Meet the Cast and Crew

Reza Salazar is an actor, writer and making his directorial debut with Missing Them. He began his acting career as a child in South America, working with his mother as clowns. Select credits include: THEATER Broadway: Sweat; Off-Broadway: Richard II (The Public Theater + WNYC) My Mañana Comes (Lucille Lortel Award nomination); Oedipus El Rey (The Public Theater); The Tempest (The Public Theater’s Mobile Unit); Floyd’s (Guthrie Theater) Sweat (Arena Stage) FILM/TELEVISION The Prisoner, The Imperialists Are Still Alive!, See Girl Run, The Inquisition of Camilo Sanz; “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt,” “Daredevil,” “The Blacklist,” “Believe,” “Louie,” “Law & Order,” “Law & Order: Criminal Intent.” PLAYWRITING Thespis Theater Festival Incognito (debut) TEACHING Teaching artist, Word Up Community Bookstore and The Hispanic Society Museum and Library. Reza would like to thank Anjali Tsui for the initial invitation, Terry Parris Jr. and all the journalists and volunteers from The City and Columbia School of Journalism, Tamilla Woodard from the Working Theater, and a very special thank you to all the families who have shared and who continue to share their stories of loss and love and Mark Plesent for supporting this online performance until the end.

Anjali Tsui is a project editor for MISSING THEM at THE CITY, a collaborative journalism project to document stories of New Yorkers who died of COVID-19. She previously worked at ProPublica and FRONTLINE, reporting investigative stories for print, radio and television. Tsui started her career in Hong Kong as a journalist for CNN International. Her work has been honored with a Peabody Award and a DuPont Award. She graduated with honors from Columbia Journalism School’s Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism and holds a degree in English from the University of Pennsylvania.

Ivory Aquino was part of the main cast of the ABC miniseries “When We Rise,” which won the 2018 GLAAD Award for Outstanding Limited Series. Ivory’s portrayal of Cecilia Chung earned her a nomination for Best Actress at the 2017 POZ Awards, and her performance was included in Emmy magazine’s “In the Mix” as an Emmy contender, as well as in People magazine’s “One to Watch” and The Hollywood Reporter’s “Next Big Thing” features. As a first-generation immigrant, member of the LGBTQIA+ community and trans rights activist, Ivory dedicates her work “to anyone who feels different and out-of-place, but is truly special and one-of-a-kind.” Twitter/FB/IG: MsIvoryAquino

Danaya Esperanza: OFF-BROADWAY: National Black Theatre: Bayano (Yemaya). The Public Theatre: for colored girls . . . (lady in orange), Tempest Mobile Unit (Ariel), Twelfth Night Mobile Unit (Viola). CSC/OSF: Play On! Shakespeare (Various). Esperance: Breitwisch Farm (Zainabu); New York Theatre Workshop [NYTW]: Mary Jane (Amelia/Kat), Othello (Emilia u/s). Playwrights Horizons/Clubbed Thumb: Men on Boats (Seneca Howland/The Bishop). Soho Rep: Washeteria (Lucy/Consuela). Signature Theatre: Our Lady of Kibeho (Schoolgirl). REGIONAL: Geva Theatre Radio: The Bleeding Class (Sugar). Milwaukee Rep Zoom: Mother’s Tongue (Instructor). Acting Company Zoom: Letters From Cuba (Fran). ATC Zoom: Alma (Alma). Denver Center [DCPA]: Alma (Alma). New York Stage and Film-Powerhouse [NYSF]: Annie Salem . . . (Gaby/77ilith). Seattle Rep: Joe Turner Vino y Se Fue (Molly Cunningham). Shakespeare Theatre Company: Romeo and Juliet. McCarter Theatre: Protect the Beautiful Place (Symphony); The Goodman Theatre: Another Word for Beauty (Luzmery). FILM: After Party. TELEVISION: The Blacklist, Elementary. TRAINING: The Juilliard School (Raúl Juliá Memorial Scholarship in Drama).

Francis Mateo Othello (Shakespeare Forum); Hamlet (Shakespeare@); Merchant of Venice (Shakespeare Forum); Love’s Labour’s Lost (Shakespeare Forum); King Lear (Classical Theater of Harlem); Mother Courage (Public Theater); Red Beads (Mabou Mines); In the Name of Salome (Repertorio Español); La Canción (Repertorio Español); Bad Blood (Puerto Rican Traveling Theater). Film/TV: Who Killed Pushkin (Once Upon a Time in the Bronx (Alphabet City Film); The Dominican Girl (Verandi Films); The Holdouts (Savin Rock Entertainment); Fran Gil (Rayoelú Films). Education: Brooklyn College M.F.A. (New York)

Shawn Randall is an actor, poet, singer-songwriter, playwright, musician, freestyle emcee, and producer. Born and raised in Brooklyn. He made his debut as a playwright off broadway at The Cherry Lane Theater as a part of their 2020 Mentor Project. Shawn is a proud member of Ensemble Studio Theatre and The LAByrinth Theater. He is the founder and host of Symphonics Live. Symphonics Live is a multi-disciplined evening that showcases the finest singer-songwriters and poets in NY and beyond. Symphonics Live has been featured at the Blue Note, Joe’s Pub, Highline Ballroom, and was in residence every month at The Bowery Poetry Club. Shawn has extensive experience in the theater, working with the acclaimed Blue Man Group, Joseph Papp Public Theatre, the Bardavon Opera House, The Kennedy Center, INTAR Theatre, La Mama E.T.C., and Brooklyn Academy of Music. http://www.shawnalfredrandall.com

Adriana Sananes (SAG-AFTRA, AEA) was a leading actress at New York’s Repertorio Español for ten years, receiving a Theatre Fellowship Grant from The Princess Grace Foundation. Recent theatre: Cervantes’ Entremeses at Teatro Círculo, BUMP at Ensemble Studio Theatre, Implications of Cohabitation at the Clurman Theatre, Sueño at Teatro SEA. She has won various HOLA, ACE and ATI Spanish theatre awards. Adriana has recorded over 200 audiobooks, including the Spanish versions of Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird and Go Set a Watchman and Sonia Nazario’s Pulitzer Prize winner Enrique’s Journey, (AUDIE Award). Adriana was the stage director for Early Music New York’s production of the XVIII Century musical Malbrú at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine.

Broken Chord (Video and Sound Design) Previously with Working Theater: Sanctuary. Broadway credits are The Parisian Woman, and Eclipsed. Off-Broadway credits include Toni Stone at Roundabout Theatre Company; The Lying Lesson at the Atlantic; OZET at Incubator Arts; Bull in a China Shop at LCT3; Party People at The Public. Selected regional credits are Angels in America at The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis; Enemy of the People, and As You Like It at the Guthrie Theatre; Ruined at Berkeley Repertory Theatre; Top Girls, and A Raisin in the Sun at the Huntington Theatre; UniSon at OSF; Macbeth, and Hamlet at Shakespeare Theatre Company. Film credits include Fall to Rise. www.brokenchord.us

Hahnji Jang (Production Design Consultant) is a costume designer and stylist activist, with a focus on sustainable and socially conscious design. Hahnji is honored to join the Missing Them team and be able to help to highlight the diverse lives of the New Yorkers we have lost. They strive to empower others through their design practice and are grateful to have this opportunity to apply their practice to the much-needed collective experience that Missing Them is for the New York City community. Selected projects include Theatre for One’s Here We Are, Baltimore Center Stage’s Men on Boats, The Public’s Mobile Unit A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Pan Asian Repertory’s Incident at Hidden Temple & political tour No-No Boy, the premier of translated play Sister Mokrahn, as well as upcoming projects The Spectacularly Lamentable Trial of Miz Martha Washington and Hurricane Diane. Hahnjijang.com

Norman Anthony Small (Production Stage Manager) Off Broadway—Keen Company: All We Need Is Us, Digging in the Dark; WP Theater: Where We Stand; Atlantic Theater Company: Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven; The Public Theater: A Night of Wild Beauty (Ntozake Shange Tribute). New York Theater—Harlem Shakespeare Festival: Othello: The Moor of Venice; New Heritage Theatre Group: The Sable Series: The History of Black Shakespearean Actors; King Lear (Take Wing and Soar Productions). Tour—Apollo Theater/Baltimore Center Stage: Twisted Melodies; National Public Radio (NPR): Water +. Regional—Baltimore Center Stage: Where We Stand, Crossing Rivers; Berkshire Playwrights Lab: Some Old Black Man; Passage Theatre Company: Illuminating Spirits. Education—MBA: Metropolitan College of New York (Media Management); BM: University of Miami (Music Engineering Technology). Award—Recipient of the inaugural Charlie Blackwell Symposium Scholarship for Stage Managers of Color. Member of AEA. Instagram: @normananthonysmall

KATIE KENNEDY (Assistant Stage Manager). Off-Broadway: for colored girls…, Latin History for Morons, The Tempest, Throw Me on the Burnpile and Light Me Up. Concerts/showcases: Camelot, LCT 2019 Directors Lab.