Anne Bogart ’74 (Codirector) is one of the three co–artistic directors of the SITI Company, which she founded with Japanese director Tadashi Suzuki in 1992. Bogart is a professor at Columbia University, where she runs its graduate directing program. Works with SITI include FALLING & LOVING; The Bacchae; Chess Match No. 5; Lost in the Stars; Persians; Steel Hammer; A Rite; Café Variations; Trojan Women (After Euripides); American Document; Antigone; Under Construction; Freshwater; Who Do You Think You Are; Radio Macbeth; Hotel Cassiopeia; Death and the Ploughman; La Dispute; Score; bobrauschenbergamerica; Room; War of the Worlds–the Radio Play; Cabin Pressure; Alice’s Adventures; Culture of Desire; Bob; Going, Going, Gone; Small Lives/Big Dreams; The Medium; Noël Coward’s Hay Fever and Private Lives; August Strindberg’s Miss Julie; and Charles Mee’s Orestes. Recent operas include The Handmaid’s Tale; Handel’s Alcina; Dvořák’s Dimitrij; Verdi’s Macbeth; Bellini’s Norma; and Bizet’s Carmen. Bogart is the author of six books: The Art of Resonance; A Director Prepares; The Viewpoints Book; And Then, You Act; Conversations with Anne; and What’s the Story.
Darron L West (Adaptor, Codirector, and Sound Designer) has been a SITI Company member since 1993. He is a TONY and OBIE award-winning sound designer whose 30-year career spans theater and dance, Broadway, and Off Broadway. His work has been heard in more than 600 productions all over the United States and internationally in 14 countries. Additional honors include the Drama Desk, Lortel, Audelco, and Princess Grace Foundation Statue awards, among others.
James Schuette (Scenic and Costume Designer) Schuette has designed scenery and/or costumes for more than 17 SITI Company productions. His work has been seen at American Repertory Theater, American Conservatory Theater, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Arena Stage, BAM, Berkeley Rep, Classic Stage Company, Court Theatre, Goodman Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse, Long Wharf Theatre, Mark Taper Forum, Manhattan Theatre Club, McCarter Theatre, New York Live Arts, New York Theatre Workshop, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Paper Mill Playhouse, Playwrights Horizons, Public Theater/New York Shakespeare Festival (Shakespeare in the Park), Seattle Rep, Steppenwolf, Signature Theatre, Trinity Rep, Vineyard Theatre, Wexner Center, Yale Rep, Boston Lyric Opera, Canadian Opera Company, Chicago Opera Theater, Glimmerglass Festival Opera, Houston Grand Opera, LA Opera, Minnesota Opera, New York City Opera, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, San Francisco Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Seattle Opera, and internationally.
Brian H Scott (Lighting Designer) is a SITI Company member and has designed lighting for Café Variations, Trojan Women, and Persians in association with the Getty Villa; American Document with the Martha Graham Dance Company; Under Construction, Who Do You Think You Are, Hotel Cassiopeia, Death and the Ploughman, bobrauschenbergamerica (Henry Hewes Design Award 2004), and War of the Worlds–the Radio Play. With Rude Mechs: Stop Hitting Yourself; Now Now, Oh Now; Method Gun; I’ve Never Been So Happy; How Late It Was, How Late; Lipstick Traces; Requiem for Tesla; and Matchplay. He designed light for Ann Hamilton’s the event of a thread and the theater is a blank page. With Park Avenue Armory, he has created lighting for tears become… streams become... with Douglas Gordon, The Let Go for Nick Cave and Laurie Anderson, and Kronos Quartet’s Landfall.
Ellen M. Lavaia (Production Stage Manager) Originally from San Francisco, she now resides in New York City. Work includes, on Broadway: The Lion King, Annie, Les Misérables, and Matilda. In New York: Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Macbeth, and A Man’s a Man. With SITI Company: The Bacchae, Steel Hammer, Persians, and the theater is a blank page. Additional credits: NBC’s The Sound of Music Live! and the 2013 Tony Awards. Lavaia has toured internationally through China, Republic of Georgia, Hong Kong, Italy, Romania, Slovenia, Switzerland, Japan, and United Arab Emirates. Education: MFA, Columbia University; BA, Gonzaga University. She is a proud member of Actors’ Equity Association, Local 764, and SITI Company.
Michelle Preston (Executive Director) began her career in arts administration at the Columbus Symphony Orchestra before coming to New York, where she worked with Urban Bush Women, Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company, and the School of American Ballet. She started at SITI Company in 2012 as deputy director and has served as executive director since 2014. Preston spent six years as an adjunct faculty member for the Brooklyn College Performing Arts Management MFA program teaching fundraising and 18 months serving as the interim program head. She has guest lectured at Bard College, St. Lawrence University, Columbia University Teachers College, Columbia University, NYU Tisch Playwrights Horizons Theater School, and Marymount Manhattan. She has also served as a panelist for the Brooklyn Arts Council Regrant Program, TCG Global Connections Grant, ART New York Nancy Quinn Fund, and NAMT Innovation and Exploration Fund. She holds an MFA in performing arts management from Brooklyn College and a BFA in dance performance from Northern Illinois University.
Megan E Carter (Producing Director) Before joining SITI Company, Carter was the producing director of CalArts Center for New Performance in Los Angeles, where she worked with Natalia Korczakowska, Nataki Garrett, Stan Lai, Roger Guenveur Smith, and Travis Preston at venues like REDCAT; Huntington Gardens; the World Internet Conference Center in Wuzhen, China; and Małopolska Garden of Arts in Krakow, Poland. She has developed and/or produced devised ensemble work with Ripe Time, Lear deBessonet, SITI Company, Palissimo, and the Rude Mechs and new plays by Liz Duffy Adams, Sheila Callaghan, Virginia Grise, Dominique Morisseau, and Catherine Trieschmann, among others. Carter served as dramaturg on the American premiere of Jackie by Elfriede Jelinek, directed by Tea Alagić and has edited the English translations of a number of Jelinek’s plays. She developed a lot of new works as the associate artistic director of WP Theater and led the WP Lab from 2006–2013. Carter has been on faculty at the SITI Company Conservatory and California Institute of the Arts and is currently on faculty at Einhorn School of Performing Arts. She received an MFA in dramaturgy from Brooklyn College.
Akiko Aizawa (Fan/Turkey Boy/Ensemble), originally from Akita, Japan, joined SITI in 1997 and has appeared in 25 shows including FALLING & LOVING (with STREB Extreme Action), The Bacchae (BAM), Steel Hammer (music by Julia Wolfe), A Rite (with Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company), American Document (with Martha Graham Dance Company), the theater is a blank page (with Ann Hamilton), Trojan Women (Getty Villa), bobrauschenbergamerica (American Repertory Theatre), Radio Macbeth (Public Theater), and Culture of Desire (New York Theatre Workshop), all directed by Anne Bogart ’74; and Hanjo (Japan Society), directed by Leon Ingulsrud. Other credits: Suicide Forest (directed byAya Ogawa); Sleep (directed by Rachel Dickstein); The Trojan Women; Three Sisters; Dionysus; The Bacchae; The Chronicle of Macbeth; Ivanov; Waiting for Romeo; and Greetings from the Edge of the Earth (as a member of SCOT 1987–1993, directed by Tadashi Suzuki).
Will Bond (Ebenezer Scrooge) is a founding member of SITI Company. He has taught Viewpoints and Suzuki training all over the world and performed nationally and internationally in SITI’s Orestes, The Medium, Small Lives/Big Dreams, Culture of Desire, Bob (Drama Desk Nomination solo performance), War of the Worlds, bobrauschenbergamerica, Death and the Ploughman, Radio Macbeth, Who Do You Think You Are, Antigone, Persians, FALLING & LOVING (with STREB Extreme Action), and in the SITI/Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra production Lost in the Stars at the Center for the Art of Performance, UCLA. He has performed Tadashi Suzuki’s Dionysus and Cornwall in The Tale of Lear, in Robert Wilson’s Persephone, and was featured in A Rite with the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company. Original works include History of the World from the Very Beginning with Christian Frederickson; I’ll Crane For You, a solo dance work commissioned from Deborah Hay; The Perfect Human V.1, Option Delete; and a 2013 EMPAC DANCE MOViEs commission, Lost & Found, with Marianne Kim and Brian H Scott.
Gian-Murray Gianino (Marley’s Ghost/Ensemble) As a member of SITI Company, Gianino has helped create and performed in their productions of The Bacchae, Steel Hammer, Trojan Women (After Euripides), bobrauschenbergamerica, the theatre is a blank page, Hanjo, Persians, Café Variations, Radio Macbeth, systems/layers, and Freshwater. His New York credits include work at BAM, Second Stage, Signature Theatre, The Public Theater, Japan Society, WP Theater, SoHo Rep, and HERE Arts. He has performed regionally and internationally including at Yale Rep; Arena Stage; Actors Theatre of Louisville (Humana Festival); Berkshire Theatre Festival; Arts and Ideas Festival, SUNY Purchase; Penguin Rep; Getty Villa (LA); Court Theatre (Chicago); Krannert Center; Walker Art Center; Wexner Center; MC93 Bobigny (Paris, France); Bonn Biennale (Bonn, Germany); Dublin Theatre Festival (Dublin, Ireland); GIFT Festival (Tbilisi, Georgia); NYU Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates); and Theatre Olympics (Toga-Mura, Japan). FILM: Abaddon, Inside Me, Hospitality, Dead Canaries. TV: The Affair, Limitless, White Collar, Law & Order, Law & Order: SVU, All My Children. Gianino, who received his BA from Wesleyan University, is an artist-in-residence and faculty member at Skidmore College and a member of the Actors Center.
Leon Ingulsrud (Christmas Present/Ensemble) helped found SITI Company and currently serves as one of its three co–artistic directors. With SITI he has appeared in Orestes, Seven Deadly Sins, Nicholas and Alexandra, bobrauschenbergamerica, Hotel Cassiopeia, Under Construction, Who Do You Think You Are, Radio Macbeth, Antigone, American Document (with Martha Graham Dance Company), War of the Worlds–Radio Play, Trojan Women, Café Variations, A Rite (with Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company), Persians, the theater is a blank page, The Bacchae, FALLING & LOVING (with STREB Extreme Action). He directed Hanjo. Previous to SITI, Ingulsrud was a member of the Suzuki Company of Toga for seven years, where he appeared in Homage to Homo Ludins, King Lear, Dionysus, Macbeth, Ivanov, and Greetings from the Edges of the Earth. During this time, he also served as a resident director at the ATM arts center in Mito, Japan. He also served two years as artistic director of Swine Palace in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Ingulsrud has taught in workshops and universities around the world and holds an MFA in directing from Columbia University. In addition to directing, acting, and teaching in the theater, he translates Japanese contemporary plays and has been a featured performer in games and television.
Ellen Lauren (Mrs. Cratchit/Ensemble) is a founding member and co–artistic director of SITI Company. Acting credits include: Three Sisters, FALLING & LOVING (with Streb Extreme Action), The Bacchae, Room (stage and film), Chess Match #5, Persians, Trojan Women (After Euripides), Under Construction, bobrauschenbergamerica, the theater is a blank page (with Ann Hamilton), Radio Macbeth, Death and the Ploughman, Who Do You Think You Are, A Rite (with Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company), American Document (with Martha Graham Dance Company), Seven Deadly Sins (with New York City Opera, Kosovar Award), Hotel Cassiopeia, Cabin Pressure, Hayfever, Private Lives, Going Going Gone, and Orestes. She is an associate artist with the Suzuki Company of Toga (SCOT) under the direction of Tadashi Suzuki. Her SCOT credits include Electra (Clytemnestra), Dionysus (Agave), King Lear (Goneril), Oedipus (Jocasta), and Waiting for Romeo (Juliet). She has performed at numerous festivals and venues, including Singapore International Festival of Arts, Bonn, Melbourne, Iberoamericano Bogotá, Humana Festival, Bobigny 94 Paris, Theatre Olympics 2019, Center for the Art of Performance UCLA, Edinburgh Festival, Wexner, Walker, Krannert Center, BAM Next Wave, New York Live Arts, New York Theatre Workshop, Classic Stage Company, WP Theater, Under the Radar, Guggenheim Museum, Joyce Theater, Beijing National Center for the Arts, Gu Bei Great Wall Theatre China, Kichijoji Theater Tokyo, Moscow Art Theatre, Teatro Olimpico Vicenza, Toga International Festival, Alexandrinsky Theatre Saint Petersburg, The RSC, Olympic Arts Shizuoka, Buenos Aires Festival, São Paulo Brazil, Vienna Festival, Bogotá Festival, Harbour Front Toronto, Istanbul Festival, Festival Mundial Chile, Montpellier France, Hong Kong Festival. She is a faculty member at the Juilliard School of Drama and a recipient of the TCG Fox Fellowship for Distinguished Achievement.
Kelly Maurer (Christmas Past/Ensemble) has been a member of SITI since its inception. SITI credits include Orestes, bobrauschenbergamerica, American Document, Radio Macbeth, La Dispute, Hayfever, The Medium, Small Lives/Big Dreams, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Culture of Desire, and Cabin Pressure at theaters including The Joyce, NYTW, P.S. 122, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Walker Art Center, Wexner Center for the Arts and at the Irish Life Theater Festival, Under the Radar (New York City’s Public Theater), Bobigny (Paris), and the Edinburgh Festival. Regional credits include Rainbow in And What of the Night at Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, Hamlet at StageWest, and Christine in Miss Julie at Actors Theatre of Louisville. Internationally, she has toured with Tadashi Suzuki in the Suzuki Company of Toga’s Dionysus and director Robert Wilson in Persephone. She performed the roles of Jolly (as standby for Patti LuPone) in The Old Neighborhood on Broadway and Hermia in Dead Man’s Cell Phone at Playwrights Horizons. She also performed in An Adult Evening of Shel Silverstein and The Water Engine at the Atlantic. Maurer teaches with SITI, the Atlantic Theater Acting School, NYU, and Columbia University.
Barney O’Hanlon (Fred/Ensemble) most recently appeared in FALLING & LOVING, SITI Company’s collaboration with Elizabeth Streb’s Extreme Action Company, choreographed by Elizabeth Streb, directed by Anne Bogart ’74. Previously he appeared in SITI Company’s production of The Bacchae at BAM’s Next Wave Festival. Also with SITI Company at BAM’s Next Wave: War of the Worlds, bobrauschenbergamerica, Hotel Cassiopeia, Trojan Women, A Rite (with Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company), and Steel Hammer with the Bang on a Can All-Stars. Also at BAM: choreography and performance for Charles L. Mee’s The Glory of The World, directed by Les Waters. O’Hanlon choreographed the world premiere of Anne Washburn and Dave Malloy’s musical Little Bunny Foo Foo, directed by Les Waters at Actors Theatre of Louisville; Anne Washburn’s 10 out of 12 at Soho Rep, directed by Les Waters; and Sarah Ruhl’s The Oldest Boy, directed by Rebecca Taichman at Lincoln Center Theater.
Violeta Picayo (Belle/Ensemble) is a bilingual Cuban American actor, director, and choreographer. Selected credits include Sense and Sensibility (Bedlam), Julius Caesar (Pocket Universe), Taming of the Shrew (Tale Told), Wake (One Year Lease). On-Camera: Mary Stuart (Bedlam), A Despicable Woman (Kostov España), Bedlam: The Series (Bedlam), and Fernanda (AFI). Picayo has worked regionally at the American Repertory Theater, Portland Center Stage, Bristol Riverside Theatre, and Eugene O’Neill Theater Center. Internationally, she has worked in Argentina, Greece, Scotland, and England. Current works-in-progress include Helen. and Parsley (SuperGeographics). Picayo is a proud graduate of SITI’s inaugural conservatory, the National Theater Institute, and Vassar College. She is an associate artist of SITI Company and a company member at Bedlam. VioletaPicayo.com
Donnell E. Smith (Bob Cratchit/Ensemble) Off Broadway roles include: The Revolving Cycles Truly and Steadily Roll’d (The Playwrights Realm). Regional: The Bacchae (SITI/Guthrie Theater), Too Heavy for Your Pocket (George Street Playhouse), The People Before the Park (u/s, Premiere Stages), A Raisin in the Sun (Westport Country Playhouse). Other: Kill Move Paradise (World Premiere, National Black Theatre), The Seeds of Abraham (The Billie Holiday Theatre). Television: Wu-Tang: An American Saga (Hulu), title role in “TIME: The Kalief Browder Story” (Netflix; Peabody Award), “Snug’s House” (NBC Universal Kids; two-time Daytime Emmy nominated). Select film: F.A.W.K., How the Light Gets In, The Grand Heist. Dedicated to those grounded in their truth and those searching for their light: be not dimmed, be not discouraged, be not deprived. SmithDonnellE.com
Stephen Duff Webber (Narrator/Ensemble) With SITI nationally and internationally: FALLING & LOVING (with STREB Extreme Action), The Bacchae, Hanjo, Lost in the Stars, Persians (Getty Villa), A Rite (with Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company), Steel Hammer, Café Variations, American Document (with Martha Graham Dance Company), Antigone, Radio Macbeth (as Macbeth), Hotel Cassiopeia, Under Construction, Freshwater, Death and the Ploughman, War of the Worlds (as Orson Welles), bobrauschenbergamerica, systems/layers (with Rachel’s), La Dispute, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Cabin Pressure, Going Going Gone, Culture of Desire, The Medium, Private Lives, Hay Fever, War of the Worlds: Radio Play (as Orson Welles), Short Stories. New York: The Golden Dragon (PlayCo), Death and the Ploughman (CSC), War of the Worlds (BAM), Culture of Desire (NYTW), Trojan Women 2.0 (En Garde Arts), Freshwater (WP Theater), Hotel Cassiopeia (BAM), American Document (Joyce), Antigone (NYLA), Radio Macbeth (Public), Radio Play (Joe’s Pub). Regional: American Repertory Theater, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, San Jose Repertory Theatre, Magic Theatre, Kennedy Center, Portland Stage Company, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Court Theatre, Stage West.
