about our guests
Ang Bey (they/them) is a Black, queer storyteller from Southwest Philadelphia. They are the co-artistic director of Shoe Box Theatre Collective and the co-creative director of Wings of Paper Theatre Company. They are an avid fan of baby seals and Prince Rogers Nelson.
Acting: Candles (Philadelphia Young Playwrights), Our Ouija Board… (On the Rocks), Twelfth Night (Shakespeare in Clark Park), LP (AE Film), & Actors Ensemble (Sundance Directors Lab)
Upcoming: 154 Revisited: Sonnet 43 (Revolution Shakespeare), Paul (Shoe Box Theatre Company), Field Calls (Lupine Performance Cooperative), The American Revolution (Theatre Unspeakable), & The Niceties (InterAct).
Playwriting: The Medusa Play (Shoe Box Theatre Company; Barrymore Recommended). They are in the inaugural cohort of Jouska PlayWorks (Simpatico Theatre)
Upcoming: Everyman (Shakespeare in Clark Park); virtual presentations- Twenty-Six (Jouska PlayWorks), Walk the Line (Philadelphia Women’s Theatre Festival), The Utopia Project (Friends Select School), and Dandelion: A Zoom Play (Revolution Shakespeare).
Directing: The Medusa Play (co-director; Shoe Box Theatre Company)
Upcoming: Everyman (co-director; Shakespeare in Clark Park), The Utopia Project (Friends Select School), and Mt. Vernon Park Play (assistant-director; SCP).
Find them: Instagram: @theangbee angbey.com
Listen to: no small parts season 1, episode 1
Hunter Robinson (they/them) is a Philadelphia based artist, poet, and creator. They recently graduated from Temple University, with a focus on Directing and Performance. There they produced and directed a number of shows through the student-founded theater company, as well as the Department of Theater. Hunter now works in esports events, helping to build and grow competitive video games communities on a grassroots level, and make esports accessible to all players. They also stream semi-regularly on Twitch, where they focus on art, and the unique way games tell stories.
Find them: twitch.tv/SquatchHunterR, and on Twitter as @SquatchHunterR.
Listen to: no small parts season 1, episode 2
Erin Washburn (she/her) is a dramaturg and producer with a passion for new plays. She is currently Literary & Patron Services Manager at InterAct Theatre Company, where she runs the Core Playwrights program, a two-year incubator for a cohort of four local playwrights. While at InterAct, she has served as dramaturg or assistant dramaturg on 11 productions, produced the month-long new works festival June-A-Palooza and coordinated Cross-Pollination, a playwright trade between InterAct, Cleveland Public Theatre (Cleveland, OH), and Kitchen Dog Theater (Dallas, TX) funded by the National New Play Network. In addition to her work with InterAct, Erin was Producing Associate for Orbiter 3, a Philadelphia playwrights collective, and has also worked with Philadelphia Theatre Company, Simpatico Theatre, Azuka Theatre, The Renegade Company, Shakespeare in Clark Park Theatre Exile, and Studio Theatre in Washington, DC. She is a Barrymore Judge on the New Works Panel, an alum of InterAct’s apprenticeship program and graduate of Bryn Mawr College.
Listen to: no small parts season 1, episode 3
Shamus McCarty (he/him) is out of work like everyone else EXTEND ENHANCED UNEMPLOYMENT. A creator/director/performer, Shamus' original musical Close Your Legs, Honey (co-created with Hannah Parke) premiered at PHIT Comedy and remounted with Bootless Stageworks. This pandemic he collaborated as a cast member for Philadelphia Young Playwrights' Resident Playwright showcase and curated and directed for The Going Viral Festival. Other recent (ish) directing credits include Philadelphia Young Playwrights, Temple University, LoveDrunkLife, The Agency Bureau, Limelight Performing Arts Center, Quince Productions, Curio Theatre & others. A member of AEA Shamus has performed throughout the northeast. Favorite gigs include collaborations with the Kimmel Center (Crystal Palace), Die-Cast (Pericles, La Ronde), EgoPo Classic Theatre (Anna, Machinal), Bristol Riverside Theatre (Enemy of the People), Troy Foundry Theatre (Catastrophe Carnivale) and Malvolio in Twelfth Night with Shakespeare in Clark Park. Shamus is a graduate of Dickinson College and is currently pursuing his MFA in Directing at Boston University.
Find him: IG @shamushuntermcc www.shamushuntermccarty.com
Listen to: no small parts season 1, episode 4
Mariangela Saavedra (she/her) has been working in Theater for 27 years, in cities across the country such as Chicago Illinois, Washington DC, Wilmington North Carolina and Philadelphia Pennsylvania, just to name a few. Before founding Casabuena Cultural Productions she was the Founder and Artistic Director of The Starving Artists Theatre Ensemble in Wilmington (2003-2004), The Storytellers Theatre Company in Chicago (2005-2008), and then founded Casabuena CP here in Philadelphia in 2009. Their first residency was at The Piazza at Schmidts in Northern Liberties where she produced Hamlette by Alison Williams on the main stage in July of 2009. She has worked for the Tony Award winning Victory Gardens Theater in Chicago, The Kimmel Center in Philadelphia and was the Director of Drama and Voice at Cape Fear School of the Arts in Wilmington. She has always loved working with creative youth, which is why when she founded CCP she knew she wanted young performers to be a part of it. She is currently the Theater Program Manager as well as teaches theater classes for youth at Allens Lane Art Center, and has directed many shows for them in recent years. She has also directed shows for The Stagecrafters Theater and enjoys her "day job" as the Director of The Center on The Hill...the place for active adults, both located in the Chestnut Hill neighborhood of Philadelphia.
Listen to: no small parts season 1, episode 5
Brenden Dahl (he/they) is a theater artist and producer from Philadelphia. He has worked with theater companies in Philadelphia and New York such as Clubbed Thumb Theatre, Azuka Theatre, and Quintessence Theatre Group as a writer, actor, and dramaturg, and will attend Northwestern University as a Theatre Major in the Class of 2025. He is drawn to inherently collaborative work, and has a strong passion for improvisation and devised creation. His plays have been produced by Philadelphia Young Playwrights, Temple University, and MacGuffin Theatre and Film. He has won National Gold Medals through the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, and was a YoungArts National Merit Selection for Dramatic Writing.
Find them: brendendahl.com
Listen to: no small parts season 1, episode 6
Bryant Edwards (he/him) is a 29 year old Philadelphian originally from the small town of Selbyville, Delaware. A millennial who dreams of being on Survivor, he fell in love with theatre while going through puberty and playing "Coach" in Footloose in 7th grade. Now, he works in theatre marketing and education and is a Founding Member of Theatre Contra, a company devoted to telling stories of conflict and conviction.
Find him: IG @breadwards112 and Theatre Contra @theatrecontra
Listen to: no small parts season 1, episode 7
Maura Krause (she/her) is an award-winning director, creator, and producer of new work. She was a nominee for a Barrymore Award in Outstanding Direction of a Play, for her work on Boycott Esther by Emily Acker (Azuka Theatre). She also received a Surya Award for Best Direction for Tilda Swinton Adopt Me Please (The Greenfield Collective), and was the recipient of a HATCH residency in 2018. Other recent credits include Bon Iver Fights a Bear by Douglas Williams (ampersand), Tiny Beautiful Things (Arden Theatre Company), and Man of God (InterAct Theatre). Maura is an Associated Artist with Applied Mechanics, and a member of ampersand, a casual producing collective founded with playwright Douglas Williams. Formerly, Maura was the Associate Artistic Director at Azuka Theatre, a National New Play Network Producer-in-Residence at InterAct Theatre, and the Artistic Director of Barrymore Award-winning company Orbiter 3. Over the years Maura has also produced, directed, or dramaturged for Woolly Mammoth Theatre, PearlDamour, Tiny Dynamite, PlayPenn, Philadelphia Young Playwrights, MJ Kaufman, and Cleveland Public Theatre, among others.
Listen to: no small parts season 1, episode 8
Jim DeVivo (he/him) Raised in the theatre, and hooked as a technical apprentice while still in elementary school, Jim builds on 30 years' experience as an artist, educator, and researcher specializing in new plays for and by young people.
Jim is the Theatre teacher at William R. Satz Intermediate School and Holmdel High School and an adjunct professor in the Program in Educational Theatre at NYU. Additionally, Jim is Artistic Associate for the New Plays for Young Audiences Series at the Provincetown Playhouse and produced the annual New Jersey Young Playwrights Festival for 12 years at Writers Theatre of New Jersey. This festival was the topic of Jim’s doctoral dissertation, titled Taking Them Seriously: A Study of the Long-term Impact of Participation in the New Jersey Young Playwrights Festival, which focused on festival participants’ perceptions of how collaboration with professional theatre artists as a young writer guided subsequent career work, personal development, and education. While conducting dissertation research, Jim created The Young Playwrights Guide, a resource for young writers to locate publication and performance opportunities for their work.
Jim specializes in the development of new theatrical works by and for youth. He has presented his research in the field at international conferences and has published in Youth Theatre Journal and ArtsPraxis. He is also a contributing writer for Creativity and Education.
Find him: online on his website and Twitter.
Listen to: no small parts season 1, episode 9
Polly Rose Edelstein (she/her) has been living and working in the Philadelphia region since 2010. She works as a freelance theater director, teaching artist, and administrator and currently resides in East Falls. Polly received her BFA in Theatre Arts from Stephens College for Women in Columbia, MO. She is also a graduate of the Masters of Arts in Theatre with a Certificate in Nonprofit Management program at Villanova University where she worked as a graduate assistant for two years. She has been a featured speaker at Villanova’s TEDx event (Theatre Beyond Theater), the Philadelphia Theatre Research Symposium, and the Villanova Showcase. In addition to her work in the arts, Polly is the Fellowship Coordinator for Tribe 12 which connects people in their 20s/30s to Jewish life and community in Philadelphia. She is also an executive member of Friends of Mifflin, a community group supporting Thomas Mifflin School. Other organizations Polly has worked with include: Columbia Gorge Repertory Theatre, InterAct Theatre Company, Simpatico Theatre, Pulley and Buttonhole, Steel River Playhouse, Theatre Horizon, the Darlington Arts Center, East Coast Recording, International Ballet Classique, Old Academy Players, The Pub Theater and Crack the Glass Theatre Company.
Listen to: no small parts season 1, episode 10
Michael Philip O’Brien (he/him) is the Producing Artistic Director of 11th Hour Theatre Company in Philadelphia and a graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts with a focus on musical theater. Under his leadership, 11th Hour productions have received fifteen Barrymore Awards for excellence in theatre and garnered 55 Barrymore Award nominations. As a performer, Michael is a five-time Barrymore Award nominee and a two-time winner, for Outstanding Leading Actor in a Musical (Avenue X, 2009) and Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Musical (Field Hockey Hot, 2016). Performing credits include: TUTS, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Milwaukee Rep. Walnut Street Theatre, The Arden, Bristol Riverside, Delaware Theatre Company, 11th Hour and many more.
Listen to: no small parts season 1, episode 11
Cat Ramirez (they/them/she/her) is a Philly-based theatre director and performance producer. As a director, they have worked with Simpatico Theatre, Power Street Theatre Company, Lxs Primxs, Arcadia University, and Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival (among others). As a producer, they have worked with InterAct Theatre Company, Orbiter 3, Lightning Rod Special, and Asian Arts Initiative. They currently serve as the Creative Director for Philadelphia Asian Performing Artists, the Interim Line Producer at The Bearded Ladies Cabaret, and the Creative Producer Obvious Agency’s latest piece, Main Menu.
// Are you interested in making a more just Philly? Check out artistsagainstabernathy.com
Find them: catramirez.com
Listen to: no small parts season 1, episode 12
