2023 Cohort
Temídayo Amay
Temídayo Amay is a Black Trans Non-Binary writer, composer, actor, and queer activist. Their publications have been featured in American Theatre Magazine, The Washington Post, and DC Theatre Scene. Amay’s plays have been developed alongside the Obie Award-winning Breaking The Binary Theatre Company, Musical Theatre Factory, Solas Nua, Theatre Alliance, The Clarice, and Brooklyn College/CUNY.
Temidayo is a 2023 Breaking the Binary New Works Program Playwriting Fellow, 2023 Theatre Producers of Color Producing Fellow, 2023-24 Musical Theatre Factory Makers Cohort III Playwriting Fellow, Harriet Tubman Effect’s inaugural Lantern Executive Coaching Program award recipient, and 2023-4 Obie Award-winning MAESTRA Music Musical Theatre Writing Mentee. Their production of Marcus Gardley’s black odyssey won four Audelco Awards including Best Play (dir. Stevie Walker-Webb). In 2020 Temidayo Amay won the inaugural non-gendered Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Supporting Performance in a Play for Jocelyn Bioh’s School Girls. Amay is a 2020-21 Resident Playwright with the Reclamation Project DC at Round House Theatre and The Kennedy Center, respectively. They are the 2020-21 Quadrant Playwright in Residence for their play POOL at the Theatre Alliance.
Temidayo is the founder of PILOT, Washington D.C’s first playwright-producing collective. They are a founding board member of TEMPO, the Trans Expansive Music Professionals Organization, and have been the acting facilitator for Musical Theatre Factory’s Trans Non-Binary monthly writer’s roundtable since October 2021. Temidayo Amay is a resident community healer for the Black Trans Liberation Kitchen and a Helen Hayes Award-winning performer
Temidayo Amay received a B.A. in Theatre from The University of Maryland, College Park. temidayoamay.com
Gustavo Blaauw
Gustavo Blaauw is a Brazilian director, producer and professor whose influence spans commercial, educational, and nonprofit sectors. He has made his mark in major urban centers such as New York, Edinburgh, London, and his hometown, São Paulo. Gustavo is a TPOC member since 2023.
Leading his own production company, Gustavo spearheads projects that merge performing arts, new media, and technology.
In academia, Gustavo began his journey at Northeastern University – New York (MMC), where he completed studies in Performing Arts (Directing) and Art and Theater History. Continuing to expand his academic career, Gustavo began his journey as a special student at the Master’s program in Theater and Dance History at Harvard University.
In 2022, Gustavo founded the Periaktos Institute to expand access to education in multimedia theater and emerging theater technologies.
Kahari Blue
Kahari Blue (he/him) is a performer and producer from New Haven, Connecticut. As a performer, he has been seen off-Broadway in Howard Barker’s Pity in History at Atlantic Stage 2 with PTP/NYC and has performed as the lead vocalist for various bands on stages across the Northeast. Off stage, he has worked on Peter Brooks’s Why, Maria Irene Fornes’s Fefu and her Friends, and Shakespeare’s Timon of Athens at Theater for a New Audience as part of their “New Deal” marketing team, selling tickets to individuals under the age of 30 to help cultivate a new generation of theater patrons. As a producer, he made his Broadway debut as a Co-Producer with TPOC on How to Dance in Ohio, the 2024 musical which made history by starring six autistic actors. He graduated summa cum laude from Middlebury College with a BA in Theatre and minors in Education and African American Studies. Outside of his work in the theater, he is a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (“DE&I”) professional who has worked for Fortune 500 companies and technology startups. He is honored to be an alum of TPOC’s Producing 101 course.
Regina De Vera
Regina De Vera (she/her) completed her MFA in Acting at The Juilliard School (2019), where she was a recipient of the Raul Julia Memorial Scholarship in Drama and the Juilliard Career Advancement Fellowship. Prior to Juilliard, she was a resident actor of the Cultural Center of the Philippines’ resident theatre company for five years. She won the 2013 Gawad Buhay! PHILSTAGE Award as “Outstanding Female Lead” for her work as Portia in a Filipino adaptation of The Merchant of Venice. She made her U.S. theatrical debut at The Old Globe, a Tony award-winning regional theatre in San Diego, CA, by playing the lead in The Underpants (2019) by Steve Martin.
In 2022, Regina made her Philippine directorial debut at the 17th Virgin Labfest Festival, a festival of new one-act plays by Filipino playwrights. In 2023, she completed her first job as Acting Coach and Intimacy Coordinator for Ryan Machado’s Huling Palabas, a full-length feature entry at the Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival. That same year, she was selected as one of 25 out of 300 applicants to participate in the Producing 101 Course by Theatre Producers of Color. Apart from acting, Regina has branched into directing, coaching and intimacy choreography to facilitate her advocacy in empowering Filipino artists. www.reginadevera.com
José Hurtado
José Hugo Hurtado (he/him) is a Chicano multidisciplinary artist from San Diego, California, based in New York City. He is a Special Artistic Programs Coordinator at The Public Theater and works directly with their touring branch, The Mobile Unit, to provide accessible, excellent theater to all five boroughs of NYC. He was a member of Theater Producers of Color’s (TPOC) 2023 cohort. His directing experience includes The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity (NYU’s Latinx Artist Collective), Ubu Rock (NYU’s New Studio on Broadway), Bad Hombres, Good Wives (NYU Theatre 104), A Winter’s Tale (San Diego’s The Old Globe Theater), and various projects in Playwrights Horizons Theatre School. José aims to make the performing arts more accessible to lower income communities as he believes the arts truly do make a difference. He holds a BFA in the Dramatic Arts, with a Producing minor, from New York University, Tisch School of the Arts. Para mi familia, siempre.
Averi Israel
Averi Israel (she/her) is a writer/director/producer from the eight cities that raised her. She moved to New York to pursue a Film Studies degree from Columbia University, where she graduated as the class recipient of the Louis Sudler Prize in the Arts. After school, she moved to South Korea where she worked as an English teacher during the day and designed sets for Seoul Shakespeare Company in the evening. Back in NYC, she is cultivating a career at the intersection of art and activism, exploring themes of race, gender, sexuality, violence, and love in the context of American culture. As a writer, her pieces for stage and film consist primarily of historical fiction works highlighting obscured corners of the Black experience, seeking to root our contemporary moment in both its foundational past and visionary future. She is a 2022 recipient of the New York Foundation for the Arts Women’s Fund for Media Music and Theatre, a member of Theatre Producers of Color Cohort III, a 2023 Athena Film Festival Writers Lab participant, and a 2024 Tallgrass Artist Resident. She is making her co-producing debut on the 2024 revival of Gypsy.
Sukhjit Khalsa
Sukhjit is a writer, performer, producer and cultural leader based in Boorloo. Her work as a multi-form artist for the last decade has been recognised at the Performing Arts WA Awards (2020), Mona Brand Writing Awards (2022), WA Multicultural Awards (2022) and Australian Sikh Awards (2023). Her passion for storytelling began as a finalist in the Australian Poetry Slam (2014), semi-finalist on Australia’s Got Talent (2016) and winner of The Moth GrandSLAM (2019). Sukhjit spoke at TedxUWA (2017), TedxNewtown (2019) and has supported Missy Higgins and L-FRESH the Lion on their national tours (2016-17). Her poetry and community projects have led her to tour globally and across her nation.
Sukhjit premiered her sell-out theatre show FULLY SIKH with Barking Gecko Theatre Company and Black Swan Theatre Company (2019). Since then, she has been developing her comedy series WHAT WOULD SUKI DO? with support from ABC TV and is currently producing A HAIRY TALE, a documentary exploring female body hair. Sukhjit and her partner, Perun Bonser, were selected to develop their rom-com series ONE OF THE GOOD ONES at Ron Howard & Brian Grazer’s talent lab, Impact Australia (2020). They premiered their video installation work BETWEEN BREATHS at Goolugatup Heathcote Art Gallery (2022) and the work toured in 4A Contemporary Asian Art Centre’s BUSH DIWAN (2022).
Sukhjit was a story-telling trainer at the Centre for Stories (2018-23) and her debut hip-hop single COLLECTABLES is now streaming on global music platforms. Sukhjit was selected to participate in a Broadway producing program with Theatre Producers of Colour in New York (2023) and her debut novel will be released in 2025 with Upswell Publishing. Sukhjit is the Executive Director of The Blue Room Theatre and has been selected to be in Creative Australia’s 2024-25 Creative Leadership cohort.
Seonjae Kim
Seonjae Kim (sun in the sky + letter j) is a NYC-based director from Seoul, South Korea. Favorite credits include KPOP (Associate, Broadway), Bald Sisters (Salt Lake Acting Company), Wild Goose Dreams (SpeakEasy Stage Company), The Wolves (Atlantic Acting School), Jar of Fat (Ma-Yi), The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Associate, Kennedy Center), and Hot Asian Doctor Husband (Theater Mu). Seonjae created Riot Antigone, a Riot Grrl musical adaptation of Antigone, produced at La MaMa and Ars Nova and published in Reclaiming Greek Drama for Diverse Audiences (Routledge). Seonjae’s short film Good Taste premiered at the Oscar-qualifying Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival before embarking on a national festival tour. She is currently developing MOMMY: A ONE WOMAN CHO, a solo play written and performed by Margaret Cho. One of Broadway Women Fund’s 2024 list of “Women to Watch.” NYTW Usual Suspect. Graduate of Northwestern University. Find her at @sunintheskyletterj or seonjaekim.com.
Zoë Kim
Zoë Kim is a storyteller who is passionate about creating art that encourages humanity, compassion, and kindness. She is a classically trained Actor and the Founder of Seoulful Productions (seoulfulproductions.org), a Korean-American women-led 501(c)(3) non-profit organization whose primary mission is to create artistic experiences that celebrate the culture, artistry, and voices of the Korean Diaspora. Her acting credits include The Heart Sellers, Pride and Prejudice, Eureka Day, Motherf**ker with the Hat, The Winter’s Tale (Shakespeare’s Globe in London), 4000 Miles, and The King’s Language (world premiere). She wrote Did You Eat? (밥 먹었니?) and screenplays for Phone Call, Meet Me at a Funeral (MMF), Say, Do You Wanna Be White?, and multiple episodes of Blue Match Comedy. MMF and Phone Call became official selections at various film festivals and have won her numerous awards including EMERGING FILMMAKER, BEST COMEDY, and BEST LEAD PERFORMANCE. Her solo show, Did You Eat? (밥 먹었니?), is slated for a world premiere production in the fall of 2024 at CHUANG Stage in Boston: https://www.chuangstage.org/did-you-eat
www.thezoekim.com @thezoekim
Nicole Kwan
Nicole Kwan (she/her) is an editor, writer, and digital content strategist who made her Broadway debut as a co-producer with TPOC on How to Dance in Ohio. She’s been involved with Opening Act, a nonprofit focused on arts education through free after-school improv-based theater programming, since 2013. She served as co-chair for the Junior Board before joining the Board of Directors in 2021. In 2018, Nicole produced Kit Yan and Melissa Li’s new musical, Interstate, for the New York Musical Festival Currently, she’s the Senior Editorial Director at Verywell Health, a Dotdash Meredith brand. At Dotdash Meredith, she is co-chair of the AAPI Collective employee resource group for AAPI employees. Nicole is a graduate of Northwestern University and is based in Manhattan.
Sierra Lancaster
Sierra Lancaster (she/her) is a singer-songwriter, theatre producer, and actor originally from Omaha, NE and currently based in NYC. She is the Associate Producer at Prospect Musicals, where she works to help serve the next generation of musical theatre writers and artists. Sierra has produced across the United States, notably with the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center and Broadway Advocacy Coalition, in addition to her own company, Samuel-Lancaster Productions. She made her Broadway debut at 21 as a Co-Producer on Pass Over on Broadway, marking her as one of the youngest Broadway producers in history. She is an alumni of Theater Producers of Color and the ASPIRE Program at the Kennedy Center (National Finalist, Charlene Gordon Arts Impact Awardee). She is a passionate cultural organizer and social justice advocate, with liberation at the center of all of her art making. As a songwriter and performer, Sierra’s music has been witnessed across NYC and beyond. Her debut single, “I Hope You’re Happy Now”, is available for streaming anywhere you listen to music. Sierra is a proud graduate of The Boston Conservatory at Berklee, BFA Musical Theatre and is a member of Actor’s Equity. www.sierralancaster.com / IG: @_sierralancaster_
Joshua Lee
Joshua Lee is a producer and performer based in New York City. Joshua graduated from Harvard University with a B.A. in Computer Science. After moving to New York to continue his career in Venture Capital, he decided to pursue his passions in the arts. Joshua has since originated the role of Timmy X on KPOP Broadway, is currently a series regular on BBC’s Gangnam Project, and is set to heavily recur on Netflix’s #1 hit XO, KITTY. In New York, he produced LIMBO, which had a sold out run at ARTxNYC and is currently producing his first film.
Marla Louissaint
Marla Louissaint (aka Marla Lou) is a Haitian born visionary and pleasure healer making the revolution irresistible. Credits include: National Tour for Broadway’s HADESTOWN, 2015 Jimmy Award Winner, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, Seven Seconds(Netflix), Flatbush Misdemeanors (Showtime), creative producer (Theatre Producers of Color ’23) internationally published model (Vogue Italia, Oprah Magazine, SavagexFenty), and abolitionist community organizer as the Founder and CEO of Claim Our Space NOW. Learn more MARLALOU.COM
Esmé Maria Ng
Esmé Maria Ng is a queer, non-binary theater maker of Cantonese and Scottish descent who loves heartbreak and developing new plays. They have held artistic and producing positions at Manhattan Theatre Club, Ma-Yi Theater Company, Breaking the Binary Theatre, Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, and Little Island. As a playwright, Esmé has been recognized as a Eugene O’Neill Finalist, a Lambda Literary Playwriting Fellow, and a June Bingham New Playwright Commission Recipient. Currently, Esmé is a freelance dramaturg/producer based in NYC, a writer with bylines in American Theater Magazine and a fellow at The Tank NYC and Creative & Independent Producers Alliance. @esmemariang esmemariang.com
Christelyn CJ Ochoco
CJ Ochoco is a Guam-raised theatre creative who currently travels between Nashville, Guam, and everywhere in-between. She earned her BA in Fine Arts: Theatre from the University of Guam (2016), her Masters of Arts Leadership and Cultural Management through Colorado State University (2019), and her Graduate Certificate and Masters in Strategic Communications from the University of Maryland Global Campus (2023). CJ enjoys wearing many hats. While her first passion was stage management, she has found joy in producing, arts administration, playwriting, and even bass playing for Guam band “Friends with Instruments.” From the University of Guam Theatre to the Guam International Film Festival to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, CJ has been involved with various arts organizations. In 2018, she helped Breaking Wave Theatre Company, where she serves as the President and primary Producer for the company. CJ believes in the healing power of the arts, and she believes that healing can begin when everyone has the space and opportunity to share their stories. She aims to use her skills to create and elevate diverse storytelling, on stage and behind it.
Michela Rodriguez
Michela Rodriguez (she/her) is a creative producer born and raised in Southern California and currently based in Brooklyn, New York. She is an Associate Producer at Mark Gordon Pictures, a production company working in theatre, film, and television in the United States and the United Kingdom. Previously, she served as the Manager of Artistic Development at MCC Theater and the Literary Fellow at New York Theatre Workshop. She is a proud alum of Theatre Producers of Color’s Producing 101 program, and is a co-producer on the 2024 revival of Gypsy with her fellow alums. Michela is passionate about developing and producing new plays and musicals and building safe, equitable work environments for theatre professionals across the industry.
Lainie Sakakura
Lainie Sakakura, NYC based freelance theatermaker. Director, Choreographer (2002 Joseph Jefferson Award, 2015 Joe A. Callaway Award), Broadway Co-Producer with Theatre Producers of Color (2024 Outer Critics Circle Award, 2 Tony nominations): GYPSY, SUFFS, CABARET, Broadway Performer 6 Original Casts including FOSSE (Bob Fosse Dance Reconstruction & Onstage Dance Captain), CHITA RIVERA THE DANCERS LIFE. Select credits- Director: LIZZIE, TheaterWorks Hartford. Choreographer: FROGS, Jazz Lincoln Center. Librettist:CORNER OF BITTER AND SWEET musical adaptation of NYT Bestseller Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford, Music/Lyrics by Paul Fujimoto, Educator (dir/chor, adjunct professor, guest teacher): 14 Universities incl. Yale, UMich, NYU Tisch NSB. Long time advocate for diversity and inclusion in the performing arts. Produced & Directed: 42 productions in highlighting multicultural stories. Conceived & Directed: CELEBRATING AAPI BROADWAY STORIES 1951-1991 and MY AAPI BROADWAY STORY BREAKING BARRIERS,Lincoln Center New York Public Library for the Performing Arts (TOFT). Co-Founder & Co-Chair: ROCKETTES OF COLOR ALUMNAE and SAKACHEZ® fiscally sponsored by NY Live Arts Inc.Founder: Abingdon Theatre Company’s ALVIN ING FELLOWSHIP AWARD. Member of 7 theatrical unions including SDC (Stage Directors & Choreographed Society).
Simone Tetrault
Simone Tetrault is an Asian-American writer, director, and creative producer who tells stories about power, responsibility, and resilience. Drawing equally from postmodern dance-theatre influences and her classical ballet roots, movement is often at the center of her experimental performances and films. Through the interplay of metaphysics, poetic expression, and scientific fascinations including astrophysics, neuroscience, and the future of technology, Simone’s work seeks to build bridges and ultimately explores what lies at the core of human existence in performances filled with gravity, humor, stage magic, and love.
The creator of Unsettled (in development), Vice (2021), “Letters to the Universe” (2020), Through the Looking Glass (2016), and Symphony of the Fourth Dimension (2015), Simone’s work has been presented at NYC’s Abrons Arts Center, Access Theatre, and THEATERLAB, in Los Angeles at Griffith Observatory, Japanese American National Museum, Zephyr Theatre, Odyssey Theatre, and DURDENANDRAY, and nationally in the US at the National Women’s Theatre Festival and FIGMENT Festivals. Simone’s 2020 dance short “Letters to the Universe” was presented at Lacuna Festivals in Spain. Her writing has been published by Level Ground and Universitat Pompeu Fabra’s Animal Ethics Review and her performing arts work has been featured in SEISMA Magazine, OnStage Blog, Womxn Artists, and LAFPI’s Women of Fringe series. Her ongoing project Unsettled which began development in 2022 is supported by Centrifuge Arts, Teatro in Quota, the European Festivals Association and Goethe Institut.
Bibiana Torres
Michael Thanh Trǎn
Michael Thanh Trǎn (he/him) is a multi-disciplinary theatre artist based in New York City. Born to Vietnamese refugees in St. Louis, he is a proud advocate for Asian American representation onstage and onscreen. Through his work, he hopes to cultivate greater intersectional diversity in the performing arts sector, nurture growth within communities, find new ways to foster audience engagement, affect new change through innovative theatrical exploration and connect diverse, multi-generational audiences. Administratively, he serves as an Associate Producer with the Action Art Collaborative in St. Louis and as a Marketing Consultant with Bread & Roses Missouri. Previously, he has held positions at the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis and the Center of Creative Arts. As an actor, he’s had the opportunity to perform with The Muny, The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, the St. Louis Shakespeare Festival, Metro Theatre Company, and the Lyceum Theatre as well as appear in advertising campaigns for nationally recognized brands like Logitech G and Edward Jones Financials. He is currently pursuing his MFA in Acting at NYU Grad Acting. IG: @michael.thanh.tran | michaelthanhtran.com
Cindy Tsai
I’m Cindy! I’m a Taiwanese and Chinese-American performer, producer, and arts advocate from the San Gabriel Valley. BFA Musical Theatre, Minor in Critical Race and Ethnicities. Communications Associate at Producer Hub. Artist & Influencer Engagement Associate at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Theater Producers of Color 2023 Cohort. New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) Artist Ambassador. In my free time, you can find me going on foodie adventures in the five boroughs and binging anime. Select performing work includes FISH MEAT at The Connelly Theater (Ro), THE CHINESE LADY at Southern Plains Productions (Afong Moy), YOU SHOULD BE SO LUCKY at WP Theater (Jenny), THE JUMP SHOT at Windhover Center for Performing Arts, THE CHINESE LADY at Central Square Theater, JEANNETTE workshop at Signature Theatre in NYC. Select producing work includes SAFE presented by BAM and NYCLU, PERFORMING FILIPINA, JEANNETTE at 54 Below, THE DECIDERS at NYCLU, Broadway for Racial Justice Sings: The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill at Little Island. IG: @cindyctsai | cindy-tsai.com
Natalie Tucker
Natalie Graves Tucker is a dynamic artist and communications professional with over 25 years of experience in program management, community outreach, and multicultural marketing. She has worked as an actor, voiceover artist, writer, and producer, bringing a wide range of skills to her creative and professional endeavors. In 2016, Natalie took a leap of faith to pursue her passion for acting full-time, performing on Washington, DC-area stages and appearing in national commercials and training videos for brands like Pillpack, NFL Shop, Kaplan, America’s Best Eyewear, and the US Postal Service.
Currently, Natalie serves as the Director of Communications & Development at The Riverside Church in the City of New York. She is also a 2023 graduate of the Theatre Producers of Color cohort, further expanding her expertise in creative production. A lifelong member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., Natalie continues to blend her love for the arts with her commitment to impactful community work.
Miho Ueno
Miho Ueno (she/her) is a Japanese producer and a Global MBA candidate at EDHEC Business School based in Nice, France. Co-producing credits through TPOC include How To Dance In Ohio and CABARETat the Kit Kat Club on Broadway. Before transitioning to producing, she worked as a stage manager on productions such as Dreamgirls, Bring It On, and Hamilton in the West End. She also has experience in managing shows and events at Tokyo Disney Resort and Royal Caribbean Cruises and worked as an event organizing specialist for the G20 Summit in Japan. She holds a BA in Production and Technical Arts from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA).
Angélica Vicens
Angélica Vicens is a Florida born Puerto Rican, producer, performer, and superhero geek building a career to run an equitable entertainment world. Whether it is through her live events work, directing, writing, or producing; she is always creating.
Currently, Angélica works for Lincoln Center Theater as the Associate of Special Events and is the Associate Producer for THE LAST MATCH: A Pro-Wrestling Rock Experience. She is a passionate coordinator with a strong belief that entertainment has the power to educate, elevate, and inspire an audience. Her goal is for the stories we tell to be universal, with those on stage representing all. TPOC is the hub of these ideals and you won’t want to miss what this community brings to the table. Storytelling is the most powerful weapon we have in fighting “The Empire.”
Alexandria Wailes
Alexandria Wailes (she/her) is a director, choreographer, actor, producer, and DASL (director of artistic sign language). Broadway: for colored girls… (Booth), Deaf West’s Spring Awakening (Lena Horne Theater), Big River (Roundabout) Off Broadway: I Was Most Alive with You (Playwrights Horizons), A Kind Of Alaska (New York Live Arts); Regional: Oedipus (The Getty Villa), Our Town (Pasadena Playhouse), Gruesome Playground Injuries (Mixed Blood); TV: ‘Law & Order: Criminal Intent’, ‘High Maintenance’, ‘Little America’, ‘Nurse Jackie’, CW’s ‘The Flash’. Associate choreographer on Deaf West’s Spring Awakening. Director of Artistic Sign Language: Broadway’s Children of a Lesser God and King Lear; Regional: Private Jones (Goodspeed & Signature), Oedipus; Television: This Close seasons 1 & 2; Quantico season 3; Film: A Quiet Place 1 & 2, Wonderstruck, and CODA (2022 multiple Academy Award winner). Ms. Wailes was the 2023 short play festival director for Deaf
Spotlight’s biennial event. She co-directed Skylight Music Theatre’s production of Spring Awakening in early 2024 and directed A Not So Quiet Nocturne for VOCA (Visionaries of the
Creative Arts) at the Atlas in Washington, D.C. For Deaf Broadway at Lincoln Center’s Summer Stages, she directed Once On This Island. Awards: 2022 Chita Rivera winner, 2020 Obie winner, 2020 Lucille Lortel nominee, 2022 Disability Futures Fellowship. Proud 2023 TPOC alum.