David Artavia
David Artavia (he/him) is an award-winning journalist and media strategist with more than a decade of experience at the intersection of news, culture, and LGBTQ+ storytelling. Most recently, he served as a senior reporter at Yahoo, where he also led the company’s global LGBTQ+ employee resource group. He previously served as Editor-in-Chief of Out and The Advocate, two of the most influential LGBTQ+ outlets in the U.S., guiding coverage through defining cultural moments including the pandemic and the national racial reckoning. He was part of the team that launched Chill, a Folio Award–winning magazine for Black and Latino men, and has held editorial leadership roles at Plus, the leading magazine focusing on HIV and STI health, and Out Traveler, an LGBTQ+ travel destination magazine. As a consultant and creative advisor, he has worked on projects including “As Much As I Can,” an immersive theater experience produced with ViiV Healthcare and Harley & Co. focused on HIV in Black communities, and the Cannes Lions-nominated podcast "Love in Gravity," where he served as a writer and creative advisor. His consultancy work has also supported major initiatives with partners including AFI, Silversea Cruises, Queer Kentucky, Sugar Wood, and more.
Jess Ducey
Jess Ducey (they/them) is a writer, producer, fundraiser, and occasional clown with a penchant for new work and (queer) joy. They serve as co-director of Ring of Keys and co-producer of Down to Clown, a community for new work. Jess has also worked with Recent Cutbacks, Yaa Samar! Dance Theatre, and Moxie Arts NYC. They have produced work at Fringe festivals on three continents, and also created EdFest, a festival of Edinburgh previews at The Tank. Outside theatre, Jess is a proud member of UAW Local 2320 - National Organization of Legal Services Workers, where they serve as co-chair of their unit and as recording secretary of the national executive board.
Jess previously worked in Aotearoa New Zealand, where they managed and advised arts campaigns for NZ’s first crowdfunding platform, co-founded and produced Queer AF, Wellington’s first festival of queer art, and created Unfinished Business, in which artists shared works in progress over a dinner party in their flat. Their writing has appeared in RNZ, Landfall, and off-Broadway in Primary Stages’ Echoes residency. Jess enjoys nature, dinner parties, public transit, books, unions, cheese, other people’s dogs, cycling (slowly!), knitting, and creating order from chaos. فلسطين حرة @thejduce
Aaron Moore Ellis
Aaron Moore Ellis (They/Them) is a nonbinary dramaturg, scholar-artist, editor, facilitator, activist and organizer, working at the intersection of embodiment and radical ethics in pursuit of collective liberation. They currently split their time between Lenapehoking (so-called NYC) and Timucua, Seminole and Miccosukee lands (so-called Orlando, Florida). Aaron has an M.A. in Religion, Ethics & Philosophy, and a Ph.D. in Theater Studies from Florida State University, where they also worked for many years with LGBTQ+/disability theater production company Mickee Faust, volunteer-taught Poetry Performance at a rural, North Florida prison, and served as Executive Director of the peer-to-peer “free school,” FSU Center for Participant Education. Currently, Aaron wears many hats with Latinx theater company Descolonizarte TEATRO and is a freelance facilitator for the Peace and Justice Institute. Aaron also works as a Dramaturg and Lead Coordinator of the Justice, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion initiative for the historical and educational theatre company, Theater with a Mission, in historic Anhaica, and serves as co-Editor of the peer-reviewed, open-source Pedagogy and Theater of the Oppressed Journal.
Kazem Ghouchani - Treasurer
Kazem Ghouchani (they/them/theirs) joined the board of National Queer theater in May 2024. Kazem is a Brooklyn-based development and marketing professional with over six years of experience in community building and cultural programming. They hold an MBA from Hult International Business School and have a passion for raising funds to develop programs for LGBTQ grassroots initiatives and communities. Social/racial/environmental justice has always been a driving force pushing them to look for ways to use social and cultural programs as a medium to build up diverse communities. As a queer atheist born in Tehran, Iran, Kazem also currently serves as a Major Gift Officer of Stonewall Community Foundation and fundraising and development consultant for the Emruz Festival. They served the Entertainment Community Fund (formerly known as The Actors Fund) as a Major Gifts Manager and Rattlestick Theater as a Development Manager in the past.
S.C. "Luci" Lucier
S.C. “Luci” Lucier (she/they) is a director, librettist, and collaborative multi-hyphenate with an eclectic career spanning theatre, dance, immersive performance, large-scale events, and commercial exhibitions. Lucier is Artistic Director of Lucier&Rose, devisers of intensely sapphic, boundary-breaking musical theater (co-founded with Meghan Rose). She currently serves as Director of Public Programs & Partnerships at the American LGBTQ+ Museum, which they joined as inaugural staff member in 2019.
Lucier is a graduate of Marymount Manhattan College’s Theatre Directing program, receiving the department’s Gold Key of Excellence for innovative storytelling, and holds a master’s degree from The Graduate Center in Theatre/Museology History + Digital Humanities. They are an SDC director and former member of the SCDF Observership Class.
Selected credits: Director, Ring of Keys Queering the Canon Gala (Joe’s Pub 2025) & co-produced live album recording; Director/Co-creator, Xena: Warrior Musical (3 Dollar Bill 2022); Director, HELD: A Musical Fantasy (NY Fringe Festival 2016; NYMF 2018); Assoc. Director, Kerrigan-Lowdermilk’s The Bad Years (2014; 2016); Toured with Martha Graham Dance Company; Designed at Joyce Theater, Lincoln Center, and BAC; Regular collaborator at Jennifer Jancuska’s The Bringabout, among others.
Lucier has captained world-championship roller derby teams, archived choreographer Sally Silvers’ work for NYPL, and performed at Roulette… on roller skates! “Queer” is her favorite verb.
Rajendra Ramoon Maharaj
Rajendra Ramoon Maharaj (he/him) is a multi-disciplinary American Theater Artist, Administrator, and Cultural Activist who investigates the complexities of narrative, perception, identity, political, social, and community storytelling, through research driven work that explores BIPOC narratives that have been historically bypassed in the American Theatre. He is an alumnus of the Art Equity BIPOC Leadership Circle in partnership with the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University, member of the Metropolitan Opera / American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA) DEI Council, a member of the Geva Theatre Engagement Committee, the former Associate Artistic Producer at Milwaukee Repertory Theater, and the former Artistic Director of New Freedom Theatre and American Stage Theatre Company. He has twice been a New York Times Critics Pick for playwriting and a finalist for the Eugene O’Neill National Playwrights Conference. Mr. Maharaj is the Founder and former Director of Artistic Programing for the Voices at the River Biennial Latinx and African American Playwright’s Residency Program, in partnership with Arkansas Repertory Theatre. He is currently the Assistant Professor of Stage Direction (Musical Theatre & Theatre) at SUNY Geneseo.
Nicholas R. Wallace
Nicholas R. Wallace is a writer, speaker and an attorney in New York City. His practice focuses on corporate matters, representing a variety of institutions, including multinationals, startups and emerging growth companies, in transactions across many industries, including tech, life sciences, health care, entertainment and financial services. He maintains a busy pro bono practice on matters of civil rights, immigration, entrepreneurship and LGBTQ rights. In 2018, Nicholas graduated from both The University of Michigan Law School and The University of Michigan Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy with a joint JD/MPP degree. Prior to venturing to the Midwest, Nicholas attended Fordham University in New York City and studied Philosophy. He then went on to teach in Europe for a number of years before returning to the U.S. He is a patron of the arts and his passions lie in travel and supporting the City’s many entrepreneurs and creatives.
Sid Quinsaat - Secretary
Sid Quinsaat (they/them) is a queer human hailing from the Philippines, currently residing in upstate New York by way of Texas, Michigan and Oakland, California. They love singing, making music, playing tennis, writing code and poetry, and having long conversations with their friends. Sid holds a bachelor of choral music education, and has been lucky to serve many roles as music educator, music director, choir conductor/accompanist, carpenter, cat parent, coder, and hopes to bring a variety of perspectives and experiences to their work on the board. They know that we can all always listen better, and dream that one day we can all be free. They believe that self and collective liberation are inextricably tied together, and that making art as a queer person is an essential expression of that freedom, especially facing a world that seeks to destroy us. They are glad to be serving on a board for an organization that helps queer youth make art and theatre.
Donny Repsher - Co-Chair
Donny is a professional fundraiser, organizational strategist, and freelance writer. He is currently the Development Director at Envision Freedom Fund, a Brooklyn-based nonprofit freeing immigrants from detention and advocating for decarceration across New York. He holds a MS in Nonprofit Management from The New School. His fundraising career began Off-Broadway at Signature Theatre and New York City Center. As a freelance writer, his published work is focused on adapting the theatre industry, including “Woke Supremacy” and “Anti-Racism and the Institution” (HowlRound) and “Adapt or Perish” (Brooklyn Rail).
Tyler Richard
Tyler Richard (he/him) tells stories to change the world. For over 15 years at the ACLU, he has shared the stories of LGBTQ people at the Supreme Court, advocates raising the concerns of their communities, and his own coworkers who never give up or give in. Tyler’s work has reached millions and prompted hundreds of thousands to take action. He currently serves as Director of Nationwide Strategic Communications supporting the nearly 200 communications staff at ACLU offices in every state, DC and Puerto Rico. Born and raised in Nebraska, Tyler was a founding board member and former President of OutNebraska — Nebraska’s statewide LGBTQ advocacy organization. Before joining the ACLU’s national office, he was Communications Director for the ACLU of Nebraska and began his career in advocacy as an organizer for Planned Parenthood in Nebraska. When not working or enjoying theater, he is enjoying science fiction, comics, LEGOs and drinking coffee.
Becca Rosenthal
Becca Rosenthal (she/her) is a musician and software engineer originally from Oakland, CA. She currently works at Reddit, where she has eight years of experience across the safety, privacy, and cybersecurity teams. With NQT, she aims to provide queer artists with the resources and knowledge they need to stay safe—both online and IRL—while creating weird and wonderful art. When not seeing shows or working, she can be found playing guitar, leading the Reddit company band (Copy Pasta), playing in gay flag football leagues, or watching women’s sports.
Mahima Saigal - Co-Chair
Mahima is an award winning actor, choreographer, writer and educator from New Delhi, India. With a Bachelor's in History and over 10 years of experience in street theatre Mahima's mission is to create work that manifests the most potent magic of which storytelling is capable of. Work that spreads beauty and understanding of the human experience. Work whose function is to rouse the audience from their torpor, their state of inactivity and through a heightening of the emotions make them aware of the mystery, wonder and the inexhaustibility of the human spirit.
Select NY credits: Elyria (World Premiere Atlantic Theater Co.) Queen (NY Premiere, APAC. Nomination: Best Actress in a Leading Role NYIT Awards); Hiding Kanye (Winner: Best Featured Actress, Tamasha-Hypokrit Theater); Jhaanjar Di… (National Queer Theatre); INVASION! (DramaWallah, Winner: Best Ensemble, SAIPAF); Mary V (NY Fringe Festival). Internationally, Mahima has worked with the Akshara National Theater of India where she originated the role of Kasturba Gandhi in Gandhi’s Gita and played the titular role in Shaw’s Saint Joan. Workshops/Development: Vigil-Aunties, Karma Sutra Chai-Tea Latte, Lost in the Fire (Gingold Theatrical Group); I Love Sean (Playwright’s Realm); Dance Nation (Atlantic); Night Diary (Children’s Theatre of Charlotte), among others. With the Atlantic Acting School Mahima has directed several productions for their Acting Conservatory Program.
Malcolm Tariq
Malcolm Tariq (he/him) is a poet and playwright from Savannah, Georgia with a decade of experience developing programs, partnerships, and communications in the social impact sector. He is the author of Heed the Hollow (Graywolf, 2019), winner of the Cave Canem Poetry Prize and the Georgia Author of the Year Award in Poetry. As a playwright, he completed an apprenticeship at Horizon Theatre Company and a residency with Liberation Theatre Company. He has developed strategic communications and/or literary programs at The Friends School of Atlanta, The Center for Alternative Sentences and Employment Services, and Cave Canem. A graduate of Emory University, Malcolm holds a PhD in English from the University of Michigan, where he was inducted into the Edward A. Bouchet Graduate Honor Society. Through his communications and engagement consultancy, Third Place Solutions, he helps small nonprofits and businesses increase their impact and capacity. Malcolm currently serves as Program Director of the Prison and Justice Writing Program at PEN America