JOCELYN BIOH (Adaptation) is an award-winning Ghanaian-American writer/performer from New York City. Her written works for theatre include Nollywood Dreams at MCC Theater, which is currently postponed due to COVID-19; GODDESS, a musical, which will have its world premiere at Berkeley Rep in 2022; and the multi-award-winning School Girls; Or The African Mean Girls Play, which was originally produced at MCC Theater in 2017/2018 and has gone on to have over 20 regional productions. She is a former Tow Playwriting Fellow (2017) and has been commissioned by MTC, Atlantic Theater Company, Williamstown Theatre Festival, and Second Stage.

SAHEEM ALI (Director) is a proud immigrant from Kenya. He is the Associate Artistic Director/Resident Director of The Public Theater. Recent productions include Romeo y Julieta, Richard II, Twelfth Night (The Public); Shipwreck (The Public, Woolly Mammoth); Fires in the Mirror (Signature Theater); The Rolling Stone (Lincoln Center Theater); The New Englanders, Sugar in Our Wounds (MTC); Passage (Soho Rep); Fireflies (Atlantic Theater Company); Dangerous House, Where Some Storms Are Born (Williamstown Theater Festival); Tartuffe (Playmakers Rep); Kill Move Paradise (National Black Theater); Nollywood Dreams (Cherry Lane); and Dot (Detroit Public Theater). He has workshopped new plays at Playwrights Horizons, Playwrights Realm, MCC, New York Stage & Film, Page 73, and The Lark. He is a Usual Suspect at New York Theater Workshop, Sir John Gielgud SDCF Fellow, and Shubert Fellow.

BEOWULF BORITT (Scenic Design). The Public: Much Ado About Nothing, Coriolanus, Emergence-See!, Tales of an Urban Indian, Venice. Broadway: 23 shows including Act One (Tony Award), The Scottsboro Boys (Tony nomination), Thérèse Raquin (Tony nomination), Come From Away, Freestyle Love Supreme, Be More Chill, The New One, Bernhardt/Hamlet, Meteor Shower, A Bronx Tale, Prince Of Broadway, Hand To God, Sondheim On Sondheim, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, LoveMusik, and On The Town. Off-Broadway: 100 shows including The Last Five Years, Fiddler on the Roof (in Yiddish), Sleepwalk With Me, and Miss Julie. 2007 OBIE Award for sustained excellence.

DEDE AYITE (Costume Design) is a two-time Tony nominated costume designer. Broadway credits include A Soldier’s Play, Slave Play, American Son, and Children of a Lesser God. Select Off-Broadway: The Secret Life of Bees, Marie and Rosetta (Atlantic); By The Way, Meet Vera Stark (Signature); BLKS, School Girls… (MCC); Bella: An American Tall Tale (Playwrights Horizons); The Royale (Lincoln Center); Toni Stone (Roundabout). Regionally, Ayite’s work has appeared at Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Steppenwolf, Arena Stage, and more.  She has worked in television with Netflix, Comedy Central, and FOX Shortcoms. MFA: Yale School of Drama. Awards: Obie, Lucille Lortel, Helen Hayes, Theatre Bay Area, and Jeff Awards; four Drama Desk nominations.

JIYOUN CHANG (Lighting Design). The Public: for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf. Broadway: Slave Play. Off-Broadway: Anatomy of A Suicide, Eddie and Dave (Atlantic); Marys Seacole, Plot Points in Our Sexual Development, brownsville song (LCT3); Sojourners, Her Portmanteau (NYTW); Something Clean, Too Heavy For Your Pocket, Ugly Lies the Bone (Roundabout); BAM, MCC, Signature, Guggenheim, Berkeley Rep, Cal Shakes, Guthrie, The Old Globe, OSF, Studio Theatre. Falstaff Award 2012 (Troilus and Cressida). Nominations: Tony, Drama Desk, Theatre Bay Area, Henry Hewes Design Awards. Obie Award in special citation. MFA: Yale School of Drama.

KAI HARADA (Co-Sound Design). The Public: Soft Power, Public Works’ Hercules, Fun Home. Broadway: Head Over Heels, The Band’s Visit (Tony, Drama Desk Awards), Amélie, Sunday in the Park with George, Allegiance, Gigi, Fun Home, On the Town, First Date, Follies (Tony, Drama Desk nominations), Million Dollar Quartet. Other work: LA Opera, A.R.T., Kennedy Center, City Center, Portland Opera, 5th Avenue, and others. Education: Yale University.

PALMER HEFFERAN (Co-Sound Design). The Public: shadow/land, Shipwreck, Wild Goose Dreams. Broadway: Grand Horizons (Second Stage), The Lifespan of a Fact (Studio 54). Off-Broadway: Fefu and Her Friends (TFANA); Marys Seacole (LCT3); BLKS, Collective Rage, Charm, School Girls… (MCC Theater); The New Englanders, Sugar in Our Wounds, Important Hats… (MTC); Something Clean, Bobbie Clearly (Roundabout); Fabulation..., Death of the Last Black Man… (Signature Theatre); Friend Art (Second Stage); Samara, Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again. (Soho Rep); Today Is My Birthday (P73). Awards: 2019 Obie Award for Sustained Excellence in Sound Design, 2018 and 2020 Henry Hewes Awards.

MICHAEL THURBER (Composer) is an NYC-based composer/bassist/performer. He has composed scores for The Royal Shakespeare Company, The Public, MTC, and Atlantic Theater. His new musical GODDESS will have its world premiere this winter at Berkley Rep in CA. Past Public Theater productions include Mobile Unit's Twelfth Night, for which he wrote the music and played the role of Antonio. Thurber co-founded CDZA, a YouTube music collective (40 million views) which headlined at the YouTube Music Awards alongside Lady Gaga and Arcade Fire. Thurber was the bassist on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” and sits on the Board of NPR's From the Top. Education: Juilliard, Interlochen Arts Academy.

FARAI MALIANGA (Original Drum Compositions/Musician). Born and raised in Zimbabwe, Malianga began his career in African Dance in Colorado with Leticia Williams’ Harambee and Musical Director Judy “Fatu” Henderson. Upon arriving in New York, he began studying dance and drum with pioneers Yousouf Koumbasa, Mbemba Bangoura, and Ronald K. Brown. He has performed with Chuck Davis in BAM’s Dance Africa, Reginald Yates, Heritage O.P., Harambee, Umoja, The New Jersey Chamber Orchestra, Obediah Wrights Balance, BSRC, Def Dance Jam, Juxtapower, Opus, Camille A. Brown, Christal Brown, Joya Powell, and Beatrice Capote. He performed Darker Faces of the Earth Off-Broadway and on Broadway in Fela! Recently, he composed for dance films like Black Stains with Tiffany Rhynard.

ROCÍO MENDEZ (Fight Director) is an award-winning actor, fight and intimacy director, and a proud New Yorker committed to building confidence in brown and Black girls through storytelling. Mendez has done multiple independent films showcasing their talents in martial arts and comedy. Mendez has worked with a range of theaters nationally including Atlantic Theater Company, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, and Classical Theater of Harlem, among the many. Mendez has been nominated for multiple awards for their work in fight choreography and movement. Mendez is a team member of Unkle Dave's Fight-House – a collective of fight/intimacy/movement directors. www.rociomendez.com

DARRELL GRAND MOULTRIE (Choreographer). A recipient of the Princess Grace Choreography Fellowship Award and a graduate of The Juilliard School, Moultrie’s credits include Invisible Thread (2nd Stage), Daddy (The New Group/Vineyard Theatre), Sugar in Our Wounds (MTC), Witness Uganda (A.R.T.), Redwood (Portland Center Stage), Evita (Kansas City Rep), El Publico (Teatro Real Madrid). Moultrie has choreographed premieres for dance companies across the world, select works include "Ounce of Faith” (The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre) “Vessels” (Dance Theatre of Harlem.), “Indestructible Light” (American Ballet Theatre).

COOKIE JORDAN (Wigs, Makeup and Hair Design). Broadway: Once on This Island; Sunday in the Park with George; In Transit; Eclipsed; Side Show; After Midnight; Fela!; A View From the Bridge. Off-Broadway: In the Blood, The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World (Signature Theatre); Public Works’ Hercules, Ain’t No Mo’, Mlima’s Tale (The Public); A Midsummer’s Night Dream, Twelfth Night (The Public’s Shakespeare in the Park). Tours: Fela! (national and European tours); Dirty Dancing. Television: Emmy-nominated for makeup design, “The Wiz Live!” (NBC).

NARDA E. ALCORN (Production Stage Manager). Professor and Chair of the stage management department at Yale School of Drama, Alcorn has been head of stage management for NYU, DePaul, and SUNY Purchase. On Broadway, Alcorn premiered four August Wilson plays and stage-managed two Broadway revivals of his work. Alcorn was a stage manager on The Lion King on Broadway for several years and both revivals of A Raisin in the Sun. With co-author Lisa Porter, Alcorn has written the book, Stage Management Theory as a Guide to Practice: Cultivating a Creative Approach, and the HowlRound essay, “We Commit to Anti-racist Stage Management Education.” 

BENJAMIN E. C. PFISTER (Stage Manager). The Public Theater: Much Ado About Nothing and As You Like It at The Delacorte Theater. Yale Repertory Theater: Imogen Says Nothing. Broadway credits include Rodgers & Hammerstein's Carousel (Imperial Theater); Choir Boy (Samuel J. Friedman Theater); The Rose Tattoo and A Soldier’s Play (American Airlines Theater). MFA Graduate and Lecturer in the Stage Management Department at The Yale School of Drama.