MR. PARENT at TheaterWorks Hartford

by MELINDA LOPEZ
with MAURICE EMMANUEL PARENT
conceived and directed by MEGAN SANDBERG-ZAKIAN
ASL Consultant MILMAGLYN MORALES
ASL Interpreter BRENT TRACY 
Stage Manager KATE J. CUDWORTH
Location Stage Manager KEVIN J. P. HANLEY 
Video Multimedia Production JARED ME ZZOCCHI
Associate Video Editor KATERINA VITALY
ASL Video Editor CASSANDR A SAULSKI
Audio Mix/Mastering MATT BERKY/MASSIVE PRODUCTIONS, INC. 

MAURICE EMMANUEL PARENT (Mr. Parent) is making his TheaterWorks Hartford debut. Maurice is an award-winning actor, director, educator and mentor with 20 years of professional experience. He has over 40 acting credits at theatres across the nation and abroad, having performed with some of Boston’s oldest and most respected companies such as the Huntington Theatre Company, Actors’ Shakespeare Project, Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, SpeakEasy Stage Company, Lyric Stage Company, New Repertory Theatre, and Central Square Theater among others. His work as an actor has earned him two Elliot Norton Awards from The Boston Theater Critics Association, three Independent Reviewers of New England (IRNE) awards, and an Arts Impulse Award. Maurice’s history as an educator extends back nearly a decade. He’s taught for Northeastern University, MIT, The Boston Conservatory at Berklee, and spent nearly 6 years as a Performing Arts Specialist in the Boston Public School System. Currently he is a full time Professor of the Practice in the Tufts Department of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies and Visiting Faculty at the Boston University School of Theatre. Maurice is the co-founder and Executive Director of The Front Porch Arts Collective, “a black theatre company committed to advancing racial equity in Boston through theater.” In its fourth season, “The Porch” has quickly become a well-respected voice in the Boston theatrical landscape. MauriceParent.com FrontPorchArts.org

MELINDA LOPEZ (Playwright) is making her TheaterWorks Hartford debut. Melinda is the recipient of the 2019 Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Achievement, recognizing her 20-year career. She is the Playwright-in-Residence at the Huntington Theatre Company, and is a multiple award-winning playwright and performer. Plays include: MALA (Best New Play, Elliot Norton Award, available on Audible in Spanish and English,) YERMA (adaptation,) BACK THE NIGHT, BECOMING CUBA, ORCHIDS TO OCTOPI (Best New Play, IRNE) and SONIA FLEW (Elliot Norton, Best New Play, Best Production.) Melinda also performs on stage, radio and in film. She has served as a panel member for the NEA, and has enjoyed residencies with the Mellon Foundation, Sundance, the Lark, the New York Theatre Workshop and Harvard University. She was mentioned by President Obama in his speech to the Cuban and American people in 2016. Mayor Marty Walsh declared October 29, 2016 “Melinda Lopez Day in the City of Boston.” Melinda is a Professor of Theatre at Northeastern University. She is a graduate of Dartmouth College and Boston University. 

MEGAN SANDBERG-ZAKIAN (Director) is making her TheaterWorks Hartford debut. Megan Sandberg-Zakian is a theater director with a passion for the development of diverse new American plays & playwrights, and a co-founder of Maia Directors, a consulting group for artists and organizations engaging with stories from the Middle East and beyond. Her audio-play collaboration with writer Madhuri Shekar, Evil Eye, was the winner of the 2020 Audie Award for Original Work and the 2020 Gracie Award for Audio Drama. Recent projects include the world premieres of Madhuri Shekar’s House of Joy at California Shakespeare Theatre, Nathan Alan Davis' Nat Turner in Jerusalem at New York Theatre Workshop, and Eleanor Burgess' Chill at Merrimack Repertory Theatre. Megan is a graduate of Brown University, holds an MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts from Goddard College, and is a proud member of the national union for stage directors and choreographers, SDC. Her first book, There Must Be Happy Endings: On a Theatre of Optimism and Honesty is available from The 3rd Thing Press. Megan lives in Jamaica Plain, MA, with her wife Candice. megansz.com