Rewrite Your Story: Rachel McIntosh,
Production Designer/Art Director/Stop Motion Animator
"I like to be aware that my narrative, my story, my light,
my universe... is a whole different orb."
– Rachel
Rachel McIntosh is a production designer, art director and award winning stop-motion animator with mad creation (read manifesting!) skills. She's built a life for herself out of following her heart and leaping into the void, convinced she'll either find solid ground or learn to fly in the process.
Early jobs building sets for theatre, and location scouting for and producing car photography offered opportunities for adventure and launched a life long passion for understanding structure, playing with tools & media and improvising.
Her company: Razor Productions, based in Brooklyn, NY, provides design, specialty fabrication and animation services to clients as varied as her interests. This week, you can find her working on jobs for Kotex, the Food Network, Adult Swim and The Department of Health.
When she’s not juggling 5 jobs (and sometimes when she is…), Rachel can be found cycling to the beach at Fort Tilden, dancing on rooftops, writing a children's book, and lightly checking in with her own bliss every step of the way.
Early jobs building sets for theatre, and location scouting for and producing car photography offered opportunities for adventure and launched a life long passion for understanding structure, playing with tools & media and improvising.
Her company: Razor Productions, based in Brooklyn, NY, provides design, specialty fabrication and animation services to clients as varied as her interests. This week, you can find her working on jobs for Kotex, the Food Network, Adult Swim and The Department of Health.
When she’s not juggling 5 jobs (and sometimes when she is…), Rachel can be found cycling to the beach at Fort Tilden, dancing on rooftops, writing a children's book, and lightly checking in with her own bliss every step of the way.
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Erik Smalls: Crime Fiction Writer/Screenwriter
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Born Erik Smalls in 1967 in Brooklyn, New York, Erik idealized the street thugs in his neighborhood because they seemed to be the only people making enough money to survive. By the age of 17, Erik followed their lead and turned to the streets for money. For 20 long years, Erik broke the law to survive. He was arrested regularly during his criminal career. In 1990, Erik was stabbed in the lung by a local drug dealer. Erik survived the incident unfazed and continued to add to his rap sheet. By the year 2000, Erik was emotionally exhausted and ready to leave the life of crime. He was ready to live a responsible productive lifestyle. However, Erik ran up against a huge obstacle: how to get out of a life of crime without starving. Unfortunately there weren’t any employers that were willing to hire a convicted felon. It took Erik 10 more years to find a way out of the life of the streets. Desperate to turn his life around, Erik took a suggestion from his brother and moved to Delaware. In Delaware, Erik took odd low paying jobs. But watching the fridge grow emptier and his family sitting in a dark, cold apartment with no heat or electricity took its toll. Erik made one of the most difficult choices of his life: he turned to welfare. Knowing that this was not the way he wanted to rewrite his story, he took action. His first step was finding one of the few computer training programs in the country that accepted ex-cons. The school certified him in computer repair and network administration. Since no one would hire him (even though he had paid his debt to society and learned a marketable skill), Erik decided to spin the same entrepreneurial skills that helped him run an illegal "company" for 20 years into forming a legal company of his own. He started his own computer repair business and hired a team of technicians (even giving a break to a few ex-cons who were certified in his training program.) Determined to stay on the straight and narrow and support his family, Erik began taking contracts in the mid-atlantic region, sending his team out and building relationships with companies and securing long-term contracts. His first year in business, he grossed $100,000. He is still in business today, seven years later. When Erik’s past haunted him, his aunt suggested that he write every bad thing that happened to him as a form of therapy. Erik took her advice and a brilliant crime fiction novelist was born. Erik is the author of three novels, “Never Give Up,” “Eye for an Eye,” and “Cold blooded” all available on Amazon. |
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April Yvette Thompson, Rewrite Your Story
April Yvette Thompson is a Tony-winning producer, writer, actor and coach working across media. April's most recent credits include the CBS' BULL (dir Dennis Smith), Gotham (dir. Paul. A. Edwards), the NBC pilot Babylon Fields (dir. Michael Cuesta) as well as, Blue Bloods (dir. David Barret). April’s acting credits include the feature film The Teacher (dir. Jeremy Engle) opposite Hunter Parrish (Weeds) and Clarke Peters (The Wire) filming in NYC now. Recently April guest starred on "Gotham" (FOX) and "Blue Bloods" (CBS). April starred in the smash Broadway hit, Clybourne Park, (Pulitzer & Tony for Best Play); as well as the revival of The Exonerated (dir. Bob Balaban) with Stockard Channing, Delroy Lindo & Roger Waters. Her off-broadway credits include Medea, King Lear, Macbeth, Antigone, Light Raise the Roof and many others. April’s Film/TV credits include The Exonerated, Accidental Husband, Blue Caprice, Backwards, Babylon Fields, “Law & Order” & “Third Watch, etc.”
As SimonSays Entertainment Director of Development, April produces award-winning indie films. Her Sundance films have been in theatres nationwide and are currently available On Demand, NETFLIX & Amazon: Blue Caprice (starring Isaiah Washington), Mother of George (starring Danai Gurira), Gun Hill Road starring (Esai Morales & Judy Reyes). Blue Caprice was nominated for an Independent Spirit award for best first feature and . opened the prestigious New Directors/New Films festival at MoMA. Mother of George was named “best motion picture of the year” by Indiewire and won Best Cinematography at Sundance. In the broadway producing world, April was on the Tony-winning producing team of the longest-running Broadway production of Porgy & Bess(Tony for Best Musical Revival) starring Audra MacDonald (Best Actress Tony). As a playwright, April is developing her second play in The Miami Trilogy, Good Bread Alley, with support from NYSF, NYTW, Arsht. Her first play, Liberty City was an off Broadway hit at New York Theatre Workshop (creators of Rent, Once the Musical)and was nominated for Drama Desk, Outer Critics, Lortel & AUDELCO awards Liberty City has toured the United States and has it's Chicago premier in June 2015. Education Bachelor of Arts, English from Vassar College Master of Fine Arts, Theatre from Rutgers University AprilYvetteThompson.com SimonSaysEntertainment.com . |
"I believe that when you master your fate, the world responds in time."
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Miriam Rheingold-Fuller, Performer – Rewrite Your Story
Miriam Rheingold Fuller is a professor, performer, and activist. She has a Ph.D. in English Language and Literature from The University of Chicago, and is Professor of English at the University of Central Missouri, where she teaches Medieval literature and courses in Women, Gender, and Sexuality. She is an actor and singer, and has appeared in numerous productions, as well as performing Old French narrative poetry. She has published articles on Medieval Literature and Jane Austen, as well as childhood sexual abuse, a topic on which she has also given public presentations.
She is currently working on an article about film adaptations of Medieval literature, and on two novels. Miriam is also a licensed clergywoman and a devout Polytheist and Pantheist. Miriam has many passions: theatre; gardening; fiber arts; reading; travel; English Country Dancing; the Tao te Ching; and social justice. She believes that living her religion—which includes caring for the earth, respecting and empowering others, and constantly questioning and learning—is the best form of worship. In rewriting her life story, she celebrates her ever-evolving journey as a multi-faceted enigma and diva, and embraces her enthusiasm and intensity. She insists on fulfilling her own expectations—nobody else’s--for herself, her life, and her art, and delights in discovering what these expectations are.
You can contact Miriam at [email protected].
She is currently working on an article about film adaptations of Medieval literature, and on two novels. Miriam is also a licensed clergywoman and a devout Polytheist and Pantheist. Miriam has many passions: theatre; gardening; fiber arts; reading; travel; English Country Dancing; the Tao te Ching; and social justice. She believes that living her religion—which includes caring for the earth, respecting and empowering others, and constantly questioning and learning—is the best form of worship. In rewriting her life story, she celebrates her ever-evolving journey as a multi-faceted enigma and diva, and embraces her enthusiasm and intensity. She insists on fulfilling her own expectations—nobody else’s--for herself, her life, and her art, and delights in discovering what these expectations are.
You can contact Miriam at [email protected].
"Compassion has been important in rewriting my stories,
because it's let me see into other people's stories and learn from that."
– Miriam
Rewrite Your Story: Melanie Nicholls King, Actor
New York-based, Canadian Actress Melanie Nicholls-King began her career on stage with Sugar’n’Spice, a theatre company she created with two other women. The company’s first production, Sistahs, earned her a nomination for a Dora under the Best Female Performance category.
Melanie’s career has exploded since then, holding television roles such as Cheryl on the critically acclaimed HBO drama, The Wire, as well as roles on Showtime’s Deacons for Defence, all three Law and Order’s, and Disney’s The Famous Jett Jackson.
Her big-screen experience includes a leading role in Clement Virgo’s Rude, which at the time was the first feature film written, directed and produced by African-Canadians. The film was a huge success and received a special jury citation at the 1995 Toronto International Film Festival. Melanie’s other film credits include a leading role in the independent film How She Move, which premiered at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival. The film was such a success that it was picked up and distributed by MTV Films.
For five seasons, Melanie played training officer Noelle Williams, the headstrong mentor to the rookies on GlobalTV and ABC's hit series, Rookie Blue.
Melanie continues her TV law enforcement career with Sergeant Catherine Shaw, head of the Cyber Crimes Unit, NYPD for MTV's Eye Candy.
Melanie’s career has exploded since then, holding television roles such as Cheryl on the critically acclaimed HBO drama, The Wire, as well as roles on Showtime’s Deacons for Defence, all three Law and Order’s, and Disney’s The Famous Jett Jackson.
Her big-screen experience includes a leading role in Clement Virgo’s Rude, which at the time was the first feature film written, directed and produced by African-Canadians. The film was a huge success and received a special jury citation at the 1995 Toronto International Film Festival. Melanie’s other film credits include a leading role in the independent film How She Move, which premiered at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival. The film was such a success that it was picked up and distributed by MTV Films.
For five seasons, Melanie played training officer Noelle Williams, the headstrong mentor to the rookies on GlobalTV and ABC's hit series, Rookie Blue.
Melanie continues her TV law enforcement career with Sergeant Catherine Shaw, head of the Cyber Crimes Unit, NYPD for MTV's Eye Candy.
"Give up the idea, right now, that you're going to be perfect.
Because you're not."
– Melanie
Rewrite Your Story: Lisa Strum, Actor/Director
Lisa Rosetta Strum was born and raised (along with her two siblings) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania by her parents Patricia Inez Devereaux and Henry Lee Strum. She attended Albright College in Reading, PA where she received her B.A. in Spanish and Theatre. Before discovering her love for acting, Lisa was on path to becoming a trombonist, but soon realized that her true love was in the theatre. She holds a Master's Degree in Acting from the University of Washington in Seattle.
"The writing itself revealed itself for me.
It showed me what it was instead of me turning it into something."
– Lisa
I didn't think my story mattered...Writing helped me to confront my fears.
"Stop complaining...let it go...start writing...start acting...admit it, accept and pursue that creative endeavor and honor yourself...
-Nilsa Reyna, Actor/Writer/Director
Nilsa relocated to New York City in 2013 and spent many years working in the Chicago storefront theater scene. She founded and served as Chicago Fusion Theatre’s Artistic Director from 2007-2012 where she directed Big Love, 12 Hungry Men and Hugging the Shoulder.
New York acting credits: Indifference (John Chatterton/Midtown International Theatre Festival), Zapata! Tiger of Morelos (Moose Hall Theatre/Inwood Shakespeare Festival). Select Chicago acting credits include Las Hermanas Padilla, The Boy in Black, Proof and bobrauschenbergamerica (CFT), Lorca in a Green Dress and The Other Shore (Halcyon Theatre), The Mark of Zorro (Lifeline Theatre), Operation Infiltration (Factory Theater), Escanaba in da Moonlight (Circle Theatre) and understudied and went on in Anna in the Tropics (Victory Gardens Theater).
She also works as a Teaching Artist and is passionate about arts education and outreach.
"'I Am Enough' is something I have to
continuously repeat to myself sometimes."
–Nilsa
Rewrite Your Story: Farah Jasmine Griffin, Scholar/Teacher/Author
Farah Jasmine Griffin is a professor of English and comparative literature and African American Studies at Columbia University, where she has served as director of the Institute for Research in African American studies.
In addition to editing several collections of letters and essays she is the author of Who Set You Flowin’: The African American Migration Narrative (Oxford, 1995), If You Can’t Be Free, Be a Mystery: In Search of Billie Holiday (Free Press, 2001) and Clawing At the Limits of Cool: Miles Davis, John Coltrane, and the Greatest Jazz Collaboration Ever (Thomas Dunne, 2008). She is also the editor of Beloved Sisters and Loving Friends: Letters from Addie Brown and Rebecca Primus (Knopf, 1999) co-editor, with Cheryl Fish, of Stranger in the Village: Two Centuries of African American Travel Writing (Beacon, 1998) and co-editor with Brent Edwards and Robert O’Meally of Uptown Conversations: The New Jazz Studies (Columbia University Press, 2004). Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian, Harper’s Bazaar, Callaloo, and African American Review, and she is also a frequent commentator on WNPR’s News & Notes.
Farah received her B.A. from Harvard (1985) and Ph.D.from Yale (1992). Professor Griffin’s major fields of interest are American and African American literature, music, history and politics. The recipient of numerous honors and awards for her teaching and scholarship, in 2006-2007 Professor Griffin was a fellow at the New York Public Library Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers.
In addition to editing several collections of letters and essays she is the author of Who Set You Flowin’: The African American Migration Narrative (Oxford, 1995), If You Can’t Be Free, Be a Mystery: In Search of Billie Holiday (Free Press, 2001) and Clawing At the Limits of Cool: Miles Davis, John Coltrane, and the Greatest Jazz Collaboration Ever (Thomas Dunne, 2008). She is also the editor of Beloved Sisters and Loving Friends: Letters from Addie Brown and Rebecca Primus (Knopf, 1999) co-editor, with Cheryl Fish, of Stranger in the Village: Two Centuries of African American Travel Writing (Beacon, 1998) and co-editor with Brent Edwards and Robert O’Meally of Uptown Conversations: The New Jazz Studies (Columbia University Press, 2004). Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian, Harper’s Bazaar, Callaloo, and African American Review, and she is also a frequent commentator on WNPR’s News & Notes.
Farah received her B.A. from Harvard (1985) and Ph.D.from Yale (1992). Professor Griffin’s major fields of interest are American and African American literature, music, history and politics. The recipient of numerous honors and awards for her teaching and scholarship, in 2006-2007 Professor Griffin was a fellow at the New York Public Library Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers.
"I think that it really is a process; it's a part of a journey."
– Farah
Ginnie Love, Psychotherapist/Healer of the Artistic Spirit
Dr. Ginnie Love specializes in resolving root issues underlying the cause of symptoms resulting in emotional dis-ease, suffering, maladaptive behaviors, relationship issues and self-sabotage. Dr. Love is an expert and pioneer in web and phone based therapies, counseling, coaching and consulting. Offering services worldwide, Dr. Love facilitates a confidential, safe environment allowing her clients to encounter accelerated results. Aligned in thought and theory with emerging branches of Functional Medicine, Neuro-Psychology and Energy Psychology, Ginnie believes that focusing solely on symptoms is a disservice to the client and creates only temporary relief from the core issues. This is why clients who have previously entered therapy often experience relapse. Tools, including specially designed meditations/self-hypnosis sessions, enable us to ease symptomology (depression, anxiety, ruminating thoughts and behaviors that are self-sabotaging) while the deeper inner work is being achieved. Ginnie's eclectic approach is tailored to meet each client’s unique needs incorporating various psychoanalytic theories and;
Dr. Ginnie Love is an non-traditional psychotherapist and pioneer in internet based counseling and therapy, enabling client's worldwide to receive the professional guidance, information, tools and interventions needed to improve their lives while providing an autonomous therapeutic experience ensuring complete privacy, confidentiality and convenience by phone, webcam/Skype and email. |
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Kareem M. Lucas, Actor – Rewrite Your Story
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NY: Black Mass: Requiem for a Dying Negro (Teatro Circulo), To Live And Die (MCC/Freshplay Festival), The 52nd Street Project, The Balm in Gilead (The Labyrinth Theater Company/NYNYFestival), In Loco Parentis (FringeNYC), Romeo and Juliet (Theater 2020). Regional: Romeo and Juliet (Williamstown Theater Festival). NYU: Stick Fly, A Raisin in the Sun, King John, The Cherry Orchard and Redd Foxx: Redd, Black and Blue. Film/TV: “Boardwalk Empire” (HBO), “Good Funk,” “True Believers” (upcoming). MFA: NYU Graduate Acting Program. KareemmLucas.com
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"I see myself settled; not doing what I'm SUPPOSED to do...
but doing what I'm MEANT to do."
– Kareem
Chantal Jean-Pierre is an accomplished actress, private coach and professor in the areas of Voice & Speech, Dialects and the Meisner Acting Technique. She has a deep love of language and world travel that correlates closely with her personal journey from Haiti to America. It is this torrid affair with the power of language that has led her to tackle roles like the seductive Cleopatra, the pernicious Goneril in King Lear, the sultry Mayme in Intimate Apparel, and courageous Ruth in Raisin in the Sun.
Her interest in the human experience goes beyond the confines of era or culture, allowing her to feel at home performing classical or contemporary texts. This ability to work with ease no matter the genre is what she offers to every one of her private acting clients and students. Chantal has an MFA in Acting from Rutgers University, Mason Gross School of the Arts, where she teaches every summer and a BFA from Florida International University. In addition she has taught at SUNY/Purchase Acting program and Montclair State University Speech Communications Department.
For more information visit chantaljeanpierre.com, pierreactingcoach.com or email: [email protected]
Her interest in the human experience goes beyond the confines of era or culture, allowing her to feel at home performing classical or contemporary texts. This ability to work with ease no matter the genre is what she offers to every one of her private acting clients and students. Chantal has an MFA in Acting from Rutgers University, Mason Gross School of the Arts, where she teaches every summer and a BFA from Florida International University. In addition she has taught at SUNY/Purchase Acting program and Montclair State University Speech Communications Department.
For more information visit chantaljeanpierre.com, pierreactingcoach.com or email: [email protected]
There are a few things I've learned in this life. Be humble. Be kind. Know yourself even when you don't want to. Turn shame into liberation. Love abundantly. Art is truth and truth is infinite and life is one big moment with lots and lots and lots of living. I've accepted destiny must persevere or that that big moment called life becomes a non living existence.
The heart of my art is the truth I bring to every character and scene. Now, it may sound cliche-ish. But that's the way it works. It has been a number of years walking in my own shoes to accept my truths and connect a particular truth to each character. And the moment continues!
The heart of my art is the truth I bring to every character and scene. Now, it may sound cliche-ish. But that's the way it works. It has been a number of years walking in my own shoes to accept my truths and connect a particular truth to each character. And the moment continues!
Ron Simons is a three-time Tony Award-winning producer, four-time Sundance Film Festival selected producer and actor of stage, film and television. Ron is also the Founder and CEO of SimonSays Entertainment.
As CEO/President of SimonSays Entertainment, he leads the strategic planning and development of theatre and film projects including the critically acclaimed films Night Catches Us, Gun Hill Road, Blue Caprice and Mother of George (all of which premiered at Sundance). His first documentary 25 to Life premiered at the American Black Film Festival where it won Best Documentary. He also produced the Broadway productions of A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder (Tony Award for Best Musical), Porgy & Bess (Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical), Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike (Tony Award for Best Play, Drama Desk, New Drama Critics and Outer Critics Circle Awards for Best Play, Drama League Award for Outstanding Production of a Broadway or Off-Broadway Play), and A Streetcar Named Desire (AEA’s Extraordinary Excellence in Diversity on Broadway Award). Off-Broadway projects include Bedlam’s St. Joan and Bedlam’s Hamlet Awards (Off Broadway Alliance Award – Best Revival (for Saint Joan) and the Chicago production of 5 Lesbians Eating Quiche which received the FringeNYC Outstanding Production Award.
As an actor, Ron has appeared on stage, in film and television. He and fellow cast members won the London Stage Award for Acting Excellence for the play "Boy Steals Train" which he co-developed. He has performed in numerous regional theaters including Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Utah Shakespeare Festival and the Classical Theatre of Harlem. Film and television credits include Blue Caprice, Night Catches Us, 27 Dresses, Mystery Team, Phoebe in Wonderland, Law & Order, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, As the World Turns and Nowhere Man. Ron is a member of The Broadway League and the Screen Actors Guild.
Ron is also involved in many philanthropic efforts in New York and Seattle including the Harlem Stage, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Hudson River Performing Arts Center, Technology Access Foundation and the University of Washington School of Drama to name a few.
Ron’s corporate experience includes positions as a Software Engineer at companies such as Hewlett-Packard and IBM and as a Marketing Executive at the Microsoft Corporation. Ron is a recipient of the Heritage Award from Columbia College’s Black Alumni Council, 150 Distinguished Alumni Award from University of Washington, and is a Johnson & Johnson Leadership Award Fellow, IFP Cannes’ Producer’s Network Fellow and a Sundance Producers’ Summit Fellow. He holds a BA from Columbia College, an MBA from Columbia Business School and an MFA from the University of Washington’s Professional Actor Training Program.
As CEO/President of SimonSays Entertainment, he leads the strategic planning and development of theatre and film projects including the critically acclaimed films Night Catches Us, Gun Hill Road, Blue Caprice and Mother of George (all of which premiered at Sundance). His first documentary 25 to Life premiered at the American Black Film Festival where it won Best Documentary. He also produced the Broadway productions of A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder (Tony Award for Best Musical), Porgy & Bess (Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical), Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike (Tony Award for Best Play, Drama Desk, New Drama Critics and Outer Critics Circle Awards for Best Play, Drama League Award for Outstanding Production of a Broadway or Off-Broadway Play), and A Streetcar Named Desire (AEA’s Extraordinary Excellence in Diversity on Broadway Award). Off-Broadway projects include Bedlam’s St. Joan and Bedlam’s Hamlet Awards (Off Broadway Alliance Award – Best Revival (for Saint Joan) and the Chicago production of 5 Lesbians Eating Quiche which received the FringeNYC Outstanding Production Award.
As an actor, Ron has appeared on stage, in film and television. He and fellow cast members won the London Stage Award for Acting Excellence for the play "Boy Steals Train" which he co-developed. He has performed in numerous regional theaters including Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Utah Shakespeare Festival and the Classical Theatre of Harlem. Film and television credits include Blue Caprice, Night Catches Us, 27 Dresses, Mystery Team, Phoebe in Wonderland, Law & Order, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, As the World Turns and Nowhere Man. Ron is a member of The Broadway League and the Screen Actors Guild.
Ron is also involved in many philanthropic efforts in New York and Seattle including the Harlem Stage, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Hudson River Performing Arts Center, Technology Access Foundation and the University of Washington School of Drama to name a few.
Ron’s corporate experience includes positions as a Software Engineer at companies such as Hewlett-Packard and IBM and as a Marketing Executive at the Microsoft Corporation. Ron is a recipient of the Heritage Award from Columbia College’s Black Alumni Council, 150 Distinguished Alumni Award from University of Washington, and is a Johnson & Johnson Leadership Award Fellow, IFP Cannes’ Producer’s Network Fellow and a Sundance Producers’ Summit Fellow. He holds a BA from Columbia College, an MBA from Columbia Business School and an MFA from the University of Washington’s Professional Actor Training Program.
if you're stuck,
get to kicking baby
- ron simons
get to kicking baby
- ron simons
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WHAT
The Rewrite Your Story Diva Summit is an online summit You can listen in from anywhere, your phone, in your car because its virtual. WHO IS THIS SUMMIT FOR? HOW Each day one new interview will be released and available for 24 hours on this website TheDreamUnLocked.com You'll be given a password so that only you can log on and enjoy these FREE interviews. WHO The 14 Expert Interviewers are from all walks of life:
And many more... These are accomplished folks whose lives often began in humble, working-class environments where the life they were promised was much smaller than the lives they dreamed of having. These are their stories... These are their words of wisdom These interviews are the platforms where they give you solid advice based on lived experience about how to rewrite the story of your life using your creativity to build a life where you're actually making a living as a creative person doing what you love. Are you ready for this amazing ride? I can tell you that each interview I conducted actually brought me to tears. The bravery of these men and women, gay/straight, white/black/latino, immigrants, thinkers, movers and shakers is phenomenal and breathtaking. You'll leave this summit charged, inspired and ready to kick butt and take over the reigns of your life. Ready to set goals that you'll reach and will pay off in lucrative, unimaginable ways... Are you ready? Click here now to sign-up and you'll have the first interview emailed to you on May 1st... Let's. Do. This. Love, Light & Power, April & TheDreamUnLocked Team |
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Juan Francisco Villa is an accomplished actor who has graced the stages across the USA.
Juan was just awarded his second Chicago DCASE grant to develop Don Chipotle into a Hip Hop Musical Webseries and to begin filming it Summer 2016.
Juan is currently onstage at Victory Gardens in HILLARY AND CLINTON by Lucas Hnath, Directed by Artistic Director Chay Yew where he was last seen in MOJADA by McCarthur Genius Grant Playwright Luis Alfaro. He was last seen at The Goodman Theater with 2666 by Roberto Bolaño, Directed by Artistic Director Bob Falls and Seth Bockley. He will next be seen in Summer 2016 in Twelfth Night at Chicago Shakespeare as part of the celebration of William Shakespeare’s 400th Birthday Celebration.
He grew up in New York City as the only Colombians in the Lower East Side of Manhattan which you can see in his nationally produced autobiographical Award Winning solo play EMPANADA FOR A DREAM. He was his family’s first high school graduate at La Salle Academy where he began acting.
He then became his family’s first college graduate when he attended Le Moyne College. Both schools introduced him to the classical text by Oscar Wilde, George Bernard Shaw and William Shakespeare.
Juan decided to follow in the footsteps of Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Sam Rockwell, Stephen Adly Guirgis, and Elizabeth Rodriguez, to deepen his craft by training under the tutelage of Maggie Flanigan at The Maggie Flanigan Meisner Studio. His classmates included PIPER PERABO (Covert Affairs, Looper, The Prestige), and JAINA LEE ORTIZ (Rosewood, The After, Scream Queens) amongst others.
His commercial work include national campaigns for McDonalds McCafe, Miller Chill, Old El Paso, Hellman’s Light, Wingstop, ObamaCare, Kenmore Sears Appliances amongst others.
Juan is also an award winning playwright. His play DON CHIPOTLE World Premiered at DCASE Storefront Theater presented by terraNOVA Collective and The Playground Theater. EMPANADA FOR A DREAM written and performed by Juan made Best of Lists for The Chicago Tribune, The Chicago Reader and Los Angeles Times. He is a part of the ALTA El Semillero Playwrights Unit at Victory Gardens to develop his new solo play FINDING PANCHO which is a follow up to EFAD. He has developed his plays with Pivot Arts, Theatre Squared, Inviolet, Teatro Vista, and 16thStreet Theater.
His literary agent is Samara Harris of the Robert Freedman Agency.
He is an ensemble member of Teatro Vista, 16th St.Theater in Chicago, and InViolet in NYC.
Personal Website:
juanfranciscovilla
Juan was just awarded his second Chicago DCASE grant to develop Don Chipotle into a Hip Hop Musical Webseries and to begin filming it Summer 2016.
Juan is currently onstage at Victory Gardens in HILLARY AND CLINTON by Lucas Hnath, Directed by Artistic Director Chay Yew where he was last seen in MOJADA by McCarthur Genius Grant Playwright Luis Alfaro. He was last seen at The Goodman Theater with 2666 by Roberto Bolaño, Directed by Artistic Director Bob Falls and Seth Bockley. He will next be seen in Summer 2016 in Twelfth Night at Chicago Shakespeare as part of the celebration of William Shakespeare’s 400th Birthday Celebration.
He grew up in New York City as the only Colombians in the Lower East Side of Manhattan which you can see in his nationally produced autobiographical Award Winning solo play EMPANADA FOR A DREAM. He was his family’s first high school graduate at La Salle Academy where he began acting.
He then became his family’s first college graduate when he attended Le Moyne College. Both schools introduced him to the classical text by Oscar Wilde, George Bernard Shaw and William Shakespeare.
Juan decided to follow in the footsteps of Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Sam Rockwell, Stephen Adly Guirgis, and Elizabeth Rodriguez, to deepen his craft by training under the tutelage of Maggie Flanigan at The Maggie Flanigan Meisner Studio. His classmates included PIPER PERABO (Covert Affairs, Looper, The Prestige), and JAINA LEE ORTIZ (Rosewood, The After, Scream Queens) amongst others.
His commercial work include national campaigns for McDonalds McCafe, Miller Chill, Old El Paso, Hellman’s Light, Wingstop, ObamaCare, Kenmore Sears Appliances amongst others.
Juan is also an award winning playwright. His play DON CHIPOTLE World Premiered at DCASE Storefront Theater presented by terraNOVA Collective and The Playground Theater. EMPANADA FOR A DREAM written and performed by Juan made Best of Lists for The Chicago Tribune, The Chicago Reader and Los Angeles Times. He is a part of the ALTA El Semillero Playwrights Unit at Victory Gardens to develop his new solo play FINDING PANCHO which is a follow up to EFAD. He has developed his plays with Pivot Arts, Theatre Squared, Inviolet, Teatro Vista, and 16thStreet Theater.
His literary agent is Samara Harris of the Robert Freedman Agency.
He is an ensemble member of Teatro Vista, 16th St.Theater in Chicago, and InViolet in NYC.
Personal Website:
juanfranciscovilla
