Below are the recipients of the SDCF Professional Development Program 2023-2024 Season: Cycle 1 Recipients. To read the full press release please click here.
Shadows:
Ariana Andretta:
Ariana is a multi-hyphenate artist from/based in New York City. She is honored to be a SDC Shadow for MOULIN ROUGE! In 2021, Ariana directed/choreographed her original dance narrative entitled Love & Other Stories. Her work has been shared through local festivals like New York Theatre Barn, Jazz Choreography Enterprises, and Arts On Site’s performance party. Ariana has danced with creatives such as Al Blackstone, Billy Griffin, Jena VanElslander, & Yancy Greene for NYC-based projects. Her regional theatre credits include THE WIZARD OF OZ (Capital Repertory Theatre) and MARY POPPINS (Potsdam Music Theatre). In educational settings, Ariana enjoys passing on the gift of movement to her students and engaging in community. arianaandretta.com
Katherine Bahena-Benitez:
Katherine Bahena-Benitez (They/Them) is a Queer Mexican Indigenous actor, poet, playwright, director and model. Katherine is bicoastal with New York and California. Katherine has performed and trained at The Juilliard School, Tectonic Theater, the American Conservatory
Theater, 24 Hour Plays, the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, CSUS, La Mama Experimental Theater Club, Teatro Espejo and Broadway Advocacy Coalition at Columbia University. Katherine has been featured in Vogue, Remezcla, Netflix, Fenty, VoyageATL, Chillhouse and Apostrophes Magazine ‘De La Tierra’. Katherine has had their poems American Dream, La Morena, and Yo Ya No Rezo published with Museum Guild. Katherine is a Miranda Family Fellow, a LORT Fellow, an EmergeNyc Artist and recipient of the John Cauble Emerging Arts Leader Award. This fall, Katherine’s solo piece JOTA will be in workshop with Dramatic Question Theater (to be performed in 2024). This fall they will also be part of the Professional Development Program with SDCF for Emerging Directors. Katherine Says, “con mucho amor y cariño, I do this for our gente, I do this for us. Aquí estamos.” You can find them more of them here: linktr.ee/katherinebenitez
Youri Kim:
Youri Kim is a theater director and a playwright with experience in South Korea, Germany, and the U.K. Kim’s focus is on how neo-liberal societies define the desire for the minority figure. Her plays focus on gender and immigrant perspectives beyond societal constructs and show minorities as humans not defined by their figures. She graduated from East 15 Acting School, U.K., and directed ‘Cane,’ ‘Where We Stand,’ and ‘Your Point of View.’ After her debut in the U.K., she worked for two years as a production assistant and a director in Trier, Germany. She has adapted and directed ‘Mother Courage and Her Gentrification’ and written and directed ’30th-century Euthanasia’,'(armpit)Hair granted by the Art Council in South Korea, the Incheon Art Foundation, and Doosan Art Center.
Observers:
Phoebe Brooks:
Phoebe Brooks is a theatre creature interested in establishing a Theatre of Joy for artists and audiences alike! Recent work includes Charles Ludlam’s Der Ring Gott Farblonjet, LOVE (Among Dreamers) by Greg Nanni and Jyoti’s Bridge by Kanika Vaish (Columbia School of the Arts). Upcoming: The Fantastical Fellowship: Final Quest for the Crisis Crystal XXVII (FRIGID Fest), The Amazing Doctor She Medicine Show (Edinburgh Fringe). Associate Director: The Da Vinci Code (Ogunquit Playhouse), ROCK MEDEA (Joe’s Pub). Assistant Director: & Juliet (Stephen Sondheim Theatre), Caucasian Chalk Circle (NYU Gallatin). Programming Director for Spicy Witch Productions. MFA: Columbia University. www.phoebebrooks.com
Arnaldo Galban:
Born in Havana, in 1991, Arnaldo graduated from the National School of Drama in Cuba, with a Bachelor’s degree in Theater Arts. Since then, he has worked as an actor and assistant director for renowned Cuban theater companies like Teatro Buendia and El Ciervo Encantado. Arnaldo has been traveling the world since 2016, teaching and directing in Brazil, Italy, Switzerland, and Egypt. He returned to Cuba in 2021 to collaborate with theater director and political activist Adonis Milan, supporting the development of independent theatre and promoting freedom of expression and democracy through arts. He is very grateful to have found a home in New York City today.
Arti Ishak:
Arti Ishak (they/them) is an actor, director and writer, recently named a 3Arts Make A Wave Artist. Acting credits include The Best Decision You Ever Made, Fantastic Super Great Nation Numero Uno (The Second City); KISS (Haven); Venus in Fur (Circle); Witch, Buried Child (Writers); Men on Boats (American Theater Company). TV: Southside (HBO); Dark Matter (Apple TV); Chicago Med (NBC). Directing credits include short films Shukran Bas (Means of Productions), ba la (HF Productions), Theatre: Same Sects (Haven Chicago), Hatefuck (First Floor Theatre). Arti is on staff with The Chicago Inclusion Project, an instructor at Black Box Acting, and an organizer with SWANASA Central. They are represented by Paonessa Talent Agency. www.artiishak.com
Javon Q. Minter:
Javon Q. Minter (they/them) is a Black non-binary transfeminine theatre artist and educator, born & raised in pre-gentrified Bed-Stuy. As a director, they’ve devised works for New York Theatre Workshop’s Youth Artistic Instigators & NYU Grad Acting, developed a new musical with the 5th Avenue Theater and is consistently working to uplift new works by Queer writers of color. Javon will be co-directing the youth theater company at MCC Theater for their annual UNCENSORED performance, premiering Spring 2024. As an educator, Javon has taught theatre across New York State and regionally, ranging from preschoolers to conservatory to members of the United States Air Force. They are a member of the National Alliance of Acting Teachers, teaching artist with New York Theatre Workshop, LEAP & as a coach for Trans Voices, a storytelling workshop in partnership with Life Jacket Theatre Company and Sam & Devorah Foundation for Transgender Youth. In 2022, they founded No Gate Theatre Collective, a community of artistic collaborators who desire to create work & opportunities free from gatekeeping & marginalization as practiced in commercial theater. Select acting credits: What to Send Up When it Goes Down (BAM & Playwrights Horizons), Two Gentlemen of Verona (Alabama Shakespeare Festival), boys don’t look at boys (New York Stage & Film), and what will happen to all that beauty (Playwrights Realm)
Fellow:
Ariel Reich (she/her):
Ariel is an Actor, Director and Mindfulness Artist with a focus on Disability Arts. Most recently, she performed in the Broadway National Tour of THE BAND’S VISIT. As a performer, Ariel has appeared on stages such as Lincoln Center, The Kennedy Center, The Dolby, as well as on screen. She made her NY Directing debut with Candace Clift’s original personal narrative piece, TO BE, between 2019-2020. In addition to her Performing Arts career, Ariel has a background in Arts in Medicine, working as a Researcher and Practitioner. Her “Suicide Prevention through Theatre Intervention” research was internationally recognized in 2017 by the Culture, Health & Well-being research conference in Bristol, UK. Ariel is currently on the Teaching Artist Faculty of the Mark Morris Dance Group’s Dance for PD (Parkinson’s Disease) program. She has spent the past year developing and facilitating Creative Arts and Mindfulness based practices for people with cognitive loss and developmental disabilities as a Guest Teaching Artist with the 92NY Program for Cognitive Strength and Ability and as an Artist in Residence with the Tucson JCC’s day programs for disabled adults. As an autistic artist herself, working on the Directing team of HOW TO DANCE IN OHIO on Broadway feels like an incredibly sacred and meaningful moment of alignment and the ultimate integration of so many personal and professional intersections. In all aspects of her work, Ariel is passionate about telling stories that amplify underrepresented voices, illuminate difficult conversations, and empower people of all abilities.