MEET THE TEAM

DAVID BYRNE

Though I moved to New York City with hopes of being an artist, I'm mostly known as a musician, especially in connection with the band I was in for many years, Talking Heads. I was inspired by the innovative downtown theater scene when I moved to NYC, and I eventually ended up working with some of those companies: Robert Wilson, Twyla Tharp and Mabou Mines. More recently I have done some art installations and some theater work on Here Lies Love and Joan of Arc: Into the Fire. My ongoing interest in neuroscience and its implications led me to bring those worlds together for Theater of the Mind.

MALA GAONKAR

I research technology trends for my work at Surgo. I've tried to apply what I’ve learned to help set up a few primarily public health focused non-profit groups. These projects all require some model of how people decide to act. And yet, talking to the labs that partnered with us, it seemed some of my most basic intuitions on how we decide to act were incorrect. The experiments and ideas of the labs we met, several of which we embedded in our narrative, are as engaging and creative as any piece of theatre. We had a lot of fun bringing some of that open engagement into Theater of the Mind.

ANDREW SCOVILLE

DIRECTOR

Andrew is a director specializing in immersive layouts, technological landscapes, and hybrid-genre theater-making. He has a passion for integrating science ideas into experiences. Recent credits include Money Heist: The Experience (NYC production with Netflix, Fever and JJLA), The Brobot Johnson Experience (Bushwick Starr, NY Times Critics Pick), Escape the Planet (NY Hall of Science commission with astronomer Moiya McTier), People Doing Math, LIVE! (live podcast with National Museum of Math, Public Theater Under the Radar Festival, Strand Book Store, etc), Piano Tales (La MaMa, Lincoln Center, Bouley Test Kitchen, etc). Associate director: Here Lies Love (dir. Alex Timbers, Public Theater, National Theater UK, Seattle Rep), Sweeney Todd (dir. Bill Buckhurst, Barrow Street Theater), Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson (dir. Alex Timbers, Broadway). Graduate and current faculty at Playwrights Horizons Theater School, NYU Tisch. Co-director FGP NYC. andrewjscoville.com.

JESSICA AUSTGEN

GUIDE

Jessica Austgen’s (She/They) DCPA credits include Between Us: The Deck of Cards, Corduroy, Cult Following, Shakespeare in the Parking Lot, DragON (playwright). Other Denver credits: A Midsummer Night's Dream, Murder on the Orient Express, Small Mouth Sounds, Sense & Sensibility, All My Sons, Tartuffe (Arvada Center); Arcadia, Measure for Measure, The Importance of Being Earnest, Miss Julie (Theatreworks); Men On Boats (Catamounts). Playwright: ChristieCon, The Family Tree, Sin Street Social Club (Arvada Center); The Last Apple Tree (Catamounts); The Mail Order Husband (Piknik Theater). Performance Manager at Meow Wolf's Convergence Station.

ANNIE BARBOUR

GUIDE

Annie Barbour’s (She/Her) local credits include Small Mouth Sounds (Alicia), The Moors (Marjory), Midsummer Night’s Dream (Puck, Peter Quince), Agatha Christie’s Murder on The Orient Express (Countess), The Diary of Anne Frank (Margot) at the Arvada Center Black Box Repertory Theatre; Measure for Measure (Isabella) at Theatreworks. Regional work includes King John (Elinor, Henry) and Romeo and Juliet (Juliet US) at Great River Shakespeare Festival; An Accident of Sex (Amelia Earhart) at Kismet Creative Center; The Verge (Claire) at Satori. Training: BFA from Webster Conservatory of Theatre Arts.

AMANDA BERG WILSON

GUIDE

Amanda Berg Wilson is Artistic Director of The Catamounts, a Colorado company dedicated to theatre for the adventurous palate (thecatamounts.org), and a freelance theatre artist specializing in site-specific, immersive, and boundary-pushing works. As director: The Wild Party and Between Us: The Whiskey Tasting (DCPA Off-Center); 9 to 5, Pride and Prejudice, and Steel Magnolias (Creede Repertory Theatre); God's Ear, Failure: A Love Story, Rausch, Men On Boats, United Flight 232, and Land of Milk and Honey, among others (The Catamounts). As performer: Sweet & Lucky (DCPA Off-Center), Detroit (Curious Theatre Company), There is A Happiness That Morning Is and Beowulf: A Thousand Years of Baggage (The Catamounts). Select awards: 2014, 2016, 2018, and 2021 True West awards; 2017 and 2018 Henry nominations (Best Choreography and Best New Work.)

DONNIE L. BETTS

GUIDE

donnie l. betts (He/Him) is a founding member of two theatre companies City Stage Ensemble, and Denver Black Arts Company. He attended Yale School of Drama. Broadway credits include The Gospel at Colonus/Morgan Freeman, The Warrior Ant at (BAM). An original resident company member of DCPA Theatre Company, he has appeared in Home, Joe Turner's Come and Gone and others. With DCPA’s Off-Center in Between Us “The Deck of Cards”.

Directing credits include Citizen, Skeleton Crew, Black With A Capital B, Proof, Emperor Jones, Porgy and Bess, K2, Color Purple, Black Elk Speaks, The Mountain Top, and others. John Madden Jr. Lifetime Achievement Award, Emmy for My Voice.

JAMES BRUNT

GUIDE

James Brunt (He/Him) was born and raised in Denver, Colorado and is most known for pushing the boundaries of what we know about theater with immersive productions in obscure settings and hard-hitting concepts that make his audience truly reflect on their views of the world. He loves to create anything that will make his heartbeat faster and blood boil up. He received the 2019 True West award for Breakout Actor.

JANAE BURRIS

GUIDE

Janae Burris (She/Her) is a comedian, actor, event host, and a 2021 True West Award recipient. Recent theater performances include Hurricane Diane, Dontrell Who Kissed The Sea & Queen’s Girl In The World (Aurora Fox Theater), Eddie & Dave (Catamounts), and Between Us (DCPA Off Center). Janae is a 2019 Just For Laughs New Face and a “Pro” at Comedy Works Denver.

KRISTINA FOUNTAINE

GUIDE

Kristina Fountaine is a Denver-native. She was last seen in The Arvada Center’s Rep Season as Cheryl in Stick Fly, Isabelle & Sabine in The Liar and Muriel & Minorca in Animal Farm. Other credits include: Vanessa in Fairfield (Miner’s Alley Playhouse), Shanita in Skeleton Crew (Curious Theatre), Lisa in Corduroy (DCPA Theatre Company), Nessa in District Merchants (Henry Award Nominee, Best Supporting Actress) (Miner’s Alley Playhouse) and The Social Dilemma (Netflix). She holds a BFA from SUNY Purchase College.

ABNER GENECE

GUIDE

Abner Genece’s Off-Broadway credits include Othello, Tartuffe, The Cherry Orchard, Napoli Milionaria, Hamlet, and Waiting For Godot. Regional credits include Twelfth Night, Measure For Measure, For The Love of Freedom, The Bluest Eye, Around the World in 80 Days, Arabian Nights, Sense and Sensibility, The Electric Baby, All My Sons, The Diary of Anne Frank, Animal Farm and Stick Fly. TV/Film: Harry's Law, Law & Order: Los Angeles, Zeke and Luther, Merry Christmas, Drake and Josh, Better Off Ted, Unrest, and Need For Speed: Takedown. Training: AADA NY.

SAM GILSTRAP

GUIDE

Sam Gilstrap’s (He/Him) Colorado credits include Waiting for Godot, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, Guards at the Taj, and The Kentucky Cycle. He has been seen in over 50 plays at 15 regional theaters, including a traveling show in Vermont. Sam is also the host of The Ghost Lights Podcast, where he interviews performing artists from all over the world. TV/Film: Longmire and Clink. Shoot.

LISA HORI-GARCIA

GUIDE

Lisa Hori-Garcia is a recent transplant to Colorado and is thrilled to work with the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. She was most recently seen in Refuge (Curious Theatre) and the Colorado New Play Festival in Steamboat. Other California theater credits include Men on Boats, The Great Leap (American Conservatory Theater); Monument or Four Sister (A Sloth Play), Gangster of Love (Magic Theatre); As You Like It (California Shakespeare Theater); Seeing Red, Freedomland, Ripple Effect, Schooled (San Francisco Mime Troupe). Training: MFA, USC.

STEPH HOLMBO

GUIDE

Steph Holmbo’s (She/Her) Off-Broadway credits include 8 Million Protagonists (9th Space Theatre), Happenstance (Manhattan Movement Arts Center); Other New York credits include Fool For Love (NYU Grad Program) and I Stand (Episcopal Actor's Guild); Regional credits include Bright Star, Elf the Musical, A Christmas Carol, Million Dollar Quartet (Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities), Hundred Days and Freaky Friday (Aurora Fox Arts Center), Cabaret and Little Red Riding Hood (Miners Alley Playhouse), A Chorus Line (PACE Center), and others. Special Awards/ Training: True West Award: Breakout Star. BFA, NYU.

Michaela Murray

UNDERSTUDY

Michaela Murray's (she/her) local credits include LITTLE RED (Understudy) at DCPA, Theatre for Young Audiences. Regional work includes: Once on this Island at Town Hall Arts Center; Crowns the Musical (Yolanda), Gypsy (June), and The Drowsy Chaperone (Trix the Aviatrix) at the Vintage Theatre; Heathers the Musical (Heather MacNamara), Spongebob Squarepants The Musical (Sandy Cheeks), Into the Woods (The Witch), and Little Shop Of Horrors (Chiffon) at The Spark Theatre. Training: BFA from Santa Fe University of Art and Design.

PETER TRINH

GUIDE

Peter Trinh’s (He/Him) credits include Conspiracy Theory G (DCPA Off-Center), Chinglish, Arabian Nights (Aurora Fox), Everybody (Catamounts), War Anthology (Curious Theatre), and Boat Person (Theatre Esprit Asia; also playwright). On The Spot Improv (Bovine Metropolis Theatre).

MAGGIE WHITTUM

GUIDE

Maggie Whittum (She/Her) is a regular performer with Denver's disability-affirmative Phamaly Theatre Company. Credits include: A Midsummer Night's Dream, Into the Woods, Chicago and Alice in Wonderland. She has performed internationally in plays and improv comedy at theatre festivals in Edinburgh Scotland and across North America and Asia. She presents at conferences, hospitals, and medical schools on stroke/brain injury, disability and identity. Past engagements include: The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Georgetown Hospital, and Craig Hospital. Commercial: MapQuest, Samsung, Starz/Encore. Training: Shakespeare Theatre Company. Maggie is a passionate disability advocate and stroke survivor. www.thegreatnowwhat.com

MELISSA CASHION
PRODUCER/PRODUCTION MANAGER

Melissa joined the DCPA team in 2014 as Associate Production Manager and was part of the production management team that oversaw more than three dozen plays during that time. She also production managed all of Off-Center’s immersive and experiential work including Sweet & Lucky (created by Third Rail Projects) and The Wild Party. From 2008-2014 she served as Production Manager and Special Events Coordinator for Dallas Children's Theater where she also worked as a Director, Puppeteer, Lighting Designer, Stage Manager, and Voice Over Artist. In 2017, Melissa joined the DCPA artistic team as Artistic Producer and has been producing for the Theatre Company and Off-Center since. Melissa strives to support artistic vision and loves bringing new, experiential work to life.

NATE KOCH
PRODUCER

Nate is a Lortel Award-winning (Sweeney Todd, 2017) and Drama Desk Award-winning (Queen of the Night, 2015) producer and creator of immersive works. His company, ENVEEKAY, specializes in providing executive producing and general management for complex immersive projects and boundary-pushing theatrical entertainment businesses and brands. Current creative projects include Theater of the Mind and multiple new immersive works in development including projects with VICE Media, Virgin Voyages, and Constellation Immersive. Current ENVEEKAY clients include David Byrne's Arbutus Foundation; Seaview Productions; KORINS Studio; P3 Productions; Fiona Rudin Productions; Marathon Digital; and Soho Rep. Past creative partners and clients include Punchdrunk, Secret Cinema, Madison Wells Media, Superfly, Google, Arkham Asylum, Ars Nova, the TEAM, and Sleep No More. enveekay.com @nate__koch

CHARLIE MILLER
PRODUCER

Charlie Miller is the Executive Director and Curator of Off-Center at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. Charlie co-founded Off-Center with Emily Tarquin in 2010, and the programming line is credited with bringing immersive theatre to Colorado and helping establish Denver as a national hub for immersive art. Off-Center’s large-scale immersive and experiential projects over the last eight years have garnered local and national praise and attracted a new audience to the DCPA. His most recent project, Camp Christmas, brought in rave reviews and holiday cheer to over 135,000 in its first two years. Charlie is a sixth-generation Denverite and loves producing new theatrical experiences for his hometown. 

LEEANN ROSSI
PRODUCER

LeeAnn is a creative producer. She works with artists to ensure their vision is brought to life in whatever form that may take — from books, albums and film to theater and live performance.

AMANDA BERG WILSON
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR

Please see Meet the Cast for bio.

BETTY HART
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR

Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill (DCPA Garner Galleria & Vintage Theatre); By the way, meet Vera Stark (Fine Arts Center at Colorado College), Once on this Island (Town Hall Arts Center), Blackademics (Vintage Theatre), To the Moon and An Iliad (Creede Repertory Theatre), Polaroid Stories (Metropolitan State University), The Scottsboro Boys and Crowns (Vintage Theatre); Hooded, or Being Black for Dummies (Aurora Fox); The Darker Face of the Earth; Evelyn in Purgatory; A Thousand Circlets; Jim Crow and the Rhythm Darlings (Essential Theatre); Loose Change; On Empty (Kaiser Permanente Arts Integrated Resources). Co-director of 2021-22 Local Lab, Local Theater Company’s annual new play festival. Betty is an associate artist of Local Theater Company. Special/Awards/Training: 2018 & 2021 True West Award winner.

Alex Billman
Associate Sound Designer

Billman has long been exploring the worlds of Storytelling and Technology (Sound primarily). Recipient of a Kennedy Center Sound Design Fellowship with the Williamstown Theatre Festival. Currently functioning as the Sound Supervisor at the DCPA, overseeing on-site and off-site shows. Off-Center/immersive work includes: indoor graveyard rain summoning, urging patrons to smell poultices, separating couples into mausoleums, soldering "launch code terminal sockets", wordlessly giving hints in a rabbit mask, drilling holes in doll heads to increase intelligibility, shoveling imported sand for a tactile VR space, scissor lift acrobatics focusing 25+ projectors... and hopefully the list will go ever on.

HEIDI BOISVERT
TECHNOLOGY DESIGNER

Heidi is an artist, scientist and creative technologist who interrogates the neurobiological and socio-cultural effects of media and technology. Simply put, she studies the role of the body, the senses, and emotion in human perception and social change. She architects expanded reality and transmedia storytelling experiences, and devises networked dance and theatre using biocreative technology. She is the founder of futurePerfect lab, a boutique creative agency and think-tank that harnesses the power of pop culture, emerging technology, and neuroscience to ignite culture change. Heidi is currently Assistant Professor of AI and the Arts at the University of Florida, an MIT research affiliate and a member of NEW INC’s Creative Science track. She received her PhD in Electronic Arts from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. futureperfectlab.com

Peggy Carey
Associate Production Manager/PRODUCING ASSOCIATE

Peggy recently joined the DCPA team this year as an Associate Production Manager, working on Theater of the Mind as her first project! Before then, she was working at The Public Theater (New York, NY) as an Associate Production Manager, managing hundreds of readings, developments, and events, as well as hiring stage management teams. Additionally, she helped to originate the Ithaca Fringe Festival as Production Director and has worked at Actors Workshop of Ithaca, Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, and the Kitchen Theatre. She is passionate about new works and educating a new generation of artists.

SARITA FELLOWS
COSTUME DESIGNER

Selected credits include A Bright Room Called Day (Public Theater), Native Son (The Acting Co), Original Sound (Cherry Lane Theater), Hatef**k (The Women’s Project), and A Chronicle of the Death of Two Worlds (New York Theater Workshop). Regional credits include Top Girls, Her Portmanteau (A.C.T); The Royale (A.T.C.); Ain’t Misbehavin’ (Signature Theatre); Pipeline (Studio Theatre); School Girls; Or, the African Mean Girls Play (Pittsburgh Public Theater); Haunted Life (M.R.T); Two Trains Running (Weston Playhouse); Berta Berta, A Late Morning with Reagan (C.A.T.F); Having Our Say (Philadelphia Theater Co). MFA NYU/Tisch. saritafellows.com

Theodore Koterwas
Creative Consultant

Theodore Koterwas is an artist and musician who works with the science of perception, data, sound and physical phenomena to draw attention to and examine aspects of daily experience that often go unnoticed but profoundly impact on how we understand ourselves, others and the environment. https://theodorekoterwas.com/

Charles Macleod
Associate Lighting Designer

At the DCPA (300+ productions/39 seasons): Designs include: The Chinese Lady, In The Upper Room, As You Like It, Sweat, Native Gardens, One Night in Miami, Appoggiatura, The Diary of Anne Frank, Lydia, The Merry Wives of Windsor, 1001, The 39 Steps, Gem of the Ocean, All My Sons, Death of a Salesman, Lord of the Flies, Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde, A Christmas Carol, Love, Janis, Lost Highway: The Music and Legend of Hank Williams. For DCPA Cabaret: The Other Josh Cohen, The Improvised Shakespeare Company®, Xanadu, First Date, An Act of GOD, I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change, Girls Only: The Secret Comedy of Women (Denver, Winnipeg, Des Moines, Charlotte and 2016-2022 National Tours), The Taffetas, My Way, The World Goes’ Round, Swingtime Canteen, The Last Five Years, Always… Patsy Cline. For DCPA Education: Corduroy, Goodnight Moon. Mr. MacLeod has been the resident Lighting Designer for the DCPA Theatre Company since 1987 and a member of the Theatre Company since 1983. http://www.charlesmacleod.com

JEANETTE OI-SUK YEW
LIGHTING DESIGNER

Jeanette Oi-Suk Yew is an award-winning multi-disciplinary theatrical designer for theatre, dance, opera, musicals, music performances, installation, immersive experiences and digital productions. Her designs have been seen across US cities and internationally. As a designer, Jeanette aims to create a visual environment that is organically integrated into the landscape and language of the production. NY Times described her designs as “clever” and “inventive”. Her most recent immersive design was with En Garde Art’s “part art installation, part immersive theater” experience A Dozen Dreams (NYC) and NEVERMORE PARK, an immersive art experience powered by the imagination of artist Hebru Brantley (Chicago). With DCPA, Jeanette designed Vietgone and Smart People and the upcoming Choir Boy. Recipient of the NEA/TCG Career Development Program.

Lisa Orzolek
Associate Scenic Designer

Lisa is the Director of Scenic Design for the DCPA Theatre Company where she has designed, overseen, or assisted on the designs for more than 270 productions in 32 seasons for Theatre Company, Off-Center, Cabaret and Education. Recent DCPA design credits include Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf; The Other Josh Cohen; A Doll’s House & A Doll’s House, Part 2; Goodnight Moon; The Improvised Shakespeare Company®; Native Gardens; Xanadu; Sweet & Lucky and more. A Denver native, Lisa has a BFA in Scenic Design from Boston University.

NEIL PATEL
SCENIC DESIGNER

Born in Wales and educated at Yale College and the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera, Neil has applied his passion for design and storytelling to distinguished work in Theater, Opera, Dance, Film and Television. Recent credits include “Dickinson” (Apple TV+), “The Path” (HULU), Little Boxes (Netflix), Dil Dhadakne Do (Excel Entertainment), Some Velvet Morning (Tribeca Films), Time and the Conways (Broadway), Father Comes Home from the Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3) (Royal Court London), Mughal E Azam (NCPA Mumbai and Delhi), Alcina (Washington National Opera), Norma (LA Opera) and Shadowland for Pilobolus throughout the world.

GRADY SOAPES, CSA
CASTING

Grady (he/him/his) is the Director of Casting and Artistic Producer with the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. Selected casting credits include Rattlesnake Kate, Goodnight Moon, Indecent, A Doll’s House and A Doll’s House, Part 2 in repertory, Oklahoma!, Last Night and the Night Before, The Who’s Tommy, The Wild Party, A Christmas Carol, This Is Modern Art. Grady also works as a Casting Director for Sylvia Gregory Casting where he has cast commercials for Subaru, Fruit of the Loom and has been an associate on several tv, film and video games projects. Choreography credits include Goodnight Moon, Anna Karenina, As You Like It, Drag Machine, Lord of the Butterflies, DragON (Denver Center); Comedy of Errors (Colorado Shakespeare Festival); The Liar (Arvada Center); The Music Man (Perry-Mansfield) as well as Artist in Residence at Colorado State University in 2010. Grady is the producer of the Colorado New Play Summit and former producer of the Colorado New Play Festival.

CODY SPENCER
SOUND DESIGNER

Cody’s work as Sound Designer includes Broadway Bounty Hunter, Joan of Arc: Into the Fire, Here Lies Love (Lortel Award) and The Pee Wee Herman Show. Some of his work as Associate Sound Designer includes Mean Girls, Lazarus, Beautiful, Book of Mormon, Bring It On: The Musical, and Annie. In addition to theatre, Cody has co-designed some of New York’s biggest concert venues including Brooklyn Steel, Terminal 5 and Webster Hall.

BROOKLYN RESEARCH
TECHNOLOGY CONSULTANT

Brooklyn Research is a creative technology consultancy working at the intersection of art and technology and has worked with a wide variety of partners including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Google and Jim Hodges. The team for this installation consists of Patrick Rummage, Johnny Lu, and Ezer Longinus. Brooklyn Research was founded in 2012 by Alex Dodge, Ezer Longinus, and Johnny Lu as a co-research space for independent researchers building new technology in Brooklyn, NY. brooklynresearch.com

slow immediate
TECHNOLOGY CONSULTANT

slow immediate is the creative engineering R&D studio of Xin Liu and Gershon Dublon. With projects from immersive theatre and multi-sensory virtual reality to outer space robotics, the duo applies science, engineering and design to create unexpected, intimate moments of perception that bridge the inner self and the outside world. Through both original commissions and collaborative productions, the studio's work has been shown in venues including the Sundance Film Festival and Ars Electronica. Based in New York City, slow immediate is an incubee of the New Museum's NEW INC Creative Experiments program. Theater of the Mind marks their Denver debut.