2024 Theater Conservatory
Kay Benson
She/Her
Regional/Educational: As You Like It (Shakespeare on the Sound), Northanger Abbey (Fireside Theatre), Much Ado about Nothing (Wild Goose Theatre), King Lear, Three Sisters, The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window (The Juilliard School)
Education: B.A. University of Cambridge, and MFA Juilliard School Class 2025
Originally from Oxford, England, Kay is joining us from New York City.
Britt Berke
She/Her
Drama League FutureNow Directing Fellow
Off-Broadway: the World Premiere of Becomes a Woman (Mint Theater Company – Outer Critics Circle Nomination for Outstanding Off-Broadway Play); watch me (NYTW Adelphi Residency).
Regional/Off-Off Broadway: DOGS (Ground Floor at Berkeley Rep); Anne Carson’s Antigonick (Torn Out Theater AKA “the Naked Shakespeare Company”); Liberian Girl in Brooklyn (Mabou Mines); Scenes with Girls (TheaterLab); The Moors (Adelphi); readings with The Public Theatre, La MaMa, and Cherry Lane.
Recent assistant directing: Lileana Blain-Cruz’s The Skin of Our Teeth (Tony nom); JoAnne Akalaitis’ Mud / Drowning (Obie Award).
Fellowships and Intensives: Roundabout Directors Group Cohort 4, MTC Directing Fellowship, NAMT and SDC Observerships, 24-Hour Plays, Mercury Store Directing Intensive
SDC Associate Member.
Education: B.A. Barnard College of Columbia University.
Originally from Rockville Centre, New York, Britt is joining us from New York City.
Nicholas Byers
He/Him
Regional/Educational: Fences (Trinity Repertory), True West (Brown/Trinity Repertory), The Tempest (Colonial Theatre), The Word Exchange (North Carolina Stage)
Film: “The Night Courier”
Education: MFA Brown/Trinity Rep Class of 2025
Originally from Kings Mountain, North Carolina, Nicholas is joining us from Providence, RI.
Alex Carroll-Cabanes
He/Him
Film: The Mark (Full Moon Films), Anandi (Wesleyan University), Spit (Sage Gallon)
Education: MFA Columbia University
Originally from Washington, D.C., Alex is joining us from New York City.
Stefan Dezil
He/Him
Drama League FutureNow Directing Fellow
Film: “Thirst” (2022-24) 20th Digital HULU, feature film (in development); Director: “The Shop” (2023) Emmy-nominated, SpringHill Company, Half Hour TV series;
Writer/Director short film: “Thirst” (2021) 20th Digital HULU; “Martyrdom” (2021) REVOLTTV; “Blackberry” (2018) REVOLTTV; “The Treadmill” (2018) REVOLTTV.
Originally from Long Island, New York, Stefan is joining us from Atlanta, Georgia.
Maria Fernanda Diez
She/Her
NY Theater: Primer Sueño (Repetorio Español), And Other Things (La Mama), Nanas (Teatro Latea), Argument Sessions (ArtNY), Autopsy of a Snowflake (The Lark), Othello (The Davenport)
Regional: Stoo’s Martian’s Gumbo (The Hangar Theater), The Canterville Ghost (Williamstown Theatre Festival), Dream Hou$e (Two River Theater Crossing Borders Festival), The Birds (One Year Lease)
Film: “DIVR” (directed by Zoey Martinson), “Chrysalis” (directed by Ell Hartman)
Audio: Care Inc (BBC Radio), In the Shadows (BBC Radio), Murder She Spoke (Tantrum East Theatre). Creator and host of the award-winning podcast “When You’re Invisible,” an iHeart Radio and My Cultura Podcasts Network production. Winner of the 2022 NBC Nosotros Monologue Slam.
Education: B.A. Columbia University
Maria is joining us from New York City.
Sarah-Michele Guei
She/Her
Regional/Educational: Teaching Artist at Girl Be Heard (Brooklyn-based nonprofit organization), In The Bronx Brown Girls See Stars Too, An Octoroon, Fabulation, Breath of Life (Columbia University), Bonefruit (Tank Theatre ), In the Blood (Cal Rep Theatre), A Live Mixtape (Green Court Way Theatre), Sonnets of an Old Century, Romeo and Juliet, Winter’s Tale (Cal State Long Beach)
Awards: 2018 August Wilson Monologue Competition Regional Finalist
Education: BFA California State Long Beach University and Columbia University School of the Arts MFA acting Class of 2025
Originally from Los Angeles, California, Sarah-Michele is joining us from New York City.
Karl Michael Iglesias
He/Him
Drama League FutureNow Directing Fellow
Director
Film: “HOME WHERE/IS” (short film)
Regional: Chrysalis (UW- Madison), SPEAKEASY (UW-Madison), CICADA (Development), Recovery (Development)
Assistant Director
Regional: The Mojo and The Sayso (The Milwaukee Rep)
Off-Broadway: Measure for Measure (The Public), #BARS Workshop (The Public).
Associate Director
Off-Broadway: The Comedy of Errors (The Public)
Assistant to the Choreographer
The Secret Life of Bees (Atlantic Theater Co.)
Fellowships and Residencies: Drama League Irene Gandy Directing Assistantship, The Kennedy Center’s Office Hours Residency at the REACH.
Originally from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Karl is joining us from Brooklyn, New York.
Katelyn Jackson
She/Her
Costume Design Fellow
Regional: No Man’s Land (Undermain Theatre), Beyond the Yellow Wallpaper (Echo Theatre), Ophelia Chooses (Zeiders American Dream Theatre), The Jackson C. Frank Listening Party (Zeiders American Dream Theatre), Xandria Wylde’s Hot Mess eXpress (Zeiders American Dream Theatre).
Education: B.A. Regent University, and MFA Southern Methodist University.
Katelyn is joining us from Dallas, Texas.
Jaucqir LaFond
They/Them
Regional/Educational: Blue Door (Perisphere Theater), The Reaper and The Whale (Davis Shakespeare Theatre Festival), “Silence is Violence: Future of the Field” (Young Playwrights Theatre), Spell no. 7 (Howard University), Fabulation (Columbia University), The Brothers Size (Columbia University), An Octoroon (Columbia University)
Award: 2023 Helen Hayes Award for Blue Door
Education: BFA Howard University and MFA Columbia University
Originally from Atlanta, GA, Jaucqir is joining us from Harlem, NY.
Amara Leonard
She/Her
Off-Broadway: The 24-Hour Play Festival Nationals
Regional: The Incubators (Westport Country Playhouse)
Education: B.A. Northwestern University, and MFA NYU Graduate Acting
Originally from Princeton, NJ, Amara is joining us from Brooklyn, NY.
Martin K. Lewis
He/Him
Off-Broadway: Fresh Play Festival (MCC), Mind The Gap (New York Theater Workshop), The American Tradition (New Light Theater Project)
Regional: Freedom Rider (Alabama Shakespeare Festival/ Shakespeare & Company), Romeo and Juliet (Elm Shakespeare), Our Town (Miami New Drama)
Education: MFA NYU Grad Acting
Martin is joining us from Staten Island, NY.
Rae McCreary
They/Them
Lighting Design Fellow
Assistant Lighting Designer: Regional: DPT Holiday Cabaret (Detroit Public Theatre); Human Error (The Purple Rose); Ourland (San Jose Chamber Orchestra, Aquilon Music Festival); The Mystery of Irma Vep (Omaha Community Playhouse)
Education: B.A. Theatre Creighton University, and MFA Lighting Design Candidate Wayne State University
Originally from Omaha, Nebraska, Rae is joining us from Detroit, Michigan.
Alex Nuñez Caba
He/Him
Scenic Design Fellow
Film and TV: “The Post;” “John Wick 3.” “Law & Order: SVU;” “Saturday Night Live;” “Maniac.”
Fellowship: BDC Films Fellowship.
Education: BFA School of Visual Arts, and MFA NYU Tisch School of the Arts.
Alex is joining us from New York City.
Tojo Rasedoara
He/Him
Sound Design Fellow
Off-Broadway: Off-Peak (59E59 theaters and Hudson Stage World Premiere), Citizen an American Lyric (Duke University of Theater Studies), Sandblasted (Vineyard Theatre), Is There Still Sex in the City (Daryl Roth Theatre), Burning Church (New Ohio Theatre) Measure For Measure, Furlough’s Paradise, Pearl’s Beauty Salon (David Geffen School of Drama at YALE), Soft Jade (summer YALE cabaret)
Regional: The Gradient (Repertory Theatre of St Louis), Wish You Were Here (Yale Repertory Theater)
Education: MFA David Geffen School of Drama at Yale
Originally from Queens, Tojo is joining us from New York City.
Kamal Sehrawy
He/Him
Regional/Educational: It’s Only a Play (Theatre Workshop of Nantucket), The Comedy of Errors (Smith Street Stage), Hamlet (Shakespeare in the Square/ Mercury Store), Uncle Vanya, How to Live on Earth, The Misanthrope (David Geffen School of Drama), Mad Love (Yale Cabaret)
Education: BFA NYU Tisch School of the Arts, and MFA David Geffen School of Drama at Yale Class of 2025
Originally from Chicago, IL, Kamal is joining us from New Haven, CT.
