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).

Hao Bai (Projection Designer) Folger Theatre and Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company: Where We Belong. Hao is a multidisciplinary designer in lighting, sound, video projection, and world-building (environment) for live and virtual performances. Virtual: Ma-Yi Theater Company/ Women’s Project Theater: Final Boarding Call; Ping Chong and Company: Nocturne in 1200 Seconds. Lighting: The Bushwick Starr / The Public Theater: Waterboy and the Mighty World; Ping Chong and Company: Lazarus. Projection: New York Independent Theater Awards: Electronic City; San Francisco Playhouse: My Home on the Moon. Sound: TheatreWorks Hartford: Walden (Critics Circle Award), People’s Light: True West. Lighting, Sound: HERE Arts Center: 7 Minutes. Lighting, Sound, Projection: The Flea: Arden. Production Design: Harvard University: and the grass grows. Haobaidesign.com

Asa Benally (Costume Designer) Citizen of the Navajo and Cherokee Nations. Stratford Festival: The Rez Sisters, 1939; Waterwell: 7 Minutes; The Gingold Group: Mrs. Warren’s Profession; Keen Company: Blues for an Alabama Sky (Drama Desk nomination); Syracuse Stage: Somewhere Over the Border; George Street Playhouse: Too Heavy For Your Pocket; Westport Country Playhouse: Skeleton Crew; Juilliard School: Father Comes Home From the Wars); Public Theater Mobile Unit: Measure for Measure; Yale Rep: Cymbeline; The Bushwick School of Drama: Coriolanus, The Seagull; Perseverance Theater: Whale Song; Yale Cabaret: Roberto Zucco; HERE: The Winter’s Tale. Asabenally.com @Asa_Benally_Design

Colin K. Bills (Consultant) is a DC-based theater artist, having worked with nearly every theater in the area.  At Folger, he designed the lighting for the 2019 production of Love’s Labor’s Lost.  He is a Company Member and Board Member at Woolly Mammoth where he has designed over fifty productions and was the Production Manager for the National Tour of Where We Belong.  He was a founding member of the devised theater troupe dog & pony dc, serving as director, writer, actor, and designer for a dozen new works including Beertown and A Killing Game.  Colin is the recipient of a Princess Grace Award and three Helen Hayes Awards.  He has taught design at Howard University and is a graduate of Dartmouth College.

Genevieve is excited to be working with Folger Theatre for the first time. As an Assistant Stage Manager, her work includes: Kennedy Center TYA: The Mortification of Fovea Munson; Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company: Teenage Dick; Theater J: Compulsion or the House Behind. Genevieve has also worked as a Production Stage Manager at: Rep Stage: Songs for a New World; Synetic Theater: The Tempest. She has worked as a Production Assistant at Shakespeare Theatre Company: Evita, Macbeth in Stride; Signature Theatre: Sweeney Todd. She also enjoys running shows and has worked as Deck Crew at Signature Theatre, Shakespeare Theatre Company, and Lookingglass Theatre Company.

Taylor Kiechlin (Production Stage Manager) Folger Theatre: The Winter’s Tale, Nathan the Wise (in association with Theatre J). Credits include: Studio Theatre: Fun Home, Espejos: Clean; Signature Theatre Company: Passing Strange, Into the Woods, La Cage aux Folles; Ford’s Theatre: Born Yesterday, A Christmas Carol, 12 Angry Men, Into the Woods, Fences, Silent Sky, Guys and Dolls, Come From Away: Concert at the Lincoln Memorial; Kennedy Center: Acoustic Rooster’s Barnyard Boogie; Theatre J: Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story. Other regional credits include: GLCFA: Godspell; BRT: 25^th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Quartet, Times Stands Still,  Triumph of Love, The Producers; Williamstown Theater Festival: Moscow x6.

* Member of Actors’ Equity Association

Lisa Nathans (Vocal Coach) Folger Theatre: The Winter’s Tale. DC work includes Arena Stage, Kennedy Center, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Olney Theatre, Ford’s Theatre. Regional work includes Guthrie (Minneapolis), 5th Avenue (Seattle), Theatricum Botanicum (LA). Central School of Speech and Drama (MFA), Boston University (BFA). Associate Professor of Voice and Acting at University of Maryland’s School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies. Lisa is a designated Linklater Voice teacher and a certified Colaianni Speech practitioner.

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.

The Tony Award®-winning Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company creates badass theatre that highlights the stunning, challenging, and tremendous complexity of our world. For over 40 years, Woolly has maintained a high standard of artistic rigor while simultaneously daring to take risks, innovate, and push beyond perceived boundaries. One of the few remaining theatres in the country to maintain a company of artists, Woolly serves an essential research and development role within the American theatre. Plays premiered here have gone on to productions at hundreds of theatres all over the world and have had lasting impacts on the field. Currently co-led by Artistic Director Maria Manuela Goyanes and Managing Director Kimberly E. Douglas, Woolly is located in Washington, DC, equidistant from the Capitol and the White House. This unique location influences Woolly’s investment in actively working towards an equitable, participatory, and creative democracy.