Syncing Ink

McKenzie Frye

Actor

McKenzie Frye (Mona Lisa/ Gordon’s Mom) is a multi-disciplined performing artist from Detroit, MI and a Howard University graduate with a B.F.A. in Musical Theatre. Off Broadway/ Regional Credits include: Syncing Ink (Alley Theatre), Wig Out!, Damn Yankees, Dreamgirls, River Deep and Harriet’s Return starring Debbie Allen. Film and TV credits include wishing…, The Stronger, My Brother and Law & Order. Recent workshops include: The Lady Killer’s Love story (The Apollo Theater), Syncing Ink (Alley All New Festival/ The Flea Theater /Hi-Arts) and Girl Shakes Loose (The Eugene O’Neill Center). Ms. Frye is also a choreographer with work that has been featured on The Jonathan Ross Show, Jimmy Kimmel Live! and both domestically and internationally on tour with Nile Rodgers and CHIC. One of McKenzie’s best kept secrets is that she is a skilled songwriter with soon to be released music that includes collaborations with FOLAMI & Nile Rodgers of CHIC and Lester “L2” Shaw. It’s been an honor and pleasure for Ms. Frye to continue this work with the Syncing Ink family. Belief is real!

Nuri Hazzard

Actor

Nuri Hazzard (Jamal, Professor Brown) is a Brooklyn-based actor, writer, and MC. Having graduated from University of North Carolina School of the Arts in 2013 with a B.F.A. in Acting, Nuri has since moved from North Carolina to New York where he’s been performing and teaching. Originally from Washington DC, Nuri began his formal artistic education at Duke Ellington School of the Arts. It was there he found his artistic voice and purpose, writing his own music and building the foundations of acting/performance with world renowned master teachers. Since then he’s been able to continue making an impact as an actor and lyricist, most notably with the release of his latest EP Seein’ Signs and his role as Arius in American Milkshake which premiered at Sundance Film Festival. Nuri has also spent time empowering future thinkers, artists, and innovators by mentoring and teaching acting and lyricism at high school programs in D.C. and New York. Mr. Hazzard is excited about opportunities to ignite important dialogue, inspire change, empower the oppressed, heal, and liberate spirits! He gives thanks to the Most High, his family, and his extended family.

Elisha Lawson

Actor

Elisha Lawson (Ice Cold, Born) is happy to be making his debut here at the new Flea theatre. He’s been making a name for himself throughout the New York Television Scene, gaining fame for his role of “Switchblade” in the television series “The Get Down”.  Additionally he has portrayed roles in HBO’s Boardwalk Empire, CBS’ Blue Bloods, and just filmed a recurring role in the NBC’s, Shades of Blue. After receiving his theater arts degree at UNC Pembroke, Elisha received a scholarship to attend The New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts. He was hired by Chicago City Limits Improv troupe straight out of school and has been working ever since. His theater credits include; A Christmas Carol (McCarter Theater), To Kill a Mockingbird (Queens Theater in the Park), and The Taste of It (Balleybeg Theater Co.) Elisha is also Co-founder of his production company, ProDucks Media. He would like to thank God for his passion and his mom and dad for supporting it. elishalawson.com

Adesola Osakalumi

Actor

Adesola Osakalumi (Mr. Wright, Gordon’s Dad, Baba Black, The Ruler) starred in the original Broadway cast, national and international tours of Fela! and Fela! The Concert and the Broadway revival of Equus (Nugget U/S, ensemble). New York/Regional theater includes: Skeleton Crew (Atlantic Theater Company) In Your Arms (Old Globe Theatre), Ngwino Ubeho (Sundance Theater Lab), Eyewitness Blues (New York Theater Workshop), Jam on the Groove (Minetta Lane Theater, Drama Desk nominee). TV: ICE(Audience Network/DirectTV). Film includes: IBRAHIM ,Sex and the City 2, Crazy Beats Strong Every Time, The Accidental Husband, Across the Universe, Enchanted and Idlewild. As a choreographer for film: School of Rock, Marci X. Commercials and Theater include: Broadway Bares, ESPN, Old Navy, PBS Kids, Halifax Bank & Advil. A New York native, NEA Grant recipient, Bessie Award winner and Sundance Theatre Lab alumni Adesola was introduced to the performing arts by his family and believes the responsibility of an artist is to enlighten and inspire. Web: adesola.com. Twitter: @AdesolaO IG: adesolaosakalumi

DJ Reborn

Actor

DJ Reborn (The Mutha) is a trailblazing, international DJ, sound collage artist, hip hop theater musical director and arts educator. She has spent the last two decades utilizing her passion for music and her skills as a DJ within these worlds to make an impact. Reborn has a myriad of impressive accomplishments including her time as a DJ/ creative writing mentor for teen girls at Urban Word NYC, DJ instructor and curriculum designer for Dubspot and currently as a mentor at The Lower Eastside Girl’s Club. In the .music world, she has opened shows for The Roots and John Legend and in the art world has spun for celebrated artists Kara Walker, Wangheci Mutu and Carrie Mae Weems. She has deejayed on BET and for the live telecast of the NAACP Image Awards as well as the MSNBC telecast of the One Nation Rally at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC. She has graced many stages including The Kennedy Center, The Apollo and The Sydney Opera House in Australia. In the theater world she has provided live soundscapes for activists Eve Ensler’s V-Day project and Howard Zinn’s Voices of a People and was the musical director and DJ for Will Power’s FLOW as well as the tour DJ for Russell Simmons Tony award winning Def Poetry Jam. DJ Reborn recently conceived, created and performed a theater piece about and featuring all women DJs. She continues to build a unique and dynamic resume that sets her apart from many in her field.

Kara Young

Actor

Kara Young (Sweet Tea) Harlem Born and raised. Credits: Pretty Hunger (dir. Martha Banta, The Public NYC), Queen Latina and Her Power Posse (Dir. Elizabeth Canavan, Cherry Lane), Syncing Ink (dir. Niegel Smith, Alley Theatre), Gutting (National Black Theater). Intensives include LAByrinth Theater Company’s Intensive Ensemble and Sundance Theater Lab. MTV’s Girl Code (4 seasons). @karaakter

Gabriel “Kwikstep” Dionisio

Choreographer

Gabriel “Kwikstep” Dionisio AKA DJ KS 360 started dancing between the ages of 6 and 7 influenced by Soul Train and block parties in NYC. Kwikstep has performed in PBS’s Peabody Award-winning Everybody Dance Now, the Great Performances 20th Anniversary Special, and Kurt Weill’s “September Songs,” which was nominated for an Emmy Award. Kwikstep is a Bessie award recipient for choreography and also founded his crew known as Full Circle in 1992. In 1996 Kwikstep and his wife Rokafella established Full Circle as a non-profit internationally acclaimed Hip hop collective known as Full Circle Productions Inc and its members are known as Full Circle Souljahs. Today he is an international icon in breaking and is best known for his smooth style, versatility and signature head spins. He was also an original founding member choreographer and principal dancer in companies such as Rhythm Technicians and GhettOriginal who were the creators of Jam on the Groove which was nominated for a Drama Desk Award. Most recently Kwikstep was a featured dancer/choreographer in The Netflix Series  The Get Down directed by Baz Luhrmann.

Riccardo Hernandez

Scenic Designer

Broadway: The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess (2012 Tony Award Best Musical Revival), The People in the Picture (Studio 54), Tony Kushner’s Caroline, or Change (also Royal National Theater London – 2007 Olivier Award for Best New Musical/2006 London’s Evening Standard Award for Best Musical), TopDog/UnderDog (2002 Pulitzer Award Best Play-also Royal Court, London), Elaine Stritch at Liberty (also West End’s Old Vic & National Tour), Parade (Hal Prince director, Tony and Drama Desk Nominations), Bells Are Ringing, Bring in ‘Da Noise, Bring in ‘Da Funk (also National Tours and Japan), The Tempest.

Recent: The Dead (Abbey Theater, Dublin), Il Postino Sets and Costumes (Los Angeles Opera, Theatre du Chatelet Paris, Theater an der Wien, PBS Telecast), Die Entfuhrung Aus Dem Serail (Opera de Nice, France), Sweeney Todd (Opera Theater of Saint Louis), The Lost Highway Sets and Costumes (Diane Paulus director, London’s English National Opera/Young Vic), La Mouette (Cour D’Honneur, Avignon Festival), Jan Karski, Mon Nom Est Fiction (Opera Theatre, Avignon Festival), Abigail’s Party (Oslo National Theater), Philip Glass’ Appomatox (Robert Woodruff director, San Francisco Opera).

Over twenty productions at New York Shakespeare Festival/Public Theater: The America Play, One Flea Spare, Stuff Happens, Mother Courage (starring Meryl Streep), BAM, Lincoln Center, Atlantic Theater (collaborations with film director Ethan Cohen), Second Stage, NYTW, MTC, MCC, Playwrights Horizons, etc.

Regional: American Repertory Theater (collaborations with Diane Paulus, Ron Daniels, Robert Woodruff, Janos Szasz, Arthur Nauzyciel, Robert Brustein), Guthrie, Goodman, Taper, La Jolla, Steppenwolf, McCarter, etc.

Opera: Don Giovanni (Diane Paulus director, Chicago Opera), Charles Wuorinen’s Haroun (Mark Lamos director, New York City Opera), Amistad (George C. Wolfe director, Lyric Opera of Chicago), Houston Grand Opera, FGO, Santa Fe Opera, Gotham Opera NYC, etc.

Also: Festival Automne Paris, Orleans CDN France, Det Norske Teatret Oslo Norway, MXAT (Moscow Art Theater)

Upcoming: Il Tabarro/I Pagliacci for Opera Theater of Saint Louis, Il Postino for Teatro Real de Madrid, directed by Ron Daniels, La Traviata for Lyric Opera of Chicago, directed by Arin Arbus.

Princess Grace Statue Award. Princeton University Lecturer. Yale School of Drama.

Claudia Brown

Costume Designer

Claudia Brown has designed costumes for film, theater and dance. She has worked in New York City theaters for thirty years largely on new works by contemporary playwrights at theaters including The Flea Theater, Playwrights Horizon, MCC Theater Company, Signature Theater, and En Garde Arts. She has designed costumes for Take Care, by Todd Shalom and Niegel Smith, Mrs. Farnsworth, Crazy Mary and Family Furniture by A.R. Gurney, Crowbar, Bad Penny, Sincerity Forever by Mac Wellman, Oh, The Humanity by Will Eno, Dawn by Thomas Bradshaw, Like I Say and Limbo Tales by Len Jenkins, and Nixon’s Nixon by Russell Lees.  Her film credits include River’s Edge (1987), Trust (1990), Starting Out in the Evening (2006), The Ballad of Little Jo (1992), Smoke (1986) and Copycat (1996). As well, she has designed costumes for Lava Dance, Hartford Ballet, and Arizona Ballet. She is a graduate of The Yale School of Drama.

Kevin Rigdon

Lighting Designer

Design credits include the Broadway productions of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, The Old Neighborhood, Buried Child, The Rise and Fall of Little Voice, The Song of Jacob Zulu, A Streetcar Named Desire, The Grapes of Wrath, Speed the Plow, Our Town, Glengarry Glen Ross, The Caretaker and Ghetto. London credits include Waiting for Godot, You Never Can Tell and Orphans on the West End; Speed the Plow and The Grapes of Wrath for The Royal National Theatre; One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and The Man Who Came to Dinner at the Barbican; American Buffalo, and Ricky Jay and His 52 Assistants. Productions for the Peter Hall Company include The Importance of Being Earnest, Measure for Measure, Waiting for Godot, Much Ado About Nothing, and Man and Superman. Mr. Rigdon has extensive design credits Off-Broadway and regionally. He was the resident designer for Steppenwolf Theatre from 1976 to 1997 during which he designed the scenery, lighting, and costumes for more than 110 productions. He is currently the Associate Director/Design for Houston’s Alley Theatre where he has designed more than 80 productions. Mr. Rigdon is the recipient of two Tony Award nominations, seven Joseph Jefferson Awards, two American Theatre Wing Design Awards, and the Drama-Logue Award. Mr. Rigdon is the Artistic Director for the American National Exhibit for the 2019 Prague Quadrennial Sceneography Exhibition and he serves as the Vice President for International Activities for USITT and on the Executive Committee of OISTAT.  In addition to his design credits, Mr. Rigdon is the John and Rebecca Moores Professor of Theatre and Head of Graduate Design at the University of Houston.

Justin Ellington

Sound Designer

Justin Ellington is pleased to make his Flea Debut. Credits include: New York (Broadway, Off-Broadway): The Acting Company: X; New York Theater Workshop: Fetch Clay Make Man, The Seven; MCC Theater: The Pride, The Break of Noon; Broadway/Lincoln Center: Other Desert Cities Regional: The Repertory Theater of St. Louis: Until The Flood; People’s Light Theater: The Mountaintop; PlayMakers Repertory Company: Detroit 67; Jungle Theater: Bars and Measures; People’s Light: The Harassment of Iris Malloy, All My Sons; Guthrie Theater: Trouble In Mind; Dallas Theater Center: Romeo and Juliet, Stagger Lee; Oregon Shakespeare Festival: The Comedy of Errors; McCarter Theater: Fetch Clay Make Man, Are You There McPhee; Alliance Theater: Shakespeare’s R&J, King Hedly, TopDog/UnderDog; Children’s Theater Company: Five Fingers of Funk; Chautauqua Theater Company: A Raisin in the Sun, Intimate Apparel International: The National Theater of London: The American Clock (workshop); The Royal Shakespeare Company: My Shakespeare; The Stratford Festival: As You Like It;  Awarded by: The American Society of Composers and Publishers (ASCAP), National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, and The Industry Film Producers Association.

Sybil R. Williams

Dramaturg

Sybil R. Williams is a playwright and dramaturge whose work has been professionally produced by Chicago’s ETA Creative Arts Theatre; New York’s National Black Theater; Pittsburgh’s Kuntu Theatre; University of Pennsylvania; CALARTS; and Harlem’s Rebel Theatre and the Red Shirt Reading Series in New York City.  Her latest work I AM A DRUM was presented as part of FRESSH Theatre’s inaugural season in March 2016.

As a dramaturge, she completed a three-year project creating a docudrama to celebrate the lives of the Little Rock Nine titled IT HAPPENED IN LITTLE ROCK and the Latino/African-American Theatre festival VOICES AT THE RIVER at the Arkansas Repertory Theatre.  She served as dramaturge for  THREE LITTLE BIRDS at Adventure Theatre .  Her latest projects include a new musical titled U.G.L.Y.  at Sigworks Summer Musical Theatre Development Series, and a new hip-hop musical at New York City’s Flea Theatre titled SYNCHING INK to premiere at Houston’s Alley Theatre in January 2017.

As an instructor, Williams teaches courses on African-American, African, and Caribbean performance and aesthetics. She also teaches in the Women’s Studies program focusing on feminist artist of the Diaspora. Having just returned from Cuba, she is most looking forward to exploring the work of contemporary women artists in Havana. This fall she will direct the freshman debut performance titled “Overture” for the Theatre/Musical Theatre program. It’s always a blast!!

Taísa Malouf

Associate Scenic Designer

Taísa Malouf is a Brazilian Set & Production Designer based in New York City. She design sets and environments for Film, Theater, Opera, Events & Fashion. She holds a Bachelor of Visual Communication & Semiotics degree from the University PUC of São Paulo, and a MFA degree in Design for Stage and Film at NYU Tisch School of the Arts,  where she has been award with the Lew Wasserman Scholarship, John Conklin Scholarship, TSOA Department Fellowship & Shubert Foundation Scholarship. Taisa is a member of the United Scenic Artists Union – Local USA 829 IATSE.

Zach Weeks

Associate Lighting Designer

Zack Weeks is thrilled to be working at The Flea! Zach’s recent work includes The Magic Flute, My Fair Lady, The Light in the Piazza, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead the Opera (Seagle Music Colony), Sweet Bird of Youth (Gallery Players), Hamlet (Nuance), A Little Night Music, Company (St Barts Players). Zach holds an MFA in Lighting Design from Ohio University. To learn more about Zach or to see more of his work please go to zwdesigns.net.

Kristan Seemel

Assistant Director

Before coming to New York five years ago, Kristan was a freelance director in Oregon for the better part of a decade. While on the other coast, he worked for eight seasons at Portland Center Stage, first as a Literary Associate and later as Corporate Development Associate during the organization’s transition into the historic Armory Theater, a world-renowned Green Building project.

Kristan came up in the theater working on new plays, serving as dramaturg on a score of premiere productions and developmental workshops. His passion for new American writing is clear from his direction of premiers such as Mary-Kate Olsen is in Love by Mallery Avidon and The Electric Lighthouse by Ed Himes (The Flea). Other new plays Kristan has directed include Mutt by Lava Alapai (Many Hats Collective) and The Verspiary by Matthew Zrebski (Stark Raving Theatre) as well as NW regional premieres of Carlos Murillo’s Mimesophobia (Sand & Glass Productions), The Long Christmas Ride Home by Paula Vogel (TheatreVertigo) and Mac Wellman’s A Murder of Crows (defunkt theatre). He has developed new plays with Playwrights Horizons/Clubbed Thumb (SuperLab), The Lark, Brave New World Repertory Theater, Spookfish and The Barn Arts Collective.

Kristan is a graduate of the Brown/Trinity Rep MFA program in directing and while in Providence he helmed workshop productions Oh Guru Guru Guru by Mallery Avidon and The Darkson Chronicles by Theo Goodell.

Recent favorite revivals include Brecht & Weill’s The Threepenny Opera, John Webster’s The Duchess of Malfi (Brown/Trinity Rep) and Hamlet (CoHo Productions). Kristan’s staging of Gertrude Stein’s Doctor Faustus Lights the Lights (defunkt theatre) garnered him a Portland Dramatic Critics Circle award (Drammy) for Outstanding Direction. Some of his favorite assisting credits include Gurney’s AJAX, The Mysteries (The Flea), A Raisin in the Sun, A Christmas Carol and Camelot (Trinity Rep).

Kristan is a proud alumnus of the 2012/13 Soho Rep Writer/Director Lab and the SDCF Observership Program.

Check out www.kristanseemel.com for more info.

Katherine George

Assistant to the Director

Katherine George is an Afro-Latina performer, director, writer, and educator from the Bronx, NY. She began her journey as performer at a young age and has been blessed with the opportunity of performing in various venues around the country including the Apollo Theater, Bowery Poetry Club, Carnegie Hall, the New Amsterdam Theater on Broadway, the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, and Radio City Music Hall. She was a member of the 2012 Urban Word Slam team which participated in the international poetry festival, Brave New Voices. She was also a member of the award-winning Brooklyn College Poetry Slam team since it’s inception in 2011 and was named the Grand Slam Champion in both 2014 and 2015.  She co-coached the Urban Word 2013 national slam team which ranked 3rd in the world. She obtained her Bachelors degree in Theater from Brooklyn College where she partnered up with another student to create the play, Black and Blue. She was a member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation Observership class of 2016-2017. Through this program, Katherine was able to observe Tony-nominated director, Liesl Tommy during the Public Theater’s production of Party People. She’s recently become an acting alumni for the 24-Hour Play: Nationals program. You can watch her star in the new digital series, #lovemyroomie. You can also catch her occasionally singing background for Jennifer Lopez while trying to remember her lines for Serials as a Bat at the Flea! She thanks Niegel and the rest of Syncing Ink crew for bringing her into the magic.

Sarah Lawrence

Assistant Costume Designer

A graduate of Parson’s The New School for Design, Sarah is a Brooklyn based artist, costume designer, and stylist. While pursuing her design degree and creating her own sustainable hand-crafted fashion line (www.gravexsl.com), Sarah found her way into theater as Assistant Costume Designer for Thomas Bradshaw’s Fulfillment produced by The Flea Theater in the fall of 2015. She has since joined the Flea Staff as resident Wardrobe Supervisor and continues to costume shows like Witness Relocation’s The Loon, New York Times Critics Pick Inanimate. Sarah is thrilled to be working on The Flea’s production of Syncing Ink!

John McKenna

Assistant Sound Designer

John McKenna is a Sound Designer and Engineer currently living in NYC. He was born and raised in Colorado where he started working professionally doing sound reinforcement. He wanted to continue in the entertainment industry, so he journeyed to State College, PA where he attended Penn State University, majoring in Sound Design. Recent accolades include an Audelco Award Nomination.

Michal V. Mendelson

Production Stage Manager

Michal V. Mendelson is glad to be back at The Flea. Her other NY credits include The New School for Drama, New Georges, Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre, Red Fern Theatre, TerraNova Collective, New Dramatists, The Pearl Theatre, Studio 42, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Dog-Run Rep, and Worth Street Theatre. Regionally, she has stage managed for Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theatre, Berkshire Playwrights Lab, and Fairfield Theatre. She is a proud member of Actors Equity.

Violet Asmara Tafari

Assistant Stage Manager