Co-Creators (alphabetical by last name)

Mukaddas Mijit
Jessica Batke
John Bair
Nic Benacerraf
Marina McClure
Lisa Ross
Michael Weinberg

Creative and Production Team (alphabetical by last name)

Mac Anderson-Cooper - Director
John Bair - Script
Jessica Batke - Executive Producer and Script
Nic Benacerraf - Director of Design
Karen Boyer - Costume Designer
Miriam Crowe - Lighting Designer
Michaelangelo Desario - Production Manager
BJ Evans - Producer
Angela Fegers - Audience Care Coordinator and Production Assistant
Simon Harding - Video Designer
Andrew Lia - Stage Manager
El Loftie - Wardome Assistant
Marina McClure - Director
Mukaddas Mijit - Director and Lead Artist
Afsoon Pajoufar - Scienic Designer
Lisa Ross - Designer
Anthony Sertel Dean - Sound Designer
Michael Weinberg - Assistant to the Executive Producer

Performers (alphabetical by last name)

Jason Eddy
Johann Eggebrecht
Dorothea Gloria
Sonya Imin
Elizabeth Leimkuhler
Daniela Marcozzi
Turlach O Broin
Sophie Röhrmoser

Special Thanks - Kerry Bystrom, Gisa Dang, Katja Drinhausen, Thomas Echegut, Vanessa Frangville, Timothy Grose, Tahir H. Izgil, Thomas Keenan, Xenia Muth, Mareike Ohlberg, Joon Park, and Danielle Riou.

Thank you as well to the many individuals who provided their time, feedback, encouragement, and other support, but who cannot be named publicly.

Company Biographies

Mac Anderson-Cooper (they/them) is an enby director and playwright based in Chicago, with a backpack always packed for rehearsals in NYC, London and LA. As a director, Mac focuses on developing new work – from workshop to world premiere. They prioritize the queer, the femme-forward and all things fantastical. Their goal is to create and elevate work at the intersection of ensemble, humor and justice. Chicago directing credits include Saint Joan (Greenhouse Theatre); Route (Aegis Theatre). International directing credits include Twentieth Century Way (Jermyn Street Theatre); Pomegranate Season (Camden Fringe); Take Flight (Theatre 503). Chicago Associate/Assistant Directing credits include Gem of the Ocean, Having Our Say, Objects in the Mirror, Carlyle (Goodman Theatre); Moby Dick, Blood Wedding (Lookingglass Theatre); Tempest, Mary Stuart (Chicago Shakespeare Theatre). Mac is an alumnx of Northwestern University, Jackalope Playwrights Lab and a global pandemic.

John Bair is an American writer who specializes in combining policy and storytelling. He has worked as a foreign policy analyst, a political speechwriter, and a narrative consultant. In addition to his work on “Everybody Is Gone,” he is a co-creator and producer of “WEghur Stories,” the first podcast entirely about the Uyghur diaspora. He is also a co-author of the new musical “Kandahar,” which uses Afghan and American folk music to examine the legacy of American involvement in Afghanistan. John is also a Collaborating Artist at The New Wild, a multidisciplinary art lab. He has a degree in Asian & Middle Eastern studies from Dartmouth College, and a Master of Education from the George Washington University.

Jessica Batke is a senior editor at ChinaFile. She researches China’s domestic political and social affairs, including issues in the Uyghur region. She previously served as a research analyst at the State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research. She is also music director of the new musical “Kandahar,” which tells the story of one family navigating successive foreign invasions of Afghanistan. jessicabatke.com

Nic Benacerraf is a scenographer, creative director, and scholar based in Brooklyn. Nic’s work involves constructing social and spatial environments for genuine human encounters, while deconstructing apparatuses of estrangement. After serving for 15 years as Founding Co-Artistic Director of The Assembly, he is now Founding Partner of Edge Effect Media Group, which uses collaborative techniques from the theater to unite leaders from all disciplines in the creation of multimedia pieces. His award-winning work as a scenographer has brought him into collaboration with ensembles such as The Living Theatre and The Yes Men, in spaces such as La MaMa and Lincoln Center. Nic received his M.F.A. from CalArts and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Theatre and Performance at the CUNY Graduate Center, where he studies the origin of Public Relations as a form of theatrical population control. www.nicbenacerraf.com

Karen Boyer designs and builds costumes in NYC. Past and recent collaborators include choreographers Catherine Galasso, nicHi douglas, Sarah Dahnke, and Sunny Hitt; theater makers harunalee, Society, Pan Asian Rep, Object Collection, MetaPhysEd, Target Margin Theater, Little Lord, Built for Collapse; and filmmakers Imelda O’Reilly, Ben Finer and Aaron Schimberg. BFA: Maryland Institute College of Art; MFA: NYU Tisch.

Miriam Nilofa Crowe is a New York-based lighting designer for theatre, dance and live music. She has spent the last two and a half decades lighting plays, rock concerts, dances, events, and the odd art installation across North America and Europe. Some of her favorite collaborations have been with artists like The Assembly, Blessed Unrest, Parity Productions, The Collective NY, Ma-Yi, The Apothetae, Eric Nightengale, The Studio Theatre, Hanger Theatre and Triad Stage. In the music world, she has toured extensively with Grammy-winners Rosanne Cash and Lila Downs. Her work has been seen at venues such as Carnegie Hall (Stern Auditorium and Zankel Hall), BAM Next Wave, Lincoln Center Out of Doors, Lincoln Center Festival, Bang on a Can Marathon, St. Ann’s Warehouse, The Public Theater, La Mama, HERE, Baryshnikov Arts Center, Apollo Theater, Cherry Lane, KKL Luzern, Barbican Center, The Fillmore, SF Jazz, New York City Center, the Country Music Hall of Fame, and the Hollywood Bowl. Miriam is an Adjunct Professor in NYU Tisch Drama’s Production and Design Studio and at Lehman College CUNY. She has also worked at Princeton University’s Lewis Center for the Arts and The Juilliard School. She is a proud member of United Scenic Artists Local 829. She holds an MFA in Design from the Yale School of Drama and a BA in English from Yale College. www.wingspace.com/miriam

Anthony Sertel Dean is a sound artist, educator, and media maker focused on telling stories of community and self. Their work pulls from practices of electroacoustic composition, oral history, and experimental performance, utilizing skills as a creative technologist to build environments for communal understanding. Anthony calls himself a hypercollaborator due to the relationships built while making art as a means of discovery and joy. Anthony’s work can be heard in theater (Kennedy Center, New Victory Theater, Public Theater, The Kitchen), film (Film at Lincoln Center, Busan International Film Festival), radio (WNYC, Night Vale Presents), and gallery installations (Fridman Gallery, Half Gallery, Lenfest Center). Anthony is the technical director for The New York Neo-Futurists and creator of our podcast Hit Play, called “cathartic” and “a treasure chest” by The New York Times. He holds an MFA in Sound Art from Columbia University, and is an Assistant Professor of Sound Design at Wesleyan University. For more, visit anthonydean.org

Michaelangelo DeSerio is an artist, technician and adventurer from Brooklyn but based between Malmö, Sweden and NYC. Michaelangelo works predominantly in experimental theater and dance, with some commercial projects to pay the bills. His skills beyond production management include technical direction, Lighting, Scenic and Props design, technical writing, rigging, and he is a master electrician and carpenter. Michaelangelo is excited to be a part of bringing this piece to the public, and to work with The New Wild.

Jason Eddy trained at the American Musical & Dramatic Academy in New York and The Guildhall School of Drama in London. Theatre: The Talented Mr. Ripley (The Faction/Wilton’s Music Hall), Astley’s Astounding Adventures (New Vic Theatre), Twelfth Night (Midsummer Scene, Dubrovnic/Vienna’s English Theatre/Bermuda Festival), Beauty and the Beast (Polka Theatre), Antony and Cleopatra (Shakespeare’s Globe), Romeo & Juliet (The Rosemary Branch), The Tempest (Holland Park), The Odyssey (Teatro Vivo), Sense and Sensibility (UK National Tour), Breakfast With Emma (UK National Tour), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Guildford Shakespeare Company), Twelfth Night (Guildford Shakespeare Company). TV: Berlin Station (Epix), Wanderlust (BBC/Netflix), The Blacklist (NBC). Film: HOME, The Forgotten Man, Wild Space. Jason has just completed filming on the short film Could Be and is proud to have co-written his first play - On Fire.

Johann Eggebrecht was born and raised in Freiburg, southern Germany. After finishing high school he soon moved to Berlin to do an education in contemporary circus where he specialized in dance acrobatics and object manipulation. He graduated from “DIE ETAGE”, school for performing and visual arts in October 2021. In his creations Johann likes to work as a multi- disciplinary creator. By mixing contemporary circus, dance and conceptual performance he creates his very own language which is characterized by his love of details. In October 2022 his journey will continue at the UDK Berlin where he will be doing a bachelor in dance, context and choreography.

B.J. Evans is a producer of time-based art and has developed work across a spectrum of disciplines; from theater and dance, to poetry, installation art, ritual-making, and film and tv. Her creative producing career spans nearly a decade and includes time at The Dallas Theater Center, Working Theater, The Public Theater, BRIC, Our Town (off-Broadway), and Sleep No More. B.J. is also a freelance dramaturg specializing in participatory, experimental, and devised performance. She holds an M.A. in Applied Theatre, focusing on hybrid models of theater, and theater as a tool for community building and social action.

Angela Fegers is an American artist, producer and creator from central Florida- based in Berlin. After graduating from New World School of the Arts in 2015 with a Bachelor in Performing Arts in Miami- she moved to New York City, where she briefly danced as a freelancer before relocating to Europe one year later. In Europe, she has created and presented work with Monica Sharon and independently in Iceland, the Netherlands, Hungary, Portugal and Germany. In Berlin she also teaches (Danceworks and Marameo) and performs (Sarah Bleasdale, Jessica Gaynor) as a freelancer. In 2020, she co-founded her production company Apricot Productions with Nadine Freisleben. The international production company has assisted in several multidisciplinary productions with artists like Sebastian Abarbanell, André Ureba, Pau Ann to name a few… For the second year in a row they are supported by the Neu Start Kultur in Germany. Angela is also the co-host of the company’s podcast- the Talking Apricots, with Sophie Spiral featuring the world’s creative juice. In October 2022, Angela will collaborate again with Monica Sharon to premiere Los Angeles’ first overnight immersive experience at Hotel Normandie, HOTEL WHO.

Dorothea Gloria is from Manila, Philippines. She is a founder of TeamTheatre LLC. She is also head of development and engagement at the FLED and a teaching artist for Spellbound Theatre. She has performed for The Flea Theater, Rattlestick Playwrights, Lucille Lortel Theater, etc. She has performed professionally in various theater companies back home as well such as Repertory Philippines, PETA (Philippine Educational Theater Association), and CCP (Cultural Center of the Philippines) to name a few. She also earned BroadwayWorld’s Best Featured Actress for her performance with Repertory Philippines. She is often seen in Bryant Park where she practices her juggling and flow arts. For more info, check her website at www.dorotheagloria.com ig: @dorotheagloria @babay.len

Simon Harding is an award-winning set and video designer for live performance, interested in aspects of design that create a living space between objects and the body. He has designed nationally and internationally for theater, dance, and performance art work. Recent: Triptych: Eyes on One Another (Touring), Custodians of Beauty (Palissimo), The Echo Drift (Beth Morrison Projects), Distant Star (Caboca), Strangers in Paradise (Opera Omaha), Shadow Play (Trusty Sidekick/Touring), Jack Spicer’s Billy The Kid (3 Headed Calf), Up and Away (Trusty Sidekick), The Iceman Cometh [Act IV] (Target Margin Labs)

Liz Leimkuhler is an actress, singer, comedian, and writer based in New York City. Off-Broadway: Heather Christian’s Oratorio for Living Things at Ars Nova. Liz performs with Entirely From Memory monthly at littlefield. Cherished past collaborators include Stevie Walker-Webb, Doug Hughes, Mark Wing-Davey, Dave Malloy, the bats at The Flea Theater, and the Youngbloods at Ensemble Studio Theatre. MFA: NYU. www.lizleimkuhler.com

Andrew Lia has been active in the Los Angeles theatre community as a Production Manager, Stage Manager and Lighting Designer since 2011 working with companies such as Center Theatre Group, East West Players, Circle X Theatre Company, Ghost Road Company , and as well as at educational institutions including Oxy Arts , The Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute , American Musical & Dramatic Academy , and Kaiser Permanente’s Educational Theatre . Andrew also has worked as a Project Manager for Tait Towers where he oversaw the installation of Tait’s automation elements for Shanghai Disneyland , Fantasmic 2.0!! , and Facebook’s MPK21 Event Space . In 2020, Andrew moved to Laramie to serve as the UW Theatre & Dance Department’s Production Manager. Andrew holds a BA from Augustana College and an MFA from CalArts. When he’s not in a theatre, you can probably find Andrew going for hikes with his wife & pups or watching a baseball game.

El Loftie is a French & British stylist, wardrobe & costume assistant based in Berlin, Germany. Growing up in the rural French countryside to British parents, El was able to develop her curiosity and creativity at a young age, which inspired her to pursue careers in both the fashion & costume worlds as well as in music. After some short studies at Central Saint Martins (London) in 2019, she moved to Berlin where she has worked as a freelance stylist & costume assistant since 2019. Also trained in music, and singing since childhood, she has been touring with her solo project “Aliénore” - witchy pop combined with folk & indie, which has already been gaining traction since the release of her debut single in June 2022 - as well as working as a backing vocalist. Bridging both worlds, in her work as a stylist, El has specialised in artist and music video styling, whilst also presenting a wide range of experience in editorial, commercial, dance & more.”

Daniela Marcozzi is a theater artist, working as performer, director, trainer and researcher. Born in Italy, in 2014 she moved to Berlin where she founded the company and project “Marcozzi Contemporary Theater”. Her artistic language emerges from the encounter between theatrical and dance education, merging body-voice training (from the Grotowski’s approach), physical theater, contemporary dance, performance art and vocal work. Her performances have been presented in international theaters and festivals including PS122 in NYC; Artklub in New Orleans; English Theater, ada studio, HAU in Berlin; Teatro di Innovazione Florian (Pescara); Milano and Rome Fringe Festival; Tanz Unplugged (Winterthur); Festival of alternative theatrical expression (Zagreb) Sofia Underground Festival (Sofia), etc. Major collaborations include the theater director Angelica Liddell in “St. Paul in La carta”; collaboration with the visual artist Dara Friedman for Dichter, Berlin Art Week, gallery “Supportico Lopez”, and for the realization of “Temple Door”, at “Kunstverein Harburger Bahnhof”. Since 2017 she has been collaborating with Expedition Metropolis Theatre in Berlin, curating several artistic events and training programs. Daniela Marcozzi holds a master degree in environmental Biotechnology and since 2017 she has been collaborating with the University of the Arts in Zurich on a training inspired by neuroscientific and physiological theories of emotions and embodiment by A. Damasio and C. Pert. www.danielamarcozzi.net

Mukaddas Mijit is an ethnomusicologist, filmmaker, and artist. She is currently a postdoctoral fellow at ULB (Université Libre de Bruxelles). She was born in Urumchi, the capital of Uyghur Homeland. Upon arriving in Paris in 2003 to study classical music, she realized how little the outside world knew of Uyghur culture. She then began her studies as an ethnomusicologist, researching the staging of Uyghur dance and music, receiving her PhD in 2015. As a dancer, Mijit has performed internationally and collaborated with numerous performers, creating original works that infuse traditional Uyghur music and dance with other cultures and styles. As a filmmaker, she has produced several ethnographic documentary films, including “Qetiq, Rock’n Ürümchi” (nominated in the 10th Aljazeera International Documentary Film Festival in 2014). Most recently, she wrote and co-directed a medium-length film about the challenges that Uyghur women face from both traditional social mores and the highly oppressive political environment in China. Mijit is also a co-creator, co-director, and performer in Everybody Is Gone, an original interactive theatrical production designed to raise awareness about the ongoing crisis in the Uyghur Homeland. She is the co-creator and co-host of “WEghur Stories,” the first podcast entirely about the global Uyghur diaspora.

Marina McClure is a director of theater, opera, and spectacles, specializing in bringing geographically-specific stories to global audiences. Her work is known for striking visual design and physical performance, and has been honored with multiple MAP Fund awards, the Gurdin Prize, Creative Capital’s “On Our Radar” list, and a Drama Desk nomination for Unique Theatrical Experience. She helms the multidisciplinary art lab, The New Wild, for which she is currently directing the premieres of Letters From Home, a multimedia solo show in collaboration with a Cambodian-American father and daughter team, and Kandahar, a new musical that examines the legacy of foreign intervention in Afghanistan. She thoroughly enjoyed directing Wing It!, a parade and large-scale community performance for Handspring Puppet Company in celebration of South Africa’s National Day of Reconciliation. MFA: CalArts. www.marinamcclure.com

Turlach O Broin is a daily plebiscite, he would go a piece of the road with anyone. He has a magpie’s eye and a cavernous ear. He likes humans, but often prefers when they are not around. He comes from a place called Strife-land, located in a region known as the Bucket in Ire-land. He left his home to find his home in 2017 and ended up in Berlin, as so many eekers do. O Broin talks volubly, writes poems, takes photos, is subject to doubt and servant of conjecture. By nature he is cyclical.

Afsoon Pajoufar is a NYC based designer of stage and environment for play, opera, and live performances. Afsoon’s artistic practice is often focused on the intersection of space and new technologies including XR and live video. Her works have been presented in venues and festivals including Theatre for a New Audience (TFANA), Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), New Ohio Theatre, Bard SUMMERSCAPE, HARVARD TDM, MIT, KITCHEN THEATRE, and PRELUDE festival. She is a proud member of USA829. Afsoonpajoufar.com Sophie Röhrmoser is a young theatre and film actress from Munich. She completed her acting training at the Rose Bruford Drama School in London in 2022 and now commutes between Berlin and London for her work. Since her school days, Sophie has taken part in intensive improvisation courses and has since appeared on stage and in short films. Recently, the young actress has also started working as a voice actress and lent her voice to the short film “Awaken Gaia” by Oluwatimilehin Faderin.

Lisa Ross is a photographer, video artist and educator living in New York City. Ross’s work revolves around the liminal spaces in which faith, culture and abstraction meet. Her immersive landscapes and early black and white work, explore the skin of the land. In doing so, she reveals the texture of culture, and, in time, the political realities inextricably bound to place that emerge. Ross has had exhibitions in the U.S. and Europe. Her work has been shown at the Rubin Museum of Art, New York; Tianshui Photo Bienniale, China; Fotografiska Museum, Sweden; University of London, Brunei Gallery; La Vielle Charite, Marseilles, France; Gulf Photo Plus, Dubai; Harvard University and the UC Berkeley; Ross received a Residency at The Watermill Center and a travel grant through Asian Cultural Council of New York. In 2018 she was an artist in Residence at View Art Gallery, Lanzhou, China. studiolisaross.com

Michael Weinberg is a lawyer and activist working at the intersection of innovation law and policy. MichaelWeinberg.org.

The New Wild Helmed by director Marina McClure, The New Wild is a multidisciplinary art group founded in 2014 that brings together mid-career artists, writers, scholars, and technologists in a rigorously collaborative environment to create large-scale theater, opera, and spectacles. We tell visceral and visual stories that examine cultural memory, patterns woven throughout history, and the ways those patterns manifest on the mind and body. We are especially interested in new work, and work that gives a platform to voices and stories that have been historically underrepresented or excluded from a larger cultural dialogue. TheNewWild.org

Alte Münze The Alte Münze Berlin is home to an interdisciplinary community of cultural workers and creative people. In addition to 15 studios, 4 recording studios, 2 large exhibition areas for contemporary history and contemporary art, there are event areas and many project plans of various kinds. alte-muenze-berlin.de