The Allure of Thug Life at 905 Cole Theater

Melia Mills

If Chris Rock and Weird Al had a baby, she’d be it. Mélia Mills is an Oakland, CA native. She graduated from UCLA with a BA in Theater Arts. Mélia is a writer, comedian, actress, and rapper. Mélia wrote, created, produced, directed and acted in JUNETEENTH- An Emancipation Celebration to a sold out crowd at UCB Sunset. Mélia was a writer and performer on UCB’s House Team, CHARACTERS WELCOME and iO West’s House Team, Character World. Mélia co-hosted the podcast TALK LIKE a GIRL on Feral Audio. She has opened for Dave Chappelle, Gad Elmaleh “Jerry Seinfeld of France”, and did Script and Character Development for Sacha Baron Cohen.

Heather Dowling

HEATHER DOWLING is an award-winning writer, actor and director. Heather brought to life 50 distinct characters in her critically acclaimed one-person shows, Unemployed. Finally. and Fertile. Both shows won the PRODUCERS’ ENCORE AWARD and were nominated for BEST SOLO PERFORMANCE at the Hollywood Fringe Festival in 2015 and 2019. Both shows were selected for the prestigious L.A WOMEN’S THEATRE FESTIVAL and both were invited to SOLOFEST, the largest solo theatre festival on the West Coast. Unemployed was selected to be part of UNITED SOLO, the largest solo festival in the world, on 42nd Street in NYC. On the heels of her solo success, Heather started coaching for Soaring Solo Studios. She directed 5 shows that gathered 5 award nominations for the 2022 Hollywood Fringe Festival and one the shows she directed and developed, Asexuality: A Solo Musical, won the TOP OF FRINGE and BEST PREMIERE.

Jessica Lynn Johnson

Jessica Lynn Johnson is winner of BEST NATIONAL SOLO ARTIST, Board Member & Submission Screening Panelist of the LA Women’s Theatre Festival, Director & Instructor at Whitefire Theatre, and Founder & CEO of solo theatre company SOARING SOLO LLC. Jessica has toured Internationally performing & teaching with her solo shows for over a decade. Her 1st solo show “Oblivious to Everyone” was published in “The Book of Estrogenius 2008”, and her 2nd solo show ZE has toured festivals and schools nationwide. Jessica’s work has been seen in the LA Women’s Theatre Festival, the NYC Samuel French Playwright Festival, the Kansas City Fringe Festival, the NYC International Fringe Festival, the Sola Voce Festival, the Monodrama Thespis Festival in Germany, the Black Magic Women’s Theatre Festival in Amsterdam and enjoyed an extended run at NYC’s prestigious Theatre Row on 42nd Street. Johnson currently teaches a weekly FREE 1 person show development class in LA and does small group & private coaching through her company Soaring Solo LLC. As a Director & Developer, Johnson has co-created over 75 solo shows & has proudly taken home TOP OF FRINGE, multiple ENCORE PRODUCER AWARDS, & several other accolades over the years. She is exceedingly excited to keep the tradition alive and direct multiple solo shows in this year’s Hollywood Fringe festival. For more on this artist, please visit: www.JessicaLynnJohnson.com and email her directly at SoaringSoloArtist@gmail.com.

Matthew Robinson

Writer – Producer – Director Follow Matthew Robinson on Twitter @robinsonishyde And follow him on instagram at @robinsonishyde_ Producer of “The Toughest Man in Chicago” Writer/Producer of “Olivia Wilde Does Not Survive The Apocalypse” WINNER BEST COMEDY – Hollywood Fringe 2019 PICK OF THE FRINGE OFFICIAL SELECTION ENCORE AWARD WINNER Writer/Director of “BlackBalled: The Rise and Fall of Negro League Baseball” NOMINATED BEST ENSEMBLE PICK OF THE FRINGE OFFICIAL SELECTION ENCORE AWARD WINNER Writer/Director of “Mary’s Medicine” ENCORE AWARD WINNER CITYWATCH LA TOP FRINGE SHOWS SELECTION BUZZFEED TOP 5 MOST ANTICIPATED PLAYS Red Flag Media Productions www.rfmp.net www.matthewsrobinson.com

Leyla Polozhani

Leyla is an NYC-based artist. She received her BA from Brooklyn College where she studied historiography, film production, and screenwriting. Starting her career with acting, Leyla found her passion for writing and filmmaking. She is currently working on writing her own short play and sketch comedy series. Through a nonprofit organization Kids Creative Collective, Leyla mentors teens who aspire to learn theatre. Outside of the arts, Leyla is also a certified fitness coach who teaches one-on-one training and group classes for clients of all levels.

Aaron Wilson