Artists

Bonnie Cohen | Playwright/Director

Bonnie Cohen began her career at the age of fifteen at The Pittsburgh Playhouse and has performed off Broadway, in regional theatres, TV, radio and film. In New York, she acted off Broadway at The Direct Theatre, Perry St. Playhouse, and Soho Repertory Theatre, and regionally with The Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Missouri Repertory Theatre, Group Theatre, Oregon Repertory Theatre, and Hangar Theatre. She was a member of None of the Above, an improvisational theatre company that performed at the Seattle Repertory Theatre, Group Theatre, Bumbershoot Festival and toured throughout the western states. Her directing credits include Waiting for Lefty, This is the Rill Speaking, The Children’s Hour, Twelve Angry Men, and Our Town. From 1981-2011, she was a theatre professor at Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle where she taught acting and served as the head of the acting area in a BFA professional training program for actors. While continuing to work in the theatre, she received a grant to work with mentally ill actors to create an improvisational theatre company in an effort to break the stigma surrounding their illness. This project received national attention and was featured on NPR’s Morning Edition.  She then was hired by The Washington Advocates for the Mentally Ill to create a scripted play, Crazy in the Mainstream, from the true life stories of the people they served. In 1989, Bonnie became a chemical dependency counselor, developing drama therapy techniques to help young people in treatment within a juvenile detention facility. In 1998, the state of Washington commissioned her to go into The Washington State Corrections Center for Women to work with adolescent girls incarcerated as adults. Her play, Day Room Window, was inspired by this experience. She has a BFA in Acting from the University of Texas, an MA in Speech and Drama from the University of Missouri, an MFA in Acting from Cornell University and a Certificate in Chemical Dependency Counseling from Seattle University. She is a member of Actors Equity. Bonnie now resides in Pittsburgh where she grew up and began her long artistic life.

Anya Martin | Dramaturge

Anya Martin is the Artistic Director of Hiawatha Project and a writer, director, and performance artist. She is a 2011 Flight School Fellow with Creative Capital in New York City and Pittsburgh Filmmakers/Pittsburgh Center for the Arts. Currently, Anya is Artist in Residence with the Center for the Arts in Society at Carnegie Mellon University. She has worked with such theatres as the Vineyard Theatre, the West End Theatre, Epiphany Theater Company, and International Wow in New York City, as well as regionally with Arena Stage in D.C., and City Theatre Company and Bricolage Production Company in Pittsburgh. As a playwright and director, Anya’s Anthropological Data: with actual human footage! was featured in the Carnegie Mellon University’s International Festival in 2007 and her play, Teatro Latino de Pittsburgh was commissioned and presented as a part of Pittsburgh 250 celebrations. In 2008, Anya wrote articles for the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust’s Pittsburgh International Festival of Firsts. Read her interviews and reviews of renowned international artists at www.pifof.org. In 2010, Anya traveled to Ireland to attend the Cork MidSummer Festival on behalf of the Center for Arts in Society. Recently her work as a performance artist was highlighted as a part of the acclaimed Firefly Tunnels project at the Mattress Factory Art Museum in a woman show entitled Muslims, Mennonites, and Muslims. As an educator and workshop leader, Anya has taught a range of age groups from kindergarten to people in their nineties. Currently, she teaches directing at Carnegie Mellon University School of Drama from where she received her BFA in Directing. Anya also holds a Masters in Theatre from Sarah Lawrence College with a focus on devised theatre.

Cast

Jennifer Tober*
Debra Gordon*
John Gresh
David Santiago
Cynthia Caul Sulemana
Shawndasia Collins
Chelsea Faber
Miciah Foster
Elexa Hanner
Jorie Ann Kosel
Alona Williams
Kate Bodner
Jayna Kovel
Ada Zech

Designers

Sarah Benedict – Set Design
Regina Tvaruzek – Lighting Design
Angela Baughman – Sound Design
Lindsay Tejan – Costume Design

Production Team

Kathryn Culver Kelly – Production Manager
Amy Ehrenberg – Stage Manager
Marissa Mayer – Assistant Director

*Actors Equity