Meet the wonderful team who created the Greenway Walking Plays!
Michelle M. Aguillon (Director, Walking it Off and Hummingbird)
Michelle (she/hers) has worked in Boston-area theatre for more than 25 years as a director, actor, writer, and producer. Directing credits include (virtual): Boston Resilience Project Plays: East Boston, Nos Vemos (Speakeasy Stage Co.), Home for the Holidays (Open Theatre Project for the Boston Theater Marathon), Asian/American in Harvard Square and Torched, Incantation, Voice of Reason, and An Elegant Storm (Umbrella Stage Co.), the 3rd Annual Asian American Playwright Collective Playfest (2020). Directing for the stage: Fences, The Joy Luck Club, Disgraced, To Kill a Mockingbird, True West (Umbrella Stage Co.), Augusta and Noble (Emerson Theater), Clybourne Park, Terra Nova, Of Mice and Men (Quannapowitt Players), Vietgone (Company One), Sylvia (Theatre Uncorked, Calderwood), Proof (The Nora, Central Square Theater), Rabbit Hole, Marjorie Prime, Pillowman, Kimberly Akimbo, Looking for Normal, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and G.R. Point (Hovey Players). She studied at San Francisco State University and at the National Theatre in the UK. Michelle is the Executive Director of the Creative Arts School in Reading, and serves on the Board of Directors at StageSource.
Photo credit: Photo by T. Charles Erickson; courtesy of Huntington Theatre Company.
Rosanna Yamagiwa Alfaro (Playwright, Walking it Off)
“These days, I love to hear the sound of other people walking with their friends or eating at outdoor restaurants, not to mention the sound of street musicians.”
Rosanna has been produced by many theaters, including the Huntington Theatre, Pan Asian Repertory (N.Y.C.), East West Players (L.A.) , Magic Theater (S.F.), La MaMa (N.Y.C.), and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. She wrote and narrated the documentary Japanese American Women: A Sense of Place, directed by Leita Luchetti, (the Smithsonian Institution and PBS Seattle). She was a Huntington Playwriting Fellow (2010) and MCC Artist Fellow in Playwriting (2011). Her shorter plays, have been produced in venues like the Boston Theatre Marathon, the Umbrella Stage, and Me & My Masks and anthologized by Baker’s Plays, Heinemann, Meriwether, PlaySource, Smith and Kraus, in vivo Ink, and Charta Books. A member of MUTT, a Pack of Playwrights, and the Asian American Playwright Collective, she was named to the 2020 inaugural group of 20 Cambridge Cultural Visionaries by the Cambridge Community Foundation.
Zeiana Andrade (Evie)
“I have a variety of playlists that I’ve made based on different moods and different styles of music that I love to listen to on walks home!”
Zeiana grew up in Brockton, MA where her love of theatre began. She is now going into her last year as a Theatre and Performance major at Emerson College. She has mainly focused on acting for the stage but has also gained experience working on camera as well. She is currently interning at Boston Casting and has hopes to work as a casting director at some point in her future. She has acted in various productions through Emerson Stage such as, Everybody by Brandon Jacob-Jenkins in the role of “Somebody”, Good Breeding by Robert O’Hara in the role of “Athena”, and Men on Boats by Jacklyn Backhaus as an understudy for over 6 roles.
Rosalind Bevan (Director, Mother’s Day)
“On walks, I love to listen to my personal Spotify Daily Mixes because they are always the perfect combination of songs to get me in a good mood!”
Rosalind engages with Boston’s theatre scene in several ways — as a director to a producer to a dramaturg to a critic to an administrator. She currently is the Casting & Producing Assistant at the Huntington Theatre Company. She recently directed ECHOES by Patrick Gabridge and THE 54TH IN ’22 by Kirsten Greenidge, two short audio plays powered by the Huntington. She directed a virtual production of Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 at Newton Theatre Company and live performance of PROOF at Boston University. She assistant directed GREATER GOOD by Kirsten Greenidge at Company One, and dramaturged CHOIR BOY at SpeakEasy Stage Company.
Christina R Chan (Sally)
When Christina walks in Boston, she only listens for any on-coming cars while ignoring do-not walk signals as she crosses the street.
Christina was born on the island of Hong Kong (way, way back when it was British ruled) and then transported as a toddler to not-as–sunny Boston. She has been scorned by her father, King Lear and egged her husband, Macbeth to kill a king. Her softer side comes out when playing mahjong with her besties in their Joy Luck Club.
Christina writes musings on those who have left their Asian countries of birth to live on the big, big island called America. Though she is not as gifted in math as her parents would have liked, Christina is curious about the cost of living the American dream when one is not of a certain skin tone. She has co-corralled local playwrights to muse with her in their Asian American Playwright Collective. Christina is eternally grateful to The Boston Foundation, TC2 Theater, Company One Theater and Pao Arts Center for making it possible for her to truly play around in Boston.
She is tickled thrilled to be in plays by two playwrights whom Christina greatly admires…please imagine a humble genuflect here to Rosanna Y Alfaro and Kirsten Greenidge. Warm vaccinated hugs to Michelle Aguillon, Kai Chao and Shani Farrell for being wonderful collaborators during the recordings. And a great big heart to the Lyric Stage Theater for being superhosts: Matt Chapuran, Courtney O’Connor, Katie O’Connor and Aja Jackson.
Kai Chao (Kenzo)
Kai is excited to work with the Lyric Stage Company again, as well as Michelle Aguillon, and Rosanna Alfaro on this short and timely piece. He was last on the Lyric stage in Pacific Overtures. During the pandemic, he had the opportunity to work with the AAPC, and some amazing Asian artists, with shared experiences and stories to tell. Regionally: The Umbrella Stage Company – The Joy Luck Club, La Cage aux Folles, Side Show; Reagle Players – Thoroughly Modern Millie, Beauty & the Beast, Mame. Locally: Mary Poppins, A Chorus Line, Bye Bye Birdie, Cabaret. He has also performed with Disney Entertainment, and is ever thankful for the love and support from his husband.
Shani Farrell (Ann Frances)
On walks, Shani enjoys listening to a wide range of music, from The Color Purple to Stevie Wonder
Shani is a preschool teacher in Leominster, MA; MFA Grad Student at Emerson College BOS; Hand-washing, mask-wearing, mother of two excited to create new art for this new time!
Kirsten Greenidge (Playwright, Hummingbird)
“I usually listen to music on my walks. But I also like to listen to True Crime mysteries or something similar.”
Kirsten’s plays are best described as works that place hyperrealism on stage as they examine the nexus of race, class, gender, and the black experience. Recently recognized as playwright laureate of Boston by Roxbury Community College, she is the author of FEEDING BEATRICE (The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis), COMMON GROUND REVISTED, co-conceived with Melia Bensussen, which is an adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize winning book of the same name by J. Anthony Lukas, OUR DAUGHTERS, LIKE PILLARS (The Huntington) GREATER GOOD ( co-produced by Company One Theatre and The American Repertory Theatre), BALTIMORE, a commission from the Big Ten Consortium at the University of Iowa, BUD NOT BUDDY, an adaptation of the children’s novel by Christopher Paul Curtis, with music by Terence Blanchard, THE LUCK OF THE IRISH, and MILK LIKE SUGAR, which was nominated for a Lucille Lortel Award and received an Independent Reviewers of New England Award, a San Diego Critics Award, and a Village Voice Obie Award, among others. Other plays include LITTLE ROW BOAT: OR, CONJECTURE, BOSSA NOVA (Yale Rep) and SANSCULOTTES IN THE PROMISED LAND (Human Festival/Actor’s Theatre of Louisville). She’s enjoyed development experiences at the Family Residency at the Space at Ryder Farm, the Huntington’s Summer Play Festival, Cleveland Playhouse as the 2016 Roe Green New Play Award recipient, The Goodman, Denver Center, Sundance, Bay Area Playwright’s Festival, Sundance at Ucross, and the O’Neill. Kirsten is currently working on commissions from the American Repertory Theatre (A.R.T.), The Kennedy Center, La Jolla Playhouse (TO THE QUICK), and Oregon Shakespeare American Revolutions Project (ROLL, BELINDA, ROLL). A recent PEN/Laura Pels Playwrighting Award recipient and current Andrew W. Mellon/Howlround Fellow, she is an alum of New Dramatists, and has proudly graced the Kilroys list of New Plays by women and women identified playwrights several years running. She attended the Playwright’s Workshop at the University of Iowa and Wesleyan University and oversees the BFA playwrighting track at Boston University’s School of Theatre where she is Co-Chair of Performance and Chair of Theatre Arts.
Owen Meadows (Sound Designer)
Owen’s favorite thing to listen to on a walk is a good audiobook.
Owen is thrilled to make his Lyric Stage debut with the Walking Plays! He is a Boston based sound designer who loves to take on new and developmental works. His work has taken him from Hawaii, to New England, New York and beyond.
John Minigan (Playwright, Mother’s Day)
John enjoys listening to conversation when he takes a walk. “Whether it’s a walk with a friend or family member, I love to listen. And when I’m walking on my own, I listen mostly for the sounds of conversations around me. Not, I hope, in a creepy way.”
John is a recent Massachusetts Cultural Council Artist Fellow in Dramatic Writing and New Repertory Theatre Playwriting Fellow. He has developed new work with Urban Stages, Orlando Shakespeare Theater, Utah Shakespeare Festival, Portland Stage Company, and the Great Plains Theatre Conference. Queen of Sad Mischance was a 2020 winner of the New American Voices Festival and the 2019 Clauder Competition. Noir Hamlet was a Boston Globe Critics’ Pick and an EDGEMedia Best of Boston Theater for 2018. His work is included in the Best American Short Plays, Best Ten-Minute Short Plays, and New England New Plays anthologies, and published by YouthPLAYS, Smith Scripts, and Theatrefolk. He is on the faculties of Emerson College and the Hanover Theatre Conservatory and serves as Dramatists Guild Ambassador for Eastern New England. Johnminigan.com
Katie O’Connor (Sound Engineer)
While Katie occasionally listens to music while going for a walk, she most enjoys taking in the sounds of the world around her. Each walk has different sounds to offer!
Katie is an audio engineer working out of the Philadelphia area. A graduate of Lebanon Valley College, she holds a degree in audio and music production. Katie has recorded music and media both independently and for VALE Music Group, Lebanon Valley College’s record label. She has run sound for concerts and live events across central Pennsylvania and in the Philadelphia area.