Megan Sandberg-Zakian, director, is a theater-maker based in Somerville, MA. She is a current recipient of the Princess Grace Foundation Theatre Fellowship, which places her as Director-in-Residence at Merrimack Repertory Theater in Lowell, MA, with a focus on nurturing and developing new work. She has directed and developed work nationally and internationally from Seattle to Kansas City to the Dominican Republic. Favorite projects with Underground Railway Theater include the Boston-area premieres of Katori Hall’s The Mountaintop and Lydia Diamond’s Harriet Jacobs (Elliot Norton Nominee: Best New Play; IRNE Nominee: Best Ensemble, Best Actress), and a site-specific staged reading of Our Town at Cambridge’s Mt. Auburn Cemetery. Megan has previously served as the Associate Artistic Director of Underground Railway Theater, the Providence Black Repertory Company (RI), and The 52nd Street Project (NYC). She is a recipient of the TCG Future Leaders grant, a member of the Lincoln Center Directors Lab, and holds an MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts from Goddard College. MeganSZ.com

Katori Hall is a playwright/performer from Memphis, TN. Hall’s plays include: The Mountaintop (2010 Olivier Award for Best New Play), which recently ran on Broadway at the Bernard Jacobs Theatre starring Angela Bassett and Samuel L. Jackson, Hurt Village (2011 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize), Children of Killers, Hoodoo Love, Remembrance, Saturday Night/Sunday Morning, WHADDABLOODCLOT!!!,Our Lady of Kibeho, and Pussy Valley. Her awards include the Lark Play Development Center Playwrights of New York (PONY) Fellowship, the ARENA Stage American Voices New Play Residency, the Kate Neal Kinley Fellowship, two Lecomte du Nouy Prizes from Lincoln Center, the Fellowship of Southern Writers Bryan Family Award in Drama, a NYFA Fellowship, the Lorraine Hansberry Playwriting Award, and the Otis Guernsey New Voices Playwriting Award. Hall is an alumna of the Lark Playwrights’ Workshop, where she developed The Mountaintop, and a graduate of Columbia University, the A.R.T. at Harvard University, and the Juilliard School. She is currently a member of the Residency Five at Signature Theatre Company in New York City.

Kami Rushell Smith was previously on CST’s stage in the title role in Harriet Jacobs (IRNE nomination – Best Actress) and as co-founder/writer/performer in The Cabaret Series. Other local credits include: Xanadu and Nine (SpeakEasy Stage Company); Big River (Lyric Stage Company); Hairspray (Reagle Music Theatre); Passing Strange, New Rep’s Darling Divas Deck the Holidays, and Dessa Rose (New Repertory Theatre); Much Ado About Nothing (Actors’ Shakespeare Project); The Phantom Tollbooth and The Little Mermaid (Wheelock Family Theatre); Ragtime in Concert (Marblehead Little Theatre); Macbeth (Shakespeare Now!); South Pacific, Ragtime, Beauty and the Beast, and Songs for a New World (Weathervane Playhouse); and The Life (Boston Conservatory). Upcoming: By the Way, Meet Vera Stark at Lyric Stage Company. BA in English from Carnegie Mellon, Masters in Musical Theater from Boston Conservatory. “So thankful to collaborate with Megan and Maurice on this beautiful project. For Daddy.” KamiRushellSmith.com.

Maurice Emmanuel Parent, he/him Central Square Theater: Acting – Angels in America Parts 1 & 2, The Mountaintop, The Convert, Dangerous Liaisons, Director – Ain’t Misbehavin’ (2023 Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Musical)  Other credits (select):  Acting – Actors’ Shakespeare Project (resident company member), Barrington Stage Co., Boston Theatre Works, Cape Playhouse, Commonwealth Shakespeare Co., Fulton Opera House, Greater Boston Stage Co., The Huntington, Music Theatre of Wichita, New Repertory Theatre, Northern Stage, Off the Grid Theatre Co., SpeakEasy Stage Co., Wheelock Family Theatre. Television: Castle Rock, Kevin Can F*** Himself. Directing – Choir Boy (SpeakEasy Stage Co.) Breath and Imagination (Lyric Stage Co. of Boston). Winner of three Elliot Norton Awards (most recently the 2023 Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Director, Midsize Theatre for Seven Guitars for Actors’ Shakespeare Project), and three Independent Reviewers of New England (IRNE) Awards. Currently he is a Professor of the Practice in the Tufts University Department of Theatre Dance and Performance Studies and the Co-Founder/ Co-Producing Artistic Director of The Front Porch Arts Collective, a Black theater company committed to advancing racial equity through art. First incubated at Central Square Theater, “The Porch” is currently the theatre in residence at The Huntington. His one man show Mr. Parent, co-written with Melinda Lopez and conceived with Megan Sandberg-Zakian will be part of Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park’s 2024-2025 season.

mauriceparent.com | frontporcharts.org