Annalise Guidry (they/them) 

Annalise Guidry is a Black and Puerto Rican non-binary theatre artist from New Orleans, with a background anthropology. Inspired by indigenous ways of “knowing-together” and feminist notions of “communion,” Annalise emphasizes collaboration and union in all their work processes to combat systems of domination through art. Annalise’s work centers the storyteller to amplify diverse voices and stories that are not frequently heard or valued. Cultivated during their time at Marlboro College (VT) and Emerson College in Boston, Annalise works as a translator to make life (our stories, superstitions, experiences) and art (playwriting, directing, performance) commune with each other. They have directed or co-directed six plays, three of which were original works exploring the intersection of theatre, anthropology, and social change, including: 3 Women, 3 Myths (Edinburgh Fringe Festival); and Just a Thing (2021). Annalise is a teaching artist with Hyde Square Task Force, amplifying the power, creativity, and voices of Afro-Latine youth by fostering an ensemble to teach, direct, and co-produce original performances as gifts to the Latin Quarter in Boston. 

“I create for the story-teller in all of us so that in the now, and the generations to come, we may continue to be heard.” — Annalise Guidry

Fabiola R. Decius (she/her)

Fabiola R. Decius’ plays have been produced and/or developed within the Greater Boston area and beyond at Bryn Mawr College, Lesley University, Fade to Black Festival, Our Voices Festival, Company One Theatre, Wheelock Family Theatre, SpeakEasy Stage Company, the Roxbury Repertory Theater, Fresh Ink Theatre, the Office of War Information (Bureau of Theater), the Boston Theater Marathon, and the Boston Neighborhood Network channel among others. Her works include Ladies’ Night (BTM); If You Begin, Finish It (SpeakEasy Stage Resilience Project); First Night; Black Jesus (Long Island Theatre Collective); RX 3162020; The Test; Final Verdict; Man of the House; Fighting Forgiveness; and Mr. and Miss After-School. Fabiola was a Creative City grant recipient through the New England Foundation for the Arts in 2018, and founded Teens WRITE (Writing, Reading, and Investigating Theater Everywhere), a program for teenagers to write, revise, cast, direct, and produce original plays culminating in a festival. Although writing is Fabiola’s first passion, she also performs, and merges her passion for performing arts and working with young people as a high school theatre teacher. Fabiola graduated from Bryn Mawr College with a Bachelor of Arts, and received a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing at Lesley University in Stage and Screen Writing.

“During this year’s Volt Lab, I plan to finish writing a full-length play about grief and mental health in the Black community through the story of a mother struggling through the loss of her daughter.” — Fabiola R. Decius

Gayané Kaligian (she/her)

Gayané Kaligian is an actor, writer, and fight director from Boston by way of Armenia. After four years as a freelance entertainment news journalist, she turned to essays and playwriting as a way to link activism with the arts. Plays include The Freakshow Tunes In At Ten PM, Our Bloody Favorites, and A Table at Rocco’s, among others. Her work has been featured in Off the Cuff fashion & arts magazine, The Armenian Weekly, and the Armenian Student Association’s Trchnakir. Recent performing credits include The Salamander and the Impediment (BUCFA New Works Initiative); Richard II, Twelfth Night, and The Taming of the Shrew (BU Shakespeare Society), as well as the Student Production Award-winning music video “Ivory.”

“Having grown up in and around the Boston theater scene, this community has meant so much to me as a developing artist. I can think of nowhere better to refine my creative voice and define diasporan theater under my own perspective.” — Gayané Kaligian

Jupiter Lê (he/him) 

Jupiter Lê is a theatre-maker, born and raised on the lands of the Massachusett people, presently known as Dorchester, Boston, MA. He is a queer transmasculine man, a Vietnamese-American child of immigrants, a predominantly public school student, a renter, and a descendent of intergenerational trauma. He studies Theatre and Cultural Anthropology at Northeastern University. Recent performing credits: Interstate (East West Players); Shrike (Fresh Ink Theatre Company); Sunday Swings An Old-New Gospel (Huntington Theatre); projects with Asian American Playwright Collective; and My Body Is a Season (SpeakEasy Stage); Jupiter is here to find community. Find him! Go, go, go!

“It is 2022. The time is now confusing. I’m writing to make sense—whether my plays are sensible or not. And Company One is the place to make sense of it all.” — Jupiter Lê

Julie-Anne Whitney (she/her) 

Julie-Anne Whitney is a playwright and dramaturg. Her full-length play Little Girl Blue was nominated for the Open Meadows Foundation Nancy Dean Lesbian Playwriting Award and her 10-minute play An Umbrella for the End of the World won the 2022 KCACTF National Playwriting Program’s Planet Earth Award for a play “that addresses sustainability and our responsibility to the planet.” Her dramaturgy credits include Pause/Play/Stop (new work-in-progress), Into the Breeches! (HUB Theatre Boston), Machinal (Boston Conservatory at Berklee), and The Half-Life of Marie Curie (The Nora/Central Square Theater). She is also a National Committee Reader/Reviewer for Playwrights Foundation. She has an MFA in Creative Writing from Lesley University and a BA in Theatre Arts from Plymouth State University. 

“As a dramaturg, I want to amplify the voices and stories of underrepresented (or misrepresented!) people—particularly those in the LGBTQIA2+ community—whose beauty and complexity are too often ignored by our racist, sexist, homo/transphobic society.” — Julie-Anne Whitney

Nontani Weatherly (she/her) 

Nontani Weatherly is a dramaturg based in Boston, MA. She earned a BA in Theatre Studies from Central Washington University. In 2015, she joined Artists Striving to End Poverty, a New York-based non-profit focusing on the intersection of arts and activism. She is a recipient of the Black Theatre Network’s S. Randolph Edmonds Award (2018). She has dramaturged several productions, most notably Suzan-Lori Parks’ Topdog/Underdog (University of Houston), which landed on Houston Chronicle’s The Best Theater Productions in Houston of 2017 list. As an all-around arts enthusiast, she enjoys sharing her love of theatre with anyone she can. These days, it’s usually with her residents at Sherrill House, a skilled nursing facility, where she works as a Recreation Assistant. 

“The Volt Lab will be my first project with Company One. I’m so incredibly excited to work alongside fellow citizen-artists and meet new friends along the way!” — Nontani Weatherly

Rachael Duarte Hunt (she/they) 

Born into a bi-racial family and raised on multicultural mythology and Cape Cod beach plum foraging, Rachael continues to cobble together words and symbols into stories for healing, and towards a more joyful life for all. Using her life experience as a cross-disciplinary performing and visual artist and in the sphere of anthropological independent research, she integrates information from all walks of life into her colorful mosaics of meaning, creating a new mythology for the human sapiens of today to step into their true innate wisdom. In addition to wordplay and dramaturgy, Rachael offers Ayurvedic, astrological, and soul-tending consultations to clients around the world, while keeping time for sourdough adventures, dancing, and the ocean; always alongside her beloved partner and children.

“I’m looking to the stars and deep into our souls to make juicy lip-smacking stories that we can all dig our teeth into, and that may help us to live into fuller wholeness.” — Rachael Duarte Hunt

Wenxuan Xue (any pronouns/ta) 

Wenxuan Xue is a queer migrant artist, educator, scholar, and dramaturg. They create and support new performance work that explores Asian/American migration, race, queer/transness, and ecologies towards collective liberation. Their artistic process centers on nurturing and awakening “the inner child,” who always sees love, tenderness, and kindness in the darkest corners, who is so curious, open, and playful about the world’s beautiful messes, and yet undisciplined to be ruled by norms of gender, borders, and adulthood. Wenxuan recently worked with Gung Ho Projects, Square Theatre, The Lark, New York Stage and Film, Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, and Ping Pong Productions. Ta is currently a PhD student in Theatre and Performance Studies at Tufts University. 

“I hope to build deep artistic relationships rooted in care, compassion, and community at the Volt Lab.” — Wenxuan Xue

Jonathan Norton (he/him) 

Jonathan’s work has been produced or developed by Dallas Theater Center, Jacob’s Pillow, Actors Theatre of Louisville (44th Humana Festival), National New Play Network, PlayPenn, Pyramid Theatre Company, Black and Latino Playwrights Conference, Bishop Arts Theatre Center, Kitchen Dog Theater, Soul Rep Theatre Company, Undermain Theatre, Theater Three and South Dallas Cultural Center. Jonathan’s play Mississippi Goddamn was a Finalist for the Harold and Mimi Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award and won the 2016 M. Elizabeth Osborn Award. Other awards include: Artistic Innovations Grant from the Mid-America Arts Alliance, SDCC Diaspora Performing Arts Commission, the TACA Family New Works Fund and the TACA Bowdon Family Foundation Artist Residency Fund, Jubilee Theatre’s 2019 Eastman Visionary Award, and a Dallas Historical Society Award for Creative Excellence. His play penny candy was published by Deep Vellum Publishing. Jonathan is proud to serve as the Playwright in Residence at Dallas Theater Center.

J.C. Pankratz (they/them)

J.C. Pankratz is a proud queer, non-binary, transgender playwright and educator writing genre-defying work about gender, class, trauma, and magic. Their plays include Eat Your Young (Boston Playwrights’ Theatre), Egg Tooth (Distinguished Achievement, Jean Kennedy Smith Award), Redeemer Mine (Finalist, O’Neill Playwrights Conference), and Joyless Eye (Semi-Finalist, O’Neill Playwrights Conference; Runner-up, Jean Kennedy Smith Award). Previous collaborators include the Kitchen Dog Theater, Lily + Joan Theatre Company, Seattle Theatre Works and Theatremasters. They are the recipient of the 2021 FMM Fellowship for Works in Heightened Language from Synecdoche Works for their play Seahorse.

Eliana Pipes (she/her)

Eliana Pipes is a playwright, performer and filmmaker. Her plays include DREAM HOU$E (world premiere co-production at Alliance Theater, Long Wharf Theater, and Baltimore Center Stage); Bite Me (South Coast Rep Pacific Playwrights Festival, NNPN National New Play Showcase); Unf*ckwithable (Drama League DirectorFest); Cowboy and the Moon (Dramatists Guild Foundation Fellowship, NNPN MFA Playwrights’ Workshop), Lorena: a Tabloid Epic (NYTW Dartmouth Residency, The Playwrights Realm Scratchpad Series); and Stand and Wait (The Fire This Time Festival). She’s been awarded the KCACTF Harold & Mimi Steinberg Award and Ken Ludwig Scholarship; Leah Ryan Fund Prize for Emerging Women Writers; ATC National Latine Playwright Award; Dr. Floyd Gaffney National Playwriting Prize; and is a three-time finalist status for the Eugene O’Neill National Playwriting Conference. As a filmmaker, she won the Academy Gold Fellowship for Women through the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and the inaugural WAVE Grant through Wavelength Productions support the production of her animated short film ¡Nails! which was an official selection at the Outfest LA LGBTQ+ Film Festival, the NALIP Media Summit Showcase, and Reel Sisters of the Diaspora Film Festival. She’s also a recipient of the inaugural Colin Higgins Youth Filmmaker Award through Outfest. BA Columbia University, MFA Playwriting Boston University.

2021-2022: C1 PLAYLAB CIRCUIT

Volt Lab: Cris Eli Blak, Pampi Das, Venus Delmar, Cayenne Douglass, Francesca Fernandez McKenzie, Jolie Frazer-Madge, Rawchayl Sahadeo

Surge Lab: M Sloth Levine, Tara Moses, Ashley Rose

Flux Lab: Inda Craig-Galván, Francisca Da Silveira, Idris Goodwin, Kirsten Greenidge, Micah Rose

Open Writes Guest Artists: Jacqueline Lawton, Rhiana Yazzie, Luis Alfaro, Amy Zhang

Field Work (in partnership with the Boston Public Library)

• Guest Artists: Anne G. Morgan, Gwydion Suilebhan, Pat Gabridge, Andrew Siañez-De La O, Erin Lerch, Al Parker

• Dramaturgs: Ilana M Brownstein, Afrikah Selah

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2020-2021: C1 PLAYLAB CIRCUIT

Volt Lab: Elana Lev Friedland, Alicia Olivo, Robin Berl, Dr. Maru Colbert, Hayley St. James, Taiga Christie, Thato Mwosa, Quentin Nguyen-duy, Jen Bobiwash, 

Surge Lab: Inda Craig-Galván, Francisca Da Silveira, Idris Goodwin

Flux Lab: Kit Yan & Melissa Li (C1 Pao Fellows)

Dramaturgs: Ilana M Brownstein, Christina R. Chan, Kirsten Greenidge, Jessica Scout Malone, Elena Morris, Alison Yueming Qu

Open Writes Guest Artists: Mike Lew, Rehana Mirza Lew, Christopher Oscar Peña, Aurin Squire, David Valdes, Cori Thomas, Francisca Da Silveira, Idris Goodwin, Karen Hartman, Todd London, David Adjmi, Naomi Iizuka, Ryan J. Haddad, Lila Rose Kaplan, Micah Rose, Lydia R. Diamond, Ashley-Rose, Gethsmane Herron-Coward, Kate Cortesi

Field Work (in partnership with the Boston Public Library)

• Fall 2020 Convening Guest Artists: Claudia Alick, Jasmine Brooks, Shanaé Burch, Inda Craig-Galván, Francisca Da Silveira, Kara Elliott-Ortega, Pascale Danice Florestal, Idris Goodwin, Tim Hall, Mike Lew, Rehana Lew Mirza, Diana Oh, Madeline Sayet, Yura Sapi (Vivana Vargas), Sparkhaven Theatre (Hannah Pryfogle, Geena M. Forristall, M Sloth Levine, John Meredith), Asian American Theatre Artists of Boston (Sarah Shin, Christina R Chan), Erin Lerch.
• Spring 2021 Convening Guest Artists: Eric Ting, Jasmine Brooks, Michael Colford, Joshua Glenn-Kayden, Lydia Jane Graeff, Lauren Gunderson, Kim Montelibano Heil, Daniel Alexander Jones, Tonasia Jones, John J King, Shawn LaCount, M Sloth Levine, Todd London, James Milord, Diana Oh, Nicole Olusanya, Kristin Parker, Tyler Prendergast, Micah Rose, Megan Sandberg-Zakian, Summer L. Williams, Yura Sapi (Vivana Vargas), Audrey Seraphin, Vincent Siders, Dawn Meredith Simmons, Karthik Subramanian, Eric Ting, Paloma Valenzuela, Mark Abby VanDerzee, Shanelle Chloe Villegas, Ngoc-Tran Vu, Oompa Williams,  
• Dramaturgs: Jessie Baxter, Ilana M Brownstein, Kirsten Greenidge, Jessica Scout Malone, Elena Morris, Alison Qu

2019-2020: C1 PLAYLAB

Unit: Bess Welden, Catherine Stewart, Nico Pang, Dillon Yruegas, Eli Nixon, Amy Merrill, A.K. Morgan, Ashley Rose

C1 Pao Fellows: Kit Yan & Melissa Li (in partnership with the Pao Arts Center)

Mellon Resident Playwright: Kirsten Greenidge

Dramaturgs: Ilana M Brownstein, Christina R. Chan, Kirsten Greenidge, Jessica Scout Malone, Elena Morris

2019 BOOTCAMP

Guest Artists: Edrie Edrie, Ramona Rose King, Catherine T. Morris, Emily Ruddock, Elle Borders, Jasmine Brooks, Shawn LaCount, Summer L. Williams, Dawn M. Simmons, Annis Sengupta, Elisa Hamilton, Sari Boren, Fabiola Decius, Stephanie K. Brownell

Dramaturgs: Jessie Baxter, Ilana M Brownstein, Kirsten Greenidge, Jessica Scout Malone, Elena Morris

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2018-2019: C1 PLAYLAB

PlayLab/Pao Fellow: Greg Lam (in partnership with the Pao Arts Center)

Fellows: Kim Euell, Ingrid Oslund, Jaymes Sanchez

Unit: Sloth Levine, Nency Selamoun, Nick Malakhow, Grace Hoffman, Barbara Lewis, Sari Boren

Mellon Resident Playwright: Kirsten Greenidge

Dramaturgs: Jessie Baxter, Ilana M Brownstein, Kirsten Greenidge, Jessica Scout Malone, Lina Pulgarin-Duque

2018 BOOTCAMP — in partnership with the Boston Public Library

Master Class Guests: Rashin Fa (Fahandej), Lauren Miller, Summer L. Williams, Christa Brown, Sarah Shampnois, Joshua Glenn-Kayden, Jasmine Brooks, Karthik Subramanian, Edrie Edrie, Anne G. Morgan, Shawn LaCount, Alexis Scheer, Steve Bogart, Greg Lam, Laura Neill, Jaymes Sanchez, Christina R. Chan

Dramaturgs: Jessie Baxter, Ilana M Brownstein, Kirsten Greenidge 

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2017-2018: C1 PLAYLAB

Fellows: Kim Euell, Andrew Siañez-De La O, Livian Yeh,

Unit: Hortense Gerardo, Ana Candida Carneiro, Jaymes Sanchez, Ingrid Oslund, Takeo Rivera, Sara Horatius

Mellon Resident Playwright: Kirsten Greenidge

2017: BOOTCAMP — in partnership with the Boston Center for the Arts

Master Class Guests: Shana Gozansky, Dawn Meredith Simmons, Emily Ruddock, Julie Felise Dubiner, Kevin Becerra, Julie Hennrikus, Nicole Olyusana, Pat Gabridge, Ramona Ostrowski, Bridget O’Leary, Jacqueline Lawton, Andrew Duncan Will, Lynn Wilcott, Megan Sandberg-Zakian, Sarah Shampnois, Shawn LaCount, Summer L. Williams, Karthik Subramanian, Josh Glenn-Kayden, Kirsten Greenidge

Dramaturgs: Jessie Baxter, Ilana M. Brownstein, Fran Da Silveira, Haley Fluke, Tatiana Isabel Gil 

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2016-2017: C1 PLAYLAB

Fellows: David Valdes, Liana Asim, Ken Green

Unit: Shenelle Salcido Williams, Stephanie K. Brownell, Vannessa Greenleaf, Zahra Belyea, Allison Marsh Baker, Barbara Blumenthal-Ehrlich, Erin Lerch, Fabiola Decius, Tyler Monroe

Affiliates: Cassie M. Seinuk, Kevin Mullins

National: Josh Wilder, Idris Goodwin

Mellon Resident Playwright: Kirsten Greenidge

Master Class Guests: Jacqueline Lawton, Julie Hennrikus, Jiehae Park, Anne G. Morgan, Pat Gabridge, Lee Schuna, Cristina Todesco

Dramaturgs: Jessie Baxter, Ilana M. Brownstein, Fran Da Silveira, Haley Fluke, Hayley Spivey 

2015-2016: BCA PLAYLAB — in partnership with the Boston Center for the Arts

Fellows: Christian R. Chan, Cecelia Raker, Jeni Mahoney

Unit: Ken Green, Colleen Hughes, Rosa Nagle, Jecenia Figueroa, Mimi Augustin, Mara Elissa Palma, Mary McCullough, Greg Lam

Affiliates: Laura Neill, Nina Louise Morrison

Master Class Guests: Obehi Janice, Kelly Miller, Julie Hennrikus, Anne G. Morgan, Pat Gabridge, Beth Blickers, Cristina Todesco, A. Rey Pamatmat

Dramaturgs: Jessie Baxter, Ilana M. Brownstein, Haley Fluke, Ramona Ostrowski 

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2014-2015: BCA PLAYLAB — in partnership with the Boston Center for the Arts

XX Fellows: Elizabeth Addison, Liana Asim

PlayLab Playwrights: Deirdre Girard, MJ Halberstadt, Terrence Kidd, Ginger Lazarus

Master Class Guests: Kristoffer Diaz, Kirsten Greenidge, Melinda Lopez, Kelly Miller, Julie Felise Dubiner, Rebecca A. Frank, Anne G. Morgan, Beth Blickers

Dramaturgs: Jessie Baxter, Ilana M. Brownstein, Kelley Holly, Alexandra Juckno, Ramona Ostrowski 

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2013-2014: XX PLAYLAB — in partnership with the Boston Center for the Arts

Playwrights: Miranda Craigwell, Obehi Janice, Natsu Onoda Power, Kirsten Greenidge

Dramaturgs: Jessie Baxter, Ilana M. Brownstein, Ramona Ostrowski, Ciera-Sadé Wade

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2012-2013: XX PLAYLAB — in partnership with the Boston Center for the Arts

Playwrights: Natalia Naman, Lydia R. Diamond, Kirsten Greenidge

Dramaturgs: Ilana M. Brownstein, Tyler Monroe

2011-2012: XX PLAYLAB — in partnership with the Boston Center for the Arts

Playwright: Lauren Yee

Dramaturg: Ilana M.Brownstein