San Francisco Program
THE LAST SUNNY DAY FOR A DINOSAUR
by Rafael Duarte Oliveira Venancio
directed by Amytza Maskati
assistant director: Lynn Aylward
Joaquim..........Victor Gabrossa
Dr. Pereira..........Richard Talavera
POST-APOCALYPTIC BEER FEST
by Hank Kimmel
directed by Paul Heller
Harvey, Middle Aged Man..........Dan Schwager
Young Girl..........Georgie Growingthunder
Old Man..........Bob Ayres
Narrator..........Pam Drummer-Williams
LAND
by Bex Gobran
directed by Marcus Yi
Narrator..........Marissa Parness
THE BALLAD OF THE DYING BODY or THE BREATH TO SAY
by Derek Snow
directed by Pete Fitzsimmons
Naima..........Pam Drummer-Williams
Male Voice..........Pete Fitzsimmons
The Body (Dancer)..........Julius Eclyse Jenkins, video courtesy of Derek Snow Productions
GEOINTERFERING, BORED EYE'S VIEW
by Leonard D. Goodisman
directed by Piyush Kumar
CEO..........Pam Drummer-Williams
Wes..........Victor Garbossa
Jess..........Noreen Quadir
WHALE FALL
by Stephen Near
directed by Shubhra Prakash
Becca..........Ariake Dandewate
Stephen..........Shreyo Banerjee
TRACE (film)
by The Kaleidoscapes
directed by Dylan Arredondo
-- Intermission --
SHOW UP!
by Andrea Fleck Clardy with Tobias Delgado
directed by Amytza Maskati
assistant director: Lynn Aylward
Selena..........Carla Gallardo
Nitza..........Charley Hogan
Marisol..........Gloria Garcia Stanley
UNTOUCHABLE
by Mahesh Dattani
directed by Vinh G. Nguyen
Sagar.........Sunny Moza
Rakesh.........Anush Moorthy
Narrator.........Pam Drummer-Williams
HOMED AGAIN?
by Tiffany Hoover
directed by Amytza Maskati
Liwa.........Tiffany Hoover
SISTERS THREE & THE TREE
by Jaisey Bates
directed by Amytza Maskati
assistant director: Lynn Aylward
Sister A - Eldest..........Pam Drummer-Williams
Sister C - Middle..........Jennifer Bobiwash
Sister E - Youngest..........Roshni Datta
Narrator..........Lea McCormick
SENTIENCE
by Kelly Curry
directed by Pete Fitzsimmons
Marima (Henrietta Lacks)..........Amira Avenetti
Tom (Abe Lincoln)..........Havish Ravipati
Daisy (Harriet Tubman)..........Gloria Garcia Stanley
Narrator/Majesty..........Pete Fitzsimmons
THE DAY EVERYBODY DECIDED TO STOP*
by Max Wilkinson
directed by Piyush Kumar
performed by the Global EarthQuake Ensemble
*This play will be released as a short film to all registrants following the festival
Producer.........................................................................................................Lisa Kang
Image/Sound Designer and Tech Manager.....................Shubhra Prakash
Preshow/Intermission Music......................................................Andy Aylward
Box Office Manager..............................................................................Aaron Higareda
Publicity.........................................................................................................Lynn Aylward, Pete Fitzsimmons & Bridgette Portman
Poster Design.............................................................................................Rob Dario
Program Design.......................................................................................Bridgette Portman
About the Cast and Team
Lynn Aylward (assistant director, Last Sunny Day for a Dinosaur, Show Up!, Sisters Three & the Tree) studied playwriting at the Writer's Center in Washington, DC where she was a member of the Playwrights Forum. She has been a member of the Writers Pool at Playground for two seasons, and three of her short plays have been presented by Playground at Berkeley Rep. Her short play Twelve Twenty Five was performed at the Shelton Theater in November 2018. Lynn is working on a full-length play on climate change commissioned by Playground and Planet Earth Arts, and her play Three Chords and the Truth was a semi-finalist for the 2019 Bay Area Playwrights Festival. Lynn has a MSc in economics from the London School of Economics and one in environmental science from New York University.
Bob Ayres (Old Man, Post-Apocalyptic Beer Fest) BIO COMING SOON
Andy Aylward (musician) is a Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter who is currently a Covid-19 refugee in Oakland. Hear more of his music at andyaylward.bandcamp.com/
Amira Kitty Avenetti (Marima/Henrietta Lacks, Sentience) BIO COMING SOON
Shreyo Banerjee (Stephen, Whale Fall) is an actor, writer, and musician from Brooklyn. He studied at theatre and journalism at NYU. Favorite past experiences include performing at the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh and mopping the floor in an episode of Veep. Away from the playhouse, Shreyo noodles on his guitar with some seriousness, is an avid reader, and enjoys feigning knowledge of tea varietals.
Jaisey Bates (playwright, Sisters Three & the Tree) writes, directs and performs with their multicultural nomadic theater company, The Peoplehood (the-peoplehood.com). A Princess Grace Award and O'Neill National Playwrights Conference finalist and Kilroys List honorable mention, Jaisey is a recipient of the Emerging American Playwright Prize from Marin Theatre Company, and of Judge’s Choice/Featured Play from the Oklahoma City Native American New Play Festival. LA/NYC development and/or performance venues for their work have included the Agüeybaná Book Store, Art/Works, Articulate Theatre Company, Blank, Company of Angels, Eclectic, EST/LA, Lounge, Naked Angels, Native Voices at the Autry, Open Fist, Performance Loft, Playwrights' Center Stage, Sacred Fools, Samuel French Bookshop, Studio/Stage, Tank, Unknown and Victory theaters.
Jennifer Bobiwash (Sister C, Sisters Three & the Tree) is Anishinaabekwe from Misswezhaging. She is a First Nations actress, writer, content creator and teaching artist and is a Lead Artist of Native Voices At the Autry. Theatre credits include world premieres at Perseverance Theatre, Native Voices, and La Jolla Playhouse, as well as Yale Rep and on tour in Northern Alaska. She is currently writing essays about genetics and identity, creating immersive theater experiences, and working on finishing another sci-fi play. She can be found online at www.jenniferbobiwash.com. She is Zooming in from the land of the Tataviam/Chumash.
Andrea Fleck Clardy (playwright, Show Up!) is a Boston playwright and activist. Her short plays and monologues have been widely produced and included in numerous anthologies, published by Smith and Kraus, Applause, and New World Theatre. She is a member of The Dramatists’ Guild, The National Writers’ Union, and New Play Exchange.
Kelly Curry (playwright, Sentience) is an author, publisher, relationship builder and social justice activist. Kelly began her career by editing and publishing Freedom Rag in Chicago, Illinois, a groundbreaking hip-hop publication devoted to arts and letters of the African-Diaspora. She segued to bringing conservatory level arts programming to the children of New York City Parks and Recreation Centers in Harlem. She continued this trajectory by delivering similar programming to the children of farm workers and homeless children in Southern California via The Living Love Foundation, where she acted as Director of Programming and Development. Kelly came to the Bay Area in 2012, where she joined forces with food justice giants People’s Grocery and later Planting Justice. Currently, she organizes Local Peace Economy with the International Women’s Peace Organization CODEPINK by engaging committed, creative, sustainable systems change around food access for the citizens of East and West Oakland. She does this work with The Electric Smoothie Lab Apothecary aka TESLA, which she founded. In 2017 her book, Until the Streets of the Hood Flood with Green, The Story of the Electric Smoothie Lab Apothecary was published by Reimagine and Freedom Voices. She has taken her stories, book, music and message to the people of New York City; London; Copenhagen; Berkeley; Long Beach; San Diego; El Paso, TX; Tijuana, Mexico; Birmingham, UK and Oakland, Ca. In August of 2020, Kelly joined forces with BAMBDFEST 2020 to produce and showcase her play Somethin’ Ain’t Right. Kelly is on the Board of Directors for Planting Justice.
Ariaki Dandawate (Becca, Whale Fall) is a performer from the NY/NJ area. While a Computational biologist by profession, Aria has spent a large portion of her time dedicated to the performing arts. Aside from being a trained Kathak dancer, she has pursued her passion for acting, and has performed in shows for the Shakespeare Theater of NJ, and in the summer of 2018, she was part of the cast of the NYC premiere of The Music in My Blood written by Shubhra Prakash and Sonali Hardikar. She feels extremely fortunate to be able to have opportunities to further her passion in acting, and is honored to be a part of the EarthQuake Theater Festival.
Roshni Datta (Sister E, Sisters Three & the Tree) is a stage actress, dancer and choreographer. She has acted with various Bay Area theater companies and has been part of several short films, TV shows and commercials. She also likes to write poetry & create music videos. For the Earthquake event, she will be zooming in from the land of Ohlone and Chochenyo. This is the first time she is working with Same Boat and is doing two plays - Sisters Three and the Tree, directed by Amytza Maskati in the US and Earth is Our Mother, Tiger is our Brother, directed by Piyush Kumar in India. She has enjoyed the cross-cultural & cross-country experience immensely.
Mahesh Dattani (playwright, Untouchable) is a playwright, stage director, screen writer and filmmaker. His published works include Final Solutions and Other Plays, Tara, a Collected Works edition in two volumes published by Penguin India and more recently Me and My Plays also by Penguin. In 1998 Mahesh Dattani won the prestigious central Sahitya Akademi Award for his book Final Solutions and Other Plays, the highest award for a literary work in the country. Mahesh is the first playwright writing in English to receive this award. Today his plays are produced in all the major cities of India. His works have been produced in cities outside the country as well including London, Leicester, New York, Washington DC, Sydney, Colombo and Dubai. Most of his plays have been translated and performed in Hindi, Gujarati and Kannada. Most notably, his play Dance Like a Man directed by Lillete Dubey received 600 performances and continues to tour.
Pam Drummer-Williams (Narrator, Post-Apocalyptic Beer Fest; Naima, Ballad of the Dying Body; CEO, Geointerfering; Narrator, Untouchable; Sister A, Sisters Three & the Tree) is excited to return to Same Boat Theater Collective in multiple amazing pieces. She was last seen as Lady Ptomaine Bibbidi Bobbidi Boos with Dragon and Fuse Theatres, with Playland Production in Bitsy Bites Back as Pepper, A full Zoom play with Same Boat Theater Collective in The Emeryville Horror as The Mayor. Also, on Zoom Pam has been seen in living rooms via Zoom with Queer Cat Productions in Felix B. Love Is Not Alone as Dr. Ray Daly. Some of her favorite roles have been with B8 Theatre Co. in Strange Ladies as “Suffragist Mary based on Mary Church Terrell”, with Queer Cat Productions in The Gay Divorce Play as The Officiant, with Contra Costa Civic Theatre in Ragtime as Sarah’s Friend, with Contra Costa Civic Theatre, in You Can’t Take it With You as Penelope Sycamore, and with Pinole Community Playhouse in Godspell as Pam. When not working or performing, Pam is living vicariously through her daughter, a commercial pilot who is living her dreams as we all should!!
Peter Fitzsimmons (director, Male Voice, the Ballad of the Dying Body; director, Narrator/Majesty, Sentience) is a native San Franciscan, the aboriginal homeland of the Muwekma Ohlone tribe. He earned his B.A. in Literature and Theater Arts at the University of California at Santa Cruz. He also studied playwriting in the MFA program at UCLA. He is a member of SBTC and sits on the Board of the Handful Players, a performing arts program & musical theater for San Francisco children. As the founding Executive Director of the Jazz Heritage Center, he opened and managed the Lush Life Art Gallery. In 2014 he performed the leading role, Hubert, in Yasmina Reza’s play, Life X 3, at the Phoenix Theater in San Francisco. In 2018 he appeared as the Narrator / Ollie Harrington in the world premiere of Reg Clay’s play, Four Men In Paris. He has starred and co-starred in numerous film and television projects. Recently, he played the role of the Bookie in the short film, As Ye Sow, which won an award at the 2019 Amsterdam Film Festival. Mr. Fitzsimmons is the Co-founder of the Fellowship Theater Guild, where he acted and also directed a production of I’m Not Rappaport. He co-directed a new theatrical presentation: First Steps Towards the Dream: The Letters of Alfred Fisk and Howard Thurman, which premiered at this year's Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration, held at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. Up next: Mr. Fitzsimmons and Jeffrey Stewart are co-writing Renaissance, a film treatment based on Stewart's Pulitzer prize winning biography, The New Negro - The Life of Alain Locke.
Carla Gallardo (Selena, Show Up!) is a Bay Area native, actor, and a proud member of the Ubuntu Theater Project. She studied theater at Laney College and San Francisco State University, and since then has performed for theater companies in the Bay Area, including Teatro Cultura, FaultLine Theater, Custom Made Theater Company, NCTC, Z Below, Ubuntu Theater Project, and the Magic Theater. Through theater, she has worked with many programs on education & awareness on a different topics for students all over Northern California with NCTC’s Youth Aware and Kaiser Permanente’s Educational Theater. When she can, she loves to take trips to the beach for a nice swim, read a good book, and spend time with loved ones.
Victor Gabrossa (Joaquim, Last Sunny Day for a Dinosaur) is 27 years old and from São Paulo, Brazil. He graduated with a BA in Audiovisual from Senac University. He is an actor, singer and voice actor. He started his studies in theater in 2013. He studied at Theater School Nill de Pádua, Musical Theater Laboratory, Academy of Actors and University of Dubbing. His first appearance in theater was in The Wizard of Oz as ensemble and cover of Scarecrow. In 2016, he presented the theater show O Aprendiz de Feiticeiro, in 2017 Em Busca de Noel, and Fala Sério, Gente! in 2018. He held some workshops on TV acting with important names of national television such as Paloma Riani, voice actor with Claudio Galvan. Nowadays, he has been studying singing with Pedro Navarro and working as a cast member of Jesus Christ SuperSkype. In dubbing, he gave his voice to the characters “Choco” and “Agent Z” in 44 Cats. He dubbed various characters in Turkish soap operas, such as The Forbidden Fruit and Bitter Lands that have been televised in Angola. He also participated in the Walking Dead 8th season. As hobbies, he likes music, and plays guitar and bass. From 2018 onwards he has been studying some dance modalities, such as Jazz and Classic Ballet. His audiovisual works, as an actor, are from academic short films - such as the web series “Without Filter” by FIAMFAAM students, where he played Thomas, and many other independent productions.
Bex Gobran (playwright, Land) is a California-born playwright. Her plays include Dresser Falls on Woman (2016 Sadie Hawkins Theater Co. Reading Series Selection), Springful (2017 Little Black Dress INK’s ONSTAGE Reading Finalist), George and Melissa and The Dragon (2019 At Rise Reading Series Selection), and Land (apt Literary Journal May 2020). Her essays have been featured on Fatherly.com and Reductress, and her short stories include S Only (2015 Brio Literary Magazine). She graduated Magna Cum Laude from NYU Tisch School of the Arts with a BFA in Dramatic Writing. She currently splits her time between Pittsburgh and Los Angeles and abstains from almonds in solidarity with the drought. https://www.bexgobran.com
Leonard D. Goodisman (playwright, Geointerfering, Bored's Eye View) creates theater that entertains, stimulates, and inspires sociologically, psychologically, politically, and spiritually. Nine of his full lengths and more than thirty one-acts have been produced. Vision drives the length. Some won prizes. Leonard was Development Director at Eclectic Theater until it closed; he produced play festivals, arranged classes, attended dramatist groups, acted. directed, did tech, etc. Later associated with other theaters. Produced plays include full lengths Missy’s Trial, Chekov in the Sun, Clara, Che, The Gate, My Backyard, Die, Laramie, Equal Rights, The Sandstorm, of twenty-six he has written. About thirty one act plays have been produced from about fifty one acts written.
Georgie Growingthunder (Young Girl, Post-Apocalyptic Beer Fest) is an eight-year-old performer and artist from the Nakoda, Dakota, Kiowa, and Mvskoke Nations. She was an infant model and toddler actress in Santa Fe, NM before moving to New England. Today she is well recognised as the young designer of Mahto Skuya Designs, a name given to her by her grandfathers from Fort Peck Sioux and Assiniboine tribes of Montana. Georgie's art is widely collected across the United States, Canada and Europe. Georgie has received numerous awards throughout her young career. At the 98th SWAIA Santa Fe Indian Market, she was acknowledged as a 2018 Emerging Artist Fellow. She has performed across the nation as a Native American dancer, for stage, and film.
Paul Heller (director, Post-Apocalyptic Beer Fest) is an award-winning playwright based in the San Francisco Bay Area. His plays have premiered locally at the Asian American Theater Company, One4All Theater Company, the Novato Theater Company, The Unscripted Theater Company, The Ranch (Central Valley), Mary Sano’s Dance Company, and San Francisco State University. Additionally, he has premiered his own work at The Next Stage, The Loft, Emeryville, the Phoenix Theatre and in a dozen living rooms and assisted living centers throughout the area. The Magic Theatre, The Virago Theatre Company, The Aurora Theatre, Local 4, Lafayette Town Hall, Central Works, and Z-Space have featured staged reading of his work. Paul is a two time artist in residence at the Djerassi Resident Artists Program in Woodside, CA and a Fellow with the National Endowment for the Humanities. His plays have received grants from the Zellerbach and Wattis Foundations, Theatre Bay Area’s CA$H program, and the California Creative Capacity Fund. He holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Arizona, where he received the Downs Award for Fiction. Even though we are virtual, he wants to celebrate and acknowledge that we in the Bay Area are on lands of Native Americans including the Ohlone Miwok and Pomo people.
Charley Hogan (Nitza, Show Up!) is T’odiichiinii (The Bitter Water Clan) and Akohni Dine (Acoma Peublo). She is 13 years old and a member of the Navajo Nation which is in the Northern part of Arizona. Charley grew up learning her Navajo tradition and culture from her maternal grandparents. She was taught to respect Mother Earth and those who live upon her and to bless herself each day to the Creator. Charley also grew up in a Christian household from her paternal grandparents. She was taught to love herself, her family, and her faith. Through the support of her mother and father and the respect of one another’s faith and tradition, Charley can live and embrace dual lifestyles of traditional and urban living. Charley’s dream of becoming a professional actor started when she was in the 3rd grade and was cast in her school play the Wizard of Oz. Charley has always been comfortable in front of an audience and she loves to entertain others by dancing or telling jokes. She is also an artist who enjoys drawing and painting and has developed a collection of free hand drawings and paintings of her favorite characters. Charley has become an inspiration for the youth of Native America; her journey has taught her peers that they can dream big and accomplish anything. Charley Hogan is a name to remember.
Tiffany Hoover (playwright, Liwa, Homed Again?) has been performing her one woman show, Seekers and Saints: Women of Transformation, for the last 7 years at various venues, including St. Mary's College, Mater Dei High School, St. Mary's High School, and Christ the King Church. Prior to writing and performing her original work, Tiffany could be seen on Bay Area Stages in shows such as The Cherry Orchard with Hapgood and in Romeo and Juliet at Livermore Shakes, Cloud 9 at NCTC and Five Women Wearing the Same Dress at Townhall Theater Company. She has been acting in the Bay Area for 25 years with such companies as Crowded Fire, TheatreWorks, and the Willows. Favorite roles include: Mindy in Five Women, Betty/Mrs. S./Ellen in Cloud 9, and Aunt Dan and Marie in The Wallace Shawn Theatre Festival. Tiffany has also worked in voice-over, has studied at the Royal National Theatre and has acted in Australia. She holds a BA in Theater from UCSB, a MA in Theatre from UCD and a MA in Theological Studies from the GTU. Tiffany has been working in as a fitness profession for over 25 years. Her future performances will be at Carondelet High School in Concord for their senior class over the course of the school year. She will be performing one of her biographical monologues, Mother St. John Fontbonne: Love Without Distinction. http://www.tiffanyhoover.com
The Kaleidoscapes are an eco-theatre troupe. In their film TRACE, nine dancers explore themes of global interconnectedness through movement. Filmed safely and independently during quarantine, this dance film is set to commissioned, original music. Through physical explorations of varied and meaningful local ecosystems, Trace challenges viewers to examine their own relationship to land and belonging. This trace is the beginning of a trail—one that will lead our audience to action on behalf of the planet.
Lisa Kang (producer, San Francisco Program; founder, Same Boat Theater Collective) is a resident of San Jose (Muwekma Ohlone land) and a native of the San Francisco Bay Area, where she has been a playwright, actor, educator and environmental activist for several years. Her work has been performed by theaters in the San Francisco Bay Area, Seoul and Taipei. Her work has been featured in Theater Bay Area’s Playwriting Showcase and has been recognized as finalist or semi-finalist in Playwright’s Foundation, MultiStages (NYC), and Naatak Theater. She is the co-founder of San Jose's City Lights Theater's Light Source playwriting workshop and founder of Butterfly Effect’s playwriting workshop in Taipei. Lisa is a member of Playground and of the Playwrights’ Center of San Francisco. www.lisakang.net/
Hank Kimmel (playwright, Post-Apocalyptic Beer Fest) is an Atlanta-based playwright who is a founding member and serves as board president for Working Title Playwrights, an Atlanta-based theatre company dedicated to the development of playwrights and new plays (www.workingtitleplaywrights.com). Hank also serves as the board president for the Alliance for Jewish Theatre (www.alljewishtheatre.org). Hank has been a long-time member of the Dramatists Guild. web site: www.hankkimmel.com plays available at New Play Exchange: newplayexchange.org/users/2311/hank-kimmel.
Piyush Kumar (director, GeoInterfering) has been a theatre practitioner for 10 years who has worked in several productions including Same Boat Theater Collective (California), Hanchu-Yuei Japan, Tadpole Repertory, Black Box's Woyzeck, Barefoot, Crow, Kaivalya Plays' Unravel. He directed an ensemble production on plastic pollution called Panniarchy with the Little Theatre Group Repertory, Delhi. He has conducted several workshops and directed productions in schools and colleges of Delhi University and was a primary cast member in Arré’s web series Tathaastu and Amazon India’s TV Ad campaign Chonkpur Cheetahs.
Amytza Maskati (director, Last Sunny Day for a Dinosaur, Show Up!, Homed Again?, Sisters Three & the Tree) performed in about 30 theatre, film, and webseries productions in over 25 years. She starred in the LORALI World Premiere and collaborated with Todd Kessler (creator of Blue’s Clues) to raise environmental awareness for children in Miami, Florida. The Edison Arts Society awarded Highest Honors in Theatre to this first-generation Puerto Rican & Indian raised in Edison, New Jersey. Amytza inspires others through teaching grades K-12 and coaching adults as an entrepreneur. Amytza earned her B.A. in Journalism/Media Studies & Spanish Translation/Interpretation at Rutgers University-New Brunswick, NJ and M.A. in Urban Education: Spanish Language & Culture at Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, CA. Amytza studied Spanish in Spain, Arabic in Oman, and now resides in Silicon Valley on Ramaytush and Ohlone land. Amytza sings, dances, and shares her travels with the world. Connect with Amytza at amytza.maskati@gmail.com.
Lea McCormick (Narrator, Sisters Three & the Tree) is a citizen of Mvskoke Nation. She sings in Muscogee. Lea is currently studying with Matthew Barry & Tom Todoroff. She has recently worked with Matt Damon and Anne Heche. She is SAG AFTRA Eligible. She never meets a stranger & grew up in small town Oklahoma. She’s married with one son. She is appearing via Zoom from the land of the Kiikaapoi, the Osage, the Caddo, the Cherokee and the Ochethi Sakowin.
Anush Moorthy (Rakesh, Untouchable) is a techie who lets his left brain take over on weekday evenings and weekends when he acts, writes stories, plays and novels, and makes short films. He has appeared on stage in several plays, in San Diego and in the Bay Area with Naatak and Bay Area Drama, including those in Hindi: Baat Ek Raat Ki, Aanchal Hi Na Samaye, Muaavze and Aashad Ka Ek Din; in English: Marjorie Prime and Wedding Album; in Tamizh: Aadu Bali Aatam as well as on Zoom: Bad Auditions by Bad Actors, No Makeup and Khamosh! Adalat Jaari hai. He has written and directed several plays for Naatak on stage and on Zoom: Unicorns and Court in English; Shamashan, Khol Do (Director), and Prisoner's Dilemma (Writer) in Hindi; KodiTuni and The Jest of Hahalaba (Tamil). He has also written, directed and appeared in short films in English, Tamizh and Telugu such as Arranged Marriage, Dissonance, Circle, America lo Amala.
Sunny Moza (Sagar, Untouchable) has acted in over 100 theater productions and short films. He has also done 2 feature films, one of which, Babru (Indian), is now streaming on Amazon Prime. Some of his recent plays include The Bridge, Rehearsal for Murder, Out at Sea, Kronos, and Ideation. Having won many awards, Sunny Moza is considered by many as America's Best Desi (Indian) MC and Host. He has hosted most Bollywood mega-events in the US and Canada, including the ones with over 15,000 audience. Untouchable is his first play with Same Boat Theater Collective and he's thankful and excited to be part of this global adventure. To know more about his work, go to www.sunnymoza.com or just google Sunny Moza. You can also connect with him via Facebook - www.facebook.com/sunnymoza
Stephen Near (playwright, Whale Fall) is a writer working in Hamilton. His plays have been performed across Canada at various theatres and festivals including the Ottawa Fringe, the Toronto Fringe, the Hamilton Fringe, New Ideas, and Summerworks. He is a graduate of York University (BFA), the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (B. Ed) and the MFA Creative Writing program at the University of Guelph. He is a member of the Playwright’s Guild of Canada, the Theatre Aquarius Playwrights Unit and an alumnus of the Sage Hill Writing Experience and the Banff Centre. Stephen is co-founder and playwright-in-residence of Same Boat Theatre in Hamilton.
Vinh G. Nguyen (director, Untouchable) (he/him/his) is a theatre artist, educator, and advocate residing on Ohlone Native Land/San Jose, California, U.S.A. Having been a part of Same Boat’s inaugural production of The Emeryville Horror earlier this year, Vinh is grateful to be back as a director for EarthQuake. He has worked with many prominent theatre companies all over the Bay Area as an actor, director, casting director, and consultant. Vinh holds an MFA in Musical Theatre from San Diego State University. He is a member of SDC and EMC, and a passionate advocate for arts education and the promotion of equity, diversity, and inclusion. www.MrVinhNguyen.com
Marissa Parness (Narrator, Land) is an actor, singer and voice actor based in Munsee Lenape/Canarsie (Sunnyside, Queens). Most notably, Marissa has 49 titles on Audible, as an audiobook narrator. She is a graduate of Circle in the Square’s Musical Theatre program. She has also been a part of several theatrical shows in NYC, TV roles, and independent film projects. Marissa is very grateful to Marcus Yi for providing her continuous opportunities, including this one. Please take our environmental crisis serious. If not for us, then for our children.
Shubhra Prakash (director, Whale Fall; image/sound designer; tech manager) is an artist whose work lies at the intersection of film, theatre and tech. Shubhra has served as co-producer and voiceover artist for Priya’s Shakti. She most recently co-wrote, produced and acted in an original play The Music In My Blood about Indian classical music that was seen by over a thousand audience members. She co-founded the award-winning NYC based Hypokrit Theatre Company and served as festival director of the company's South Asian International Performing Arts Festival in 2015. Previously, she wrote and directed short films including Three Dates, part of New York Indian Film Festival 2013 and Funny Faces, about women in standup comedy. Her interactive short CAST ME! a "choose your own adventure" style film/game was part of The Challenge of Diversity competition by Interlude, Games for Change and Tribeca Film Festival. Shubhra has been part of TFI Interactive Immigration Co/Lab in 2017 where she and her team created COYOTEK, a multimedia-interactive project that works as a speculative web market where immigrants can find tools to bypass the oppressive forms of surveillance put upon them. In 2018, Shubhra relocated to India to develop her next play inspired by the life of Rajeev Prakash Khare, a font designer and calligrapher of Indian scripts. She presented a digital art exhibition in New Delhi at Kaleidoscope Digital Art gallery, "Fontwala: Stone to Mobile, what remains?" which received a special segment on the Indian national TV channel and was covered by prominent press. For more info: https://sprakash.github.io/portfolio/fontwala.html
Noreen Quadir (Jess, Geointerfering) received her BA degree in Theatre from Southern Connecticut State University and also studied acting at the Circle in the Square Theatre School and improv at the Magnet Theater. Her stage credits include Sharum, A Muslim in the Midst, The Vagina Monologues, Magic, Moonlight & Mardi Gras and various children shows in Connecticut and New York. Film credits include The Test (which she co-wrote and co-produced), Choices, Engaged, Clatter, and 2 Weeks. Noreen has also acted in commercials and print. In addition to being a performer, she’s a writer who has authored a children’s picture book titled Bailey, the Rabbit and social and animal rights activist. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram at @NoreenZizzyQ.
Havish Ravipati (Tom/Abe Lincoln, Sentience) has been acting in the Bay Area for the past decade. He has been in everything from stage productions (most recently BAD’s Seven Steps Around the Fire and Cloud Playhouse’s Bad Auditions By Bad Actors), short films, voiceovers and local web commercials. Being a creative talent (whether on stage or film) is his life's passion.
Dan Schwager (Harvey, middle-aged man, Post-Apocalyptic Beer Fest) recently performed with the Ross Valley Players in the production of Moll Flanders, and previously with The Pacifica Spindrift Players in The Crucible as Reverend Parris, in two productions at The Actors Ensemble of Berkeley (Middletown by Will Eno and A Dybbuk by Tony Kushner) and with Contemporary Opera Marin in Dracula and The Mark of the Goat. He has also previously performed in musical roles in My Fair Lady (“Doolittle”) and Guys and Dolls (“Benny Southstreet”), and dramatic roles in Moliere’s Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme, Brecht's The Caucasian Chalk Circle and two Ibsen plays: The Lady from the Sea and Rosmersholm.
Gloria Garcia Stanley (Marisol, Show Up!; Daisy/Harriet Tubman, Sentience) is proud to be performing in Same Boat Theater Collective for the second time this year. This summer, she played Mayan in The Emeryville Horror with SBTC. She was Mama in The Circuit with Santa Clara University's Arts for Social Justice; Abuela Claudia in City Lights Theater Company's In the Heights. and co-starred in Eleanor Coppola's film, Love is Love is Love. Prior to returning to the stage, she sang in lounges and night clubs throughout Nevada and the Midwest. She descends from the Tarahumara (Raramuri) of Chihuahua Mex. and now lives on Ohlone/Muwemka land in San Jose, CA.
Derek Snow (playwright, the Ballad of the Dying Body or the Breath to Say) has been in the Cincinnati theatre community as an actor, writer and director for over 35 years. A graduate of the School for Creative and Performing Arts, Derek then continued his education in NYC before returning after graduation to teach dramatic arts to inner-city youth in the public school system. He has been with the popular physical theatre group Performance Gallery for the past 18 years, which has produced an entry in every Cincinnati Fringe Festival since its inception. His written work has been produced in Atlanta, New Jersey and Sydney, Australia. Derek is the founder of Missing Front Plate Productions, a company dedicated to producing works of BIPOC artists that are then used to teach the youth cultural history and an understanding of their Constitutional rights. He dedicates this play to the memories of Breonna Taylor and the late Sam Dubose.
Richard Talavera (Dr. Pereira, Last Sunny Day for a Dinosaur) BIO COMING SOON
Rafael Duarte Oliveira Venancio (playwright, the Last Sunny Day for a Dinosaur) is a Brazilian writer, playwright, university professor, journalist, cartoonist and filmmaker. He is PhD in Audiovisual Media and Processes, School of Communication and Arts, University of São Paulo, Brazil, where he also did a postdoctoral fellowship in Radio Fiction and Dramaturgy. He has several books published as an independent author and by traditional publishers in four languages. He has plays produced in three countries and in three languages. His most frequent themes are historical fiction and reimaginations, metadramaturgy, sports drama, and philosophical storytelling. Twitter and Facebook: @rdovenancio / Instagram: @rafaeldovenancio
Max Wilkinson (playwright, the Day Everybody Decided to Stop) has been a recipient of the Peggy Ramsay Foundation, a finalist for the Papatango Prize, Theatre Uncut's Prize for Political Writing and recently, the Nick Darke Award. Max has also collaborated with the Wooster Group in NYC, The English Theatre Berlin and the British Museum as a dramaturg, and has had plays produced at Theatre 503, King’s Head Theatre, the Arcola, Paines Plough and many others across London.
Marcus Yi (director, Land) is an award winning theatre writer/composer/director and performer based in New York. He has created work in Singapore, Atlanta and New York and is the artistic director of Morbid Dumpling Productions. He has worked on over 100 productions and his recently created work include Micro Shrimp The Musical (Winner of 11th Annual NJ Playwrights Contest), 29x/y (WIld Project, Paradise Factory), Pretty Little Mouth (Roy Arias), The Procedure (Gene Frankel Theater), The Ephemeral Lightness of Dreams: the dream plays (Lynn Redgrave Theatre), Thicker Than Water: the blood plays and Baby Baby! His work has been produced by the National Asian Artists Project, Yangtze Rep, Prospect Theater, Pan Asian Rep, Asian American Film Lab, The Secret Theatre, New Jersey Playwrights Contest, Ingenue Theater, Modern Griot Theatre, Ticket2eternity Productions, Queens Players, Rising Solo, POPLAB, URNetworkAlliance, NYC Actors and Playwrights Collective, All Out Arts, Short Play Lab, Angry Head Productions and Living Room Theater. His work has been seen at the New York Times Center, Green Room 42, The Duplex, National Opera Center, Midtown International Theater Festival, Planet Connections Theater Festivity, Fresh Fruit Festival and the Midwinter Madness Theater Festival. Marcus was named one of Indie Theater Now's 2014 People of the Year, is an Indie Theater Now Playwright, and an inaugural member of the 92nd Street Y Musical Theater Development Lab Collective.
Producer's Note
We had some fires in California recently, sending me into my bedroom, where I sat for three weeks, rarely straying more than
a few feet from my air filter, mask nearby, windows shut. It was so big, the threat. The menace was everywhere - it had filled
the sky and was entering my body as I breathed. Prayer seemed ineffectual coming from one person, God seemed too remote.
My refuge became my laptop. From there, with the tireless help of Shubhra Prakash in New Delhi and Sidal Kekilli in London, and
the talented, dedicated Same Boat Theater Collective, I gathered the nearly 100 people who came together to "move the Earth with
our voices." Their response and enthusiasm was overwhelming, their stories and voices enlightening. I present their work to you, now, with their questions, their poetry, their stories of despair and loss, but also of faith and wonder and connection, one with another and ourselves with nature. I hope we inspire you to join us, so together our voices can heal this Earth.
--Lisa Kang, Founder, Same Boat Theater Collective
a few feet from my air filter, mask nearby, windows shut. It was so big, the threat. The menace was everywhere - it had filled
the sky and was entering my body as I breathed. Prayer seemed ineffectual coming from one person, God seemed too remote.
My refuge became my laptop. From there, with the tireless help of Shubhra Prakash in New Delhi and Sidal Kekilli in London, and
the talented, dedicated Same Boat Theater Collective, I gathered the nearly 100 people who came together to "move the Earth with
our voices." Their response and enthusiasm was overwhelming, their stories and voices enlightening. I present their work to you, now, with their questions, their poetry, their stories of despair and loss, but also of faith and wonder and connection, one with another and ourselves with nature. I hope we inspire you to join us, so together our voices can heal this Earth.
--Lisa Kang, Founder, Same Boat Theater Collective
Special Thanks
Jim Kleinmann, PlayGround, Mahesh Dattani, & our promotional sponsor, Mechanics Library.
Same Boat Theater Collective is a fiscally-sponsored participant in the PlayGround Innovator Incubator Program. We are proud partners of American Rivers, Farm Fresh to You, Friends of the Urban Forest and the World Wildlife Fund.
Same Boat Theater Collective is a fiscally-sponsored participant in the PlayGround Innovator Incubator Program. We are proud partners of American Rivers, Farm Fresh to You, Friends of the Urban Forest and the World Wildlife Fund.
