Guest Artist

Larry Owens is an award winning multi-hyphenate artist across the mediums of theatre, television, film, music and comedy. Theatre: A Strange Loop (Actor, Playwrights Horizons. Awards: Drama Desk, Lucille Lortel, Obie), Larry Owens’ Sondheimia (Creator/Director. Carnegie Hall, Cafe Carlyle, Pasadena Playhouse, The Bell House) Selected Onscreen: Abbott Elementary, High Maintenance, Search Party, A24’s Problemista, Sony’s Dumb Money Directed by Craig Gillespie, and more. Comedy: Larry Owens Live at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival (NextUp Comedy Award Nominee) Writing: Musical comedy scripts developed at FX, Netflix, and Paramount. WGA Award Winner. Owens is the author of three full length musicals and one play: THE AMERICAN FOOTBALL MUSICAL a satire of The Blind Side-esque sports/white savior films; THE TALK SHOW, about an evil female talk show host (directorial debut, Tribeca Film Festival, under title “THE GAG”, starring Sherie Rene Scott); unannounced jukebox musical for Primary Wave records; and FIVE SISTERS, a play about gendered succession written in iambic pentameter and AAVE.

Alexandra Beller has been Choreographer for “SENSE AND SENSIBILITY” (Sheen Center, Judson Gym, Folger Shakespeare Library, American Repertory Theatre, Portland Center Stage), for which she won a Helen Hayes Award, Lortel Nomination, and IRNE nomination for Best Choreography. She choreographed the Off-Broadway musical, “THE MAD ONES” (Kerrigan/ Lowdermilk) (59E59), Bedlam’s “PETER PAN” (Duke Theatre), “TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA” (Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival), “FANDANGO FOR BUTTERFLIES AND COYOTES” (La Jolla, La MaMa), “AS YOU LIKE IT” (Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, Folger Shakespeare Library), “HOW TO TRANSCEND A HAPPY MARRIAGE” by Sarah Ruhl (Lincoln Center Theatre), “THE YOUNG LADIES OF…” (Taylor Mac), “CHANG(E)” (Soomi Kim at HERE Arts), and others.  Recent projects include choreographing “ANTONIO’S SONG” (by Dael Orlandersmith and Antonio Suarez) for Milwaukee Repertory Theater and The Goodman, and “MACBETH” at LeMoyne College..

Directing credits include “MAKE THICK MY BLOOD” (adaptation of Macbeth) for DeCruit (Theater Row), “A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM” at 92Y, and “MILKDREAMS” “WHAT COMES AFTER HAPPY” “PIECE” “EGG” “YOU ARE HERE” and other works for Alexandra Beller/Dances.

Her critically acclaimed international performance career includes 7 years with the Bill. T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, and projects with Martha Clarke, John Turturro, and others. She created Alexandra Beller/Dances in 2001 and has created over 40 original Dance Theatre works, both for her own and other companies. Her choreography has been presented at US theatres and Korea, Hong Kong, Oslo, Cyprus, St. Petersburg, and Poland.

Alexandra holds a BFA in Dance, an MFA in Dance, and a CMA (Certified Movement Analyst) in Laban Movement Analysis and Bartenieff Fundamentals.  She has been on the faculty of Princeton University (7 years), Montclair State University’s graduate program, and frequently adjunct teaches at Universities in NYC including Barnard College, Rutgers University, The New School, and Alvin Ailey Dance Center at Fordham University. She is on the faculty of the Laban/Bartenieff Institute for Movement Studies.

Timothy Scott is a Brooklyn-based experimental theater artist. He has been the associate artistic director of The Million Underscores since its inception in 2013, and has been involved with ten original performances. Additionally he has been organizing the educational programs the company offers throughout each year.

Timothy trained extensively under the radical tutelage of Mary Overlie from 2009 until her death in 2021, learning how to teach her Six Viewpoints system with her, as well as performing in several improvised and choreographed productions under her direction.

Timothy had also performed with Richard Foreman, Kara Feeley and Travis Just of Object Collection, Ernesto Pujol, Ximena Garnica and Shige Moriya of Leimay Ensemble among others.

Timothy was a Target Margin Lab artist in 2019, a LEIMAY fellow from 2015-2020 and participated in Mabou Mines RAP in 2016.

Stew is a Tony Award and two-time Obie Award winning playwright/performer, a critically acclaimed singer/songwriter and veteran of multiple dive-bar stages.

His credits include:
Book, Lyrics, Co-Composer: PASSING STRANGE (2008 Tony, 2007 Obie),FAMILY ALBUM (2014 Oregon Shakes), THE TOTAL BENT (Public Theater 2016), NOTES OF A NATIVE SONG (2015 Harlem Stage) WAGNER MAX WAGNER (2015 Kennedy Center) MAKING IT (Spring 2010 St. Anne’s Warehouse), BROOKLYN OMNIBUS (Fall 2010 Brooklyn Academy of Music)

Film: Spike Lee’s PASSING STRANGE. ROCK & ROLL: STEW AND THE
NEGRO PROBLEM.

Arts-Ed: Currently at Harvard University,
formerly, California Institute of the Arts, New School, Sarah
Lawrence, Stanford, UArts Philly.

Charlotte Bydwell is a graduate of the Juilliard Dance Division and the Old Globe/USD MFA Acting Program who has performed and choreographed at leading theaters around the world, as well as in recognized film/TV productions. Her training and experience in both dance and theater, with a particular focus on comedic works, have led to a varied career working alongside directors such as Richard Nelson, David Hyde Pierce, Rob Melrose, Arin Arbus and Taibi Magar. Select performance credits include: The Michaels (Public Theater), HELP (The Shed), A Month in the Country (Williamstown), Private Lives (The Cape Playhouse), Twelfth Night, Othello, Comedy of Errors (The Old Globe), PARIS! (Company XIV), Monica Bill Barnes & Co. (various venues, company member), Keigwin + Co. (The Joyce). She most recently served as the choreographer for the 2023 National Tour of ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’ and as the revival choreographer for ‘La Traviata’ at the Houston Grand Opera. Other notable choreography credits include: season choreographer on Comedy Central’s sketch series ‘Alternatino’ and multiple collaborations with Mighty Earth to marry movement with climate activism. Charlotte premiered her debut one-woman show, ‘Woman of Leisure and Panic’, as part of the 8th Annual soloNOVA Festival (New York Innovative Theater Award for Outstanding Performance Art Production). A combination of dance, theater and comedy, the show was remounted for performances at the NY International Fringe Festival, Anita’s Way and the First Person Arts Festival. It has also been translated into Spanish and performed across Mexico. Her solo film, ‘The Nude Model’, premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe before screening at film festivals around the world focused on boundary-pushing cinema. Charlotte created ‘Moving into Language’, a movement-based approach to acting for performers and creators of all kinds, and has taught at Juilliard, Barnard, Gibney, Peridance, the Ken Studio and Dance Device Lab. More info at: www.charlottebydwell.com

Acclaimed stage and screen actor Christopher Abbott will next be seen starring opposite Margaret Qualley in Zachary Wigon’s independent feature SANCTUARY, which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in September 2022 and just sold to NEON, and Yorgos Lanthimos’ POOR THINGS alongside Emma Stone, Willem Dafoe, Jerrod Carmichael, Mark Ruffalo and Ramy Youssef.

Recent credits include Jerrod Carmichael’s directorial debut for Annapurna ON THE COUNT OF THREE (premiered at Sundance in 2021), John Michael McDonagh’s THE FORGIVEN opposite Ralph Fiennes (premiered at Toronto in 2021), Mona Fastvold’s THE WORLD TO COME with Katherine Waterston and Vanessa Kirby (premiered at Venice in 2020), Brandon Cronenberg’s thriller POSSESSOR opposite Andrea Riseborough (premiered at Sundance in 2020) and Lawrence Michael Levine’s meta-drama BLACK BEAR with Aubrey Plaza (premiered at Sundance in 2020).

In January 2020, Christopher was nominated for a Golden Globe Award in the “Best Actor” category for his work in the lead role of Hulu’s limited series CATCH-22 directed by George Clooney.

Other film credits includes Damien Chazelle’s FIRST MAN, Nicolas Pesce’s PIERCING, Jamie Dagg’s SWEET VIRGINIA, Trey Shults’ IT COMES AT NIGHT, JC Chandor’s A MOST VIOLENT YEAR, Mona Fastvold’s THE SLEEPWALKER and Sean Durkin’s MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE. In 2015, he was named by Variety as one of the “10 Actors to Watch” following his portrayal of the title role in Josh Mond’s award-winning film JAMES WHITE. His performance garnered Abbott “Best Actor” nominations from both the Independent Spirit and Gotham Awards.

On stage, Abbott made his Broadway debut in John Guare’s THE HOUSE OF BLUE LEAVES. Other theatrical work includes THE ROSE TATTOO at The Williamstown Theatre Festival, Lucy Thurber’s WHERE WE’RE BORN at The Rattlestick Theatre, Annie Baker’s JOHN at The Signature Theatre and Sam Shepard’s FOOL FOR LOVE at The Williamstown Theatre Festival.

Christopher recently wrapped filming Sony/Marvel’s KRAVEN THE HUNTER for filmmaker J.C. Chandor. He is about to begin production on the independent feature SWIMMING HOME, based on Deborah Levy’s Man Booker Prize-nominated novel, alongside Mackenzie Davis and Ariane Labed.

Daniel Harnett made his Broadway debut singing and acting in I REMEMBER MAMA. He’s been writing songs since 1983 and has accumulated a catalogue of over a thousand. His work has been aired on WFMU 91.1 FM and has been featured in a handful of shorts and independent feature films (DOG RUN Dir: Ze’ev Gilad and most recently THE VANISHING POINT Dir: Sadie Rose Corrigan). Daniel has performed solo, as a trio and a quartet on bills with such artists as Jewel, Stereo Lab and Jeff Buckley. Daniel has also toured solo in 2003 across New Zealand; performed at numerous venues including Irving Plaza, Mercury Lounge, CBGB’s and Sine; toured the North East in 2014 with his most current band Crystal Robots; and was recently featured on the latest record by Mark Kozlek to be released end of 2022. He’s been commissioned to write music for the theater by Stephen Adly Guirgis, Philip Seymour Hoffman and John Patrick Shanley as part of Labyrinth Theater Company of which he is a member.

Igor Golyak is the founder and producing artistic director of Arlekin Players Theatre & Zero Gravity (zero-G) Theater Lab in Boston. He most recently directed the New York premiere of OUR CLASS by Tadeusz Slobodzianek at Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), a featured production of the 2024 Under the Radar Festival, which will transfer to Classic Stage Company off-Broadway in Manhattan September 2024. Golyak is currently adapting and directing THE DYBBUK by Roy Chen, starring Andrey Burkovskiy and Yana Gladkikhin, which will have its US premiere at Boston’s historic Vilna Shul in May 2024. In 2022, Golyak conceived and directed THE ORCHARD starring Mikhail Baryshnikov and Jessica Hecht off-Broadway, which then toured to Boston.

Golyak received global acclaim during the pandemic as he conceived and directed WITNESS, chekhovOS /an experimental game/ and STATE VS. NATASHA BANINA, each of which became international virtual theater sensations, receiving multiple New York Times Critics Picks and garnering a 2022 Special Citation from the Boston Critic’s Association for “pushing the boundaries of digital space to create a new genre of theater”.  In 2023 he directed JUST TELL NO ONE, part of the Worldwide Ukrainian Play Readings/CITD, at Lincoln Center featuring Jessica Hecht, Bill Irwin and David Krumholz, which streamed worldwide, and directed the virtual elements of the Sasha Denisova’s production of THE GAAGA (US premiere).

Golyak is a 2024 Mandel Foundation Fellow. His 2024 Our Class production received a Drama League Awards nomination for Outstanding Revival of a Play,  and his work has received numerous Elliot Norton Awards for THE ORCHARD, THE SEAGULL, THE STONE, and DEAD MAN’S DIARY, including an award for Best Director. His work also received This Week In New York Pandemic Awards (WITNESS and chekhovOS) and Broadway World’s Best Director of a Streamed Production Award (chekhovOS). He directed THE MERCHANT OF VENICE for Actors’ Shakespeare Project, productions at Northeastern University and Boston Conservatory at Berklee, and has taught at HB Studio, Boston Conservatory, Boston University, Harvard University, Lesley College, Wellesley College, New England Theater Conference, the Russian Academy of Theatre Arts/Middlesex University, Moscow Specialized Institute for the Arts, and the ARBOS Theatre Festival.

Golyak is from Ukraine, and with his team at Arlekin, leads the #Artists4Ukraine initiative, engaging artists to share messages of hope, peace and solidarity, and raising funds for humanitarian aid for Ukraine. Recent speaking engagements have included panels at Ars Electronica Festival, Howlround,The Transmedia Meta Lab/Mahindra Center at Harvard University, and HB Studio New York. His theater, ARLEKIN, a company of immigrants, has been invited to perform on famous stages and at world-renowned festivals all over the globe, including in Ukraine, Yerevan, Armenia, New York City, Chicago, Lviv, Monaco, Canada and the UK, as well as the Moscow Art Theatre. He is the master teacher at Igor Golyak Acting Studio, which offers acting classes, workshops, and training. Golyak received a master’s degree in directing from the Russian Academy of Theatre Arts in 2004, as well as an acting degree from Moscow’s Schukin Theatre Institute (Vakhtangov Theater).

Judi Lewis Ockler is an intimacy/fight director, variety performer, stunt performer, and teaching artist.  Credits include: HATEF**K (Adrienne Campbell-Holt, director; WP theater) UNDER THE OVERTURE (Gerard Alessandrini, director), A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM (Tony Speciale, director; Classic Stage). She is an Intimacy Director with Intimacy Directors International; she leads workshops in Intimacy for the Stage for actors and designers at Eugene O’Neil Theater Center, NYU Tisch, and The American Musical & Dramatic Academy, NYC.