Impressionism

Tom Story is a director and actor based in Washington, DC. As a graduate from Duke University and The Juilliard School, Story has appeared in numerous productions in DC, New York, and other metropolitan cities across the United States, awarding him multiple Helen Hayes nominations as well as the Fox Foundation Fellowship. Tom’s vibrant storytelling and dynamic stage presence has lead him to perform at the The Shakespeare Theatre Company, Ford’s Theatre, Arena Stage, Synetic Theatre, Round House Theatre. As a accomplished director, he has worked at American University, Solas Nua, and Round House theatre with a box office hit. 

Shanara Gabrielle is a theatre artist working in a wide variety of mediums with a focus on gutsy and inventive theatre for all audiences and is currently the Producing Artistic Director of Theater Alliance. Driven by tales of imagination and stories of justice, Shanara fosters new work and reimagines classics with artists of courage and depth. Shanara has worked professionally at theaters across the country, including: Arena Stage, Signature Theatre, Shakespeare Theatre Company, The Guthrie, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Great Lakes Theatre, Northern Stage, Idaho Shakespeare, Imagination Stage, Coterie Theater, Chesapeake Shakespeare, the cell nyc, Goethe Institut, Metropolitan Playhouse, St. Louis Rep, Notre Dame Shakespeare Festival, Stages, Theatre for the New City, Shakespeare Festival St. Louis, Hollywood Playhouse, The Black Rep,  Upstream Theater, and many more. Shanara has worked as an Artistic Producer at The Kennedy Center, Arena Stage, and Shakespeare Theatre Company and spearheaded Working In DC, is a proud member of SDC, AEA, and SAG-AFTRA and she loves to connect, so find her at www.shanaragabrielle.com or IG: @shanaragabrielle

Kimberly Schraf has been a proud member of DC’s theatre community for over 30 years, appearing on most area stages. Favorite productions include Death of a Salesman and The Laramie Project at Ford's, Ah! Wilderness and The Women at Arena, Skylight, Crestfall, and The Apple Family Plays at Studio, A Prayer for Owen Meany and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime at Round House, The Gigli Concert and Measure for Pleasure at Woolly Mammoth. as well as three area productions of Our Town. She teaches acting at Georgetown University and the Theatre Lab.

DeJeanette Horne (He/Him) is a prolific actor and community leader. A native Washingtonian, his credits include Macbeth, Hamlet, Henry IV, and The Adventures of Pericles (Chesapeake Shakespeare Company); Metamorphoses (Folger Theatre); Sunset Baby (Anacostia Playhouse); and many across the Baltimore-Washington area. DeJeanette’s stage presence captivates audiences with in-depth complexity. He has received multiple Helen Hayes awards for his performance in The Outsider (Keegan Theatre) and This Girl Laughs, This Girl Cries, This Girl Does Nothing (Theatre Alliance, DC). As a company member of the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company, he is also an advocate for their Black Classical Acting Ensemble. 

KURT BOEHM is thrilled to be joining this project and to be working with longtime friend and collaborator, MaryHall Surface. REGIONAL credits include; Signature Theatre: Into The Woods, Assassins, West Side Story, Cabaret, Crazy For You, Kiss of the Spider Woman, Les Miserables, Billy Elliott,  & One Red Flower; Arena Stage: American Prophet, Born For This, Carousel, Oklahoma!, My Fair Lady, Fiddler on the Roof,  & She Loves Me; Olney Theatre Center: Beautiful,  A Chorus Line, How to Succeed in Business, Godspell, Joseph, South Pacific,  & The Producers; Monumental Theatre Company: Daddy Long Legs (Helen Hayes Nomination, Outstanding Lead Actor); Ford's Theatre: Little Shop of Horrors; Keegan Theatre: Chicago, The Full Monty, Seussical (Helen Hayes Awards, Outstanding Direction & Choreography); Artistic Director of Adventure Theatre MTC. EDUCATION: The Catholic University of America, BM. @kurtb617 

Ben Ribler is an actor born and raised in the Washington, DC area. Some past credits include Arena Stage: The Great Society; Everyman Theatre: The Lion in Winter; The Kennedy Center Theatre for Young Audiences: Finn (world premiere), Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! The Musical!; Washington Stage Guild: Candida; Imagination Stage: The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe; Toby’s Dinner Theatre: Something Rotten! (Helen Hayes Nomination for Outstanding Supporting Performer); The Keegan Theatre: Hand to God; NextStop Theatre Company: Nunsense A-Men!, Lucky Stiff; Adventure Theatre MTC: Sing Down the Moon: Appalachian Wonder Tales (directed by MaryHall Surface), The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe, Make Way For Ducklings; Creative Cauldron: Sondheim Tribute Revue, Chicks in Heaven; Monumental Theatre Company: Be More Chill. He can be seen in the upcoming feature film Tapawingo, starring Jon Heder and Billy Zane, and in NextStop Theatre Company's upcoming production of Chicken & Biscuits. www.benribler.com

Leela Avilés-Dawson is a graduate of Paul McCartney's Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts. Regional Credits include: She Persisted (Adventure Theatre), The Sound of Music - Maria u/s, Jersey Boys - Lorraine, A Chorus Line - Diana Morales (Toby’s Dinner Theatre).

Mary Hall Surface is an award-winning director, playwright and teaching artist.  Recent projects include being among the 10 playwrights for Arena Stage’s films May 22, 2020 and The 51st State, directing The Skin of Our Teeth (Constellation Theatre), The Second Shepherds’ Play (Folger Shakespeare Theatre), and Ella Enchanted (Adventure Theatre MTC).  Nominated for nine Helen Hayes Awards, Mary Hall received the 2002 Outstanding Director of a Musical for her Perseus Bayou.  As the founding artistic director of Atlas INTERSECTIONS Festival, she curated over 600 all-arts performances and events from 2009–2015. A museum educator, Mary Hall is the founding instructor of the National Gallery of Art’s Writing Salon and is a popular creative and reflective writing instructor with the Smithsonian Associates.  She has written and directed four theatre productions for the National Gallery of Art, most recently Color’s Garden, inspired by the cut-outs of Henri Matisse. She has had 18 productions at the Kennedy Center, where she is a National Teaching Artist.  www.maryhallsurface.com  

Myeves Lucien (she/her) is a rising Senior BFA Acting Major from Howard County, MD. She currently serves as President of The Howard Players Non-Profit Organization. Her credits include: Odette/Lazare for the House that Will Not Stand, Female Understudy for In the Blood at STC, Assistant Director for Heathers: The Musical, Producer for the Next Up Festival, Head of Marketing for Seven Guitars, Assistant Costume Designer for Putnam County Spelling Bee. She also has worked for Lime Arts Productions as their Communications Director. Follow her on all platforms @myeves!

Ann Greer is founding producer of theater programming at The Phillips Collection. Since 2010, Ann has created programs that foster interdisciplinary connections between the visual arts and theater. Staged readings of Art, Vincent in Brixton, A Picasso, Gee's Bend, and other plays have featured the region's most accomplished directors and performers. Under Ann's leadership, the Phillips has commissioned scripts and staged their premieres--five short plays inspired by Jacob Lawrence's Migration Series and a play on the life and work of Alma W. Thomas. Programs also have included workshop readings of new plays, and panel discussions on new play development in DC and the plays of August Wilson. Ann led the establishment of Phillips partnerships with Arena Stage, Round House Theatre, Theater J, and Mosaic Theater. As a theater journalist, she has written many articles for The Washington Post, American Theatre, and Capitol File, among others. Ann was an arts reporter for WAMU and the region's first online theater critic, for Digital City Washington.  She studied acting at Studio and Shakespeare Theatres, and was on staff at Arena Stage and the Folger.