GUMBALLS PRE- & POST-SHOWS

Megan Kingery, Chief Creative Officer, POE GLOBAL: Tony-nominated “Producer of Everything”. Creative Producer of Blue Man World, Blue Man Group’s first exploration into print (2016 by Blackdog and Leventhal / Hachette). Notable projects include NATASHA, PIERRE, AND THE GREAT COMET OF 1812 (Tony Nomination). FUN HOME (Tony Award), HAND TO GOD (Tony nomination). Executive Producer of THE SUBJECT, a feature film by Chisa Hutchinson, directed by Lanie Zipoy, starring Jason Biggs and Aunjanue Ellis, and ADAM MANN (NOT HIS REAL NAME) a new play by Marin Gazzaniga based on Caught in the Pulpit: Leaving Belief Behind by Daniel C. Dennett and Linda LaScola, in development with The Civilians. Creative Producer of PARTICLE FEVER (in development: book and lyrics by David Henry Hwang, music by Bear McCreary), and NEVER BETTER (in development: book, music, and lyrics by Preston M. Allen).  @megansarak

Nandita Shenoy is a New York-based actor-playwright who enjoys hearing an audience laugh. After its world premiere in Los Angeles, her play Washer/Dryer received an Off-Broadway production in which she also starred, produced by Ma-Yi Theater Company at Theatre Row. More recently, her play Satisfaction completed a developmental run at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. Her first full-length, Lyme Park: An Austonian Romance of an Indian Nature, was produced by theHegira in Washington, DC. Her one-acts, Marrying Nandini, By Popular Demand, Rules of Engagement, and A More Perfect Date, have been produced in New York City and regionally. Currently, her plays Baby Camp and Rage Play are in development. Notable acting credits include World Premiers of Eric Pfeffinger’s Some Other Kind of Person, Richard Dresser’s Trouble Cometh, and Adam Szymkowicz’s Mercy and his Marian, or the True Tale of Robin Hood, as well as a season at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival. Nandita is the winner of the 2014 Father Hamblin Award in Playwriting for her commissioned one-act, Safe Haven, and a 2018 Mellon Creative Research Fellow at the University of Washington School of Drama in partnership with Ma-Yi Theater Company. She is a proud member of the Ma-Yi Writers Lab and the Dramatists Guild. Nandita holds a BA in English literature from Yale University. www.nanditashenoy.com

Martha Wade Steketee is a dramaturg, critic, researcher, current chair of the Drama Desk nominating committee, and vice chair of the American Theatre Critics Association executive committee. She was a founding editor of Chance Magazine and serves on the Henry Hewes Design Award committee. She created the Women Count report series in 2014, and has published with project colleague Judith Binus four reports that analyze hiring parity Off-Broadway in roles ranging from playwrights and directors to designers and stage managers. Her critical and feature writing can be found on her site UrbanExcavations.com

Becca Stoll is a theatrical audio engineer.  She specializes in mixing musicals, and is especially passionate about mixing new works.  Upcoming: Two’s A Crowd (59E59). New York: Antigone in Ferguson (St. Ann’s Church); We Are The Tigers (Theatre 80).  Tours: Million Dollar Quartet (A2).  Regional: The Waffle House Five (Pantochino Productions); The Engagement Party (asst. Sound Designer, Hartford Stage), The Donkey Show (OBERON), Caucasian Chalk Circle (A2, Yale Rep). 3 seasons as Production Audio Engineer for the Goodspeed Opera House.  Education: Carnegie Mellon School of Drama, NHSI “Theatre Cherubs”.  Member: TSDCA, USITT.

Nora Benavidez is the director of U.S. Free Expression Programs at PEN America, an organization which stands at the intersection of literature and human rights to defend the freedom to write. Benavidez guides PEN America’s national advocacy agenda on First Amendment and free expression issues. She is a lawyer by training and, prior to joining PEN America, she worked in private practice as a civil and human rights litigator in Atlanta, Georgia.

Caitlin Mae Burke is an Emmy-winning producer of independent films and non-fiction television. She has produced and directed television series about weddings, ghosts, weird diseases, refugees and restaurants that have been broadcast on CNBC, Discovery Networks, ESPN, TLC and YouTube Red, to name a few. The feature films Caitlin produced have screened and won awards at Sundance, Berlinale, Tribeca, MoMA, The Museum of the Moving Image, and in movie theaters internationally. She is an alumna of Berlinale Talents, an inaugural inductee into DOC NYC’S 40 Under 40, and is currently the program manager for Tribeca Film Institute’s IF/Then Shorts,  a documentary fund and mentorship opportunity focusing on regional storytelling. 

paul orefice is a founding partner and creative director of the watsons, an award-winning, creative collective in new york city. with over 25 years of agency experience, he, along with his two partners, founded the watsons back in 2003. since then, they have been responsible for client growth across a wide spectrum of media and sectors —from CPG to financial marketing—and everything in between. the watsons’ client list includes grand central terminal, madison square garden entertainment, boston children’s hospital, whole foods market, citi and more. paul has led the creative team to win over 65 awards, including davies, tellies, and emmy nominations—and their work has been featured on the dieline, brand new, paste, and in the new york times. paul is a graduate of boston college with a degree in advertising & mass communications.