Guthrie Actors Lab

Maija García is a theater director, cultural innovator and advocate for equity in the arts and higher education. She directed I Am Betty at the History Theatre and is currently developing Water Riot with New York Live Arts and National Black Theatre. At the Guthrie, García adapted and directed Valor, Santiago and a cinematic reading of Our Hood. García generates original work in theater, music, film and television, including BlacKkKlansman, Chi-Raq, She’s Gotta Have It and Art of Dance. Multimedia works include Crane (Lied Center for the Performing Arts) and Salsa Mambo Cha Cha Cha (Teatro Mella). Choreography credits include West Side Story (Guthrie Theater); Kiss My Aztec (Berkeley Rep/La Jolla Playhouse); Snow in Midsummer (OSF); Cuba Libre (Artists Repertory Theater, PAMTA Award); and The Fats Waller Dance Party (Harlem Stage/SF Jazz/The Kennedy Center). García founded Organic Magnetics and devised and directed Ghosts of Manhattan: 1512–2012 and I Am New York: Juan Rodriguez.

William Sturdivant is a Presidential Scholar in the Arts and an alumni of the University of Minnesota B.F.A. Actor Training Program. He has performed in over 30 Shakespeare productions regionally and Off-Broadway. Sturdivant is also a poet, producer and acting coach. Notable Shakespeare training includes the National Theatre of London, Andrew Wade, Patrick Tucker and over 15 years of professional experience Off-Broadway and regionally. He believes fundamentally that Shakespeare’s written language is made to be spoken aloud and that through focusing on mastering all the rhetorical devices Shakespeare uses, one can use language on and off the stage to build communal experiences of significance. 

Nathan Keepers is Producing Artistic Director of The Moving Company in Minneapolis. Keepers spent 11 seasons as a company member of Theatre de la Jeune Lune. Local productions include the Jungle Theater, the Guthrie, Ten Thousand Things, Sod House Theater, Yellow Tree Theater, Six Points Theater, Augsburg Varsity Theater, Playwrights’ Center and CTC. Regional productions include Actors Theatre of Louisville, American Repertory Theater, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, The Alley Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse, South Coast Repertory and Folger Theatre. Keepers has studied with Pierre Byland and Philippe Gaulier, and has worked under Ariane Mnouchkine and Théâtre du Soliel.

Annie Enneking has been a performing artist for over 40 years. Her work as an actor, dancer, singer-songwriter, and fight and intimacy director has been seen on nearly every stage in the Twin Cities. Enneking teaches the art of stage violence at the University of Minnesota, and fronts the rock band Annie and the Bang Bang. She is a 2010 Playwrights’ Center McKnight Theater Artist Fellow, and has received grants from the Jerome Foundation and the Minnesota State Arts Board for her devised theater work, which uses music as its primary mode of expression.  

Sun Mee Chomet is an actor, educator, director and dancer. As an Asian American artist, she lives at the axis of theater and social justice in all that she does. Chomet has served as a teaching artist at Penumbra Theatre, Ten Thousand Things Theater, Theater Mu, History Theater, the Guthrie and with many local and national universities. She has taught improv, playwriting, acting, voice, movement and Shakespeare. She encourages artists to tap into their authentic selves to access full and fearless freedom on stage. Chomet received an M.F.A. from NYU's Grad Acting at Tisch School of the Arts and a B.A. in Sociology and Anthropology from Earlham College.  

Michelle O’Neill started her career in New York City after graduating from The Juilliard School. She spent her time working on Broadway and New York theater while traveling around the country performing in plays. After moving to the Twin Cities, she performed in over 25 Guthrie productions. Some of her favorites include Macbeth, Twelfth Night, The Plow and the Stars and The Winter’s Tale. Michelle is passionate about working with young actors, and enjoys teaching and directing with the University of Minnesota/Guthrie Theater B.F.A. Actor Training Program. She recently directed Troilus and Cressida in the Dowling Studio. 

Ghylian Bell is on a mission to shift the consciousness of the world one breath at a time, using the breath as a radical act. In 2007, Ghylian founded Urban Yoga Foundation, a nonprofit that created yoga and mindfulness programs specifically targeting the needs of students of color. In 2019, Urban Yoga expanded with a for-profit component, which supports the foundation by its teachings with The People’s Practice, an integration of Kemetic and Hatha with Tao healing arts. The People’s Practice develops attention to individual needs, while encouraging the support of a holistic community.

Ansa Akyea (pronounced An-ssa  A-Tchay-Ya) (he/him/his) is an award-winning professional actor, teaching artist, director and collaborator. His local directing credits include the University of Minnesota, Ten Thousand Things Theater, Mixed Blood Theatre, Park Square Theatre, Jungle Theater, The Playwrights’ Center and others. Ansa was a 2023–2024 National New Play Network Producer in Residence with Mixed Blood Theatre. Ansa is passionate about new work and bringing marginalized and diverse voices to the theater industry. Ansa is also a faculty member at Binghamton University's theater department, where he teaches acting. Ansa holds his M.F.A. and M.A. from the University of Iowa.