Hamlet

Emily Lyon is a director, dramaturg, and artistic director that carves out the humor and authenticity in new and classic texts. She co-created, leads, and curates Expand the Canon––a call to action to include a wide range of historic women and gender-expansive writers in the canon of classics––as Artistic Director. As a freelance director, Lyon has directed nine world premieres, including Diana Ly’s Sex and the Abbey (The Brick), and has worked with the Folger Theatre, Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, Geva Theatre, the Old Globe, LaMaMa, Yale Rep, the Royal Shakespeare Company, University of Michigan, and others. As a dramaturg, she’s worked with writers on shaping over 25 new plays, including the world premiere of Kate Hamill’s Sense & Sensibility, and editing classical texts, including the Expand the Canon plays and The Tempest for Shakespeare in the Park. Find out more at EmilyALyon.com, and ExpandTheCanon.com. 

Reynaldo Piniella (he/him) is an actor, writer, activist and educator from East New York, Brooklyn. In 2021, he was in the acting company of two Broadway shows at the same time: Thoughts of a Colored Man and Trouble in Mind. His Off-Broadway acting credits include work at Signature Theatre Company, the Public Theater, the Working Theater, Theatre for a New Audience (TFANA), and Rattlestick Theater, regionally with Baltimore Center Stage, Syracuse Stage, Long Wharf Theatre, the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, Cleveland Play House, NY Stage and Film, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, St. Louis Shakespeare Festival, and Actors Theatre of Louisville, and internationally with the Sundance Theatre Lab in Morocco and NEAP Fest in Rio de Janeiro. TV credits include Reservation Dogs, Sneaky Pete, Law & Order: SVU, The Carrie Diaries, Flesh & Bone, Blue Bloods, Greenleaf, Louie, NYC 22, Us & Them, and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Film: Madeline’s Madeline (Sundance Film Fest, Showtime), Shadows (HBO Max) and Broken City (20th Century FOX). His co-created bilingual Spanish-English Hamlet has been developed at Folger Theatre, the Public Theater, the Classical Theatre of Harlem, and the Acting Company. He is an alum of New Victory Theater’s LabWorks, All for One Theater’s Solo Collective, the Civilians’ R&D Group, and a former Artist-in-Residence at Hi-ARTS, the cell theatre, Abingdon Theatre Company, and Culture Lab LIC. He has received fellowships from Theatre Communications Group, the National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures, Weeksville Heritage Center, and the All Stars Project. @ReynaldoRey. www.reynaldopiniella.com  www.reynaldopiniella.com

Christin Eve Cato, an award-winning luminary playwright, dramaturg, poet, educator, lyricist, songwriter, and performing artist, emerges from the vibrant streets of the Bronx, bringing with her a profound artistic narrative steeped in the rich tapestry of her Puerto Rican and Jamaican roots. Armed with an MFA in playwriting from Indiana University and a BA in political science and philosophy from Fordham University, Cato’s voice is often distinguished for her ability to create universal stories grounded in culturally specific narratives. Cato’s artistic voice harmonizes with the rhythms of Caribbean culture and the Afro-Latinx diaspora. Her journey in song and lyric writing was ignited during her formative years at Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School for Music & Art and the Performing Arts, where she was classically trained in vocal music. Immersed in the pulsating heart of New York City’s theatrical landscape, Cato has become an indispensable thread in the cultural fabric. She holds esteemed positions such as ensemble member and former Resident Dramaturg at Pregones/PRTT, a founding UNIT 52 ensemble member at INTAR Theatre, and a playwright in the WP Theater 2022-2024 Pipeline Lab. Additionally, she is a former Core Apprentice and current educator at the Playwrights’ Center, a member and affiliated playwright of the LatinX Playwrights Circle, an associated artist with the Sol Project, and a seasonal roundtable dramaturg at the Musical Theatre Factory.

Laurie Woolery is a theater director, playwright, and citizen artist. As a first-generation Latinx immigrant, Woolery works with regional theaters and communities to create theater and build sustainable art practices. She has developed and directed new works with populations ranging from incarcerated women to residents of a small Kansas town devastated by a tornado. She creates site-specific theater in locations such as a working sawmill in Eureka, CA, parking lots, prisons, and the banks of the Los Angeles River. She has worked at the Public Theater, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Yale Repertory Theatre, Trinity Repertory Company, Cornerstone Theater Company, South Coast Repertory, and Los Angeles Philharmonic among others. She has directed world premieres of plays by Tanya Saracho, Mary Kathryn Nagle, Charise Castro Smith, Marisela Treviño Orta, Aditi Kapil, and more.

Julian Oquendo (Moderator) Executive Director for DC Theater Arts. Writing: DC Theater Arts, DC Theatre Scene, The San Juan Star, Fordham University Lincoln Center’s The Observer; Automation development: DC Theater Arts; Data Science Educator: General Assembly DC, General Assembly Bahrain, AITRA AI. www.julianoquendo.com/