Benjamin Benne, he/him/his (Playwright) is a currently itinerant playwright from Los Angeles. His plays include: Alma (World Premiere ’22: Center Theatre Group’s Kirk Douglas Theatre in Los Angeles & American Blues Theater in Chicago; Seattle Premiere ’22: ArtsWest Playhouse; Regional Premiere ’23: Curious Theatre Company in Denver), In His Hands (World Premiere ’22: Mosaic Theater Company of DC), and What/Washed Ashore/Astray (forthcoming ’23: Pillsbury House + Theatre in Minneapolis). Benjamin has been the recipient of Arizona Theatre Company’s National Latinx Playwriting Award, Kennedy Center’s KCACTF Latinx Playwriting Award, American Blues Theater’s Blue Ink Playwriting Award, the Playwrights’ Center’s McKnight Fellowship in Playwriting and Many Voices Fellowship, among others. He is a current member of the Dorothy Strelsin New American Writers Group at Primary Stages in NYC and under commission from South Coast Repertory Theatre and Seattle Repertory Theatre. He is a ’22 graduate of the David Geffen/Yale School of Drama MFA Playwriting program and represented by Paradigm Talent Agency and Luminosity Management. BenjaminBenne.com

Lloyd Suh is the author of The Chinese Lady, Charles Francis Chan Jr.’s Exotic Oriental Murder Mystery, American Hwangap, The Wong Kids in the Secret of the Space Chupacabra Go!, Jesus in India, and others, produced with Ma-Yi, Magic Theatre, EST, NAATCO, PlayCo, Denver Center, Milwaukee Rep, ArtsEmerson, Children’s Theatre Co, and more, including internationally at the Cultural Center of the Philippines and with PCPA in Seoul, Korea. He has received support from the NEA Arena Stage New Play Development program, Mellon Foundation, NYFA, NYSCA, Jerome, TCG, Dramatists Guild, and residencies including NYS&F and Ojai. He is an alum of Youngblood and the Soho Rep Writer/Director Lab, and was a recipient of a 2016 Helen Merrill Award and the 2019 Herb Alpert Award in the Arts. From 2005-2010 he served as Artistic Director of Second Generation and Co-Director of the Ma-Yi Writers Lab, and has served since 2011 as the Director of Artistic Programs at The Lark, and since 2015 as a member of the Dramatists Guild Council.

As of May 2022.

Natalie Kuldell, PhD, Founder and Executive Director, BioBuilder Educational Foundation.

The Margret and H.A. Rey 2020 Curiosity Award recipient, and 2020 STEM Trailblazer by the Million Women Mentors, Natalie is a highly regarded educator and curriculum developer who has taught for more than a dozen years in the Department of Biological Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She studied Chemistry as an undergraduate at Cornell, completed her doctoral and post-doctoral work at Harvard Medical School, and taught at Wellesley College before joining the faculty at MIT in 2003.

Natalie has been a longtime member of the Catalyst Collaborative@MIT Advisory Board as well as a featured speaker at Central Conversations.

Kira Sarai Helper* (Understudy) (she/her) is thrilled to be making her Central Square Theater debut. She is a board-certified music therapist and holds an MFA in Musical Theater from the Boston Conservatory at Berklee. Previous credits include: WILD: A Musical Becoming (Idina Menzel Standby/ Swing) and Macbeth in Stride (Witch) for the American Repertory Theater; #MATTER (Kim) for Barrington Stage Company; and Once On This Island (Beaxhomme/Storyteller) for Speakeasy Stage Co. Commercials: Shark Tank for Behave Bras; The Power of Women, Healthworks Fitness; The Table is Set, Primark, and The Boston Globe. Website: www.kirasaraihelper.com. IG: kikisaraia. All thanks to her family, the ancestors, and the Creator for their continued support and guidance.