Classes

Marci Lucht (she/her, they/them) is an actor, director and teaching artist who currently resides in the Northeast Minneapolis Arts District. Her teaching artist residencies include Yellow Tree Theatre, The Matchbox Theater and Windom Bilingual Learning Center. She also works as a Youth Coordinator for Penumbra Theatre’s Summer Institute. Local theater credits include Actors Theater of Minnesota, Classical Actors Ensemble, Full Circle Theater and Old Log Theatre. She recently got a puppy named Arlo — a Catahoula Leopard mix who is the most adorable dog you’ve ever seen.

Gabrielle Dominique (she/her) is a South Minneapolis native and graduate of St. Olaf College where she earned bachelor’s degrees in Theater and Dance. She works as a performing and teaching artist in the Twin Cities and has recently performed at the Guthrie Theater (South Pacific, A Christmas Carol, Romeo and Juliet, West Side Story, Guys and Dolls), the Ordway (West Side Story, Cabaret Series: Gotta Dance!), Minnesota Opera (Flight), Chanhassen Dinner Theatres (Mamma Mia!), Jungle Theater (Ride the Cyclone), Children’s Theatre Company (I Come From Arizona), Theater Latté Da’s 2017 NEXT Festival, Artistry Theater and Visual Arts (Oklahoma!, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas), Stuart Pimsler Dance & Theater (Terra Incognita, Twin Cities premiere) and Flying Foot Forum (Cookaphony). She has been a company member with St. Paul’s Wonderlust Productions since spring 2018 and was featured in its recent production of Our House: The Capitol Play Project and the “Overachievers” web series. When Dominique isn’t onstage, she works as a freelance teaching artist and choreographer. She especially loves working with theater students at Spring Lake Park School District 16, Anoka Middle School for the Arts and SOAR Regional Arts of St. Michael. She can’t wait to meet you and start dancing with you. Her motto (for life, as well as dance) is “When in doubt, right is right.”

Youth Workshop Supplies

• Mehron StarBlend All-Pro Makeup Kit ($79.95)

Choose the skin tone you feel matches you best. Each kit comes with a variety of shades in your skin tone family. There will be a matching lesson at the beginning of class to help you select the right shade.

If you are unable to purchase the recommended Mehron kit, you will need the following (prices vary):

• Rubie’s Super Value Family Makeup Kit
• Three powders (one that matches your skin tone, one that is one to two shades lighter and one that is one to two shades darker)
• e.l.f. Loose Powder in Translucent/Sheer 
• Maybelline Fit Me Matte + Poreless Powder
• NYX Highlight & Contour Pro Palette
• e.l.f. Powder Blush Palette (choose Light for light to medium skin tones and Dark for medium to dark skin tones)
• wet n wild Color Icon Kohl Liner Pencils in Baby’s Got Black and Simma Brown Now! (you will need both colors)
• Elmer's glue
• Mascara wands
• Makeup wedges
• Paintbrushes
• Powder puffs

Jessica Rau (she/her) has been making wigs, coiffing hair, painting faces and thinking about the performance of cultural esthetics since 1997. She has trained with renowned wig makers, cosmetologists and makeup artists throughout the U.S. and worked for many theaters and operas, including the Guthrie Theater, Jungle Theater and Metropolitan Opera. As owner of Jess Rau Wigs, her purpose is to use her creative eye for detail, curiosity and physical dexterity to uplift and inspire others, express history and social conversation through the vehicle of hair and makeup design, and give artists a catalyst to fulfill their genius and uniqueness. Rau holds an M.S. degree in Anthropology, focusing on memory culture and the performing arts, and she is a recipient of the Joy M. Query Prize for Excellence in Social Sciences. She has held several director and manager roles for organizations including The Cedar Cultural Center and the Minnesota Orchestra. She is also a co-founder of Valkyrie Music Collective, a group that advocates for women of all gender, racial and sexual identities in an effort to increase women’s power in the music industry. Rau believes that no story can be told onstage or in the streets without the use of visual imagery of the self.

Max Wojtanowicz (he/him) is a performer, playwright and educator based in the Twin Cities. He has taught acting, musical theater and audition prep at St. Olaf College, Yellow Tree Theatre, Guthrie Theater, St. Cloud Civic Center, Plymouth Playshop and Southeastern Summer Theatre Institute. He currently serves as an educator and evaluator for Spotlight Education with Hennepin Theatre Trust and enjoys sharing his love of musical theater. Learn more at www.maxwojtanowicz.com.

Marci Lucht (she/her, they/them) is an actor, director and teaching artist who currently resides in the Northeast Minneapolis Arts District. Her teaching artist residencies include Yellow Tree Theatre, The Matchbox Theater and Windom Bilingual Learning Center. She also works as a Youth Coordinator for Penumbra Theatre’s Summer Institute. Local theater credits include Actors Theater of Minnesota, Classical Actors Ensemble, Full Circle Theater and Old Log Theatre. She recently got a puppy named Arlo — a Catahoula Leopard mix who is the most adorable dog you’ve ever seen.

Gabrielle Dominique (she/her) is a South Minneapolis native and graduate of St. Olaf College where she earned bachelor’s degrees in Theater and Dance. She works as a performing and teaching artist in the Twin Cities and has recently performed at the Guthrie Theater (South Pacific, A Christmas Carol, Romeo and Juliet, West Side Story, Guys and Dolls), the Ordway (West Side Story, Cabaret Series: Gotta Dance!), Minnesota Opera (Flight), Chanhassen Dinner Theatres (Mamma Mia!), Jungle Theater (Ride the Cyclone), Children’s Theatre Company (I Come From Arizona), Theater Latté Da’s 2017 NEXT Festival, Artistry Theater and Visual Arts (Oklahoma!, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas), Stuart Pimsler Dance & Theater (Terra Incognita, Twin Cities premiere) and Flying Foot Forum (Cookaphony). She has been a company member with St. Paul’s Wonderlust Productions since spring 2018 and was featured in its recent production of Our House: The Capitol Play Project and the “Overachievers” web series. When Dominique isn’t onstage, she works as a freelance teaching artist and choreographer. She especially loves working with theater students at Spring Lake Park School District 16, Anoka Middle School for the Arts and SOAR Regional Arts of St. Michael. She can’t wait to meet you and start dancing with you. Her motto (for life, as well as dance) is “When in doubt, right is right.”

C. Michael Menge (they/them, he/him) is a black trans actor, storyteller and troublemaker who believes that everyone has a story to tell, joys to share and experiences to be valued. They act, teach, improvise and build new stories at the Jungle Theater, Children’s Theatre Company, The Boys of the Year, Mixed Blood Theatre, Playwrights’ Center, Blackout Improv, HUGE Improv Theater and more. In 2019, they were voted Best Actor by City Pages, and you can catch their 2020 Naked Stages Fellowship performance, co-created with Jay Owen Eisenberg, at Pillsbury House Theatre in April 2021. They know you’re really cool and really talented already, and they can’t wait to build a class with and for you. Most-used motto: “Nobody wins in a headbutt.”

C. Michael Menge (they/them, he/him) is a black trans actor, storyteller and troublemaker who believes that everyone has a story to tell, joys to share and experiences to be valued. They act, teach, improvise and build new stories at the Jungle Theater, Children’s Theatre Company, The Boys of the Year, Mixed Blood Theatre, Playwrights’ Center, Blackout Improv, HUGE Improv Theater and more. In 2019, they were voted Best Actor by City Pages, and you can catch their 2020 Naked Stages Fellowship performance, co-created with Jay Owen Eisenberg, at Pillsbury House Theatre in April 2021. They know you’re really cool and really talented already, and they can’t wait to build a class with and for you. Most-used motto: “Nobody wins in a headbutt.”

Michelle Hutchison (she/her) is a professional actor of stage, screen and television. She has appeared at local theaters including the Guthrie Theater, History Theatre, Mixed Blood Theatre, Theater Latté Da, Playwrights’ Center, Thirst Theater, Park Square Theatre, Actors Theater of Minnesota, CSz and Brave New Workshop. In Los Angeles, she appeared in the LA Weekly-nominated comedy The Bad Seed and Cabin Pressure at Hudson Theatres. She can be seen in films such as Fargo, My Best Friend’s Wedding, Into Temptation, Factotum, Thin Ice, Drop Dead Gorgeous, Nobody, Herman, The Midnight Swim and The Public Domain, and she played the recurring character of Candy Coombs in the Netflix series “Lady Dynamite.” Hutchison is the owner of Skilled Expressions, which operates a successful on-camera training school for actors, media talent and corporate training. Additionally, she served as an Adjunct Professor for The Art of Film Acting at Augsburg and Concordia Universities. She was an assistant casting director for several films, including Disney’s Ice Princess and Sky High, Superbad, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, It’s Complicated, The Bad News Bears and more. As a writer and producer, Hutchison created 12 episodes for the nationally syndicated “Passport to Design” show on the Travel Channel while writing and appearing in corporate live theater productions for companies such as General Mills, Pillsbury, Mrs. Meyers, American Express, Wells Fargo, Ameriprise and Schwan’s. She holds a B.A. in Theatre from the University of Minnesota and believes that acting is about revealing, not concealing.

Laura Esping (she/her) is passionate about passing on skills she has learned and practiced to not only help students experience their talents in acting but to enhance their general well-being. She believes it’s good to jump around and play together, even if it’s on Zoom! Her personal mottos are “Bit by bit,” “Breathe” and “What can I offer?”

Gretchen Grunzke (she/her) is a graduate of Upright Citizens Brigade — a long-form improv comedy program in New York City and only accredited comedy school in the U.S. — and now she’s hilarious. Select credits include Upright Citizens Brigade, Magnet Theater and The PIT in New York City; The Second City and The iO Theater in Chicago; and Brave New Workshop, CSz, HUGE Improv Theater, Strike Theater and Stevie Ray’s Improv Company in Minneapolis. Improv has changed her life as an actor and a human being. Her personal motto: “Do it! Embrace it! Love it!”

Michelle Hutchison (she/her) is a professional actor of stage, screen and television. She has appeared at local theaters including the Guthrie Theater, History Theatre, Mixed Blood Theatre, Theater Latté Da, Playwrights’ Center, Thirst Theater, Park Square Theatre, Actors Theater of Minnesota, CSz and Brave New Workshop. In Los Angeles, she appeared in the LA Weekly-nominated comedy The Bad Seed and Cabin Pressure at Hudson Theatres. She can be seen in films such as Fargo, My Best Friend’s Wedding, Into Temptation, Factotum, Thin Ice, Drop Dead Gorgeous, Nobody, Herman, The Midnight Swim and The Public Domain, and she played the recurring character of Candy Coombs in the Netflix series “Lady Dynamite.” Hutchison is the owner of Skilled Expressions, which operates a successful on-camera training school for actors, media talent and corporate training. Additionally, she served as an Adjunct Professor for The Art of Film Acting at Augsburg and Concordia Universities. She was an assistant casting director for several films, including Disney’s Ice Princess and Sky High, Superbad, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, It’s Complicated, The Bad News Bears and more. As a writer and producer, Hutchison created 12 episodes for the nationally syndicated “Passport to Design” show on the Travel Channel while writing and appearing in corporate live theater productions for companies such as General Mills, Pillsbury, Mrs. Meyers, American Express, Wells Fargo, Ameriprise and Schwan’s. She holds a B.A. in Theatre from the University of Minnesota and believes that acting is about revealing, not concealing.

Laura Esping (she/her) is passionate about passing on skills she has learned and practiced to not only help students experience their talents in acting but to enhance their general well-being. She believes it’s good to jump around and play together, even if it’s on Zoom! Her personal mottos are “Bit by bit,” “Breathe” and “What can I offer?”

Mira Kehoe (she/her) is a musician and theater artist who performs and mentors others in self-expression. She has taught voice, speech, dialects and acting at the University of Minnesota, The University of Utah, Hamline University and the Guthrie Theater as well as done consulting work with individuals, theaters, schools and corporations. She has coached several films and more than 300 theater productions, including 80 at the Guthrie. Kehoe has a strong foundation in the somatic arts, including Alexander and Feldenkrais work. She also teaches singing and performs jazz and Brazilian music with Tom Kehoe and Xibaba. In the corporate environment, she consults with individuals and teams in the areas of effective communication, presentation skills, improvisation and creativity, and accent reduction for clients such as Balogh Becker, Ltd, Shop NBC, MPR and Allina Health. Kehoe believes creativity is our life force and that we are called to discover and develop our talents and use them in service of the greater good. Her passion is to support students of all experience levels in finding and developing their voices.

Mira Kehoe (she/her) is a musician and theater artist who performs and mentors others in self-expression. She has taught voice, speech, dialects and acting at the University of Minnesota, The University of Utah, Hamline University and the Guthrie Theater as well as done consulting work with individuals, theaters, schools and corporations. She has coached several films and more than 300 theater productions, including 80 at the Guthrie. Kehoe has a strong foundation in the somatic arts, including Alexander and Feldenkrais work. She also teaches singing and performs jazz and Brazilian music with Tom Kehoe and Xibaba. In the corporate environment, she consults with individuals and teams in the areas of effective communication, presentation skills, improvisation and creativity, and accent reduction for clients such as Balogh Becker, Ltd, Shop NBC, MPR and Allina Health. Kehoe believes creativity is our life force and that we are called to discover and develop our talents and use them in service of the greater good. Her passion is to support students of all experience levels in finding and developing their voices.

Andrea Mislan (she/her) has been performing professionally for more than 25 years. A graduate from Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet Professional Division, she has continued to evolve in contemporary and musical theater styles in Celine Dion: A New Day, Cirque du Soleil’s Viva Elvis and the Chicago international tour. Since relocating to Minneapolis four years ago, she has most recently performed at the Guthrie Theater (West Side Story, Guys and Dolls, Cyrano de Bergerac), Chanhassen Dinner Theatres (Holiday Inn, The Music Man), the Ordway (Smokey Joe’s Cafe) and several original jazz dance musicals with Collide Theatrical Dance Company. Mislan has choreographed for regional theaters and studios across North America and taught master classes internationally in ballet, contemporary, musical theater and Fosse technique (Broadway Across America). A personal movement coach, her focus is to guide a more efficient way of moving and a deeper understanding of technique and how the body moves in space in every style, for every mover.

Aimee K. Bryant (she/her) is an actor, vocalist and teaching artist. Her artistic practice is rooted in improvisation, collaboration and soul.

Max Wojtanowicz (he/him) is a performer, playwright and educator based in the Twin Cities. He has taught acting, musical theater and audition prep at St. Olaf College, Yellow Tree Theatre, Guthrie Theater, St. Cloud Civic Center, Plymouth Playshop and Southeastern Summer Theatre Institute. He currently serves as an educator and evaluator for Spotlight Education with Hennepin Theatre Trust and enjoys sharing his love of musical theater. Learn more at www.maxwojtanowicz.com. 

H. Adam Harris (he/him) is an actor, director, teaching artist and cultural equity consultant who works at the intersection of theater, education, social justice and community engagement. He recently directed the regional premiere of Redwood by Brittany K. Allen at the Jungle Theater. Harris is the Education Coordinator at the Playwrights’ Center, a resident teaching artist with the Guthrie Theater and Children’s Theatre Company, a board member at Ten Thousand Things, and a freelance equity, diversity and inclusion consultant for various organizations.

Vie Boheme (she/her) is a Motown native who blossomed creatively in Pittsburgh and was refined in Minneapolis. As a multimodal artist, dancer, singer and choreographer, she brings an athletic agility to her vocal performance by singing and dancing in unison, eliminating the boundary between the visual and audio experience. She is a former vocal artist, choreographer and co-creative director for Stokley Williams (the frontman of Mint Condition gone solo), a former dance artist with Camille A. Brown & Dancers and TU Dance, and a founding member of the August Wilson Center Dance Ensemble (Top 25 to Watch, Dance Magazine, 2012). She has choreographed and performed with The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Guthrie Theater and The Moving Company as well as choreographed for Children’s Theatre Company. Vie Boheme trained at Point Park University’s Conservatory of Performing Arts and The Ailey School. Over the course of her career, she has performed works by Kyle Abraham, Gregory Dolbashian, Dwight Rhoden, Uri Sands, Darrell Grand Moultrie and Sidra Bell. She is also a soul, funk and jazz vocalist who has opened for international acts such as Little Dragon, Bilal and J*Davey. Vie Boheme was a recent speaker for TEDxMinneapolis (“Is Performing Art Worth the Struggle?”) and also works as a Vinyasa yoga instructor with her own signature teaching philosophy, CoreKinetics Yoga, a rigorous yoga practice that is the basis for her performance experience. Her personal motto is: “Knowing who you are is half the battle. Learning to trust yourself is the real challenge.”

James A. Williams (us/we), also known as JW, is a mainstay of Twin Cities theater and a founding member of Penumbra Theatre with an extensive performing history in regional theater. In addition to performing all 10 plays in the August Wilson canon, he was in Wilson’s Black Bart and the Sacred Hills, the first professional production at Penumbra Theatre. The highlight of his stage career was when Wilson created a character for him (Roosevelt Hicks) in Radio Golf, Wilson’s final play. Williams was one of three actors who remained with the show from its premiere at Yale Repertory Theatre through its Broadway run. As Director of Teen Programming at Pillsbury House Theatre, he created the teen social justice ensemble Power of Our Voices. He also served as Artistic Director for the Hennepin County Home School theater project, a six-week playwriting workshop for incarcerated youth. Williams currently serves as Artistic Director of the Mill City Players youth troupe and has led social justice theater workshops at Brown University, Colby College, Macalester College, University of Minnesota, Penumbra Theatre, International School of Kenya, and Nshupu and Akeri secondary schools in Tanzania, East Africa. Williams was named Artist of the Year by the Star Tribune in 2008. He is also a 2008 TCG Future Leader of American Theater, 2015 McKnight Theater Artist Fellow and 2015 Fox Foundation Distinguished Acting Fellow.

Jennifer Liestman (she/her) has been a theater professional for more than 21 years. She worked at York Theatre Company in New York City and has spent the majority of her career serving as the Artistic Associate/Resident Casting Director at the Guthrie where she has led casting for more than 55 productions. She also teaches audition master classes for the University of Minnesota/Guthrie Theater B.F.A. Actor Training Program and at other universities in Minnesota and around the country.

Jim Cada (he/him) is an actor and voiceover artist who has recorded local, regional and national commercials for radio, TV and the web since 1976. He has performed in more than 20 feature films, recorded audiobooks, done narration work and voiced cartoons for Nickelodeon and Disney.

H. Adam Harris (he/him) is an actor, director, teaching artist and cultural equity consultant who works at the intersection of theater, education, social justice and community engagement. He recently directed the regional premiere of Redwood by Brittany K. Allen at the Jungle Theater. Harris is the Education Coordinator at the Playwrights’ Center, a resident teaching artist with the Guthrie Theater and Children’s Theatre Company, a board member at Ten Thousand Things, and a freelance equity, diversity and inclusion consultant for various organizations.

JuCoby Johnson (he/him) grew up in Jacksonville, Florida, moved to the Twin Cities in 2011 and has been creating here ever since. He has been seen onstage at the Guthrie Theater, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Jungle Theater, Theater Latté Da, Theater Mu, Ten Thousand Things and more. His plays include How It’s Gon’ Be (Underdog Theatre, 2019) and … but you could’ve held my hand (O’Neill National Playwrights Conference Finalist, 2020). Johnson is a 2020–2021 Many Voices Mentee at the Playwrights’ Center and a recipient of the 2020 New Now Commissions. His mantra to every process, whether as an actor or a playwright, is: “Be bold. Have fun. Lead with love.”

Ashawnti Sakina Ford (she/her) is an actor, teaching artist, playwright, director, improviser and producer born and raised in the Twin Cities by Twin Cities artists. Her work centers on social justice with a special attention to Black cultural expression. She is a co-founder of The Black Ensemble Players and Theater 45° as well as a proud member of Blackout Improv. Her personal motto is “You are enough!”

China Brickey (she/her) is a proud Chicago native who has been an actor, vocalist, teaching artist and stage combatant in the Twin Cities for the past five years. This summer, she was named Best Actor by City Pages. Since becoming a performance apprentice with Children’s Theatre Company in 2015, she has worked across the Twin Cities, including Smokey Joe’s Cafe at the Ordway, Pride and Prejudice at Park Square Theatre where she played Lizzy Bennet and Matilda the Musical at Children’s Theatre Company where she played Miss Honey. She has also worked with the Guthrie Theater, Jungle Theater, Penumbra Theatre, Transatlantic Love Affair and others. Most recently, you may have seen her slurping noodles in a commercial for Wings Financial Credit Union! Brickey feels her relationship with theater roots itself in her belief in the importance of compassion and theater’s unique ability to invite audiences and theater practitioners alike to learn lessons and ask questions of experiences and lifetimes that are not our own. She is a graduate of Millikin University with a B.F.A. in Acting and a minor in Music. Her personal mantra: “If you skip the difficult stuff, skip the painful stuff, you also skip the growth and the lessons.”

Andrea Mislan (she/her) has been performing professionally for more than 25 years. A graduate from Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet Professional Division, she has continued to evolve in contemporary and musical theater styles in Celine Dion: A New Day, Cirque du Soleil’s Viva Elvis and the Chicago international tour. Since relocating to Minneapolis four years ago, she has most recently performed at the Guthrie Theater (West Side Story, Guys and Dolls, Cyrano de Bergerac), Chanhassen Dinner Theatres (Holiday Inn, The Music Man), the Ordway (Smokey Joe’s Cafe) and several original jazz dance musicals with Collide Theatrical Dance Company. Mislan has choreographed for regional theaters and studios across North America and taught master classes internationally in ballet, contemporary, musical theater and Fosse technique (Broadway Across America). A personal movement coach, her focus is to guide a more efficient way of moving and a deeper understanding of technique and how the body moves in space in every style, for every mover.

Sun Mee Chomet (she/her) is an actor, dancer, director and playwright. She has been seen onstage at the Guthrie in Twelfth Night, As You Like It, Harvey, King Lear, Othello, The Burial at Thebes, Macbeth, Tony Kushner’s world premiere of The Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide … , The Two Gentlemen of Verona and Naomi Iizuka’s world premiere of After a Hundred Years. She also served as Assistant Director for The Great Leap and the award-winning Disgraced at the Guthrie. She is determined to keep the community buoyed virtually with joyful art during challenging times. Her personal motto: “Do what you’re most afraid of for all the right reasons.”

Josh Tobiessen (he/him) is a playwright whose plays have been performed nationally by theaters including the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, the Jungle Theater and Mixed Blood Theatre in Minneapolis, and Second Stage Theater and Crowded Outlet in New York City. Some of his plays are published by Samuel French and Dramatic Publishing. He has taught playwriting classes at universities and schools across the country and currently teaches at the Guthrie Theater. Learn more at www.joshtobiessen.com.

Andre Johnson Jr. (he/him) has worked in many areas of theater, including acting, directing and designing sets, costumes and props, but stage management is where he found his greatest strength in theater. He is also an avid video and table gamer. His personal motto: “Don’t let anyone tell you stage management isn’t art.”

Adult Workshop Supplies

• Mehron StarBlend All-Pro Makeup Kit ($79.95)
• Mehron Mini-Pro Professional Makeup Kit ($18.95)

Choose the skin tone you feel matches you best. Each kit comes with a variety of shades in your skin tone family. There will be a matching lesson at the beginning of class to help you select the right shade.

If you are unable to purchase the recommended Mehron kit, you will need the following (prices vary):

• Rubie’s Super Value Family Makeup Kit
• Three powders (one that matches your skin tone, one that is one to two shades lighter and one that is one to two shades darker)
• e.l.f. Loose Powder in Translucent/Sheer
• Maybelline Fit Me Matte + Poreless Powder
• NYX Highlight & Contour Pro Palette
• e.l.f. Powder Blush Palette (choose Light for light to medium skin tones and Dark for medium to dark skin tones)
• wet n wild Color Icon Kohl Liner Pencils in Baby’s Got Black and Simma Brown Now! (you will need both colors)
• Elmer's glue
• Mascara wands
• Makeup wedges
• Paintbrushes
• Powder puffs

Jessica Rau (she/her) has been making wigs, coiffing hair, painting faces and thinking about the performance of cultural esthetics since 1997. She has trained with renowned wig makers, cosmetologists and makeup artists throughout the U.S. and worked for many theaters and operas, including the Guthrie Theater, Jungle Theater and Metropolitan Opera. As owner of Jess Rau Wigs, her purpose is to use her creative eye for detail, curiosity and physical dexterity to uplift and inspire others, express history and social conversation through the vehicle of hair and makeup design, and give artists a catalyst to fulfill their genius and uniqueness. Rau holds an M.S. degree in Anthropology, focusing on memory culture and the performing arts, and she is a recipient of the Joy M. Query Prize for Excellence in Social Sciences. She has held several director and manager roles for organizations including The Cedar Cultural Center and the Minnesota Orchestra. She is also a co-founder of Valkyrie Music Collective, a group that advocates for women of all gender, racial and sexual identities in an effort to increase women’s power in the music industry. Rau believes that no story can be told onstage or in the streets without the use of visual imagery of the self.

Ernest Briggs (White Earth Band of Chippewa) is an actor, producer and educator who currently serves as Artistic Director of the Turtle Theater Collective, a local Native American theater company. He received his M.F.A. in Theater from the University of Florida. Briggs is an Indigenous artist who has been working professionally for more than 12 years in Minnesota, Florida and California.

Marisa Carr (Turtle Mountain Ojibwe) is a playwright who recently transplanted to Chicago after a decade in the Twin Cities. Her work has been presented or produced at Milwaukee Rep, Guthrie Theater, Pillsbury House Theatre, Playwrights’ Center, Intermedia Arts, The University of Iowa’s M.F.A. program and Pangea World Theater. Selected recent awards and honors include the Scratchpad Series at the Playwrights’ Realm (2019–2020), Page 73 Finalist (2019–2020), American Blues Theater’s Blue Ink Award Finalist (2020), Bay Area Playwrights Festival Finalist (2019), McKnight Fellowship in Playwriting Finalist (2019), Jerome Hill Artist Fellowship Finalist (2019), Lila Acheson Wallace Playwriting Fellowship Semi-Finalist (2019), Berkeley Rep Ground Floor Residency (2018) and Forward Flux Productions’ Three New American Plays Commission (2018). Carr is also co-founder and former Artistic Director of Turtle Theater Collective, a Twin Cities-based theater company committed to producing high-quality, contemporary work that explores Native experiences and subverts expectations about how and when Native artists can create theater. She is Turtle Mountain Ojibwe from the Turtle clan.

Morgan Holmes is a playwright, dramaturg and all-around theatermaker in the Twin Cities. She was the 2019–2020 Many Voices Mentee at the Playwrights’ Center and a 2019 New Works Residency Artist at the Center for Performing Arts. Recent dramaturgy credits include Floyd’s at the Guthrie Theater; Redwood at the Jungle Theater; Diesel Heart at the History Theatre; and The Rocky Horror Show and Marie and Rosetta at Park Square Theatre. Holmes has also directed new works with Playwright Cabal and Raw Sugar. As a writer, she is most interested in identity, ritual, intimacy and internet culture, which she explores as co-producer of Perspectives Theater Company.

Ernest Briggs (White Earth Band of Chippewa) is an actor, producer and educator who currently serves as Artistic Director of the Turtle Theater Collective, a local Native American theater company. He received his M.F.A. in Theater from the University of Florida. Briggs is an Indigenous artist who has been working professionally for more than 12 years in Minnesota, Florida and California.