Shared Sentences

Lisa Rothe is a NY based freelance theater director, acting /vocal coach and educator. She was nominated for SDC’s Joe A. Callaway Award for Direction for Hold These Truths by Jeanne Sakata, produced by Epic Theatre Ensemble in NYC. The play was also nominated for a Drama Desk award for Best Solo Performance by actor Joel de la Fuente and the Tony Award winning TheatreWorks/Silicon Valley production recently won 3 Theatre Bay Area Awards for Outstanding Direction, Outstanding Performer and Outstanding Production. Other productions at The Cultch Historic Theatre in Vancouver, Barrington Stages, The Guthrie Theater, ACT in Seattle, Playmakers Repertory Theatre, the Honolulu Theatre for Youth, the SoloNova Festival in NYC, and was produced by Hang A Tale at the Sheen Center in NYC. Previously the Director of New Works at Kansas City Repertory Theatre, Lisa was thrilled to produce the 4th annual Origins KC New Works Festival. Alongside Angel Desai and Grace Zandarski, Lisa was a coArtistic Director of The Actor’s Center in NYC for the three years. She is also a recent co-President of the League of Professional Theatre Women, is on the Artistic Advisory Council of Epic Theatre Ensemble, on the Advisory Boards of Houses on the Moon and the Detroit Public Theatre, a Usual Suspect with New York Theatre Workshop, an Artistic Affiliate and Audrey Fellow with New Georges, a Drama League alum, a fox Fellow alum and a member of the National Theater Conference. Lisa received her MFA from NYU’s Graduate Acting Program and was subsequently invited by Zelda Fichandler to be part of the inaugural year of NYU’s Directing program for alumni of the MFA Acting program. She also studied with the legendary Joseph Chaikin in his workshop for actors and directors.

Emily Joy Weiner is the Co-Founder and Artistic Director of Houses on the Moon Theater Company, a NYC based 501c3 not for profit. Since the company’s inception in 2001 she has been creating, developing, performing, producing and directing new works that address the complex and sensitive issues of our time. Emily has been a facilitator of creative theater making workshops throughout the NYC public school system for the past 25 years, specializing in programs with teenagers and young adults going through the criminal justice system.  In most recent years Emily directed the Off-Broadway production of THE SANTA CLOSET at Teatro Circulo, guided the company through its production of DE NOVO at Next Door at NYTW, directed the world premiere of THE ASSIGNMENT at the ART/New York Theatres and continues to guide the touring, live storytelling production of gUN COUNTRY. She has performed all over NYC and beyond with some highlights including OTHELLO at the West End Theater, COMING THROUGH at the American Place Theatre, FINDING THE WORDS at the Lucille Lortel, AN EPIDOG with Mabou Mines and FEFU AND HER FRIENDS at Williamstown Theatre Festival. She co-developed and toured a one-woman adaptation of Faulkner’s AS I LAY DYING with the late Wynn Handman of The American Place Theatre whom she studied with for many years. The League of Professional Theatre Women recently honored Emily with the Josephine Abady award for her work with Houses in the creation of multicultural works. Her play, SHARED SENTENCES, had its Off Broadway world premiere in Fall 2022.

LINDSAY JONES (Original Music and Sound Design) Broadway: Slave Play (Tony nominations for Best Original Score, Best Sound Design of a Play), The Nap, Bronx Bombers, A Time to Kill. Off Broadway: Privacy (Public Theater), Bootycandy (Playwrights Horizons), Feeding the Dragon (Primary Stages), many others. Regional: Guthrie, Center Stage, ACT, Hartford Stage, Alliance, Goodman, Arena Stage, Chicago Shakespeare, Steppenwolf, many others. International: Stratford Festival (Canada), Royal Shakespeare Company (England), many others. Audio dramas: Marvel, Audible, Next Chapter Podcasts, award-winning “The Imagine Neighborhood.” Film/television scoring: HBO Films’s A Note of Triumph (2006 Academy Award for Best Documentary, Short Subject). Co-Chair of Theatrical Sound Designers and Composers Association (TSDCA). lindsayjones.com

Tanya Orellana (she/her) designs performance spaces for theatre, opera and immersive experiences. Collaborations include For The People by Larissa FastHorse and Ty Defoe at The Guthrie Theatre, Big Data by Kate Attwelll directed by Pam MacKinnon at A.C.T., Oedipus directed by Jenny Koons at The Getty Villa,  We the Peoples Before directed by Roberta Uno at The Kennedy Center,  The Industry’s Sweet Land, an immersive opera directed by Yuval Sharon and Cannupa Hanska Luger at LA State Historic Park,  Long Beach Opera’s Voices from a Killing Jar by Kate Soper, directed by Zoe Aja Moore,  LEAR by Marcus Gardley directed by Eric Ting (Calshakes), and The Kind Ones by Miranda Rose Hall directed by Lisa Peterson (Magic Theatre). She is a member of Wingspace Theatrical Design and an organizing member of La Gente: The Latine Theatre Production Network. She received her MFA in Scenic Design from CalArts and is a recipient of the Princess Grace Fabergé Theatre Award. www.tanyaorellana.com

Amina Alexander is a freelance lighting designer/assistant based in New York City.She works in many areas of lighting design from fashion, theatre, dance and live music. Design credits include Colin Quinn’s The Last Best Hope (Off-Broadway), Stick Fly at St Louis Rep Theater, Superhero at The Sheen Center (Off-Broadway) to name a few. Assistant credits include Fall For Dance 2021, Black No More at Signature Theatre, and KPOP (Broadway). She is the lighting designer/programmer and assistant production manager for Simple Solutions Production Group NYC. She is the lighting fellow for Black Theatre Coalition 21/22.

Theresa Squire has been designing costumes in New York City and beyond since graduating from NYU in 1997. She designs mainly for theatre, but her work has also been seen in dance, film, print, industrials, commercials and for her child’s favorite holiday, Halloween. Shared Sentences marks Theresa’s first realized production since she designed the costumes for Fun Home at Kansas City Rep in January 2020.