OREGON SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL'S QUILLS FEST presents...
NOVEMBER 4th
CONVERSATION: PODCAST AS THEATRE, THEATRE AS PODCAST
6:00 pm – 7:00 pm ET / 3:00 pm – 4:00 pm PT
What is a theatrical podcast? What does it mean when theater and podcasting collide? The discussion will feature trendsetters in the arena of narrative, “theatrical podcasting.”
Tune into the livestream on the Quills Fest website. Guests: Jenny Turner Hall (A Simple Herstory, The Unexplainable Disappearance of Mars Patel, Marvel’s Wastelanders: Wolverine, Jocelyn Kuritsky (A Simple Herstory), Donya K. Washington (A Simple Herstory), Jonathan A. Goldberg (A Simple Herstory, The Land Whale Murders, The Fall of the House of Sunshine), Cecil Baldwin (Welcome to Night Vale, Random Horror 9, Hit/Play, Ask Me Another – NPR), and Aaron Mark (The Horror of Dolores Roach)
CONVERSATION: PODCAST AS THEATRE, THEATRE AS PODCAST
6:00 pm – 7:00 pm ET / 3:00 pm – 4:00 pm PT
What is a theatrical podcast? What does it mean when theater and podcasting collide? The discussion will feature trendsetters in the arena of narrative, “theatrical podcasting.”
Tune into the livestream on the Quills Fest website. Guests: Jenny Turner Hall (A Simple Herstory, The Unexplainable Disappearance of Mars Patel, Marvel’s Wastelanders: Wolverine, Jocelyn Kuritsky (A Simple Herstory), Donya K. Washington (A Simple Herstory), Jonathan A. Goldberg (A Simple Herstory, The Land Whale Murders, The Fall of the House of Sunshine), Cecil Baldwin (Welcome to Night Vale, Random Horror 9, Hit/Play, Ask Me Another – NPR), and Aaron Mark (The Horror of Dolores Roach)
NOVEMBER 5th
HERSTORY IN THE HOUSE Immersive Audio Experience (work in progress)
2:30pm PT / 5:30pm ET
In partnership with The Tank, The Merchant’s House Museum, The Muse Project, and A Simple Herstory, LLC
Immersive Audio Experience devised by Donya K. Washington, Jocelyn Kuritsky, Cecil Baldwin, with Florencia Lozano. Original text written by Jonathan A. Goldberg - performed by Kara Young and Florencia Lozano, sound design by Jane Shaw, music by David Poe; additional soundscape by Josh Horvath; and a conversation with Ann Haddad.
Led by a star-studded team—Cecil Baldwin (Welcome to Night Vale), Donya K. Washington (OSF Festival Producer), Jocelyn Kuritsky (KPOP)—and in collaboration with The Tank, this is an exciting, exclusive invitation to participate in an early-stage, work-in-progress experiment. This event turns the critically acclaimed audio drama podcast, A Simple Herstory, into an immersive audio experience at the storied location of the Merchant’s House Museum in New York City’s Lower East Side. Participants have the unique opportunity to contribute to the making of this new project by being “playtesters” to try out the individual, promenade audio experience that is mapped throughout the house. The playtest will end with a feedback session with the artists.
HERSTORY IN THE HOUSE Immersive Audio Experience (work in progress)
2:30pm PT / 5:30pm ET
In partnership with The Tank, The Merchant’s House Museum, The Muse Project, and A Simple Herstory, LLC
Immersive Audio Experience devised by Donya K. Washington, Jocelyn Kuritsky, Cecil Baldwin, with Florencia Lozano. Original text written by Jonathan A. Goldberg - performed by Kara Young and Florencia Lozano, sound design by Jane Shaw, music by David Poe; additional soundscape by Josh Horvath; and a conversation with Ann Haddad.
Led by a star-studded team—Cecil Baldwin (Welcome to Night Vale), Donya K. Washington (OSF Festival Producer), Jocelyn Kuritsky (KPOP)—and in collaboration with The Tank, this is an exciting, exclusive invitation to participate in an early-stage, work-in-progress experiment. This event turns the critically acclaimed audio drama podcast, A Simple Herstory, into an immersive audio experience at the storied location of the Merchant’s House Museum in New York City’s Lower East Side. Participants have the unique opportunity to contribute to the making of this new project by being “playtesters” to try out the individual, promenade audio experience that is mapped throughout the house. The playtest will end with a feedback session with the artists.
Original podcast A Simple Herstory - Victoria Woodhull
Created by Jocelyn Kuritsky
Story by Jonathan A. Goldberg and Jocelyn Kuritsky
Written by Jonathan A. Goldberg
Directed by Donya K. Washington
Sound and Technical Direction by Jane Shaw
Original Music by David Poe
Sound Mastering by Joshua Horvath
Starring Florencia Lozano as Victoria Woodhull, and Kara Young as the Host, along with Jacqueline Antaramian, Rebecca Atkinson-Lord, Kate Burton, Erin Cherry, Veanne Cox, Rachel Crowl, Maria Dizzia, Danielle Ferland, Yetta Gottesman, Donnetta Lavinia Grays, Jennifer Ikeda, Jocelyn Kuritsky, Kyra Miller, Zainab Musa, Tonya Pinkins, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Socorro Santiago, Dale Soules, Carmelita Tropicana, Ching Valdes-Aran, and Louise Lasser
Executive Produced by Jocelyn Kuritsky, Jonathan A. Goldberg, Jenny Turner Hall, Donya K. Washington, and Jane Shaw
Created by Jocelyn Kuritsky
Story by Jonathan A. Goldberg and Jocelyn Kuritsky
Written by Jonathan A. Goldberg
Directed by Donya K. Washington
Sound and Technical Direction by Jane Shaw
Original Music by David Poe
Sound Mastering by Joshua Horvath
Starring Florencia Lozano as Victoria Woodhull, and Kara Young as the Host, along with Jacqueline Antaramian, Rebecca Atkinson-Lord, Kate Burton, Erin Cherry, Veanne Cox, Rachel Crowl, Maria Dizzia, Danielle Ferland, Yetta Gottesman, Donnetta Lavinia Grays, Jennifer Ikeda, Jocelyn Kuritsky, Kyra Miller, Zainab Musa, Tonya Pinkins, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Socorro Santiago, Dale Soules, Carmelita Tropicana, Ching Valdes-Aran, and Louise Lasser
Executive Produced by Jocelyn Kuritsky, Jonathan A. Goldberg, Jenny Turner Hall, Donya K. Washington, and Jane Shaw
Florencia Lozano - Victoria Woodhull (live/HitH & voice), A Simple Herstory Original Podcast - is an actor, writer, and performance artist. Theatre includes: RINSE, REPEAT (@ Signature), DEVIL OF CHOICE (LAByrinth), AND SHE WOULD STAND LIKE THIS (Movement Theatre Co.), WINNERS (EST), RED DOG HOWLS (NYTW), MACBETH, “Lady Macduff” (Shakespeare in the Park), PLACEBO (Playwrights Horizons), PRIVILEGE (Second Stage), LAST EASTER (MCC), WHERE’S MY MONEY? (MTC/LAB), DIRTY STORY (LAB). TV includes: BREATHE (Netflix, upcoming), THE BAKER AND THE BEAUTY, GOSSIP GIRL, BLUE BLOODS, UGLY BETTY, LAW AND ORDER: SVU & CI, THE MYSTERIES OF LAURA, MADAME SECRETARY, KEVIN CAN WAIT, THE BLACKLIST, and ENEMY WITHIN. She recently played "Lucia Rivera" on Netflix's KEEP BREATHING, and she played “Claudia Messina” on Netflix’s NARCOS, and “Téa Delgado” on ABC’s ONE LIFE TO LIVE. Films include: LIFE AFTER YOU (which she also co-wrote and produced), AMY MAKES THREE, FAR AWAY EYES, THE MINISTERS, PERFECT STRANGER, and VERONIKA DECIDES TO DIE. Florencia is a member of EST and of the LAByrinth Theater Company where she is LAB’s literary manager. Her play underneathmybed was produced at the Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre and won HOLA’s (Hispanic Organization of Latino Actors) Best New Play Award in 2010. Her play BUSTED was produced by Rising Phoenix at Cino Nights, and her new play PAPILUCHO is currently in development. Florencia got her MFA at NYU’s Graduate Acting Program and her BA at Brown University where she studied Comparative Literature.
Kara Young - Host (voice), A Simple Herstory Original Podcast - Harlem born and raised. Film/TV: Chemical Hearts (Amazon, dir. Richard Tanne), After Yang (A24, dir. Kogonada), the lead in Hair Wolf, winner of Sundance 2018 Short Film Jury Award: US fiction, Random Acts of Flyness (HBO), The Punisher (Netflix). Theater: All The Natalie Portmans (dir. Kate Whoriskey, MCC) Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven (dir. John Ortiz, Atlantic), New Englanders (dir Saheem Ali, MTC), Revolving Cycles Truly and Steadily Roll'd (dir. Awoye Timpo, The Duke), Syncing Ink (dir. Niegel Smith, Alley Theatre, The Flea), Pretty Hunger (dir. Martha Banta, The Public). Labyrinth Theater Company Member. Nominated for a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play: in 2022 for Clyde's. 2020 Lucille Lortel Nominee for Outsanding Lead Actress in a Play, Antonyo Award Nominee for Best Actor in a Play, Recipient of Audelco’s 2020 Special Achievement Award. Live Voice Over Announcer for 2018, 2019, & 2020 MTV Video Music Awards, MTV's Girl Code (4 seasons).
Jocelyn Kuritsky - HitH Deviser; Quills Panelist; Creator, A Simple Herstory Original Podcast - is an actor, creator/producer/director, and designer. She is a three-time Princess Grace Award nominated performer, and a founder and the actor-in-residence of the Drama Desk Award nominated & Lucille Lortel Award winning immersive theater company, Woodshed Collective (Broadway’s KPOP). Jocelyn is also the creator of The Muse Project, dedicated to centering and spotlighting women theater actors. Her podcast series, A Simple Herstory, is produced with Muse, and stars a bevy of renowned stage and screen stars. In 2022, the team for A Simple Herstory was honored as The Tank’s Artists of the Year. Onstage, Jocelyn mostly works on new plays and new theatrical forms; and, as a performer, she is a favorite among New York’s downtown theater stalwarts. Papermag calls her an “outstanding actor.” Onscreen, her recent appearances include The Blacklist and Nana Mensah’s Queen of Glory. Her voice work resides in audio fiction, and she will next be heard in a new series for Audible. www.jocelynkuritsky.com.
Jonathan A. Goldberg - Quills Panelist; Writer, A Simple Herstory Original Podcast - is an internationally produced and published writer. He has had plays staged at HERE Arts Center, Mixed Blood, The Public Theater, Robert Gill Theater, Ars Nova, among others. He received the Israel Baron Award from the Theatricum Botanicum and the Rita and Burton Award from the Tisch School of Drama. He won the L Magazine pocket fiction contest. He is the co-creator and writer of the award winning musical podcast The Fall of the House of Sunshine (www.podmusical.com) with Matt Roi Berger (named one of the 100 best podcasts to listen to in 2019 by The Sunday Times, and listed among the 'best of' in Refinery 29, Woman's Day, & Polygon). The Fall of the House of Sunshine has featured a range of celebrated performers, including Tony nominee Arian Moayed and podcast darling Lauren Shippen. Other projects include The Land Whale Murders, Radio Free Mushroom America, Margaret's Garden (with Pacific Obadiah), among others. He has an MFA from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts.
Donya K. Washington she/her - HitH Deviser; Quills Panelist; Director, A Simple Herstory Original Podcast - Shutter Sisters by Mansa Ra (The Old Globe); Hometown Boy by Keiko Green (reading at Actor’s Express); You Will Get Sick by Noah Diaz (reading at Seven Devils New Play Foundry), The Way North by Tira Palmquist (readings at Seven Devils and Amphibian Theatre). Atlanta: Downstairs by Theresa Rebeck (Actor’s Express); An Octoroon by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins (Actor’s Express); Beautiful Blackbird (Alliance Theatre, Theatre for the Very Young); Come Back to Me and Manikato (Shakespeare in Paradise, Bahamas). Spunk (Penobscot Theatre, Bangor, Maine); NYC: Eve’s Song (workshop, The Playwrights Realm); God, Man and Devil (Target Margin Theatre); Pete the Girl (Rising Circle/Culture Project Women’s Center Stage); Little Louise (Fire This Time Festival); Now the Cats with Jeweled Claws (Target Margin Theatre); Jump Jim Crow (Subjective Theater Company); Cold Keener (Target Margin Theatre). 2008/2010 Women's Project Lab. Van Lier Directing Fellow 2009, Second Stage Theatre. MFA, Directing - Brown University/Trinity Rep; BFA, Tisch School of the Arts, NYU. Festival Producer, Oregon Shakespeare Festival; formerly BOLD Associate Producer and Off Site Season Producer, Alliance Theatre. www.donyakwashington.com.
Jenny Turner Hall - Quills Panelist; Executive Producer, A Simple Herstory Original Podcast - is a Peabody Award Winner and a Writer/Director at the forefront of multi-platform storytelling. She has projects in television, podcasting, and fiction. Her scripted podcast Mars Patel is being developed as a TV series with Anonymous Content and as a three-book serial with Candlewick Press. She wrote and directed a new audio series for Marvel, Wastelanders: Wolverine - with Robert Patrick, and she is currently directing a series for Audible. Jenny is the co-executive producer of A Simple Herstory, and will be a writer on the second season. www.jennyturnerhall.com.
Cecil Baldwin - HitH Deviser; Quills Panelist - is the narrator of the hit podcast Welcome To Night Vale and co- host of Random Number Generator Horror Podcast No. 9. Film/TV credits include Braden in The Outs (Vimeo), the voice of Tad Strange in Gravity Falls (Disney XD), Narrator for documentary Scream Queen: My Nightmare On Elm Street, The Fool in Lear (Paul Sorvino), and indie film Billie Joe Bob. Cecil has been featured on podcasts such as Ask Me Another (NPR), Selected Shorts (PRI), Shipwreck, Big Data and Our Fair City. He is an alumnus of the New York Neo-Futurists, performing in their late-night show Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind, as well as Drama Desk-nominated The Complete and Condensed Stage Directions of Eugene O’Neill Vol. 2. Cecil has performed at The Shakespeare Theatre DC, Studio Theatre (including the world premier production of Neil LaBute’s Autobahn), The Kennedy Center, The National Players, LaMaMa E.T.C., Emerging Artists Theatre, and at the Upright Citizens Brigade. In 2017, Cecil was awarded a grant by the United States Embassy and Consulate in Portugal to raise awareness on HIV/LGBT issues and lead workshops on autobiographical storytelling in the digital age (including #ItGetsBetterPortugal, Casa Sol HIV+ children’s home and the FEST Film Festival). He recently directed the play As Sylvia for the NY Frigid/Queerly Festival.
Aaron Mark - Quills Panelist - is a writer and director of theatre, audio, film, and TV, currently based in Los Angeles by way of Houston and New York City. He is the creator, writer & director of Gimlet Media/Spotify's hit fiction podcast The Horror of Dolores Roach, starring Daphne Rubin-Vega and Bobby Cannavale. He also adapted and co-showran the TV incarnation of Dolores Roach for Blumhouse Television, starring Justina Machado and featuring Cyndi Lauper, which will premiere on Amazon Prime in 2023. Aaron has written & directed three acclaimed one-person horror plays Off Broadway: Squeamish with Alison Fraser, Another Medea with Tom Hewitt, and Empanada Loca with Daphne Rubin-Vega, all published by Dramatists Play Service and produced internationally. Other plays include Deer, also published by DPS, and The Vanishing Negative for Audible Theater with Betty Buckley. Theatre directing credits include Ben Rimalower's long-running, award-winning Patti Issues and Bad with Money; The Mystery of Irma Vep and Deathtrap for Berkshire Theatre Group; and Hedwig and the Angry Inch for BC/EFA at New World Stages. Aaron is a NYTW Usual Suspect and a member of the WGA and SDC.
Jane Shaw - Sound Design, A Simple Herstory Original Podcast - After over twenty years in the theater as a sound designer and composer, Ms. Shaw is excited to be exploring the world of scripted audio drama. Other projects include Faith, Hope, and Charity adapted as a radio play by Peter Hackett. Theatrical work in New York includes designs at Playwrights Horizons, Manhattan Theatre Club, Mint Theater, Theatre for a New Audience, National Black Theatre, Repertorio Español, New York Theatre Workshop, Cherry Lane, and the COOP. Regional work includes projects with Hartford Stage, ART, Old Globe, Mark Taper Forum, Two River Theater, Asolo, Williamstown Theatre Festival, ACT, and Northern Stage. Awards: Drama Desk, Connecticut Critics Circle, Henry Award, Bessie Award, Meet the Composer Grant, NEA-TCG Career Development Grant recipient, nominations for Lortel and Elliot Norton awards. Member: USA 829, TSDCA (Theatrical Sound Designers and Composers Association). Training: Harvard University, Yale School of Drama. Ms. Shaw was born and raised in Kansas and lives in Brooklyn.
David Poe - Music, A Simple Herstory Original Podcast - gives the singer-songwriter genre a much-needed jolt” writes Rolling Stone. The Village Voice calls Poe “the major domo of songwriters.” “Every songwriter worth their salt is striving for the kind of balanced poetry and simplicity that Poe seems to just pour out,” says No Depression. “It’s hard to deny the expert craftsmanship of Poe’s songwriting,” wrote Paste Magazine. The London Independent compared his songs to “miniature novels.” Since his solo debut, produced by T-Bone Burnett, songs written by David Poe have been performed by a wide array of artists and recorded by producers including T-Bone Burnett, Larry Klein, and Buddy Miller. He has toured the world with Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Tori Amos, and many more, and performed as lead vocalist with the Blackstar Symphony, the orchestral rendition of David Bowie’s final masterpiece. Jane Fonda and Gloria Steinem publicly voiced support for his song What The President Said, which features in A Simple Herstory. A composer fellow of the Sundance Institute, his work features in numerous film and TV projects, including Nashville, Dexter, Diary Of A Teenage Girl, Transamerica. He has produced recordings for other artists, including Regina Spektor, Brendan Hines, and Kraig Jarret Johnson. Poe’s commissioned scores for dance include work by the Los Angeles Dance Project, performed at the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha, Qatar during the 2022 World Cup, American Repertory Theater, and Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet. Shadowland by the dance company Pilobolus toured for over a decade and was performed on five continents, for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, and released as a feature film. Transplanted from the American Midwest to New York City, David Poe served as the sound engineer at CBGB’s 313 Gallery before signing with Sony/Epic. He currently lives in Los Angeles. www.davidpoemusic.com.
Kara Young - Host (voice), A Simple Herstory Original Podcast - Harlem born and raised. Film/TV: Chemical Hearts (Amazon, dir. Richard Tanne), After Yang (A24, dir. Kogonada), the lead in Hair Wolf, winner of Sundance 2018 Short Film Jury Award: US fiction, Random Acts of Flyness (HBO), The Punisher (Netflix). Theater: All The Natalie Portmans (dir. Kate Whoriskey, MCC) Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven (dir. John Ortiz, Atlantic), New Englanders (dir Saheem Ali, MTC), Revolving Cycles Truly and Steadily Roll'd (dir. Awoye Timpo, The Duke), Syncing Ink (dir. Niegel Smith, Alley Theatre, The Flea), Pretty Hunger (dir. Martha Banta, The Public). Labyrinth Theater Company Member. Nominated for a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play: in 2022 for Clyde's. 2020 Lucille Lortel Nominee for Outsanding Lead Actress in a Play, Antonyo Award Nominee for Best Actor in a Play, Recipient of Audelco’s 2020 Special Achievement Award. Live Voice Over Announcer for 2018, 2019, & 2020 MTV Video Music Awards, MTV's Girl Code (4 seasons).
Jocelyn Kuritsky - HitH Deviser; Quills Panelist; Creator, A Simple Herstory Original Podcast - is an actor, creator/producer/director, and designer. She is a three-time Princess Grace Award nominated performer, and a founder and the actor-in-residence of the Drama Desk Award nominated & Lucille Lortel Award winning immersive theater company, Woodshed Collective (Broadway’s KPOP). Jocelyn is also the creator of The Muse Project, dedicated to centering and spotlighting women theater actors. Her podcast series, A Simple Herstory, is produced with Muse, and stars a bevy of renowned stage and screen stars. In 2022, the team for A Simple Herstory was honored as The Tank’s Artists of the Year. Onstage, Jocelyn mostly works on new plays and new theatrical forms; and, as a performer, she is a favorite among New York’s downtown theater stalwarts. Papermag calls her an “outstanding actor.” Onscreen, her recent appearances include The Blacklist and Nana Mensah’s Queen of Glory. Her voice work resides in audio fiction, and she will next be heard in a new series for Audible. www.jocelynkuritsky.com.
Jonathan A. Goldberg - Quills Panelist; Writer, A Simple Herstory Original Podcast - is an internationally produced and published writer. He has had plays staged at HERE Arts Center, Mixed Blood, The Public Theater, Robert Gill Theater, Ars Nova, among others. He received the Israel Baron Award from the Theatricum Botanicum and the Rita and Burton Award from the Tisch School of Drama. He won the L Magazine pocket fiction contest. He is the co-creator and writer of the award winning musical podcast The Fall of the House of Sunshine (www.podmusical.com) with Matt Roi Berger (named one of the 100 best podcasts to listen to in 2019 by The Sunday Times, and listed among the 'best of' in Refinery 29, Woman's Day, & Polygon). The Fall of the House of Sunshine has featured a range of celebrated performers, including Tony nominee Arian Moayed and podcast darling Lauren Shippen. Other projects include The Land Whale Murders, Radio Free Mushroom America, Margaret's Garden (with Pacific Obadiah), among others. He has an MFA from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts.
Donya K. Washington she/her - HitH Deviser; Quills Panelist; Director, A Simple Herstory Original Podcast - Shutter Sisters by Mansa Ra (The Old Globe); Hometown Boy by Keiko Green (reading at Actor’s Express); You Will Get Sick by Noah Diaz (reading at Seven Devils New Play Foundry), The Way North by Tira Palmquist (readings at Seven Devils and Amphibian Theatre). Atlanta: Downstairs by Theresa Rebeck (Actor’s Express); An Octoroon by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins (Actor’s Express); Beautiful Blackbird (Alliance Theatre, Theatre for the Very Young); Come Back to Me and Manikato (Shakespeare in Paradise, Bahamas). Spunk (Penobscot Theatre, Bangor, Maine); NYC: Eve’s Song (workshop, The Playwrights Realm); God, Man and Devil (Target Margin Theatre); Pete the Girl (Rising Circle/Culture Project Women’s Center Stage); Little Louise (Fire This Time Festival); Now the Cats with Jeweled Claws (Target Margin Theatre); Jump Jim Crow (Subjective Theater Company); Cold Keener (Target Margin Theatre). 2008/2010 Women's Project Lab. Van Lier Directing Fellow 2009, Second Stage Theatre. MFA, Directing - Brown University/Trinity Rep; BFA, Tisch School of the Arts, NYU. Festival Producer, Oregon Shakespeare Festival; formerly BOLD Associate Producer and Off Site Season Producer, Alliance Theatre. www.donyakwashington.com.
Jenny Turner Hall - Quills Panelist; Executive Producer, A Simple Herstory Original Podcast - is a Peabody Award Winner and a Writer/Director at the forefront of multi-platform storytelling. She has projects in television, podcasting, and fiction. Her scripted podcast Mars Patel is being developed as a TV series with Anonymous Content and as a three-book serial with Candlewick Press. She wrote and directed a new audio series for Marvel, Wastelanders: Wolverine - with Robert Patrick, and she is currently directing a series for Audible. Jenny is the co-executive producer of A Simple Herstory, and will be a writer on the second season. www.jennyturnerhall.com.
Cecil Baldwin - HitH Deviser; Quills Panelist - is the narrator of the hit podcast Welcome To Night Vale and co- host of Random Number Generator Horror Podcast No. 9. Film/TV credits include Braden in The Outs (Vimeo), the voice of Tad Strange in Gravity Falls (Disney XD), Narrator for documentary Scream Queen: My Nightmare On Elm Street, The Fool in Lear (Paul Sorvino), and indie film Billie Joe Bob. Cecil has been featured on podcasts such as Ask Me Another (NPR), Selected Shorts (PRI), Shipwreck, Big Data and Our Fair City. He is an alumnus of the New York Neo-Futurists, performing in their late-night show Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind, as well as Drama Desk-nominated The Complete and Condensed Stage Directions of Eugene O’Neill Vol. 2. Cecil has performed at The Shakespeare Theatre DC, Studio Theatre (including the world premier production of Neil LaBute’s Autobahn), The Kennedy Center, The National Players, LaMaMa E.T.C., Emerging Artists Theatre, and at the Upright Citizens Brigade. In 2017, Cecil was awarded a grant by the United States Embassy and Consulate in Portugal to raise awareness on HIV/LGBT issues and lead workshops on autobiographical storytelling in the digital age (including #ItGetsBetterPortugal, Casa Sol HIV+ children’s home and the FEST Film Festival). He recently directed the play As Sylvia for the NY Frigid/Queerly Festival.
Aaron Mark - Quills Panelist - is a writer and director of theatre, audio, film, and TV, currently based in Los Angeles by way of Houston and New York City. He is the creator, writer & director of Gimlet Media/Spotify's hit fiction podcast The Horror of Dolores Roach, starring Daphne Rubin-Vega and Bobby Cannavale. He also adapted and co-showran the TV incarnation of Dolores Roach for Blumhouse Television, starring Justina Machado and featuring Cyndi Lauper, which will premiere on Amazon Prime in 2023. Aaron has written & directed three acclaimed one-person horror plays Off Broadway: Squeamish with Alison Fraser, Another Medea with Tom Hewitt, and Empanada Loca with Daphne Rubin-Vega, all published by Dramatists Play Service and produced internationally. Other plays include Deer, also published by DPS, and The Vanishing Negative for Audible Theater with Betty Buckley. Theatre directing credits include Ben Rimalower's long-running, award-winning Patti Issues and Bad with Money; The Mystery of Irma Vep and Deathtrap for Berkshire Theatre Group; and Hedwig and the Angry Inch for BC/EFA at New World Stages. Aaron is a NYTW Usual Suspect and a member of the WGA and SDC.
Jane Shaw - Sound Design, A Simple Herstory Original Podcast - After over twenty years in the theater as a sound designer and composer, Ms. Shaw is excited to be exploring the world of scripted audio drama. Other projects include Faith, Hope, and Charity adapted as a radio play by Peter Hackett. Theatrical work in New York includes designs at Playwrights Horizons, Manhattan Theatre Club, Mint Theater, Theatre for a New Audience, National Black Theatre, Repertorio Español, New York Theatre Workshop, Cherry Lane, and the COOP. Regional work includes projects with Hartford Stage, ART, Old Globe, Mark Taper Forum, Two River Theater, Asolo, Williamstown Theatre Festival, ACT, and Northern Stage. Awards: Drama Desk, Connecticut Critics Circle, Henry Award, Bessie Award, Meet the Composer Grant, NEA-TCG Career Development Grant recipient, nominations for Lortel and Elliot Norton awards. Member: USA 829, TSDCA (Theatrical Sound Designers and Composers Association). Training: Harvard University, Yale School of Drama. Ms. Shaw was born and raised in Kansas and lives in Brooklyn.
David Poe - Music, A Simple Herstory Original Podcast - gives the singer-songwriter genre a much-needed jolt” writes Rolling Stone. The Village Voice calls Poe “the major domo of songwriters.” “Every songwriter worth their salt is striving for the kind of balanced poetry and simplicity that Poe seems to just pour out,” says No Depression. “It’s hard to deny the expert craftsmanship of Poe’s songwriting,” wrote Paste Magazine. The London Independent compared his songs to “miniature novels.” Since his solo debut, produced by T-Bone Burnett, songs written by David Poe have been performed by a wide array of artists and recorded by producers including T-Bone Burnett, Larry Klein, and Buddy Miller. He has toured the world with Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Tori Amos, and many more, and performed as lead vocalist with the Blackstar Symphony, the orchestral rendition of David Bowie’s final masterpiece. Jane Fonda and Gloria Steinem publicly voiced support for his song What The President Said, which features in A Simple Herstory. A composer fellow of the Sundance Institute, his work features in numerous film and TV projects, including Nashville, Dexter, Diary Of A Teenage Girl, Transamerica. He has produced recordings for other artists, including Regina Spektor, Brendan Hines, and Kraig Jarret Johnson. Poe’s commissioned scores for dance include work by the Los Angeles Dance Project, performed at the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha, Qatar during the 2022 World Cup, American Repertory Theater, and Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet. Shadowland by the dance company Pilobolus toured for over a decade and was performed on five continents, for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, and released as a feature film. Transplanted from the American Midwest to New York City, David Poe served as the sound engineer at CBGB’s 313 Gallery before signing with Sony/Epic. He currently lives in Los Angeles. www.davidpoemusic.com.
