Mario Quesada is an actor/writer based in NYC. His work includes character roles in: Three Sisters (dir. Pavol Liska, Classic Stage Co./Nature Theater of Oklahoma); The Cherry Orchard (dir. Juan Souki, Classic Stage Co.); Zastrozzi (dir. Felix Ivanov); The Three Penny Opera (dir. Henning Hegland, Columbia Stages). He wrote/performed his first solo piece, Ya Get the Picture?, for the HOWL! Arts Fest/Connelly Center. The piece was based on his time working with a street ministry/homeless group. Mario holds a BA in English/Drama from Catholic University in DC. He trained and performed for four years with a Russian/Georgian theatre in DC. He studied at The Actors Center in NYC (1 year); T. Schreiber Studio (1 year) and under master teacher/fight choreographer Felix Ivanov (4 years).
Andrea Thome is a Chilean-Costa Rican, Wisconsin-born mutt who grew up navigating the multiple landscapes and languages that now inhabit her plays. Her dramas, absurd comedies, play translations and video satires have been presented at theaters, galleries and universities around the U.S. and Latin America. She became a playwright by necessity in San Francisco, where her tiny Red Rocket Theater Company avoided eviction by writing and producing a new play every 6 weeks. Andrea currently co-directs Fulana, a New York-based satire collective (and 2009 Ford Foundation grantee) that creates cutting political/cultural parodies (www.fulana.org). Andrea has received fellowships from NYFA, the City of Oakland, Lark Playwrights Workshop, INTAR, New York University (MFA Fellow), and the Women's Project. Past collaborators include Culture Clash, Latina Theatre Lab, Campo Santo and Guillermo Gómez-Peña. Andrea has taught at various universities, schools and cultural centers nationwide, and directs the Lark Play Development Center's U.S.-México Playwrights Exchange. She is a member of New Dramatists.
Karen Smith Vastola's commissioned play Joseph & the Pinenut was produced at Andy's Summer Playhouse in 2007, N.H. Useless Inc. was commissioned and produced at Andy's in 2006 and directed by Johanna Gruenhut. The Appointment was part of Rattlestick's 2004 Exposure Festival and a finalist for the Kitchen Dog Theatre New Works Festival. Her play Eggs & Apples was recipient of a 2004 John Golden Playwrighting Award and read at DR2 Theater, New York. A section of Eggs & Apples was produced at Columbia University's One-Act Summer Play Festival and directed by Gisela Cardenas. Under the Bed was a finalist in the Drury University One-Act Play Competition 2004. Monologues and Scenes from her plays have been published in the Best Women's and Men's Anthologies by Smith & Krauss, as well as Best Stage Monologues and Scenes from the 90's, Meriwether Publishing. She has been a Yaddo fellow. Ms. Smith Vastola graduated from Columbia University's MFA Playwriting Program. Karen is a member of the Dramatist Guild. This year her play-in-progress Big Girls, Little Girls was read at the Stark Theater and directed by Stacie Dugan Vourakis.
Heather J. Violanti is a dramaturg and playwright. Her first full-length play, Aphra, Where Have You Been?, won the Connecticut State Division of the Clauder Competition in 2001. She wrote the books for two original musicals, Rainbow Journey and Victory, produced at MusicalFare in Buffalo, New York. Additionally, Heather has worked as a new play development dramaturge for the Arts Council of England and as a script-reader for Playscripts, Soho Theatre and Writers Centre, the King's Cross Competition, and the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center. Currently, she works as a dramaturg for the Mint Theater and contributes reviews to NYtheatre.com. She has an M.F.A. in Dramaturgy and Dramatic Criticism from Yale School of Drama
terraNOVA Collective is a vibrant playground for artists devoted to innovative new and original theatrical works. Its multi-layered development process, solo arts festivals, and productions serve to nurture and liberate our community.
www.terranovacollective.org
