Mirror Stage Announces Cast For INSPIRED BY...

Mirror Stage has announced its cast for the debut of INSPIRED BY…a new 10-minute play festival bringing together six playwrights and six change-makers to create six transformative new plays in a matter of days (see names and bios below).

The October 5th festival now also features new recorded performance ticket options, available October 9 - 13, 2025, furthering goals to make this event as accessible as possible.

Playing at Cornish College of the Arts' Raisbeck Auditorium (2017 Boren Ave., Seattle, WA) on Saturday, Oct 5 @ 7:30pm.. Learn more at mirrorstage.org/events/inpsired-by/.

Meet the Cast

Sameer Arshad is a Persian-Turk-Arab-Indian-Pakistani playwright, writer, actor, animator, film-maker, comic maker and visual artist based in Seattle. Several of Sameer's plays, short and long, have received productions in the Seattle area (Crewmates, 2018, Annex Theatre; Millennitopia, 2017, 14/48 Nordo; Anything Can Write A Play, 2024, 14/48 Projects; Can We Abolish ICE Now?, 2024, 14/48 Projects). They have also acted in several productions and readings in the Seattle Area, with Centrestage Theatre, Macha Theatre Works, Parley Productions, UW UTS and other independent productions. Sameer is a trained linguist and also provides services in cultural consulting and dialect training.

Ina Chang° is a stage and screen actor most recently seen in Once More, Just for You at Seattle Public Theater and the film Little Wing on Paramount+. Other stage credits include Small Mouth Sounds (Thalia's Umbrella), Frost/Nixon (Strawberry Theatre Workshop), and the title roles in Nadeshiko (Sound Theatre Company) and Do It for Umma (Annex Theatre, Theatre Off Jackson). On TV, she played the president of the United States on Z Nation and appeared in the comedy series Three Busy Debras. Ina is also an operatic coloratura soprano, with roles that have included Queen of the Night in The Magic Flute.

Roz Cornejo is a local actor/teaching artist/director based in Seattle. She is a University of California, Santa Barbara graduate with a BFA in Acting and a BA in History. She is a Resident Director at Bellevue Youth Theatre and a teaching artist with Living Voices. Her recent works include her original play Echo premiered by Red Bull Theater, actor in Seattle Children's Theatre The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and Assistant Director for The Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963.

Monica Cortés Viharo° is honored to make her Mirror Stage debut. Originally from the San Francisco Bay Area she studied at UC Berkeley, American Conservatory Theatre, and California Shakespeare Theatre and is a proud member of SAG/AFTRA. In March 2025 you can see Monica in eSe Teatro's world premiere production of Cornelia's Visitors (eseteatro.org). She thanks Will Viharo, Elvis Presley, and her baby boy (with fur) Googie, for their love and inspiration.

Hazel Rose Gibson is a Colorado native and former Mirror Stage employee who has been acting, stage managing, and modeling in Seattle since 2015. When not working in the above categories, she spends her time working at Queen Anne Beer Hall! Hazel enjoys staying physically active through exercise and outdoor recreational activities, reading, organizing, and being crafty. Hazel would like to thank you for being here and supporting the important work that Mirror Stage does.

Emily Hoffman joins Mirror Stage again and is so excited to be working on their inaugural short play festival! You may have seen her in last year's The Squirrel Plays as Alice. She was recently both an actor and writer in the Kenmore Quickies in August. She would like to thank her friends and family for their ongoing support.

Jayne Hubbard is a Seattle based actor, playwright, and teaching artist. Previous credits include: Two Gentlemen of Verona (Seattle Shakespeare Company.), Safe Hands: a New Musical (Seattle Public Theater), Peter & the Starcatcher (Reboot Theatre Company), Rushing (The Scratch), The Revolutionists (Whidbey Center for the Arts). When Jayne isn't working in the theater, they are playing pinball and playing with their cat, Boop. jaynehubbard.com

Reginald André Jackson*° was most recently seen in Clyde's at ArtsWest, and the Seattle Repertory Theatre's Fat Ham (playing the dual roles of Pap and Rev). He is an ACT Theatre Core Company member, whose play History of Theatre: Pt. 1, By, About, For, and Near, premiered at ACT in 2023. The Gregory Award winner and Lunt-Fontanne Ten Chimneys fellow, is the proud husband of Liza Comtois & father to their son Julius.

Kerry Jacinto is a local Seattle artist who received her undergraduate degree from UCSB's BFA Acting Program. Some of her more recent works include her solo show The Ties of Ropa with Macha Theatre Works' 17 Minute Stories, Tales of the Alchemists Theatre's Ruins of Memory as Claire Barchi, and Two Big Black Bags with eSe Teatro as Ensemble/Little Rose. Kerry is very excited to be a part of this production and hopes you enjoy the show!

Sandra Leung Waters made her Australian television debut on “Young Talent Time” at the age of eight. She won the Melbourne Tap Dancing Championship for three consecutive years and was a performer for DanceSport Australia appearing regularly on the television network Channel 10. She has performed at spectacular events across Asia Pacific, including opening for Elton John as part of a CLSA Investor Forum. “Musical Story Time”, a podcast and album that she both produced and performed in was a 2021 Webby Award Honoree for Best Family & Kids Podcast. She has also appeared as both an actor and voiceover artist on film, television, radio and in corporate videos. Sandra has performed lead roles on stage in six countries, including the 2023 London premiere of “WILD (The Musical)”.

Pilar O'Connell* is a Latine multidisciplinary theatre practitioner from Santa Fe, New Mexico. They graduated from Cornish College of the Arts. In Seattle they have performed with Seattle Children's Theatre, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Seattle Shakespeare Company, Strawberry Theatre Workshop, The Icicle Creek New Play Festival, ActLAB, Ese Teatro, Washington Ensemble Theatre, Seattle Public Theater, Annex Theatre, and many others. Pilar is a proud member of AEA. For Entheos always.

Over the past decade Arjun Pande* has performed new and old material for both children and adults. He has performed inside and outside, with words and without, for large audiences and small, in various locations around the country. He is a lover of games and thunderstorms, and when he isn't performing he seeks out ideas and experiences that bring him closer to understanding himself and the mysteries of the universe. Arjun is a graduate of Brown University and his favorite animal is the dragon.

Meenakshi Rishi has performed in: Dance Like a Man (ACT Theatre 2015), Mother in Another Language (ACT Theatre, 2010), Kingdom of Cards (Meydenbauer Center, 2012), and has been involved in staged play readings for Pratidhwani as well as for Mirror Stage. She has been nominated for a Gregory Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Ratna in Dance Like a Man. She participated in Centrifuge in June 2016, 2023, Ron: The War Within (Seattle Theaterwala, 2017), A Short History of Amal (Forward Flux, 2018), Expand Upon: Homelessness (Mirror Stage, 2019), and 14/48: The World's Quickest Theater Festival (2024). Movie credits include Three Busy Debras (HBO, 2021), What If & Anu (Sudeshna Sen Filmmaker, 2021), and Boxes (2023).

Hannah Saito is thrilled to be back onstage with Mirror Stage! A recent University of Washington grad, Hannah triple majored in English, Drama: Performance, and Anthropology. Previous credits include Eldest Daughter Elegy (UW Capstone), Expand Upon: Health Care (Mirror Stage), and The Wolves (UW Drama). Thanks to friends and family for their support.

Kevin Shannon has been in, but mostly around, Seattle theater since the late 1970s. Having worked at Pioneer Square Theater, The Empty Space Theatre, Intiman, the New City Theater Playwrights Festival, Aha!, and Annex Theatre, he also produced Late Night at the Space, and a 55-play series he curated called Plays By Poets. In addition, he co-founded the late Left Coast Theater Company with Kibby Munson and John Bradshaw. He has worked in theater sporadically over the last 15 years but always looks forward to opportunities as they come, especially with Mirror Stage. Thank you for supporting local theater, and thank you for attending another fine Mirror Stage production!

Corey Spruill is enthusiastic to be back on stage and working with Mirror Stage. He feels blessed to be working on such a special project. Corey's Seattle Theater credits include: Pipeline, ASL Midsummer Night's Dream, Hoodoo Love, Storyville Rising, Best of Enemies, School for Lies, Girl You Know It's True, Broke-ology, Merchant of Venice, Zooman and the Sign, Doggs Hamlet/Cahoots Macbeth, A Behanding in Spokane, and Henry VIII. Corey also has aspirations of becoming a Voice-Over Artist. Corey would like to encourage everyone to Keep Dreaming & Keep Striving to achieve your goals. Change is coming, please believe it! www.SpruillionVoice.

Salem Salma Wahab is a BIPOC queer performer in the Seattle area. They are thrilled to work with Mirror Stage! She recently debuted at Reboot Theatre as Lola in Damn Yankees! You may have also seen her in; Dreamgirls (Village Theatre), Mamma Mia! (Seattle Musical Theatre), The Tempest (Seattle Repertory Theatre), The Veil (Dacha Theatre), and Scrambling The Goose (WET).

Ruth Yeo-Peterman is a performer and mental health counselor trained in expressive arts therapies. She is a firm believer in the necessity of the arts for the health of our communities. It is in the shared experience of witnessing and honoring our stories and truths, that we can recognize our common humanity, build connections, and inspire change. Ruth currently works with human rights defenders in exile with the Center for Victims of Torture and has a particular interest in using arts-based tools to respond to the impacts of trauma. Ruth was born in Singapore, raised in South Africa, and now lives on South Whidbey.

Troy Johnson (understudy) is excited to return to the stage following a break to travel around the world to all seven continents. An actor of all genres he has appeared in productions of Rent, Chicago, Beauty and the Beast, Mousetrap, Superior Donuts, and Mirror Stage’s Feed Your Mind: The Anatomy of Pain, as well as Expand Upon: Climate Change. Welcome! And now sit back and enjoy the show!

Mona Leach (understudy) is excited to be working with Mirror Stage again. She has participated in past staged readings. Mona is grateful to have worked with various local theatres over the years. Most recently, Mona was seen in Letters of Suresh produced by Pratidhwani and ReAct.

Elizabeth Wynn (understudy) is an actor, musician, playwright, and dialect coach with a BFA in Musical Theatre from Cornish College of the Arts. Their most recent roles include Lady Macbeth in Seattle Shakespeare's educational tour of Macbeth, Eleven in Stranger Things: The Experience (Fever/Netflix), Girl in Once (Cornish College of the Arts), and Karen/Osiria in the new musical Part-Time Hero (Cornish). She has served as assistant dialect coach for multiple shows at Cornish, including Cabaret and A View from the Bridge. She also wrote and dialect coached her thesis play, Bury Me Under the Willow.

*Member of Actors' Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States, appearing under a Special Appearance Contract.

°Member of SAG-AFTRA.

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