Mosaic: Artist Summit 2022

ShaWanna Renee Rivon is an award-winning and nationally renowned playwright and producer. ShaWanna’s success grew with urban plays such as Cheaper to Keep Her and Marriage Material, which starred Vivica Fox, Brian McKnight, and Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins (of “TLC”), both of which toured nationally. As an Actor, ShaWanna starred as a series regular on cartoon shows such as Strawberry Shortcake (as Raspberry Torte), The Bratz (as Sasha), and The Care Bears (as Cheer Bear) ShaWanna earned her BFA in Playwriting and Dramaturgy from the University of Houston. As a developing creative, ShaWanna discovered her niche and artists mission: to create period-piece comedies centered around the lives of Black women. In this, she has begun the development of her 7-play cycle, the first of which is Old Black and White Hollywood, about a 1950’s Black woman comic who desires to become the first Black female movie star. Old Black & White Hollywood was developed with Matt Chapman, Suzan-Lori Parks and Theresa Rebeck and won the Edward Albee Playwriting Award. The second installment of her 7-Play Cycle, Power to the Queendom, was developed with the Rec Room Writers and. Set in 1970s Houston, the script about a group of female Black Panthers is loosely based on a true story. The third installment of the 7-play cycle, You’re Cordially Invited to Sit-In is about the 1960 sit-in demonstration that took place in Houston by Texas Southern University students, will have its world- premiere at Stages Theatre Spring 2022. ShaWanna is currently under commission with the Alley Theatre developing a play based on jazz musician Arnett Cobb.

PETER  TÔN (Director\Co-creator & Co-writer) is a theatre director\designer and filmmaker from Houston, Texas. Stages: Song of Me (Co-creator\Co-writer\Director), Panto Little Mermaid (Video Designer), The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Director of Photography\Editor), Hook's Tale (Director of Photography\Editor), Panto: Buttons' Sleeping Beauty (Co-Director with Leslie Swackhamer\Director of Photography\Editor), Stages Studio Sessions: Teresa Zimmermann (Director), Stages Studio Sessions 1.0 & 2.0 (Director of Photography\Camera Operator\Editor), A Woman of the World (Video Designer\Editor), Sensitive Guys (Assistant Director\Sound Designer\Videographer\Editor),NSFW (Assistant Director\Sound Designer), Panto Star Force (Assistant Projection Designer), Swimming While Drowning (Sound\Video Designer),We Are Proud to Present…

 (Sound\Video Designer)  Almaen Venta (Video Designer), My Mañana Comes (Assistant Director\Sound Designer), Straight White Men (Assistant Director\Sound & Video Designer), Miss Teen (Sound Designer), The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity (Video Designer),Marie Antoinette (Assistant Director), Mack and Mabel (Assistant Projection Designer); Alley Theatre: The Carpenter (Assistant Director); Main Street Theater:  (Projection Designer) Dragons Love Tacos, The Cat in the Hat, Schoolhouse Rock Live!, Daisy,Junie B. Jones is Not a Crook, The Wizard of Oz, Copenhagen, Bunnicula, Mockingbird, RFK, Red-Hot Patriot; (Projection Engineer) Shrek the Musical, Silent Sky; Horse Head Theatre Company: (Sound\Video Designer) The Flick; The Sonic Life of a Giant Tortoise; 4th Wall Theatre Company: The Glass Menagerie  (Projection Designer), Reckless  (Video Designer); Gravity Players: The Last Days of Judas Iscariot (Video Designer);  Mildred’s Umbrella: (Director) Peaches(reading), Pretty Little White Girls (short), The Bake Sale (short); Misnomers: (Director) Glen or Glenda (reading); Rice Players: (Director) The Glass Menagerie. Film / TV: (Director) "eumenides" (Cannes Film Festival, 2013),  “Trial Three Seven” (Houston 48 Hour Film Project 2018), “BLUE”. BFA in Theatre - Acting\Directing. Instagram: @currentlymouserat

Ryan Matthieu Smith (multidisciplinary artist) is excited to participate in Sam Houston State University's Artist Summit. Ryan is a director, designer, producer, and performer working in film, theater, drag, and circus. A native of Dallas, Ryan has successfully created for projects throughout Texas and far beyond. Ryan is the Production Designer and the Costume Designer for the Hurricane Bianca films starring Bianca Del Rio, Rachel Dratch, Alan Cumming, Cheyenne Jackson, and Rupaul. Ryan most recently directed The Tempest for the Shakespeare Dallas stage. He also recently finished filming his latest feature film, Secrets In The Desert, for MarVista Entertainment. Ryan's next adventure will take him to Paris, France where he will create for Cirque d'Hiver, the world's oldest circus. Ryan is an accomplished and award winning Costume Designer, Hair and Makeup Designer, Photographer, Stylist, Writer, Set Designer, Prop Designer, Choreographer, and Performance Artist. Ryan also serves on the Diversity and Inclusion Board for Shakespeare Dallas and NTPA RepertoryTheatre. As an Indigenous Two-Spirit artist, Ryan is very excited to bring his passion home to Texas where he believes visibility and representation are vitally important. 

Matthieu Chapman is an Assistant Professor of Theatre Studies at the State University of New York at New Paltz and the Literary Director of NY Classical Theatre. He earned his MLitt in Dramaturgy and MFA in Acting from Mary Baldwin College’s Shakespeare and Renaissance Literature in Performance Program and his Ph.D. in Theatre History, Theory, and Criticism from the UC San Diego Department of Theatre and Dance.  He has acted on the American Shakespeare Center’s Blackfriar’s stage and served as a dramaturg for San Diego Repertory Theatre and worked for the La Jolla Playhouse, as well as dramaturged and directed numerous university productions.  The 2017 production of Topdog/Underdog that he directed at the University of Houston was named one of the Houston Chronicle’s “Ten Best Theatre Productions of 2017.” His first full-length play Survivor Guilt was selected for readings by the Mid-America Theatre Conference and the Landing Theatre and was a finalist for the Seven Devils Playwriting Conference, The Dennis and Victoria Ross Playwriting Program, and The Ashland New Play Festival. His play Birmingham in Black and White is currently a semi-finalist for Shakespeare’s New Contemporaries.  

 His research focuses on ontological structures of blackness in the Early Modern World.  His memoir, Shattered: Fragments of a Black Life is forthcoming from WVU Press in 2023. His monograph, Antiblack Racism in Early Modern English Drama: “The Other Other” is available from Routledge Press. He is the co-editor along with Anna Wainwright of Teaching Race in the Early Modern World: A Classroom Guide (forthcoming ACMRS Press). He has also published articles in Medieval and Renaissance Drama in England, Theatre Topics, TheatreForum, Theatre History Studies and Early Theatre, and he has chapters forthcoming in Race and/as Affect in Early Modern England(edited by Carol Mejia-LaPerle) and Shakespeare and Atrocity. He has presented at numerous national and international conferences, including the Renaissance Society of America, the American Society of Theatre Research, the American Comparative Literature Association, the Mid-America Theatre Conference, and others.

Darius Wright is a Houston native, OCU alum, and currently an understudy for the title role of MJ in MJ the Musical on Broadway (OBC). Darius has been seen on Broadway in Pretty Woman (OBC) and A Bronx Tale, in NYC in Mack & Mabel (NYCC Encores!) and his solo show "D’s Company," as well as on tour and internationally in Matilda The Musical. Workshop/Developmental works: Ain’t Too Proud (Smokey Robinson/Damon Harris), Pretty Woman (Carlos), The Sting. TV: FBI, Katy Keene. @DariusAWright

Eileen J. Morris is the Artistic Director of The Ensemble Theatre in Houston, one of the oldest and largest African American theatres in the world that own stories its facility. She has directed over 87 productions which include 8 world premieres and in January 2021 was awarded-Broadway World Houston's Best Director of the Decade for August Wilson's Fences. Eileen has numerous directing credits not only in Houston, but in Pittsburgh, directing annually at Pittsburgh's New Horizon Theater. Eileen will co-direct Lynn Nottage's Sweat with the Alley Theatre in the fall. Eileen currently serves as Vice President on the board of the Theatre Communications Group, Chair of the Midtown Management District, consultant for the Black Theatre Network and advisory board member of the Houston Cinema Arts Society. Eileen is among seven female artistic leaders awarded $250K annually with support from The Helen Gurley Brown Foundation and Northern Stage in support of women artistic directors of professional theaters across the United States. Notably, Eileen holds the distinction of being the ONLY woman in the world to direct eight of the August Wilson Ten Play Cycle.

Her favorite August Wilson quote is indicative of her artistry: Art does not change the world; it changes people. And people change the world.

www.ensemblehouston.com

Phuong Nguyen (pronounced fu-ONG win) is a Vietnamese costume designer with a background in East Asian studies. Her work dissects different aspects of her and other marginalized groups' heritage and identities, and tells stories absent from the "victors'" history books. Her credits include Fun Home at Yale School of Drama, Bodyssey and Alma at the Yale Cabaret, and The Danube at Hangar Theatre. She is currently a Costume Design MFA Candidate at Yale School of Drama "22. phuongtlnguyen.com

Manna Nichols Broadway/Tour: Allegiance, The King & I (Tuptim); Regional/Off-Broadway: My Fair Lady(Eliza Doolittle; Arena Stage), The Music Man (Marian Paroo; Arizona Theatre Company), Guys & Dolls (Sarah Brown; Goodspeed), South Pacific (Liat; Guthrie), Austen's Pride (Jane Bennet; 5th Avenue), Miss Saigon (Kim; Walnut/Fulton/Kansas City Starlight), Les Miserables (Eponine; Pioneer/Maine State), The King & I (Tuptim; Walnut/North Shore), Tokio Confidential (Sachiko; Atlantic Theatre), Death for Five Voices (Maria D'Avalos; Prospect Theatre), Allegro (Beulah/Emily; APAC), Sense & Sensibility (Marianne Dashwood; Virgina Stage Company). Film: Cold Pursuit (Minya), Disney's Live Action Beauty & the Beast (vox). Concert Work: Fort Wayne Philharmonic Guest Soloist, USO Show Troupe. God is love. www.MannaNichols.com @manna_nichols

David 'dstew' Stewart (he,him,his)

Production Manager - Disney Parks Live Entertainment
Produced works at Disney include: Magic Kingdom's 50th Anniversary spectacular Disney Enchantment, Beacons of Magic (Hollywood Studios, Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom), Remount of Happily Ever After (Magic Kingdom), NBA and MLS sports 'bubbles' (ESPN), DJ's Ready, Set, Party Time! (Hollywood Studios), Wonderful World of Animation (Hollywood Studios) Joyful! (Epcot), National Association of Black Journalists (Miami). Guthrie Theater, Director of Production. University of Texas at Austin, University of Wisconsin – Madison, Production Manager. Stage Manager for His Holiness, the Dalai Lama. AEA stage manager for Madison Repertory Theatre, Studio Arena Theatre, St. Louis MUNY, Kansas City Starlight Outdoor Musicals, The Little Theatre on the Square and Vienna Austria's English Theatre. USITT work: Chair EDI committee, board of directors, co-founder Gateway Program. Dstew is the owner of Production on Deck, a production search and consulting firm.