The Board of Directors

Brett Ashley Robinson is a Barrymore Award-winning devisor and theatre maker based in Philadelphia. She was a two-time nominee for the Golden Tassel Jawn, Philadelphia’s Drag and Burlesque awards, for best comedy act as Patricia! She was a collaborator and performer in Lightning Rod Specials: The Appointment at New York Theatre Workshop, which was a New York Times Critics' Pick and voted best play of 2019 in The New York Times, Vulture Magazine, Time Out New York, and New York Magazine. As an...

Tlaloc Rivas (he/him/él) makes theatre where rigorous craft meets urgent questions - bridging classical forms and contemporary voices, institutional spaces and community practice, pedagogical inquiry and professional artistry. His foundation was built at El Teatro Campesino, where he trained in the physical theatre traditions that emerged from the fields of California's farmworker movement. That early formation, rooted in ensemble creation, cultural specificity, and theatre as a catalyst con...

What happens when we stop thinking of the audience as the people who simply show up to watch? In this special episode of The Board of Directors, I’ve gone back through conversations with more than thirty directors I’ve interviewed over the years and pulled together their thoughts about audiences: who they are, why they come, what happens between them, and how directors might shape—or surrender control of—that experience. Some of these directors think about the audience from the very beginning...

Benita de Wit (they/them) is an Australian director based in New York. Recently, they were a Mercury Store lead artist and directed Life Sucks by Aaron Posner at Oklahoma City Rep. Benita is an SDC Member, a Barbara Whitman Award 2024 Finalist, and a New Georges-affiliated artist. They have developed new work at Clubbed Thumb, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Mercury Store, Powerhouse Theatre, Gingold Theatrical Group, Exquisite Corpse Company, Dartmouth College, and Playwrights Horizons Theater Scho...

Saheem is a proud immigrant from Kenya, currently serving as the Associate Artistic Director/ Resident Director of New York’s Public Theater. He is a Tony Award nominee for Buena Vista Social Club and Fat Ham, the latter of which also earned the Joe A. Callaway Award, Drama Desk and Lucille Lortel nominations. His Shakespeare in the Park productions of Romeo & Juliet, Twelfth Night and Merry Wives were recorded for PBS Great Performances, and were the subject of the HBO documentary Reopen...