Bio 

(Lead Deviser) AARON MICHAEL ZOOK is a writer, actor, and educator focused on complex texts and the creation of collaborative theatre. His work with Blessed Unrest and Project Untitled culminated in the creation of Nine Moons (2024), a prelude toShakespeare’s Othello. He is the author of plays, poems, and musicals for young audiences. NYC acting credits include Nine Moons; Battle of Angels; Lickspittles, Buttonholers, and Damned Pernicious Go-Betweens; 12th Night of the Living Dead; and readings of every play in Shakespeare’s Canon. Zook earned his MFA in acting at The Ohio State University, where he was grateful to train with members of The Royal Shakespeare Company and SITI Company.

(Deviser) CLARITA DE GENNARO is a New York City–based actress born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She began her acting training early in Argentina and then moved to New York, where she graduated from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. Her recent credits include Trinidad in Prudence by Claudio Gotbetter, Martirio in The House of Bernarda Alba, Lady Katherine in Emilia by Morgan Lloyd Malcolm, REacting Theater’s ShortPlaySeries, and original ensemble-devised work in both the U.S. and Argentina. @claritadegennaro

She is honored to tell this story and grateful to collaborate with such a generous group of artists. Para toda mi Argentina: “te extraño de noche, te quiero de día” — Airbag.

(Deviser) MADDY KELLY is an Australian New York City based actor. She recently graduated from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and is now continuing her studies at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. She has a deep love for theatre, and some of her acting highlights include Juliet in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet directed by Ibsen Santos, and Dunn in Men on Boats directed by Sanaz Tennent. She was apart of the 2023 Western Australian Performing Arts Perspectives for her original devised piece The Tiger Mum. She has had a blast working on Thoughts and Prayers and couldn’t have asked for a better team and ensemble.

(Deviser) IOANNA KATSAROU is a director, actor, and theater educator based in New York. She is the co-artistic director of Eclipses Group Theater NY, a theater organization that has received multiple grant awards. She was the founding member of Aktis Aeliou Art Theater, awarded Best Regional Theater in Greece by the Greek Critics Association. She is a member of the Lincoln Center Directors’ Lab and has collaborated as a director with the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, where she has directed nine productions. Her work, as an actor and director, has been presented at La MaMa, Classic Stage Company, Athens Festival, National Theater of N. Greece, Delphi European Festival for Ancient Theater, LaGuardia Performing Arts Center, Cherry Lane Theatre, Cell Theater, Montreal Fringe festival, Cairo International Theater Festival. As an actor, she has performed Off-Broadway and internationally in leading classical and contemporary roles. She teaches acting at the Hellenic Cultural Center NY. (www.ioannakatsarou.com)

(Deviser) JON-MYKUL BOWEN (he/him) is an award-winning actor from St. James, Barbados. He gives credit to Operation Triple Threat in Barbados and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts for his training. He loves to wear many creative hats, being a producer for the Humanist Project's first theater season, and a vocal coach with the Meisner in Music method. Recent credits include Novecento (Paradise Factory Theater - reading), Charlie (Dirty Legal Secrets), and the clown Andreas Pina (“A Crucible...” - NYC Fringe award-winning show & The Foundry, MA). For more info - visit jm-bowen.com. Thank you to Ibsen, Clarita, Maddie, and all the cast and crew of 'Thoughts and Prayers'. Jon-Mykul dedicates this performance to all who have faced, or have lost a loved one, to gun violence, and as a call to action to put an end to gun violence in his home country and worldwide.

(Deviser) CATO CRUMBLEY is an Actor and Teaching Artist based in New York City. An alumni of Stella Adler’s 3-Year Day Conservatory Program, she also has a BA in Theatre from the University of Vermont and an MFA in Voice Studies from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London. Some of her favorite roles to date have been Regan in King Lear, Diomedes in Troilus & Cressida (Hamlet Isn’t Dead) and Margaret in Much Ado About Nothing (MV Playhouse). She currently teaches Voice & Speech at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting. (@catocrumbley)

(Deviser) PAIGE HAPEMAN is originally from Buffalo, NY, and is currently based in New York City. Her recent film credits include Near Death (recently announced in Variety), Before We Begin (the closing film of the 2024 Chelsea Film Festival, now available on Amazon), and First Fall. She made her NYC theatre debut in the new play Someone ExtraordinariX at The Producers Club. Paige is currently an associate producer on an independent feature film shooting in New York this winter, in which she also appears in a supporting role. She has trained with the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, The Second City and The Barrow Group. 

(Deviser) BARBARA MORENO (she/her) is a Brazilian-Japanese actress and playwright based in New York City. Trained in New York, she works across stage and screen. Most recently, she wrote and performed Saudade, which was presented at the Puerto Rican Traveling Theater, and continues to develop original work in close collaboration with other wonderful souls. Alongside her theatrical work, Barbara has built a digital platform of over 700,000 followers, connecting with global audiences through storytelling that feels intimate, grounded, and human. She is currently a co-writer and actor in Thoughts & Prayers and is grateful to share this work with bold collaborators and curious audiences. Connect with her through IG: @barbara.ssp

(Deviser) DUSTIN BUSSMAN is an actor from Nampa, Idaho based in New York City. He is a recent graduate from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts at the New York conservatory. Dustin discovered his passion for acting in a high school production of Midsummer Night's Dream where he took on the role of Lysander. He also ignited a love for film when he started acting, writing, and producing short films with his friends and colleagues in 48-hour film festivals. He moved to New York to pursue acting in 2023. Dustin is passionate about film, TV, and theatre acting, and would love to have a career in all three mediums. He believes that art is one of the most important forms of activism, and he hopes to be in productions that question society's structures and values in order to make the world become a more introspective place.

(Deviser) RUTH ŁCHAV'AYA K'ISEN MILLER (she/her) is a Dena’ina actor, singer, dancer, and multidisciplinary artist based in New York City and Anchorage, Alaska. She trained in Musical Theatre as part of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts’ inaugural Musical Theatre cohort (Class of 2025), with additional training in vocal performance, dance, Shakespeare, vocal improvisation, and Theatre of the Oppressed. She will be part of Berklee’s upcoming Community Music Therapy program. In addition to performing, she composes and performs original music and has music directed multiple productions over the past year. Her work lives at the intersection of theatre, song, culture, and social justice.

(Deviser) PRATHER REHNQUIST is a NYC based actor, intimacy choreographer, movement coach and a Senior Lucid Body teacher. Recent intimacy credits include: Laowang (Primary Stages), The Honey Trap (Irish Rep) and movement coaching for Derry Girls' Saoirse-Monica Jackson at the world premiere of Irishtown. Prather teaches movement and choreographs intimacy at The New School, Marymount Manhattan College, the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and The Lucid Body Institute. When not on the proscenium deck, Prather can be found on deck sailing a 42' Marconi rigged sloop named HELLBOUND. @pratheatre

Bio 

(Director, lead deviser) IBSEN SANTOS is a Brazilian actor, director, writer who has worked in the U.S. for over 20 years. Directing credits: Thoughts & Prayers (2026), Suadade (SOLFEST Off-broadway reading), Someone ExtraordinariX(off-off broadway), Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Oedipus, By the Gasworks Wall, In the Apiary, Othello, Medea, and A kind of Alaska. Acting credits: Hippolyta or Cupid is A Knavish Lad… (Shakespeare SlayFest- reading), The Waiting Game (59E59, Edinburgh Fringe Festival), Inside the Wild Heart (off-off broadway), A House of Skin and Bone (off-off broadway), Apple of My Eyes (off-off broadway). Regional: Twelfth Night, Fidler on the Roof, and The Greenshow (Utah Shakespeare Festival); Cabaret (Egyptian Theatre Company); The Diary of Anne Frank (Great Plains Theatre Company); Songs for a New World, Zorro, Wicked City Blues, Pal Joey (Utah Musical Theatre);Señora Tortuga, A Thousand Cranes (Lexington Children’s Theatre). @ ibsensantosactor.

(Dramaturg) NATHAN WRIGHT is a playwright, director and dramaturg. He is the Artistic Director of In Absentia Productions. He directed Charles Gershman’s The Waiting Game at the 2017 Edinburgh Fringe (Winner Best Overseas Production) and again in 2019 off-Broadway at 59E59 Theatres. As a playwright, he has written Manifesto: The Diaghilev Project with Nadia Foskolou and collaborated with Rachel Chavkin and the TEAM in writing Architecting (Winner 2008 Edinburgh Fringe First Award, Public Theatre Under the Radar). He co-wrote the book to composer Michael Mott’s In the Light, a faustian tale. His other plays include Peninsula (Winner 2013 NYC Fringe), Naked Fish (Winner 2007 Theatre Masters National Playwriting Award), Lake Full of Iron; Sky Full of Hope (Card Table Theatre, Lawrence, KS) and HomoRapture (Kenyon College). Additionally, he has translated Russian playwright Katia Rubina's Family Happiness (O'Neil Playwright's Center). MFA Columbia University School of the Arts. Visit: InAbsentiaTheatre.com

 (Stage Manager) VASILIKI IOANNOU is a New York–based stage manager who has been working with the American Academy of Dramatic Arts since 2023, stage managing both their Company and Graduate Series productions. She has also stage managed several independent theatrical productions in New York City. Thoughts and Prayers marks her first time participating in the Fringe Festival, and she is excited to be part of this year’s lineup.