Rising Sun Performance Company Announces New Resident Ensemble Company Members

Founding Artistic Director Akia, announced today that Rising Sun Performance Company has invited 8 new artists to join its resident ensemble company. These artistic relationships grew from the company's internal artistic development programs and virtual programming last season.

Akia stated "We are thrilled to announce welcome these artists into our 2021 Ensemble company and excited to see what their amazing talents will bring to our work and our 20th producing season. Our aesthetic is one of authenticity and inclusivity--exploring and re-envisioning stories that search for and celebrate our collective humanity. We feel confident that these new voices will enhance our creative journey and add to our theatrical legacy."

RSPC's 2021 New Ensemble Members are Anel Carmona, Antonio Miniño, David Stallings, Kendra Christel, Mary Sheridan, Mateo Moreno, Orlando Rodriguez & Sean Phillips. These artists represent multiple disciplines which include acting, directing, playwriting, and intimacy direction.

They join the existing Ensemble: Akia Squitieri, Andrew Gonzalez, Anna Hogan, Ashleigh Herndon, Ashleen Rowan, Ayesha Salah, Bailey Bass, Becky Saunders, Chelsey Smith, Chris Jumper, Chris Goodrich, Crystal Edn, Danielle Bee Parker, Corrianne Stein, Deanna Alexandra,Desiree Pinol, Donna Latham, Eric Parness, Federica Borlenghi, Ita Korenzecher, Jackie McKenna, Jenna Atickinson, Jennifer Iris Rivera, Joan Kane, Josephine A. Pizzino, Julia Geromin, Justin Hsu, Kassime Fofana, Kevin Eubanks Jr, Kevin Rabbits, Leka Makenzie, Laura Lamberti, Lluvia Almanza, Luana Seu, Luna G. Reiley, Maera Daniel Hagage, Maya Jasmin Kurokouchi, Maggie Kissinger, Michael Hagins, Michael Pichardo, Nadia Duncan, Nathan Siever, Nicole Harley, Rachael Langton, Raiane Cantisano, Rebecca Kane, Rick Benson, Sam Neagley, Samantha Simone, Sara Dove, Stephanie Barney, Susan Goodell, Sven Trygve Haabeth, William Serri, Valerie David, & Yashebadar Roker

The 2021 Resident Ensemble Company includes talent from around the world, including Norway, Romania, Germany, Israel, Brazil, Italy, Mexico, and from across the United States.

Rising Sun Performance Company is the artistic home for a wide range of theatre artists, including actors, writers, directors, designers, singers, dancers, producers, administrators, and technicians. Each ensemble member brings their own unique training, talents, and aesthetic to the group. In addition to the resident ensemble, RSPC has a rotating roster of local, national, and international guest artists, who work with the company on a show-to-show basis.

For additional information on Rising Sun Performance Company and our individual Ensemble members visit www.risingsunnyc.com

Anel Carmona is a multidisciplinary Theatre Artist originally from Mexico and based in New York City. She has participated in dozens of plays across North America. Her favorite acting credits include HallowStream (RSPC), Tales of the White Diamond Mountain (RSPC), Catch Me in America (Strike Anywhere Performance Ensemble), and Ti-Jean and his Brothers (MA's Playhouse) among others. Anel is also the author of plays such as "Adios Fjord" (Off-Broadway, Theater at Gibney), "Ice Cream Fro-Yo" (Hudson Guild Theater), "The Church of the Winter" (Gene Frankel Theatre), and "Chocolate en la Estación" (Teatro Jaime Torres Bodet). In 2020 her COVID-19 themed play ""A Seis Pies de Distancia"" had video production in Tabasco, Mexico and Alberta, Canada. It was also featured in the published anthology "De Pandemia a Pandemonium" in the Mexican Platform "Dramaturgia Mexicana."

Anel holds an MFA in Playwriting from The Actors Studio Drama School at Pace University; she is also an active member of the Playwrights and Directors Workshop at The Actors Studio and The Dramatists Guild of America. www.anelcarmona.com IG:@carmonaanel

Antonio Miniño (They/Them) is a genderqueer native of the Dominican Republic whose work as an actor, director, writer, dramaturg, producer, and intimacy coordinator, has been seen in Santo Domingo, New York, Los Angeles, Toronto, Dublin, and Belgrade. Antonio is also an intimacy consultant with Intimacy Coordinators of Color, a Jonathan Alper Directing Fellow (Manhattan Theatre Club, 2019 & 2020), and a two-time Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation Observer. Antonio is the founder and a creative partner of Different Translation, and a former founding member, company actor, and co-artistic director at Manhattan Theatre Works (2006-16). Outside of the performing arts world, Antonio is also a well-being life coach at Grace in Progress Consulting, and the writer of the #PersonOfChange series on Medium, showcasing persons of color and/or persons who identify as non-binary (soon to be a podcast). You might also catch them performing burlesque as "Mx Dream Beautiful" and hosting the "Queer Dance N8k3d Party". SAG-AFTRA/SDC. www.antoniominino.com

David Stallings (he/him/they) is a playwright, actor, and acting coach. The author of 12 full-length plays and numerous shorts, David's stories and performances have reached audiences across the US as well as internationally. As an actor, David has appeared in over 100 productions from musical theater to Shakespeare and contemporary drama. Most recently David has played Lord Goring (An Ideal Husband), Lord Henry (The Picture of Dorian Grey), Lady Macbeth (Macbeth) as well as having originated numerous roles in original works in New York City. As a writer, David is influenced by the collision of his Southern roots and progressive politics. Their play, Dark Water (2014 New York Innovative Award winner for Best Full-Length Script), deals explicitly with the BP oil spill off the coast of Louisiana, told from the point of view of the animals. As well as bringing an informed Southern voice to the theater, David also focuses on marginalized protagonists and relationships within family dynamics--always with a unique blend of poetic dialogue within realism. In 2019, their play The Baby Monitor transferred from NYC to Dublin, Ireland as part of their International Gay Theater Festival and went on to play in Belgrade, Serbia in their National Theater as part of their first-ever Pride Series.

To learn more visit www.stallingswrites.com

KENDRA CHRISTEL is a Texas-born singer, actress, and writer. Kendra started performing at age three. She currently calls the Austin area home, gracing many a stage for M.A.D. Productions, Sam Bass Theater, Hutto Arts Today, and The Georgetown Palace. Favorite roles include Deloris Van Cartier in Sister Act and the Queen of Hearts in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. She's also had the pleasure of performing in Austin's FronteraFest event. Kendra is currently earning her MFA in Screenwriting from the University of Georgia graduate school.

www.kendrachristel.com

IG/Twitter: @kendrachristel

Mary Sheridan is thrilled to be an Ensemble Member of Rising Sun Performance Company. She is the recipient of the 2016 Best Featured Actress Award for the Planet Connections Theatre Festivity. Her favorite NYC theatres to work at include New Perspectives, The Culture Project, Urban Stages, New York Theatre Workshop & Theatre Row. Her past favorite roles include Maxine in "Tongue of a Bird", Alma in "Summer and Smoke", Savage in "Savage in Limbo", Ophelia in "Hamlet" & Ann in "All My Sons". Mary has done several short films with J. Boyett (www.jboyett.net), is currently working on a cabaret show and a solo show and is a Yale University graduate. www.marysheridan.net

www.facebook.com/mary.sheridan.50

Mateo Moreno As an actor: Art (The Strollers), Krampus Search 2020 (Rising Sun), MetalBird (The Tank), For the Love of Lina (Conch Shell Productions), The Enemy of the People (The Strollers), Not-Knowing (3LD), Pride & Prejudice (win: Audience Favorite - Actor), Snipped/Cut/Tied: Una Noche de Magia (win: Best Featured Actor), Twelfth Night (Boomerang Shakespeare in the Park), City of Glass (UTC #61), Devil Land & Dead Wait: A Journey into Afro-Existentialism (dir. Tonya Pinkins). As a playwright: Pitch ("Reset Theatre Coalition"), No Hablo Español: Mix-Tape of a Mexi-Can't (NY Fringe), Bohemian Valentine (NY Fringe), Broken Pieces, Within Our Walls, Happily After Tonight. As a Director/Assistant Director: The Moose Head Over The Mantel (Anthology Feature Film), One Shot (Music Video), Surrender (Short Film), and Penny Dreadful (Theatrical Play). He is also a film reviewer and resides in NYC. Stay safe & wear a mask. Black Lives Matter. www.Mateo-Moreno.com

www.TheArtsWireWeekly.com

ORLANDO F. RODRIGUEZ is a graduate from the University of Texas at El Paso and has a degree in Theater Tech and Design. He is currently living in NYC to further pursue his career and his newfound love of writing. Credits include (Theater:) Voice 1 in Betty's Summer Vacation, Greta in Bent, Barrosa in a staged reading of Itzel the Pirate Queen (Film:) Ben in Cleo y Los Cabrones, Jimmy in Exponential, King Ralphy in Placed, (Directing:) Dead Awake an excerpt from "Reveries," The Fall of Wallace Winter, A Marriage Proposal (Playwright:) The Legend of The Beast in That Place with the Woods an excerpt from Rising Sun's HollowStream, "The Armando Project, Dead Awake an excerpt from "Reveries," Dolores.

Sean Phillips is a graduate of AMDA and currently a student of Roger Hendricks Simon. Theatre credits include Mother Courage with Meryl Streep, The Treatment (IATI), To Kill A Mockingbird ( Cornish Playhouse), Knock Me A Kiss( New Federal Theatre. Film/TV: Evil, Prodigal Son, Madam Secretary, The Good Wife, Difficult People.

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