Writing, Adapting, and Translating Shakespeare for Performance

Christin Eve Cato, an award-winning luminary playwright, dramaturg, poet, educator, lyricist, songwriter, and performing artist, emerges from the vibrant streets of the Bronx, bringing with her a profound artistic narrative steeped in the rich tapestry of her Puerto Rican and Jamaican roots. Armed with an MFA in playwriting from Indiana University and a BA in political science and philosophy from Fordham University, Cato’s voice is often distinguished for her ability to create universal stories grounded in culturally specific narratives. Cato’s artistic voice harmonizes with the rhythms of Caribbean culture and the Afro-Latinx diaspora. Her journey in song and lyric writing was ignited during her formative years at Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School for Music & Art and the Performing Arts, where she was classically trained in vocal music. Immersed in the pulsating heart of New York City’s theatrical landscape, Cato has become an indispensable thread in the cultural fabric. She holds esteemed positions such as ensemble member and former Resident Dramaturg at Pregones/PRTT, a founding UNIT 52 ensemble member at INTAR Theatre, and a playwright in the WP Theater 2022-2024 Pipeline Lab. Additionally, she is a former Core Apprentice and current educator at the Playwrights’ Center, a member and affiliated playwright of the LatinX Playwrights Circle, an associated artist with the Sol Project, and a seasonal roundtable dramaturg at the Musical Theatre Factory.

Julissa Contreras (Dramaturg) Folger Theatre: debut. Off-Broadway: Pregones/PRRT: SOLfest; Rattlestick Theater: MTA Radio Play, Theater Jam; Atlantic Theater Company: African Caribbean Mixfest; INTAR Theatre: Vámonos (HOLA Award), MicroTEATRO Festival, #1OMPF, Maria Irene Fornes Festival; Television: Everything’s Gonna Be All White, White Noize. www.julissacontreras.com @jewleesah

Julián Mesri is a New York-based Argentinean-American playwright and composer who makes multilingual plays and musicals in the US and around the world. He is the co-adaptor and composer/lyricist for the Mobile Unit bilingual production of the Drama Desk nominated and LATA award winning Comedy of Errors at The Public Theater, which recently completed an encore presentation this summer. His play, The Irrepressible Magic of the Tropics (workshopped at Playwrights’ Center) is slated to premiere as part of INTAR Theatre’s 2025 season. He is currently the Judith Champion Musical Theater Launchpad Resident at Signature Theatre and a Core Writer at the Playwrights’ Center. He received an EST/Sloan Commission for his musical Favaloro: A Heart in Pieces. Recent work includes Telo (Live and In Color Finalist, O’Neill NMTC Finalist), Last Coffee in Rockville (NAMT Finalist), and Bartolomé de las Casas Ruins My Pool (O’Neill NPC Finalist). Other work includes composing the live score of Henry 6 at The Old Globe, directing/arranging Songs About Trains with Radical Evolution, music directing and co-orchestrating Brian Quijada’s Somewhere Over the Border (Syracuse Stage, Geva Theatre). He has been a member of The Public Theater Emerging Writer’s Group, a Dramatist Guild Fellow, an Emerging Artist of Color Fellow and Usual Suspect at NYTW, and a Van Lier fellow at Repertorio Español. His modern staging of Fuenteovejuna received the HOLA Gilberto Saldivar Outstanding Production Award. He has also translated dramatic works for the Lark US/Mexico Exchange and PEN World Voices. He received his MFA in Playwriting from Columbia University.