Roundabout Unveils 2026-27 Directing Fellow And Directors Group Cohort

Roundabout Theatre Company has revealed the newest addition to the artistic team: Directing Fellow Ciera Miller. Ciera is the tenth Roundabout Directing Fellow. Roundabout also announced the 2026-2027 Roundabout Directors Group (RDG), launched in 2019 to provide career assistance to emerging directors. The Roundabout Directors Group Cohort includes Eliyana Abraham, Jasmine Bhagroo, William Dao, Bailey Dumlao, Diego Alejandro González, Alexandra Haddad, Noah Latty, Ciera Miller, Megumi Nakamura, Martavius Parrish, Mantra Radhakrishnan and Julian X.

Roundabout Directing Fellowship

The Roundabout Directing Fellowship was launched in 2017 to provide development opportunities, resources, and career assistance to early career directors in the American Theatre. The Fellowship was created specifically to foster new relationships with, and to create a launchpad for, artists who have traditionally been denied equitable opportunities in the theatre industry. Past Fellows have gone on to receive Tony Award nominations for directing on Broadway, and have also directed off-Broadway, regionally and at academic institutions around the country. They have served as associate directors on and off Broadway and have taken further steps in their freelance careers after deepening their networks through the Fellowship.

Roundabout Directors Group

Launched in 2019, the Roundabout Directors Group (RDG) was created to provide an artistic community for directors at similar stages of their careers, fostering camaraderie, lateral mentorship, access to expanded professional networks and insight into the workings of a large not-for-profit institution. The RDG cohort meets monthly with established artists to offer mentorship and workshops on topics such as transitioning from assisting to directing, directing for TV/Film, understanding SDC, self-producing, finding representation and more. Most importantly, RDG serves as a connection point to find community between colleagues with the hope that our members leave RDG with a larger circle of industry connections, knowledge and a close group of peers. The Roundabout Directors Group has included many individuals who have gone on to participate in directorial roles for Off-Broadway and Broadway work through the years. To view the full list of past Roundabout Directors Group members please visit here.

Eliyana Abraham

ELIYANA ABRAHAM is a director of theatre and opera. Recent credits include the world premiere of Bury Your Gays (SheNYC/Lynn F. Angelson Theatre) and Jungle Restaurant (SoHo Playhouse Lighthouse Series). She is the recipient of the SDCF Directing Observership for I & You at Olney Theatre Center. Other select credits: Street Scene (Queens College); Affecting Expression (The Tank); Peerless (Princeton Summer Theater); The Marriage of Figaro (Hofstra University); ULTIMATE (The Tank); The Bridges of Madison County (Princeton Summer Theater). B. A. Princeton University. www.eliyanaabraham.com

Jasmine Bhagroo

JASMINE BHAGROO is a child of God, director, and producer committed to creating bold theatre that centers Black and immigrant communities with honesty, joy, and hope. A proud daughter of immigrants from Dominica, Jasmine's artistic voice is shaped by her Caribbean heritage and by her community in the DC/Maryland/Virginia area. Her work explores the intersection of personal history, communal narrative, crafting worlds that imagine possibilities beyond the present. Jasmine was the inaugural 2024–25 Black Theatre Coalition Artistic Director Fellow at New York Theatre Workshop and Octopus Theatricals, where she helped launch a community-centered initiative called "WORK OUT!". In the DC area, she has worked with Folger Shakespeare Theatre, Woolly Mammoth, Mosaic Theater Company, Rorschach Theatre, Young Playwrights' Theatre, and the Kennedy Center. Jasmine is a proud alumni of 24 Hour Plays Nationals, and holds a B.A. in Theatre from the University of Maryland, College Park.

William Dao

William Dao (he/him) is a Canadian theatre director and dramaturge based in New York, born and raised in Toronto. His directing work spans across new plays and musicals, solo performance, contemporary texts, site specific work and cabaret. He is an alumni of the Stratford Festival’s Langham Director’s program, The Soulpepper Academy, Canadian Stage’s RBC Directing Internship, Outside the March’s Artistic Accomplice program and The University of Toronto. Directing highlights include: All The Cows Are Dead (Talk is Free Theatre), Harm’s Way (Toronto Metropolitan University), i love the smell of gasoline (Nightwood Theatre/Pencil Kit Productions), Peggy Pickit Sees the Face of God (Soulpepper Theatre), Gulp, The Boy Who Cried (Toronto Fringe Festival). Assistant Directing credits include: As You Like It (The Stratford Festival), Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Canadian Stage), Uncle Vanya (Mirvish), The Master Plan (Crow’s Theatre) @williamdao | williamdao.com

Bailey Dumlao

BAILEY DUMLAO (he/they) is a proud Filipino-American director and designer from Memphis, TN. Their work champions bold new plays and ensemble-driven storytelling while also reexamining what defines a “classic.” Bailey has assisted acclaimed directors including Pulitzer Prize-winner Nilo Cruz, Shelley Butler, James Vásquez, and Dustin Wills. Associate and Assistant highlights include Beautiful: The Carole King Musical (Asolo Repertory Theatre) and acclaimed productions at Two River Theater: The Good Thief starring Christopher Fitzgerald, Two Sisters and a Piano starring Eden Espinosa, Hair, August Wilson's Gem of the Ocean, and the world premieres of works by Hansol Jung, Kate Hamill, Tony Meneses, and Mando Alvarado. Directing credits include The Little Mermaid (Middletown Arts Center), Our Town (Asbury Park Theater Company), Significant Other, and Sanctuary City (UAB). Bailey is the Artistic Co-Producer of Act Out, Diva!, a new play festival spotlighting groundbreaking queer voices from across the country. B. A. in Theatre Performance, University of Alabama at Birmingham. Associate Member, SDC.

www.baileydumlao.com | @bkdumlao

Diego Alejandro González

DIEGO ALEJANDRO GONZÁLEZ is an NYC-based director, choreographer, and writer born-and-raised on the México–Texas border, and Co-Creator of BORDERLANDS, a theater collective centering artists in nepantla: the in-between state where cultures, identities, histories, and futures collide. Diego is a 2025/26 Directing Fellow at The Mercury Store, a 2026 SDCF Abe Burrows Award Finalist, a 2024 SDCF Shadow on Broadway's Hadestown, and a 2023/24 Drama League Assistantship Recipient. In Development: a Mexican, bilingual adaptation of R&H’s ¡OKLAHOMA!; a stage adaptation of Y TU MAMÁ TAMBIEN; original work DAVID & THE APOCALYPSE (Co-Creator, BORDERLANDS). Credits: Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 (Director/Choreographer, UVA Drama & NYU Tisch); Sweeney Todd (Director, Village Light Opera Group); Water by the Spoonful (Director, Morningside Theater Co.); ¡DESPIERTA! (Choreographer, Arts for Everybody); NYU Opera Lab (Director, AOP & NYU Tisch GMTWP). Associate/Assistant: In the Heights (TUTS); Bernarda Alba (SU Drama); The Secret Sharer (DNAWORKS/ArtsEmerson); and La Broa' (Trinity Rep). Diego is the former Creative Director of Dance Lab NY and former Associate Artistic Director of Thirteen O'Clock Theatre in the Rio Grande Valley. “I believe theater is a site of transformation: a portal for memory, prophecy, meditation, healing, sensuality, and imagination. I try to make interdisciplinary theater that points toward our collective future.” diegogzz.com | theborderlands.co

Alexandra Haddad

ALEXANDRA HADDAD is a Third Culture Kid who directs, develops, and produces new theatrical work. She’s drawn to funny and scary stories about women, queer people, and people of the Global Majority. Alex also organizes a new work salon that celebrates emerging artists, and several projects from this series are seeing further development in 2026. World premieres include Vaibu Mohan’s BOUND TO YOU (Live and In Color), Kenjiro Lee’s ICE STATION ALPHA (Leviathan Lab/NYSF), Jason Wang’s GLOBLORD (Write Club), Scarlett Long & Wren Mied’s WONG SIDE OF TIME (SheNYC/Epheverie). Ongoing new work development includes collaborations with playwrights Abigail Duclos and Joshua Taylor Piper. Assisting: 2025 FAIR Assistantship on Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s INTO THE WOODS, 2023 SDCF Fellowship with Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival’s LOVE’S LABOR’S LOST. Fight & Intimacy: F&ID for SLAUGHTER CITY (also AD) and THE TAMING OF THE SHREW (Small Boat), Associate F&ID for SUMO (The Public/Ma-Yi), IC for MEASURE FOR MEASURE (Shakespeare & Company), and IC for RIDE THE CYCLONE (McCarter/Arena Stage). Playwriting: HELEN IN HER HOMELAND (Frayed Knot Collective), Under Construction Cohort 7 with The Road Theatre. Associate Member, SDC | alexandradarcyhaddad.com | @alexhad

Noah Latty

NOAH LATTY (they/them) is an NYC director from Philadelphia. They develop new theater and performance art with a passionate DIY spirit. Noah recently directed their original play, Time Signatures, which premiered at Brooklyn Art Haus as part of the 2026 Exponential Festival. Other production credits include Berlindia! by Daniel Holzman at The Tank, and the NYC premiere of Kinderkrankenhaus by Jesi Bender. Noah served as Assistant Director for A Woman Among Women, by Julia May Jonas at The Bushwick Starr and LCT3! , Pre-Existing Condition by Marin Ireland at The Connelly Theater, and Figaro/F*ggots by Kevin Carillo at Baryshnikov Arts Center. They have shared performance art at CATCH79, and other art parties. Noah is a resident stage manager at The Mercury Store. www.nolalatty.com

Ciera Miller

CIERA MILLER a NYC based director and writer. She is a self described ‘stubborn hopeful ' - someone who fights to make the impossible probable with joy. Ciera is interested in ghosts, as a director, she’s fascinated by what happens when we confront the things that haunt us and what happens to the land, our families, and our souls when we don’t. She finds herself drawn to stories about the American West, generational curses, the black diaspora, injustice, the passage of time, womanhood, and the feeling of ‘otherness’. Ultimately, she wants to create work onstage that calls audiences to confront the ghosts they are haunted by. She is also the miller half of the theatrical duo miller & harlow. The pair are 2023 Jonathan Larson Grant Honorable Mentions, 2025 finalists, former EdFringers, and were co-writers on The Oyster Radio Hour hosted by Susan Sarandon. She is the Associate Director for the Hadestown National Tour, directed by Keenan Tyler Oliphant. Additional Assistant Directing credits include: PRIMERO SUEÑO (MET Live Arts & CDMX Tour) and the world premiere of STOMPIN’ AT THE SAVOY (Delaware Theatre Company). New Work credits include: FUNERAL FOR A DOG, THE DARK (EdFringe, C Arts), SIREN SONGS (miller & harlow), WE’RE HERE BECAUSE WE WANT TO BE, CAFE BLITZ, ARE YOU LISTENING? and COLORADO SILVER. cieramiller.com millerandharlow.com

Megumi Nakamura

Megumi Nakamura (they/she) is Brooklyn-based, Bay Area-raised director, actor, and writer whose work examines race, gender, and the complex histories and experiences of the ever-growing population of multi-racial Americans. They have directed the world premieres of Sulfur Bottom (Off-Bway, Theater Center), Anne Frank in Mt. Vernon, Ohio (JACK), Laugh of the Medusa (All the Flowers, PrismFest), Constantinople, or the Hair Plug Play (JACK), and the musical they co-wrote, The Twelfth Night Show (Weston Theater Co, Artistree Arts). Other favorite directing credits include Merrily We Roll Along (Runyonland Productions) and Anne Washburn’s Mr. Burns, A Post-Electric Play featuring a cast of 25 high school students. They also served as the Resident Associate Director of the Lyrics & Lyricists series for their 2022-2025 seasons. As an actor, their credits include Mary Jane (Manhattan Theater Club) and The Debut (A24) premiering December 2026. meguminakamura.com

Martavius Parrish

MARTAVIUS PARRISH is a Black, Queer, Queens-based director, producer, and creative multipotentialite whose work spans theater, opera, music, movement, and film. He was most recently the director of the well-reviewed Edinburgh Fringe’s Letters to Joan. Prior to that, he made his Off-Broadway directing debut with Lynn Nottage’s Fabulation or, The Re-Education of Undine (which received 3 AUDELCO nominations, including Best Revival of a Play and a win for Best Featured Actress in a Play). He’s developed several new works with The Dramatists Guild, American Opera Projects, Cry Havoc, and the New York Shakespeare Exchange and was on the artistic team of Lincoln Center Theater. Next up, he’s collaborating with the Grammy-nominated songwriter & award-winning filmmaker, Diovanna Obafunmilayo, on her masterpiece GODBODY with The Theater Offensive, a Tony-nominated organization in Boston dedicated exclusively to producing liberating queer and trans works. Previous Associate Director credits include the 6-time Tony-nominated revival of Into The Woods (Broadway, Limited Engagement Tour, & City Center Encores!), Once Upon A Mattress (Broadway, LA, & City Center Encores!), Ragtime (City Center Encores!), Oliver! (City Center Encores!), and Disney’s Hercules (Development Workshop), as well as productions with the McCarter Theatre Center, Cincinnati Playhouse, and Out of the Box Theatrics. He’s a 2024 Drama League Directing Fellow, Inaugural NYU Tisch Department of Design for Stage and Film Directors Fellow, and holds a Bachelors of Science in Neuroscience from Duke University, as well as a Masters of Music in Vocal Performance from NYU Steinhardt. MartaviusParrish.com

Mantra Radhakrishnan

MANTRA RADHAKRISHNAN is a playwright, director, and comedian/actor originally from Bangalore, India. Selected recent credits include THE AMAZING DIGITAL CIRCUS (Netflix, YouTube TV), WOMEN OFF-COLOUR (Steppenwolf Theatre, The Second City, A Red Orchid Theatre), THE BRO’S VISIT (24HourPlays, Off-Broadway), DHABA ON DEVON AVE (Writers Theatre), LOVE IN THE TIME OF _____ (Oil Lamp Theatre, Theatre Wit, Theo Ubique), RADIEL GRADIENT (Shattered Globe), GLOSSED IN TRANSLATION (The Second City e.t.c), and a whole bunch of other new work at storefront theatres. She has received recognition from the Jeff Impact Fellowship (winner), the Victor Wong Fellowship (winner) Fulbright Research/Study scholarship (alternate finalist), Agnes Nixon Playwriting award (winner), Ojai Playwrights Conference (semifinalist), Inkslinger Playwriting Competition (semifinalist), Modern New Works Festival (finalist), SheNYC festival (finalist) and Boise Contemporary Theatre’s Playwriting festival (finalist). She is part of Cohort 8 of Roundabout Theatre’s Directing Group and regularly does stand-up comedy all over Chicago!

Julian X

JULIAN X is a Black queer director, educator, community organizer, and multidisciplinary artist from New Orleans, based in New York City. His work is rooted in community, cultural memory, storytelling as ritual, and the belief that theatre can function as a site of liberation. Recent credits include serving as Assistant Director on the 2026 Tony Award-winning directing team of Broadway’s CATS: The Jellicle Ball and directing Douglas Lyons’ Sunshine for the OUT/PLAY Festival. He has directed and developed work with New York Theatre Workshop, The Theatre Offensive, La Mama Experimental Theatre Club, The Huntington Theatre, the Dramatists Guild, The Tank NYC, and Liberation Theatre Company, among others. Julian was awarded a 2026 SDCF Directing Fellowship and is a proud SDC Associate Member. BFA Theatre Arts, Directing and Movement, Boston University.

Need more Off-Broadway Theatre News in your life?
Sign up for all the news on the Summer season, discounts & more...