Stage Director Talk:
Where We Belong

Mei Ann Teo (Director) makes theatre and film at the intersection of artistic/civic/contemplative practice. As a director/devisor/dramaturg, Teo creates across genres, including music theatre, intermedial participatory work, reimagining classics, and documentary theatre. Teo’s work has been in international festivals including Belgium’s Festival de Liege (Lyrics from Lockdown by Bryonn Bain), Edinburgh International Fringe, Beijing International Festival (Labyrinth – Top 8 of Fest in Beijing News), Singapore Theatre Festival (Becoming A Character).

Emily Preis (Achokayis) is a proud citizen of the Osage Nation. Folger Theatre: debut. Select collaborators: Eric Avery, Siobhan Brown, Elizabeth Cook, Deborah Cowell, Sabine Decatur, Madeline Easely, Imani Guy Duckett, Miranda Hall Jiménez, Daniel Leeman Smith, Madison Mayer, storäe michele, Najee Omar, Calliope Pina Parker, Maleek Rae, Mauricio Salgado, Andrina Smith, Henu Josephine Tarrant, Drew Woodson, Groundwater Arts, New Native Theatre, The Mercury Store, Perseverance Theatre, Safe Harbors NYC ensemble. Awards: 2021 YIPAP Misty Upham Award Finalist, 2023 SPACE on Ryder Farm Greenhouse Resident.

Erik Schilke (Musical Composer and Sound Designer) is an ambient electronic artist and music producer working in theater, film and visual media. His debut album Synthesis was recently released on the German label Hymen Records. He has previously scored film projects for acclaimed directors including the book trailer for Seth Godin’s The Practice directed by Fernando Lazzari, Michael Pantozzi’s Off the Face of the Earth, Melissa Tantaquidgeon Zobel’s Flying Birds Diary, and The Wishing Well directed by Madeline Sayet. His work as a composer and sound designer has been seen at The Public Theater, Goodman Theatre, Seattle Rep (Heilman & Haver Award Nomination for best Sound Design), Philadelphia Theatre Company, Portland Center Stage, Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival and Baltimore Center Stage and internationally in museums such as Pixelbase and Moravská Galerie in Prague as well as online magazines including Stash Media.

Karen Ann Daniels is the Director of Programming and Performance at the Folger Shakespeare Library and Artistic Director of Folger Theatre. A native San Diegan, she is an accomplished actor, director, playwright, vocalist, musician, and community organizer. Prior to joining the Folger, she was director of the Mobile Unit at The Public Theater in NYC, producing tours around all five boroughs of NYC bringing the tools of theater to incarcerated community through Mobile Unit in Corrections (MUiC).

In her prior role as the associate director of The Old Globe’s Arts Engagement department, she managed community partnerships, and created, piloted, and implemented cornerstone programs such as Globe for All, Behind the Curtain, coLAB, Community Voices, and Reflecting Shakespeare. She is a thought-leader, facilitator, and contributing architect for creating tools to help cultural institutions integrate anti-racism, equity, accessibility, community and audience engagement, and shared leadership as a long-term mission-oriented strategy for organizational growth. She is a 2021 Fellow at the Atlantic Fellows on Racial Equity, a network of leaders from the US and South Africa working to build expansive new futures in which Black people, and all people of color, are seen, valued, and respected. She served as chair of the City of Chula Vista’s Cultural Arts Commission, as well as the New California Arts Fund Leadership and Learning Committees, and is a co-producer and facilitator for the biannual Shakespeare in Prisons Conference and Network. In recent years, her creative work focused on co-creation as a composer/lyricist/playwright for musicals like gather ‘round and The Ruby in Us, centering the lives and stories of community.