barrymore nomination, and New Dramatists Residency. A graduate of David Geffen School of Drama, she has taught playwriting at the Geffen School, Wesleyan University, Rutgers University, SUNY Purchase College, and served as the interim Head of Playwriting at Brown University. christinaandersonwriter.com

Tamilla Woodard is Chair of the Acting program at David Geffen School of Drama and a Resident Director at Yale Rep. She is the co-founder of the site-specific international partnership, PopUP Theatrics, proudly served as the co-Artistic Director of Working Theater in New York, and she was the Associate Director of the Tony Award-winning Hadestown on Broadway in its premier season. Prior to joining Working Theater, Tamilla was the BOLD Associate Artistic Director at WP Theater. Tamilla has directed at theaters nationally and internationally, including at WP Theater, The Alliance, Baltimore Center Stage, American Conservatory Theater, Classical Theater of Harlem, The Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts with TheaterWorksUSA, and The Cleveland Public Theatre, among others. Recently named one of 50 Women to Watch on Broadway, Tamilla is also a recipient of the Josephine Abady Award from the League of Professional Theatre Women and a proud board member of Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers. She received her MFA in Acting from David Geffen School of Drama.

Emmie Finckel is a queer, Asian-American scenic and production designer. Recent credits include The Comedy of Errors (Public Theater: Mobile Unit), As You Like It (La Jolla Playhouse), 53% OF (Second Stage), In the Southern Breeze (Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre), The Watering Hole (Signature Theatre), Manning (David Geffen School of Drama), In the Penal Colony (NYTW Next Door), Athena (JACK), Riot Antigone (La MaMa). Associate design credits include many productions with Gabriel Hainer Evansohn including KPOP (Broadway) and Empire Travel Agency as a member of Woodshed Collective. Emmie is the Associate Creative Director of the Outside Lands Music Festival and often works on festivals and experiential events in collaboration with Iron Bloom Creative Production. Emmie holds a B.A. from Wesleyan University and a M.F.A. from David Geffen School of Drama; and is currently on the faculty of the Playwrights Horizons Theater School at NYU. Member: Local USA 829. efinckel.com.

Aidan Griffiths is a fourth-year M.F.A. candidate at David Geffen School of Drama and a graduate of University of North Carolina School of the Arts. Aidan has been working in the field of costumes for the last 13 years. As a freelance costume designer and illustrator, she has designed for theater, opera, and dance. Her work has been seen internationally with The Bang Group. Her most recent credits are Affinity (Geffen School), The Rite of Spring (Schwarzman Center), Lovesick: The Rock Opera (National Sawdust), and There’s a Strange Thing at the End of the Loop and Radiant Vermin (Yale Cabaret). She has worked with directors Gaye Taylor Upchurch, Carl Forsman, Tamilla Woodard, Alex Keegan, James Matthew Daniels, Christina Franklin, and Jacob Basri. She has collaborated on dance pieces with David Parker, Jeff Kazin, Emily Coates, and Lasso Coulibaly. aidangriffithsdesign.com

Alan C. Edwards – Work includes the world premieres of Harry Clarke (The Vineyard), Kill Move Paradise (National Black Theatre), and The Hot Wing King by Katori Hall (Signature Theatre Company, winner of the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for Drama). His regional design work includes Sally & Tom (world premiere by Suzan-Lori Parks at the Guthrie Theatre); Pipeline, Skeleton Crew (Actors Theatre of Louisville); Paradise Blue, and the new musical Lights Out: Nat King Cole (Geffen Playhouse). Additional credits include productions of Anna Deavere Smith’s Twilight: Los Angeles 1992 (Signature and A.R.T.), Smith’s Fires in the Mirror (Signature), Twelfth Night (Classical Theatre of Harlem), Bluebird Memories featuring rap-artist Common (Audible Theatre), and Baldwin and Buckley at Cambridge by Greig Sargeant and Elevator Repair Service. Edwards has been honored with awards and nominations for the Lucille Lortel, Drama Desk, and Henry Hewes Awards. His work in dance includes Where We Dwell and Chasing Magic by tap-dancer Ayodele Casel; Rhythm Is Life by Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards; and Lifted, choreographed by Christopher Rudd for American Ballet Theatre. On Broadway he was the associate to renowned lighting designer Jennifer Tipton on The Testament of Mary. He is a graduate of David Geffen School of Drama, where he is also an assistant professor of lighting. alancedwards.com

Evdoxia Ragkou she/her/hers is a New Haven-based sound artist and composer. She is keenly interested in the nature of sound, using it as her primary medium for composition, and strongly believes in its storytelling powers. She writes all sorts of music and is oriented towards creative ways to tell stories. She has worked in venues such as Rattlestick Theater, Playwrights Horizons, Yale Cabaret, and Yale Repertory Theatre. She has also written music for various dance projects and short films. She also wears the hat of a solo artist. You can say that she is overall a person of a sound mind.

Krystal Balleza – Previously at Yale Rep: the ripple, the wave that carried me home and Mojada: A Medea in Los Angeles. Opera: Opera Theatre of Saint Louis 2023–24 season. Off-Broadway: Orlando (Signature Theatre); The Connector (MCC); Good Bones, The Tempest (The Public Theater); Six Characters in Search of an Author, At the Wedding (Lincoln Center); Americano! (New World Stages). Regional: Ain’t Misbehavin’ (Barrington); Angels in America, Part One (Arena Stage); Real Women Have Curves (ART). Krystal is the Hair and Makeup Department Head at Six: The Musical on Broadway. Krystal holds a B.F.A. in wig and makeup design from Webster Conservatory and is co-owner of The Wig Associates with her design partner, Will Vicari.

@thewigassociates

Will Vicari – Previously at Yale Rep: the ripple, the wave that carried me home. Broadway: Yellowface (Roundabout), Parade (2023 revival), Harmony, and Spamalot (associate wig and makeup design). Opera: Opera Theatre Saint Louis 2023 and 2024 seasons. Off-Broadway: The Connector (MCC); At the Wedding (Lincoln Center); Mrs. Warren’s Profession, Candida (Gingold Group). Regional: Ain’t Misbehavin’ (Barrington Stage Company), Angels in America, Part One (Arena Stage). Will holds a B.F.A. in wig and makeup design from Webster University and is co-owner of The Wig Associates with his design partner, Krystal Balleza.

@thewigassociates

Henry Rodriguez is a multi-disciplinary projections and media designer. His recent credits include She Kills Monsters (David Geffen School of Drama), L’elisir d’amore (Yale School of Music), Dragaret (Yale Cabaret), and This Place is a Message (Yale Schwarzman Center). Henry is a Mexican American, Las Vegas native, and holds a bachelor’s degree in projection design from the University of Northern Colorado. In his final year at David Geffen School of Drama, Henry looks forward to future projects including, but not limited to projection design, live media, and virtual production.

Hannah Fennell Gellman she/her is a teaching artist and dramaturg who loves queer stories, movement, and poetry. Her production dramaturgy credits include the ripple, the wave that carried me home (Yale Rep); Wake by Stefani Kuo, Twelfth Night, Hedda Gabler (David Geffen School of Drama); Dr. Ride’s American Beach House and soft apples (Yale Cabaret). She has also collaborated on developing new dance and theater work with ruth tang (The Alcove at the Lortel), Cameron Barnett, Qualia Dance Collective, and BODYSONNET and worked as an educator at Elm Shakespeare Company, Berkshire Theatre Group, Lookingglass Theatre, and Shakespeare & Company. She holds a B.A. in English from Carleton College and is a fourth-year M.F.A. candidate in dramaturgy and dramatic criticism at the Geffen School.

Eric M. Glover is an Assistant Professor Adjunct at David Geffen School of Drama and a Faculty Fellow in the Center for the Study of Race, Indigeneity, and Transnational Migration. Glover served as a production dramaturg at Yale Rep for productions of the ripple, the wave that carried me home, Choir Boy, and A Raisin in the Sun (canceled due to COVID-19).

Nate Angrick is in his fourth year of the technical design and production program at David Geffen School of Drama, where his credits include She Kills Monsters, Twelfth Night, and Affinity. He also recently served as technical director for The Brightest Thing in the World and assistant technical director for The Plot at Yale Rep. He received his B.F.A. in technical theater and design from the University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point. He worked as technical director of Payomet Performing Arts Center in Massachusetts and Peninsula Players in Wisconsin. Before attending Yale, he worked as a scenic carpenter at The Juilliard School.

Julie Foh she/her is a voice, text, and dialect coach and is an Associate Professor Adjunct of acting at David Geffen School of Drama. Previous coaching credits include Escaped Alone and the ripple, the wave that carried me home (Yale Rep); All My Sons and The Winter’s Tale (Hartford Stage); A View from the Bridge (Long Wharf Theatre); As You Like It, The Taming of the Shrew, Othello, Love’s Labour’s Lost, The Tempest, The Winter’s Tale, Measure for Measure, Henry V, Twelfth Night, Coriolanus (Next Chapter Podcasts); As You Like It, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, A Man for All Seasons, And a Nightingale Sang, The Caretaker, A Child’s Christmas in Wales (Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey); Belfast Girls (Irish Rep); Mlima’s Tale (Repertory Theatre of St. Louis and Westport Country Playhouse); Ride the Cyclone: The Musical, Sleuth (McCarter Theatre Center); Wolverine: The Lost Trail (Marvel podcast); As You Like It, King Charles III (Colorado Shakespeare Festival); Sherwood (Cleveland Play House); Pygmalion (BEDLAM); Familiar (Woolly Mammoth); Trans Scripts, Cardenio (American Repertory Theater); The Tallest Tree in the Forest (Tectonic Theater Project); and others. She is an Associate Teacher of Fitzmaurice Voicework, a Master Teacher of Knight-Thompson Speechwork, and co-author of Experiencing Speech: A Skills-Based, Panlingual Approach to Actor Training.

Kelsey Rainwater is an intimacy coach, fight director, and actress based out of the ancestral lands of the Quinnipiac people. Kelsey’s work was recently seen in the premiere of Sally & Tom at the Guthrie. Some of her other credits include In the Southern Breeze at Rattlestick, The Public Theater’s Measure for Measure and White Noise by Suzan-Lori Parks, directed by Oskar Eustis; Blues for an Alabama Sky with the Keen Company; Bess Wohl’s film, Baby Ruby; Wish You Were Here, A Raisin in the Sun (canceled due to COVID-19), Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Mojada: A Medea in Los Angeles, and the ripple, the wave that carried me home at Yale Rep. She is a Lecturer in acting at David Geffen School of Drama, co-teaches stage combat and intimacy, and is a Resident Fight and Intimacy Director for Yale Rep.

Calleri Jensen Davis is a creative casting partnership among James Calleri, Erica Jensen, and Paul Davis of over 20 years. They began their collaboration with Yale Rep in 2023 with Mojada: A Medea in Los Angeles and the ripple, the wave that carried me home. Broadway credits: The Piano Lesson, Topdog/Underdog, for colored girls…, Thoughts of a Colored Man, Burn This, Fool for Love, The Elephant Man, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Of Mice and Men, Venus in Fur, A Raisin in the Sun, 33 Variations. Television: Love Life, Queens, Dickinson, and The Path, to name a few.

callerijensendavis.com

Andrew Petrick is a fourth-year M.F.A. candidate at David Geffen School of Drama, where his credits include Manning and Measure for Measure, both directed by Alex Keegan, and In His Hands, or the gay christian play, directed by Maeli Goren. Other stage management credits include The Brightest Thing in the World (Yale Repertory Theatre); The Blacker the Berry, directed by Stew, and Harmless, directed by Dan Hurlin (Sarah Lawrence College); Pride and Prejudice, directed by Christopher Edwards, and Cry It Out, directed by Marc Masterson (Dorset Theatre Festival); Jack and the Beanstalk, directed by Julie Atlas Muz (Abrons Art Center); and When We Were Young and Unafraid, directed by Spencer Knoll (Downstage Theatre Company). B.A., Sarah Lawrence College. Member of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.

Jennean Farmer – NYC Theater: Cullud Wattah, Ain’t No Mo’ (The Public Theatre); Toni Stone (Roundabout Theatre). Regional: Her Portmanteau (George Street Playhouse), Mlima’s Tale (Westport Country Playhouse). Film: The Good Nurse (co-star), A Thousand and One (co-star), The Secret Art of Human Flight (co-star), How the Light Gets In (co-star). Television: Dead Ringers (recurring), WuTang: An American Saga (guest star), Evil (guest star), That Damn Michael Che (co-star), New Amsterdam (co-star), FBI (co-star). M.F.A. in acting from the New School for Drama. U.S. Army Veteran.

Marcus Henderson is a dynamic thespian from St. Louis, Missouri, who started his drama journey after falling in love with theater at Alabama State University. He went on to graduate school to hone his craft at David Geffen School of Drama. Immediately recognized for his immense talent, he booked a role in Django Unchained, directed by Quentin Tarantino, and has enjoyed a blossoming career ever since with roles in Whiplash, John Singleton’s Snowfall, and Jordan Peele’s Get Out. Today, you can catch him starring in the hilarious TV show Tacoma FD and paying it forward by teaching and uplifting up-and-coming actors who have committed to the journey of the craft. He is very happy to be welcomed back for his second Yale Rep production, following Romeo and Juliet in 2011.

Chalia La Tour is an actor, educator, and creator. A member of the original Broadway cast of Slave Play by Jeremy O. Harris, she was nominated for the 2020 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for her role in that play. Her other theater credits include Cadillac Crew by Tori Sampson (Yale Repertory Theatre, 2019) andThe Review or How to Eat Your Opposition by Donetta Lavinia Grays (Women’s Project Theater). Television credits include The Good Fight, The Code, and Elementary on CBS. Film credits include The Future is Bright, The Year Between, and Mother Melancholia. Directing credits include Faster Than a Blink (Portland Center Stage JAW), assistant director for The Brothers Size (Oklahoma City Rep), Savage/Love (Highland Summer Theatre). The Future is Bright screened at the inaugural African American Smithsonian Film Festival. The Year Between is currently available on streaming services and in cinema. Mother Melancholia is in collaboration with Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch. She maintains a commitment to storytelling that asks the questions of humanity with the fullness of humanity. She has also worked with the anti-racism organization Broadway Advocacy Coalition as a consultant for their Artivism Fellowship. La Tour received an M.F.A. in acting from David Geffen School of Drama. She is also a graduate of the British American Dramatic Academy, Summer in Oxford program. Theatrical technical design from CSU East Bay. Instagram: @chalialatour

Adrienne S. Wells is excited to be back at her alma mater! Her theater credits include The Skin of Our Teeth (Lincoln Center Theater); A Cakewalk (Garage magazine); Girls (Yale Rep); Seven Spots On the Sun; Alice; How Black Girls Get Over Fuckbois, vol. 1; Marty and The Hands That Could; and School Girls: or The African Mean Girls Play (David Geffen School Drama). TV: Black Monday (Showtime). B.A., Temple University; M.F.A., David Geffen School of Drama. Instagram: @adriennewells

Whitney Andrews is an actor and writer based in New Haven. She is a Connecticut native, and currently an M.F.A. candidate in acting at David Geffen School of Drama, where her credits include Marys Seacole. Prior to her performances on the School’s stages, she was seen on Manifest (NBC), Wu-Tang: An American Saga (Hulu), Gotham (FOX) and Happy! (Syfy). Today, Whitney tells stories illustrating multifaceted Black women who exist in the fullness of their complexities. She is a fearless feeler and pleasure seeker, who is constantly finding herself through her work.

Messiah Cristine is a first-year actor at David Geffen School of Drama at Yale. They hold a B.A. from Sarah Lawrence College.

Malik James is a third-year M.F.A. candidate at David Geffen School of Drama at Yale, where he has been seen in Blood Wedding. He holds a B.F.A. in acting from Texas State University, where he performed in The Harvest, The Importance of Being Earnest, We Are Proud to Present…, and The Crucible. He made his professional debut in Choir Boy at Yale Rep last season. maliktjames.com

Chinna Palmer – “Rooted in Love; driven with Purpose; in search of Truth.” Chinna has made her way to Yale Repertory Theatre for her debut as a first-year student at David Geffen School of Drama. This is not her first time to the stage, thanks to the incredible cast and crews from productions such as Our Town (Shakespeare Theatre Co.), Behind the Sheet (St. Louis Black Rep.), Fairview (Woolly Mammoth Theatre); and in film, Alemanji and The Zeke Sanders Story. Chinna is excited to continue her journey here in the coming years and beyond. B.F.A., Howard University. Instagram: @chinna.palmer