Download PDF Here: ReproEco Full Program Culture Lab Sept 19-20, 2025
Connecting Reproductive Freedom and Environmental Justice
Produced by MultiStages, ReproFreedomArts.org
DANCE: BREATH
Choreography by Jennifer Chin
Music by Sun Hee Kil
Adele Carlson, dancer
Jennifer Chin, dancer
Maya Lam, dancer
UNTIL THE CHANGE COMES
Written by Cindy Cooper
Directed by Allison Astor-Vargas
Theo: Jean Brookner*
Makesha: Laura Riveros-Sefair
JayeAnne: Jolie Cloutier
Stage Directions: Valorie Niccorie*
ALWAYS NEVER REALLY HERE
Written by Alinca Hamilton
Directed by Lorca Peress
Gabrielle: Celeste Sena*
Monica: Gena Bardwell
Stage Directions: Valorie Niccorie*
THROUGH WATER INTO BLOOD
Written by Mildred Inez Lewis
Directed by Lorca Peress
Dora: Jean Brookner*
Ellie: Nina Mehta
Angus: Donnell E. Smith*
Stage Directions: Valorie Niccorie*
«note: involves a miscarriage»
DANCE: RAGE
Choreography by Jennifer Chin
Music by Sun Hee Kil
Jennifer Chin, dancer
—INTERMISSION—
WE ARE OUR ANCESTORS REASONS FOR LIVING
Written by Cassandra Medley
Directed by Allison Astor-Vargas
Ella: Joyce Griffen*
Rene: Gena Bardwell
Kalima: Abigail Ramsay
Ebony: Celeste Sena*
Stage Directions: Valorie Niccorie*
MAYBE OUR BABY
Written by Diane Breeser
Directed by Lorca Peress
Maya: Nina Mehta
Jake: Donnell E. Smith*
Figment #1: Joyce Griffen*
Figment #2: Donnell E. Smith
Figment #3: Valorie Niccore*
Stage Directions: Valorie Niccorie*
PRIORITIES
Written by Laura Shamas
Directed by Allison Astor-Vargas
Dr D: Joyce Griffen*
Dr R: Abigail Ramsay
L: Jolie Cloutier
Stage Directions: Valorie Niccorie*
DANCE: WOMEN’S TRIO
Choreography by Jennifer Chin
Music by Sun Hee Kil
Adele Carlson, dancer
Jennifer Chin, dancer
Maya Lam, dancer
MONTAGE: ALL
Dramaturgy: Lisa Lindstrom
Original Music by Sun Hee Kil, featuring Paul Peress ‘RAGE’ on drums
Production Stage Manager: Melanie Ashby-Hunt
Tech: Paul Knox
Production Assistants: Elizabeth Ombrellaro and Lillian Esposito
*denotes member of Actors Equity Association
ACTORS
Gena Bardwell (We Are Our Ancestors Reasons for Living, Priorities) Chairs the Dept. of Speech and Communications, Touro Univ. NY. She performed in NPT’s Running Out of Time. Off Broadway, Our Place in Time, in the film Gimme Shelter opposite James Earl Jones and Rosario Dawson. Novel at MultiStages. She garnered rave reviews, as Amanda in The Glass Menagerie directed by Academy Award Winner Kevin Willmott; Sojourner Truth in A Woman Called Truth, Coterie Theater; Flying West, The Unicorn Theater. Her MFA, Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University, New Jersey.
Jean Brookner* (Until the Change Comes, Through Water Into Blood) appeared in ReproEco’s Short Play Reading Series last year & is delighted to be working with them again here. Select NY stage credits: StatueFest: Barbara McClintock / Edith Wharton; Expiration Date (59E59 Theaters / Edinburgh Fringe, UK); Conjugating Stuckitude, her original one woman show. Select readings: Bridge (w/Hallie Foote, Elizabeth Ashley, Veanne Cox); To the Memory of the Lost Children (dir. Carrie Robbins). She has worked in English and French theater, appearing in A Matter of Husbands and Overtones, performing each play both in French and English (LIU). Jean is also a classically trained pianist and member of ASCAP. AEA, SAG-AFTRA jptb33@verizon.net
Jolie Cloutier (Until the Change Comes, Priorities) is a Native American (Onondaga) actor based in New York City. Most recently she can be seen on screen in Up And Down the River, which premiered at ImagineThis International Women’s Festival. Jolie is very passionate about reproductive rights and is proud to be a part of this program.
Joyce Griffen* (We Are Our Ancestors Reasons for Living, Maybe Our Baby, Priorities) is a Writer, Director, Actress, Jazz Vocalist and Audiobook Narrator. She has performed in productions with La Mama E.T.C, The Negro Ensemble Company, New Federal Theatre, and New Heritage Theatre Group, among others. A Best Lead Actress finalist in the 2024 Broadway World Off-Off Broadway Awards, her farce The Script in the Closet was presented at La MaMa March 2024. Joyce’s goal is to have one of her three currently completed screenplays produced soon, and to write numerous others that receive great critical acclaim and delight audiences.
Nina Mehta (Through Water Into Blood, Maybe Our Baby ) is an actor, writer, producer, and director in New York. Stage: LAByrinth Theater Company; MACHINE LEARNING (VoxFest), SOME PROBLEMS FOR THE MOOSE LODGE (Tennessee Williams Theatre Festival), JACKSON HEIGHTS 3AM (QueensTheatre). FILM/TV: “All Square” (SXSW), “Crashing” (HBO), “Girls” (HBO), “Inside Amy Schumer” (Comedy Central). Instagram: @msmehtaifyourenasty.
Valorie Niccore* (Maybe Our Baby; Stage Directions) has had an earnest interest in the theatrical world her entire life and enjoyed working onstage, on set and in interactive presentation in S.F., L.A., NYC and beyond. Favorite roles: Lady Narborough (Dorian Gray), Countess Geschwitz (Lulu), Ariel (The Tempest), 1st Witch (MacBeth), Queen Ninetta (The Green Bird). TV: Love Life (HBO), America’s Most Wanted (FOX), various soap operas. She crossed the Seas in Interactive Detective Dramas for Cunard and is happily included in ReproEco’s program.
Abigail Ramsay (We Are Our Ancestors Reasons for Living, Priorities) is an actress, facilitator, co-caretaker, writer, arts project manager. 2018-2020, she lived in her ancestral home, Jamaica, on a Fulbright and Embassy grants. Recent roles: Andromache in the Theater Three / Persona Theatre (Greece) collaboration Troy Too (HERE); Cynthia Cooper’s I Was a Stranger Too (St. Paul, MN). She works weekly with amazing young women at Flanbwayan Haitian Literacy Project through her organization, TurningWheel Collective. Training: RADA 3-year Actor Training.
Laura Riveros-Sefair (Until the Change Comes) (they/them, elle en Español) is a multi-hyphenated theatre artist and educator based in Brooklyn, New York. Born in Colombia to a Lebanese family, Laura has performing, directing, and line production credits with companies like Repertorio Español, Ensemble Studio Theater, INTAR, Misi, Latine Musical Theatre Lab, IATI, Working Theatre, and Radical Evolution, among many others. They work as a teaching artist in the North Brooklyn public school system. Laura has also worked in audiobook narration projects with the National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled of the Library of Congress, as well Spanish voice over cartoons like Little Robots, the animated movie The Princess and The Pea, and the singing voices for the Latin American version of Sesame Street. More information: www.laurariveros-sefair.com
Celeste Sena* (Always Never Really Here, We Are Our Ancestors Reasons for Living ) is an actress, singer, and dancer based in NYC and a recent graduate of Brooklyn College’s MFA Acting Program. Her regional theater work includes Shakespeare the Remix (Capital Repertory), Take Me With You (Capital Repertory), Brown Bodies on Blue Earth (Capital Repertory) Vanguards: Collected Excerpts from Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow (Crossroads Theater Company). Off Broadway: King Lear at La Mama (directed by Karin Coonrad). Her recent on-screen TV and film work include Poker Face (S2E1 on Peacock/ NBC), Welcome to AfroTree (Warner Bros/OneFifty), Undercover Life (A&E Networks) and Rap Pack starring Emmy-Winning Actor Jharrel Jerome. She has also done a series of commercials for Etsy, Ally Bank and Totino’s Pizza Rolls.
Donnell E. Smith* (Through Water Into Blood, Maybe Our Baby) (he/him) Dedicated to those grounded in their Truth, and in search of their Light. Off-Broadway: The Revolving Cycles Truly and Steadily Roll’d (The Playwrights Realm). Regional: Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (Arts Center of Coastal Carolina), A Raisin in the Sun (Sharon Playhouse), The Bacchae (Guthrie Theater), Too Heavy for Your Pocket (George Street Playhouse), A Raisin in the Sun (Westport Country Playhouse). Other Theatre: A Christmas Carol (SITI Company), Kill Move Paradise (National Black Theatre). TV: “Wu Tang: An American Saga (S2)” (Hulu), “TIME: The Kalief Browder Story” (Netflix), “Snug’s House” (NBCUniversal).
*denotes member of Actors Equity Association
JENNIFER CHIN DANCE COMPANY
DANCERS
Adele Carlson (Breath, Women’s Trio) is a New York City based dancer from Houston, TX. She graduated summa cum laude from Southern Methodist University with degrees in Dance Performance and Geophysics. Adele has performed with the Jose Limón Dance Company, Limón2, LLMoves, Salvatore Larussa, and most recently performed in works by Peter Chu and Majella Bess Loughran at Springboard Danse. She is a company member with Alpha Omega.
Jennifer Chin (Breath, Rage, Women’s Trio) (Choreographer/Dancer) is a dance artist who has performed and taught throughout the US and abroad. Her choreography has been presented in New York City, Mexico, Croatia, Scotland, Italy, Nicaragua, and Guatemala. Her company, JENNIFERCHINdance, has an ongoing collaboration with WADE, operating at the intersection of performing arts, activism, and social change. https://www.jenniferchindance.com/
Maya Lam (Breath, Women’s Trio) is a New York-based Asian-American dancer and interdisciplinary artist. Maya graduated summa cum laude from Marymount Manhattan College with a BFA in Dance, a BA in Business, and a minor in Biology. She was a Resident Artist with Moulin/Belle in France, and has danced professionally with Nimbus Dance Works and Periapsis Music and Dance. She currently performs and tours with Ballet Nepantla, J CHEN Project, Synchronous, and Aslin Projects.
DIRECTORS
Allison Astor-Vargas (Until the Change Comes, We Are Our Ancestors Reasons for Living, Priorities) has been the Manager of Special Projects and Education for Repertorio Espanol Theatre for the past 27 years. As an independent artist, Allison directed Mujeres Fuertes, an evening of 3 monologues of powerful Latinx women opening the 2023 BAAD ASS WOMEN’S FESTIVAL at BAAD!; StatueFest: Put a woman on a Pedestal produced by New Shokan Kitchen Project which was a series of 15 monologues revering women whose contribution to New York City and beyond should not be lost to history and from which Mujeres Fuertes was born. She also directed several online pieces including The Actors Studio BIPOC Fly on the Wall Series, Week 3 “Stand Back and Stand By,” The Neighborhood Watch by Janis Astor Del Valle and Daughter of the Seas and Sun also by Janis Astor del Valle for the Say Their Name Festival produced by BIWOC Hall of Fame. She produced her own adaptation of “The Scarlet Letter” entitled Scarlet Fever. Her latest play is “Broken Hearts” which explores the aftermath of the 2016 presidential election for a Latinx family that doesn’t see eye-to- eye. She is an alumna of The Lincoln Center Directors Lab and a current participant of The Actor’s Studio Playwrights and Directors Workshop.
Lorca Peress (Always Never Really Here, Through Water Into Blood, Maybe Our Baby) is a freelance theatre, opera and musical theatre director, and the Founder and Artistic Director of MultiStages in NYC, a multicultural multidisciplinary NYC theatre company. She is an advocate for women in theatre and an equity diversity activist. Peress is a Union member of SAG-AFTRA, AEA, and SDC; a member of the National Theatre Conference, Women in Arts and Media Coalition, NYWA (New York Women Agenda), and the League of Professional Theatre Women (past co-president 2011-14). She identifies as a multicultural woman with a Puerto Rican, Sephardic Iraqi and Polish background. Peress has directed new works at Joe’s Pub at the Public Theatre, The Acorn at Theatre Row, HERE, International NY Fringe Festival at the Soho Playhouse, The Tank, Hudson Guild Theatre, Theatre for the New City, NJ Repertory, La MaMa, Repertorio Español, Urban Stages, and others. She directed a special music event for the Lincoln Bicentennial at Riverside Church with Ruby Dee and Sam Waterston, and a concert of the Aids Quilt Song Book at Cooper Union. She has directed university theatre for NYU Tisch, Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute, and operas at Queens College for the Aaron Copland School of Music and Drama/Dance Depts. She has also directed three 24-hour plays for her alma mater, Bennington College for the Spencer Cox Memorial Fund and Nicolas Martin Scholarship Fund at the Signature Theatre, Lucille Lortel, and the Public Theatre. She is the co-producer of ReproEco: Six Short Plays With Dance. https://www.lorcaperessdirector.com
PLAYWRIGHTS
Diane Breeser (Maybe Our Baby) has spent most of her life involved in theatre. Years of research culminated in her one-act, Goddess on the Mountaintop about primatologist Dian Fossey. In 2017 Diane co-founded an award-winning theatre group, The “Alternative Truth” Project, which performed free monthly play readings about cultural issues such as reproductive freedom, LGBTQ+ rights, guns, and book-banning. In the Spring of 2025, she produced all six ReproEco plays in her hometown of La Crosse, Wisconsin. A former teacher and librarian, Diane lives near the Mississippi River with her husband Randy and various critters.
Cindy Cooper (Until the Change Comes, producer ReproEco) is an award-winning playwright, journalist and author. Her plays have been produced in the US, Canada and Europe. In New York, her work has been at Primary Stages, The Women’s Project (How She Played the Game), Wings (Strange Light; Slow Burn), Vaclav Havel Library Foundation (Stones of Tiananmen), Lincoln Center’s Clark Studio, MultiStages, EST, Town Hall (The World at Your Fingertips), Anne Frank Center USA (Silence Not, A Love Story), Sheen Center, Center for Jewish History, WOW Café, Chain Theatre, elsewhere, and in Chicago, Minneapolis, DC, Philadelphia, Boston, LA, Maryland, Texas, Florida, Montreal, Budapest, Helsinki, elsewhere. A two-time Jerome Fellow, her plays are in 17 volumes and have won awards from Pen & Brush, Samuel French, Malibu Int’l Festival, Quixote Foundation, Equity Library Theater, others. She is the founder of ReproFreedomArts.org. Originally from Cleveland, Ohio, she lives in New York. www.cyncooperwriter.net
Alinca Hamilton (Always Never Really Here) is a holistic creator working across stage and screen. Select acting credits include: January (MultiStages), Clyde’s (Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Arkansas Rep); Mud Row (Premiere Stages); Gong Lum’s Legacy (New Federal); Julius Cesar (Classic Stage), Growing Up (Disney+). Her writing has been recognized as a semi-finalist for the NYSCA/NYSFA Artist Fellowship and the Fresh Voices Competition. She is a founding member of Squeaky Wheelz Productions, whose work has appeared at The Tank, Ars Nova, Edinburgh Fringe, Twin Cities Film Festival, International Black Theater Festival, and Berlin Indie Film Festival (Award – Best Artist Short). A New Yorker to her core (please don’t ask her to drive). M.F.A. – Acting, Columbia University. alincahamilton.com
Mildred Inez Lewis (Through Water Into Blood) writes and directs for theater, screen and audio. A Dramatists Guild member, she writes with the Colony Theater, EST-LA, PlayGround-Los Angeles, Rogue Artists Ensemble and Towne Street Theatres. She’s been commissioned by A Different Myth (Asheville, NC), Lifeline Theater (Chicago), the Lucille Lortel Foundation/Harlem9/National Black Theatre (NYC), Ohlone College and SCI@SPARC (Livermore, CA). Honors include the AGE Legacy Award, L.B. Williams Festival (New Circle Theatre Company), and Humanitas’ PLAY LA. Her plays are published by Applause Books, Broadway Play Publishing, NextStage, and Smith & Kraus. Educated at Oberlin College and UCLA, Mildred teaches writing at Chapman University. She wrote about the ReproEco process in a blog post, Artistic Investigations on ReproEco.
Cassandra Medley (We Are Our Ancestors Reasons for Living) is a playwright and teacher whose works have been produced across the U.S. Her works include Fannie Lou Hamer Opera (libretto), A Walk in YaYa’s Garden, Motherless Child, March 13, 2020, Martha’s Vineyard Theater, Celebrating Our Community, Gatekeepers Collective, 2020, Mrs. Palmer’s Honey, Bread and Roses Theater. Cell, Playing On Air 2018, Take My Advice, 2017, Survive, 2017, Cell, the full-length, Molelo Theater-2015, American Slavery Project, 2012-13, NYC, Cell, the one act, Ensemble Studio Theatre Marathon 2011, Daughter, Ensemble Studio Theatre Marathon 2009, Noon Day Sun, August, 2008, Diverse City Theatre Company, Relativity, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Ensemble Studio Theatre, 2004. Her awards include the 2023 Helen Merrill Award for Playwriting, the August Wilson Prize, the Ensemble Studio Theatre Life Achievement Award, Theatrefest Regional Playwriting Award for Best Play, National Endowment for the Arts Playwright Award, and a New York Foundation for Arts Fellowship. https://www.cassandramedleyplaywright.com/
Laura Shamas (Priorities) was born in Oklahoma. She is a 2023 Los Angeles New Play Project Playwriting Award winner ($20,000) for Four Women in Red, which was produced at the Victory Theatre in Burbank in early 2025. This play was published in June 2025 by Broadway Play Publishing. It was performed in the 2022 Festival of New Plays at Native Voices at the Autry. Shamas’ plays include: Circular, Picnic at Hanging Rock (adaptation), Portrait of a Nude, Lady-Like, Chasing Honey, Talking Leaves (Winner – Garrard Best Play Award – Five Civilized Tribes Museum), and Amelia Lives. Her short play Seeds won the Von Marie Atchley Award for Excellence in Playwriting from Native Voices in 2017. Her work on ReproEco was mentioned in a feature about her in the Chickasaw Nation Times. She is a Chickasaw Nation citizen. www.laurashamas.com
DRAMATURG
Lisa Lindstrom (dramaturg) sees herself as a “Facilitator of Stories.” As a producer and story development executive with the Avnet/Kerner Company, she nurtured many film and television projects from development through production, including FRIED GREED TOMATOES. THE WAR, UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL, RED CORNER, UPRISING and THINGS YOU CAN TELL JUST BY LOOKING AT HER. She has always been interested in emerging voices. With the Unusual Suspects Theatre Company she taught at-risk and incarcerated youth to write and perform their own plays. She has also taught youth playwriting through many other organizations, including the Virginia Avenue Project, Theatre for a New Audience and the International Rescue Committee.
COMPOSER
Sun Hee Kil (Composer/Sound Design) Associate designed Broadway productions to PyeongChang Winter Olympics Opening & Closing Ceremonies in South Korea. Her sound design includes Off Broadway, regional and international theatre productions. Her sound designs were nominated for Henry Hewes Awards and World Stage Design and selected to exhibit at Prague Quadrennial. Sunny is an Assistant Professor of Sound Design at Purchase College, State University of New York and proud member of United Scenic Artists Local 829, Audio Engineering Society and Theatrical Sound Designers & Composers Association. http://www.sunheekil.com
PRESENTERS
ReproFreedomArts.org, a theatre company dedicated to reproductive health, freedom, rights and justice, commissioned the writers who developed ReproEco after collaborative research with experts. Reprofreedomarts.org
MultiStages is an award-winning multicultural and multidisciplinary theatre company in its 28th year of developing and producing new works. Lorca Peress serves as its Artistic Director. MultiStages.org
JENNIFERCHINdance has been performing and teaching throughout the US and abroad since 2010. They have an ongoing collaboration with WADE (Wandering Avian Dance Experience), operating at the intersection of performing arts, activism, and social change.
CULTURELAB LIC, multidisciplinary arts center in Long Island City, has provided the space and support to make this production possible.
Presented with support from The Puffin Foundation and generous donors to MultiStages and ReproFreedomArts.org.
Special thanks to GF55 Architects.
This event is presented as part of UNGA Healing Arts Week, an NYC-wide celebration of arts and health during the 80th Session of the UN General Assembly, produced by the Jameel Arts & Health Lab in collaboration with the World Health Organization.
reprofreedomarts.org 