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Susan Paun de García
Susan Paun de García is Past President of the Association for Hispanic Classical Theater.
Emerita Professor of Spanish, she taught at Denison University, a selective Liberal Arts College in Granville, Ohio, having offered courses in all aspects of Spanish language, literature, and culture, with special emphasis in Spanish baroque (17th-century) and post-baroque (18th-century) theater and, in particular, the “comedia de teatro” (pieces with complex scenographical requirements).
In the classroom, her 3rd and 4th-year undergraduate students engaged with Spanish comedia in various modalities: from on-stage performance of comedias, to the development or adaptation of play scripts for contemporary audiences in various media (film, music, comics, puppets), to improvisational development of characters and situations.
She has published various critical editions and is an active member of the AHCT Translation Lab.
Ignacio García
Ignacio García (Madrid, 1977) has directed the Almagro International Classical Theater Festival Foundation since January 1, 2018. He has a degree in Stage Management from the Royal Higher School of Dramatic Art in Madrid.
He has directed theater shows based on texts by Calderón, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, Cervantes, Juan del Encina, León Felipe, Max Aub and José Saramago, among others, on stages, festivals, and both national and international companies. He has given workshops on interpretation for opera and zarzuela singers at the Teatro Colón in Bogotá and at The Academy of Opera in Oslo, as well as workshops on Spanish Theater of the Golden Age at the National School of Drama in New Delhi, India, at the National Theater Company of Mexico and the INSAAC (Institut National Supérieur des Arts et de l’Action Culturelle) of the Ivory Coast. In the lyrical field, he has performed the staging of more than 30 titles of the universal repertoire, demonstrating a special sensitivity for the zarzuela and the Spanish repertoire across many time periods.
He has been the Assistant Artistic Director at the Spanish Theater of Madrid; programmer of the International Festival of Contemporary Dramaturgy Dramafest of Mexico; and he has made collaborations with the Great National Theater of Peru, the National Theater of Bogotá and with the National Theater Company of Mexico, as well as many others.
Paula Paz
Paula is a theatre director and the co-founder and Artistic Director of the Cervantes Theatre in London and the Spanish Theatre Company.
At the Cervantes Theatre, she has directed bilingual productions of Ay, Carmela! by José Sanchis Sinisterra, The Swallow by Guillem Clua, Darwin’s Tortoise by Juan Mayorga, The House of the Spirits by Caridad Svich after Isabel Allende and also The Little Pony by Paco Bezerra and Knives in Hens by David Harrower.
Paula has worked in TV with Emilio Aragón as artistic coordinator in BSO at Movistar0#. She has also worked as a dramaturg and movement director in theatre and assistant director to Julia Burbach in opera.
Paula is an academic of the Academy of Performing Arts of Spain, she has a degree in advertising and Public Relations from the Complutense University of Madrid and a Masters Degree with Distinction in Theatre Directing from Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts.
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Tas Emiabata
Tas is a Learning Consultant for Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, and regularly facilitate workshops, both nationally and internationally, supporting students, teachers and arts professionals in understanding the structure, language, and relevance of Shakespeare’s work today.
Having an arts background based in theatre and music, he completed his master’s degree in
Applied Theatre at Goldsmiths College (UCL). His international work has seen him deliver and direct Shakespeare’s work in Germany, Malta, Buenos Aires, India, The West Bank, China, Paris and the United States. He previously performed Caliban in The Tempest for Flute Theatre Company, making inclusive Shakespeare productions for children and young adults on the autistic spectrum.
In his work as a facilitator with the charity Tender, he works extensively with students, teachers, and healthcare professionals, exploring and promoting healthy intimate relationships in young people’s lives. Tas also devises and delivers bespoke training on leadership, justice and mercy, the outsider, as well as themes around gender and inclusion, within the voluntary, educational, health-care, corporate and military sectors. Current clients include the British Army, The Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), as well as leading theatres and drama schools across the UK.
Natalie B. Wong
A director, performance maker, co-founder of Orang Collectif and production-stage manager of Singapore-Chinese heritage based in London. She holds an MA in Performance Making (Dist) from Goldsmiths College, London.
Natalie was the first resident assistant director at the Singapore Repertory Theatre where she was mentored by international directors such as the late Braham Murray, Bruce Guthrie, Scott Graham and Kate Golledge.
Her recent directing credits include Children of God by Jimin Suh (A short play adapted for film for New Stories online festival of new BE/SEA writings), The Tree of Objects (CAN Fest ’20), and Chapters of a Floating Life by Clarence Coo (Yellow Earth’s Typhoon’19).
With the Orang Collectif, Natalie has co-produced The Sane Asylum and The Giving (A promenade evening of Live Performances). And she directs and performs in their ongoing project, AN:ODYSSEY (9-vignette performance exploring themes of Home, Borders and Identity).
She enjoys working with youths and her experience spans performing and assistant directing children’s theatre; directing youth theatre and teaching theatre. She has worked extensively with youths of special needs and at-risk communities. She designed and led the theatre programme for The Little Arts Academy, Singapore from 2009-2013.
Juan Ayala
Juan is a director, dramaturg, performer and designer based between London and Madrid. He is currently an associate artist at Teatro de la Abadía.
He is the artistic director of Collectivo Decollage and co-director of Mirage Teatro. He is a founder member of UK company Babakas directing their production of Our Fathers and has worked as a dramaturg, performer and educator across Europe for Limbik Theatre and Theatre Temoin (UK) La Guapa Teatre (ES) and Patari Project (GR).
He originally trained as an architect before attending the Jacques Lecoq School in Paris and the London International School of Performing Arts (LISPA). His work deftly combines abstraction with complex narrative to create poetic, comic and politically charged work. Specialising in physical theatre, improvisation, devised works and adaptations, his work responds with sensitivity and risk-taking irreverence with the site, space and audience.
He has made over 30 works presented in: BAC London, MAC Birmingham, Greenwich Dance London, Jerwood Space London, DanceEast Ipswich, Teatro Español Madrid, Corral de Comedias de Alcalá, Matadero Madrid, Teatro Central Sevilla, Escenapoblenou Barcelona, BeirutSpringFestival inLíbano, TeatroMania in Polonia, PhysicalFestival Chicago, among others.
Cortney Knipp
Cortney Knipp is an Assistant Professor at Ohio Wesleyan, an applied theatre facilitator and community-based artist. At the University of Virginia, Cortney was the inaugural Artistic Director and Program Manager of UVA Acts, an educational theatre program promoting equitable, vibrant spaces for working and learning. Cortney’s practice has been sharpened through collaboration with artists in a variety of contexts, including adults gaining literacy, young people experiencing confinement, educators in public schools, families experiencing housing insecurity, and community advocates who were formerly incarcerated.
Her writing on community-engaged practices can be seen in publications such as Research in Drama Education: The Journal of Applied Theatre and Performance, the Howlround Blog, TYA Today, Theatre Topics and Youth Theatre Journal, and she has presented workshops and research at conferences including the American Alliance for Theatre & Education, Association for Theatre in Higher Education, and the NYU Forum on Educational Theatre. Cortney has worked as a guest artist at Texas State University, Anderson University, and James Madison University. She completed her B.A. in Theatre Studies at Furman University in South Carolina and her M.F.A. in Drama and Theatre for Youth and Communities from UT Austin.
Brian Granger
Dr Brian Granger is an Assistant Professor at Ohio Wesleyan, a musical theatre book writer, playwright, theatre scholar, singer-songwriter, and actor/director whose works are an ongoing exploration of how we treat one another across lines of race, gender and class. His academic interests include North American ethnic playwrights and musical theatre, particularly Africana musicals on Broadway.
He holds degrees from Kenyon College (B.A.), The Ohio State University (M.F.A.), and the University of California, Santa Barbara (PhD). He remains particularly proud of his second M.F.A. in musical theatre writing from NYU/Tisch School of the Arts, where he studied under some of the nation’s greatest living (and Tony Award-winning) musical creators.
Our New Gold 