New Venture Reading Series 10-Minute Play Festival - 2021
Meet our Reading Committee.
Artists, writers, dramaturgs, theatre aficionados. PAC was blessed to enlist the time and talents of these incredible people to read, discuss and choose the five finalists for this season's festival.
Reading Committee
Damon Bonetti^
Ann Garner
Jamie Hafner
Katrina Hall*
Dan Hodge^
Cynthia Janzen^
Vida Manalang*
Tanaquil Márquez*
Kimie Muroya*
Charlotte Northeast^
Carl(os) Roa*
Natajia Sconiers^
Gayle Smith*
B.J. Tindal*
Frank X*
Special Thanks: Kaci M. Fannin
(*bio appears below)
(^PAC Artistic Team)
Meet our Reading Committee.
Artists, writers, dramaturgs, theatre aficionados. PAC was blessed to enlist the time and talents of these incredible people to read, discuss and choose the five finalists for this season's festival.
Reading Committee
Damon Bonetti^
Ann Garner
Jamie Hafner
Katrina Hall*
Dan Hodge^
Cynthia Janzen^
Vida Manalang*
Tanaquil Márquez*
Kimie Muroya*
Charlotte Northeast^
Carl(os) Roa*
Natajia Sconiers^
Gayle Smith*
B.J. Tindal*
Frank X*
Special Thanks: Kaci M. Fannin
(*bio appears below)
(^PAC Artistic Team)
Katrina Hall is a Philadelphia based actor, director, and playwright. Recent performances include The Tempest (The Phoenix Theatre), Twelfth Night (Ignoble Shakespeare Company), #SuiteReality (Hawkeye Entertainment), Period House (Ragtime Players), and Every Everyman (Shakespeare in Clark Park.) Original plays include Chow, Visiting Day, …to God’s Ear, and The Cuckoo. Her play Dyscalculia has been published by McFarland Books as part of their 2020 anthology, “At the Intersection of Disability and Drama: A Critical Anthology of New Plays”
Vida Manalang (she/they) is a Philly-based actor and researcher. Combining her experience as an actor, deviser, and teaching artist with her work in creativity psychology and play-based therapy, Vida believes in the use of theater to invoke healing and expression in individuals and communities. Past collaborations: SwimPony, the after-image, Shakespeare in Clark Park, Mauckingbird, Philly Young Playwrights, PAPA, Drexel Co-Op Theatre. Black Lives Matter.
Tanaquil Márquez is the Associate Artistic Producing Director of Teatro del Sol, Philadelphia’s premiere bilingual theatre company and the Artistic Director of Teatro Esperanza, a Spanish language theatre company, focusing on the LatinX community in New Brunswick. She is also the director and co-writer of Del Shakes’ upcoming bilingual musical adaptation of Twelfth Night, O Lo Que Quieras.
Kimie Muroya | 室屋季美恵 is a Philadelphia based actor and proud member of Philadelphia Asian Performing Artists. Her body of work includes Man of God (InterAct Theatre Company); The Sea Voyage (Philadelphia Artists' Collective); King Lear (Shakespeare in Clark Park); Whisper's Gone (Theatre Exile); Julius Caesar, The Wild Duck (Quintessence Theatre Company); An Infinite Ache (South Camden Theatre Company); No Exit (Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble); The Taming of the Shrew (Delaware Shakespeare). Since COVID-19 has shut down theatres, she's pivoted to online/virtual theatre including As I Was, Not As I Am with Elephant Room Productions, new play readings for the 2020 Hollins Playwrights Festival, and sonnet readings/adaptations for both Delaware Shakespeare and Revolution Shakespeare. Her feature film debut, Antarctica, will be available on Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Spectrum, Youtube, Dish, and more beginning Dec. 1st! Training: Temple University BA 2016, Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble Acting Internship, Arden Summer Professional Apprenticeship, Theatre Nohgaku. Thanks to Mom, Otosan (父), Mikito and Kayla for all their love and support! Check out more at kimiemuroya.com and @kimie.muroya on instagram. As always, BLACK LIVES MATTER.
B.J Tindal (they/them) is a Black queer playwright, teaching artist, and sour candy enthusiast. They recently moved back to their hometown of Philadelphia after completing their MFA in Writing for the Screen and Stage at Northwestern University. Since moving back to the city, BJ has been working with a number of organizations devoted to arts-Education, including Philly Young Playwrights and After-School Activities Partnerships as well as creating their own workshops designed to encourage writing-confidence for elementary school students. BJ’s play Goodnight, Tyler received its world premiere in February 2019 at the Alliance Theater and has been published by Samuel French/Concord Theatricals in Fall 2020. Their other play, What We Look Like, had its inaugural production at Oberlin College’s new Irene and Alan Wurtzel Theater also in February 2019. BJ is honored to move forward in this new way of collaborating with Philadelphia artists at the Philly Artists’ Collective.
Carl(os) Roa is a creator, writer, and performer living on occupied Lenape land. They have presented work in Miami, Philadelphia, and Bogotá, and have worked with organizations such as Philadelphia Young Playwrights, Philadelphia Artists’ Collective, The Wilma Theater, and Teatro Hilos Mágicos. They are the recipient of FringeArts’ Camp Fringe residency for their 2017 project Andean Mountains (Montañas Andinas) as well as a finalist for the Latinx Theatre Commons’ 2018 Carnaval. They are proud to be a contributing writer for HowlRound Theatre Commons, and you can encounter more of their writings at carlparenthesisos.com.
Gayle Smith is a theater enthusiast, former Barrymore Judge and voter, lawyer, published author, professor, and most important, Mom Mom. She is proud to have taken part in the inaugural reading committee of PAC’s new play series.
Frank X is a Philadelphia-based actor who originally trained as a playwright and dancer. He has performed in theaters around the country.
Vida Manalang (she/they) is a Philly-based actor and researcher. Combining her experience as an actor, deviser, and teaching artist with her work in creativity psychology and play-based therapy, Vida believes in the use of theater to invoke healing and expression in individuals and communities. Past collaborations: SwimPony, the after-image, Shakespeare in Clark Park, Mauckingbird, Philly Young Playwrights, PAPA, Drexel Co-Op Theatre. Black Lives Matter.
Tanaquil Márquez is the Associate Artistic Producing Director of Teatro del Sol, Philadelphia’s premiere bilingual theatre company and the Artistic Director of Teatro Esperanza, a Spanish language theatre company, focusing on the LatinX community in New Brunswick. She is also the director and co-writer of Del Shakes’ upcoming bilingual musical adaptation of Twelfth Night, O Lo Que Quieras.
Kimie Muroya | 室屋季美恵 is a Philadelphia based actor and proud member of Philadelphia Asian Performing Artists. Her body of work includes Man of God (InterAct Theatre Company); The Sea Voyage (Philadelphia Artists' Collective); King Lear (Shakespeare in Clark Park); Whisper's Gone (Theatre Exile); Julius Caesar, The Wild Duck (Quintessence Theatre Company); An Infinite Ache (South Camden Theatre Company); No Exit (Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble); The Taming of the Shrew (Delaware Shakespeare). Since COVID-19 has shut down theatres, she's pivoted to online/virtual theatre including As I Was, Not As I Am with Elephant Room Productions, new play readings for the 2020 Hollins Playwrights Festival, and sonnet readings/adaptations for both Delaware Shakespeare and Revolution Shakespeare. Her feature film debut, Antarctica, will be available on Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Spectrum, Youtube, Dish, and more beginning Dec. 1st! Training: Temple University BA 2016, Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble Acting Internship, Arden Summer Professional Apprenticeship, Theatre Nohgaku. Thanks to Mom, Otosan (父), Mikito and Kayla for all their love and support! Check out more at kimiemuroya.com and @kimie.muroya on instagram. As always, BLACK LIVES MATTER.
B.J Tindal (they/them) is a Black queer playwright, teaching artist, and sour candy enthusiast. They recently moved back to their hometown of Philadelphia after completing their MFA in Writing for the Screen and Stage at Northwestern University. Since moving back to the city, BJ has been working with a number of organizations devoted to arts-Education, including Philly Young Playwrights and After-School Activities Partnerships as well as creating their own workshops designed to encourage writing-confidence for elementary school students. BJ’s play Goodnight, Tyler received its world premiere in February 2019 at the Alliance Theater and has been published by Samuel French/Concord Theatricals in Fall 2020. Their other play, What We Look Like, had its inaugural production at Oberlin College’s new Irene and Alan Wurtzel Theater also in February 2019. BJ is honored to move forward in this new way of collaborating with Philadelphia artists at the Philly Artists’ Collective.
Carl(os) Roa is a creator, writer, and performer living on occupied Lenape land. They have presented work in Miami, Philadelphia, and Bogotá, and have worked with organizations such as Philadelphia Young Playwrights, Philadelphia Artists’ Collective, The Wilma Theater, and Teatro Hilos Mágicos. They are the recipient of FringeArts’ Camp Fringe residency for their 2017 project Andean Mountains (Montañas Andinas) as well as a finalist for the Latinx Theatre Commons’ 2018 Carnaval. They are proud to be a contributing writer for HowlRound Theatre Commons, and you can encounter more of their writings at carlparenthesisos.com.
Gayle Smith is a theater enthusiast, former Barrymore Judge and voter, lawyer, published author, professor, and most important, Mom Mom. She is proud to have taken part in the inaugural reading committee of PAC’s new play series.
Frank X is a Philadelphia-based actor who originally trained as a playwright and dancer. He has performed in theaters around the country.
