Jessie Rivera DeBruin (they/them) is a queer, non-binary, Latinx, playwright, and impact producer. Their work explores queerness, identity, gender, race, diaspora, and family. LUCIÉRNAGAS was a semi-finalist for the 2019 New Dramatists Princess Grace Award. Their play HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANGEL DEAREST, will also stream on The Parsnip Ship podcast. Jessie is a member of the inaugural Radio Roots Writers’ Group, with whom they developed a six-part podcast play THIS IS WHERE WE GO, available to stream via MCC Theater On Demand, December 2020. As an Impact Producer, they have worked with acclaimed documentaries including DISCLOSURE (Netflix), TRANS IN TRUMPLAND (Amazon), BEDLAM (PBS), and ROLL RED ROLL (Netflix). They hold a BA from Smith College.

Carlos Armesto (he/him) is the Producing Artistic Director of theatreC, a company dedicated to creating unique theatrical experiences.  He has worked as a director and producer on festivals, plays, musicals, concerts, and events around the country. Mr. Armesto was an Associate Curator at the inaugural Pittsburgh International Festival of Firsts, an Associate Artistic Director at The Ensemble Studio Theatre (EST), and Co-Director for the EST/Sloan Project.  Through theatreC, he has created over 50 theatrical works. He is also Creative Director for theatreC's renowned LGBTQ+ Party Series RETRO FACTORY.  MFA Carnegie Mellon. BS Chemical Engineering & Theatre MIT. Princess Grace Fellowship., SDC.

Claudia Acosta (she/her) is an actor, director, producer, and teaching artist. Has worked in Off-Broadway theater such as INTAR, WP Theater, New York Theater Workshop, HERE, and Rattlestick Playwright's Theater among others. Most recently appeared in Refracted Theater Company's audio play THE SWELL. Founding member of a Latino theater initiative, the Sol Project. She is a teaching artist for Lincoln Center Education, Manhattan Theater Club, NYTW, and Arts Connection. In Texas, she has worked with PAFW, FWSO, Hip Pocket Theater, Cara Mia, Rose Marine Theater and most recently remotely directed Teatro Dallas’s 1st covid safe live theatrical poetry event of A GRAVE IS GIVEN SUPPER at the Latino Cultural Center of Dallas. 

Lina Sarrello (she/her) is originally from Miami, Florida, and has performed with several theater companies including Latinoflavored Productions, SEA, NY, LaTea, and Repertorio Español, among others. She is a two-time winner of the Latin ACE Award for her acting, and has also won awards for her playwriting and film production. Lina is an experienced teaching artist for the world-famous Apollo Theater as well as working continuously in Voiceover and Television for shows such as Amy Schumer, Russian Doll, and 30 Rock.

Simone Brazzini (they/them) is an actor/filmmaker born in Lima, Peru and raised in Dallas, Texas. Simone moved to Chicago to pursue a BFA in Acting with a minor in Film Production, and is currently on track to graduate from The Theatre School at Depaul University in 2022. The last in person show Simone did was Polaroid Stories by Naomi Iizuka. Recent online theatre credits include AJ in Sapience by Diana Burbano as part of the San Diego Latinx New Play Festival and an interactive/autism centered version of Macbeth with Spectrum Shakespeare. Upcoming, Simone will be playing Andy in Count Yourself Among the Lucky by Alicia Margarita Olivo as part of AlterTheater’s AlterLab First Acts. Other than acting, Simone is also passionate about inclusion in media. Simone believes that art and media need to reflect the current society when it comes to queer, bipoc, and neurodiverse representation. 

April Ortiz (she/her) is a theater and camera actress. She was a principal standby in In The Heights on Broadway (Abuela)  and has performed around the country on the national tours of In the Heights (Daniela), Cats (Demeter), and La Cage Aux Folles (Swing). She has also worked with regional and off-Broadway companies, including the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera, Yale Rep, Theater Under the Stars, Lyric OKC, and The Public. Her film and television credits include Father Of The Bride, The Majestic, Golden Girls, Instinct, Braindead, Everybody Loves Raymond, Elementary, and many more.

Doug Shapiro (he/him) really loves breakfast.  He is also an actor and his experience with that is just all over the place. Singing with a 1940’s big band that toured the country; Voicing characters for Disney; Standardized Patient and Business Role-Playing work; Narrating Audiobooks; 20 seasons acting with The Barnstormers in Tamworth, NH; Broadway stuff and Yiddish stuff; and more new musicals than you can shake a stick at. Take me to breakfast and I’ll share the details. Come visit at www.dougshapiro.com and thank you for supporting National Queer Theatre! 

Sofía Sam (she/her) is a New York-based actor who is originally from Lima, Peru. She holds a BFA from New York University, where she double-majored in Drama and Politics. Her acting training was acquired through NYU’s partnership with the Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute. She also has extensive training in classical ballet and voice. Sofía co-founded and serves on the board of Imaginarium Theatre Company Inc., a nonprofit organization dedicated to the fearless exploration of creativity and the pursuit of socially and environmentally ethical practices in the theatre.

Iyvon Edebiri (she/her) is a Nigerian-American independent creative producer, company manager, and dramaturg hailing from Brooklyn, NY. Iyvon is the co-founder, Artistic Director, and Host of The Parsnip Ship. She is a recipient of the Fulbright Scholarship, Gilman International Scholarship, and The DO School’s Future of Audio Entertainment Fellowship in Berlin. Iyvon was the recipient of the 2019 Mark O’Donnell Prize awarded by The Actors Fund and Playwrights Horizons for emerging, anomalous theater artists. Iyvon has worked at Joe’s Pub, Sundance Institute Theater Program, The Public Theater, The Civilians, and as the Associate Producer at ArKtype. She is a member of the WP 2020 - 2022 Producers Lab.  B.A. Brandeis University. M.A. Baruch College (CUNY) Arts Administration. @iamiyvon

Ariella Cooley (she/her) is a sound designer and musician based out of Berkeley, California, a guest on unceded Ohlone land. Recent credits include Puppets & Poe: Devised Defiance (Theatre of Yugen, SF) and The Thanksgiving Play (American Conservatory Theatre, SF). She received a Theatre Bay Area award for Outstanding Sound Design in 2017 for her work on The Winter's Tale (Ragged Wing Ensemble, Oakland CA) and was nominated again in 2019 for her work on A Noh Christmas Carol (Theatre of Yugen, SF). When she's not making sounds, you can catch her daydreaming, playing with puppets, or making a mess in the kitchen.