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Saheem Ali: 

Saheem Ali is a proud immigrant from Kenya. He is the Associate Artistic Director/Resident Director of the Public Theater. Recent productions include Shipwreck (The Public, Woolly Mammoth), Richard II (The Public), Fires in The Mirror (Signature Theater), The Rolling Stone (Lincoln Center Theater), The New Englanders (MTC), Passage (Soho Rep), Fireflies (Atlantic Theater Company), Dangerous House (Williamstown Theater Festival), Sugar in Our Wounds (MTC), Tartuffe (Playmakers Rep), Where Storms Are Born (WTF), Twelfth Night (The Public), Kill Move Paradise (National Black Theater), Nollywood Dreams (Cherry Lane) and Dot (Detroit Public Theater). He has workshopped new plays at Playwrights Horizons, Playwrights Realm, MCC, New York Stage & Film, Page 73 and The Lark. He is a Usual Suspect at New York Theater Workshop, Sir John Gielgud SDCF Fellow and a Shubert Fellow.

Lileana Blain- Cruz is a director from New York City and Miami. Recent projects include: Anatomy of a Suicide (Atlantic Theater Company), Fefu and Her Friends (TFANA); Girls (Yale Repertory Theater); Marys Seacole (LCT3, Obie Award); Faust (Opera Omaha); Fabulation, Or the Reeducation of Undine (Signature Theatre) ; Thunderbodies and Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again (Soho Rep.); The House That Will Not Stand and Red Speedo (New York Theatre Workshop); Water by the Spoonful (Mark Taper Forum/CTG); Pipeline (Lincoln Center); The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World (Signature Theatre, Obie Award); Henry IV, Part One and Much Ado About Nothing (Oregon Shakespeare Festival); The Bluest Eye (The Guthrie); War (LCT3/Lincoln Center Theater and Yale Rep.); Salome (JACK); Hollow Roots (the Under the Radar Festival at The Public Theater); She was recently named a 2018 United States Artists Fellow and a 2020 Lincoln Center Emerging Artist. She is currently the resident director of Lincoln Center Theater. She is a graduate of Princeton and received her MFA in directing from the Yale School of Drama.

Chanel Bragg: 

Chanel Bragg is ecstatic for the appointment of Associate Artistic Director at Arizona Theatre Co. For over a decade, she continues to passionately advocate for diversity within the arts and the mission to build a more equitable theater landscape in Arizona. In 2009, she founded the award-winning performance troupe “The Soul of Broadway”. A Cabaret celebrating Black Musical Theatre Excellence. In 2016, Chanel co-founded The United Colours of Arizona Theatre (UCAT), a Fine Arts social justice organization that supports BIPOC artists. United in our resolve to fight systemic racist practices within the American theatre system, we aim to shape a powerful learning community centered on enhancing our collective skill and saturating a more equitable theater community with talented and qualified BIPOC candidates. We strive to cultivate partnerships within our community that foster networking, mentorship, workshops, job postings, and other opportunities to BIPOC creatives and future arts leaders. UCAT received the prestigious Kyle Lawson Outstanding Contribution Award at the 30th annual Arizoni Theatre Awards of Excellence. Chanel sits on the Board for Stray Cat Theatre, The Women’s Theatre Forum ( The Phoenix Theatre Co.), and recently a new Cohort panel for the Arizona Commission for the Arts. Chanel will facilitate the  Region 7 WSYWAT Panel for KCACTF.

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Sheldon Epps:
Sheldon Epps was Artistic Director of the renowned Pasadena Playhouse for 20 years (1997-2017) and now serves the theatre as Artistic Director Emeritus. Before beginning his tenure at the Playhouse he served as Associate Artistic Director of the Old Globe Theatre for four years. He was also a co-founder of the Off Broadway theatre, The Production Company. Mr. Epps has directed both plays and musicals at many of the country’s major theatres including the Roundabout, Manhattan Theatre Club, the Guthrie, Playwrights Horizons, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Arena Stage, and the Goodman Theatre. He conceived the highly acclaimed musicals Play On! and Blues In the Night, which both received Tony Award nominations. He directed productions of both of those shows on Broadway, in London, and at theatres throughout the world. He co-directed the Broadway production of Baby It’s You!, which had its world premiere at The Pasadena Playhouse. He also has had a busy career as a television director helming episodes of shows such as Frasier, Friends, Everybody Loves Raymond, Girlfriends and many others. Mr. Epps received the James Irvine Foundation Leadership Award for his efforts and accomplishments at the Pasadena Playhouse. He served for many years on the SDC Executive Board and was previously also the Chair of the SDCF Board of Trustees.

Miranda Haymon is a Princess Grace Award/Honoraria-winning writer, director, and deviser of performance. Recent projects include Really, Really Gorgeous (The Tank), Everybody (Sarah Lawrence College), In the Penal Colony (Next Door @ NYTW, The Tank), and Mondo Tragic (National Black Theater). She is a Resident Director at Roundabout Theatre Company and The Tank, a 2020/22 WP Lab Member, a 2020/22 DTWG Member at The Public Theater, a New Georges Affiliate Artist, a Space on Ryder Farm 2019 Creative Resident, member of the Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab, and the Wingspace Mentorship Program. Miranda is a 2019/20 New York Theatre Workshop 2050 Directing Fellow, a Manhattan Theatre Club Directing Fellow, and a former Allen Lee Hughes Directing Fellow at Arena Stage. BA Wesleyan University. Upcoming: Exception to the Rule (Roundabout Underground). www.mirandahaymon.com