We are artists from hybrid cultural and national backgrounds. We are recent Americans, first and second generation Americans, and foreign nationals. Although we come from different cultures, and countries we are united by a desire to pursue art that breaks cultural and artistic boundaries.

Artistic Director/Co-Founder- Tracy Cameron Francis

Co-Founder- J.J. El-Far

Associate Artistic Director- Rebecca Martinez

Associate Artists- Adam Boncz, Celeste Muniz, Laura Riveros, Sara Oliva, Isobel Bruce, Irinka Gachechiladze, Ines Garcia.

International Affiliates– Ibrahim Ceessay (Gambia), Paul Tchamambe (Cameroon), Nassim Soleimanpour (Iran), Garrett Scally (Sweden), Aida Nasrallah (Israel),Laila Masri (UAE), Patricia Masera (Paraguay),Paola Irun (Paraguay)

Director of Education– Heather Lanza

Director of Development- Courtney Bergtold

 

Tracy Cameron Francis  –Co-Founder and Artistic Director

Tracy Cameron Francis is an Egyptian-American theatre director and interdisciplinary artist. She has directed and developed work with Red Bull Theatre, New York Theatre Workshop, Williamstown Theatre Festival, The Lark, LaMama Umbria (Italy), NY Arab American Comedy Festival, CultureHub (Lamama), Monarch Theatre Co., NY International Fringe, Falaki Theatre (Egypt), Alwan For the Arts, International Wow, EBE Ensemble-among others.  She has assisted directors: Sam Gold, Josh Fox, and Gia Forakis, shadowed the director on HBO’s “True Blood” and was a writing intern for Saturday Night Live.  Select credits include: “Broken Heart Story” (Ingenue Theatre), “The Screens” (Red Bull Theatre Revelation Reading Series), “The Maids” (Curious Frog Theatre), “Psalms of a Questionable Nature” (NY Int. Fringe Festival), “A Marriage Proposal” ( Falaki Theatre, Cairo, Egypt), , “800 HelpUwrite” (4th St. Theatre), “El Sebou” (Alwan for the Arts) , “Now Means Yesterday” (W Hotel Union Sq.). She has guest directed for Fordham University and Strasberg Theatre Institute. Francis has been invited to speak at numerous conferences on international theatre  including “Cultural Diplomacy and Performance” ( Georgetown University),Arts in One World Conference (Brown U.) “The Re-Orient Forum” (Golden Thread Productions), and “Theatre In Conflict Zones Conference” (Lamama).  She has worked with artists from around the world including Iraq, Pakistan, Japan, Korea, Italy, Iran, Egypt, Paraguay, and Colombia. Francis also devises original work merging dance, video and installation in site-specific locations. Core member of Theatre Without Borders, member of Lincoln Center Directors Lab, associate member of SDC, and performance curator for Arts in Bushwick. B.A. Fordham University Lincoln Center in Middle East Studies and Theatre. www.tracyfrancis.com

J.J. El-Far-Co-Founder

JJ El-Far is an Arab-American producer and interdisciplinary artist based in Harlem. She was named one of Theatre Communications Group’s Young Leaders of Color. She currently holds the position of Arts Intern at the British Council in the British Consulate General. She is the Founding Executive Director of Otto Award nominated Hybrid Theatre Works, a network of theater artists engaging in cultural diplomacy through international exchange and innovative theatrical events. She is the Founding Executive Director of the multi-disciplinary Harlem Arts Festival. JJ is a Core Team member of Theatre Without Borders with whom she helped produce the “Acting Together on the World Stage” conferences at Brandeis University and La Mama. She is the contributing theater critic for Uptown Flavor. JJ has worked with The Castillo Theatre, Ted X Harlem, LaGuardia Performing Arts Center, the NY Arab American Comedy Fest, Planet Connections Theatre Festivity, Berkshire Theatre Festival, and the Jerash Festival of Arts and Culture (Amman, Jordan). She has presented at the ReOrient Festival and Forum at Golden Thread Productions, Arts in the One World at Brown University; and attended the 2010 La Mama International Symposium for Directors in Umbria, Italy. She holds a B.A. from Brandeis University in Theater Arts and International Global Studies.

Rebecca Martinez- Associate Artistic Director

Rebecca Martinez is a, director, producer and choreographer.  For Hybrid Theatre Works she co-created Origens/Orígenes (Borderline Bushwick Response Forum).  Recent works include directing The standard girl opens one of Marosa’s books (Ingenue Theatre), choreographing The Brother/Sister Plays (Portland Playhouse) and Fronteras (Ten Tiny Dances, Beaverton, OR).  Rebecca is an ensemble member of Sojourn Theatre (Portland, OR) and with the company she has worked as a creator/performer, choreographer, facilitator, interviewer and/or co-leading artist on projects including Waiting for You (with the TEAM at Kansas City Rep), On the Table, Finding Penelope and keynote performances for several national conferences, including Americans for the Arts, Network of Ensemble Theaters, andIndependent Sector.  She is one of the lead artists working on Sojourn’s two-year collaboration with Catholic Charities USA.  With Miracle Theatre in Portland, OR, Rebecca conceived and directed American Sueño, Ardiente Paciencia and Sonia Flew.  She is also the founding director of Viva la Cultura!, and created and directed performances for young audiences including, México Lindo (Luna Nueva Festival, Portland, OR) and Cuentos – Searching for My Story (RACC grant recipient).  Upcoming projects include co-directing I AM MEMORY, a collaborative work by Sojourn Theatre and Portland Taiko.  Awards include two Portland Theater Drammy Awards for Choreography: 7 Great Loves – Sojourn Theatre and The Brother/Sister Plays – Portland Playhouse.  Rebecca is a recipient of the Lilla Jewel Award for Women Artists, is a current residency artist for the Brooklyn Arts Council SPARC program, is the director of the PLG Arts Theater Program in Brooklyn, and is the production manager for Working Theater’s Directors Salon.

 

Adam Boncz- Associate Artist

Adam Boncz was born and raised in Hungary.  At the age of seventeen, he started working as an actor at the Szeged National Theater in Hungary.  After playing several supporting roles in productions such as Richard III and Ferenc Molnar’s The Glass Slipper, he became a member of the company and had the opportunity to play numerous wonderful roles for almost six years.  After studying in the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts, he was accepted to the world renowned Lee Strasberg Theater and Film Insititute in New York, where he had the privilege to work with Paul Calderon, Gia Forakis, Tea Alagic, Lear DeBessonet or Naum Panovski, to mention a few. After graduating from the Strasberg Institute in 2009, Adam appeared in Michael Weller’s Moonchildren at the West End Theater and Soldier Boys at Theater for the New City.  He was also featured in the Off-Broadway play Neither Heaven nor Earth produced by Poliglot Theater.  Currently Adam is working with Oscar-nominee Josh Fox and the International WOW Company (Auto Da fe, Reconstruction).   Adam is also working with Hybrid Theater Works, G.R.O.U.P NYC, and Gia Forakis & Company.  Adam is always interested in international collaboration on stage and finding the common language through theater.

 Celeste Muniz- Associate Artist

Celeste is an actress and writer from the Bronx, NY.  She trained in the Fordham College at Lincoln Center Theatre Program and has her B.A. in Theatre with a concentration in Performance.  She began her work with Hybrid Theatre Works in 2010 performing an original piece in the first Artist Response Forum: Artists Respond to the Oil Spill.  She has also created original work and performed in the following Artist Response Forums: Love in the Time of Green Cards, The Revolution Will Be Live Streamed and Borderline Bushwick.  Other Hybrid performances include Bacchanal, Iraq Pakistan Exchange 2011, and Shinsai Theaters for Japan: Brooklyn.  She became an Artistic Associate with Hybrid in 2011.  Celeste has also worked with various theatre companies in NYC such as Brave New World Repertory, Women’s Project, EBE Ensemble, Terra Incognita Theater and many others.  She has also performed in short films and independent films. Celeste is interested in uniting people from all walks of life through artistic expression. celestemuniz.com

Laura Riveros-Associate Artist

Laura is a Colombian actress and performance artist based in NYC. Select Colombian credits: Gaitán; El Hombre A Quien Amé, Seis Personajes En Busca De Un Autor, Jesucristo Superestrella, Grease, Annie, Fuego, Son Las 12; Es Navidad,and more. In New York, she has worked with companies and artists such as The Artist Ulysses Castellanos, MultiStages, Ming Wong, Matt Reeck, Women of Color Productions, IATI Theatre, ESPA Primary Stages, Ingenue Theatre, Grupo Transito, Castillo Theatre, GJ Dowding and AliveWire Theatrics, among others. Upcoming: Where There Was Firewith Tabula RaSa Theatre Company. Associated Artist with Hybrid Theatre Works, Performance Art Curator with Fluid New Media Lab. http://www.laurariveros.com

Irinka Gachechiladze- Associate artist

Irinka is a Georgian theatre artist, director, and designer. She started as a ballet dancer, and later became a choreographer and made several video dances. Later she turned to film directing and received several international awards. She received MA in opera directing from Russian Academy of Theatre Arts (GITIS) and stages opera and drama. She exhibits her paintings and installations as well.

Isobel Bruce- Associate Artist

Isobel is an actor/ director/ producer originally from London, England. She has a special interest in international work and collaboration partly due to being an implant herself. She trained as an actress at LIPA in Liverpool before moving to New York. She interned as a Literary/ Production Assistant at Working Theater and was Line Producer on Special Interests as part of the 25th Anniversary Season. She has done pretty much every single job that you could imagine in theatre from putting up scaffolding upwards and loves every single aspect of it. She proudly started Ingenue Theatre in May 2012 as a way to facilitate the production of new work that she is truly passionate about. Producer: Ingenue Theatre presents 10 Minute Plays, All the Windows on Alcatraz (FringeNYC), Special Interests (line-producer, Working Theater) Director: Or (Ingenue Theatre, Gabriel Calderon), Bee (Working Theatre Directors Salon, Bekah Brunstetter) Actor: Never Sleep Alone (Joe’s Pub), 10 Year Twilight (by Crystal Skillman, dir Illana Stein), Origins/ Origines (Hybrid Theatre Works) Talking Dirty (Dir: Dina Vovsi).

Sara Oliva- Associate artist

Sara Oliva began performing in Chicago at numerous award-winning theaters such as Northlight Theater, Bailiwick Repertory, Mary-Arrchie Theater, Lifeline Theater, Backstage Theater Company, The Artistic Home, Walkabout Theater Company, The Lyric Opera of Chicago, (where she originated the role of Monterone’s Daughter in their controversial production of “Rigoletto”,) and several others. In New York she recently performed the role of Sicinius in Shakespeare in the Parking Lot’s “Coriolanus”, which was a NY Times Critics Pick. She also performed the role of Kristin with Belguim theater company’s Vagabond Productions  American premiere production of “Mis Julie”, a hit at the Edinborough Fringe Festival and directed by BAFTA award winner Andrew Dallmeyer.  Other NY credits include The Drilling Company (Associate Artist), Dixon Place, Vortex Theater, FringeNYC,  The Internationalists. Regionally she has performed with The Berkshire Theater Group, Double Edge Theater and Orlando Shakespeare Theater (Playfest). Film and TV credits include As The World Turns, One Life to Live, The History Channel.  She received her MFA in Acting from Brandeis University, studied movement at the Laban Institute of Movement Studies, and has extensive training in Suzuki. She also studied at The National Theater Institute and with Roberta Carreri (Teatri Odin.)www.saraoliva.com

Heather Lanza-Director of Education

Heather is an NYC-based director and arts activist who graduated from the Fordham University Directing Program. NYC directing credits include Cinderella by Brenda Bell (The Players Theatre), Adapting by Sinead Daly (Bleecker Street Theatre), Where Were We? by Richard Greenberg (TCG Shinsai: Brooklyn), 8 Minute Madness Festival (The Shell Theatre), Brooklyn Bets Alexi by Elizabeth Irwin (Hudson Guild Theatre), Blue Sky Somewhere by Michael Hilton (Manhattan Repertory Theatre), What Mommy Told Me by Paula Kaplan (Manhattan Theatre Source), Closer by Patrick Marber (FUTC), and All Our Quiet Places by Mike Hilton (FUTC). Most favorite assistant positions include Idiot Savantwritten and directed by Richard Foreman (The Public), The Last Goodbye adapted and directed by Mike Kimmel (Joe’s Pub), No One’s Finer Than Frank Shiner directed by Danielle Koutesis (Cherry Lane Studio Theatre, NYFringe ’10), and Man-Made written and directed by Susan Mosakowski (Ohio Theatre). Heather has worked for companies such as ArtsConnection, Spark Productions, Ensemble Studio Theatre, The Public Theatre, and TheatreworksUSA. Heather is currently pursuing an M.A. in Applied Theatre at CUNY/Creative Arts Team.

Courtney Bergtold–Director of Development

Courtney Bergtold (Development Director) has had a passion for theatre ever since childhood.  She currently hold a Masters in Arts Management from Montclair State University where she specialized in Theatre Management.  She completed her undergraduate education at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey.  She has had the pleasure of interning at the Paper Mill Playhouse, Maximum Entertainment Productions, Manhattan Theatre Club, and the Vineyard Theatre.  She hopes to one day be a director of individual giving abroad.