Jenny Mercein is an actor, teacher, director, producer, and writer currently living in New Orleans. She is an Associate Professor at Tulane University, where she received the 2023 Mortar Board Excellence in Teaching Award. She is proud a producer of Roleplay, a play and documentary film project exploring student perspectives on love, sex, power, and consent. The script for live stage version of Roleplay is published by Dramatic Publishing. The Roleplay documentary premiered at SXSW in March of 2024, where it was hailed by critic Brian Tallerico as “one of the best docs I’ve seen so far this year.” Along with KJ Sanchez, Jenny also co-created the acclaimed docudrama X’s and O’s about football and traumatic brain injury, which received the Rella Lossy Award Playwright Award.

Her latest solo show Two Elizas will have a European premiere in Amsterdam at Mezrab in June of 2024 following performances at Luna Stage (NJ) and Whitefire Solofest (CA). Other acting credits include Your Honor, NCIS: New Orleans, 30 Rock, Blue Bloods, Unforgettable, Law & Order, and extensive theater credits spanning the country. Member: AEA, SAG-AFTRA, and the National Alliance of Acting Teachers. BA: Yale, MFA in Acting: University of Washington.

DIRECTOR – KATIE MATHEWS

Katie Mathews is a filmmaker, researcher, & educator whose work explores the gray areas and transitional moments of modern life. Her recent narrative short film Dark Moon (2022) was a Vimeo Staff Pick and her non-fiction short Signal and Noise (2021) won a Special Jury Prize at New Orleans Film Festival. Previously she produced feature documentary Mossville (2019), which won the Human Rights Award at Full Frame and aired nationally on PBS. She is the 2022 recipient of the Princess Grace Award for Film.

Christopher Bayes began his theater career with the internationally acclaimed Theatre de la Jeune Lune where he worked for five years as an actor, director, composer, designer and artistic associate. In 1989 he joined the acting company of the Guthrie Theater where he appeared in over twenty productions. His roles included Caliban in The Tempest, Edgar in King Lear, The Herald in Marat/Sade and Harlequin in Triumph of Love. In 1993, commissioned by the Guthrie Theater, he produced his one-man show This Ridiculous Dreaming based on Heinrich Boll’s novel The Clown.

In New York, he has directed The Servant of Two Masters at Theatre For A New Audience, Red Noses by Peter Barnes,Four by Feydeau, The Bourgeois Gentleman, The Moliere One Acts, and The Love of Three Oranges by Carlo Gozzi at the Juilliard School; The Imaginary Invalid by Moliere, The New Place by Carlo Goldoni, We Won’t Pay...by Dario Fo, and his new adaptation of Moliere’s The Reluctant Doctor of Love for New York University’s Graduate Acting Program; The Raven by Carlo Gozzi at NYU’s Experimental Theater Wing; Ubu Roi at both NYU’s Experimental Theater Wing and Fordham University; and Timeslips at HERE.

Additionally, he has staged several original works including Wreckage at P.S. 122, The Big Day (a clown show) and The Fiasco Bro. Circus at the Juilliard School, Zibaldoné at HERE and the Present Company Theatorium, The Fools/Los Locos Del Pueblo at Touchstone Theater, Necromance, A Night of Conjuration at Dixon Place, Clowns at the New York International Clown Festival and The Public Theater and Even Maybe Tammy at The Flea.

Outside of New York, his directing credits include Servant of Two Masters (Yale Rep, Shakespeare Theater, Guthrie Theater, Arts-Emerson and Seattle Rep), Doctor In Spite of Himself ( Intiman Theater, Yale Rep, Berkeley Rep), Accidental Death of an Anarchist ​(Yale Rep, Berkeley Rep), co-production of Scapin at the Intiman Theater in Seattle and Court Theater in Chicago, Comedy of Errors at the Idaho Shakespeare Festival, Len Jenkin’s new adaptation of The Birds at Yale Repertory Theater, Endgame at Court Theater, The Moliere Impromptu at Trinity Repertory Theater.

He was part of the creative team for the Broadway and Touring productions of THE 39 STEPS for which he created additional movement and served as Movement Director. He also created the Movement/Choreography for John Guare’s Three Kinds of Exile at The Atlantic Theater.

He has received numerous awards and grants including a Jerome Foundation Travel/Study Grant, a General Mills Foundation Artist Assistance Grant, and both a Minnesota State Arts Board Fellowship Grant and a Career Opportunity Grant. He is a 1999/2000 Fox Fellow.

He has taught classes and workshops internationally at Cirque Du Soliel, Williamstown Theatre Festival, , the Big Apple Circus, Interlochen Arts Center, Vassar College, Stella Adler Conservatory, Bard College, Fordham University, University of Texas Graduate Acting and Directing Programs, National Shakespeare Conservatory, University of Minnesota Graduate Acting Program, the Guthrie Theater, Iowa State University and Theater de la Jeune Lune.

He has served on the faculty of the Juilliard Drama School, the Actor’s Center (founding faculty & master teacher of physical comedy/clown), Yale School of Drama, the Public Theater’s Shakespeare Lab, the Academy of Classical Acting at the Shakespeare Theater in Washington D.C., New York University’s Graduate Acting Program and Tisch School of the Arts. His most recent position was that of Clinical Professor of Theater, Speech and Dance at Brown University and Director of Movement and Physical Theater at the Brown/Trinity Consortium. He is currently Professor and Head of Physical Acting at the Yale School of Drama.

Jeff Crockett is the creator of The Penumbra Method, developed over more than 35 years of
teaching breath, movement, and voice. He holds an Advanced Diploma in Voice Studies (with
Distinction) from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London, and is certified in
both the F.M. Alexander Technique (Alexander Training Institute of Los Angeles, 1995) and
Middendorf Breathwork—a discipline he has studied since 1997.

Jeff served for over two decades as Head of Voice at the American Conservatory Theater in
San Francisco and spent more than ten years as regular guest faculty at Accademia Nazionale
Silvio d’Amico in Rome. His faculty appointments include the University of Southern California,
and he has taught as a guest at Columbia University, DePaul University, University of Maryland,
and Stanford University. Jeff has also worked with Access Acting Academy, providing actor
training for blind and low-vision performers.

As a voice coach, he has collaborated with the Children’s Theatre Company in Minneapolis,
Theatre de la Jeune Lune, Mixed Blood, Theatre Manoeuvres (London), The Public Theater,
Berkeley Repertory Theatre, California Shakespeare Theater, Word for Word, and Shotgun
Players. In addition to his private practice, Jeff currently teaches at NYU. His article on
Middendorf Breathwork, published in Voice and Speech Review, is now a chapter in the book
Vocal Traditions: Training in the Performing Arts.

Jennifer McCray Rincón received her BA in Theatre Studies from Yale University and an MFA in Directing from the Yale School of Drama. She was the recipient of an NEA Directing Fellowship at Playwrights Horizons in NYC and a Fulbright Teaching Fellowship in Bogota, Colombia. After many years in New York, Ms. Rincón came to Denver as the Head of Acting at the National Theatre Conservatory, where she remained for almost two decades. At the DCPA Ms. Rincón taught acting in the 3-year MFA Acting program and directed over 100 productions including Equus, Othello, The Laramie Project, Romeo and Juliet, Twelfth Night, The 365 Project, Monte Carlo, and Expedition 6 by Bill Pullman. Locally, Ms. Rincón has directed for El Centro Su Teatro, Shadow Theatre, The Historic Old Elitches Theatre, and was Founding Artistic Director of the Lizard Head Theatre Company in Telluride. Since founding
Visionbox Studio in 2010 Jennifer McCray Rincón has taught acting to Denver student and professional actors in five-week
sequences culminating in performances. She has also developed and directed a number of workshops and productions for Visionbox including: The Wild Hunt by Bill Pullman, Danny and the Deep Blue Sea by John Patrick Shanley, Lydie Breeze by John Guare, After the Fall by Arthur Miller, 2xTENN by Tennessee Williams, A Child’s Christmas in Wales by Dylan Thomas with William Youmans, The Othello Project, an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Othello, My Two Sisters, an adaptation of Chekhov’s Three Sisters, Seeking Charlie Russell by Bill Pullman, featuring Bill Pullman, The Capulet Ball an adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, and Orpheus Descending by Tennessee Williams. Most recently Ms. Rincón wrote and directed a new devised piece about addiction and recovery called American Addict. Ms. Rincón is a member of the National Alliance of Acting Teachers.

Colum Parke Morgan is an international performance coach, actor, and educator specializing in both  American and European performance traditions, with particular focus on mask work and  biomechanics. A certified acting coach through the True Acting Institute, he holds a BFA in Music  and Theatre from the University of Kansas–Lawrence and an MFA in Acting from the University of  Texas at Austin. He also completed advanced post-graduate training in Integral Movement &  Performance Practice (IMPP) at arthaus.berlin—an intensive, practice-based program in devising  and interdisciplinary performance. 

Colum has trained extensively in intimate group and one-on-one settings with leading figures in  physical and performance-based theatre. His mentors include Norman Taylor (Lecoq pedagogy),  Gennadi Bogdanov (Meyerhold’s Biomechanics), Théâtre de l’Ange Fou (Decroux’s Corporeal Mime),  Antonio Fava & Carlo Boso (Commedia dell’Arte), Larry Silverberg (Meisner technique), Robin Carr  (Lessac voice work), Sergei Ostrenko (GITIS-based training), and Thomas Prattki (devising and  interdisciplinary performance). 

Colum’s performance career spans a rich spectrum of styles, from improvisation, children’s theatre,  and melodrama to vaudeville musicals, classical works, and devised theatre. His work has been  featured across stage, screen, and radio, with appearances throughout the U.S., Europe, the Pacific  Islands, Central America, North Africa, and beyond. 

Colum has brought his expertise to acting conservatories and theatre programs nationwide, serving  as a theatre lecturer and acting professor at institutions including Berkeley Rep, Zach Theatre in TX,  California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly), Allan Hancock College on California’s Central  Coast, and most recently, The City College of New York. A dedicated and versatile educator, he also holds TESOL in Drama and TEFL certifications, and has  taught English as a Second Language in Paris, Berlin, San Francisco, and New York City. 

His first book, Your Visual Connection: 6 Gesture Types for Holding the 4th Wall, captures his original  approach to performance and communication—an approach shaped by years of immersive study,  international experience, and hands-on teaching.

Dr. Katie Wampler has taught in higher education for 18 years as well as experience working
and learning in professional and amateur theatre companies in the United States and Europe.
Wampler worked in Bristol, England where, among other responsibilities, she ran a drama club,
worked with an amateur dramatics group, and was a stage manager for the Portway Players.
While pursuing her Master of Arts in Theatre from Emerson College, she worked with two
professional theatre companies in multiple capacities, including arts administration and
production roles. She collaborated with other university students in two original performances.
Wampler graduated from Texas Tech University with a Doctor of Philosophy in Fine Arts with an
emphasis in Theatre. Wampler has had the privilege of directing over 30 productions including
Seven, The Diary of Anne Frank, My Name is Rachel Corrie, and Steel Magnolias. She has
completed a teacher certification with Patsy Rodenburg to be able to teach Rodenburg’s work
with body, breath and voice and is a Patsy Rodenburg Associate. Most recently, she completed
a month long Commedia Dell’Arte intensive with Antonio Fava in Italy.