Alicia Grace (Meg) Alicia Grace is a D.C. Actor and University of Maryland Alumna. Alicia has performed in university productions such as The Call, The Importance of Being Earnest, Love and Information, and Eurydice. Professional Credits: She A Gem (Kennedy Center), The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963 (Kennedy Center).

David Landstrom (Charles Wallace) is thrilled to be back at the Kennedy Center and on the stage! He was last seen at the Kennedy Center as Rick in Earthrise. TOURS: Big Nate (Nate); REGIONAL: Arena Stage: The Snow Child; Signature Theatre: Jesus Christ Superstar, Midwestern Gothic, Soon; Olney Theatre Center: Spring Awakening, Avenue Q, Forever Plaid, How To Succeed In Business, South Pacific, Guys and Dolls. DC AREA: Keegan Theatre: Next to Normal (Gabe) [Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor], Dogfight; Imagination Stage: Beauty and the Beast, Looking for Roberto Clemente; Studio Theatre 2nd Stage: The Rocky Horror Show. EDUCATION: American University. Dedicated to Joe Kaplan and the enduring power of his love.

Vaughn Ryan Midder (Calvin) is very excited to finally return to the theatre, and debut on the Kennedy Center TYA stage no less. Next he'll portray Emmett Till in The Till Trilogy at Mosaic Theater, previously postponed and now expected in May of this year. Vaughn hopes to return to the Kennedy Center at the end of the year as Duck Ellington in the premiere of Acoustic Rooster's Barnyard Boogie. Other credits include: Everyman Theatre: Sweat; The John F. Kennedy Center: The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963, & Bud, Not Buddy; Gala Hispanic Theatre: In the Heights en Español (Helen Hayes nomination); Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company: Black Side of the Moon; Mosaic Theatre: Native Son; Adventure Theatre MTC National Tour: Three Little Birds; Constellation Theatre Company: Urinetown & Avenue Q (Helen Hayes Award); Studio Theatre: Choir Boy. Education: B.A. Theatre, University of Maryland, College Park. IG: @vaughn_ryan_ Black Lives Matter.

Lynette Rathnam (Blajeny) is thrilled to be returning to the Kennedy Center for this beautiful show! DC AREA: Kennedy Center: Kid Prince and Pablo, Mockingbird, The Wings of Ikarus Jackson; Mosaic Theater Company: Shame 2.0; Signature Theatre: 4,380 Nights; Ford’s Theatre: Death of A Salesman; Arena Stage: Our War; Mosaic Theater Company: When January Feels Like Summer; Rep Stage: The Fantasticks; Taffety Punk: The Trojan Women; Constellation: The Fire and The Rain; Rorschach: Glassheart; Virginia Shakespeare: Illyria; Julius Caesar; Maryland Shakespeare: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Twelfth Night, All’s Well that Ends Well; Source Festival; Atlas Intersections Festival; The Hegira: In the Blood; Lyme Park.

Tyasia Velines (Progo) is honored and thrilled to be making their Kennedy Center debut in this dazzling production of A Wind in the Door . Previous credits include: Adventure Theatre: The Snowy Day and Other Stories (Peter/Male Player 1), Imagination Stage: The Jungle Book Remount (Mowgli), The Keegan Theatre: Mack, Beth (Geek 3), Mosaic Theater Company: Theory (Safina), Milk Like Sugar (Keera), Rorschach Theatre: A Bid to Save the World (Sister), Source Theatre Festival: Ballast (Xavier), Off Off Broadway Festival at Classic Stage: That Kid (Fabian), and Round House Theatre: Stage Kiss (Angela/Millie/Maid).

Jasmine Brooks (Understudy) is so excited to be making her debut with KCTYA! She was recently in Constellation Theatre's production of Moon Man Walk and Imagination Stage's production of The Snow Queen. You can look forward to seeing her return to Imagination Stage again for their upcoming Winter production of Corduroy. Jasmine graduated from Salisbury University with a double degree in Theatre and Communications. She'd like to thank her mom and partner for their continued support, but most importantly her little princess Caly. www.jasminejoybrooks.com

Montana Monardes (Understudy) is thrilled to be back in the rehearsal room working on his first theatrical production since the pandemic. He is a 2018 graduate of the University of Maryland’s School of Theatre Dance and Performance Studies where he performed in productions such as Eurydice, Love and Information, and The Importance of Being Earnest. He made his D.C. theatre debut in Avant Bard's Illyria where he played the role of Sebastian. Montana has kept himself busy over the past year by acting in front of the camera for films and industrials, and behind the camera operating his solo photography and video production company. He is overwhelmingly grateful for this opportunity to rejoin the D.C. theatre community and have the chance to work with the Kennedy Center's TYA department. www.montanamonardes.com

Ezra Tozian (Understudy) (they/them) is a multidisciplinary, non-binary artist rocking it out in DC and NYC. They were recently recognized as one of "19 Theatre Makers You Should Know" by American Theatre and are most known for originating the role of Cesario in Illyria, or What You Will (Avant Bard). Some of their recent credits include This Vessel is a Fragile Thing (4615 Theatre), Three Sisters (Avant Bard), and Sad Girl Hours (Kennedy Center). They are also a Resident Artist of 4615 Theatre (DC) and The Fled Collective (NYC). Love to Chris, Meem, and Jon Jon! - ezratozian.com

Jacqueline Goldfinger (Playwright) (she/they) won the Yale Drama Prize, Smith Prize, Generations Award, Brown Martin Award, Barrymore Award, and Philadelphia Critics Award. Her plays have been produced at theaters including: Perseverance Theatre, The Court Theatre/New Zealand, Contemporary American Theatre Festival, Capital Stage Company, The Seattle Public, Theatre Exile, Unicorn Theatre, The Vortex, and the NYC International Fringe Festival, and developed at theaters including: New Georges/Off-Broadway, The National Theatre/London, Wilma Theatre, La MaMa, Disquiet/Lisbon, Kitchen Dog Theater, Sacred Fools, Orlando Shakes, and Kansas City Rep. Her choral librettos include Set Myself Free for Amuse Singers (NYC) and Halcyon Days for Voces8 (UK). She and Composer Melissa Dunphy are working on a new opera which will world premiere in 2023 at Oberlin Opera tentatively titled Alice Tierney. Her first educational text, Playwriting with Purpose: A Guide and Workbook for New Playwrights, will be published by Routledge in 2021. www.jacquelinegoldfinger.com

Nicole A. Watson (Director) is the Associate Artistic Director at the McCarter Theatre Center. Prior to this appointment, she was the Associate Artistic Director at Round House Theatre. On behalf of both theaters, she created the Adrienne Kennedy Festival. In addition to her work as an arts leader, Nicole continues to work as a freelance director and educator. A former history teacher, Nicole started directing in 2008 and has worked at theaters and universities across the country and has championed new plays and playwrights. She has worked with New Dramatists, the Lark Play Development Center, the Fire this Time Festival, the New Black Fest, the Women's Project Theater, The 52nd Street Project, Cincinnati, Playhouse in the Park, Baltimore Center Stage, Signature Theater, Geva Theater, Playmakers Repertory Theatre, Center, A.C.T., Asolo Rep, Washington National Opera, Theater Latte Da, The Playwrights Center, The Kennedy Center, The Contemporary American Theater Festival, Working Theater, Smith College, UNCSA, NYU, and LIU. She is a New Georges Affiliated Artist and an alum of the Drama League, the Lincoln Center Directors Lab and the Women’s Project Directors Lab and a member of the SDC. BA: History, Yale. MA: NYU Gallatin School of Individualized Study. http://www.nicoleawatson.com/

Martine Kei Green-Rogers (Dramaturg) is the Interim Dean of the Division of Liberal Arts at the University of North Carolina School for the Arts, Past President of the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas, and the Fellowship Associate at the Playwrights’ Center. Her dramaturgical credits include: The Greatest with the Louisville Orchestra; Four Women Talking About The Man Under The Sheet, and Silent Dancer at Salt Lake Acting Company; Fences and One Man, Two Guvnors at Pioneer Theatre Company; Sweat at the Goodman; productions of King Hedley II, Radio Golf, Five Guys Named Moe, Blues for An Alabama Sky, Gem of the Ocean, Waiting for Godot, Iphigenia at Aulis, Seven Guitars, The Mountaintop, Home, and Porgy and Bess at Court Theatre; Hairspray, The Book of Will, Shakespeare in Love, UniSon, Hannah and the Dread Gazebo, Comedy of Errors, To Kill A Mockingbird, The African Company Presents Richard III, A Midsummer Night’s Dream; and Fences at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

Luciana Stecconi (Set Designer)’s previous designs for The Kennedy Center Theatre for Young Audiences include: From the Mouths of Monsters, OLIVÉRio: A Brazilian Twist, and The Gift of Nothing. Recent designs include: Oil at Olney Theatre Center; Kings at Studio Theatre; Antonio’s Song, Chester Bailey, Berta Berta and A Morning (in America) with Ronald Reagan at Contemporary American Theater Festival; Straight White Men at Marin Theatre; The Winter’s Tale at Folger Theatre; among others. Regionally, she has designed for New Rep, Barrington Stage Company, Northern Stage. In the DC metro area, Luciana designed for Woolly Mammoth Theatre, Round House Theatre, Signature Theatre, Mosaic Theater, Theater J, Everyman Theatre, Georgetown University, Catholic University, American University, George Mason University, and many more. Luciana received the 2010 Washington DC Mayor’s Art Award for Outstanding Emerging Artist and the 2006 Brandeis University Ira Gershwin Prize. She’s a member of United Scenic Artists Local USA 829, IATSE, a labor union and professional association of Designers and Artists. She serves as Assistant Professor in Scenic Design at Emerson College.

www.lucianastecconi.com

Sherrice Mojgani (Lighting Designer) recently designed The Heiress and Two Trains Running (Arena Stage), Spunk, Ain’t Misbehavin’ and The Scottsboro Boys (Signature Theatre Company), A Few Good Men, Sweat (Pittsburgh Public Theatre), What You Are and Skeleton Crew (The Old Globe) Roz and Ray, Black Pearl Sings, and Outside Mullingar (San Diego Repertory Theatre), Blue Door, Trouble in Mind and Mud Blue Sky (MOXIE Theatre). Sherrice is an Assistant Professor at George Mason University in northern Virginia. She holds a B.A. in Theater Arts from UC Santa Cruz and an M.F.A. in Lighting Design from UC San Diego. smojgani.com

Tosin Olufolabi (Sound Designer) is designing for the TYA program at the Kennedy Center for the first time. Her design credits include Lovers’ Vows (We Happy Few); My Barking Dog (Edge of the Universe Players 2); School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play (Round House Theatre); Gloria (Woolly Mammoth); Ties That Bind, Caucasian Chalk Circle & Antigone (Catholic University); God is Dead & April is Getting Married (Three Muses); Peepshow (dog & pony dc); Lela & Co. (Factory 449); Blacktop Sky (York College); Abortion Road Trip & Soldier Poet (Theatre Prometheus); She Sings Light, Hatpin Panic, & Shakespeare’s Worst (Capital Fringe). Assistant design credits include Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! (The Kennedy Center TYA); One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest & Baggage (Gallaudet University); Zomo the Rabbit: A Hip-Hop Creation Myth, Thumbelina, Anatole & Davy Copperfield (Imagination Stage); Still Life with Rocket (Theater Alliance); and Proof (Olney Theatre Center).

Matt-a-Magical (Matt McGee) (Puppets) is an award-winning puppet designer who has brought a plethora of creations to life in the Washington, DC area. Practically raised by puppets in the wilds of Central California, Matt has had the fortune of making a career out of the arts (though still working on making a fortune), both on stage and off. Puppet design credits include: Little Shop of Horrors, Caucasian Chalk Circle, Skin of Our Teeth, and Gilgamesh at Constellation Theatre; My Father's Dragon at Synetic Theatre; The Magic Finger at Imagination Stage; Big Fish at Chance Theatre; and many others. He is a recent Jim Henson Foundation Grant recipient for his own production, Under the Sea with Dredgie McGee, being produced next year at 1st Stage in Tysons Corner, VA. To learn more about (or support) his work, check out www.MattaMagical.com, www.patreon.com/MattaMagical, or follow on Instagram @MattaMagical.

Patti Kalil (Properties Artisan) Patti is a Brazilian native and Co-Founder/Artistic Director of DC based Pointless Theatre. Recent Pointless credits include: Don Cristobal, Rite of Spring, Visions of Love. Other select credits: National Players Tour 71 (Set, Olney Theatre), Toxic Avenger (Set, Rorschach Theatre), Wizard of Oz (Set, Synetic Theatre). Hello, My Name is… (Co-Set, The Welders), How to Catch a Star, Where Words Once Were (Props, Kennedy Center), Love Factually, Twist Your Dickens (Props, The Second City), Beep Beep! (Set, Arts on the Horizon) Pipeline (Props, Studio Theatre), Snowy Day (Puppets, Adventure Theatre). Patti holds a MFA in Studio Art from MICA and a BA in Theatre from the University of Maryland, College Park. She is also a graduate of The Juilliard School Professional Internship Program in Stage Properties and a three-time Helen Hayes nominee. Patti is currently an MBA candidate at NYU Stern School of Business. www.pattikalildesign.com

Michelle Kozlak (Casting Director) is in her 15th season as casting director, and is responsible for casting the Kennedy Center’s Theater for Young Audiences in-house and touring productions, as well as the New Visions/New Voices new play festival. In addition to her work with the Kennedy Center, she has also served as the casting director for the VSA Playwrights Discovery Program productions, and a casting consultant for the NSO Pops Showboat Concert, and the National Gallery of Art’s productions of Color’s Garden, Forward, 54th!, and Who’s in the Hopper. Prior to her work as a casting director, she was the national touring coordinator for the Kennedy Center’s Theater for Young Audiences program and then the manager of theater programming. Kozlak is currently working as a freelance arts administrator in the Washington, D.C., area and is the producing artistic director and founder of Arts on the Horizon, a nonprofit theater company specifically designed for children ages zero–six in Alexandria, Virginia.

Rachael Danielle Albert (Stage Manager) is thrilled to return to The Kennedy Center, after having stage-managed She A Gem (2019). Most recently, Rachael entered the brave new world of digital theatre as the Livestream Stage Manager for Amir Nizar Zuabi’s new play This Is Who I Am, produced by Woolly Mammoth and Play Company, in partnership with The Guthrie, A.R.T., and Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Regional: Dear Jack, Dear Louise, Junk, Native Gardens, A Raisin in the Sun, Watch on the Rhine, The City of Conversation (Arena Stage); Bright Star (Kennedy Center); Fairview, Describe the Night, Botticelli in the Fire (Woolly Mammoth); The Wolves (Studio Theater); Seize the King, Up Here, Ether Dome (La Jolla Playhouse); The Odd Couple, Sylvia, Souvenir (New London Barn Playhouse); The Last Days of Judas Iscariot (Stage 773). Founding member: Ubuntu Theater Project (Oakland, CA). MFA: University of California, San Diego. BFA: University of Michigan. Proud AEA member.

Stephen Bubniak (Production Assistant) is excited to work on his first Kennedy Center TYA production! Previously, at the Kennedy Center, Stephen was an ASM for the REACH Center Opening Parade. REGIONAL: Jitney, Newsies, Dear Jack, Dear Louise, A Thousand Splendid Suns, Celia and Fidel (Arena Stage – SM Fellow); Queen of Basel, Kings, The Effect (Studio Theatre); The Caucasian Chalk Circle, White Snake (Constellation Theatre); Love and Information, Building the Wall, Dry Land, and What Every Girl Should Know (Forum Theatre); Rock N’ Roll Man, Shrek: The Musical (Berkshire Theatre Group – SM Intern). EDUCATION: American University, Double major in Computer Science and Theatre (Design/Production).

Agyeiwaa Asante (Assistant Director) is a Ghanaian-American playwright and dramaturg based in Burtonsville, MD. She was most recently commissioned for UMD’s NextNow Festival. Recent assistant directing credits include: Shipwreck (Woolly Mammoth Theatre), School Girls (Round House Theatre), Rainbow Fish (Anacostia Playhouse). She is currently the Artistic Assistant at Round House Theatre and a member of D.C. Dramatists. B.A. in Theatre from the University of Maryland. She loves any excuse to work with the amazing Nicole A. Watson.

Ivania Stack (Costume Designer) is based in the Washington DC region, where she has been working as a professional theatrical Costume Designer for over 20 years. She has designed over 200 shows at over 40 different theatres, and she continues to find creative excitement with each new collaboration.

Regional and DC area credits include: Arena Stage, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company (Company Member), Seattle Repertory Theatre, Baltimore Center Stage, Philadelphia Theatre Company, Ford’s Theatre, The Kennedy Center, Everyman Theatre, The Second City, The Contemporary American Theatre Festival, Round House Theatre, Signature Theatre, Imagination Stage, Olney Theatre Center (Associate Artist), Studio Theatre, Theatre J, dog & pony dc (Ringleader, deviser), Constellation Theatre, Andy’s Summer Playhouse, Pointless Theatre, Synetic Theatre, Forum Theatre, Theatre Alliance, Rorschach Theatre, The Karski Project, Metro Stage, and Gala Hispanic Theatre. She has an MFA in design from the University of Maryland, College Park and is an Adjunct Associate Professor at Georgetown University.