Zora Howard (Playwright/Director) is a Harlem-bred writer and director. Plays include BUST (The Alliance/Goodman), THE MASTER’S TOOLS (Wiener Festwochen; WTF), STEW (2021 Pulitzer Prize Finalist; P73 Productions), THE MOTIONS, and GOOD FAITH. Her work has been developed at Ojai Playwrights Conference, Stillwright, Mercury Store, and Cape Cod Theatre Project, among others. In 2020, her feature film Premature, which she co-wrote with director Rashaad Ernesto Green, opened in theaters following its world premiere at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. Zora is a Lilly Award and Helen Merrill Award recipient, a former MTC Judith Champion Fellow and Lark Van Lier New Voices Fellow and alumna of the P73 I-73 Writers Group. She is currently under commission from Seattle Rep and Chautauqua Theatre Company. zoramakes.com.
Julian Rozzell (BIRD) is a Brooklyn-based actor, writer, and visual artist with a dynamic career in theater, television, and film. He recently co-wrote and starred in Selma: Songs of the Crossing, a France 2 Television documentary commemorating the 60th anniversary of the Selma marches. On stage, Julian has appeared in Shakespeare in the Park’s production of Merry Wives at The Public Theater, portrayed Hagrid in the Broadway production of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, and performed in the TONY-nominated revival of The Skin of Our Teeth at Lincoln Center. His television credits include Boardwalk Empire, Bull, Law & Order, The Blacklist, Harlem, and many others. Julian is thrilled to be collaborating with Zora again after performing The Master’s Tools together in Vienna, Austria.
Kamal Bolden (SLIM) Off-Broadway: Reparations (Billie Holiday Theatre – AUDELCO Award for Best Actor), The Opponent (59E59St), Hands Up (National Black Theater). Regional: ’Troy’ in Fences (American Blues Theater – JEFF Award for Best Actor), ‘The Scottish King’ in Macbeth (A Noise Within Theatre), ‘Hero’ in Father Comes Home From The Wars…(Goodman Theatre), Immediate Family (Mark Taper Forum), The Bluest Eye (A Noise Within), The Misanthrope, Jitney, Home, and Man in the Ring (Court Theatre), The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity (Victory Gardens / Actors Theatre of Louisville), Coriolanus (Nashville Shakespeare Festival), Romeo & Juliet (Chicago Shakespeare), . Television: The Endgame (Series Regular), 61st Street, Chicago Fire, Insecure, The Resident, Law & Order, Rosewood, NCIS, Major Crimes, Betrayal, Low Winter Sun, Boss, Lights Out. Film: The Night Before, Ravers, Keys to the City, Elvis & Nixon, Consumed, Vacation Friends.
Bryce Foley (BLOOD) is an Ypsilanti, MI born actor based out of Brooklyn, NY. He holds a BA in Drama from the University of Michigan, and is a graduate of the Terry Knickerbocker Studio. Recent credits include: On the Harmful Effects of Tobacco and Other Substances (TheatreLab), The Great Gatsby (premiered at the United Palace), Pass Over (14th St Y) and The Stu (Short Film).
Beatrice Perez-Arche (Production Stage Manager) is a Cuban American theatre artist focused on creating community through her work in the arts. She has primarily worked at the Public Theater on Shakespeare in the Park, the Under the Radar Festival, and the Public Shakespeare Initiative. She is an Associate Artist at Sanguine Theatre Company and has collaborated with a range of institutions including The Flea, The Civilians, Tectonic Theater Project, One Whale’s Tale, Women’s Project, La Mama, Little Island, Chelsea Factory, and Ballet Collective. She received her BFA in Theater Arts from Boston University and currently freelances as a stage manager, director, and dramaturg.
Neal Wilkinson (NYC Production Manager & Scenic Design) is a set designer, visual artist, and production manager. His most recent set design was the American Vicarious production of Shooting Celebrities by John Ransom Phillips, which was presented at the Flea lin 2022. Previously, Neal’s design work has been presented at venues such as the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Lincoln Center, the Finnish National Opera, and Spoleto Festival, as well as other theater festivals internationally. As a member of the Builders Association from 2003 to 2019, he designed works including House/Divided, Elements of OZ, and Strange Window. Neal’s company Corps Liminis provides production management for theatrical productions, museums, and installations. Most recent projects include Particular Matter(s) by Tomas Saraceno and the Yanomami Exhibition at the SHED, Lightscape at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, and the Signals exhibition at MoMA.
Charlie Oates (Movement Director) has worked as an artist and teacher internationally. As a performer his work includes, Man Overboard, Staying Married (with Moira Keefe) and Truck Dog (with James Donlon). He has been a movement coach and fight choreographer at La Jolla Playhouse, Mixed Blood, Old Globe, Cincinnati Playhouse, San Diego Rep, Chautauqua Theatre Company, and the Denver Center. His directing credits include Save You, Hate Me in Berlin and Flush at Theatre Alfred in Prague, Fool for Love at Chalk Rep, 10 productions at Creede, Rep, including his play, A Beautiful Country and many university productions. He has been a guest artist at actor training programs and universities in New Zealand, Australia, Beijing, Hong Kong, Sweden, Senegal, Ireland and Switzerland. Charlie is Professor Emeritus at the University of California, San Diego where he received the Academic Senate Distinguished Teaching Award. He teaches occasionally at the Actor’s Center in New York.
Rick Sordelet/Sordelet Inc. (Stunt Director) Rick and Christian Kelly-Sordelet created Sordelet Inc., a Native-owned action movement company with 30 years experience. They have done 80 Broadway productions, including The Lion King, and currently Tina the National Tour with 52 first-class productions worldwide, National Tours, Operas and Films, They teach at William Esper Studio, HB Studio, CUNY Harlem, Montclair State and 22 years at Yale School of Drama. Rick is a board member for Red Bull Theater. To learn more, visit www.sordeletink.com and follow us on Instagram at @sordeletinc.
Reza Behjat (Lighting Designer) Reza Behjat is an Obie award winner lighting designer based in New York City. He began his career in Iran – where he worked with some prominent directors for several years. Reza’s works have been shown on Off-Broadway and in regional theaters across the United States such as The Public Theater, Playwrights Horizons, Atlantic Theater, Minetta Lane, Lucille Lortel, The Guthrie Theater, Actors Theater of Louisville, Berkeley Rep, Alabama Shakespeare, and many more. Reza won an Obie Award in the design category for his work on two productions of ENGLISH and WISH YOU WERE HERE in 2023.
Megan Culley (Sound Designer) Selected Design: Antigone (Cleveland Play House); The Loophole (The Public Theater); Holmes & Watson Apt. 2B (KCRep); Grounded/Hurricane Diane/Stew (Dobama Theater); Terminus (New York Theatre Workshop); Stranger Sings! (Off- Broadway); Inanimate (The Flea Theater); The Last Match (B Street Theatre); Roan @ the Gates (Luna Stage); The Color Purple (Theatre Horizon). Broadway Associate Design: McNeal, Uncle Vanya; A Christmas Carol (2022); Jaja’s African Hair Braiding; Flying Over Sunset, Eureka Day, Purpose, Floyd Collins. Other Selected Associate Design: The Secret Garden (Center Theatre Group); The Preacher’s Wife (Alliance Theatre); King James (MTC).
Dominique Fawn Hill (Costume Designer) [She/Her] Dominique’s designs include Broadway: Fat Ham (Tony Award-nomination), Off-Broadway:Tambo & Bones (Playwrights Horizon-Lucille Lortel nomination), Fat Ham (Public Theatre-Obie Award), Where the Mountain Meets the Sea (Manhattan Theatre Club), Hang Time (The Flea),The Dark Girl Chronicles (The Shed), and 125th & FREEdom (National Black Theatre). Her regional theatre credits range from Derecho (The La Jolla Playhouse) Primary Trust (The Alley Theatre) Bust (Alliance Theatre) Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Choir Boy, and Rent (Portland Center Stage)
Carla Thomas (Associate Costume Designer & NYC Wardrobe Supervisor) “Some said Carla, how you get so fly. I said from not being afraid to fall out the sky.” Fly Girl. Costume Designer. Wardrobe Stylist. Carla “Fly Carla” Thomas is a visionary stylist and costume designer crafting bold, editorial, and narrative-driven looks for personal clients, TV/film, and theater. A Local USA 829-IATSE pro, she brings stories to life through fashion. Baltimore-born, Howard University- made, and thriving in Brooklyn, Carla is always on set, in a showroom, or catching flights. Find her talking fashion and inspiring as Fly Carla on Instagram.
Brian Freeland (Touring Production Manager) (he/him) is a production manager, director, producer, writer, and sound + media artist. Production management credits include works for and with Illinoise (Broadway), En Garde Arts, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Lincoln Center, Soho Rep, The TEAM, Under The Radar, The TEAM, Wooly Mammoth Theatre, The Park Avenue Armory, Mass MoCA, Ripe Time, The Bearded Ladies, Andrew Schneider, Up Until Now Collective, Bard, Curious Theatre Company, HERE Arts Center, Beth Morrison Projects, The LIDA Project, Countdown to Zero, The Brick, and The Prototype Festival. www.brianfreeland.com
The Flea’s mission is to support and invest in experimental art by Black, brown, and queer
artists. We provide space, financial support, producing partnership and other resources so that
they may develop and share their vision in community with audiences.
Butler Electronics Inc. was founded in 2022 by Zora Howard as a vehicle to develop and produce the work of provocative artists in need of support to launch their creative projects.
ASU Gammage (tour co-commissioner) For more than 60 years, ASU Gammage has been a top cultural destination in the Valley. The Frank Lloyd Wright designed performing arts center, located on the Tempe campus of Arizona State University, is one of the largest university-based presenters of performing arts in the world and top touring market for Broadway. Home to the Desert Financial Broadway Across America — Arizona and Beyond series, the mission of Connecting Communities™ goes beyond the stage and programs and impacts the community through shared experiences in the arts. asugammage.com
The Hopkins Center for the Arts at Dartmouth College (tour co-commissioner) is dedicated to presenting transformative, thought-provoking arts experiences that foster dialogue, build community, and encourage deep engagement with critical issues that engage both the Dartmouth community and the larger Upper Valley region. Part of our mission is to showcase innovative, boundary-pushing works that amplify diverse voices and offer transformative experiences for audiences.
CAP UCLA (tour co-commissioner) brings the world’s most innovative and dynamic performing artists live to the stages of UCLA’s Royce Hall, Freud Playhouse, UCLA Little Theater, The Glorya Kaufman Dance Theater, The United Theater on Broadway and the new UCLA Nimoy Theater, which is now open on Westwood Boulevard. We seek out excellence in dance, music, theater, spoken word and a broad spectrum of multidisciplinary collaborations.
Presents
Zora Howard (Playwright/Director) is a Harlem-bred writer and director. Plays include BUST (The Alliance/Goodman), THE MASTER’S TOOLS (Wiener Festwochen; WTF), STEW (2021 Pulitzer Prize Finalist; P73 Productions), THE MOTIONS, and GOOD FAITH. Her work has been developed at Ojai Playwrights Conference, Stillwright, Mercury Store, and Cape Cod Theatre Project, among others. In 2020, her feature film Premature, which she co-wrote with director Rashaad Ernesto Green, opened in theaters following its world premiere at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. Zora is a Lilly Award and Helen Merrill Award recipient, a former MTC Judith Champion Fellow and Lark Van Lier New Voices Fellow and alumna of the P73 I-73 Writers Group. She is currently under commission from Seattle Rep and Chautauqua Theatre Company. zoramakes.com.
Julian Rozzell (BIRD) is a Brooklyn-based actor, writer, and visual artist with a dynamic career in theater, television, and film. He recently co-wrote and starred in Selma: Songs of the Crossing, a France 2 Television documentary commemorating the 60th anniversary of the Selma marches. On stage, Julian has appeared in Shakespeare in the Park’s production of Merry Wives at The Public Theater, portrayed Hagrid in the Broadway production of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, and performed in the TONY-nominated revival of The Skin of Our Teeth at Lincoln Center. His television credits include Boardwalk Empire, Bull, Law & Order, The Blacklist, Harlem, and many others. Julian is thrilled to be collaborating with Zora again after performing The Master’s Tools together in Vienna, Austria.
Kamal Bolden (SLIM) Off-Broadway: Reparations (Billie Holiday Theatre – AUDELCO Award for Best Actor), The Opponent (59E59St), Hands Up (National Black Theater). Regional: ’Troy’ in Fences (American Blues Theater – JEFF Award for Best Actor), ‘The Scottish King’ in Macbeth (A Noise Within Theatre), ‘Hero’ in Father Comes Home From The Wars…(Goodman Theatre), Immediate Family (Mark Taper Forum), The Bluest Eye (A Noise Within), The Misanthrope, Jitney, Home, and Man in the Ring (Court Theatre), The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity (Victory Gardens / Actors Theatre of Louisville), Coriolanus (Nashville Shakespeare Festival), Romeo & Juliet (Chicago Shakespeare), . Television: The Endgame (Series Regular), 61st Street, Chicago Fire, Insecure, The Resident, Law & Order, Rosewood, NCIS, Major Crimes, Betrayal, Low Winter Sun, Boss, Lights Out. Film: The Night Before, Ravers, Keys to the City, Elvis & Nixon, Consumed, Vacation Friends.
Bryce Foley (BLOOD) is an Ypsilanti, MI born actor based out of Brooklyn, NY. He holds a BA in Drama from the University of Michigan, and is a graduate of the Terry Knickerbocker Studio. Recent credits include: On the Harmful Effects of Tobacco and Other Substances (TheatreLab), The Great Gatsby (premiered at the United Palace), Pass Over (14th St Y) and The Stu (Short Film).
