Martyna Majok was born in Bytom, Poland and raised in Jersey and Chicago. She was awarded the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her play, Cost of Living. Other plays include Sanctuary City, Queens, and Ironbound, which have been produced across American and international stages. Awards include The Academy of Arts and Letters’ Benjamin Hadley Danks Award for Exceptional Playwriting, The Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding New Play, The Greenfield Prize, as the first female recipient in drama, The Champions of Change Award from the NYC Mayor’s Office, The Francesca Primus Prize, two Jane Chambers Playwriting Awards, The Lanford Wilson Prize, The Lilly Award’s Stacey Mindich Prize, Helen Merrill Emerging Playwright Award, Charles MacArthur Award for Outstanding Original New Play from The Helen Hayes Awards, Jean Kennedy Smith Playwriting Award, ANPF Women’s Invitational Prize, David Calicchio Prize, Global Age Project Prize, NYTW 2050 Fellowship, NNPN Smith Prize for Political Playwriting, and Merage Foundation Fellowship for The American Dream. Martyna studied at Yale School of Drama, Juilliard, University of Chicago, and Jersey public schools. She was a 2012-2013 NNPN playwright-in-residence, the 2015-2016 PoNY Fellow at the Lark Play Development Center, and a 2018-2019 Hodder Fellow at Princeton University. Martyna is currently writing a musical adaptation of The Great Gatsby, with music by Florence Welch and Thomas Bartlett, and developing TV and film for HBO, Plan B, and Pastel.

Zi Alikhan (he/him) is a queer, first-generation South Asian-American, culturally Muslim theater director. Directing: On That Day in Amsterdam (Primary Stages), Snow in Midsummer (Classic Stage Company), The Great Leap (Portland Center Stage), Manik Choksi’s The Ramayan (currently in development at Ars Nova), Ragtime (Playmakers Repertory Company). Upcoming: Somewhere at Geva Theatre, A Nice Indian Boy at Olney Theatre Center, and Rent at Paper Mill Playhouse. Zi was named one of TCG’s Rising Leaders of Color in 2021, and is thrilled to return to Pasadena Playhouse, where he was an SDC Observer in 2012.

Chika Shimizu is a New York based scenic and projection designer. Theatre: Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Portland Center Stage, The Irish Repertory Theatre, Yale Repertory Theatre (CT Critics Circle Award Nomination), TheatreSquared, The Barrow Group, The Pond Theatre Company, Yangtze Repertory Theatre, Epic Theatre Ensemble, Artists at Play. Installation: Another Dream, Un(re)solved (Ado Ato pictures, 2022 SXSW Innovation Award). MFA in Design from YSD. She is a faculty member of NYU Tisch School of the Arts. chikashimizu.com.

Jojo Siu’s work has been featured both nationally and internationally at Pasadena Playhouse, Deaf West Theatre, The Chance Theatre, Laguna Playhouse, Sierra Madre Playhouse, Santa Fe Opera, Perseverance Theater, and Singapore Repertory among others. Her work has been recognized by Stage Scene LA, and the OC Theatre Guild. She is an advocate for Asian diversity and representation in her work. New Works: North, The Trial of Dedan Kimathi, The Madres. Other projects: Oedipus, Midsummer Night’s Dream, King of the Yees, Joy Luck Club, Eurydice, Head Over Heels, Spring Awakening, Bright Star, Into the Woods, and Fun Home, Kim’s Convenience, Our Town.

Solomon has created original works in drama, opera, dance, installation, and music across the U.S., Canada, Dominican Republic, Germany, Greece, Italy, Russia, and Slovenia. Highlights include Otello (Festspielhaus Baden Baden, Germany); Il Trovatore (Teatro Comunale di Bologna and Teatro Regio di Parma, Italy);  Oedipus (Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus, Greece; Ancient Theatre of Pompeii, Teatro Olimpico di Vicenza, and Teatro Mercadante di Napoli, Italy) all with Robert Wilson; Macbeth (directed by John Doyle at Classic Stage Company, NYC); The Shape of Things (created by Carrie Mae Weems at the Park Avenue Armory, NYC); Duat (Soho Rep, NYC); and Men on Boats (World Premiere: Playwrights Horizons/Clubbed Thumb, NYC). Solomon earned his MFA from the Yale School of Drama and is on the faculty at Portland State University.

John Nobori is a California-based sound designer, composer, and ensemble member of Cornerstone Theater Company. His work has been heard in plays produced by such organizations as The Getty Villa and Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Other recent credits include Center Theatre Group’s production of Elliot: A Soldier’s Fugue and South Coast Repertory’s production of Our Town. He has been nominated for several awards for excellence in sound design and is the recipient of an Ovation Award for his work on The Golden Dragon at Boston Court Pasadena. BA University of California, Irvine.

Amanda Rose Villarreal is an intimacy choreographer and immersive artist. They are an associate faculty with Theatrical Intimacy Education and both founder and managing editor of the Journal of Consent-Based Performance. Amanda Rose earned their MA in Theatre Production with an emphasis in Directing from Central Washington University and their PhD in Theatre and Performance Studies from the University of Colorado Boulder. They recently choreographed intimacy for Pasadena Playhouse’s Uncle Vanya and Geffen Playhouse’s The Inheritance Part 1 and Part 2, and led consent-based trainings for faculty at the Lee Strasberg Institute and the Groundlings Theatre & School. Other recent intimacy choreography credits include work with The Catamounts and Boulder Ensemble Theatre Company, as well as creating consent mechanics for, and performing in, playable performances at Sinking Ship Creations in NYC and Moonrise Larp in Chicago.

Brandon is excited to help bring Sanctuary City to Pasadena Playhouse. He is a San Francisco native and a graduate of California State University, Long Beach, with a B.A. in Technical Theatre. Premiere credits include The Great Leap-Pasadena Playhouse/East West Players, The Chinese Lady-Artists at Play, and Interstate & Man of God-East West Players. Selected credits include Grease-Musical Theatre West, Assassins and Mamma Mia!-East West Players, The Root Beer Bandits-Garry Marshall Theatre, Allegiance-Japanese American Cultural & Community Center/East West Players, Vampire Lesbians of Sodom-Door Ajar Theatre, 2012-The Musical-San Francisco Mime Troupe, and Conf(USED)-Youth for Asian Theater. He always wants to thank his family and friends for all their love and support. Enjoy the show!

Lydia Runge is returning to Pasadena Playhouse after previously working on Head Over Heels and The Great Leap. Select credits include: Grease and Ragtime (Musical Theatre West); Our Town (South Coast Repertory); Assassins, Mamma Mia, Man of God, As We Babble On, Allegiance: LA Premiere (East West Players); Two Mile Hollow (Artists at Play). She is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin – La Crosse with a B.S. in Stage Management. Member of Actors’ Equity Association.

With offices in both New York and Los Angeles, The Telsey Office casts for theater, film, television, and commercials. The Telsey Office is dedicated to creating safe, equitable, and anti-racist spaces through collaboration, artistry, heart, accountability, and advocacy.